SUNDAY 28TH MARCH 2021

Biden Invites Buhari, 39 Other World Leaders to Climate Summit

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

United States President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, to a summit on climate holding between April 22 and 23.

The summit, billed to hold

virtually, would be streamed live for public viewing across the globe.

A statement from the White House on Friday said President Biden took the decision on his first day in office to return the United States to the Paris Agreement, and days later, on January 27, announced

that he would soon convene a world leaders’ summit to galvanise efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis. That objective is what is Biden intends to actualise at the summit, which is also purposed to underscore the urgency and economic benefits of stronger climate action.

Besides, the summit would be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) holding in November in Glasgow.

According to the statement by the White House, “In recent years, scientists have underscored the need to

limit planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. A key goal of both the Leaders Summit and COP26 will be to catalyse efforts that keep that 1.5-degree goal within reach.

“The summit will also highlight examples of how

enhanced climate ambition will create good paying jobs, advance innovative technologies, and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts.

“By the time of the summit, the United States Continued on page 8

Saraki: Attempt to Forcefully Remove Me Darkest Moment in Our Democratic Journey… Page 9 Sunday 28 March, 2021 Vol 26. No 9485

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Tech, Nigeria’s New Oil Meet some of Nigeria's leading techpreneurs Olusegun Adeniyi, Obinna Chima and Emma Okonji With the drastic shift from agrarian, industrial and information ages, the future

is now tied to providing knowledge-based solutions to practical problems in education, medicine, commerce and industry, environment and other critical areas of human

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola

Evans Akanno

Shola Akinlade

Kunmi Demuren

Chijioke Dozie

endeavour. Almost on a daily basis in many countries, a new set of young entrepreneurs is emerging to seize the space.

Without building factories, they simply deploy IT and

basic engineering to create stupendous wealth with less manual efforts while at the same time impacting lives on universal scale. Remarkably, Nigeria is not left out of this

global revolution. In fact, on the continent, Nigeria’s young men and women are taking the lead in this brave new world.

With 62,573, United States

leads the way in the number of startups per country. But with 713, Nigeria ranks number 16 globally and is above countries

Ire Aderinokun

Olugbenga Agboola

Salisu Abdullahi

Chinedu Azodoh

Yele Bademosi

Mitchell Elegbe

Odunayo Eweniyi

Neto Ikpeme

Fatima Oyiza Ademoh

Continued on page 17

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RENDERING ACCOUNT L-R: Non-Executive Director, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom; Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Obong Idiong; Chairman, Chief(Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi; Company Secretary, Mr. Joseph Jibunoh; and NonExecutive Director, Mr. Samuel Nwanze, during the 8th Annual General Meeting of Africa Prudential Plc, held in Lagos...recently

Tinubu at Arewa Lecture, Says Economy Still Weak Despite Exiting Recession Says economy still weak despite exiting recession Advises govt to spend more to grow economy Gambari: Buhari has done well in security, economy, anticorruption Identity politics has compounded insecurity, says Lalong Tobi Soniyi in Lagos and John Shiklam in Kaduna National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday, tripped at the 2021 Sardauna Memorial Lecture in Kaduna, where he was chairman of the occasion.

Tinubu, who nearly fell, took time to address some of the country's economic challenges in his speech.

That was as Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, said the president had made remarkable progress in addressing the challenge of insecurity, building an inclusive economy, and fighting corruption.

In his presentation, Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong, who was the guest lecturer, listed some underlying factors in the high cost of governance in Nigeria to include insecurity and insurgency. Lalong said identity politics had compounded the problem of insecurity.

Tinubu stumbled as he arrived the hall for the lecture and nearly fell but for the timely intervention of a security aide. He said though Nigeria had exited recession, the economy remained weak. The former governor advised the federal government to spend more money to create jobs in order to lift the citizens out of poverty.

He disagreed with those kicking against government spending, saying it depends on what the money is spent on.

Even though recession has ended,

"We must admit the economy remains weak with too much unemployment and resources left idle," he said.

The APC leader said the private sector was too weak to give the country's economy the much-needed impetus, adding that in the absence of a capable private sector, the federal government must step in to fill the void.

He spoke on the topic, “Reduction of the Cost of Governance for Inclusive Growth and Youth Development in Northern Nigeria In a PostCOVID-19 era.”

Tinubu said, "Fiscal wisdom, but not necessarily austerity, is required for an economy like ours in a time like this, to ensure equitable wealth redistribution and meaningful use of resources.

"The years have shown that the private sector is much too weak to spur the growth we need. If the private sector could manage this feat, it would have already done so. Where the private sector is too weak or unable, the government must fill the void.

“This means the government must not be afraid to embark on an activist fiscal policy to create jobs, build infrastructure, and develop our industrial sector as well as continue to improve agriculture. This means the government must spend money but spend it on those things that bring the requisite economic returns for the nation."

The APC leader commended President Muhammadu Buhari for steering the country through the COVID-19 pandemic in such a way that the negative effect on

the people and economy had not been as harsh as it was thought.

According to him, the development of any populous nation has always been dependent on the ability of the government to allocate sufficient funds to projects and programmes that can create and encourage enduring growth and employment. He said the thinking that government expenditure was inherently unproductive and harmful to the overall economy should be rejected.

Tinubu stated, "Take a look at the world, those nations that recovered most quickly from the 2009 economic crisis and now from COVID-19 are those nations that are most engaged in government stimulus spending to revive their flagging economies.

"This was not by accident.

It is due to purposeful policy and the deeper understanding of the nature of money and the role of a national government in saving a flagging economy.

Thus, America recently embarked on a US$1.9 trillion stimulus to buoy the economy.

“It was not said that this government spending would erode jobs but that it would create them. Thus, we should not be so against government spending.

If it is for the right purposes, it can do essential things that the private sector cannot. What we should be against is wasteful government spending."

He said only the government had the resources to build vital infrastructure, such as irrigation and water projects that would help agriculture, arrest desertification, and provide jobs.

He also warned that the country

might remain undeveloped if the role of government was restricted by the erroneous assumption that spending was intrinsically unproductive.

Tinubu said Nigerian leaders should study more critically how other populous nations, like the UK, US, Germany and China, charted their courses during their formative years.

"You will see that they did not adhere to small government or the purportedly free market,” he stated, adding, “Government engaged in massive spending on infrastructure and education while also engaging in policies that protected industrial development and key aspects of the agricultural sector.

"Only when they matured and held advantages over other nations did the UK and US begin to champion free markets and small government."

Tinubu noted the remarkable contribution of the late Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, to nation building.

The former governor said concerning Bello, “He laboured tirelessly and with great tact and intelligence. Working together with other shining lights, such as the late sage Papa Obafemi Awolowo and the esteemed Nnamdi Azikiwe, this great Sardauna of Sokoto helped establish Nigeria as one indivisible and independent nation.

“He was one of the chief architects and builders laying the foundation for the nation destined to be the leader of Africa and a model for the black race.”

In his goodwill message, Gambari, who represented Buhari, said collaboration with

all the tiers of government was required to tackle the problems facing the country, as the federal government alone could not do it. He called on Nigerians to emulate the virtues of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, for the country to make progress.

The chief of staff stated, “President Buhari has made huge strides in addressing the challenges facing our country in terms of security, building an inclusive economy, and, of course, the fight against corruption.

“Our ability to collectively address the challenges facing our country today will go along way in unlocking the huge potentiality of the country and the starting point is leadership by example lived by one of our founding fathers himself, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna himself.

“We must not continue for decades to draw attention to the virtues of the late Sardauna, we must practise them – inclusiveness, commitment to quality education, training particularly for girls, and the opportunities for women to develop to their full capacity.

“This leadership by example, is one in which Mr. President is leading from the front. So as leaders of our country, there need to be better and improved coordination and collaboration at all levels of government – federal, state, and local governments.

“We must not assume that the problems of our country should and can be solved by President Buhari alone or his administration.

“Yes, he will continue to lead by example, but state governors, local government

leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders, civil society groups and even the media have the responsibility to work collectively and put the interest of our country first and foremost.”

Gambari said Nigerians “must not forget the virtue of selfless service, which was inherent in all that was done by the late Sardauna. We have no choice if, indeed, we are committed to the welfare, prosperity, peace and security of our people.

“But to be selfless in service and honour them by making their peace and security, their development as the cardinal point in all our actions. That is why Mr. President’s people agenda of enhancing security, building our economy and fighting corruption are things which he will ever remain committed even beyond tenure of this administration.”

Lalong stressed that with the escalation of conflicts occasioned by weak security enforcement, several states within the North had witnessed rapid increase in violence and criminal activities linked to insurgency, banditry, communal conflicts, and violent confrontations between farmers and herders, among others.

“In recent years, these conflicts and crimes have been changing patterns and expanding in scope and intensity; from highway armed robbery to cattle rustling; from community raiding and deadly attacks to abductions and kidnapping ransom,” Lalong said.

He said the ugly trend had severely hampered interrelations, as perceptions about the identities of the perpetrators in the conflicts or crimes largely remained unclear.

FG Raises the Alarm over Intercepted Africa-bound Fake COVID-19 Vaccines

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government has raised the alarm over a case of 3,000 doses of fake Covid-19 vaccines to be exported to Africa but intercepted in China.

In an advisory issued on Saturday to medical directors and chief executive officers of federal government tertiary institutions in the country by the Director, Department of the Hospital Services in the

Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, government said the ministry had received a letter from the Presidential Taskforce on Control of COVID-19 regarding the arrest of 3,000 doses of fake COVID-19 vaccines packaged for delivery to African countries in China.

It said from all indications, the fake COVID-19 vaccines were already in circulation on the continent.

According to the Advisory

titled: 'Report of fake Vaccines Destined for Africa Arrested in China', the Federal Ministry of Health said as part of the preventive measures put in place to check influx of fake and illegal COVID-19 vaccines into the country, Nigeria Customs Services has designated the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja as the sole point of entry for approved COVID-19 vaccines.

"The Ministry is in receipt

of letter from the Presidential Taskforce on Control of COVID-19 regarding the arrest of 3,000 doses of fake COVID-19, which were Africa-bound from China.

"The report further indicates that the fake COVID-19 vaccines are already in circulation in Africa. To prevent the implementation of fake COVID-19 vaccines, kindly note that the Nigeria Customs Services has designated the

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport as the only point of entry for imported COVID19 vaccines.

"I am, therefore, to bring this to your notice and dispel any possibility of fake COVID-19 vaccines being available for sale or being administered by any unauthoised institution," it said.

Although there have been concerns over the issue of fake COVID-19 vaccines flooding the market in the country.

The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had earlier cautioned on the possibility of fake COVID-19 vaccines being hawked around the country by some merchants.

The Director General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye warned Nigeria not to patronise what she described as black market COVID-19 vaccines but to promptly alert NAFDAC or security agencies about them.

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How Governor Bala Stopped Ayade from Leaving PDP Chuks Okocha in Abuja Some last minute mediation

by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State in the crisis plaguing the Cross River State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might have prevented Governor Ben Ayade from defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC), THISDAY has learnt.

It was gathered that the Cross Rivers State PDP crisis started, when all organs of the party were taken away from Ayade at the state, local government, and ward levels, with the alleged financial support of a South-south governor. This had prompted Ayade to boycott the South-south zonal congresses and the South-south governors’ meeting that took place in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. But Ayade attended the PDP governors’ meeting, where he opened up on the crisis and his intention to leave the party.

Following the disclosure of his intention, it was learnt, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), led by Prince Uche Secondus, sent the Bauchi State governor to intervene and try to stop Ayade from leaving PDP. Receiving Mohammed at Government House, Calabar, Ayade had boasted that under his watch PDP made the highest returns in elections. He said he was not moved by the persistent crisis that put him at loggerheads with a number of party stakeholders.

Ayade’s aides identified a

South-south governor as the alleged sponsor of the rebellion against the Cross River State chief executive.

The crisis in PDP has seen the two tendencies in the party struggle over the Cross River North senatorial seat.

But asserting his place in PDP, Ayade told the Bauchi State governor, “I cannot blind myself to the challenges of PDP and decide not to know what to do at the right time for their (Cross River people) sake.

“I know you are somebody that doesn’t take injustice. One single injustice, they will see a

new Cross River State. I say it as a warning, because it does appear that your party seems to celebrate people who threaten and stress them.”

The Cross River State governor added, “All councillors (in the state) are PDP, council chairmen are PDP, all House of Assembly members are PDP, all commissioners are PDP, and all the National Assembly members, except one, are PDP; all of them are under my leadership.”

Ayade hinted on the possibility leaving with a good number of party stalwarts

should he decide to defect.

He said, “I am happy you have created an opportunity for a melodrama. So, today I am seated and dancing on the fence. Indeed, that’s true. And so I speak with righteous anger for the continuous annoyance and nuisance orchestrated on our innocence by external factors.

But I just hope this ends today.

“And so, please, as I leave you with some holy whispers, which will be very strong, firm and clear, it’s a harbinger of trouble. While I believe in ecclesiastics of peace, I believe in the catechism of good faith

but I also believe in respect for the supremacy of an office.

“So if you take a catalytic combination of all I have said, it tells you that there is the need for a guided caution by some persons, going forward as a people, as a party. I think the time has come when all of us will gather and say enough is enough.

“I can’t afford to make a decision just for my sake. I am not desperate in putting a successor but I am desperate for their well-being.”

Mohammed, on his part, called for party unity as he

praised Ayade for connecting with the people of the state.

The Bauchi State governor told Ayade, “You are inexorably connected in terms of perception, vision and where we want to take the country together and because our forefathers have been together in this kind of thing, we are connected intellectually and politically.

“There must be structures put in place to make sure that the affairs and aspirations of all Nigerians, especially, our leaders, are reached.”

WE SHARE IN YOUR GRIEF Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (right) with the Senate President Ahmed Lawan (middle) and former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, during the funeral ceremony of Chief Ogbaoku Odo, the late father of the Senator representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, Senator Obinna Ogba, at Amanvu Nkalagu Ishielu, Local Government Area, Ebonyi State... yesterday.

Bawa: I’ll Rather Resign Than Subvert Rule of Law Insists bankers must declare assets Gboyega Akinsanmi The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, yesterday, declared that he would resign from his position if asked "to do anything contrary to my conscience or against the rule or law."

Bawa, also, promised to rid Nigeria of corrupt practices, noting that the rule of law and fear of God would be his guiding principles in the discharge of his responsibility as the chairman of the antigraft commission.

He made these remarks in a series of tweets posted @ officialEFCC yesterday with a pledge that there "is no going back on the directive that all

bankers should declare their assets before June 1."

Bawa’s tweets were based on a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) special interview programme, One-on-One, anchored by ace broadcaster, Cyril Stober on Friday.

At the session, the EFCC chairman emphasised the need “to change our attitudes in Nigeria”, and thus, identified corruption as an encumbrance to the sustainable growth of the country, stressing also the need for all hands to be on deck to deal with the menace.

He said: “We are in the habit of worshipping people that have money in the society, but never bother to ask questions about

their source of income. In winning the fight against corruption, we are engaging all stakeholders including religious leaders, community leaders and others.

“We are going to embark on massive public enlightenment to sensitise people on the need to shun corruption in all its forms. I will continue to do what is right.

“EFCC under my watch will continue to abide by the rule of law. If anybody asks me to do anything contrary to my conscience or against the rule of law, I will resign my appointment.”

The EFCC boss, also, vowed to fight corruption with all his powers as allowed by law.

He noted that fighting corruption was an onerous

task that should not be left in the hands of EFCC alone and therefore urged Nigerians to stop glorifying corruption and corrupt people in the society.

He vowed that the EFCC under his watch would not relent in its determined efforts “to bring all corrupt elements – high or low – in this country to justice. We have just created a Directorate of Intelligence.

“We need to re-engage ourselves with all our stakeholders in the fight against corruption, because this is something we cannot do alone, all hands must be on deck,” he reiterated.

On the directive that all bankers should declare their assets before June 1, the anti-graft czar said, there

“is no going back on the directive and that the laws permit the Commission to investigate assets of public officers including bankers.

"There is a law called Bank Employee Declaration of Assets, Act 1986. We are not saying they should declare their assets to us. What we are saying is that they should declare it to the statutory bodies. We are going to be calling for it.

“As a Commission, we need to know what you have as a banker. Come June 1, 2021, we are going to be asking for it." Bawa insisted.

Responding to another question on the ongoing corruption cases in various courts across the country, he

said the Commission was making steady progress by securing conviction of offenders and getting them to restitute their victims of whatever they had illegally acquired.

“Our lawyers are doing well and the judiciary too is marvelous. In an alleged media trial by the EFCC, there is nothing like a media trial.

“It is part of our responsibilities to let the public know about our activities and what we are doing to sanitise the country.

This is enshrined in Section 6 of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004," Bawa said.

He further stated that any case filed in court becomes a public document that anybody can apply to court to access.

spurring transformational technologies that can help reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, while also creating enormous new economic opportunities and building the industries of the future; showcasing subnational and non-state actors that are committed to green recovery and an equitable vision for limiting warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, and are working closely with national

governments to advance ambition and resilience.

The summit would also discuss opportunities to strengthen capacity to protect lives and livelihoods from the impacts of climate change, address the global security challenges posed by climate change and the impact on readiness, and address the role of nature-based solutions in achieving net zero by 2050 goals.

BIDEN INVITES BUHARI, 39 OTHER WORLD LEADERS TO CLIMATE SUMMIT will announce an ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement.”

The U.S. president urged world leaders to equally use the summit as an opportunity to outline how their countries would contribute to a stronger climate ambition.

The statement said the summit would reconvene the US-led Major Economies Forum

on Energy and Climate, which brings together 17 countries responsible for approximately 80 per cent of global emissions and global GDP. The White House statement added, “The president also invited the heads of other countries that are demonstrating strong climate leadership, are especially vulnerable to climate impacts, or are charting innovative pathways to a net-zero

economy. A small number of business and civil society leaders will also participate in the summit.”

The statement listed key themes of the summit to include: galvanising efforts by the world’s major economies to reduce emissions during this critical decade to keep a limit to warming of 1.5 degree Celsius within reach; and mobilising public and private sector finance to drive

the net-zero transition and to help vulnerable countries cope with climate impacts.

“The economic benefits of climate action, with a strong emphasis on job creation, and the importance of ensuring all communities and workers benefit from the transition to a new clean energy economy,” would also be a major theme at the summit, the statement said.

Others topics include

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TOWARDS BETTER EDUCATION L-R: A member of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services, Hon. Akinfolarin Mayowa; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Chairman House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere; Committee members, Hon. Peter Owolabi, and Hon. Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan; when members of the committee visited the Governor in Ado-Ekiti…Friday

Saraki: Attempt to Forcefully Remove Me Darkest Moment in Our Democratic Journey Says executive’s desire to control legislature responsible for frequent friction Chuks Okocha in Abuja Former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has described the failed attempt to remove him as President of the eighth senate as the darkest moment in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

Saraki stated this last week in Uyo in his speech as guest speaker at the Bayelsa State House of Assembly Retreat.

The retreat focussed on the relationship between the executive and the legislature, while the former senate president’s address centred on checks and balances in government.

Saraki said the reason for the frequent friction between the executive and the legislature was the former’s predilection for control of the latter. He attributed this to lack of understanding, saying both arms of government are set up for effective governance.

Citing his case as a veritable example, Saraki said, “You are all familiar, I am sure, with my experience in the Senate and how several attempts were aimed at my displacement as the President of the 8th Senate.

"The numerous court battles based on patently false and untenable allegations were designed to weaken me and bring a manifestly robust Senate to its knees. When the legal route failed, strong-arm tactics were adopted. First, they forcefully seized the symbol of the Senate’s authority, the mace. Then, heavily armed DSS operatives invaded the National Assembly.

"Sadly, that must count as one of the darkest moments in our democratic curve. It is an experience that should never be visited in our nation again. As I have said earlier, the leadership of both arms must display maturity, wisdom, and diplomacy in governance."

The ex-senate president stated further, "Why do we always have tension between these two arms? One is the tendency of the chief executives (presidents and governors) to want to dabble into who constitutes the leadership of the legislature. However, all that needs to be said here is, he who is being overseen cannot and must not dictate who is overseeing and performing the oversight.

“That would make nonsense of the constitution with its insistence on control of executive overreach. While the executive might want a compliant, submissive, and ‘loyal’ legislature, that wish runs against the grain of constitutional democracy.”

According to the former senate president, the interplay of these tendencies is more noticeable at the state level, because there is greater affinity and proximity between those who occupy the offices.

He said it would be very surprising if a governor did not know almost every member of the House of Assembly before being elected, whether or not they were from the same party.

This in itself, he said, bred a certain level of familiarity, which might be double-edged, resulting in mutual respect, or mutual distrust.

Saraki added, "Nonetheless, governors have commonly sought to exert control over state legislatures. In this regard, it is apt to recall the struggle by state legislatures to secure financial autonomy.

“In 2010, following much agitation, the National Assembly, in the constitutional amendment process, passed the resolution granting financial autonomy to state legislators. It remained only for 24 out of 36 State Houses of Assembly to pass the resolution.

But only 23 Houses passed it.

“So it failed. Happily, at its reintroduction in the 2016 amendment process, it was passed by both the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly and assented to by the President in May 2018."

Saraki lamented that many states were still trying to work out modalities for giving effect to this law. He stated, "As mentioned earlier, the concept of checks and balances in-built into the constitution inevitably leads to conflict, tension, and disagreement. That is all good and proper, as it is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy.

"The watchdog at the entry is trained to be hostile to those it sees as intruders and outsiders looking inside the house to identify the excesses or faults.

It stands to reason that a lack of adequate interaction between the leadership of both the executive and legislature before policies

and programmes are announced publicly also creates tension.

"This is part of the problems that the National Assembly has had with the consecutive Presidents in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999, as it smacks of the executive treating the legislature as a rubber-stamp agency, not as the representatives of the people’s interests.

“Equally, there have been allegations that legislators also abuse their offices by engaging in blackmail, arm-twisting, and making reckless and frivolous demands from heads of MDAs and even, the chief executives, particularly in the performance of their oversight functions.”

Saraki also said, "Another sore point in the relationship between the executive and the legislature is the belief by some members of the executive that any appointee forwarded to the legislature for screening must be passed. It is an assumption that flies in the face of the very reason the legislature is there – to oversee.

"You all remember our experience with the Ibrahim Magu case in which a critical agency of the executive disqualified the appointee and the Senate was blamed for not passing a man the Department of State Services (DSS), an agency under the control of the executive, found unfit.

"Recent events have now shown that the man lacks the capacity and competence for the job. You also witnessed the mischievous interpretation that some very top officials of the administration gave to the provision of the law, when they claimed that the appointment of Magu ought not to have come before the Senate.

“That was a mere attempt to bend the law to suit personal whims. However, what could be done to alleviate such conflict would be to make certain that the interaction is on a level playing field. By this, I mean the fact that the legislature, as we have seen, lacks the same level of experience, expertise, and continuity as that of the executive.

“This needs to be changed as it creates an uneven balance in the separation of powers. Indeed, given that the legislature has little institutional memory, as

each session of the legislature has new players, we need more flanking institutions to support it in this regard.

"The above conflicts have also manifested in the constant impeachment of Senate presidents and speakers at the federal and state legislature.

In the first eight years of the return of democracy, the senate had no less than five Senate presidents and the House had three speakers.

"In this regard, the executive personified the oft-quoted ‘banana peels’, on which Senate presidents and speakers invariably slipped. Till today, speakers in state assemblies are still being frequently removed from office at the behest of the executive, which rests on a misunderstanding of their role.”

Saraki suggested solutions to the quagmire. "What are my suggestions on the way forward? he asked, explaining, “The executive at all levels should stop interfering with who leads the legislature. Since we modelled our constitution on that of the United States, let me reference events in that country once more.

“President Joe Biden had no say in how Nancy Pelosi became Speaker nor did he influence Chuck Schumer’s emergence as Senate majority leader. And though she was a thorn in his side, Donald Trump did not seek to oust Nancy Pelosi. Imposing a speaker on the legislature does not make for efficiency of the Assembly; it goes against the very principles of democracy.

“Small wonder that it has often created more problems for the governors. The president and governors should learn to interact constructively with the legislature by presenting their case, and doing so in good time. Without buy-in to policies, programmes, and proposed executive bills, you will have pre-programmed conflict.

"I am not canvassing for inducement of legislators but for prior briefing and in-depth discussion between the leadership of both arms of government to find common ground for the common good.

This can remove the tension and disagreement that underscore the debate on the issue during plenary.

“As mentioned, the times

that the US had different parties controlling the executive and legislature, bi-partisan interaction helped the administrations of the day to record successes in the passage of enduring policies and programmes.”

Flashing back to the Second Republic, Saraki said the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) used the weekly caucus meetings between the executive and legislative arms of government, and the ruling party to ensure synergy.

He stated, "My late father, Dr. Olusola Abubakar Saraki, was then the Senate Leader and it was his responsibility to ensure that whatever was agreed in that caucus meeting prevailed in the Senate. This is a beautiful tradition we have discarded to our detriment.

Blind partisanship is anathema to democratic consensus. Let me also note that the budget process should always be a collective effort from the beginning to the end.”

Saraki noted, "We also need to develop and preserve institutional memories by allowing our efficient legislators to serve for many more terms and providing the tools and resources to support them in their duties. I am not sure there is anywhere in Nigeria today where you have a state legislator with 20 years experience, let alone serve in assembly committees and has accumulated knowledge down through the years.

“This is not good in terms of growing the knowledge base and competence of legislators. We all believe that elders have wisdom, and yet we prevent their being elders in our legislature. In Kwara State, between 2007 and 2019, we tried to ensure that at least one-third of our legislators, both in the state and National Assembly, got re-elected.”

He said there was also the need for legislative institutions to invest heavily in the capacity development of their members, adding, "One of our development partners, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, has made it its duty to provide special courses familiarising new members of state legislatures, for example, on all the ins and outs of the workings of the respective Houses of Assembly."

The former senate president

said the legislature should also do an introspective reexamination. He reminisced that in a speech to the Senate four years ago, "I addressed this issue. In the speech I stated that, ‘For too long Nigerians have challenged the lawmakers to justify your presence as an arm of government. Many have wondered what exactly you do that entitled you to certain privileges.

“I believe that the best answer you can provide to all these is to continue to seek ways that would enable ordinary citizens to feel the impact of the legislature in their lives. I dream of a day, when the poor woman sitting in her house in rural Awka would be able to see the benefit of your work on her life. I dream of a day when a child going to school in Gusau would feel the benefit of the laws that you make.

"I dream of a day when a young lady in Oporoma or Ogbia would be able to say how the state assembly has helped her small business. I dream of a day when a farmer in Kolu-Ama would see how those of us legislators gathered in this hall have helped to improve his life.

“Needless to say, I have not stopped dreaming that dream.

My dear legislators in Bayelsa State, every one of you should ask himself or herself what action or bill have you initiated, which can directly impact or improve the lives of your people. You must not stop asking yourself this question. I am confident that if the legislature toes the path of making itself continually relevant to the improvement in the standard of living of the people, the people will support it against any aggressive and antagonistic executive.

“This is because as elected representatives whose mandates derive directly from the constituents of our people, the lawmakers are close to them; they hear their cries and feel their pains. The legislators know the daily struggles of the people’s lives. And they understand that the only way they can justify their presence in government at this time is to rise above their worries, their fears, and their frustration and provide real leadership that brings the people relief and makes their lives better."

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

NEWS

Chadian President: MNJTF’s New Strategy will End Insurgency in Lake Chad Region Explains why terrorism persists in W'Africa Shrunken lake chad affects 30m people, says Buhari Deji Elumoye in Abuja President of Chad Republic, Marshal Idris Deby Itno, has given an assurance that the new strategies being employed by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together by the four countries sharing the Lake Chad Basin will soon put an end to Boko Haram insurgency threat ravaging the area.

Itno spoke with reporters on Saturday after holding bilateral talks with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

This is just as President Buhari revealed that the shrunken Lake Chad basin has adversely affected 30 million people.

The Chadian President emphasised that with the new strategies being deployed and new officers with fresh ideas being assigned to take over commands at both national and regional levels, the defeat of the various terror groups, including Boko Haram and

the Islamic State, West African Province (ISWAP), is imminent.

He said: "With the new security apparatus that has been put in place with the new security chiefs and not only in Nigeria, but even on the Multinational Joint Task Force itself, which also has a new leadership, that we're hopeful now that with new strategies, and new dynamism, that we'll be able to address definitively the issue of Boko Haram.

"All the countries participating and are taking responsibility, none of them are shirking their responsibilities and the military of all the countries also have that sense of responsibility of what needs to be done and what their obligation is, which is to protect all the countries and that they are fully on track for that and that with this new security architecture, we're hopeful that the things will get much better and it will be done all together.

"Boko Haram is indeed an

evil that has hampered the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin and it has done many harm to our populations.

It would be remembered that since 2013/2014, the four countries put together their means to create the Multinational Joint Task Force, this Multinational Joint Task Force has had good results.

Unfortunately, the resilience of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in the Lake Chad Basin has been unprecedented. They are being supplied and being trained and being formed through Libya.

"The MNJTF has done a lot of work and as you have seen recently, we've had exchanges on this with my brother on the way ahead. With the new team of the Chief of Defence Staff and the new Commander that has been appointed at the Multinational Joint Task Force, they were convinced that we can eradicate Boko Haram.

There's a lot of hope on this new team, with this new

strategy. I remain confident that the four armies of the four countries can finish this evil and eradicate Boko Haram once and for all".

The visiting President stressed that terrorism remained a major issue in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel region of Africa because the crusade against it has been inadequate.

According to him, the four countries sharing the Lake Chad Basin had put together a formidable military formation, the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), to stamp out terrorism in the region.

He said a number of important issues including the challenges facing Nigeria and Chad were discussed at the bilateral meeting adding that the meeting also discussed various bilateral relations between the two countries and how to strengthen those bilateral relations.

The Chadian President further said that they meeting discussed the issue of islamic

state and the challenges that they pose to the two countries as well as the lake Chad environment.

He said the issue of transfer of water from the Central African Region Republic was looked into the question of Chad being a landlocked country.

Other areas of discussion centred on transportation from Chad, which is a landlocked country by road and the possibility of constructing roads as well as rail transportation from Chad through Nigeria, and to Port Harcourt, where goods that are coming in will be transferred to Chad.

Speaking earlier while receiving the Chadian leader, President Buhari had stated that about 30 million people are adversely affected by a shrunken Lake Chad, which is now just about ten per cent of its original size.

According to him, It is imperative that there be

water transfer to the Lake Chad from the Congo Basin, so that the people can resume their normal lives.

He added that with interbasin water transfer, farming, fishing, animal husbandry would resume, and curtail irregular migration of youths, who now dare the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, to get into Europe, seeking greener pastures.

His words: “I’ve been engaging with the relevant stakeholders in Africa and beyond, on why we need to recharge Lake Chad. Nigeria will benefit more, but it is also advantageous to everyone".

He appreciated Chad for its role in curbing insurgency in the region, particularly the Boko Haram challenge.

“We appreciate what you are doing on security. When I first came to office in 2015, I came to see you, as well as leaders of other neighbouring countries, because it makes sense to be in the good books of our neighbours.”

TCN Confirms Attack on Facilities in Maiduguri by Boko Haram Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), last night, confirmed another attack on two of its power infrastructure in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Saturday's incident was the third since January on the company's facilities in the capital city, throwing residents into darkness for weeks and months.

A statement in Abuja by the General Manager, Public Affairs of the TCN, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, noted that the latest incident occurred at about 5.56 am yesterday.

An attempt to restore power after the first incident had resulted in severe injuries to some technicians working for the organization, when explosions rocked the location they were working.

Collaboration between the TCN and the Borno State government, however, led to the erection of a bypass pending when the entire

facilities would become fully operational, before the latest attack.

"The TCN states that two towers along the Damaturu-Maidugiri 330kV Transmission Line have again been vandalised by insurgents, after it had made concerted effort and restored power to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on 24th March, 2021, two months after the first incident.

"The incident, which occurred at about 5.56am this morning, again cut power supply to Maiduguri and its environs.

"This time, the insurgents chain-bombed two other towers: T152 and T153, along the same line route of the other incident", the federal government owned company said.

The organisation, however, vowed to continue to do all that it could to ensure that power supply was restored to the affected areas in the earliest time possible.

ABIODUN ON TOUR OF ROAD PROJECTS...

L-R: Project Manager, CCECC, Mr Sewell Zhao; Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and the State's Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Ade Akinsanya, during an on-the-spot assessment of the 53km Lafenwa-Rounda-Aiyetoro road... yesterday

COVID-19 is Reason People Shun Hospitals for Tuberculosis Testing, Says BACATMA Chairman Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Malaria (BACATMA), Dr. Sani Dambam, has disclosed that many tuberculosis patients and people with consistent cough lasting for months in the state have continued to shun hospitals for fear

of being diagnosed with COVID-19. Dambam stated this yesterday in Bauchi at an event commemorating this year's World Tuberculosis Day. According to him, following the COVID-19 pandemic, people are afraid to report suspected tuberculosis cases to treatment centres in the state for the fear of being

diagnosed with the dreaded virus.

Dambam explained that despite the outbreak of COVID-19, BACATMA had continued to attend and treat patients across the state. He revealed that 4,430 tuberculosis cases were recorded in the state in 2020.

"In 2020, Bauchi State recorded and notified 4,430 drug susceptible TB cases.

Ninety-three per cent of cases were treated successfully," the BACATMA boss revealed.

He revealed that the agency had recorded breakthroughs in the control of tuberculosis across the 20 local governments areas of the state, saying BACATMA has 570 free tuberculosis treatment centres across the state in addition to 127 TB diagnostic centres.

Dambam said, "BACATMA has procured 12 GeneXpert machines for treating both drug sensitive TB bacteria and drug resistant variant of the bacteria responsible for multi-drug resistant form of TB. "BACATMA is harnessing resources to create the needed effort to reach those at highest risk for TB and to identify and implement

innovative strategies to improve testing and treatment among high risks populations.”

He lamented that the COVID-19 pandemic had made global healthcare providers and donors to shift their attention from tuberculosis, saying this has created an unfavourable condition in the fight against the bacteria.

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MARCH 28, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

EDITORIAL

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

TRANSPARENCY AND THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL A clearer focus and better oversight are needed to win the trust of the people

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ncreasingly, there are mounting instances of tardiness on issues of transparency and accountability in public office and institutions of government. This becomes even more troubling when the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) that is ordinarily responsible for ensuring a proper accounting system in all departments of government also finds it difficult to keep to good standards. Recently, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, relying on the Auditor General of Nigeria’s report, queried the AGF, Idris Ahmed, for failure to disclose details of N57.6 billion federal government grants. The money was given to states and foreign governments, public and privately-owned companies, academic institutions and international agencies since 2017. While Idris reportedly promised If the office of to make the list of the the Accountant beneficiaries available General of the in March, 2019, he is yet to do so. This is the Federation same Idris who within cannot be hours last year comtransparent in its 24 menced the implemendealings, how can tation of the controversial it hold to account Finance Act 2020 Value individuals and Added Tax (VAT). The non-disclosure of details groups who are undermining the of federal government grants and contributions, system? according to the Senate audit report, “will cast doubt on the authenticity and actual usage of such grants and contributions.”

Unfortunately, such allegations of financial infractions have become so rife that many Nigerians hardly care anymore. Many government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are riddled with financial wrongdoings as they breach accounting procedures with impunity. Indeed, the 2017 report of the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation on which strength the Senate raised the recent query cited several sharp practices ranging from irregular expenditures to failure to surrender surplus revenues to the treasury, all running into billions of naira. There were also details of unauthorised deductions from money due to the federation account by revenue collecting agencies,

Letters to the Editor

C

ultism is one of the social ills that has bedeviled our society for quite some time. It has become so bad that primary schools’ pupils are reportedly getting initiated into the evil practice.

Cultism has brought nothing but pains and anguish to affected individuals.

Across the country, it is not unusual to hear news of deadly cult wars that left in its trails wanton destruction of property and sometimes lives. Such attacks do not portray our society in a positive light.

Since development only thrives in a peaceful and conducive environment, the dastardly activities of these cult warriors not only impede development, they also depict our society in bad light.

The predominance of cultism in higher institutions across the country has become alarming and it has

irregularities in payment and expenditure, irregularities in contract award and execution.

Even the Ministry of Justice is involved in overriding the necessary provisions in the law as it was accused of disbursing billions of naira without following due process. Perhaps more frustrating, previously identified lapses have not been adequately addressed leading to a situation of repeated violations.

For instance, the executive summary of the report noted that 160 agencies defaulted in submission of audited accounts for 2016.

But the number of defaulting agencies increased to 265 in 2017 while 11 agencies have never bothered to submit any financial statements since inception. Yet they have continued to receive appropriations from the National Assembly. So we ask: will the present query make any difference? Will it curb the recklessness on constant display in every arm of government?

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS OLAWALE OLALEYE, TOBI SONIYI 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 DIRECTORS ERIC OJEH, PATRICK EIMIUHI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT PATRICIA UBAKA-ADEKOYA TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

hat may be difficult because of the worrying trend. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) chairman, Bolaji Owasanoye, said recently that there was budget manipulation by most MDAs which resulted in their receiving both appropriation and releases beyond their actual needs. In 2019, for instance, ICPC reviewed 208 agencies funded from the federal treasury and discovered N31.8bn personnel cost surpluses for 2017 and 2018, and misapplication of N19.8bn and N9.2bn from personnel cost and capital fund respectively. “This implies”, according to the ICPC, “that if we had covered the entire civil service structure of all MDAs the figures would be staggering”.

In the last few years the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has been canvassing the need for more openness in the oil and gas sector, the main revenue earner for the economy. Even with all the so-called reforms, the NNPC is a habitual offender because it is still largely opaque in its operations. But if the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) cannot be transparent in its dealings, how can it hold to account individuals and groups who are undermining the system?

As unfortunate as it may seem, what the senate report has done is to further reinforce the perception that many of our critical agencies and institutions are so well-heeled in unwholesome practices.

That is not good enough for an administration that came to power with a pledge to instill accountability and transparency in the public arena.

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

END OF THE ROAD FOR CULTISTS? caused a lot of damage ranging from destruction of academic calendars, loss of lives and property, unsafe and inhabitable environment within and sometimes outside the school’s vicinity.

Severally, the government has tried to clamp down on their activities by publicly creating awareness of the ills created by the groups in the society and even as far as publicizing the punishment meted to victims when apprehended. Sadly, cultism has gone beyond the four walls of tertiary institutions as it has crept into other sectors of the society.

Being the nation’s commercial and economic nerve centre, Lagos has had its own fair share of shameless cult battles. In places such as Ikorodu, Somolu, Bariga, Mushin and Ojota, among others, activities of cultists have become a source of worries to the citizens.

In a bid to frontally tackle the evil

of cultism in the state, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently signed the bill for the Prohibition of Unlawful Societies and Cultism of 2021 into law, approving a 21-year jail term for convicted cultists in the state.

The anti-cultism law repeals the Cultism (Prohibition) Law of 2007 (now Cap. C18, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015) and provides for more stringent punitive measures, as well as makes its application all-encompassing and applicable to the general public, as against the restriction of the previous law to students of tertiary institutions.

Sanwo-Olu said the state had suffered the negative effects of unlawful societies and cultism, stressing that the new law sought to make parents more responsible and show more interest in the up-bringing of their children and wards to ensure that they do not become a burden to the society.

He said the new law sought to make parents show more interests in the upbringing of their children and wards to ensure they did not become a burden to society.

The State House of Assembly, in February, passed the anti-cultism bill, which stipulated a 15-year jail term for anyone found guilty of abetting cultists and residents who willfully allowed their property to be used as meeting points by cultists.

The anti-cultism law also made its application all-encompassing and applicable to the general public, as against the restriction of the previous law to students of tertiary institutions.

The passing of the new law underscores the government’s resolve to urgently address the evil of cultism in the state.

It, however, needs to be emphasised that for the new law to achieve its mission, which is the elimination of cultism in the state, every stakeholder must be on the same page with the government.

No matter how good the plans of the government, if it does not get sufficient buy-in from the people, such will amount to nothing. Therefore, the society must collectively rise up against every habit or practice that makes cultism thrive in our society. Of course, one of such is drug abuse. It is rather worrisome that drug abusers are mostly youth. This should be a source of great concern to everyone.

This is why the pro – health campaign in Lagos State is very strong with usage of multi-sectoral approach and collaborative and synergetic efforts of many MDAs. Lagos State structured its fight against drug abuse around the Inter-ministerial Drug Abuse Committee that consists of Ministries of Health, Youth and Social Development, Information and Strategy, Transportation, Education, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Lagos Television.

––Mobolaji Adebayo, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

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OPINION

REASSIGNING POWER IN THE HUMANITARIAN SECTOR Power and how we use it are central to our ability to enact meaningful change, writes Wale Osofisan

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hen we analyse leadership in the humanitarian sector, we often see images of mostly white men, a few white women, and, if one looks hard enough, one may be lucky to spot a few black and brown men and women working within western cities such as New York, London, Paris, Geneva, or Washington, DC. This is not exclusive to the aid sector. As of 2020, a review of FTSE 250 companies found that 69 per cent have no ethnic diversity on their boards. These are the people who have the privilege of making decisions that affect millions of people around the world, particularly those who are seen as living “over there,” in conflict and crisis-affected countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Power and how we use it are central to our ability to enact meaningful and lasting change, irrespective of where a person may live. Yet, we often see examples of decisions affecting people thousands of miles away, with little to no input from the people these decisions are meant to serve, especially women and girls who are disproportionately impacted by crises.

It is no secret that decision-making powers in the international aid sector mostly sit in western capitals. This is understandable to the extent that resources from richer countries to poorer countries come from a combination of individual donors, taxpayers through their aid institutions, and shareholders in the case of private sector donors. However, the connection between the individual donors, taxpayers, and shareholders to the clients meant to receive these resources is either non-existent or, at best, cosmetic in nature.

What will it look like for taxpayers in a donor country to develop a relationship with refugees and internally displaced persons thousands of miles apart? What does it mean for refugees and internally displaced people to have power? These are questions not easily answered in the humanitarian sector.

When we think about the power of a voter to choose and remove their leaders, we think of their ballot. When we think about a consumer, we think of their wallet and their choice to purchase

an item. What the voter and consumer have in common is choice and voice.

Refugees and internally displaced persons don’t have the same type of power. Some are recipients of cash, which in theory should accord them the freedom to spend as they wish, but often there are conditions attached to what they can purchase with this money.

While refugees and internationally displaced persons can try to make their voices heard through project suggestion boxes and complaint and grievance mechanisms, they don’t have the power to ensure there are consequences if they are not satisfied with donor services, or if donors do not keep their promises.

At the International Rescue Committee, where I lead our work in governance programming, we measure our success in terms of our impact on the lives of the people we serve. This means that we take an intersectional approach to working with local partners, including by amplifying the voices of women and girls whose lives have been affected by conflict and crisis; championing their rights to influence the issues that affect their cities, towns, and communities; and ensuring their priorities and preferences inform program design and implementation.

To create real, transformational change, we must be comfortable with power being shared, given, and even lost. Such a dramatic

If we are serious about enacting lasting and meaningful change, it is time for us to create accountability mechanisms that put people, their families, and communities at the forefront

change is likely to provoke some pushback, but to ease the transition, there are several things that people working within the humanitarian sector can do.

The sector should prioritize respecting people and communities as sources of knowledge and decision makers on issues that directly affect their lives. How do we do this in practice? One approach is to ensure a gender lens in every program, hearing directly from affected women and girls about what works best in their communities.

Humanitarian agencies should also skew donor accountability downwards. Who determines what a successful development program or project looks like? Evaluators frequently come from wealthy, western contexts, often from the donor country itself. What if we shifted to a model where the people and, in particular, women and girls from the marginalized groups we serve, make the final judgments, further influencing where future donations can be spent? This could also take the form of an independent network where representatives of refugees and internally displaced people dictate the greatest needs for their communities. This type of initiative would not only give refugees and internally displaced people a voice, but also generate direct voting and purchasing power on their behalf.

To make this work, a solidarity alliance of taxpayers or shareholders could be established to connect directly with representatives of refugees and internally displaced persons.

The donors and clients could form an alliance where the former transfer their power to the latter. This would require an overhaul of current accountability practices, where real power currently flows upward.

As we move forward in 2021, the humanitarian sector has the opportunity not only to avoid making the same mistakes, but also to chart a new course where power is developed among a new generation of leaders—including women and girls. If we are serious about enacting lasting and meaningful change, it is time for us to create accountability mechanisms that put people, their families, and communities at the forefront.

––Osofisan is senior director, governance technical unit at the International Rescue Committee.

Herders-Farmers` Crisis: Which Way Nigeria?

Emeka Nwosu urges President Buhari to issue executive orders banning open grazing and illegal possession of firearms

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n recent times, the lingering conflicts involving pastoralists and farmers in Nigeria have assumed a very dangerous dimension.

The situation has become so perilous to the extent that the fragile unity of the country is being seriously threatened. The dominant issues in the news all over the country today, unfortunately, bother on unrelenting cases of brutal killings, rape and kidnappings by marauding herdsmen who illegally graze their animals on farmlands belonging to various indigenous communities and farmers. The situation has become a deadly scourge in which no part of Nigeria is spared.

The point must be made here is that herder-farmer clashes is not a new phenomenon in the country. The problem has been with us for much of our nationhood, even if muted. But in the last six years, under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari, the crisis has become intractable with enormous potential of throwing the country into avoidable national tragedy if no immediate steps are taken to find a lasting solution to it.

There is the need for a proper contextualization of the phenomenon in order to have a better understanding of this potential time bomb that poses huge existential threat to the sovereignty of the nation. The issue of climate change has been identified as the key driver of this conflict in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa where the herder-farmer clashes have become endemic. Due to climate change, once arable lands in the northern fringes of our country and elsewhere in the Sahel have become scorched and attenuated by desertification, forcing the nomads to migrate southwards in search of greener pastures and water for their animals.

Lake Chad in the North Eastern part of our country which is shared by Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroun and Central African Republic, presents a vivid illustration of the threat which climate change has posed, and continue to pose, to the environment and economic livelihood of the people. As a result of the effects of climate change, Lake Chad has shrunk to one-third of its size.

This has displaced millions of people within and around the Lake Chad basin who depended on the Lake and its aquatic resources for survival.

The movement of the pastoralists to the South in search of grazing pastures and water for their animals brings them into conflicts with farming communities on whose lands they illegally and sometimes violently trespass to feed their herds. The indigenous farmers and communities would naturally resist the offensive actions of the herders. And this usually elicits unbridled violence and bloodshed by the herdsmen who believe that they have unchallenged right to enter and graze in any available lands.

The ugly situation has taken a horrifying dimension with the

weaponisation of the herdsmen who carry on with an air of arrogance and invincibility. They openly display assault rifles like AK-47 and other sophisticated weapons with which they commit mayhem against farmers and indigenous communities that oppose the destruction of their farmlands and property by these errant herders.

The deadly weapons in the hands of these marauding herdsmen are believed to have been smuggled in from Libya and other ungoverned spaces in the Sahel into the country through our porous borders. Libya, it will be recalled, has been locked in a civil war since the killing of the country`s leader, Col. Moumar Gadaffi 10 years ago. The war in Libya attracted mercenaries and terrorists from different parts of Africa, but particularly Islamic militants from the Sahel region.

These jihadists who are robed in deceptive languages as bandits and rustlers are believed to have taken advantage of the open border policy of the Buhari administration to move into Nigeria in their numbers and infiltrated the genuine herders. It is these battle-hardened mercenaries that are now masquerading as herdsmen. In addition to these mercenaries, there are also the roguish foreign elements from neighbouring countries who have taken advantage of the ECOWAS Protocol on transhumance to freely breach our borders. These vagrants who are armed to the teeth are fingered for most of the atrocities by herdsmen in the Middle Belt and Southern parts of the country including killings, rape, land grabbing, destruction of farmlands and kidnappings for ransom.

Only recently, the killer herdsmen were ordered by Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State to vacate the state`s forest reserves which they, the herdsmen, have turned into cattle settlements and haven for kidnappings and rape. The Governor`s directive was deliberately twisted by some sections of the elite and media in the North to give the impression that Governor Akeredolu was asking all the Fulani in Ondo State and elsewhere in the South to quit. There is also the issue of the campaign by citizen Sunday Igboho to rid Oyo, Ogun and other parts of the South West of the killer herdsmen who have become a pain in the ass of the people. The destruction of farmlands, killings, kidnappings and rape have been the same story in the Eastern part of the country where the South East Governors recently announced a ban on open grazing.

Amidst the din of cacophonous threats from the North and undisguised support for the herdsmen by the government at the centre, there appears to be a new and reassuring sense of reasoning as the Northern Governors made a U-turn a few

weeks ago by agreeing with the rest of the country that open grazing was no longer fashionable and sustainable. They are now calling on the herdsmen to embrace ranching which is global best practice and discard the archaic culture of roaming around bushes and farmlands with their animals. This is a welcome development. The governors should go a step further to provide ranching facilities for the herders in the North which boasts of two-thirds of the landmass of Nigeria.

I believe that the herder-farmer crisis would have been conclusively addressed if there was a sincerity of purpose on the part of the Buhari-led federal government. Rather, what we have seen is a Presidency that through its actions and body language has given confidence to herdsmen to become more audacious and daring in their conducts. The killer herdsmen have been rated by the World Terrorism Index as the fourth most deadly terrorist group in the world after ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. But the Buhari administration which was quick to brand IPOB, a self-determination entity a terrorist group, has continued to turn blind eyes to the atrocities of the herdsmen. Rather, they have been telling the victims of the killer herdsmen to try to find accommodation with them if they, the farming communities, must enjoy any relative peace in their ancestral homelands.

Instead of frontally confronting the herdsmen menace and calling them to order, the Buhari government has been toying with some policy initiatives aimed at pampering the herdsmen and cleverly advancing the hidden political and cultural interests of the Fulani in Nigeria. Such initiatives include the RUGA settlements which seek to distribute Fulani herders across the country, and Cattle Colonies meant to carve out exclusive reserves for the marauding herdsmen, also across the nation. Other initiatives include the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) and the Inland Waterways Bill which is pending before the National Assembly. While the NLTP is seen as a rebranded name for RUGA, the Inland Waterways Bill is widely perceived as a subtle effort on the part of the federal government to hijack lands of communities along the waterways for the Fulani herdsmen. The bill reportedly seeks to confer on the federal government exclusive ownership of lands within the radius of six kilometres.

––Dr. Nwosu, a former Political Editor of the Daily Times, wrote from Abuja.

(See concluding part of the article on www.thisdaylive.com)

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

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LETTERS

SANWO -O LU, YOUTH E MPOWERMENT A ND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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ccording to former United States Secretary General, Kofi Annan, “Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. If empowered, the youth can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished.

Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies”.

The above quote further underscores the urgent need to include the youth in active participation and partnership in order to increase the public value of the entire society.

It is obvious that when the youths are fully empowered and engaged, the overall mandate of the government will be delivered effectively and therefore dividends of democracy will be judiciously enjoyed by the people without hindrance.

Apart from Afghanistan, Africa holds the record of having 20 of the countries with the youngest population, with Nigeria occupying the 16th place. The youth population on the African continent is projected to double by 2050, which will place more stress on already strained resources for the region. With recent estimates putting 50.4% of its 170 million people below 18 years,

I

Sanwo-Olu for Nigeria, the youth indeed represents the most dynamic group in the country.

When compared with French President, Macron, who was 39 when he ascended his country’s presidency, there is no gainsaying the fact that youth in this clime still have a long way to go in terms of political leadership. Political isolation of the youth is, no doubt, a serious challenge to the country’s political development.

It is from this perspective that one heartily views the passion of Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola

Sanwo-Olu, for youth empowerment, especially in the political space. His cabinet is a mixture of experienced hands with young and promising folks. Quite visible in the current Lagos State Executive Council are youths with dazzling pedigree, who provide needed impetus galvanising the ‘Greater Lagos’ vision of the administration.

Prominent among them are the Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Ruth Bisola Olusanya, Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo Onaolapo, Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake and

Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Solape Hammond.

The common cliché that youths are leaders of tomorrow is no longer in tune with present day reality. The truth is that what becomes of tomorrow is determined by what happens today. So, the more everyone grasps the fact that the youths are really the leaders of today and not tomorrow, the better for all. Looking at the example of the younger members of the Sanwo-Olu cabinet, one is bound to reaffirm that the future is now.

Fortunately, they have not disappointed as they cover themselves in glory through trail-blazing performance.

In order to further harness the peculiar talent of youth in the State, Governor Sanwo-Olu has prioritised youth empowerment in the State’s 2021 budget. The budget was carefully designed to meet the aspirations of the teeming youth by focusing on sectors with job creating potential like agriculture, construction, technology and security.

The aim is to improve the economic conditions and social safety needed for the youth and all hardworking Lagosians to flourish. Resources will be committed to sectors that need to grow for the youth to become selfreliant and economically empowered.

IN PRAISE OF ABDALLAH ADAMU

will begin by thanking Almighty God for allowing us to witness the successful five-year tenure by our father, mentor and a professor of two disciplines, Professor Abdallah Uba Adamu.

Professor Adamu was appointed Vice-Chancellor of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in February 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was great to have an academic amazon from Daneji Quarters in the ancient city of Kano as vice-chancellor of a university like NOUN with over 5,000 students.

Upon his appointment, Prof Adamu realised that the university itself was considered more of a regional than a national institution. His first move was to nationalise it by ensuring that all the six principal officers of the university come from the six geo-political zones of the country. This is the only university with this administrative structure.

He relocated the head-

quarters of the university from Lagos to Abuja. He also built numerous study centres across Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country.

Prof. Adamu re-built the university’s FM station in Lagos to broadcast programmes like any other FM station in the country.

Before becoming the VC, all students’ books and materials were produced from outside the university, which cost a large amount of money. Consequently, he set up the University Printing press to cut cost.

He has improved the school’s internet system so that students can read and undertake researches on various disciplines with relative ease.

During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, NOUN was the only university conducting online Pen-on-Paper examination using artificial Intelligence software that detects cheating. The students did the examinations at home without going to any study center.

Professor Adamu found a mosque at the university’s headquarters in Abuja already built by the contractors building the university. To show his liberal attitude, when the Christian community asked for a place of worship, he allocated lands to the Protestant and Catholics for them to build their churches. Thus, one of his greatest efforts was to unite the staff of the university by working together without any discrimination based on race, religion or ethnicity.

The immediate past VC also collaborated with other major universities in the world to improve the academic system at NOUN. Adamu built a media centre for the university at its Jabi headquarters in Abuja. He encouraged politicians to use their constituency projects to build the centres.

Recently, he led a team of some university officials to Kano and commissioned 16-study centres built by three politicians, 13 by

Senator Barau Jibril in his Senatorial District, two by Hon. Aminu Suleiman in Fagge and Kwaciri, and the biggest and most impressive of all, the one by Hon. Mustapha Bala Mai Gidan Ruwa at Dawakin Kudu.

In fact, it is better than many universities, yet it is only a study centre. Other places he fought for study centres include Katsina, Jigawa, Delta, Ondo and Edo States.

As he ended his tenure successfully, may Almighty God choose a better place for him in the future, bless and reward him for the good services he rendered to his Fatherland. For students who learn English as a course, NOUN means names of persons, places or things, but for AU Adamu as the Vice-Chancellor, NOUN means work. He has devoted his life, time and energy to ensure NOUN becomes work.

–– Hassan Auwalu Muhammad, Dept of mass communication, Bayero University, Kano.

A pivotal crux of the 2021 budget will be the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture among the youth. In light of this, micro, small and medium enterprises will be strengthened because their activities help to facilitate socio-economic advancement. A lot has been done to support the entrepreneurial aspiration of youth in the state through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF). In the coming year, more will be done by providing technical and financial support so that they can in turn generate employment that will stimulate equitable economic prosperity.

In order to utilise the skill of the youth in Information Technology (IT) for accelerated economic growth and job creation, the government will collaborate with major players in that space like Oracle, Microsoft and Google to prepare the youths for the IT job market. All these will be achieved through the cumulative budgetary provision of N148.57billionearmarked for human capital development.

It is a universal reality that any nation that denies its youth the necessary enabling environment to enthusiastically participate in nation-building does so at its own peril. This is, perhaps, why many have posited that the large population of idle youths in the country is partly responsible for high rate of negative activities such as kidnapping, raping, ritual killing, insurgency, militancy among others in the country.

Since nature abhors vacuum, idle youths would naturally expend their bursting and dynamic youthful energy on other areas, no matter

how volatile.

Without a doubt, youth are the foundation of any society. Their energies, inventiveness, character and orientation define the pace of development and security of a nation.

Through their creative talents and labour power, a nation makes giant strides in economic development and socio-political attainments. In their dreams and hopes, a nation finds her motivation; in their energies, she builds her vitality and purpose. And because of their dreams and aspirations, the future of a nation is assured.

Hence, it is quite reassuring that the Sanwo-Olu administration is desirous of improving the lots of youth in the state.

Nation-building is a dynamic process involving all segments of the society, including the often-overlooked and undermined youth population that will provide an invaluable resource for the progress of any society as well as its development. As youth are brought into and connected with national issues and programmes (they have oftentimes been ignored/excluded), they can participate actively and contribute to decision-making at multiple levels.

As youths are engaged in more sustained positive relationships with adults, other youths, and national development programmes, apart from realizing that they are valued citizens of their nations, such collaborations and participation may lead to skill enhancement, empowerments and confidence-building, which will help prepare them for active involvement in nation-building.

––Oluwatoyosi Ogunrinde, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

An Appeal to Governor Sanwo-Olu

I

thank the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the new Pen Cinema Bridge constructed for us and officially opened by the governor on 5th March, 2021. The Oba Ogunji Road the new bridge joins also received attention, giving the road an expressway look. But the joy of this beautiful infrastructure also comes with some fear.

That's why I am using this medium to beg the governor to please put into consideration the plight of many residents of different estates located

within the vicinity of the bridge and road, many of whom are elderly, feeble, or with other health challenges, who make use of the road, and have to take the risk of crossing the wide road for various daily activities. Also, for our children and wards who go to school or go on errands for the homes from time to time.

If this request is granted, it will reduce the risk of accidents and fatalities that could arise when crossing the road.

––Damian C. Odoemena, Agege, Lagos

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

16

NEWS

News Editor: Gboyega Akinsanmi E-mail: ÑÌÙãÏÑ˲ËÕÓØÝËØ×Ó̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט͸΀͹ͽͺͻͽ΁ͺͽͻ

After Vaccination, Nigeria Records 80% Drop in COVID-19 Death

774 fatalities recorded in three months Tomori, Ujah, Olulani dispute regression in death cases

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The number of fatalities resulting from COVID-19 has dropped from 86 to 17 cases per week between February 20 and March 20, weekly tallies of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have revealed.

In aggregate, according to NCDC’s data analysed by THISDAY, no fewer than 774 fatalities were recorded between December 27 and March 20, accounting for about 38.13% of total death cases in the country.

These tallies are evident in NCDC’s weekly reports showing the reported laboratoryconfirmed COVID-19 cases, recoveries, deaths, samples tested and active cases state by state.

As shown in separate reports, there was about 50.87% progression between December 27 and February 13 with 499 death cases recorded during the second wave of the pandemic.

Before vaccination took off on March 6, according to NCDC’s tallies, marginal regression was reported across all the states of the federation.

On February 20, about 2.33% regression was reported; 20.93% on February 27; 27.9% on March 6, the very day President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination.

After the national rollout of the vaccines, NCDC’s tallies revealed a major drop in the cases of fatalities with 48.83% regression on March 13 and 80.23% on March 20.

However, according to medical experts, it is not clear whether the administration of COVID-19 vaccines is responsible for the regression in fatalities.

On the ground of uncertainty, the experts disputed the regression that death cases alone were not sufficient to determine whether there was a drop or not.

A Professor of Virology, Prof.

Oyewale Tomori and the ViceChancellor of Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo, Prof.

Innocent Ujah suggested the need to compare the number of tests conducted and positive cases to determine whether there was regression.

Of 43,016 tested cases between March 14 and 20, the tallies revealed that only 1,080 were confirmed; 80,014 tested between March 7 and 13 with 2122 confirmed cases; 40,634 tested between February 28 with 2,878 confirmed cases and March 6 and 57,902 tested between February 21 and 27 with 3,583 confirmed cases.

Also, 64,520 samples were tested between February 14 and 20 with 5,720 confirmed cases within the same period; 23,408 tested between February 7 and 13 with 6,606 confirmed cases; 24,556 tested between January 31 and February 6 with 9,940 confirmed cases; 24,667 tested between January 24 and 30 while 9,676 tested.

The NCDC put the number of tests conducted between January 17 and 23 at 22,834 while confirmed cases at 11,179 at the same timeframe; 19,635 tested between January 10 and 17 with 10,300 confirmed cases; 18,699 tested between January 3 and 9 with 9,940 confirmed and finally 13,792 tested between December 27 and January 2 with 5,733 confirmed cases However, medical experts and social campaigners disputed reports that the country had been witnessing regressing in

the cases of COVID-19 fatalities during the second wave of the pandemic.

Speaking on the regression of COVID-19 fatalities, Tomori noted that vaccination “has nothing to do with the drop.

We started witnessing the drop before the vaccination.”

He, also, emphasised the need “to check the testing records within the timeframe.

Are we testing as much as we tested in January or February?

What number of tests are we conducting now?

“These are important to determine the decline in death cases.

If we are testing 1,000 before and we are now testing 100, of course the number of positive cases will drop. The number of positive cases and fatalities always go together.”

More importantly, Tomori raised questions on what could be responsible for the upsurge in the number of fatalities recorded between December 27 and February 13.

He suggested that it could be that people “are reporting late to the hospitals. In most cases, people mistook COVID-19 for malaria. Before they get to the hospitals, they are very close to death because they are reporting late to the hospital.

“There is an assumption in Nigeria that there is no COVID-19. If some people share this perception and they are having malaria-like symptoms, they will die before they get to know it is COVID. “Part of the upsurge could be due to late reporting to the hospital. If somebody dies in

his house, the hospital will not know. There are other hospitals that are not involved in COVID-19 testing. If people who are infected die in such hospitals, the government will not know.

“In other countries, they actually test case samples from the dead to ascertain how many of them die of COVID-19. But then, we have to get good reports of deaths. But we do not have that in Nigeria. These are the factors that are involved.”

Ujah, a former DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), warned that it might not be very simplistic “to say that the number is declining.”

He rhetorically asked: “What we need to do is to know the number of tests that are

contested? From the tests, we know the number of cases that are positive. Then, we can get the percentage and look at the trend.

“Looking at the trend this way is simple and it appears that the cases of fatalities are declining. But how many tests are conducted per day to determine whether fatalities are declining? That is scientific. It is not about politics.

“It is not about perception, neither is it about impression.

I do not agree that the cases are declining. We know the number of tests conducted and then get the percentage of positive cases,” Ujah argued.

Convener, Health and Wellness Forum, Pastor Ayodeji Olulani provided two radical explanations for the regression in the number of fatalities recorded between February 20 and March 20, though his explanations were not supported with incontrovertible evidence.

Olulani, first, pointed out that the decline might be as a result of immunity the people had developed against the virus in Nigeria and in other African states.

He, also, observed that since regression started before vaccination took off on March 6, it could be that people had found alternative methods to orthodox treatment.

Olulani, therefore, noted that the position of Health and Wellness Forum “has always been that we have inbuilt immunity against COVID-19 in Nigeria.

“So, it did not have as much effect on us as it did on Americans and Europeans. Since the vaccines do not prevent infection, most people lost confidence in it. Rather than relying on it, they look for alternative means to treat the virus or avoid being infected,” he said.

Cargo Airport: Land Owners Threaten Contempt Action against Ogun Govt Tobi Soniyi

The Orubo Family of Iperu Remo, owner of the swatch of land where the Ogun State Government is currently building a cargo airport have threatened to invoke the disciplinary jurisdiction of the court to stop further work on the project.

In an open letter to the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun written by their lawyer, Mr. Babatunde Oshilaja, the family said their land had not been legally acquired by the state government and therefore could not commence any work on the land.

The letter read: “Without any prior statutory notice as required

by Section 44 of extant Land Use Act, nor payment of any compensation to the Orubo Family and the other interests’ holders on the land as guaranteed

by Section 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) Governor Gbenga Daniel deluded himself into announcing with gusto, the alleged and illegal purported revocation of my clients’ farmland in Iperu – Remo.”

The family said that in exercising their right of ownership they

sold portions of the land to third parties and executed a certificate of surrender of their Deemed Right of Occupancy on the portions sold.

The family said that they would ask the court to order cessation of further contemptuous construction activities and the immediate and unconditional removal of all building/construction equipment and personnel from the land.

While admonishing the governor to act in accordance with the oath of his office, the family expressed concerns at “recent trespassory acts and unlawful and illegal developments by officials’ of the Ogun State Government with particular reference to the Agro-Cargo Airport.

They also reminded the governor that the land in question is located in Iperu and not Ilishan and erroneously stated in a statement by the state government.

Penultimate week, the familyprotested in Iperu calling on the governor to compensate them in line with the Land Use Act. While protesting at the governor’s house in Iperu, the family said while they were not against acquiring their land for

the airport, they deserved to be compensated.

The head of the family, Alhaji Waidi Alaka, said they inherited the land from their forefathers and looked forward to handing over the land to their children.

The land in dispute is a large expanse of farmland lying and being at Iperu, along IperuIlishan Road, Ogun State measuring approximately 136.070 Hectares (336.2 Acres) including 9.674 Hectares (23.90 Acres).

During the protest, members of the community among them elderly men and women besieged the governor’s residence in Iperu, and from there marched to the disputed land carrying placards with various inscriptions.

Some of the inscriptions read ‘Governor Abiodun please come to our rescue’, ‘Our Land Is All We Have Left’, ‘Our Support For Government Should Not Be a Curse to Us’, ‘Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development Respect Court Judgement’ among others.

They also exhibited a copy of an Ogun State High Court judgment which they said

declared them the rightful owners of the land.

Alaka, who read a prepared speech at the airport site alleged that there was an ongoing illegal clearance with caterpillars and stampeding planting of survey pillars on their family land for the cargo airport by the Surveyor General of Ogun State.

He wondered why government desired to take over their land when no notice of revocation had been issued on any portion of the farmland nor was any compensation paid as mandated by Section 44 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended).

He said ‘’up to the time of issuing this statement, the government of Ogun State under Governor Gbenga Daniel or any other subsequent administrations of Ogun State never issued, nor served on Orubo family or any of its members any prior notice of revocation of our deemed statutory/customary right of occupancy on any part or portion of our farmland including the portions sold to the three companies aforesaid for their alleged Cargo Airport

as enacted by statutory law in Section 44 of the Land Use Act nor was any compensation paid as contained in Section 44 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended).”

According to him, Orubo family’s progenitor named Odubiro who was a hunter and prominent leader of Lopere military society migrated from Ile-Ife as a refugee from slave traders and settled in the vast area of land as a hunter and private soldier and he successfully held and defended the eastern boundary of Iperu-Remo during the 19th Century Kutujen War of Iperu-Remo.

Alaka stated that the Orubo family had enjoyed ownership of the statutory and customary rights of occupancy on the farmland for centuries adding that part of the land was sold jointly to Beauty Fair Laboratories Nigeria Limited and Sophisticat Nigeria Limited and another 13.546 (33.473 Acres) to Skin Beauty Limited respectively.

According to him, after the sale of portions of the Orubo farmland to the three companies, the head of Orubo family on May 21, 1999 executed a Certificate of Surrender

of a Deemed Right of Occupancy in favour of the companies and same was approved by then Permanent Secretary/Director General Bureau of Lands, Survey and Town Planning.

Besides, he said the family is in possession of the judgement of an Ogun state high court, delivered on October 10, 2011

by Justice N.I Saula in suit NO HCS/123/2002 Ope Osu & others Vs Jonathan Famodu & others confirmed that the land being cleared belonged to Orubo family.

The court had declared that from the totality of the evidence before the court, the plaintiffs proved their entitlement to a deemed land of occupancy over the land Orubo farm being Iperu along Iperu Ilishan road.

Justice Saula in his judgment held that ‘’no glaring evidence of government acquisition of the land in dispute was placed before the court. None of the defendant’s witnesses was able to produce the notice of revocation of the right to the land’’.

The family urged governor Abiodun to intervene in the matter and come to their rescue.

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

S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL like Sweden (663), China (589), Japan (524) and South Africa (436). The value of share and that of unicorns, which speak to the financials of these startups are of course, much lower in Nigeria. With a population of around 8.5 million, Israel also has the largest number of startups per capita in the world. But what the ranking of Nigeria regarding the number of startups shows is the potential for growth in a sector that started just about 12 years ago.

Today, THISDAY begins to profile some of these change agents, who

represent the future of Nigeria in the tech world…

In the course of his state visit to Nigeria in August 2000, then American President, Mr. Bill Clinton addressed a forum of business leaders in Abuja, where he spoke about Nigeria’s past and made projections about the future. “Now, if you have ideas and imagination, the information technology has virtually collapsed the meaning of distance, and it's made the human mind and ideas even more important than riches in the ground. So, what does that mean? What does it mean for you? What does it mean for us?” asked Clinton, who enjoined Nigerian authorities to place less emphasis on the extractive industries (especially oil and gas) and focus more on education for their young citizens, citing examples from India. In the powerful speech punctuated with humour, it was almost as if Clinton saw the future that is now set upon Nigeria.

Without any institutional support, Odunayo Eweniyi, Sim Shagaya, Neto Ikpeme, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Vivian Nwakah and several others have keyed into this knowledge economy, which places emphasis on the power of human imagination to create business opportunities through new entrepreneurship models that are anchored on knowhow. More remarkable is that there are inspiring stories behind many of these start-ups.

Olamide Orekunrin, a United Kingdom-based medical practitioner established ‘Flying Doctors Nigeria’ following the loss of her sister, who could not be quickly airlifted from the country for prompt medical attention abroad, Temie Giwa-Tubosun started ‘LifeBank’ to institutionalise blood donation in Nigeria after delivering a premature baby in the United States and Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola returned from MIT to see mountains of filth in her beloved Lagos and decided to do something about it with ‘WeCyclers’.

That these young Nigerians are deploying technology to provide solutions to everyday problems and in the process creating wealth has shown quite clearly that they are ready to be active players in, and contributors to, this age of knowledge. Indeed, the future of Nigeria can be glimpsed from the skills, knowledge and capabilities that are now being seen in these young women and men in the tech ecosystem.

But there is also a message here: That these talents should not allow be allowed to waste or be shipped to another country, as a result of the Nigerian operating environment that could be hostile to innovation and creativity.

Promoting a healthy digital economy takes efforts and with the potentials being demonstrated, government (at all levels) must support these players through a more robust regulatory environment. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken the lead in this direction with the establishment of a Tech Sandbox in 2019. Last year, CBN followed up with the release of a draft framework. The idea is for a more formalised process for firms and startups to conduct live tests of all-new, innovative products, services, delivery channels or business models. The CBN must be commended for being forward-thinking!

Meanwhile, the venture capital (VC) scene across the African continent has consistently grown, with an influx of funding from local and international investors reaching unprecedented heights in recent years.

From a meagre $400 million raised by African startups in 2015, no less than $2 billion came into the continent in 2019, according to Africafocused fund Partech Africa. And Nigeria has consistently remained the top destination followed by Kenya, Egypt and South Africa in that order.

Against the background that the story started just about a decade ago, when Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe ventured into what is gradually becoming a goldmine, it is now clear that knowledge rather than oil is the future of Nigeria. With BudgIT, Seun Onigbindo is putting in the public domain information that helps the people to understand how their money is being spent (or wasted) and in the process reducing public sector corruption. With Agribiz4Africa, Fatima Oyiza Ademoh is rebranding agriculture as a feasible, lucrative and honourable profession that is not restricted to any gender. At Metro Africa Express (MAX), Adetayo Bamiduro and Chinedu Azodoh are using the power of technology and creative thinking to deliver goods even in chaotic cities.

It is very remarkable that within just a decade of the knowledge economy in the country, many of Nigeria’s young men and women have broken through barriers to emerge very quickly with Apps and services not only for the Nigerian market but also for the continent. Many have also extended their reach beyond the continent and are now global players. The enduring lesson from their endeavour is that with greater application of knowledge, things much smarter, much more efficiently, and much more productively can be done.

Odunayo Eweniyi A serial entrepreneur, Odunayo Eweniyi co-founded pushcv.com and is now the Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest which she also co-founded.

Pushcv.com is one of the largest job sites in Africa reputed with the biggest database of pre-screened candidates. A first class graduate of Computer Engineering from Covenant University in Lagos, Eweniyi through Piggyvest enables Nigerian debit cardholders to save little amounts of money by automating the process into daily, weekly, or monthly. These individuals are then allowed to withdraw for free on some set withdrawal dates. It is a testimony to its growth trajectory that Piggyvest is already in partnership with two Microfinance banks.

In 2019, Eweniyi was named one of Forbes Africa 30 under 30 in Technology and one of 30 Quartz Africa Innovators same year. She sits on the advisory board of TrainFuture, an Education Technology company based in Switzerland, as well as the Gender Lens Acceleration Best Practices Initiative, a collaborative effort of Village Capital, US and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WeFi).

Sim Shagaya After the success of Konga Store and DealDey, both of which he founded, Sim Shagaya in 2019 went into another startup, uLesson which has already secured over $3.1 million in funding from TLcom Capital. uLesson is currently the leading edtech (Education Technology) startup company for digitalized learning. Sim graduated from George Washington University, Washington DC and holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Electrical Engineering. He proceeded to obtain a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from Dartmouth College and later obtained an MBA from Harvard University in 2003.

Aimed at helping secondary school students in Nigeria to prepare for higher education, uLesson, is working on bridging the knowledge gap for K-7 to K-12 students across Africa by delivering affordable, high-quality and accessible education, using technology. Africa, according to Shagaya, “is not one place. Different needs, cultures, and curricula mean that uLesson has to carefully and deliberately think about how to design products and distribution channels to serve such a vast market. Almost daily we receive emails from families across the continent asking us to make services available to them. And in 2021, we will.”

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji With $15 million seed capital, Flutterwave co-founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji recently raised $170 million and currently has $1 billion valuation.

Aboyeji, who became the CEO of Flutterwave in 2017 led the company in four years using its payment platform to empower people across the continent to execute business on global scale, processing in the process billions of dollars in transactions. Prior to Flutterwave, Aboyeji had cofounded Andela, with a pool of more than a thousand software engineers across the continent. Aboyeji now heads Fund for Africa’s Future where he spends time helping founders, philanthropists and investors from around the world to identify passionate and result-oriented entrepreneurs. Winner of several awards, Aboyeji also sits on the board of several institutions including Paris’ Share Africa Project, Rainbow Educational Services Limited and Filmo Realty. “We’re moving from a globalised economy to a distributed economy. This means that anyone can build anything from anywhere in the world. This requires an Africa that’s structured and thinking differently about the global economy,” says Aboyeji who is 30 today.

Yanmo Omorogbe Omorogbe is the Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer at Bamboo. Before Continued on page 18

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

S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL founding Bamboo, she was an Investment Associate at the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). The mission of the startup is to give Nigerians a means for growing and earning returns on their investments. Bamboo’s app gives users access to buy and sell stocks of about 3,000 companies. The company partners with DriveWealth LLC, a US brokerage firm, to facilitate its trades.

Ire Aderinokun Ire Aderinokun is currently the Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Engineering of BuyCoins, a cryptocurrency exchange for Africa. She is a Google Expert, specialising in the core frontend technologies HTML, CSS, and Javascript, but is passionate about all aspects of technology.

electronic transaction switching and payment processing platform. The payment platform handles billions of dollars yearly, supporting millions of forward thinking businesses and individuals who trust that their financial transactions would be taken care of by eTranzact daily.

It has today evolved into a brand with global reach, extending its innovative services to include products which cut across virtually all aspects of the e-payment space; ATM, Internet, POS, and Mobile. The company was founded in 2003 and currently has operations in South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cote d’voire and United Kingdom.

Obi has an extensive experience in Information Technology industry and has served in various capacities both locally and internationally. Obi developed and designed the award winning (2003 Computerworld Honors award) e-business platform of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Olugbenga Agboola Prior to cofounding Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola contributed to the development of fintech solutions at several tech companies and financial institutions such as PayPal, Standard Bank, among others. Established in 2016 by a team of engineers, ex-bankers, and entrepreneurs, Flutterwave provides a seamless and easy payment system to individuals, banks, merchants, organizations, etc. Their payment solution connects Africa to the global economy by building a fintech infrastructure that can make and accept any currency anywhere within and across the continent.

Founded essentially to connect all payment types in the continent and bring a single-use payment solution, Flutterwave has expanded to 15 countries, including the United Kingdom. With headquarters in San Francisco, USA, and offices in Lagos-Nigeria, Johannesburg-South Africa, Accra-Ghana, and Nairobi-Kenya, Flutterwave has over 50 banks partnering with them across Africa. In 2019 alone, the fintech processed 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion. The company has also raised over $55 million in equity from a long list of top VCs (Venture Capitalists), including Y-Combinator, Visa Ventures, Fintech (Financial Technology) Collective, Endeavor, Mastercard, Golden Palm Investments etc.

A software engineer with a master’s degree in information technology security and behavioral engineering, Agboola is positioning Flutterwave as a global brand with Nigerian origin.

Yele Bademosi Bademosi is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bundle, the Africa-focused social payments app for cash and crypto. He is focused on developing the blockchain ecosystem in Africa, accelerating Africa’s transition into a sustainable and developed economy by leveraging capital, innovation and policy. He is a Founding Partner at Microtraction, which funds Africa’s most remarkable teams at early-stage startups across multiple sectors including finance and cryptocurrency.

Kunmi Demuren Demuren is the Co-Founder at Venture Garden Group. He has over 15 years’ experience driving innovation, global strategy and rainmaking business development in the tech ecosystems in emerging markets.

Venture Garden Group (VGG) is one of the leading providers of innovative, datadriven, end-to-end technology platforms addressing reconciliation and payment processing inefficiencies across multiple sectors of the African economy. Its mission is to transform Africa by using innovative technologies to solve real socio-economic challenges in impact sectors critical to sustainable economic development. It is in the energy, healthcare, education, aviation, financial services and social services sectors.

Salisu Abdullahi

Darlington Onyeagoro Darlington is the Co-Founder/CEO of Aladdin Digital Bank. The company is a digital open bank that seamlessly combines banking and commerce. On Aladdin, customers can save, borrow, make payments and get rewarded for saving. Aladdin supports different kinds of savings such as fixed savings and target savings.

Darlington has over 10 years of retail, microfinance banking and fintech experience. He has passion for process improvement, the fintech Startup space, software prototyping, creating practical innovative solutions to solve life's everyday problems. He is also a Learning facilitator and design consultant with experience in Curriculum design, Class Room Based Training (Soft Skills & Microsoft Office Suites) and ELearning courseware development using Articulate Storyline.

Abdullahi is the Co-founder and CEO, eTrash2Cash. The company is a social enterprise that helps low income people in Nigeria exchange all their wastes for cash incentives. Through that, it raises grassroots awareness on environmental sustainability and climate change. With this solution, all wastes collected are reprocessed and recycled into reusable materials that are environmentally friendly and sustainable. For instance, food wastes are recycled into organic compost for use by smallholder farmers, and the recycling of plastic wastes into plastic lumber, which reduces deforestation, and mitigates the effects of greenhouse gasses, which causes climate change.

Babs Ogundeyi Valentine Obi Obi is the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of e-Tranzact International Limited. e-Tranzact is Nigeria's multi-application, multi-channel

Babs Ogundeyi is the CEO and Co-founder of Kuda Bank, Nigeria’s first fullservice digital-only bank licensed by the central bank with a mission to make banking more accessible and affordable.

The company recently raised $25 million additional funding in its drive Continued on page 19

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S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL to become the neobank for all Africans around the world. The funding, in a ‘Series A’ was led by Valar Ventures, the firm co-founded and backed by Peter Thiel, with Target Global.

Last November, the company closed a $10m seed-funding round led by Target Global – the largest-ever seed round raised by a startup from Africa.

Kuda had also raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding in the UK in 2019.

Ogundeyi has strong expertise in the financial services sector, having previously spent years auditing and advising some of Africa’s biggest banks.

As Special Adviser on Finance to the Governor of Oyo State, he used his considerable private sector knowledge to raise the largest infrastructural bond in the state’s history.

John Obaro Founded in 1992 with the aim of developing human capital management and financial software solutions, SystemSpecs Limited has emerged as a household name and pioneer of the software industry in Nigeria and Africa, with almost three decades of providing robust solutions to individuals, corporate organisations – small, medium and large, and governments at state and federal levels in Nigeria.

The country became popular with the creation of the Remita electronic payment solution to power the federal government’s Treasury Single Account.

In addition to being the founder and Managing Director of SystemSpecs Limited, John Obaro is a fellow of the Centre for African Policy Development and Research, Glasgow, Scotland; a fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); an ex-member of the Governing Council of Computers Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body; and a past first Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON).

Having enjoyed a successful career with International Merchant Bank (IMB), John Obaro founded SystemSpecs as a West African Partner to Systems Union, UK, offering the SunSystems suite of solutions.

Oyiza Ademoh’s interest in renewable energy and agriculture. “I grew up in an environment where neighboring rural communities are deprived of access to modern energy services. However, most of these communities grow the foods that fed the population.

Owing to lack of access to modern energy services, the farmers in these communities lack the capacity to add value to their farm produce and in most cases perishable farm produce get spoilt when the market for such produce is not immediately available” Fatima says of what inspired her interventions in agriculture and renewable energy. “Absence of electricity has also denied the people access to clean water, quality education, and healthcare services.

Because of absence of electricity, robbers, under the cover of darkness, threaten the security of many communities. This bitter scenario of energy poverty I witnessed has engraved the interest in tackling energy poverty in my heart.”

Eloho Omame Gihan-Mbelu As co-founder of FirstCheck Africa, Eloho Omame believes in the massive but underleveraged potential of the next generation of female founders. In 2018, she launched Endeavor Nigeria, an entrepreneurship network for high-impact founders leading high-growth technology companies at the scaleup stage.

A year earlier, Omame had collaborated with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund to conceptualise and build Lagos Innovates, a portfolio of startup support programme. With experience spanning over 15 years in investment banking across European and African markets, Omame is deploying her expertise in finance to help companies at all stages, including startups.

Omame holds a first degree in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science and a master’s in Business Administration from the London Business School. She is a board member at Endeavor Nigeria, an advisory board member at Utopia Lagos, and Chair of the finance & capital sub-committee of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund’s MSME Recovery Fund. Along with Eweniyi, Omame is working to advance equity, capital and leadership for a generation of women in Africa through technology and entrepreneurship.

Mitchell Elegbe Elegbe is the Group Managing Director of Interswitch, which is one of Nigeria’s leading technology-driven digital payments companies. The company has helped in shaping the payments ecosystem across Africa’s growing e-commerce sector. For instance, Interswitch’s broad network and robust payments platform have been instrumental to the development of the Nigerian payments ecosystem and that provided Interswitch with credibility to expand across Africa.

Today, Interswitch is a leading player with critical mass in Africa’s rapidly developing financial ecosystem and is active across the payments value chain, providing a full suite of omni-channel payment solutions. It is responsible for establishing Nigeria's first transaction and switching infrastructure, paving the way for payment acceptance across the country. Before establishing Interswitch in 2002, Elegbe worked with TELNET as the Group Head for Business Development after an impactful time as a Wireline Engineer at Schlumberger.

Neto Ikpeme Dr. Ikpeme Neto is an internal medicine physician turned health technology entrepreneur with business and healthcare experience spanning four continents.

He left a thriving clinical practice as a doctor in 2015 to found companies and products that have gone on to improve the health and wellbeing of thousands of people on the continent. His startup, Wellahealth, was in 2019 selected for and completed the prestigious Techstars accelerator programme in the United States of America. With several international awards to his name, Ikpeme is passionate about the power of individuals to effect lasting societal change via entrepreneurship. Initially an e-health startup focusing on pharmacy automation, WellaHealth now offers affordable healthcare coverage to protect families from the financial shock that comes from unexpected health emergencies.

Temie Giwa-Tubosun Fatima Oyiza Ademoh With a BSc in Finance from the American University of Nigeria and an MSc in Financial Risk Management from the University of Leeds, the 2016 experience as a Mandela Washington Fellow at the University of California fired Fatima

In February 2014 Ms. Temi Giwa-Tubosun’s delivered a premature baby in a hospital in Minnesota, United States. She describes the delivery process as “complicated and harrowing.” The experience led her to reflect on the plight of Continued on page 20

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S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL many other Nigerian women not so fortunate to travel abroad to have a baby.

Two years later, she founded LifeBank, a logistics company that collects blood from registered blood banks and delivers it to patients in hospitals.

Celebrated at home and abroad as an epitome of social entrepreneurship, Giwa-Tubosun is using a business model to solve a major social problem. She has been featured in international media and has met some of the world’s richest persons, including Chinese billionaire and founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, as well as Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. When Zuckerberg visited Nigeria in 2016, just after LifeBank launched, he said: “This is a thing [LifeBank] that needs to exist. If she can actually pull it off, she'll show a model that will impact not just Lagos, not just Nigeria, but countries all around the world."

Vivian Nwakah Medsaf is a tech-enabled medication supply chain management solution for hospitals and pharmacies established by Vivian Nwakah who grew up in Chicago, United States. Her first venture in Nigeria was a renewable energy company, focused on hybrid diesel solar installations. However, she returned to the healthcare field after witnessing the widespread issue of fake medication in Nigeria firsthand. The goal of Medsaf is to reduce preventable death and streamline the pharmaceutical industry.

Anike Lawal An accomplished consultant as well, Anike Lawal founded Mamalette to help women in Africa through pregnancy and childcare. In just eight years of its launch in 2013, Mamalette has reached no fewer than four million parents on the continent and the platform encompasses tutorials, expert panels and competitions. It has a thriving online community of over 300,000 followers.

The main focus of Mamalette is to improve health outcomes for expectant and new mothers who are vulnerable or socially marginalised while simultaneously providing employment opportunities for women generally.

Lawal’s own experience of managing her career alongside childcare were a direct inspiration for the platform. She explained: “It was a very new and confusing phase of my life and I found that balancing motherhood with my career was almost impossible. I launched Mamalette to help other mothers in the same situation.”

Once the platform began to flourish, Lawal realised the extent of the challenges that African mothers face during pregnancy and childbirth. “One in five children in Nigeria never reach the age of five,” she said. “From my interactions with other mothers I realised this was an area where I could help.

I brought my consulting experience to bear by doing research in the field and conducting focus groups about how mothers experience the healthcare system in the country. That allowed me to understand what the problems and issues were and it focused my work towards solving them.”

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola Co-founded in 2012 using low-cost cargo bicycles as a brainchild of Bilikss Adebiyi-Abiola, WeCyclers offers waste collection and recycling services to informal settlements in Lagos State. More than 5,000 households have already signed up for the service and there are plans to extend the initiative to other cities throughout Nigeria. Bilikiss sees huge potential in this sector, with Nigeria’s recycling plants in dire need of end products. While WeCyclers directly employs 52 staff with indirect jobs for thousands of low-income earners, Bilikiss believes that if properly harnessed, the Nigerian recycling sector could create 500,000 jobs.

Bilikiss initially developed the idea for her business in the United States while studying at the MIT Sloan School of Management. This followed a five-year career as a corporate software engineer at IBM where she gained invaluable business and technology experience. Whilst at MIT, she was assigned to a study project aimed at finding solutions to help people at the bottom of the social pyramid.

As a part of the process, residents are offered an incentive for collecting their household waste, which is picked up for free by Wecyclers using specially adapted bicycles. To create incentives among low-income households to participate, rewards are given to them for every kilogramme recycled, via points sent by SMS. These points are then redeemable against goods they value, such as cell phone minutes or basic food items. The rewards have been funded in partnership with big brands such as Coca Cola and GlaxoSmithKline.

Olamide Orekunrin Born, raised and trained in the United Kingdom, Orekunrin graduated as one of the youngest medical doctors in England. She is also a trainee helicopter pilot. Determined to improve the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria, she set up Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first and only full air ambulance service in the sub-region. Since then, she has successfully steered the company upwards in achieving its corporate goals and ensuring sustained growth. Quick reaction times are fundamental to the 28-year-old trauma doctor. The young British-Nigerian doctor is the founder and managing director of Flying Doctors Nigeria Ltd London-born Orekunrin was inspired to launch the company in the aftermath of a tragedy that struck her family while she was in medical school in Britain.

Her 12-year-old sister was on holiday in Nigeria and unexpectedly needed emergency treatment. The nearest clinic wasn’t able to treat her. The family scrambled to find an air ambulance to move her to an appropriate facility, but the quickest available service was several away in South Africa. Her sister had died by the time it was available.

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S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL

Shola Akinlade Akinlade is the co-founder and CEO of Paystack, one of the disrupters making bold move to change the face of Nigeria’s payment system. Paystack is a modern payments platform that allows Nigerian merchants to receive funds from anyone, anywhere in the world. In October last year, Stripe, an American financial services and software company acquired Paystack in a deal estimated to be about $200 million. Paystack is a growth engine for modern businesses in Africa. The Paystack platform serves over 17,000 businesses, and process over 15 per cent of all online payments in Nigeria.

Chijioke Dozie Chijioke Dozie is a co-Founder and CEO of Carbon, formerly Paylater. He was previously an Investment Analyst at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) responsible for sourcing investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to IFC, Chijioke worked with Zephyr Management LP in the US and South Africa. Carbon Finance & Investments Limited is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It empowers individuals with credit, simple payments solutions, high-yield investment opportunities, and easy-touse tools for personal financial management.

Its Founders, Chijioke Dozie and Ngozi Dozie, Developed Carbon as a digital bank made for Africans. Carbon began operations in 2012 and within the space of six years, it grew revenue steadily, reaching an all-time high of $17.5 million in full-year 2019 and has expanded its product offerings to the Kenyan market.

Madubuko founded Africa's pioneer tech-enabled on-demand home care platform, Greymate Care, which generates millions in revenue and has signed dozens of partnerships with notable institutions including Sociète Generale, Intel, UNDP, Renault and Lagos State Employment Trust Fund. Greymate Care is one of Africa's fastest growing businesses and has measurable social impact and track records including alleviating unemployment and improving elderly longevity and well-being.

She is passionate about startups, business process transformation and improvement, business analysis aimed at disrupting industries by updating businesses from traditional methods to current digital systems, solving business problems and designing technical solutions, identifying new business opportunities, solving everyday problems using technology and creating social impact. Over the years, she has led B2B sales teams to triple companies' revenue and worked closely with project stakeholders to change the business landscape of blue chip companies such as Amazon and her experience spans three continents: North America, Africa and Europe.

Chinedu Azodoh Azodoh is co-founder and CGO at MAX.NG, a technology company building the infrastructure for last-mile mobility in Africa. Chinedu has always had a passion to change the African experience. The MAX app provides a last mile delivery service option. Azodoh attended the Sloan School of Management in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a master’s degree in finance.

Evans Akanno Akanno is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, brand and social media strategist, and tech creative director. He is the founder of Cregital. He is regarded as one of the most thriving young tech entrepreneurs in Nigeria. He was named among 2019 Forbes Africa 30 under 30 in the technology category. The company is a designer, developer and problem solver.

Michael Simeon Simeon is the CEO of VoguePay. VoguePay is a secure payment processor and e-commerce service founded in Nigeria in 2012. It offers personal digital wallets and business payment accounts to users worldwide. Individuals can send and receive payments from other VoguePay accounts, similar to PayPal. And businesses can sign up with VoguePay to receive and process online payments from customers through a website or by email. VoguePay’s focus is making it easy for small businesses in Nigeria to transfer money, a country in which going “cashless” used to be an expensive prospect for startups.

Competing with online money transfer giants like PayPal, VoguePay aims to make online transfers accessible to everyone.

Fred Oyetayo

Chika Madubuko

Fred Oyetayo is the CEO of Fresible and serves on its Board of Directors. He is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company. He leads the design of Fresible’s service and development of its core technology and departments. He had been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and SME100 Africa’s 25 Under 25, among others. Fresible is a team of creative thinkers, developers, designers and digital marketers. It develops websites, softwares, mobile applications, create identities, tell stories, build brands, organise events and ignite growth to individual and businesses.

Continued on page 22

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S P E C I A L R E P O RT TECH, NIGERIA’S NEW OIL

Tunde Kehinde

Yahui Zhou

Tunde Kehinde is the Co-Founder of Lidya. Through its digital platform, Lidya analyses over 1,000 data points to help great business owners access financing and build a credit score through an easy and inspiring lending process.

Tunde Kehinde is a seasoned emerging markets entrepreneur. He was the co-founder of Jumia Nigeria, Africa’s first unicorn (publicly listed on the NYSE) and Africa Courier Express, Nigeria’s leading last-mile eCommerce delivery company. Experienced Entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working with small businesses across multiple frontier markets is also skilled in business planning, analytical skills, market research, management, and corporate development.

The Founder of Opay is Yahui Zhou. OPay has been running business in Nigeria since 2010 and it is known as PayCom Nigeria Limited – mobile money platform incubated by Telnet Limited. Opera acquired PayCom in 2017 and OPay was birthed in August 2017.16 Nov 2019 The Nigeria-based fintech company has had a rough 2020. In April, the company claimed it had five million monthly active customers and was responsible for over 60 per cent of mobile money transactions in Nigeria.

The company blitz-scaled its way to the top of the value chain by way of aggressive growth.

It raised $120 million of series B funding, less than 6 months after it announced its last funding round of $50 million in June. The company, which was incubated by Norwegian based, global consumer Internet Company, Opera (Nasdaq: OPRA), is already Nigeria’s leading mobile wallet and motorbike ridesharing provider, and is rapidly expanding. Its Series B investors included Meituan-Dianping, DragonBall Capital (The Investment fund backed by Meituan-Dianping), GaoRong Capital, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), Redpoint China, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital China and GSR Ventures.

Onyeka Akumah Akumah is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy, one of Nigeria’s leading digital agriculture platforms with a network of over 420,000 farmers in January 2021 connecting them with finance, market access, and technical expertise across all states in Nigeria.

He was recently named one of Africa’s Persons of the year winning the Agricultural Champion of the Year 2020 across the continent for the work and impact Farmcrowdy has had on hundreds of thousands of farmers. Impacting on the lives of over 420,000 small-scale farmers already since inception in November 2016 using technology, Farmcrowdy has created and is leading a new category of online platforms that is focused on increasing food production while engaging Nigerians to digitally participate in Agriculture.

Meka Asonye Mela Asonye is an investment partner at First Round.

Asonye attended Princeton and Harvard Business School and spent four years managing player development for the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball before heading to San Francisco to work at Bain & Co. He joined Stripe In 2016.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 28 2021

GAVEL

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

From Southern Senators, a New Focus on Unity /DVW ZHHN 6RXWKHUQ 6HQDWRUV HOHFWHG QHZ OHDGHUV WR UXQ WKHLU DͿDLUV ZLWK D UHVROXWLRQ WR always support an indivisible country, reports Udora Orizu

A

s calls for restructuring gather momentum in some quarters especially with worsening insecurity, Senators from the Southern part of the country have announced the emergence of their umbrella body, promising to help unify the nation.

The nation currently is faced with so many challenges bedeviling it. Issues such as banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, arson, farmers herders crisis, ethnic proÀling, identity politics and so on have become the order of the day, as Nigerians everyday fear for their lives.

Members of the 9th National Assembly since their inauguration have lent their voice, proͿering one solution to another to the Executive arm of government on how to curb the menaces, through Bills and resolutions to various motions passed.

Though their eͿorts have yielded little or no results, the lawmakers are not relenting in their resolve.

As the Southern Senators, toed the path of the Northern Senators to elect its leadership, the question on everyone’s lips is, what really is their objective?

The New Forum After plenary last Wednesday, Senators of Southern extraction elected new leaders to run their umbrella body known as the Southern Senators Forum (SSF).

BrieÀng journalists, after unveiling the new leadership in a closed-door meeting that lasted about one hour, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, said the forum agreed to be united behind the leadership of the ninth Senate under the leadership of the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan. He said they also agreed to work with their northern counterparts for the unity and development of Nigeria According to Omo-Agege, “We are united – both the northern and southern senators forum. We are united behind the leadership of the ninth Assembly headed

by Dr. Ahmed Lawan. By June 11, we would have been in the ninth Senate for two years.

“And we felt it’s proper that we inaugurate the leadership of this platform to provide leadership for senators from the southern part of the country. We all resolved that notwithstanding the challenges facing this country, we support a united Nigeria. I’m a presiding o΀cer it’s my leadership obligation to midwife the leadership for this platform.”

The new leadership, the DSP explained, has Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) as the chairman Senator Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra) as the vice chairman Senator Matthew 8roghide (PDP, Edo) as the secretary-general Senator Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Lagos) as treasurer Senator Chukwuka 8ta]i (PDP, Enugu) as the publicity secretary, and Senator Degi Eremienyo (APC, Bayelsa) as the Ànancial secretary.

In his speech, Bamidele pledged to hold the position in trust, and ensure Nigeria’s unity.

“We appreciate the honour bestowed on us by our colleagues. It’s a position we are holding in trust. It requires us to be at our best to be able to manage our unity in diversity. We also look forward to working to further strengthen the leadership of the Senate itself, while also providing a voice for the people we represent as well as also doing all we can to ensure that the unity of Nigeria that we are all looking forward to is strengthened.”

Bamidele in a handshake with Lawan

Southern Senators Before Now The new Forum is yet another revival of an already existing one. The last time the Southern Senators had a union was between 2006 and 2007 during the Senate Presidency of Ken Nnamani with Ifeanyi Ararume as its Chairman. Again in July 2017, barely a year after the Northern Senators revived their own union Southern Senators in the Eighth Assembly called Southern Nigeria Senators Forum (SNSF).

The SNSF as at then, announced its leadership with Hope 8]odinma (PDP, Imo State) as Chairman with Lanre Tejuosho (APC, Ogun) as Vice Chairman.

The union, according to them would serve for Southern Senators the same purpose the Northern Senators Forum (NSF) then led by Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa State) had served for the northern lawmakers since 1999.

Godswill Akpabio, who was the Senate Minority Leader then, while unveiling the union at the National Assembly disclosed that the union would assist lawmakers to better articulate issues aͿecting their people. Akpabio explained that the group was apolitical, because it cuts across the various parties represented in the Senate.

Other members, in the executive committee then were Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos State) Treasurer, Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP-Abia), Publicity Secretary, Duro Fasheyi Auditor, while Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra) was Welfare O΀cer.

In his remarks, the then Chairman 8]odinma said the Southern Senators caucus would play a vital role in promoting the unity of Nigeria. He said the SNSF would pay particular attention to recent agitation by various sectional groups across the country.

However, with the emergence of the Southern Senators Forum, there are doubts if the lawmakers could live up to their promise and true objective of creating the group.

Given the controversies that trailed their northern counterpart, only time will tell if they would be able to stand the test of time.

Northern Senators Forum and Crisis Things took a dramatic turn when in February 2018 Adamu was removed as Chairman of Northern Senators’ Forum over alleged mismanagement of funds belonging to the group His removal was announced via a letter read by the then Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, shortly before the end of one of primaries he presided over.

The letter signed by the forum’s spokesperson, Dino Melaye, who had announced his emergence, noted that Adamu was removed for ¶Ànancial mismanagement and misadministration.’

Shortly after the announcement, Shehu Sani (Kaduna-APC), who was a member of the forum, also alleged that Adamu and other executive members mismanaged about N70 million belonging to the group.

But explaining why he was removed, Adamu, denied allegation that he mismanaged funds belonging to the group and said the allegation was raised against him, because he rejected the passage of election sequence by the Senate.

The crack took another dimension as Senator Ali Wakili (APC, Bauchi South), disagreed with his colleagues on the removal of Adamu. Wakili said there was no meeting, where members reached the decision to remove Adamu, adding that his constituency and prominent leaders in

the North were scandalised by what had happened. Besides, he said he got to know about the removal from the media and that such announcement was a breach of his privilege.

Reacting, then Senate’s spokesperson, Sabi Abdullahi, denied leading some senators to the press centre to make comments on the removal.

“I came a little bit late and I got the information that my good brother, Malam Ali Wakili made some comments alluding to the fact that as the spokesman of this senate, I led some people to the press centre to make some comments with respect to the issue of the Northern Senators Forum. I want to make it categorically clear that as the spokesman of the senate, I’ve always tried to remain very focused on defending the institution of the senate.

“Yesterday I went to the media centre as part of my statutory responsibility to brief the senate press corps on happenings within the senate. Senator Shehu Sani and Senator Misau followed me as I normally do.

They joined me and in the process, they asked him some questions and he responded. But yesterday I made it very clear that that I’m not holding brief for northern senators forum, even though I’m a member. The clips are there and if there is anyone, who has anything to the contrary, I challenge him to bring that clip out,” he said.

Truth is, both the northern and southern forums have a lot to deal with at this time.

Therefore, constituting the Southern Senators forum was timely yet challenging because it is not going to be a tea party, not for their northern counterpart either.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ RCH 28, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

Whith er Ni ge ri a?

Odia Ofeimun

E

ach time it was discovered that the ship of state was foundering, without compass, and no one seemed to have a handle on how to navigate with a proper goal-orientation, the question, Whither Nigeria?, has been asked as a way of giving expression to where we are as a country, where we are going or where we should be going. Mostly, the issues have emerged from trying to think beyond the scramble by the various nationalities in the country. In a multi-ethnic society, reality tends to be resolved around levels of perception in the practice of governance. I am interested in how we’ve been fixed by history, and how we’ve always managed to have so many unresolved issues, so embarrassingly many, even now, when the most intense marker of dissension in the Nigerian firmament is the Boko Haram Insurgency in the North-East which has sought many times, unsuccessfully, to declare a Caliphate over parts of the country. Take the other issue around MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra) and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). They have raised the Biafran secessionist flag contentiously and ambitiously over what used to be the Eastern Region. Successive Federal Governments have pursued them with punitive measures as if the civil war of 1967-70 did not quite come to an end. Now, look, the clouds are gathering, as fractions of the Yoruba, at home and in the Diaspora, are angling for a secessionist binge of their own, unless, as it is stressed, ethnic nationalities are allowed to become self-governing within the Nigerian Federation. Let me say that I concede their purpose, but not their angle. At any rate, I think that there is a cautionary note to be registered against the various secessionist pressures which have been heightened, I believe, by the recent upsurge of the Nigerian Fulani from amongst whom there has emanated an invitation to all other Fulani across sub-Saharan Africa to come take over Nigeria as a permanent homeland. Let me be upfront with it that I concede their angle of having a commitment to a homeland, but not to the purpose of withdrawing from a common sense of nationality with other Nigerians. I say this as a backdrop against which I must accommodate what I shall call the Fulani Upsurge.

The upsurge has come down to a question of whether the scramble for Nigeria should be in piecemeal fashion through armed propaganda or in one fell swoop to displace those who currently regard themselves as Nigerians. It would seem that the upsurge, as a strategy, has had a test run in the National Assembly in the attempt by organic legislators of the Fulani to deploy Nigeria’s Basic Law, the Nigerian Constitution, as a means of designing or divining a law-governed approach to have the Fulani domiciled in each of Nigeria’s 776 local governments. The purpose, as it is being stressed, is to achieve the formalization of cattle grazing reserves, rural grazing areas, cattle republics, or cattle routes of which the latter, unfortunately have been so grandly reminiscent of pre-colonial slave-hunting routes that it has caused quite some disgust and umbrage. Add to it, the avid pursuit of legal encirclements of local governments in the test-run of bills at the National Assembly. Due to the rampage of armed propagandists supported by the Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kaital Hore, all of the protagonists of the cattle breeders, though not necessarily of the same ethnic stock, have shown enough capacity to contest the state’s monopoly of the means of violence in such a way that their common occupational drives are generally assumed as marks of their common identity.

I want to state in this connection that the Nigerian situation has had quite a boiling pot quality, if not drama, since the recent informal application of the President of the Republic of Benin who wants his country to join Nigeria as the 37th state of the Federation. This application, from another multi-ethnic country, has come as a follow-up to years of special relationships, nurtured personally by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari with Francophone countries - in particular, the Niger Republic.

Whether or not one of the countries is serving as incubator, follow up, or rehearsal of the special relationship with Nigeria, the matter of importance is that, from the standpoint of whither Nigeria, of how the country will fare in the near or distant future, there is a driven pattern of cohabitation that it demands within the possibility of Nigeria splitting up or seeking to fuse with neighbouring Francophone African states. Clearly, it is a step away from the case of Morocco which, incongruously, in my view, wished to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to create a larger French community of which Nigeria would have to be a member. Suddenly, we are confronted by the loaded question of how Nigeria, on its own or in agglomeration, may be governed beyond current skirmishes in the debates over the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation. Whatever may happen, the core issue remains how the split or coming together of territories or the hitching together of cultural geographies within and around Nigeria, can fit into an agreement between fellow Nigerians not merely on the need to stay together as one country but on how any form of coming together can be framed and actualized. This, to be sure, is one of the things it could mean to ask ‘Whither Nigeria’ in the current dispensation.

I grant that, in seeking to ask and answer the question

Ofeimun there are elements of the not so normal, if not a breakdown of normalcy, a civil war situation, a war without fronts, a strut of wanton disorder and a general plunge into spoliation and possible self-defeat in the scenarios that we can picture as part of the Nigerian maelstrom. What needs to be written into it is how the structure of power in Nigeria offers a sense of ultimate decision-making where it used to be said that nothing works; but it is increasingly being argued that anything can happen, especially if it is bad. To put it this way is to draw attention to how far the country has travelled, or regressed, since General Muhammadu Buhari took over from President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. As it was argued, change was imperative; and so change needed to happen. Campaign managers were brought from Barrack Obama’s America to help rephrase the challenge. If, by some mischance, there was electoral victory for the wrong candidate, it was speculated that hired armed propagandists from the Sahel’s unfinished civil wars could be cashiered into the country to unleash mayhem of undefined proportions as a settlement of accounts. Later, the public space was reliably informed that the armed propagandists who were hired for post-election accounting collected their fees, but refused to return to where they came from after President Jonathan conceded victory and so did not provide an excuse for anyone’s blood to be shed. A new moral bypass was therefore allowed for the armed propagandists to dissolve into sundry schemes of ethnic solidarities that have since enabled them to stick around in the country. Not to forget: this happens to be the country where change was slated to happen but no one has been available as canvasser, claimant or parent of any genuine change.

Actually, it would seem that the question: Whither Nigeria?, at this lecture on the platform of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, is some way of visualizing a country ahead of us that is eminently saveable in spite of the change that has not taken place.

Need I say it; for a society to be saveable, there must be a class of people who are ready to do the job. In this regard, the Nigerian circumstance has been marked, if not muddied by a certain leadercentred capacity for manoeuvre which cuts across political party lines and which has formed a peculiar political culture of its own..

One way to put it is that no matter how seemingly divergent they may appear, Nigerian political gladiators are informed by the same political purview in the sense that they have the same dispositions in goal orientation and party organization. A flat ideological landscape exists across them which is easiest explained by the fact that they are mutually interchangeable, outside, and even within ethnic differences. Since no political grouping is likely to depend on subscription for its mobilization of political bias, the same form of capitalist financing is at the root of their nativity and self-assertion.

They engage in similar funding practices with past political entrepreneurs and business moguls who supply what political scientists of the Maurice Duverger school of thought describe as sinews of war. Once near or in power, they have the same schemes of resource mobilization. They depend on security votes that have been appropriately sanitized through sheer giraffing in favour of future loot-sharing that by-passes formalities. In more recent years, the governors have resorted to tax consultants as a means of beefing up their war chest for electoral purposes to make sure that political money continues to flow. The pattern was borrowed from military adventurers in power but it has quickly proliferated from the more daring venturers of the Fourth Republic until a critical

mass of the political class yielded to it. This has reduced the old bogey of ten percenters or of higher percentiles in about 23 states in the Federation. At the last count, all the incumbents steeped in tax consultancy for the purpose of political finance had to make it a test for the Governors’ Forum. It was embarrassment that made the Governors to appeal to the reformer’s bracket rather than support evident criminality. Except that the reforms have not come and cannot happen because there is no grand electoral law serviceable enough to constrain the loot-sharing classes. And there is none that is stringent enough to debar the habits of purchasing elections as it used to happen in the older democracies before they discovered the law and the mass media as owners of and sticklers for transparency. What we must say here is that the various extra-statutory means of political finance have so outclassed the old means of political corruption that those who came to fight it by bringing change have since re-defined it.

Such that General Muhammadu Buhari, who as a military Head of state jailed politicians for up to 89 years and more for enriching their political parties, has been giddily financing his own political parties and projects in the Fourth Republic without batting an eyelid about the absence of a proper electoral law that can guide political finance. Not even Professor Attahiru Jega, the great socialist and political scientist, as Czar of the Independent National Electoral Commission could wangle a proper electoral law to ensure that political money was sanitized beyond ethnic and regional derivatives of power. What this tells us about Nigerian politics is that the leader-centred nature of the polity is secured by a formality of toxic economics which commands distribution channels and ensures a monolithic, or call it, a ‘monocratic’ principle that filters down to all levels in all political organizations.

At the top of it, there is a necessary assurance that those who are not within the bracket of political access will lose their standing along the principles of merit and transparent management.

In order therefore to know where the country could be or go, one has to follow the leader. This needs to be explained. Under the Fourth Republic but more under President Muhammadu Buhari, the whole system has been such that the centre of the political party system has been unable to hold together. Whereas in President Jonathan’s time, it was his party that abandoned their President in search of regional solidarity, in the case of President Muhammadu Buhari, he was the one that abandoned his party in pursuit of an ethnic and personalist agenda. He has had no formal posit or brokerage that allows for the insertion of alternative ideas or ideals. This means that there is a necessary narrowing down of the system as in virtually all the administrations of the Fourth Republic, so that government stumbles on and runs into contrived accidents and dead ends almost as a rule. The better way to put it is that in a democracy, the political party is supposed to be the means of aggregating, articulating and adjudicating matters of value. But lacking party focus, the scatter–diagrammatic of reading the body language of the leader has been exemplified by absolutely nepotistic surrounds, that do not allow citizens to have objective expectations of civic correctness. With most strategic appointments being a haggle over ethnic and regional balance, the whole system enters a conundrum of amoral familism in which whom you know may grant trust, but does not ensure the efficacy of structures of government or party. Especially so, when whom you know does not guarantee that the structures of government will be allowed to deliver as they were constructed to do. The fallout of this is that the concept of work, as ise, aiki, olu, as a factor of goal-orientation, is held radically in abeyance, trashed across the board, so that charity rather than duty is turned into a code of rectitude, functioning between a balance of power and a balance of terror. This is what is playing out on the Kaduna/Abuja road and across the whole country where those who do not want to depend endlessly on being mendicants, beggars in the system, resort to self-help as bandits and kidnappers, as if assured that there will be no penalty for wrongdoing. In my view, this is an issue at the heart of this lecture which requires that we all have to enter something of a heart of darkness to find the answer. Let me put it this way: that there is no mystery in that heart of darkness. Just that because of the way it is structured much of what has happened to the country in this dispensation is a function of what it offers.

To save time, I have chosen to start by looking at the nerves and vision of the incumbent government from the most familiar grounding on the platform of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation: that is, on the issue of education as the touchstone of national salvation. Not that I wish to re-theorize what is already well known about Awolowo’s consummate offer of education as the means by which we could put all the knowledge in the English language into our indigenous languages and all the knowledge in our indigenous languages into the English language; and so to universalize them, and equalize the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, build equality and commonality between all the ethnic groups across the country; so that we may defeat those who think that Nigeria cannot be raised to unity or coalescence because of regional and ethnic differences.

–– Ofeimun, delivered this at the 2021 Chief Obafemi Awolowo lecture, Saturday 6th March 2021 Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

BUSINESS

Editor: Kunle Aderinokun 08033204315, 08111813084 Email:kunle.aderinoku@thisdaylive.com

Can Fuel Subsidy Really Go Away?

In April, last year, the federal government bowed to decades of pressure to restructure the downstream arm of the Nigerian oil and gas industry via the removal of the ‘dreaded’ fuel subsidy. But unknowingly to Nigerians, the corporation was still paying fuel subsidy because the corporation came back to tell Nigerians that it had been expending N120 billion monthly as subsidy within the last one year. Now, close to 12 months later, it is again saying it plans to ‘remove’ the fuel subsidy. If the news did not ring through last year due to the very low prices of crude oil, it is certainly coming with a louder bang this time. Evidently, like Chinua Achebe’s Amalinze the cat (in his Things Fall Apart novel), the monster fuel subsidy has nine lives. But it appears the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation is determined to do away with it, once and for all. Will the subsidy be Ànally removed this time? Chris Paul asks

T

o douse the growing tension in the downstream sector arising from the proposed removal of fuelsubsidyandsubsequentfuel price increases, towards the tail end of this week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it would maintain its current ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) until the conclusion of ongoing engagement with the organised labour and other stakeholders.

The Group General Manager, Group Public AͿairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, made the statement when he addressed newsmen inAbuja, on Friday, 26th March 2021.

He said the corporation was taking on the responsibility of importing reÀned petroleum products as sole supplier, to guarantee energy security for the nation.

Throwing more light on the recent interview by the Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, at the State House, Obateru stated that the NNPC had no intention of pre-empting on-going dialogue with labour by unilaterally increasing the ex-depotpriceofpetrol,eventhoughthecorporation is bearing the burden of price diͿerentials between the landing cost and pump price of petrol.

According to him, NNPC had made arrangements for robust stock of petroleum products in all its strategic depots across the country to keep the nation well supplied at all times.

Whileappealingtopetroleumproductsmarketers not to engage in arbitrary price increase or hoarding of petrol so as not to disrupt the market, Obateru urged motorists not to engage in panic buying, stressing that NNPC was committed to ensuring energy security for the country as the supplier of last resort.

He gave the assurance to marketers and all other relevant stakeholders in the downstream sector of sustainable collaboration for the public interest.

So, pending the outcome of the talks between the labour and the downstream actors, NNPC regains its role as the sole importer of fuel into the country, while it continues to subsidise the product.

The subsidies have always been appreciated by the citizens as one of a few positive things they could receive from the state. The economy of the country has always been highly dependent on revenue from crude oil. Similarly, the absence of constant and stable electricity supply has forced households and small enterprises to depend on generators.

ThefuelsubsidypolicyinNigeriawasintroduced as a means to stabilise the price of fuel until the local reÀneries are rehabilitated. It was meant to last for six months only, but has lasted over 26 years, due to the inability of the government to Àx the reÀneries.

In2016,whenthePresidentMuhammaduBuhari administration decided to end the subsidy, Nigeria had spent an excess of $5 billion (4.3 billion euros) on keeping fuel subsidies.

Experts believe the process of subsidising the petroleum industry was corrupt and hugely ine΀cient. They claimed it neither alleviates the suͿerings of low income earners nor end fuel scarcity. But two years later, in 2018, the subsidy was surreptitiously sneaked into the downstream oncemore;promptingtheHouseofRepresentatives to raise alarm over the development.

Chairman of the House committee on petroleum resources (downstream), in the eighth Assembly, Joseph Akinlaja, accused the federal government of illegally reintroducing subsidy on fuel.

HesaidNigeriansdeservedanexplanationonthe development concerning the ‘illegal’ reintroduction of subsidy on petrol According toAkinlaja, the news on the payment of N26 on every litre of fuel, which cost N145/ liter at the time, came as a surprise to the House of Representatives.

Akinlaja said the National Assembly did not

A fuel depot

appropriate the N26 on every litre of fuel sold to motorists, expressing his shock at the news of the subsidy payment.

“I call it backdoor subsidy because as a legislature, we are not aware of the N26. The executive has assumed the role of the NationalAssembly through the NNPC,” Akinlaja said.

Dissociating the National Assembly from the policy, Akinlaja said, “As a legislature, we didn’t make any new law or appropriation of money in the name of subsidy on petrol.

“WhoappropriatedthisN26perlitre?Onemillion litres is equal to N26million and one billion litres is equal to N26billion. Is N26billion small money?

Can N26billion be approved through Executive Àat or order? No ” Akinlaja disclosed, then, that the House had commenced investigation on what has happened to the distribution system and why petrol was scarce despite all the assurances given by the NNPC. They also wanted to know how NNPC came about the N26 it was paying on petrol.

On the surface, the plan to eliminate subsidy on fuel may result in considerable savings for the government.

The issues to be considered, however, include the impact it will have on companies and individuals.

Also, what government can do to ensure that the savings do not go to waste.

The price at the pump is projected to rise from N162 per litre to over N200 per litre.

Eliminating the subsidy will lead to higher costs for companies leading to lower proÀt and less tax revenue. Companies and individuals will consume less and therefore pay less VAT. Lower consumption among individuals could have a knock-on eͿect on economic growth, proÀtability and employment leading to less personal income taxes.

But if the savings from removing the subsidy is managed transparently and applied directly to

develop infrastructure, Àx power supply and create employment, Nigerians might visibly feel that the removal was worthwhile. Savings could also be invested in improving Nigeria’s reÀnery capacity, which would reduce the country’s reliance upon imported reÀned products.

To show sincerity and demonstrate good faith, government should look at other areas where savings can be made; such as the high cost of running government, due process in the award of contracts anddiligenceinmonitoringprojectimplementation.

What government does with the savings is what makes the fuel subsidy removal good or bad. It is important, therefore, that eͿort should be made to ensure that full deregulation of petroleum products becomes a catalyst for economic development and greater growth.

More than any government in the country, the Buhari administration is fortunate to have private reÀneries springing up under its watch.

It would be beneÀcial to the Nigerian people and the economy at large, if the government can assist in fast-tracking the construction of reÀneries that are nearing completion and supplying them with the crude oil stock they require, at a highly discounted rate.

This way, the government can negotiate the price of the product in favour of its citizens, while at the same time ensuring the reÀneries make money.

Regardless of what some experts may say, there is no way any local private reÀner can lose money selling petroleum products to over 200 million Nigerians.

For instance, a Dangote ReÀnery, that would have spent over $15 billion on its facility, can never run at a loss; when it considers it could take a large chunk of the over $10 billion Nigeria expends on importation of the products annually.

The other window opened to government, in this quagmire, is to repair all its four reÀneries at once and immediately.

But as NNPC Group General Manager (GMD),

Mele Kyari revealed recently, Nigeria does not have the resources to build new reÀneries.

The controversial $1.5 billion budget the state oil Àrm plans to use to repair the Port Harcourt ReÀnery proves that point.

Themorerealisticoptionwouldbetocontinuethe subsidy which the NNPC now chooses to describe as paying for a shortfall between the Landing cost and the process for the eventual delivery of the product at the pump.

Even though the burden placed upon NNPC by the on-going subsidisation of the cost of petrol in the country is overwhelming, the NNPC boss, however, refrained from calling the shortfall payment a subsidy, stressing that the fund was paid to maintainthepumppriceofpetrolatthecurrentlevel.

At the weekly presidential ministerial media brieÀng on Thursday at the State House in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Kyari stated that Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost for petrol sooner or later, due to the huge sum being paid to import the product He a΀rmed that the product was currently being sold below the cost of importation, causing the NNPC to pay the diͿerence.

According to him, NNPC can no longer bear the monumental cost, saying market forces must be allowed to determine the pump price of petrol in the country in the nearest future.

When asked when the corporation would stop subsidising petrol, Kyari declined to give a speciÀc date.

Kyari’s admission of an eventual fuel price hike will deÀnitely condition the pumps price-wise. His silenceoverthequestionofwhetherorwhengovernment will end fuel subsidy is an a΀rmation of the fact that no matter its will to restructure, deregulate the downstream, fuel subsidy will continue to be a recurring decimal.

In other words, fuel subsidy may not be going away, anytime soon.

26

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

AVIATION

Travellers’ Gruesome Experience over Flight Delays, Cancellations Since the resumption of flight operations in Nigeria after COVID-19 lockdown last July, air travellers have been going through unpleasant experiences, as uncertainty hovers over every flight, which could be delayed or cancelled, leaving the passengers stranded. Chinedu Eze chronicles some passengers’ ordeals and x-rays the challenges of domestic flight operations in the country in Nigeria, the ones we kept on storage were also due for maintenance and were ferried overseas. MRO facilities have not started full service because of the Coronavirus lockdown.

But gradually the aircraft will return and resume full operations,” Onyema said.

Stranded passengers at an airport

A

viationindustryinsiders have posited that Áight delays and cancellations have become part of air travel in Nigeria, at least since the last 15 years. They adduced that it was the period where nation’s economy improved and empowered more people to travel by air.

That was also the period that national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) was buried and air transport became wholly private sector driven.

Passengers have spoken how such delays and sometimes Áight cancellations disrupt their economic activities; make them lose appointments, transactions and crucial events. Above all, it sometimes leaves them stranded. They also said air travel in Nigeria demands that you must have “deep pocket” while travelling because you may be made to pay for accommodation, buy another Áight ticket or charter a taxi, depending on which situation presents itself at any point in time when Áights are cancelled.

Complaints THISDAY investigations have revealed that last week Aero Contractors Áight from Kano was delayed because the aircraft scheduled to operate the service had a bird strike, forcing the pilot of the Áight to ferry the aircraft back to Lagos without passengers for proper check by the airline’s engineers. But the time the aircraft was ready to resume service to go back to Kano to airlift the passengers, the passengers had waited for hours. There was cloud of uncertainty. Would the aircraft come and airlift them? Were they going to sleep in Kano? What of the insecurity that has pervaded the country, will they be safe?

These questions were Áooding their minds, as one of the passengers relayed to THISDAY. But luckily, Air Peace deployed its Boeing 777 aircraft and airlifted both its own passengers

and that of Aero Contractors.

Also last week, Air Peace Áight to Owerri was delayed because of malfunctioned transponder. The aircraft engineers had to work on the aircraft while the passengers waited until the equipment was repaired and the aircraft was ready to go back to service. Passengers were also stranded a fortnight ago when Azman Air landed and busted its tyre at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, forcing an emergency evacuation of the passengers. Passengers scheduled for the return Áight to Kano had to return home, as the aircraft was stuck on the runway 18L (domestic runway) until it was removed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Passengers told THISDAY that Nigerian airlines are unreliable because you cannot be sure that you would travel in a Áight as scheduled until you board the Áight.

“Sometimes you cannot be sure even after boarding until the aircraft is airborne and does not return to where the Áight started,” a passenger told THISDAY. Under Capacity THISDAY learnt that what is characteristic of these delays and cancellations in recent times are the inability of the airlines to deploy another aircraft whenever there is hiccup in their operations. This, many industry observers said, is conÀrmation that airlines are suͿering from under capacity. But they do not relate with their passengers and keep them abreast of things. They do not update their passengers, until when it is close to departure time and with fewer aircraft in service, it is expected that airlines should schedule fewer Áights.

Industry stakeholder and Secretary of Aviation Round Table (ART) a think-tank body in the industry, Group Captain John Ojikutu, has excoriated airlines for frequent delays and said they do not even provide refreshments to passengers and also do not provide accommodation to the travelers, if Áights are cancelled in the later hours of the day. He noted that

airlines are operating small, each one having few aircraft and canvassed for merger of the airline in order to have economy of scale, but in situations where they cannot merge they could interline and help themselves through such cooperation.

Ojikutu also said airlines should charge higher airfares so that they would generate enough revenue to ensure that they adequately maintain their aircraft.

“If the airlines cannot merge as has been suggested and advised for corporate governance, they should be considerate to Ànd a ‘meeting point’ for passengers protection and comfort in Áight connectivity. It makes no economic sense for two airlines Áights to check in passengers with low load factors on same route to same destination. It is a better economic sense for one to agree to drop its passengers to the other at and agreed price and save itself further operational costs on fuel consumption, air navigational, landing and parking at destination, ground handling at destination, etc. Such cooperation among airlines will reduce unnecessary delays and cancellations except those that are caused by or for safety and technical reasons,” Ojikutu said.

The Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, told THISDAY that the major challenge airlines have is paucity of equipment.

He gave example with Air Peace, which has many of its aircraft in many maintenance facilities overseas due to the fact that during the lockdown those Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities were not working so the aircraft were not checked as scheduled.

He said the aircraft would start coming back to resume operations and in the next few months, the airline’s 30 aircraft would be in full operation. In addition, the airline has delivered two brand new Embraer aircraft, which would increase to Àve by July.

“Before the lockdown we sent many of our aircraft for mandatory maintenance overseas.

But they were not worked on during the global lockdown. By the time the lockdown was lifted

Cause of Flight Delays The former Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, told THISDAY that there was no airline that would like to delay Áights because what airlines sell are speed and safety. He said some delays were 100 per cent beyond the airlines’ control, but how the airlines handle such matters is another thing and this includes how the airline communicates the delay to the passenger.

“Most of the delays are technical matter, operational issues that are beyond the airline, like the infrastructure at the airport, which may hamper the processing of passenger, but how the airline communicates this to the passenger is important. In Nigeria passengers are very, very angry, but when they travel overseas and there are similar delays or even cancelation of Áights they do not get so angry and overreact. But we have to also look at the operational environment. If the passengers are in air-conditioned environment, that is serene and conducive, the passenger may not be so angry.

“Also, if when an airline cancels a Áight and you take that airline’s ticket to another airline and get it endorsed and travel with the same ticket, passengers will not be angry. But the reality in Nigeria is that passengers buy their tickets late so they buy them at high cost and then you cancel the Áight and it is not that he will get his money back immediately. It will take time before he gets it back so he becomes frustrated and angry,” Sanusi said.

Faults and Daylight Airports The Managing Director, Flight and Logistics Solutions,AmosAkpan,toldTHISDAYthatmany times aircraft can develop faults that were not considered in the planning. If that fault is in the list of items the manufacturers has stated as “no go item”, that aircraft will stay on ground until that fault is rectiÀed.

“This should not aͿect the scheduled Áights that aircraft was planned to operate beyond 60 minutes, if the maintenance and operations managers of the airline anticipated this scenario during schedule planning. There must always be a worse scenario simulation in allocation of aircraft to Áight schedule. It is the fault of the airline that puts tight schedule on an aircraft without consideration to ground time and sudden snags,” Akpan explained.

He also noted that daylight airports force airlines to delay and sometimes cancel their Áights. Daylight airports apply to airports that aircraft takeoͿ and landing is restricted to daytime: 6am to 6pm.

“This is the consequence of lack of night operations facilities in the airport. No runway lights and other support/safety services are uncertiÀed or unavailable for night Áight operations. For safety reasons, airline operators must schedule their Áights within the time given. When an aircraft is withdrawn from service without notice, the airline tries to operate Áights to daylight airports Àrst so as to meet the 6:00 pm closure. This brings us back to planning your aircraft utilisation taking the environment into consideration,” Akpan also explained.

THISDAY Àndings showed that the delay occasioned by lack of capacity will linger for a long time beyond the middle of this year and that the only solace airlines would have is to cooperate with one another in order to ease the tension of Áight delays and cancellation on air travellers.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

ENERGY

The Lethargy to Pass PIB The inability of the NationalAssembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill despite repeated promises to do so is beginning to look very suspicious indeed. The incapability is fuelling the belief among many that there are indeed dishonourable reasons other than legislative responsible for the lethargy of a section of the national legislature from passing PIB. Nosa James-Igbinadolor reports

Sylva

T

he petroleum industry is itself a big predicament for the Nigerian people; a peculiar mess. An industry so thoroughly mismanaged and corrupted that it has in over 60 years been unable to support the development of the Nigerian economy.

The Nigeria petroleum industry is a paradox; while it drives economic growth, it has stunted economic development. Indeed, the most inÁammatory policy of the Nigerian government has been the dependence on oil resources as the dominant source of foreign exchange earnings to the detriment of manufacturing and agriculture.

Nigeria sits on the largest oil and gas reserve in sub-Saharan Africa, with crude oil accounting for 90 per cent of its export earnings. Due to the NNPC’s enormous revenues, which can represent more than Àve times Nigeria’s health expenditure, around seven times its foreign aid receipts, and more than 15 times the value of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the government’s major budgetary decisions tend towards the oil sector as opposed to the service, manufacturing and other associated public goods.

As noted in a recent Columbia University report, Nigeria’s reliance on oil and gas “therefore puts the country in a vulnerable and increasingly unsustainable position, particularly in the face of heightened economic challenges due to COVID-19.

“Given the downturn in oil and Nigeria’s uncompetitive production costs, above-average carbon intensity of oil production, and ine΀cient reÀneries, the country cannot rely on oil revenues to Ànance immediate stimulus packages, nor should it bank on them for the future.

“The fact that Nigeria’s public and private debt is indexed on oil prices further threatens Nigeria’s already downgraded sovereign debt rating and puts the country in a compromised

Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila

position to borrow money to remediate pressing economic, environmental, and health crises.”

No doubt, Nigeria’s petroleum ordinances have been long due for reform, and the “muchvaunted” Petroleum Industry Bill has been widely seen as the critical instrument for the modernisation of the oil and gas industry.

The bill, which aims at a complete ‘refurbishment’ of the Nigerian oil and gas sector, seeks to, among others, ensure an ampliÀed level of transparency and accountability in the sector by strengthening the governing institutions to attract investment capital through changes to the governance, administrative, regulatory and Àscal framework of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

This includes, strengthening the commercial roles of the state-owned NNPC by transitioning it into a limited liability company, NNPC Limited.

According to the bill, NNPC Limited would be constituted within six months of enactment, opening it up to private capital, and making for a more transparent system given the requirement to publish annual reports and audited accounts.

The bill also seeks to limit the power of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, a role currently held by Nigeria’s President, by revoking the Minister’s power to grant, amend, revoke or renew licenses, and removing the Minister’s seat on the board of NNPC Limited. Two proposed regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (The Commission) and the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (The Authority) would replace the multitude of regulating bodies (the DPR, Petroleum Inspectorate, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, among others) and must consult each other on new regulations or amendments. Such structural reforms create a clear separation between NNPC Limited’s operations as a commercial entity and the regulatory roles to be exercised by the regulatory authorities, allowing for more transparent

oversight.

Kenneth Ene, the Senior Programme Manager for the DFID funded Facility for Oil Sector Transformation, FOSTER noted in a February 2018 analysis, that, “Since 2008, Nigeria has been working to improve transparency and accountability in the oil sector. Despite being one of the largest suppliers of crude oil in Africa, the country has traditionally been unable to signiÀcantly translate its oil wealth into su΀cient national development. There have been many reasons for this, including insu΀cient governance, weak sector regulation, and ine΀ciencies in oil operations. These have resulted in declining investment and returns in the industry, owing to the uncertain investment climate, incessant fuel shortage and insecurity.

In response, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) was developed.”

The bill, he further posited, has since undergone numerous revisions and debates, and met with a complex set of obstacles.

It is these obstacles that have more than any other deÀned the failure of the National Assembly to execute its mandate of gifting the citizenry with an oil and gas industry that works and is Àt for purpose.

It has been one tortured journey. The history of the attempts to legalise the PIB is replete with one failure after another, as the bill has struggled to see the light of day despite its introduction to the National Assembly over 16 years ago. The utmost the country came to concretising the PIB was in 2018 when the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), one of the four anthologies of the PIB, was harmonised and passed by both chambers for the president’s assent.

THISDAY noted in January 2020 that, “ The PIB has faced persistent backlash and herculean assault from vested interests, including from the federal government’s fear of potential protests against any removal of the fuel subsidy arising from deregulation of the industry. In addition, concerns about regional imbalances in

the distribution of oil revenues and, mounting pressure from foreign oil companies that are unwilling to pay more oil taxes, as well as from the leviathan NNPC afraid of the whittling of its hegemony have all coalesced to stiÁe the debut of the PIB.” Meanwhile, as the bill remains dormant and devoid of value, it has been estimated that the country might have lost as much as $235billion.

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy President of the Senate, speaking recently in Abuja, posited that an estimated $15 billion is lost annually as a result of the delay in passing the PIB. Quoting from a recent report by Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), the Deputy Senate President stressed that the delays, through diͿerent administrations, in enacting the PIB have cost the country an estimated $235 billion.

He said, “All these underscore the urgent need to do what we should have done in 2008 to give Nigeria the great oil industry it deserves, when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua saw the need to overhaul the existing petroleum laws. These include the Petroleum Act of 1969, the Petroleum ProÀt Tax Act of 1959, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Act 1977, among other legislations”.

Omo-Agege further added, “The good news today is that help is on the way, as the 9th Assembly and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, have boldly taken up the gauntlet and will soon enact the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 into an Act. On the 29th of September last year, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari took a giant step forward in reforming the industry when he returned the Petroleum Industry Bill as an executive Bill to the National Assembly.

“Subsequently, the Bill was read for the Àrst time on the 30th of September, 2020, second reading on 20th of October, 2020 and public hearing was held on 27th January this year.

Now, we await the report on the public hearing from the Senate’s committees namely: Petroleum Downstream, Petroleum Upstream and Gas Committee, to be put forward for consideration by the Senate.

Not many discerning Nigerians will cheer the promise of Omo-Agege. Many promises had been made in the past by high o΀cials of state with respect to passing the PIB into law.

On January 1, 2020, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva declared that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), would soon be passed by the National Assembly.

According to Sylva, a review of the Petroleum Industry Bill was at an advanced stage and full passage of the bill was expected mid-2020.

That same year, Senate President Ahmad Lawan vowed that the Senate would ensure the transmission of the approved version of the PIB to President Buhari for his assent before the end of 2020.

“Our petroleum industry is almost stagnant and for long needing profound reform. Our oil and gas-related committees are, therefore, expected to work hard to take the lead in our determination to reform this vital sector. It is the desire, indeed the design of this Senate that the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed before the end of 2020”, Lawan had said.

The failure of the National Assembly to pass the PIB is further aggravating the already debilitating state of the oil and gas industry. Final Investment Decisions (FID) are still pending on several oͿshore projects that are expected to create an additional production capacity of 875,000 b/d and hopefully attract about US$100 billion in new investments.

Final Investment Decisions on Shell’s Bonga and Southwest Aparo which are expected to add 225,000 b/d and Bonga North (100,000 b/d), Eni’s Zabazaba-Etan (120,000 b/d), Chevron’s Nsiko (100,000b/d), ExxonMobil’s Bosi (140,000 b/d); Satellite Field Development Phase Two (80,000 b/d); and Ude (110,000b/d) have been delayed because of the chronic lethargy of the National Assembly to pass the PIB.

28

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

ANALYSIS

3+ 5HÀQHU\ 5HYDPS 6LWXDWLQJ .\DUL·V /RJLF

Louis Achi

A

t a recent virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, $1.5 billion was approved for the full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt ReÀning Company Ltd. (PHRC). The reÀnery has a combined, installed crude processing capacity of 210,000 bpsd. The approval came on the heels of a memo by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on PHRC’s rehabilitation, which was presented to FEC and its subsequent approval on March 17, 2021.

As it were, the approval has triggered a Tsunami of criticisms and opposition from several analysts and important stakeholders.

This was not unexpected. More so against the backdrop of the fact that the country has in the past spent billions of dollars on reÀnery maintenance without commensurate industry beneÀts - persuading many experts to call for their privatisation.

The projected $1.5 billion revamp of the Port Harcourt reÀnery has even been compared with the sale of Shell Martinez reÀnery in the US by some trenchant critics. The 105-year old reÀnery was sold as part of deal that includes crude oil supply and product oͿ-take agreements.

To understand the factors behind this sale, the current vagaries of the oil and gas markets must be x-rayed. Against a backdrop of increasing environmental, social, climate change demands for cleaner fuels, the rise of electric vehicles and the demand diminution caused by COVID-19, the world has experienced a sharp drop in demand for oil and this has impacted on supply.

Despite the din and seemingly dim picture, there is a Áip side to the unfolding story. Globally, oil prices have remained low but steadily increasing with the scaling up in vaccine distribution.

Coming back home, Nigeria has four reÀneries, all government-owned and it currently imports virtually all its reÀned petroleum products.

Whereas in the developed economies, the rise of electric vehicles has also impacted the demand for PMS and this is having signiÀcant eͿect on reÀning. InAfrica, the population is rising rapidly with a growing middle class with the number of cars increasing signiÀcantly, giving rise to increase in PMS demand in the region. This has increasingly made the case for making Nigeria, Africa’s reÀning hub through the rehabilitation of all the four state-owned reÀneries and the growth of domestic reÀning capacity through private players like Dangote, Waltersmith etc.

It was in the midst of this Áowering ‘controversy’ that Malam Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), entered the fray to provide both context, clarity and associated metrics for the decision to fully revamp and re-operationalise the PHRC. In its vigorous defence of the approval of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of PHRC, the Mele Kyari-led NNPC maintains that building a new reÀnery with the name-plate capacity of the Port Harcourt reÀnery will cost the federal government between $7 billion and $12 billion and take a period of four to six years, during which Nigeria must continue to import products.

Putting the actual cost of the revamp project at about $1.34 billion, Kyari noted that additional expenses include taxes and other duties that could come up. He argued that there was no basis for comparison between the Port Harcourt reÀnery and the one sold by Shell in America for $1.2 billion in terms of capacity.

Hear him: “The real cost is $1.34 billion. Even then you could argue and say why you wouldn’t build a new reÀnery. We have also seen some curious comparisons that Shell sold one of its reÀneries for $1.2 billion and that it’s even better than our own.

“This is mundane. Even a Google search will reveal that it was built in 1915 and it’s a 107,000 barrels per day reÀnery. It has been on shut down by the regulators since early last year.

A refinery

Not only that, when you buy a reÀnery you buy its assets and the liabilities.”

He maintained that many people do not know the Ànancial transactions that go into some negotiations, saying that it is needless to compare a combined reÀnery of 210, 000 barrels to a much smaller and much older reÀnery which has many issues with regulators. The GMD further revealed that the current huge cost of rehabilitation was because the last turnaround-maintenance was badly carried out.

The NNPC boss also drew attention to the fact that those pitching for building outright new reÀnery did not do their due diligence.

“They have asked why we don’t just build a new one. What does it take to build a reÀnery of this status today? It’s anywhere between $7 billion to $12 billion to construct a reÀnery of this nature. This is what we call battery limit construction. That’s the estimate you see in the public space,” he clariÀed.

According to him, “There are things you do outside the battery limits like the tank and other utilities that are never accounted for when the estimates of this nature are done. That’s about 25 per cent of the total cost. So, when you say reÀneries can be built for $6 billion or even $10 billion, you should also think about the 25 per cent you will add to it.”

Explaining that the local banking sector is not ready to put in the money because they no longer fund oil projects of that magnitude, the option of scrapping the current one and building a new one was out - in addition to unavailability of resources.

PHRC, a strategic national asset, is Nigeria’s biggest plant. Only the Dangote ReÀnery is bigger. After the revamp, operating at 90% capacity, it will supply 17% of national products consumption. This will signiÀcantly reduce fuel importation, conserve scarce forex and assist in strengthening the naira. Furthermore, thousands of jobs across the value chain will be created to boost the GDP - crude supply, product distribution as well as procurement & service contracts.

Analysing the NNPC-GMD’s clariÀcation, the plant is undergoing total rehabilitation, not Turnaround Maintenance (TAM). Beyond semantics, TAM is a scheduled large-scale maintenance activity wherein an entire process unit is taken-oͿ stream for an extended period

for comprehensive revamp and renewal. TAM is normally carried out every two years. The proposed revamp will consist of comprehensive repairs of the plant with signiÀcant replacement of critical equipment to ensure the plant integrity is maintained for a minimum period of 10 years.

The PHRC had its last TAM in 2000 - 21 years ago - and this was unfortunately badly done.

Not many know that the initial revamp cost of about US$2.5 billion was reduced to US$1.5 billion through circumspect, painstaking reviews and negotiations by the Kyari-led NNPC before the contract was presented to FEC for approval.

Again, not many know that to construct a 210,000bopd name-plate capacity reÀnery (which PHRC is) with US$1.5 billion is impossible. From accessible cost data, the 250,000 - 300,000bopd Aramco Oil ReÀnery in Pakistan is estimated to cost US$10 billion. The 230,000bopd Abreu e Lima ReÀnery in Brazil has an estimated cost of US$12 billion. The 650,000bopd Dangote ReÀnery in Nigeria is estimated to cost US$19 billion.

Afreximbank is the leading Ànancier of the reÀnery revamp project, providing US$1 billion (67%). This speaks to the project viability and bankability. In consonance with key lender requirements, the reÀnery after revamp will be run by an experienced and credible operator via an Operations and Maintenance Model.

This involves a specialised technical company being in charge of the day-to-day running of the reÀnery to ensure that the plant runs safely, reliably, sustainably and proÀtably on behalf of the NNPC to ensure that the loans are paid back on schedule. On the project governance structure front, external stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance, ICRC, NEITI and labour unions (PENGASSAN & NUPENG) will be emplaced.

It is worth noting that the NNPC, Algeria’s Sonatrach,Angola’s Sonangol and other notable NOCs in Africa stand on the brink of signiÀcant disruption - and of substantial opportunity - as a new era of structurally lower oil prices challenges business models that have long relied largely on exploration and production of crude petroleum. To manage these challenges clearly require new thinking and boldness.

Perhaps his toughest call in an industry he has spent much of his professional life in, Kyari, unabashed by the unÁattering history of NNPC,

especially on transparency, has responded to his new top-draw responsibility by quickly taking charge, in close synergy with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which oversights the corporation. In his almost two-year year trajectory, he has simultaneously demonstrated a fundamental grasp of the industry, brought more clarity and a nimble understanding of the imperative of adroit governance of the strategic sector.

Besides its role as the bedrock of the Nigerian economy, the petroleum industry has been one of the key deÀning phenomenon of the country’s post-independence history. This fact centralises NNPC in the nation’s political economy, given the corporation’s assigned role in the industry.

It’s worth recalling that in June, 2020, during a virtual conference organised by the Atlantic Council, Mele Kyari had forthrightly observed it was di΀cult to explain why an oil-producing country like Nigeria would become a net importer of petroleum products. Typically, he went on to provide an insight to explain just why.

According to Kyari, “The reason is very simple, we couldn’t Àx our reÀneries and that’s very di΀cult to explain. Why can’t we Àx our reÀneries? We started this very many years ago. For 20 years, all attempts to Àx the reÀneries failed for very simple reason, there is a strategy problem.”

It’s then little wonder that in the ReÀning and Petrochemicals Directorate, Kyari is pursuing a deliberate shift to get the reÀneries back to their nameplate capacities using the Operations & Maintenance (O & M) Model, thereby enhancing local reÀning capacity. A detailed programme of rehabilitation for the four reÀneries to bring them back to minimum of 90 per cent of installed production capacity by 2023 - which dovetails into the current PHRC revamp project - is being implemented.

A public policy is a principle of action chosen by a government for the achievement of speciÀc goals that should ideally favour as much of the society as possible. Beyond the challenges of the period, the emerging consensus is that the PHRC revamp project keys into the big-picture policy imperatives of changing the nation’s oil sector story.

This clearly resonates with Mele Kyari’s logic.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

29

PERSPECTIVE

Fuel Subsidy: Which Way Nigeria?

Deregulation or Regulation?

Stella Igwe-Adesoga

D

etermined to push through subsidy removal for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol, the Federal Government says subsidy is troubling the country with rueful Ànancial disquiet and

dire straits.

With the COVID-19 racked economy foisted on the nation in 2020 and the dwindling accruable revenue into the Federation Account, the government had given the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) the carte blanche to carry out the much needed reforms in the sector and take the country out of the woods it had been for decades.

It has been a chaotic failure for decades tinkering with prices of petroleum products particularly petrol and oftentimes resulting in labour crisis and violent citizens’ protest. It was a ritual for previous governments including the military to usher the people into a new year on the Àrst day with new price regime, triggering inÁation and prices of services and commodities in the economy.

With the coming on board of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 arming himself with the Ministry of Petroleum portfolio being assisted

by Dr Ibe Kachuckwu as Minister of State, the pump price of petrol was raised from the N87 it inherited from the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to N145.

Chief Timpre Sylva took over from Kachuckwu and currently, the pump price has risen to N165 and N170 respectively.

Here are the timelines of petrol pump increase in the country dating back to 1973: Gowon-1973: 6k to 8.45k (40.83%) Murtala-1976: 8.45k to 9k (6.5%) Obasanjo -Oct 1,1978: 9k to 15.3k (70%) Shagari-Apr 20,1982: 15.3k to 20k (30.72%) Babangida-Mar 31, 1986: 20k to 39.5k (97.5%) Babangida-Apr 10, 1988: 39.5k to 42k (6.33%) Babangida-Jan 1, 1989: 42k to 60k (42.86%) Babangida- Mar 6, 1991: 60k to70k (16.67%) Shonekan(82 days in power)-Nov 8, 1993: 70k to N5 (614.29%) Abacha- Nov 22, 1993: N5 to N3.25k (price dropped 35%) Abacha-Oct 2, 1994: N3.25k to N15 (361.54%) Abacha-Oct 4, 1994: N15 to N11(price dropped 26.67%) Abubakar-Dec 20, 1998: N11 toN25 (127.27%) Abubakar-Jan 6,1999: N25 to N20(price dropped 25 %) Obasanjo -June 1, 2000: N20 to N30 (50%) Obasanjo-June 8, 2000: N30 to N22(price drops 26.67%) Obasanjo-Jan 1, 2002: N22 to N26 (18.18%) Obasanjo-June, 2003: N26 to N42 (61.54%) Obasanjo-May 29, 2004: N42 to N50 (19.05%) Obasanjo-Aug 25, 2004: N50 to N65 (30%) Obasanjo-May 27, 2007: N65 to N75 (15.39%) Yar’ Adua-June, 2007: back to N65 (price drops 15.39%) Jonathan -Jan 1,2012: N65 to N141 (116.92%) Jonathan – Jan 17, 2012: N141 to N97 (Price drops 31.21%) Jonathan – Feb, 2015 N97 to N87 (price drops 10.31%) Buhari – May 11, 2016: N87 to N145 (66.67%) It is, however, noteworthy that the late Yar’Adua was the only president who did not increase pump price. Instead, he reduced it from N75 to N65.

It is instructive to note that the strategic increase is part of pragmatic eͿorts to remove completely the subsidy which the government said had cost the nation trillions of naira.

The question of subsidy and the resolve of the Buhari administration to end the corruption were broached in 2020 by some top government o΀cials thereby setting it as a national agenda.

The vexed issue of subsidy had over the years constituted a drain on the nation’s Ànances.

From 2009 to 2011 alone, over N3 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy by the government, according to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit report obtained by Persecondnews.

The Àgure for 2011 to date, though unavailable, it must be staggering and amazing.

The authorities, technocrats and economic experts say the trillions of naira that subsidy had gulped would have been channeled into other critical sectors of the economy for national development such as road infrastructure, health care system, education and housing.

Details of the NEITI report shows petrol subsidy payment increased by 71 per cent from N406 billion in 2009 to N695 billion in 2010, and by 174 per cent to N1. 9 trillion in 2011.

For the corresponding period, the NEITI report said subsidy payments by the NNPC alone rose by 110 per cent from N198 billion in 2009 to N416 billion in 2010, and 89 per cent to N695 billion in 2011.

The report said while the O΀ce of theAccountantGeneral of the Federation said about N2.83 trillion

Buhari

was paid as fuel subsidy for the period, the Petroleum Products PricingAgency (PPPRA), the government agency that monitors and regulates petroleum product prices, claimed about N3.002trillion was approved for payment to marketers and the NNPC. The Àgures from both agencies showed a disparity of about N175.9 billion in the claims of payment for fuel subsidy for the period.

Also, in 2018, the NEITI audit said Nigeria’s payments on fuel subsidy rose by over 210 per cent from N722.3 million per day in March 2018 to N2.4 billion per day in May, amid rising Àscal deÀcits and growing debts.

Tecnocrats had canvassed a strong position for the deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry, saying it will ensure competition, increase investment in the reÀning business and facilitate exponential growth in the nation’s reÀning capacity.

They want a deeper and more focused collaboration among downstream petroleum sector players across Africa to provide solutions to the challenges posed by the supply of substandard fuels to consumers.

They traced the genesis of petrol subsidy to the 1970s, noting that the idea of petroleum products price stabilization had led to the introduction of fuel subsidy which they insisted was noble, but that it had become a ``huge Ànancial burden’’ on the nation over the years. ``The decision by the government to remove subsidy and deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in March 2020, is to help free up fund for infrastructural development in the industry. ``Deregulation policy which will allow the market forces of demand and supply of petroleum products to dictate prices will help eliminate market distortion, foster competition between operators, get more private sector players to build reÀneries in the country and promote e΀ciency across the entire fuel value chain,’’Persecondnews quotes a key player in the sector, who did not want to be named as saying.

One of the germane issues thrown up is how make high quality petroleum products available in the country without importation and the solution of course, is a ``holistic rehabilitation’’ of the four reÀneries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

While awaiting the long-over due rehabilitation of the old reÀneries built in the 1970s and 80s, there is an urgent need for the government to give legal teeth to its plan as announced by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to collaborate with relevant private sector operators and investors to establish modular and condensate reÀneries in strategic locations in the country particularly in the Niger Delta.

No doubt, the projects will be in line with theAFRI standards of AFRI-4 speciÀcations of 50 particles per million for diesel; 150 particles per million for gasoline (petrol) by 2020, and AFRI-5 speciÀcation of 50 particles per million of sulphur in gasoline and diesel by 2030 respectively.

Also revamping petroleum products storage depots and associated pipeline infrastructure is key to optimal operations of the reÀneries and of course.

Commenting on the future of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in Nigeria and on the African continent, the technocrat stated: ``The future is looking bright with attractive market conditions, large market, signiÀcant crude distillation capacity additions from various reÀnery projects, improvement of the distribution network and the use of natural gas.

Again stakeholders are unanimous on the planned reform of the sector as they have continued to highlight the likely gains of deregulating the downstream oil sector which includes but not limited to economic growth and national development.

The authorities, consumers of the products and strategic stakeholders have come the conclusion that it is unrealistic to continue to subsidize PMS. An economic expert, Mr Olukunle OloÀn said: ``It has become expedient for the Ministry of Petroleum to explain misconceptions around the issue of petroleum products deregulation.

“After a thorough examination of the economics of subsidizing PMS for domestic consumption, the government concluded that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidizing PMS to the tune of trillions of naira every year.

“Moreso, when the subsidy was beneÀting in large part the rich rather than the poor and ordinary Nigerians.

“Deregulation means that the Government will no longer continue to be the main supplier of Petroleum Products, but will encourage private sector to take over the role of supplying Petroleum Products.’’

According to him, market forces will henceforth determine the price as the price of crude goes up in the international market, pump price will also be reviewed upwards and when it plummets, pump price will also come down.

One assurance the government and players in the industry owe Nigerians is that government would continue to play its traditional role of regulation to ensure that this strategic commodity was not priced arbitrarily by private sector suppliers.

A regulatory function not unlike the role played by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the banking sector by ensuring that commercial banks do not charge arbitrary interest rates.

Petroleum Products are reÀned from Crude Oil. Therefore the price of Crude (the feedstock) for the reÀning process will aͿect the price of the reÀned product.

A government o΀cial says: “This is a necessary action taken by a responsible government in the overall interest of Nigerians. Indeed, one of the reasons we have been unable to attract the level of investments we desire into the reÀning sector has been the burden of fuel subsidy. ``We need to free up that investment space so that what happened in the Banking Sector, Aviation Sector and other Sectors can happen in the Midstream and Downstream Oil Sector. ``We can no longer avoid the inevitable and expect the impossible to continue. There was no time government promised to reduce pump price and keep it permanently low. ``Let us therefore ignore the antics of unscrupulous

middlemen who would want status quo ante to remain at the expense of the generality of Nigerians.’’

As part of measures to relieve Nigerians of the likely impact of higher PMS pump price, the government has announced plans to roll out the auto-gas scheme which will provide Nigerians an alternative sources of fuel and at a lower cost.

Observably, leaving the pump price to the vagaries of crude oil price volatility will deÀnitely hurt Nigerians and the economy as the commodity may be sold as high as N200 per litre or more in future.

However, there are some challenges on the road to downstream oil deregulation such as inappropriate product pricing, bridging product supply, insecurity, irregular gas supply, pipeline vandalism, inadequate pipeline infrastructure, non-functional reÀneries.

Also the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which has been dumped in the National Assembly for more than 10 years is the neglected roadmap to the sector as it would go a long way in addressing the challenges.

Persecondnews also gathered from relevant stakeholders it will bring about the necessary reforms and put the nation’s oil industry on an even keel. The resuscitated bill from the previous assemblies, it is believed, takes cognizance of the fact that Crude oil dominates the nation’s economy with about 90 per cent export earnings.

As a matter-of-factly, Nigeria has the largest oil and gas reserves in sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 37 billion barrels of oil and 188 trillion cubic feet of gas but the industry has been dogged by corruption, sabotage, pipeline oil theft and poor leadership resulting in loss of billions of dollar revenue.

Likely changes expected in the new bill are the selling of shares in the NNPC, the replacement of regulatory bodies, and the reduction and streamlining of royalties.

The PIB will also raise the compensation payable by oil companies to the oil-producing communities, facilitate environmental cleanups, and introduce new dispute-resolution mechanisms between government and oil companies.

It will see the setting up a midstream government infrastructure fund, promote transparency in the sector, and attract foreign investment into the industry.

As the nation awaits the passage of PIB with bated breath going by the cast iron assurance of the current leadership of the 9th National Assembly inaugurated on June 11, 2019 , however, industry watchers believe that the government should continue to ensure that the commodity is not priced arbitrarily by private sector suppliers while at the same time ensure a good return on investment for investors both for the landing and operational costs.

Also, the next few weeks after a possible resolution of the government-labour impasse on petrol pricing will determine the direction of the government on the vexed issue of deregulation or regulation.

A make or mar decision is now.

Mrs Igwe is a media executive and expert in African Economic Development.

30

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

FOCUS

Bags of NPK fertiliser

As Buhari’s Fertiliser Initiative Hits Home Run

Opeyemi Oke

I

t is a given that of the three needs of man, food comes Àrst and its availability is the bedrock for any other form of growth - be it physical or economic. In eͿect, the food economy is deeply interrelated with globalisation, changes in consumer demand for energy, the ICT revolution, sustainability issues, and shifts in the relationship between private companies and public regulators.

Clearly, it is the Àrst rung in the quest for economic independence.

Given that Nigeria is Africa’s largest country with the fastest growing population, the nation’s food needs continue to rise. But the increase in food production has not kept pace with population growth. A consequence of this is mirrored in the rising food imports and declining levels of national food self-su΀ciency.

Clearly, one of the main factors undermining agricultural output is the general sub-optimal yield per hectare due to low fertiliser application among other factors.

For decades, this has been the bane of agriculture in Nigeria. Curiously, the role of fertilisers in crop yields and agricultural productivity are usually underestimated by many. That’s why mineral fertilisers are used to supplement the soil’s nutrient stocks with minerals that can be quickly absorbed and used by crops.

It is worth recalling that in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari inherited an agricultural sector that was weakened by serial policy inconsistencies. Nigeria solely depended on importation of fertilisers and a subsidy regime that only served to assuage the thirst of corrupt middlemen. But the President would have none of that. He was determined to reverse this position in a sustainable manner.

More, late distribution of fertiliser to farmers, delivery to unintended beneÀciaries, price distortion in markets, crowding out private sector investments and late payment of suppliers added to the mix that made the national agricultural policies of 2006 to 2015 untenable and incapable of improving Nigeria’s fortune in food production.

Encumbered by a debt burden of over N60 billion in subsidies, moribund blending plants and over-reliance on imports, the Buhari administration incepted the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) - beginning from the 2nd of December

2016 - kick-started the process that eventually liberated the agricultural sector from the clutches of poorly implemented policies of past administrations.

The Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) was set up and designed to ‘disrupt’ the status-quo of importing blended fertiliser, by directly negotiating discounted contracts to procure the four constituent raw materials for NPK Fertiliser sourced from Europe - and blending these locally to produce NPK Fertiliser at reduced cost.

Succinctly captured, the PFI is a catalytic intervention initiated by the President, underpinned by several policy realignments to revive the nation’s hitherto comatose domestic fertiliser blending industry and the underlying value chain supporting the critical sector.

Designed as a Àve-year rolling plan in the Àrst instance, PFI consists of Àve unique stages which combine to augment the country’s domestic industrial capacity.

In the Àrst stage, the President engineered the supply of high-quality raw materials at scale to domestic blenders.

Secondly, the current government’s import substitution programme was scaled and gradually, restrictions were placed on importation of Ànished blends of fertiliser. As the blenders attained Ànancial independence and operational wherewithal, the third stage - a total ban on importation of Ànished fertiliser products - was then implemented.

In the fourth stage, the President sought the backward integration towards the domestic production of raw materials (Phosphate, Potash etc.) not currently produced locally - while in the Àfth and Ànal phase, government will stimulate a gradual move towards open market commercial production of fertilisers. Notably, the President has made signiÀcant strides in ensuring that all the stages above are achieved before the conclusion of his administration.

In order to manage the programme on behalf of government as a fund manager and programme manager in strict compliance with the programme objectives and under clear governance systems, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) was appointed to serve as the implementing entity.

Besides the centrality of NSIA, operating through a Special Purpose Vehicle, NAIC-NPK Limited and responsible for funding and implementing the PFI, there are other key parties to the programme.

These include - the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, O΀ce of the National Security adviser (NSA), Central Bank of Nigeria and the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN).

Others also include OCP: State-owned Di Ammonium Phosphate producer, on behalf of the Government of Morocco, the Blending Plants accredited under the PFI, the Agro-Dealers and State Governments who oͿ-take the Ànished products from the Blending Plants and retail to the farmers, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – for testing the products to ensure consistent in quality of product mix.

Cut to the bone, the PFI has resuscitated the fertiliser blending industry, increasing operational plants from 4 in 2016 to 41 as of year-end 2020, saved Nigeria a whopping US$200 million in foreign exchange, and N60 billion in budgetary provisions for fertiliser subsidy, enhanced food security as a result of the increase in food production, reduced food-induced inÁation and stimulation of economic activities across the agriculture value chain and created over a hundred thousand direct and indirect jobs.

This year, after painstaking assessment and review by the presidency, the NSIA is being restructured to take the back seat and allow the industry grow on its own.

This is to make the overall programme more sustainable.

An elated FESPAN chairman Thomas Etuh proclaimed recently: “With the restructuring of the PFI for sustainability, we are doing 1.5 million metric tonnes of blended NPK this year. From 44 plants this year, we are moving to 54 this year.

We commend the President and NSIA for this partnership and look forward to more areas of collaboration.”

According to NSIA Managing Director, Uche Orji: “We bring three things to every process - accountability, transparency and the reputation and capital base of the NSIA«. “On his part, Aminu Umar Sadiq, Executive Director, NSIA, revealed that, “The role of the NSIA has been fundamental in relation to the PFI and FEPSAN«NSIA has also been the Ànanciers to the implementation within the Àrst four years«” Beyond the broader goal of ensuring food security for the country by providing high-grade fertiliser to enhance harvest, the Buhari administration is by

this initiative reinforcing its commitment to reviving and diversifying the economy, and creating growth, through a focus on agriculture. The stupendous grounds covered by the focused presidential exertions in the critical fertiliser sector have linkages with the new trajectory and home run.

Last week, on Thursday, March 25, during a virtual meeting with members of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) and Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) led by Mr. Thomas Etuh in Abuja, a clearly elated President Buhari told his rapt audience that recent developments in the Nigerian fertiliser value chain is moving the country to becoming a regional and global fertiliser powerhouse. He also stated that a new $1.3billion worth basic chemicals platform that will produce ammonia and fertilisers in Nigeria will be ready for commissioning in the coming months. The new plant, he revealed, will be built in partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco.

According to Buhari, “His Majesty, the King of Morocco and I, have agreed to extend the current phosphate supply agreement between the Kingdom of Morocco and Nigeria. We both believe that to consolidate and expand on the successes recorded thus far; we must secure raw material supplies to our blenders.

“Furthermore, to improve the balance of trade between Nigeria and Morocco, the two countries have signed an agreement to develop a $1.3 billion basic chemicals platform in Nigeria that will produce ammonia, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, and various Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK), and Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilisers using Nigeria’s gas reserves.”

President Buhari noted that the new plant when completed would complement the existing Dangote and Indorama Chemicals facilities which produce urea, ammonia, and other industrial raw materials. On the activities of the FEPSAN, the President expressed happiness with the progress made over the past Àve years, saying investments in the fertiliser and agricultural inputs sector have continued to grow despite the country going through recessions during the period.

His words: “Though many investors chose to take their monies out of Nigeria, you continued to invest. Today, we are seeing the fruits of your smart, long term and patriotic decisions. This is why all Nigerians should be proud of the personal commitments and sacriÀces you all made in getting us to where we are today.

“Another commendable trait worth mentioning is that all your investments have been balanced between urban and rural Nigeria; these are the types of investments needed to address the unemployment and security challenges our nation is facing today.”

FEPSAN President, Thomas Etuh, highlighted the commitment and supportive roles of President Buhari in birthing the PFI, which commenced the sectoral revitalisation process explaining that the singular initiative had lifted the country from scarcity to availability of the essential agro input. Etuh reminded the President of the initial mandate given to FEPSAN members through the PFI programme in 2016, saying the success of the initial mandate was being leveraged to further widen opportunities.

His words: “Mr. President, when you invited us for a role in the PFI programme, there were only four blending plants in Nigeria operating at less than 40 per cent capacity. But today, we are proud to announce the existence of 40 blending plants in the country, all operating at 100 per cent capacity. Today, we are proud to announce that all the blending plants in Nigeria source 60 per cent of their raw material locally.”

A major highlight of the meeting was the restructuring of the PFI, to ensure it was fully private sector-led, and would provide all the funding for the procurement of raw materials necessary for fertiliser production in the country.

A powerful vision pulls in ideas, people and other resources; it creates the energy and will to make change happen.

It inspires individuals, diverse stakeholders and organisations to commit, to persist and to give their best. This is the story of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative - a Áagship agricultural sector programme of the President Buhari administration - a resounding success.

For fertiliser production, he has indeed hit the home run.

Baba for All

2NH ZULWHV IURP /DJRV

31

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

BRANDS & MARKETING

Female Brand Icons Who Raise the Bar at Mandilas

As the world commemorates the 2021 edition of the International Women’s Day anniversary, the occasion throws up conversation at the 71 year-old Mandilas Group, with patrons paying glowing tributes to a few women, whose angelic innovations have helped the brand to sustain its tempo. Raheem Akingbolu writes on how these set of brand managers have weathered the storm over the years

F

or over 70 years, the Mandilas Group has remained a market leader with provision of a wide range of Àrst-class internationally renowned products and services. As a pathÀnder in the global automobile industry, the Group has evolved over time and currently operates under two major divisions namely – Mobility and Cooling. SpeciÀcally, between the 1950s when the company introduced the Volkswagen brand with distributorship links to other global auto brands such asAudi, Peugeot, Nissan, Daihatsu, Honda, Kia, and Skoda, it has since become a household name in the Nigerian automobile industry. However, whether in its contribution to the growth of the automobile market or Aircon Division, one incontrovertible fact is that the womenfolk have played prominent roles in raising the bar for the Mandilas brand.

For instance, with an automobile industry experience that spans over 25years, it will be difÀcult to push aside Kemi Koyejo, who is currently the General Manager, Mandilas Mobility Division.

Speaking on how she feels about operating in an otherwise male-dominated Àeld, Koyejo was emphatic in stating that performance is the most important and not gender.

“Maybe I felt I was working in a male-dominated Àeld initially, when we were quite few in the industry. I have however come to terms with it over the years having realised that performance doesn’t have anything to do with your gender.”

Perhaps her background also helped her career growth, having grown up from a family where there were no gender speciÀc chores. She told THISDAY that the boys were made to participate in the kitchen and girls were made to clean cars during her formative years. As someone who enjoys taking up challenges, Koyejo, however, admitted that her initial course of study have also helped her a lot to conquer whatever doubts she could have nurtured.

“My story is incomplete without Mandilas.

The company has given me a platform to express myself. I became the Àrst female National Marketing Manager years ago amidst doubts and was able to make the best of the opportunity. The platform is currently further enhanced under the leadership of the current and Àrst female CEO –Ms. Ola Debayo-Doherty.”

Another inspiring story is that of Uzoamaka Fannie Nwakanma, the current Branch Manager of the Ibadan Workshop. With a background in French and Business education, Nwakanma had proved her mettle at the World Health Organisation as translator before joining Mandilas Enterprises Limited in 1999.

Speakingonherexperienceasabranchmanager in an auto workshop, as being the only female amid men in the branch, for more than four years now, she pointed out that the development has motivated her so much and has built a strong conÀdence in her that she now sees challenges as the easiest task to handle.

“It has also proven to me that determination is not attributed to gender. It is important to build a ‘Can Do’ mindset in every area of our lives.

Being a female does not have any limitation in handling challenges and tasks of any sort,” she pointed out.

But has she ever felt inadequate in terms of lacking the skills and competences for the job?

This is one of the questions Nwakanma takes delight in responding to any day.

“Not at all, I understood the operation too well and was Áowing with it. I was also diplomatic in dealing with some unknown skills; I have never exposed my inadequacies to my subordinates. I would rather seek assistance from my colleagues and they are ever ready to respond to me.”

Two things have however motivated her to achieve her goals as branch manager; the conducive platform provided by Mandilas and her

Kemi

Cecilia

Victoria

winning team.

Her words: “Mandilas plays a major role in all of these by making available the platform for this to be achieved. Also, my team has been very cooperative in all areas, this motivates me. I understand the fact that they are all men and have an ego; therefore I give them their due respect.

I make them feel important. I don’t assume I know everything, I carry them along in problem solving, I seek their ideas and make room for their contributions, play with them, but know when to draw the line, talk to them without being rude or hostile, drop the apologies when necessary.

They have been wonderful and highly respectful

and this makes my job easy.”

A Branch Manager, Victoria Oluwaseyi, who leadstheteaminIlorin,alsosharedaninspirational experience. Though it can easily be concluded that her background as a certiÀed mechanical engineer smoothened her ride in the company, it is a lot more than that. Having worked in Coscharis, Elizade Nigeria Limited, RT Briscoe and now Mandilas, experience and passion sure speak more for Oluwaseyi.

Speaking on how she feels operating in an otherwise male-dominated Àeld, she painted a picture of how a male customer, who looked down on her some years back further re-ignited

her to be the best on the job.

“It feels great to be operating in a male dominated Àeld though some clients Ànd it hard to believe a lady can do the same job as a man.

Some years ago, a client came to diagnose his vehicle, so I was called upon to attend to him. On getting to him, I greeted him and told him I will be attending to him. He became very furious and said to me that I cannot attend to him stressing his point that ladies don’t know about cars. That’s an instance of how it feels.”

Beyond all these, she told THISDAY that she had always had a positive attitude and it has helped her not to feel inadequate.

Another inspiring story of these angels is that of Cecilia Imomoh, who is currently the Head, Technical Sales, AC Contracts at the Mandilas Cooling Division.

Imomoh has demonstrated experience in both consulting and contracting industries over the years and this has helped her career trajectory in the company.

To her, it’s quite interesting and challenging at the same time working in a male-dominated Àeld as this is what she’s always loved to do and what she is passionate about.

“Challenging, because you are sometimes faced with the reality of gender-biased society, where you must work twice as hard as your male counterpart to gain credibility, when you grow in your career, they assume you were only being favoured.

IremembermyÀrstexperiencewithaparticular consultant on a massive government project in Abuja, the moment he realised it was a lady that worked on the design, he started questioning all parameters, unfortunately for him, he did not know I was prepared. I reminded him that engineering standards do not know gender.”

According to her, the passion for deeper HVAC knowledge prompted her to approach Mandilas as a Youth Corps member years back and that has remained one of her best decisions in her career.

Has Imomoh ever felt inadequate in terms of lacking the skills and competences for the job?

The answer is no.

“No. Though some tasks come with their challenges, I see them as an opportunity to break a new shell,” Even as the head of technical sales at the AC Division, where she is perhaps the only female amidst men in the branch, she is not intimidated.

The story is the same at the Port Harcourt Workshop, where Juliet Ama-Ajuoyi is a branch manager. Though an accounting graduate,AmaAjuoyi career trajectory and her early education at military formations, have built her to surmount any challenge. She did her one-year NYSC with NigerianEngineeringWorksLtdandlaterworked with Kapital Insurance, Regency Insurance until she was employed in Mandilas Enterprise Ltd. in 2008 as the Senior Accounts Supervisor.

When asked if she has ever felt inadequate in terms of lacking the skills and competences for the job, she explained that having been in the Áoor for eight years, gave her a great insight and knowledge of work activities.

At the Ebute-Metta Workshop, where Edna Poroye is a branch manager, one doesn’t need anybody to reveal that Poroye doesn’t see herself as working in an unusual setting. Also an accounting graduate, Edna thinks of the automobile and how the industry can be better enhanced.

“I have four wonderful brothers and from her secondary school days, I mixed well with boys though shy growing up, but I made a conscious eͿort to break out of it. I became a tom boy.”

Speaking further she said she hasn’t for once felt inadequate in terms of lacking the skills and competences for the job.

Driving home her point on how women can survive in a male-dominated environment, she was quick to mention that Mandilas has given her the platform so hers is to strive to succeed.

32

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

WOMEN ENTERPRENEURS NGOZI OYEWOLE

My Quest for Excellence Didn’t Come Easy Mrs. Ngozi Oyewole is the founder of Noxie Limited, which has been awarded SONCAP and MAN certifications in office furniture manufacturing. She is a certified health and safety professional and big player in the oil and gas and medical field, supplying protective equipment in the areas of medical, food and construction industries. Oyewole, who is a result-driven and resilient entrepreneur, has an extensive experience in leadership, business management and strategic planning. An alumnus of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, she holds a degree in Business Administration and is a certified interior designer. In this interview with Oyinlola Sale, she speaks about her business and pertinent issues in the manufacturing sector

H

ow have you been able to carve a niche for yourself, despite the competition out there?

Very interesting question, but I must say carving out a niche market and positioning ourselves as the go-to brand for a speciÀc audience meant a lot to me. So we had to establish our credibility over competitors, we got more focused on o΀ce furniture only and in the areas of our safety business, we concentrated on integrated safety and held onto PPEs for all industries not only oil & gas. Then we built our unique value proposition and improved our content marketing that had made it easier for our esteemed clients to say, “The Noxie brand is for me.”

This industry is capital intensive, so how did you PDQDJH WR ÀQDQFH WKLV EXVLQHVV LQ LWV HDUO\ GD\V" When you start a business, a lot would have run through your mind. Castles are built, bungalows and a broken down castle is also part of the structure that played out too. However, even as these pictures continue to play out, one major thing that is consistent is your drive to succeed. That drive is what makes everything look attainable. So as capital intensive as the whole structure looked, it was attainable. This is because humility wakes up, where you are grateful to whoever stretches out an olive branch, you grab it. And make good use of the opportunity. We started small as retailers, we could not stock any goods and relied a lot on prepaid order and as we grew, the banks and clients started taking us seriously, we strictly followed the rules of the beginner- keep our books, accountability etc.; these were the enablers that we rendered to our clients and banks that set our foot on the right path to our growth path.

What were some of your biggest fears when you started this business?

Life is all about choices; so if you discover a way to make the necessary, but unpleasant things that we have to do enjoyably, then you hit the jackpot of people’s minds in terms of building the foundation for satisfying them and getting beautiful rewards.

Part of my biggest fears, I guess, is my quest for excellence, which didn’t come that easy, because there were times I would be faced with too challenging situations and I will want to just pack up and quit. But the drive to succeed would play up and all that is required is my focused attention.

Being an entrepreneur is like stair climbing, I could not have navigated those boulders without paying very close and constant attention to Ànding the easiest path, Àguring where to put my feet, what I could hold on to. Well, I found my path, I found the speed, I found the strength, and the limitations which of course I challenged. Some clients sometimes looked like they were in a pact with the devil to derail all our eͿorts. Sometimes the staͿ too would decide which day they also would be in collaboration with the devil to depress you.

Sometimes you feel you have it all put together then the unknown government policies will now decide to rear their ugly heads. In all, this my talent always swung me to a new level, I used my multiple skills and talents to Ànd satisfaction and using it

role of women cannot and should not be ignored.

I am sure we all know that when we empower a woman, everyone beneÀts, but unfortunately women are still being treated as second class citizens of this world. In some areas, girls are almost completely ignored with no status, no protection and no prospects. In many families and communities, inequality is so entrenched that it is not even questioned, of course there is gender inequality in my Àeld. Globally, women make up 34% of the support role workforce. However, less than 21% of the executive leadership roles are held by women.

The image of a lack of advancement opportunity for women in oil gas sends well-qualiÀed candidates looking outside of oil and gas for employment. So there is the need for more voices to let them know that. The industry needs to be cognisant that, it is providing a culture of inclusion. We must advocate and sponsor women in like us in this industry because “companies that are inclusive thrive,” and even more with a woman leading the pack!

Over the years, how have you managed to balance your home front and your career life?

I know people talk about work life balance. I can tell you there is no such thing, it all boils down to what works for you. I always say know your home and so Ànetune it to suit you. I preferred to stay home and bring up my young children and put what people felt were the good values they needed to know Àrst and then only started my business when they were old enough to be in boarding school. So everything found their rightful places including me knowing the place of my wonderful husband in my life too. Now they’re all grown and independent, it was all worth it and part of what I always say is a major part of my story.

Oyewole

in all the work I do. I survived and still surviving!

In 2015, you were nominated by Forbes magazine as one of the leading women entrepreneurs in Africa, championing business sustainability and women inclusion in business. How did it feel to achieve that?

I really thank Forbes for the recognition as that publication set things right for me. It set me into keeping my eyes on my big vision, and to make it happen. I really do not know how they found me, I only remember they kept calling and didn’t know who. I remember this wonderful lady,Abbey, when she walked into my o΀ce, it was just like a normal conversation until she mentioned who she was and where it is, she’d come from. Further saying she wanted to speak to me because of how curious they were about the diverse activities the company did and wanted to know how I coped and how I started. She really wanted to know how the name “Noxie” came about. She moved on to how I landed in the various activities I do.

It was a good one because one major question she asked me was “Where would Noxie be in Àve years?” This question left a big question mark but I do not give in to things even though at the time, my company was at a stage where everyone liked what we did, ranging from PPE, furniture to branding the PPE before supplying. It looked so good at the

time. What most people didn’t know was that, at that time, all I wanted to do was to run away and do nothing. After the publication, I sat back and beat my chest like Esther did in the bible and said to myself “If I perish, I perish” but I must go on and today, here we are. Motivation they say, is the reason for people’s actions, willingness and goals.

In what ways has COVID-19 changed your philosophy about life?

This pandemic is not for some set of people, we are all in it, so sitting down and acting like you are in some untouchable space would be living a fool’s paradise. We realised that we needed to reset, and have a more inclusive business model.And we also had to know that to keep our business running, we needed to set concrete, achievable, measurable goals. The health of our employees and welfare is now paramount to us. The COVID-19 pandemic has moved almost all our sales online, and we are all getting used to the digital interactions too.

So the eͿect is we have now adjusted to the new normal by using videoconferences and live chats to help us seal deals, so the traditional phone calls are now a last resort.

What is your view regarding gender equality in Nigeria?

You have me here good. Let me start with this, the

You are a social crusader and philanthropist, and part of the team supporting education for the Almajiri child right initiative. What drives your humanitarian spirit?

The Almajiri children are “migrant students” and they’re kids under age 10. These kids are placed under scholars to learn. Good thing, but these are very young kids, who have to leave their parents, even as parents with our children under our nose, your eyes dart from one place to the other. Now these little ones go to places where they lack the capacity to fully support the children and make adequate provisions for their welfare. This, of course, leaves these little children vulnerable and exposed to abuse and exploitation and even diseases due to poor hygiene and sanitation. My drive in this area especially is that every child has a right to live without pain and bitterness.

Their lives matter and they are the hope of the next generation that will make the diͿerence and Àll the gaps we did not do, so why wipe them out young. I am not against the education they gain, but as a mother especially, my heart aches at all the despicable things these children go through and so I put my voice out with Mohammed Sabo Keana, who has championed the rights of these children.

Humanitarianism is beneÀcial and not just for the recipients, but also for the good feeling that comes with doing something for others. Am grateful to God for the opportunity to touch another life.

57

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

BUSINESS INTERVIEW $067521* ,'$&+$%$

Digital Transition Catalyst for Nigerian Content The Acting Director-General National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Prof. Armstrong Aduku Idachaba, assesses the accelerated activities towards the delivery of transition of broadcasting from analogue to digital platform and how the process will unleash the creativity of Nigerian content producers. He speaks with 2ODZDOH $MLPRWRNDQ

C

an you give us an overview of what the Digital Switch Over (DSO) process is all about and what does Nigeria tend WR EHQHÀW IURP WKH SURMHFW" I think the DSO is becoming a repeated phenomenon. In simple term, DSO-acronym for Digital Switch Over-basically is the transition of broadcasting from an analogue era to a digital era. The whole idea of broadcasting from analogue to digital is brought about by an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) decision in 2006 that there is an increasing need for use of spectrum. And technology from the research indicated that there will be better and more spectrum availability if broadcasters move from the analogue mode of transmission to digital.

Added to that was increasing evidence that the new digital technology away from analogue enhances picture and sound quality and comes with many other gains that are far above the limitations of analogue technology. The world now set a date for broadcasters to move from analogue technology to digital broadcast technology.

In Nigeria, we have more or less missed those dates twice, in 2012 and 2020. But that is not to say that as a country, we are not making eͿorts.

We are making giant strides towards actualising that global mandate of transiting broadcasting from analogue to digital platform.

7KHUH LV D EHOLHI WKDW ZH PLVVHG WKH GHDGOLQHV Idachaba EDVLFDOO\ EHFDXVH RI SRRU FRQFHSWLRQ PLVPDQDJHPHQW FRUUXSWLRQ DQG EDG OHDGHUVKLS +RZ Africa is yet to transit even when everybody believes ZRXOG \RX UHDFW WR WKLV" These are misconceptions because transiting that country is perhaps the most advanced inAfrica. from analogue to digital broadcasting all over the We have taken good steps, we are in six states world is not a tea party. It is a very demanding, as we speak and we have done what is critical very tasking and multidimensional endeavor that to the process in terms of delivery of platforms, every country has had to face with the best of its we have two signal distributors operating side strength, Ànancial and technical and other abilities. by side in the six states and FCT. We have set up It may interest you to know that no country has companies that are engaged in the production of set a date and actualised it in a way. In the UK they Set-Top Boxes, that is the decoders, which are very had to revise their entire transition strategy after critical to the transition. All the basic elements for they had pumped in millions of Pound Sterling. a comprehensive transition we have and we have Also in the United States, they had to reset the date already set out the template which will be replicated over and over before they eventually transited. across the country. Judging from all experiences and interventions that come from the Ministry This is for very obvious reasons.

There are social implications for transition, for of Information, what we have been lacking in instance, if a country must transit from analogue Nigeria since the whole motion of transition to digital broadcasting, you will bother about began was the lack of political will to drive the the people if they will be able to aͿord digital process. Fortunately, in 2015, when the current technology. When they transit what happens to minister came, he muzzled the political will and their existing radio and television sets as well as got the pilot scheme running in Plateau which was analogue infrastructure that the individuals or launched in June 2016. From there we followed up countries have invested in, over time. The question from Kaduna to Kwara, Enugu and Osun and we of aͿordability, accessibility is also primary to the are ready to roll out in many other states. Political will is critical and also Ànance. Of course because transition process.

There are also political, cultural considerations, as we are beginning to see that the demands for the constraint of publicity and awareness creation. government expenditure are increasingly becoming It is a multifaceted endeavor and for that reason, very high as there are competing priorities. We as I said, countries must aggregate their best to are hoping as we are beginning to see when the federal government committed up to N9.4 billion meet up with the transition.

In Nigeria, we missed those dates not essentially for the payments of contracts that are associated because we did not make the move. Even as we with the DSO transition. Our hope is that with this speak, Nigeria is not among the countries that development, there will be accelerated activities have not kick-started. There are several countries regarding the delivery of the entire DSO project. that have not started at all in Africa. The two or ,V WKH IXQG UHOHDVHG E\ JRYHUQPHQW HQRXJK" three countries that have transited in Africa, in all We have done a retrospective analysis of what fairness are like mini-states compared to Nigeria in population and landscape. As we speak South we have done over time and identiÀed the areas of gaps and I think we are conÀdent now that we

commodify and commercialise some of their artistic creations. We also want to increase the visibility of electronic programmes guide options so that there will be more information, data and more reports from government agencies across the platforms.

There is a proposition on the STB system that we have adopted that allows an interface with the internet. It is already in the STB but we have not really propagated it and as we move forward it is also the time to engage the telecommunication companies so that anytime we roll out, we are able to extend the digital transmission in terms of broadcasting but we also be advancing the call for maximum increase in access to telecoms which is also important for national development.

will move faster to the new locations we are going to. We have also taken the critical decision go to the big cities.

We deliberately chose Jos for the pilot scheme for its several levels of signiÀcance. It is a little city with a beautiful landscape with a historical resume of artistic creation, like Àrst Nigeria’s Àrst coloured TV was set up in Jos.Also, a lot of top-notch creative programmes and a lot of creative young musical personae are either born in Jos, or brought up in Jos, or are of Plateau origin coupled with the sizable population of the city. And the experience in Jos is very rewarding. This is the same in other places the platform has rolled out. The pictures are good with qualitative contents and there is fulÀllment from the people that are beneÀciaries.

:KDW GR \RX LQWHQG WR GR GL;HUHQWO\" What to do diͿerently is to build on what we have done before. For instance, we have noticed where we are operating with regards to contents, that there are certain classes of contents that are not currently on the platform. There are no kid channels and you know the kid population is a critical population for TV viewership. Similarly, Sports is not quite reÁected within the bouquet and we know that Nigerians are always eager for sports. We are deliberately going to create channels that will galvanise more of that interest in terms of engaging kids and sports programmes.

We also want to collaborate going further with certain content producers within the ecology like the motion picture producers, Nollywood, and several other groups that we are talking to. We want to deliberately and strategically get the creative people to own channels not just business people, but those who are in the creative enterprise so that they can get visibility, they can also get opportunity to

7KH SUREOHP QRZ LV QRW DERXW WKH DSSURYDO EXW UDWKHU DERXW WKH UHOHDVH :KHUH GR \RX WKLQN ZH ZLOO EH LQ WKH QH[W \HDUV" We have decided to go into the big cities and we are going to Lagos shortly. Before the third quarter of this year, we would have covered at least Àve more states and by the plans we have, by the middle of 2022, we would have completed the digital switchover in Nigeria, God willing.

There is a big ambition to roll out nationally and the good news is that all the component players within the ecology are ready to go. The signal distributors have assured they are ready and as we speak, they are setting up their infrastructure in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Kano preparatory to the roll-out. The box manufacturers are putting their act together to ensure the availability of boxes needed per city.

We give credit to the Honorable Minister of Information with regards to his vision of the implementation of the process. The Task Force he set up also has, as part of the members, a representative of the Minister of Finance and I must put on record the huge support we have enjoyed from the minister of Ànance in recent time in trying to push through the idea of raising for the next phase of the roll-out If I get the body language well, I think there are obvious signs that money will be released on time and I don’t think the usual bottlenecks that people think can slow down some of these processes will happen this time.

Is the fund approved all that is required for WKH WUDQVLWLRQ" The N9.4 billion is not all we need for the transition. The N9.4 billion is money that has just been given for contractual engagements in settling people that are supposed to deliver certain services. There is a company that is handling satellite services and we have been owing them some money and they are going to get the chunk of the money.

There is a period called dual-illumination when you set side by side analogue contents and the digital contents. In the six cities where we are now, we have dual illumination because there are people with the STB which are watching digital contents while those without the boxes still have access to content in the analogue.

The question was that for people who are carrying digital signals for the time we have dual illumination, who pays because you will not subject the broadcasters to double taxation by servicing the digital transmission and at the same time the analogue transmission.

See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

3.%#6 #0$) WŽƐƚ DW DĞĞƟŶŐ͗ WŽůŝĐLJ WĂƌĂŵĞƚĞƌƐ hŶĐŚĂŶŐĞĚ ŵŝĚ ^ŶĂŝů WĂĐĞĚ ZĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ WŽƐƚ DW DĞĞƟŶŐ͗ WŽůŝĐLJ WĂƌĂŵĞͲ ƚĞƌƐ hŶĐŚĂŶŐĞĚ ŵŝĚ ^ŶĂŝů WĂĐĞĚ ZĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ

ƚ ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐŽŶĚ DŽŶĞƚĂƌLJ WŽůŝĐLJ ŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ;DW Ϳ ŵĞĞƟŶŐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ LJĞĂƌ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ǁĂƐ ĐŽŶĐůƵĚĞĚ ŽŶ tĞĚŶĞƐĚĂLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ϮϯƌĚ DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϮϭ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ŚĞůĚ Ăůů ƉĂƌĂŵĞƚĞƌƐ ĐŽŶƐƚĂŶƚ͘ ^ŝdž ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŶŝŶĞ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐ ŝŶ ĂƩĞŶĚĂŶĐĞ ǀŽƚĞĚ ƚŽ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ DŽŶͲ ĞƚĂƌLJ WŽůŝĐLJ ZĂƚĞ ;DWZͿ Ăƚ ϭϭ͘ϱй ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ĂƐLJŵŵĞƚƌŝĐ ĐŽƌƌŝĚŽƌ ŽĨ нϭϬϬďƉƐͬ ϳϬϬďƉƐ͕ ĂƐŚ ZĞƐĞƌǀĞ ZĂͲ ƟŽ ; ZZͿ Ăƚ Ϯϳ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ >ŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ZĂͲ ƟŽ ;>ZͿ Ăƚ ϯϬ͘Ϭй͘ ůƚŚŽƵŐŚ ƚŚĞƐĞ ĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐ ǁĞƌĞ ĐŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚ ǁŝƚŚ ŽƵƌ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶ͕ ƚŚĞ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ǁĂƐ Ă ďŝƚ ŚĂǁŬŝƐŚ ĂƐ ƚŚƌĞĞ ŽƵƚ ŽĨ ŶŝŶĞ ŵĞŵͲ ďĞƌƐ ŝŶ ĂƩĞŶĚĂŶĐĞ ǀŽƚĞĚ ŝŶ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ŽĨ ĂŶ DWZ ŚŝŬĞ͘ dŚŝƐ ǁĂƐ ŝŶ ƌĞͲ ƐƉŽŶƐĞ ƚŽ ƌŝƐŝŶŐ ŝŶŇĂƟŽŶ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŝƐ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚůLJ Ăƚ ϭϳ͘ϯй ;ϯ LJĞĂƌ ŚŝŐŚͿ ĂƐ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ĞŶĚ ŽĨ &ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ ϮϬϮϭ͘ ,ŽǁͲ ĞǀĞƌ͕ ǁĞ ŶŽƚĞ ƚŚĂƚ ǁĞĂŬ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ Ăƚ Ϭ͘ϭй ŝŶ Yϰ͗ϮϬϮϬ ŵĂĚĞ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŵŵŝƩĞĞ ƵŶĞĂƐLJ͕ ĂƐ ĂŶLJ ĚĞĐŝͲ ƐŝŽŶ ŽŶ ƟŐŚƚĞŶŝŶŐ ŵĂLJ ŚƵƌƚ ƚŚĞ ĨƌĂŐŝůĞ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ͘

/Ŷ ŽƵƌ ŽƉŝŶŝŽŶ͕ ƚŚĞ ĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶ ƚŽ ƌĞƚĂŝŶ Ăůů ƉŽůŝĐLJ ƌĂƚĞƐ ǁŽƵůĚ ďŽĚĞ ǁĞůů ŐŝǀĞŶ ƚŚĞ ĚŝůĞŵŵĂ ƚŚĞ ĐŽƵŶƚƌLJ ĨĂĐĞƐ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞ ƐůŽǁ ƉĂĐĞĚ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ƌĞĐŽǀͲ ĞƌLJ͕ ŝŶŇĂƟŽŶĂƌLJ ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ͕ ŚŝŐŚ ƵŶĞŵͲ ƉůŽLJŵĞŶƚ͕ &y ĐŚĂůůĞŶŐĞƐ ĂŶĚ ƌŝƐŝŶŐ ƉƵďůŝĐ ĚĞďƚ͘ tĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ĨŽƌ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ ƚŽ ĐŽŵĞ ĨƌŽŵ ƌĞͲ ĐŽǀĞƌLJ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŶŽŶ Žŝů ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ Ă ƐƚĂďůĞ Žŝů ƉƌŝĐĞƐ͘ dŚĞƌĞĨŽƌĞ͕ ǁĞ ďĞͲ ůŝĞǀĞ ƚŚĞ E ǁŽƵůĚ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶ ŝƚƐ ĐƵƌͲ ƌĞŶƚ ƉŽůŝĐŝĞƐ ŝŶ ,ϭ͗ϮϬϮϭ ƚŽ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐ ŐƌŽǁƚŚ͘ dŚĞ ƋƵĂůŝƚLJ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ ŽǀĞƌ Yϭ ƚŽ YϮ͗ϮϬϮϭ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚ ǁŝƚŚ ŝŶŇĂƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ĞdžͲ ĐŚĂŶŐĞ ƌĂƚĞ ǁŽƵůĚ ƐŚĂƉĞ ƉŽůŝĐLJ ĚŝƌĞĐͲ ƟŽŶ ŝŶ ,Ϯ͘ tŚŝůĞ ǁĞ ƚŚŝŶŬ ƚŚĞ E ŵĂLJ ďĞ ƚĞŵƉƚĞĚ ƚŽ ƐǁŝƚĐŚ ƚŽ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐͲ ƟŽŶĂƌLJ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞƐ ŝŶ ,Ϯ͗ϮϬϮϭ͕ ƚŚĞ ĨƌĂͲ ŐŝůŝƚLJ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƌĞĐŽǀĞƌLJ ƐŚŽƵůĚ ĚŝƐĐŽƵƌͲ ĂŐĞ ƚŚŝƐ͘

'ůŽďĂů ƋƵŝƟĞƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ dĂůĞƐ KĨ sĂĐͲ ĐŝŶĞƐ ĸĐĂĐLJ ŽŶƚƌŽǀĞƌƐLJ ĂŶĚ /ŶĨƌĂͲ ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞ ^ƉĞŶĚŝŶŐ 'ůŽďĂů Ks/ ϭϵ ĐĂƐĞƐ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ƌŝƐĞ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ Ăƚ ϭϮϰ͘ϵ ŵŝůůŝŽŶ͕ ĂŶ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ŽĨ Ϯ͘ϴй ĨƌŽŵ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ĚĞĂƚŚ ƚŽůů ƌŽƐĞ Ϯ͘Ϯй ƚŽ Ϯ͘ϳ ŵŝůůŝŽŶ͘ ^ƉĞĂŬŝŶŐ ĂďŽƵƚ ǀĂĐĐŝŶĞƐ͕ ƐƚƌĂ ĞŶĞĐĂ

ŚĂƐ ĐŽŵĞ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŝŶƚĞŶƐĞ ƐĐƌƵƟŶLJ ŝŶ ƌĞͲ ĐĞŶƚ ƟŵĞƐ ǁŝƚŚ Ă ƌĞĐĞŶƚ ƚƌŝĂů ƌĞŇĞĐƟŶŐ Ă ĚŽǁŶŐƌĂĚĞ ŝŶ ŝƚƐ ĞīĞĐƟǀĞŶĞƐƐ ŽĨ ƌĂƚĞ ĨƌŽŵ ϳϵй ƚŽ ϳϲй͕ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐŝŶŐ ƵŶĐĞƌƚĂŝŶͲ ƟĞƐ ĂƐƐŽĐŝĂƚĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ǀĂĐĐŝŶĞ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŚĂƐ ĂůƌĞĂĚLJ ƐĞĞŶ ƌĞĚƵĐĞĚ ƉŽƉƵůĂƌŝƚLJ ŝŶ ƵƌŽƉĞ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ h^͕ WƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚ :ŽĞ ŝĚĞŶ͛Ɛ ĂĚŵŝŶŝƐƚƌĂƟŽŶ ŝƐ ƉƌŽƉŽƐŝŶŐ Ă Ψϯ͘ϬƚŶ ŝŶĨƌĂƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞ ďŝůů ĨŽĐƵƐĞĚ ŽŶ ĐůŝŵĂƚĞ ĐŚĂŶŐĞ͕ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ŝŶĨƌĂƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞ ĂŶĚ ĞĚƵĐĂƟŽŶ ǀŝĂ ĞŶĞƌŐLJ ĞĸĐŝĞŶƚ ĂīŽƌĚĂͲ ďůĞ ŚŽƵƐŝŶŐ͕ ĞůĞĐƚƌŝĐ ǀĞŚŝĐůĞ ĐŚĂƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ŽƚŚĞƌ ĐůĞĂŶ ĞŶĞƌŐLJ ƉƌŝŽƌŝͲ ƟĞƐ͘ dŚŝƐ ŝƐ ĐŽŵŝŶŐ ĂŌĞƌ ƚŚĞ ĂƉƉƌŽǀĂů ŽĨ ƚŚĞ Ψϭ͘ϵƚŶ ƉĂŶĚĞŵŝĐ ƌĞůŝĞĨ ƉĂĐŬĂŐĞ ƐŽŵĞ ǁĞĞŬƐ ďĂĐŬ͘ tĞ ďĞůŝĞǀĞ ƚŚĞ ďŝůů ĂŶĚ ŝƚƐ ƉƌŽƉŽƐĞĚ ĐŽŵƉŽŶĞŶƚƐ ƌĞƉƌĞͲ ƐĞŶƚ Ă ƐƵďƚůĞ ĂƉƉƌŽĂĐŚ ƚŽ ƚĂĐŬůŝŶŐ ĐůŝͲ ŵĂƚĞ ĐŚĂŶŐĞ͕ ŚŽǁĞǀĞƌ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƐƚĂƵŶĐŚ ŽƉƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶŐƌĞƐƐ͘

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ϯ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁͬǁ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ h^͕ ƚŚĞ ^ΘW ϱϬϬ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ Ϭ͘ϲй ǁŚŝůĞ E ^ Y ĨĞůů ϭ͘ϰй ǁͬǁ ĚĞƐƉŝƚĞ ŝŵƉƌŽǀŝŶŐ ůĂďŽƌ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂŶĚ ůŽǁĞƌ ƚŚĂŶ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ŝŶŇĂƟŽŶ͘ /Ŷ ƵƌŽƉĞ͕ ƚŚĞ &d^ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ ĂŶĚ 'ĞƌŵĂŶLJ͛Ɛ y dZ y ŐĂŝŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϯй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϴй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚĞƐƉŝƚĞ ŶĞǁ ůŽĐŬĚŽǁŶƐ ĂŶĚ ƐůŽǁ ƉĂĐĞĚ

ǀĂĐĐŝŶĂƟŽŶ ǁŚŝůĞ &ƌĂŶĐĞ ϰϬ ůŽƐƚ Ϭ͘ϯй ǁͬǁ͘ ,ŽŶŐ <ŽŶŐ͛Ɛ ,ĂŶŐ ^ĞŶŐ ĂŶĚ :ĂƉĂŶ͛Ɛ EŝŬŬĞŝ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ŇĂƚ͘

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ Z/ ^ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ Ϯ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ůŽǁĞƌ͕ ϭ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ĂŶĚ ŚŝŶĂ͛Ɛ ^ŚĂŶŐŚĂŝ ŽŵƉŽͲ ƐŝƚĞ ĂŶĚ /ŶĚŝĂ͛Ɛ ^ ^ĞŶƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ ^ŽƵƚŚ ĨƌŝĐĂ͛Ɛ &d^ ͬ:^ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ ƵƉ ϭ͘ϰй ǁͬǁ͘ ŽŶͲ ǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƌĂnjŝů͛Ɛ /ďŽǀĞƐƉĂ ůŽƐƚ ϭ͘ϲй ĂƐ ŶĞǁ ǀĂƌŝĂŶƚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǀŝƌƵƐ ŶĞĐĞƐƐŝƚĂƚĞĚ ĨƌĞƐŚ ƌĞƐƚƌŝĐƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ZƵƐƐŝĂ͛Ɛ Zd^ ĚĞͲ ĐůŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘Ϭй ǁͬǁ͘

/Ŷ ĨƌŝĐĂ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂŶĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞůLJ ƐŬĞǁĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ϰ ŽĨ ϲ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ĂĚǀĂŶĐŝŶŐ ǁͬǁ͘ ŐLJƉƚ͛Ɛ 'y ϯϬ ĂŶĚ <ĞŶLJĂ͛Ɛ E^ ϮϬ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϲй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐͲ ƟǀĞůLJ͘ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ EŝŐĞƌŝĂŶ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ ĂŶĚ DĂƵƌŝƟƵƐ͛ ^ D y ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ Ϯ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ Ϯ͘ϵй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ ^ŝŵŝͲ ůĂƌůLJ͕ 'ŚĂŶĂ͛Ɛ '^ ŽŵƉŽƐŝƚĞ ĂŶĚ DŽƌͲ ƌŽĐĐŽΖƐ ĂƐĂďůĂŶĐĂ D ^/ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ Ϭ͘ϵй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϯй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

ƐĂǀĞ ƚŚĞ dŚĂŝůĂŶĚ͛Ɛ ^Ğƚ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁŚŝĐŚ ŝŶĐŚĞĚ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ ǁͬǁ ďLJ Ϭ͘ϳй͘ KŶ ƚŚĞ ŇŝƉ ƐŝĚĞ͕ dƵƌŬĞLJ͛Ɛ /^d ϭϬϬ ůŽƐƚ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ďLJ ϵ͘ϲй ǁͬǁ ĂƐ WƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚ dĂLJLJŝƉ ƌĚŽŐĂŶ ƌĞƉůĂĐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ĐĞŶƚƌĂů ďĂŶŬ ĐŚŝĞĨ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ Ă ĐƌŝƟĐ ŽĨ ƟŐŚƚĞŶŝŶŐ ŵŽŶĞƚĂƌLJ ƉŽůŝĐLJ͘ YĂƚĂƌ͛Ɛ ^D ϮϮϬ͕ ^ĂƵĚŝ ƌĂďŝĂ͛Ɛ dĂĚĂǁƵů ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ ĂŶĚ h ͛Ɛ y 'ĞŶĞƌĂů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϯй͕ Ϭ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞͲ ůLJ͘

ŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƋƵŝƟĞƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ dŚĞ ƵůůƐ ZĞŐĂŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŽƵƌƐĞ͙ ^/ ƵƉ Ϯ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ƚ >ĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ƌĞĐŽƌĚͲ ĞĚ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŽŶ ϯ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ϱ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶƐ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ĐŚĞƌƌLJ ƉŝĐŬĞĚ ďĞůůǁĞƚŚĞƌ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ E^ ůů ^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ƌŽƐĞ Ϯ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ ϯϴ͕ϯϴϮ͘ϯϵ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ ŝŵͲ ƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ Ϯ͘ϲй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝͲ ƐĂƟŽŶ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ േϰϯϲ͘ϯďŶ ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ േϮϬ͘ϱƚŶ͘ ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ ϯϰ͘ϳй ƚŽ ϯϬϲ͘Ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ϭϬ͘ϲй ƚŽ േϰ͘ϯďŶ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ h E ;ϯϭϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ 'h Z Edz ;ϭϱϰ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ĂŶĚ E'^h' Z ;ϭϭϲ͘ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ 'h Z Edz ;േϰ͘ϴďŶͿ͕ DdEE ;േϯ͘ϭďŶͿ͕ E'^h' Z ;േϮ͘ϬďŶͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ŝŵƉƌĞƐƐŝǀĞ ĂƐ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĞŶĚĞĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ǁͬǁ͘ dŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƉĂĐŬ͕ ƵƉ Ϯ͘ϵй ǁͬǁ ĨŽůͲ ůŽǁŝŶŐ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ h D Ed ;нϱ͘ϭйͿ ĂŶĚ E' D ;нϮ͘ϯйͿ͘ dƌĂŝůŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ƌŽƐĞ ϭ͘ϰй ǁͬ ǁ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ 'h/EE ^^ ;нϭϴ͘ϲйͿ ĂŶĚ /Ed Z t ;нϭϭ͘ϴйͿ͘ WƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ŝŶ DdEE ; нϭ͘ϵйͿ͕ > ^ K ;нϲ͘ϲйͿ ĂŶĚ ^KsZ EͲ /E ;нϰ͘ϯйͿ ďƵŽLJĞĚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ &Z / d ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ďLJ Ϭ͘ϵй ǁͬǁ ĂƉŝĞĐĞ͘ &ŝŶĂůůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ Ϭ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĨŽůͲ ůŽǁŝŶŐ ƐƚƌŽŶŐ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ^d EͲ / ;нϯϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ ^d Z>E ;нϭϯ͘ϰйͿ ĂŶĚ K E K ;нϴ͘ϮйͿ͘

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂͲ ƟŽͿ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϯ͘ϭdž ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ϰϲ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϭϱ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ƚŚĂƚ ĚĞͲ ĐůŝŶĞĚ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ǁĞƌĞ ^d E / ;нϯϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ : Z' Z ;нϮϬ͘ϵйͿ ĂŶĚ 'h/EͲ E ^^ ;нϭϴ͘ϲйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ >/s ^dK < ; ϭϱ͘ϱйͿ͕ , DW/KE ; ϭϯ͘ϭйͿ ĂŶĚ DZ^K/> ; ϵ͘ϳйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐͲ ŐĂƌĚƐ͘ tĞ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞ ƉƌŽĮƚ ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ĂĐͲ ƟǀŝƟĞƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƚŚŝƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘

&ŽƌĞŝŐŶ džĐŚĂŶŐĞ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ EĂŝƌĂ dƌĂĚĞƐ &ůĂƚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ DĂƌŬĞƚƐ Kŝů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞĚ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ǀŽůĂƟůŝƚLJ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƐůŽǁ ǀĂĐĐŝŶĂƟŽŶƐ ĂŶĚ ďƌĞǁŝŶŐ ĐŽŶĐĞƌŶƐ ĂďŽƵƚ Ă ƚŚŝƌĚ ǁĂǀĞ ŽĨ Ks/ ϭϵ ůŽĐŬĚŽǁŶ ŚŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ƚŚĞ ^ƵĞnj ĂŶĂů ďůŽĐŬĂŐĞ ďĂĐŬĞĚ ƵƉ ĂŶ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ŝŶ ƉƌŝĐĞ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ƌĞŶƚ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƌŽƐĞ ŵĂƌŐŝŶĂůůLJ ďLJ Ϭ͘ϭй ƚŽ Ψϲϰ͘ϲͬ ďďů ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͘ >ŽĐĂůůLJ͕ ĞdžƚĞƌŶĂů ƌĞƐĞƌǀĞƐ ƌŽƐĞ Ϭ͘ϱй ǁͬǁ ƚŽ Ψϯϰ͘ϲďŶ ; ϯͬϮϰͬϮϬϮϭͿ͘

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ &y ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵƵƚĞĚ ĂƐ ƌĂƚĞƐ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ ĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚ ƐĞŐͲ ŵĞŶƚ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŚĞ E ƐƉŽƚ ĂŶĚ ƉĂƌĂůůĞů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ŇĂƚ Ăůů ǁĞĞŬ ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ േϯϳϵ͘ϬϬͬΨϭ͘ϬϬ ĂŶĚ േϰϴϲ͘ϬϬͬΨϭ͘ϬϬ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ ůƐŽ͕ ƌĂƚĞ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ͛ Θ džƉŽƌƚĞƌƐ͛ ;/Θ Ϳ tŝŶĚŽǁ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ ǁͬǁ Ăƚ േϰϭϬͬΨϭ͘ϬϬ͘ ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ŝŶ ƚŚĞ /Θ tŝŶĚŽǁ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ ϮϬ͘ϳй ƚŽ ΨϯϭϮ͘Ϭŵ ĨƌŽŵ Ψϯϵϯ͘ϲŵ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘

ƚ ƚŚĞ &D Y ^ĞĐƵƌŝƟĞƐ džĐŚĂŶŐĞ ;^ Ϳ &y &ƵƚƵƌĞƐ ŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ DĂƌŬĞƚ͕ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ŽĨ ŽƉĞŶ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚƐ ƌŽƐĞ ϭ͘ϳй ;ΨϭϬϲ͘ϵŵͿ ƚŽ Ψϲ͘ϱďŶ͘ dŚĞ D Z ϮϬϮϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ;ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ ƉƌŝĐĞ͗ േϰϯϳ͘ϴϴͿ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝƚƐ ƐƚƌŽŶŐ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ǁŝƚŚ ĂŶ ĂĚĚŝƟŽŶĂů ƐƵďƐĐƌŝƉƟŽŶ ŽĨ Ψϱ͘Ϭŵ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ƚŽŽŬ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ƚŽ ΨϭϬ͘ϱŵ͘ ůƐŽ͕ ƚŚĞ : E ĂŶĚ & ϮϬϮϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ;ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ ƉƌŝĐĞƐ͗ േϰϯϰ͘Ϭϴ ĂŶĚ േϰϯϱ͘ϬϴͿ ƐĂǁ ƐŝŐŶŝĮĐĂŶƚ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ͕ ĂƐ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ Ψϰϴ͘Ϭŵ ĂŶĚ Ψϯϴ͘ϰŵ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ ΨϮϯϯ͘ϯŵ ĂŶĚ Ψϰϭϯ͘ϰŵ͘

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŵŝŶŐ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ďĂŶĚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ǀĂƌŝͲ ŽƵƐ ƐĞŐŵĞŶƚƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͘ ͕ ƚŚĞ :h> ϮϬϮϭ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ;ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚ ƉƌŝĐĞ͗ േϰϮϱ͘ϬϴͿ ƐĂǁ ƐĞůů ŽīƐ͕ ĂƐ ƚŽƚĂů ǀĂůƵĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ψϰ͘ϳŵ ƚŽ ΨϮϭϱ͘ϰŵ͘ EĞdžƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ďĂŶĚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ǀĂƌŝŽƵƐ ƐĞŐŵĞŶƚƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͘

DŽŶĞLJ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ tĞĂŬ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ^ĞĐŽŶĚĂƌLJ d ďŝůůƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ ƵƌŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͕ KDK ŵĂƚƵƌŝƟĞƐ ǁŽƌƚŚ േϱϬ͘ϬďŶ Śŝƚ ƚŚĞ ƐLJƐƚĞŵ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀͲ Ğƌ͕ ƐLJƐƚĞŵ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ůŽǁĞƌ Ăƚ േϱϰ͘ϴďŶ ĐŽŵƉĂƌĞĚ ƚŽ േϭϮϬ͘ϭďŶ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ďĞŐŝŶŶŝŶŐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ E͛Ɛ KDK ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ǁŽƌƚŚ േϰϬ͘ϬďŶ͘ dŚĞ KDK ƐĂůĞ ǁĂƐ ŽǀĞƌƐƵďƐĐƌŝďĞĚ Ăƚ Ă ďŝĚ ƚŽ ĐŽǀĞƌ ƌĂƟŽ ŽĨ ϲ͘ϳdž͕ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ϯϱϱ ĚĂLJ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ĞŶũŽLJŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ͘ DĂƌŐŝŶĂů ƌĂƚĞƐ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ĂƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ Ăƚ ϳ͘Ϭй͕ ϴ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ ϭϬ͘ϭй ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ϴϵ͕ ϭϳϯ ĂŶĚ ϯϱϱ ĚĂLJ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ tŝƚŚ ĐŽŶƐŝĚͲ ĞƌĂƟŽŶƐ ŽĨ ŚŝŐŚ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ĂŶĚ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ĂƩƌĂĐƟǀĞ ƌĂƚĞƐ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ƐƚƌŽŶŐ ĚĞŵĂŶĚ ƚŽ ďĞ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶ ƐƵĐĐĞĞĚͲ ŝŶŐ ĂƵĐƟŽŶƐ͘

K ĂŶĚ KsE ƌĂƚĞƐ ŽƉĞŶĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ Ăƚ ϭϰ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ ϭϰ͘ϳϱй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͕ ůŽǁͲ Ğƌ ƚŚĂŶ Ϯϱ͘Ϭй ĂŶĚ Ϯϱ͘ϱй ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝͲ ŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘ KŶ &ƌŝĚĂLJ͕ K ĂŶĚ KsE ƌĂƚĞƐ ĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ ĨĞůů ƚŽ ϭϬ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ ϭϬ͘ϴй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚĞƐƉŝƚĞ Ă ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝͲ ƚLJ ůĞǀĞůƐ͘ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐŽŶĚĂƌLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ǁĂƐ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ d ďŝůůƐ LJŝĞůĚ ĐůŽƐĞĚ Ăƚ ϰ͘ϲй͕ ƵƉ

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ϭ͘Ϭй ǁͬǁ͘ dŚĞƌĞ ǁĂƐ ƐĞůů Žī ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ďŽĂƌĚ ĂƐ LJŝĞůĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϱϰďƉƐ͕ ϭďƉ ĂŶĚ ϮϰϵďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ϵϭ͕ ϭϴϮ ĂŶĚ ϯϲϰ ĚĂLJ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ĂŚĞĂĚ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ E ƚŽ ŵŽƉ ƵƉ ůŝƋƵŝĚŝƚLJ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ KDK ŵĂͲ ƚƵƌŝƟĞƐ ŽĨ േϭϴϬ͘ϴďŶ ĂŶĚ ƌĂƚĞƐ ǁŽƵůĚ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ǁŝƚŚŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ďĂŶĚ͘

ŽŶĚ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ >ĂĐŬůƵƐƚƌĞ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŽŶĚ DĂƌŬĞƚƐ dŚĞ Ğďƚ DĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ KĸĐĞ ; DKͿ ƌĞŽƉĞŶĞĚ ϭϬ͕ ϭϱ ĂŶĚ Ϯϱ LJĞĂƌ ďŽŶĚƐ͕ ŽīĞƌŝŶŐ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ǁŽƌƚŚ േϭϱϬ͘ϬďŶ͘ Ɛ ĐŽŶƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ ƌĞƐƵůƚ͕ ƚŚĞƌĞ ǁĂƐ ĂŶ ŽīĞƌ ŽĨ േϱϬ͘ϬďŶ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ϭϲ͘ϯй &'E D Z ϮϬϮϳ͕ ϭϮ͘ϱй &'E D Z ϮϬϯϱ ĂŶĚ ϵ͘ϴй &'E D Z ϮϬϰϱ ďŽŶĚ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ĞĂĐŚ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ǁĞƌĞ ŽǀĞƌƐƵďƐĐƌŝďĞĚ Ăƚ ďŝĚ ĐŽǀĞƌ ƌĂƟŽ ŽĨ ϭ͘ϱdž͕ ϭ͘ϯdž ĂŶĚ ϭ͘Ϯdž ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ ,ŽǁͲ ĞǀĞƌ͕ ĂŵŽƵŶƚ ĂůůŽƩĞĚ ƚŽ ϭϬ͕ ϭϱ ĂŶĚ Ϯϱ LJĞĂƌ ďŽŶĚ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ǁĞƌĞ േϰϰ͘ϬďŶ͕ േϴϲ͘ϯďŶ ĂŶĚ േϭϯϭ͘ϴďŶ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ DĞĂŶǁŚŝůĞ͕ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ďŽŶĚ LJŝĞůĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϮϯďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ϵ͘ϳй ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽŶĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͘ ^Ğůů ŽīƐ ǁĞƌĞ ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ďƌŽĂĚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶŐ ĞŶĚ ďŽŶĚƐ ƌĞĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ĂƐ LJŝĞůĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϯϬďƉƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ ƐŚŽƌƚ ĂŶĚ ŵĞĚŝƵŵ ƚĞƌŵ ďŽŶĚƐ ĐůŝŵďĞĚ ϮϲďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϭϰďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ ͘

/Ŷ ƚŚĞ ^ŽǀĞƌĞŝŐŶ ƵƌŽďŽŶĚƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ͕ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ LJŝĞůĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϯϭďƉƐ ƚŽ ϴ͘ϭй͘ dŚĞ 'ŚĂŶĂŝĂŶ ϮϬϮϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ǁĞĞŬΖƐ ƐĞůů Žī ĂƐ LJŝĞůĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϯϬϱďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ƐŝĚĞůŝŶĞ ĂŚĞĂĚ ŽĨ ŝƚƐ ŶĞǁ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ͘ ůͲ ƐŽ͕ LJŝĞůĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ĂŵďŝĂŶ ϮϬϮϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵͲ ŵĞŶƚƐ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ϭϮϬďƉƐ ǁͬǁ͘ KŶ ƚŚĞ ŇŝƉ ƐŝĚĞ͕ 'ŚĂŶĂΖƐ ϮϬϮϯ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ƐĂǁ ƐŝŐŶŝĮĐĂŶƚ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ĂƐ LJŝĞůĚ ĚĞͲ ĐůŝŶĞĚ ϮϯďƉƐ͘

dŚĞ ƚƌĞŶĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ ƵƌŽďŽŶĚƐ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ǁĞĂŬ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ LJŝĞůĚ ŽĨ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ƌŽƐĞ ϳϭďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ϱ͘ϱй͘ dŚŝƐ ǁĂƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ĂŶ ϭϴ͘ϵй ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞ ŝŶ LJŝĞůĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ^ W> d ϮϬϮϯ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ ŝƚƐ ΨϲϱϬ͘Ϭŵ ϮϬϮϲ ŶŽƚĞƐ͘ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ LJŝĞůĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ E Z' E ZͲ 'z ϮϬϮϮ ŝŶƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ ϱ͘ϱй ǁͬǁ͘ EĞdžƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌͲ ĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ďŽŶĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƚĂŬĞ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌͲ ŬĞƚ ĂŌĞƌ ƵŶŵĞƚ ďŝĚƐ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ĂƵĐƟŽŶ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ƵƌŽďŽŶĚ ƐƉĂĐĞ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ĚĂŵƉĞŶĞĚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ 'ŚĂŶĂ ƵƌŽďŽŶĚ ŝŶͲ ƐƚƌƵŵĞŶƚ͘

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60

˜ ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

MARKET NEWS

ABC Transport Projects Second Quarter’s N1.4bn Revenue Goddy Egene ABC

projected a revenue of N1.352 billion for the second quarter ending June 30, 2021. In a

Transport Plc has 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

notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the transport firm said it

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 25Mar-2021, unless otherwise stated.

would incur operating expenses of N979 million and administration expenses

of N289 million. Financing expenses is expected to be at N25.5 million. The company

hopes to end the quarter with a profit after tax of N34 million.

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: +234 818 885 6757 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 Afrinvest Dollar 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 N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A 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 2.40% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.40 3.56 -4.24% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 0.38% Anchoria Equity Fund 127.25 128.71 -4.28% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.13 1.13 -15.04% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Eurobond Fund ($) N/A N/A N/A ARM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 103.24 103.24 1.50% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 123.69 124.55 -1.97% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.62% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.04 2.04 -23.43% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.16 2.20 -14.59% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Paramount Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Women's Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.38% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 127.54 128.44 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.50 110.50 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 0.69% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.15 1.16 -4.31% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.45 1.45 -8.26% 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 100.00 100.00 2.18% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.14% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,160.24 1,164.32 -3.27% 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 1,351.47 1,351.47 5.39% FBN Balanced Fund 184.21 185.51 -1.85% FBN Halal Fund 110.33 110.33 4.62% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.59% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional N/A N/A N/A FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 123.92 123.92 2.76% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 148.12 150.00 -2.03% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.42% Legacy Debt Fund 3.91 3.91 0.97% Legacy Equity Fund 1.55 1.58 1.46% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.15 1.15 1.14% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,767.44 3,817.24 0.52% Coral Income Fund 3,348.23 3,348.23 2.20% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 1.74%

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 0.38% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 129.08 129.62 19.87% GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.33% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.68 2.74 17.00% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 145.77 146.15 -6.22% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 5.11% 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 1.36 1.38 -0.69% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,144.12 1,144.12 1.83% 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 1.59 1.62 7.49% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.36 12.49 1.02% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.74% PACAM Equity Fund 1.55 1.57 -1.85% PACAM EuroBond Fund 109.81 112.58 0.40% 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 125.66 127.81 3.84% 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 1.01 1.01 3.31% 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 3,099.05 3,122.96 -3.65% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 227.49 227.49 1.17% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.13 1.15 -3.39% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 297.95 297.96 1.12% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 208.40 211.06 -4.61% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.83% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,710.53 9,834.78 -7.53% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.24 1.24 1.33% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 112.84 112.84 1.58% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.31 1.33 -4.04% United Capital Bond Fund 1.92 1.92 1.34% United Capital Equity Fund 0.88 0.91 2.22% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.05% United Capital Eurobond Fund 118.75 118.75 1.42% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.06 1.07 -2.37% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.03 1.03 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 11.98 12.09 0.98% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.23 13.34 8.28% Zenith Income Fund 24.23 24.23 1.04% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.02%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

121.90 52.85

0.96% 0.86%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.42 118.08 93.64

12.52 118.08 95.40

-5.98% -3.01% -5.76%

Fund Name 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 Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

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

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

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

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.40

13.11%

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.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

28.02.2021

TOMOWEMO OLAKUNLE (ICE K) MY STORY OF BREAKUP, HEARTBREAK AND BREAKTHROUGH Tomowemo Olakunle a.ka.Ice K and CEO of Artquake was part of the rave of the moment and conclave of artistes that rocked the Nigerian entertainment industry in the late 1990s to the mid-2000s alongside Tony Tetula. For Ice K, his creativity, ingenuity, and craft constantly stood him out among the crowd as one of his popular songs, ‘Alanta,’ is still fresh. Over the last decade, he has since taken a sabbatical from music to pursue other profitable interests. The Ilaje Ondo State-born music star tells Funke Olaode that music hasn’t seen the last of him as he plans to release an album, ‘Coat of Many Colours,’ this April.

ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

62

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

COVER

From ‘Alanta’ to Atlanta: Story of a Nigerian Music Star

Olakunle with the former US President Obama when Olakunle visited the White House with the team of financial expects in 2015.

T

he United States former President Barack Obama’s portrait in a warm handshake with him in the oval office at the White House stares you in the face as you enter his cosy and cute office. Plaques of several merit awards as the best of this and that are conspicuously displayed on a coffee brown cabinet. Cosy and neat, his mansion located somewhere in Ikeja is befitting a man who moved from zero to becoming a hero in the entertainment where he rocked for more than a decade.

Meet Tomowemo Olakunle, aka Ice K, and the CEO of Artquake, the popular Nigerian artiste behind the famous ‘Alanta.’

He has an intimidating presence that often points him out as a showbiz man. Not too tall and not too short with a huge stature that often laced with colourful dresses and shoes. He cannot be easily missed in a crowd. He loves life. He loves music and embraces what it takes to get noticed. “What you see is exactly a reflection of my personality. As an artiste, I might have to do a little bit of packaging, which is expected of me as an artist or an entertainer. My kind of person is simple, but it might not be simple when it comes to dressing. I am someone who dresses to kill, but I have never killed before. I dress to be noticed.

That is how I would put it. I love dressing to be noticed, and I also would say that I am very approachable in my simplicity of attitude,” he said while commenting on his appearances.

Ice K is one of the few talented artistes that revolutionaries the Nigerian music industry back then with his first album, ‘Never Ending,’ which was followed by ‘You Must Dance’ in 2003/2004, ‘Abule Lawa,’ ‘Samagbadun,’ and many more. But it was his hit song, ‘Alanta,’ that would later catapult him to prominence.

Surprisingly, music wasn’t his first love. He traces his musical talent to his undergraduate days at Kwara State Polytechnic, where he teamed up with friends of like minds to start

making music. “I used to be in statistic class while I was in Kwara State Polytechnic.

Coincidentally, I was in the same class with Tony Tetula. As time went by, the talent in me began to germinate, and it dawned on me that I wanted to start music professionally.

I remember I used to do my own music on stage, and I used to gain a lot of attention.

Then I met my partner, Adegbite Adeniran, aka ADX, who became a competitor on stage.”

From being an amateur on stage, Ice K’s self-discovery moment in the art emanated shortly after his National Diploma in 1996.

That moment was also significant as what he once embraced as a pastime became his means of livelihood, which later threw him up on the global stage.

“It was during my Industrial Training that I began to work on my craft, trying to see how more I can get professional on music.

“In 1998, I resumed at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, for a Higher National Diploma.

Again, two things were competing: There was school, and there was music, and then we were dragging it until the day we heard that Tony Tetula had joined a group called Remedies. It was a motivation and, at the same time, a challenge that we have been sleeping, that we needed to try and do something of our own. So in 1999, we got into a studio and did the first professional song that is our first recording ‘Abulelawa,’ which was popular in those years. That was how we came into the limelight, moving from N3,000 per show to big money,” he narrated.

For Ice K and his group, acceptability comes with popularity.

He added, “We were thriving, the song was moving, and then we heard from Star FM that one Femi Davies was looking for us. There was no phone. There was no way to reach him. You have to get to these places before you get this information, and they said Corporate Pictures wanted to sign us.

That was how we got our first record deal

by Corporate Picture. And then we released our first album titled, ‘Never Ending,’ in 2001 or thereabout. And then later, we moved on to another record label called ‘Little Fish.’ It was at Little Fish that we did our song, ‘You Must Dance.’ We did another, ‘Konko Jabele,’ featuring Pasuma. I had a couple of tracks on the album, and we did a couple of videos,

going for a couple of shows. Things were getting bigger, things were a lot better. And then in 2005 or 2006 the record label office got burnt and we lost a lot of materials that affected our career.

“After the record label got involved in the fire, the business became very tough.

I was going to have my first travel to the United Kingdom in 2006. It was a family visit, but then it didn’t augur well with the record label. Maybe they didn’t like the idea. At that point, we began having some problems with the record label. By the time I travelled out and came back, we were out of the record label. So we started pushing ourselves. When we started with AQ Multi Media, that is the name of the company that we came up with. By then, we began to do film production, more like a music video. We did less of hip hop. We were doing more of standardising Fuji. We did Ijo fuji for Adewale Ayuba, also did Melo shoot video for Sir Shina Peters, then we also helped a couple of colleagues.”

He narrated further, “In 2009, we came up with a song which still happens to be the biggest song we have done, which is ‘Alanta.’

When we came up with ‘Alanta,’ a lot of things changed, attention came, we made a lot of impacts, played a lot of shows both locally and internationally. I remembered then there was a time we had a show in Bolton, we were supposed to have another show in Manchester and another one in Sheffield. Unfortunately, there was another bigger show in Nigeria that made us cancel pounds. We were cancelling pounds for naira.

It was an MTN show. We had to come back to Nigeria after the first Bolton show. There were so many shows then. Moving into 2010 was when I personally moved to the USA, because we had a show in the USA about then, and then I decided to move my family to the USA because I got married in 2010.

“It was a perfect time to have my wife move to the USA. I started my USA business in 2010. And then, my wife also began her studies at the university. That was how I started my own life and built my tentacles right there. And then came back to Nigeria, we continued Artquake, and then I was a bit distracted with business.”

The United States became his business hub, and gradually Ice K drifted from

music into other profitable ventures.

He became a real estate mogul. “Well, the time I decided to slow down was timely. And then I started plugging into other businesses, and then I began to make headway. I found out that I had to diversify, and then some of those things were falling in line,” he said.

His journey with his partners seems paved with gold until there was a discordant tune, and he had to part ways in 2017. After the ugly incident, he decided to go solo.

Speaking further, he noted, “A lot of things weren’t working for me being in the group, so by 2017 towards the end, we announced the breakup of the group. That was how I started my journey in 2017. I released my first single in 2018. I have done a couple of singles. I am planning to release an album in March, April and this is the first solo album. I am working towards that. I have shut a couple of videos; some shot in New York. I have not released them yet. We recorded some songs that I have not released yet, but I have been releasing a couple of singles. I am working towards the album, titled, ‘Coat of Many Colours, hoping to drop it soon.”

But why did it take him almost two decades to be on his own?

“Let’s say it solely because of how my personality is fashioned. I write songs while I was younger. Again, I don’t like to do what I won’t be able to defend. It has been like my model of life. I am a goal-getter. I am not the kind of person who somebody will tell something is no doable. I will want to retry it and make sure it becomes doable. I have wanted to try things myself. So I can tell that the fact that I have had that mentality that I don’t have to depend on anybody.”

Throwing more light on his personality, he stated, “I will tell you some of the things that brought me to where I am today is the level of integrity that I have had. I tell some people integrity and honesty sometimes are as good as cash in the pocket. Sometimes your upbringing, how you are shaped, how you have been tutored while you were younger will definitely shape your life. That is why the Yoruba will say outsiders will train the child that is not trained at home.

Some of those things helped me while I was meeting people, and they found out that I had integrity. I am a man of my word.

Some of those things make them want to do business with me. All the businesses I do is not something I picked up once. It is something I am picking up one at a time. For example, if you look at this camera, you see this last slide, a mini-estate I am putting up here. I have been in this estate for the past 11 years. I have not been able to achieve this until last year. So it is an ongoing process.

Maybe when I move into this, I can diversify into this and that because I am someone who loves to test every water.”

From statistics to business administration and later music and now real estate. You can easily conclude that his life has been on a roller coaster. “I made it in 2010.

That was when I went to the US, and my breakthrough started. It has been a rollercoaster for me. It has been a growth that has been very evident and very, very conspicuous. It has been an obvious growth. Right from 2010, I can tell what I had, where I was, and tell what I have had even in terms of material acquisition. So it has been a gradual process, and it gets better every day.”

Happily married to Adenike Mojisola, who coincidentally is the younger sister of Sola Eleyele, the popular artiste, who became a soothing balm shortly after a failed relationship. “I met her sometime in 2006 when I was breaking off from another relationship. I was then looking for somebody who will almost suit the previous relationship, but I was looking to see somebody I can teach differently from my horrors in the previous relationship. So that was what helped because the foundation in every relationship matters: either business, marital, or anything. We got married in 2010, that was when she moved to the US. She has been a fantastic mother, wife, and friend.”

Ice K gives out some tips on life lessons; he’s been there, done that.

“Never, never, look down on anybody because what you see today does not tell the story of tomorrow. That has always worked for me because I have met so many people while they are down, and then I eventually met them while they are up there. I don’t like to underrate anybody because no man knows tomorrow.”

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63

GLITZ PERSONALITY

OYINDAMOLA LAMI ADEYEMI

Inspiring Mileage of an Amazon In a universe that has not always made space for women, Oyindamola Lami Adeyemi, the founder and Group Managing Director of Still Earth Group, has fearlessly taken up a conspicuous space for herself. Now, the power and pull of her entrepreneurial attainments are making space for a new generation of young women who are willing to interrogate their fears and achieve greatness.

And it is not hard to see why; writes Lanre Alfred

B

liss glitters in the heart and feline frame of Oyin Adeyemi. As she adds another year to her enchanting life, the pert, blue flame of joy burns through her pretty frame, brightening her world and burnishing her persona with irrepressible shine. Oyin is beside herself with joy for

being privileged to witness yet another glorious addition to her inspiring days.

Beautiful in an exotic, utterly understated way, Oyin exudes vigour, drama, fortitude, and happiness. Very early in life, she attained entrepreneurial acclaim for her inspiring exploits in the business world— you could be forgiven for imagining that she was shepherded by a savvy, tireless innate alter ego to get to her

current height.

Yes, that entrepreneurship is a viable tool to fast-track Africa’s development and consolidate on the gains of a new age is a truism boldly embodied and embraced by brainy Oyindamola Lami Adeyemi, the chief executive officer of construction giant, Still Earth Limited. A selfdriven entrepreneur who comes across as an enviable Amazon and achiever in an area and era where everyone seems to understate the role and worth of a driven woman, those who know Oyin say she exemplifies a modern yet timeless construct of femininity that manifests as a blend of relentless and noble pursuits.

For the past decade and more, she has worked hard to attain her current status and, therefore, is far removed from the contemporary alpha female stereotype that glorifies flamboyance, selfaggrandisement, and narcissism above substance. Oyin is aware that she orbits a universe that has not always made space for women and, thus, has fearlessly taken up a conspicuous space for herself.

Now, the power and pull of her entrepreneurial attainments are making space for a new generation of young women who are willing to interrogate their fears and achieve greatness. And it is not hard to see why.

Starting a company is a riveting roller coaster of emotions with tremendous highs and, at times, difficult lows. Nevertheless, Oyin did not cut corners on her way up the ladder of success; she paid her dues by working at the First City Monument Bank PLC and Equatorial Trust Bank, where she rose to become the head, Public Sector Group (Ogun). But she knew that the regimented routine of banking work wasn’t her thing.

She then tried her hands on the retail fashion business, travelling to England to import quality products.

Later, she was a realtor assisting clients in different real estate business aspects, including rentals and sales. However, her inability to raise adequate funds to finance the business posed a serious threat, but Oyin was not one to give up without putting up a spirited fight.

A fortuitous draft of a manifesto brought Oyin before former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and she was included in his strategy team for his 2011 presidential run.

Beautiful and brainy, Oyin made an impression on the cerebral politician.

After that, she found her life’s ultimate purpose in the construction industry when she established Still Earth Group.

Its vision is to develop the country’s infrastructural base by executing projects that engender real benefits for the communities it serves. The firm adopts an uncompromising approach to professional values and standards.

The company also aims to be an international market leader; a preferred general construction contractor globally recognised while achieving consistency and proficiency in delivering outstanding services and adding value for clients through professionalism, pro-activity, creativity, transparency, timeliness, and qualitative performance.

“My story is one of grit, resilience, and persistence, which over the years has built a solid foundation to pursue excellence end-to-end and achieve higher goals,” she stated on her LinkedIn page.

It has been a concatenation of successes for Still Earth, a factor she hinged on the company’s passion for achieving set goals and objectives. In the past decade, its clientele base has become an eloquent testimony of how prolific and professional it has been. Still Earth has a portfolio of completed projects and satisfied clients in the public and private sectors, including Julius Berger Nigeria, Dangote Refinery, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd, Oyo State Government, Niger Delta Development Commission, Lagos State, Ekiti State, Akwa Ibom State, Delta State, the Federal Ministry of Transport, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited, and many high networth individuals.

According to her, the successes recorded so far boil down to the team and the corporate values and culture upheld at Still Earth Limited.

“We have in place a board of directors comprising veterans who are passionate about Still Earth Limited. They always bring their experience and expertise to bear. Our management team is peopled by technocrats whose professionalism can compete with global standards.

“I think I have been lucky with having the right people with me all the way.

Our clients have also been a part of our huge success. Most of the state governors we work with award us contracts based on their determination to improve the welfare of the people in the state and also to improve their standards of living,” said Oyin.

A patriotic and realistic believer in Nigeria, Oyin could just sit back and be satisfied with her multimillion-naira construction company. But her matchless, can-do spirit has seen her continually ideating and innovating. She has recently diversified into the finance sector with the establishment of Still Earth Capital Finance, a multi-faceted financial services company offering tailored financial services and solutions to individuals, companies, and the public sector.

The Victoria-Island, Lagos-based company provides a diversified range of financial services, including consumer finance, commercial and SME finance, corporate finance, financial advisory, and wealth management services. Its mission statement is to provide outstanding services to its clients through technology and leverage its principal officers’ significant experience and track record covering investment banking, commercial banking, project and infrastructure finance, business strategy, and transformation in meeting its wide range of clients’ needs.

One major area that Still Earth has also thrived in is its workforce. Oyin has marshalled her team well by activating and directing her people’s positive energy to achieve excellent results. She has continued to invest in qualified talents.

She thus leads a workforce of trained and tested individuals to achieve her different companies’ objectives, one of which is “to work together as a team to achieve success on every project for our clients, through the professionalism, diligence and hard work that we profess and promote.”

Born to a Yoruba father from Owo and a Hausa-Fulani mother from Gombe, a racial diversity that has proved advantageous in an ethnocentric society, Oyin possesses a Bachelor ’s in Political Science and a Master ’s in Political Economy & Governance from the University of Abuja. Oyin, with an Owner/President Management degree from the prestigious Harvard Business School, is the winner of the African Leader of Integrity Merit Award (Excellence in Corporate Governance & Service Delivery from Accra, Ghana), among other coveted honours and recognitions across Nigeria and beyond. As she added a year on March 19, there is no doubt that she has much to thank God for and leap and spin in excitement and exultation.

COVER 2 A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

28.3.2021

Regina Askia-Williams How Stardom Has Affected Me In this interview with Adedayo Adejobi, Regina Askia, one of Nigeria’s most celebrated silver screen superstars, talks about life as a glamorous movie star and a humble life as a nurse in the United States of America. Excerpts: ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28 2021

65

COVER 2 I’ll Pick U.S. over Nigeria

Regina Asikia and husband, Williams

Despite the fame and fortune, you seemed to enjoy in Nigeria, why did you relocate to the United States?

T

he fortune was not a steady stream of income. Don’t forget the industry was just unfolding.

I made quite an impact on that scene with some class, pizza, and style. That era saw a lot of young women and guys decide to give Nollywood a try, and here we are with Nollywood in reckon with the world.

What attracted you to acting?

Saturday playhouse at University Staff School and African club in Calabar. Dance and drama clubs, debating clubs. These stage performances and programmes prepped our public speaking and acting skills.

Of all the roles you played in the past, which is your favourite?

It felt so cool when we shot ‘Most Wanted,’ but today, we laugh at that stuff. ‘Suicide Mission’ was so sad. It was hard to watch.

Tells us about your yet-to-be-released film?

WEB. I played the role of a woman technically abandoned by a ‘busy’ husband, who seeks comfort in ways unacceptable to her husband.

Any collaboration with Hollywood big names?

WEB had on set a few actors from Marvels’ Black panther. Atwani, who played T’Chaka, the father of T’Challa. There are definitely more and more collaborations between Nollywood and Hollywood. It’s time for Africa.

Which celebrities you believe are the most influential in Nigeria?

Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy. Then, there are a host of others. Nigerian artistes are indeed taking the world by storm.

How has stardom changed you?

It hasn’t. Growth has changed me. I’m definitely more tactful and patient. The ‘hotheaded me’ is latent.

How do you juggle being a nurse, an activist, television producer, writer, public speaker, actress, and model?

Good time management.

How do you balance your work and private life?

You must make time. Time has become an essential commodity. If it’s important to you, your kids, spouse, projects, if it’s important, you must make time.

kidnappers. Today, as events unfold in Nigeria, I am stunned and stupefied at the government’s total inability to get a handle on the number one service any government owes its populace – security. The ship is floating seemingly rudderless. People are suffering so much it’s a sin from which there will be no ablution for the perpetrators. Nigerian leaders have chosen to sacrifice the nation on the altar of greed and lust for filthy lucre.

You seem politically aware. Any plans to run for public office now or in the future?

It is working to provide skilled health care services to underserved populations in Nigeria.

Never say never. If there is a bigger platform to reach a greater number of people, I would gladly serve. I do wish that there for whatever office one is elected into, folks come with qualifications for the job. Nigeria is where it is today because there are too many folks in charge of offices, the demands of which they do not understand.

What are your most successful projects to date?

What makes you smile, and what scares you the most?

What is your dream project?

My projects have always been public service, either health education outreach, public lectures, or television programs. All have been successful, considering everyone involves goes home with something: money, food, knowledge, opportunity, motivation, etc. For this, we thank God.

By your Facebook posts, there’s a pointer to the fact that you are passionate about Nigeria. When Nigeria comes to mind, what goes through your mind?

Such a shame for a country so blessed to flounder the way Nigeria is floundering.

What’s your view about Nigeria’s situation?

A crying shame. I was very vocal during the presidential elections encouraging Nigerians to vote for Moghalu. Failing, I encouraged people to return Buhari to office. My hope was to give the general a chance to protect Nigerians against rampaging marauders, police brutality, murderous herdsmen, raping of women and

Simple things bring me joy. Playing UNO with my kids on a Saturday morning, acquiring property, miracles of recovery when patients whom we didn’t think would make it actually get better.

On what do you spend the most?

Clothes - no, accessories - no, perfumes - no, underwear- no. Food. It’s important to me that my family eats well-balanced and nutritious foods. Soon as we get paid, automated withdrawals go to taxes, mortgage, tuition, utilities, savings, insurance, 401k, personal upkeep, etc. Whatever is left to spend goes to good food. If you eat well, you will be healthy. When you are healthy, you can figure everything else out.

Whom do you love most, your parents, friends, spouse, kids, siblings, or yourself?

I love them all so dearly I often get emotional. My son, though, has a special place in my heart. Each child comes with their unique personality. My daughters are ice and

fire princesses, but my son is a gentle brook. We must realise that we each are a gift to each other only for a time, and as such, we must appreciate, love, and care for each other for the time we still have.

What do you do when not working?

I sleep. Every nurse knows the importance and great need for healthy sleep.

Do you have any talent that you consider useless?

No talent is useless. I’m goodatsomanythings,and variousskillshavecomeinhandyindifferentsituations.

What inspires you?

Makingthingsbetter.Helpingchangethingsforthe better.

What does it feel like to be a celebrity?

Ican’tsaybecausethereisnothingtocompareand contrast.Ihavealwaysstoodoutinmycircles,alwaysa centreofattention,fromgradeschool,throughchurch,school, always.

Whatcanapersondotoattractyourattention?

Kindness, skills.

What is the most memorable and exciting thing you have ever seen in your field?

The influx of Netflix andAmazon have been gamechangers. This showsAfrica to the world.

What has been your greatest accomplishment as an actor?

Being among those talented men and women who birthed Nollywood.

Have you ever wished to meet any fictional character in real life?What character is that?

Jack Sparrow – Pirates of the Caribbean.

Will you rather be in Nigeria or the United States?

The United States: stable career, great income on the regular, real skills, great family, enabling environment with opportunities, and a level of security.

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HighLife Kayode Akinyemi Becomes Public Relations Fellow

Akinyemi

E

verything continues to come together for Kayode Akinyemi, the former Special Adviser to Governor of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi, and the former Head of Corporate Affairs at Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank). The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations recently announced the membership and fellowship of Akinyemi.

The honorary titles of most professions are indications of the proficiencies of proponents.

In the case of public relations officers in Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) offers different membership levels that symbolise public relations personnel’s abilities, experience, and overall standing.

Thus, NIPR’s decision to award Kayode Akinyemi as a Fellow of the Institute, the highest rank possible, says something about Akinyemi’s communications prowess.

The fellow’s honour does not overshadow the abilities and accomplishments of Kayode Akinyemi but fits just right. After all, the man has spent immeasurable efforts in leveraging the elements and strategies of communications and public relations to improve governmental and corporate decisionmaking. This is what brought Akinyemi to all and sundry’s attention in the first place, and it continues to drive his name into households, government offices, and commercial businesses.

Akinyemi’s true debut came around 2011 with his retirement from Skye Bank.

Before this time, Akinyemi had spent 10 years serving Prudent Bank and Skye Bank successively as Head of Corporate Affairs.

After that, in 2012, Akinyemi was requested to join the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Four months later, Akinyemi’s torch shone the brightest with his appointment as director general of the State Bureau of Strategic Communications. During this time, many people came to know the genius of marketing and communications behind Governor Fayemi’s seeming omnipresence.

Big Brother Naija, Nigerian Idol Will Provide Buhari Respite From Youths – Shehu Sani Shehu Sani, a former senator, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will soon enjoy a brief respite from the attacks of young Nigerians on social media due to the imminent return of two reality shows: Big Brother Naija and Nigerian Idol.

Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the eighth National Assembly, said this in a Twitter post on Thursday.

According to the politician, the upcoming Big Brother Naija and Nigerian Idol shows will shield the president from criticisms on national issues as the youths will be more focused on the entertainment-themed shows.

“With #BBNaija2021 and #NigerianIdol coming soon, Baba @MBuhari will have some temporary reprieve from Nigerian youths and their SM missiles,” Sani tweeted.

Big Brother Naija is returning to the screens for its sixth edition with a grand prize of N90 million to be won, MultiChoice Nigeria, the show organisers, announced on Wednesday.

Nigerian Idol, meanwhile, returns after a five-year lull. The franchise has over the years produced some of the biggest Nigerian singers such as Timi Dakolo, season one winner; Omawumi, season one first runnerup; and gospel singer, Mercy Chinwo.

with KAYODE ALFRED ͮͶͯ​ͯʹ͵ͳͷͶͮ͵˜ E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Helen Prest-Ajayi: The Amazon Who Bounced Back Joy comes in the morning, and light comes after the darkness. It is the sentiment that comes to mind at the thought of former beauty queen Helen Prest-Ajayi. After living in the shadows of vengeful accusations, all the while mourning her husband’s demise, Dr Tosin Ajayi, Prest-Ajayi can finally take a breather. Besides, her prospects just got brighter.

Based on a recent report, Helen PrestAjayi was appointed as a non-executive director at the Bank of Nevis International Trust Services Inc. (BONITS). The company is a leading organisation situated off Mexico and Venezuela’s coast in the West Indies that offers Global Migration Investment options, company formation services, and enhanced global mobility through a second passport.

Because of the company’s headquarters’ location, Prest-Ajayi’s appointment appears to be a protracted vacation. But this is required, considering the events of the past year. After 25 years of marriage to Dr Tosin Ajayi, the MD of First Foundation Medical Engineering Company, Helen Prest-Ajayi’s life was shattered with his

sudden death in April 2020. As if her new status as a widow was not enough, Prest-Ajayi underwent several episodes of accusations from her late husband’s estranged children and their mother to the point that legal measures had to be taken to resolve the mess.

After a long and bitter battle, Prest-Ajayi was absolved of all allegations that she had anything to do with her husband’s death.

After this came a new battle about when to inter the remains of the late man. There was also the battle of where to hold the ceremony to inter the remains of the late man. And on and on.

It was only recently that everything was settled and peace restored to all and sundry.

Less than a month after, Helen Prest-Ajayi was appointed to a non-Executive Directorship position in an exotic location.

After wearing the image of a guilty widow for so long, folks forget that PrestAjayi is a lawyer by training, a brilliant writer, the author of the popular textbook, The Complete English Grammar Guide and a proficient corporate Amazon. One can only imagine how happy Helen Prest-Ajayi is at the moment. Joy truly comes in the morning.

Prest-Ajayi

Commendable! Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Digitalises Education in Lagos

Sanwo-Olu

Barrister Tokunbo Wahab

Since he came on board the Lagos state ship, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been nothing but a visionary with his eyes trained on the realisation of a ‘Greater Lagos.’ In truth, Sanwo-Olu has not shamed those that shed sweat, blood, and relatives and friends for his sake in 2019. If he continues like this, four years will go by in no time, and a second tenure would be in order.

Rebuke Governor Babajide SanwoOlu for taking things in a slow, methodological way, but speak no evil of his team and the merits they have racked up so far. Say that he remains in the middle of political interests and machinations but leave his contributions to education out of it.

The Sanwo-Olu administration appears to have a soft spot for human development, with infrastructure development coming as a close second.

The most recent evidence of this is the launch of the Eko Digital Initiative. This is a platform that emerged from the visions of Sanwo-Olu and the efforts of the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Tokunbo Wahab.

Eko Digital is Sanwo-Olu’s initiative to

assist primary and secondary students in their learning and train them to be relevant during and after their academic journey. Thus, Eko Digital leverages modern technologies to provide options for students learning from the comfort of homes. His digital revolution in education also includes digitalisation of school libraries through the office of the special adviser on education... and as at the last count in less than two years of his government, over 120 schools across the state have been given a new library with computerised systems to prepare them for the IT revolution.

Ahead of his peers, Sanwo-Olu’s Eko Digital Initiative is coming at a time when secondary and tertiary students have begun to realise the gap between the speculations of their classroom teachers and the real world. Given time and no practical step taken to salvage what is left of students’ trust, the future would be bleak and beyond hopeless.

With Eko Digital, however, students will have boundless opportunities to master relevant skills that are in high demand everywhere and reach their true potential.

Unveiling Eruani Azibapu: A Man Seen in New Light The Chinese insist that common sense is not a proper measurement for gauging great people, eccentrics and folks who have gone bonkers. What these three have as a common denominator is ignorance and disregard for limitations. They would have bashed through conventional expectations first before realising that others have been left far behind. What better way to introduce Eruani Azibapu Godbless and the anticipated modular refinery?

There is no telling the number of interests that have been stoked with the recent news that a new modular refinery will soon be established in Nigeria and placed under the management of one of Nigeria’s own, Eruani Azibapu Godbless. Folks are convinced that this development may not spark up a revolution in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, but an era of sector-specific innovations should not be too far behind.

Based on the reports, Azibapu Eruani and his Azikel Group of Companies came out on top among those vying to manage the Bayelsa

modular refinery project. Thus, Eruani has supposedly begun to make significant moves to facilitate the refinery establishment process. This includes contracting McDermott International, Inc., a Houston-based oil and gas service multinational company, to oversee the refinery’s construction with an anticipated capacity to process 12,000 barrels per day.

Who would have imagined that Eruani Azibapu, a medical surgeon by training and businessman at heart, would eventually lead the pack on the second modular refinery (the first one being in Imo) to be operational in the Niger Delta? But a visionary is a visionary, and what Eruani saw in 2015 that inspired him to invest in the refinery project has only now begun to bear fruit.

But there is another reported angle to the story. Folks are murmuring that Eruani seemingly fortuitous break was built on the political connections he racked up over the years, starting from President Goodluck Jonathan’s time and his close liaisons with prestigious movers shakers of Rivers and

Azibapu

Bayelsa State.

Nevertheless, to the average Nigerian, especially the young Bayelsan, the time has come to join the train of employment, social and economic changes, and every other good thing that is expected to accompany the completion of the Bayelsa modular refinery.

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HIGHLIFE

Between Rotimi Akeredolu and Otunba Timehin Adelegbe

have to face the music of presiding over Ondo state’s affairs and its people alone.

But Governor Akeredolu does not need to do this because of people like Otunba Timehin Adelegbe. The latter is one person that has never withdrawn his support from the Governor, not even when the novelty of gubernatorial change gripped the hearts of the majority of the Ondo citizenry. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Governor Akeredolu looks at Otunba Adelegbe with nothing but favour and approval.

As the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency representative, Otunba Timehin Adelegbe does not have to bend the knee to anyone. Thus, the fact that he does so to Governor Akeredolu has dumbfounded even the most sensible person. Others have averred that Adelegbe’s loyalty is the blind kind and that the House of Reps member has no political ambition and so nothing to lose. This is not true.

Folks would remember that Otunba Adelegbe was the daring face of many tabloids some time ago when he allegedly put up his hotel (worth 1 billion) for sale to get the Owo/ Ose representative seat. Who dares to accuse such a person of having negligible political ambition?

So, there is something Otunba Adelegbe sees in Governor Akeredolu that others do not. Thankfully, Akeredolu knows and appreciates Adelegbe’s loyalty. Little wonder Adelegbe’s name continues to spread across Ondo State.

Akeredolu

Adelegbe

It has to be said that political loyalty counts for next to nothing these days. In the face of self-interest and the pressure to cover as many bases as possible (and consequently swear allegiance to as many factions as there are), it is rare to find subordinates who are outspokenly and singularly supportive of their bosses. This is what we find with Otunba Timehin

Adelegbe and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

Akeredolu is no greenhorn to politicking and the fickleness of human loyalty. If he were, the last Ondo State gubernatorial election has refined and matured him. Nevertheless, suppose he refuses to return the devout few’s devotion and support because of the bread-crumbsseeking majority. In that case, he might

It is a time of joy and rejoicing in Egbaland, Abeokuta, Ogun State, as a chieftaincy of the esteemed kingdom has finally been taken up by someone— Senator Olabode Mustapha. The many benefits that the new Osi is guaranteed to deliver have sent many tongues singing.

Chief Bode Mustapha was confirmed as the 9th Osi of Egba kingdom a few weeks ago. Deriving satisfaction from the new chief’s ascension, the people of Egbaland spared no effort in extolling his virtues. In turn, the Osi hosted them to a massive celebratory event with the performance of foremost Nigerian jùjú musician, ‘Chief Commander ’ Ebenezer, and the attendance of some of the most accomplished sons and daughters of Egbaland.

In terms of singular accomplishments, there are only a handful of Nigerian regions that have given birth to folks of high intelligence, resourcefulness and uncommon loyalty as Egbaland. These are folks who have been ‘cooked’ in the fires of change and chance, like everyone else, but always rise to the surface as masters of themselves and industries. This is the Egbaland that is the birthplace of Chief Bode Mustapha.

The new Osi has not let down the hopes of his ancestors. His name (even as

Bode Mustapha Becomes Ninth Osi of Egba Kingdom

Mustapha

the alias BM) strikes high notes in business and politics, and in both endeavours, the

people of Egbaland have enjoyed the flavours of Chief BM’s good works.

Even among the Egba people, one is hard-pressed to find someone as committed to his goals as Chief BM. This commitment drove him to Goethe Institute, Lunenburg, West Germany, where he obtained a first-class degree in Business, Management & Marketing in the 1970s to the National Open University of Nigeria, obtaining another university degree and Master’s in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, and in Business Administration.

There are too many slices of goodness in Chief BM’s life, cardinal among them being his wife, the UK-based immigration solicitor, Chief Mrs Olufadekemi Mustapha, and their six children. Or his premium membership in the most prestigious institutions, organisations and clubs.

For Chief Bode Mustapha, the peerless son of Egbaland, the Osi title is fitting.

New Details on Julius Rone and Nigeria’s First Floating LNG Facility New details have emerged on the particulars and plans of the hands that Julius Rone has contracted to assist in the establishment of the first floating LNG (Liquefied natural gas) production plant in Nigeria. Amidst concerns over a handful of uncertainties, Rone continues to assure potential investors and observers that everything is under control. And that confident calm is working.

Based on reports from a world-renowned intelligence organisation, extra notes have been typed out and released regarding how Julius Rone and his UTM Offshore Limited intend to leverage the Licence to Establish (LTE) obtained a few weeks ago. Foremost on the question list are the whos and the hows and the whens: who will commandeer the actual facility-building process, how will everything be financed, and when is the most probable time for takeoff?

The well-known multinational EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) Japanese company, JGC Holdings Corporation, has won Julius Rone’s interest and are certain— if everything continues as it should—to handle the construction process. Seeing as the LTE has

only a two-year validity period, folks foresee difficulties, but Rone does not.

Furthermore, the anticipated floating LNG has been compared to the existing onshore LNG on Bonny Island, expecting the former to exceed the latter in performance, but both plants to encounter the same challenges. Rone does not think so. According to the UTM CEO, the construction of the floating LNG facility will start by June 2022, would have settled the decisions regarding investment options by January 2022.

The majority of Nigerians do not understand the mounting pressures (although UTM’s experience with offshore engineering and construction has likely made the process appear simple and effortless). The fact is that the proposed production plant is expected to process around 4.98 billion litres of natural gas and natural gas liquids (condensates) daily.

That has already garnered interested eyes from the world over. Experienced directors of mega oil and gas companies are already evaluating the project as likely to become the most highyielding in Africa upon takeoff.

Overall, there are more eyes and ears trained to Julius Rone, his UTM Offshore Limited, and

Rone

the decisions he makes regarding Nigeria’s first floating LNG facility. “Keep calm and keep watching,” Rone’s actions seem to suggest.

Niyi Makanjuola’s Re-Strategising for the Future

Makanjuola

‘W

inners never quit, and quitters never win’ is one of those nonsensical maxims that make less and less sense the more attention is paid to them. The same goes for ‘Do not procrastinate tomorrow, procrastinate today—they do not make sense. Therefore, to remain intractable in the face of overwhelming opposition is not bravery. The wise man knows to bend, to retreat, to hide when occasion demands it. In this regard, Niyi Makanjuola is a wise man.

Folks on social media have been asking about the whereabouts of one of the top shots of Caverton Helicopters, Niyi Makanjuola.

The queries range in scope from the innocent ‘When will he be back?’ to the more interrogative ‘Does he intend to hide out until the present Lagos administration runs out of time and tenure?’

No one can blame either set of inquirers.

Since the dream of Makanjuola to take over the waste management particulars via his Visionscape collapsed, the man has seemingly disappeared from prying eyes and lenses.

Considering Makanjuola’s inherent brilliance and grasp of business management and investment, one can only imagine how difficult it was to pull a disappearing act.

Most people remember the Visionscape project that was supposed to run for 10 years but was frustrated by APC political stalwarts who were profiting from it. It became one of the major sins of the former governor, who was denied ticket for a second term.

Thus, life under the radar has been the new normal for the former Caverton boss. This is not to say that all is bleak and bleary for the 41-year-old business savant.. As the Chinese say, crouching might be the preparation for a tall jump.

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LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

Duke of Shomolu – The Devil is a Liar

Please, let me crave your indulgence and give you this gist. Don’t vex. So my deadline for this column is Thursday Morning. No matter what I do or where I am, I must deliver at that time. It is usually 3,000 words and takes all of my energy. After writing, I will go and take afang with nice fufu to regain lost energy.

This week, realising that I will be flying out to Uyo to commence my dearly beloved mother’s transitioning, I decided to write the column on Wednesday evening. So that is how I was struggling with sleep, to write the thing. It is usually 12 commentaries, and I wrote 11. It didn’t feel like one of my best works because as I was writing, sleep was knocking me out.

Anyways, I finished around 1 am and dozed off. I woke up in the morning to edit it before rushing to the airport. I edited it halfway and realising that I may

miss my flight, jumped into the bathroom, took my bath and rushed to the airport.

My people, inside the plane, I wear two masks, and as the plane was shaking from turbulence, I decided to strike up a conversation with the older man beside me. I say, oga, how are you? I just buy fridge for Duchess. He say, sorry, I cannot talk. I have not flown in 12 years, and it is because of the kidnapping and bad roads that I am taking this trip. I say, don’t worry if the plane is shaking too much and you feel like throwing up, just face the other side and throw up on the lady seated there.

There is coronavirus, and I was not in the mood for humanitarian gestures.

Then he worsened it by saying, ‘I am APC and the Local Government Chairman of Ifako Ijaiye in Lagos. I say, my brother, don’t vex, please give me back the book

I gave you let me give it to someone else. He say why. I say haven’t you seen the inflation rate. Haven’t you seen that youth joblessness is now 42 percent abi you don’t know that the Naira is now almost N500? That he should not take it personally, he should sha return my book when inflation returns to a single digit. I will give him back. I say abeg remove your leg, let me drop. That is how I dropped and rushed to open my laptop to finish the column, and guess what! The thing had crashed. Jesus is Lord. Crashed in Uyo with Shaka’s 3,000 words. I rushed to a nearby repairer on Aka road, and he say it cannot be salvaged. Devil is a liar because he knows I want to yab Orji Kalu he go crash my laptop. Na lie, I will still yab him, so I have borrowed a laptop, and I am writing. You can’t keep the beetle down. I am writing o.

AIGBOJE AIG-IMOUKHUEDE HAS FINALLY LEFTTHE TARMAC So I have bro on whatsapSo I have bro on WhatsApp, and I used to pity him as he is on my broadcast list. I can send all sorts o. He will just be reading and not commenting, but once in a while, he will just send a greeting, and I will smile and greet him back, and the next moment I will drop another bombshell.

So that is how during the week, he said, ‘Edgar, I finally wrote a book.’ I said, ‘wow,’ and he said I would send an advanced copy to you. The book came, and it is titled, Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa. I have not read it yet as I had planned to read it on the plane. But a quick glance took me to the page where his mother was telling him to siddon jeje o at GTB instead of taking the risk. Exactly what my mother used to say to me when I told her that I had the urge to leave banking and go into theatre. She would ask, are you mad.

Where did Baba Sala come and enter my bele. It was not until Nicholas sack me that I finally found my life.

So, I connected to that story. I can’t wait to read the book as it has already started generating the expected buzz.

It should because these guys took a struggling bank and have turned it into the financial giant it is today. We must certainly hear their story, for we need the road map so that we too can tread the same path. I like this Aig’s move.

Just like Otunba Subomi Balogun’s book on his own odyssey. Our ‘great’ men should write more of these types of memoirs so we can have the stuff to

read and be guided and not leave us to hear about their stories at Owambe parties where the Fuji musicians are singing their ‘oriki.’ nothing we can do with that. Anyway, guys, wait for my review. It will be the bomb.

WHEN ORTOM RAN FOR DEAR LIFE When I heard this story, the first thing that came to my mind was to thank God that His Excellency actually went to where he said he was going to. If he were like me, who will tell Duchess that ‘I am going to the office’ and end up in Ibadan, how would he have explained it if the people who were chasing him had cut off his testicles near one miniflat in Makurdi instead of the farm?

Don’t mind me jo, and as Fidelis will say, ‘Edgar, everybody cannot be like you.’ I am sure His Excellency that morning, as he set out to his farm, did not know that he would be doing Makurdi Marathon to save his life. This is sickening and really not a laughing matter. The worse for it is the vain and stupid attempt at politicising the whole thing. Some people are asking for proof that a certain set of people are behind this dastardly attempt. For me, no matter who is involved, the fact still remains that a cowardly attempt was made on the life of a sitting Chief Executive of the State. The whole insecurity thing is now so shameful, especially now that we have been told that not all of us can be covered. So, do we take the laws into our hands to ensure our security? That would be anarchy and would not augur well for

this generation of leaders. Please can we take this insecurity thing very seriously with all the attention it requires? When will a sitting governor with all the immunity and security he can muster have to run for kilometres on barefoot and most likely to scream for his mother and Angel Gabriel to come and save him from marauders? What will now happen to the rest of us? This is very pathetic and shameful. Very.

ATEDO PETERSIDE – I COULDN’T AGREE MORE Let me, for once, go beyond my dislike of that cap and that gown you always wear. That gown don tire o. I know it is your native attire but try to make we dey see different designs. But don’t mind me, it is not about that brown tunic you always wear and that cap that makes me laugh, but it is about your stance on the refinery. I think this time, these people are just taking it too far.

How for the life of me would you be thinking of repairing a refinery of that nature when you should be divesting and running away from it? But instead, you now want to sell Nigerian Film Corporation wey have all the cobwebs in the world and Eddie Ugbomah’s last film that only six people saw. $1.5b on repairing a refinery is a major slap in the face of over 200m people. We are all united in collecting this slap whether we are herdsmen, Muslims, Christians, North-South or anything. The same government with the largest public debt in peacetime, with a weak health care delivery system and facing an

Aig-Imoukhuede

Ortom

Peterside

Buhari

insurgency from all sides being fuelled by the paucity of funds to ensure a robust push against the extremist to now consider spending this kind of fund in a never-ending white elephant leaves much to be desired. My brother, don’t worry about the debate, na only you and Rotus go do that debate for Arise TV. I think the best thing we should do is just to hunker down na. have you been on a swing or what in Shomolu we call jangrova? When something goes wrong, and a crash is inevitable, you don’t struggle, or else your injuries would be worse. You hunker down, protect your fragile and sensitive parts and wait for the slam. This is what we should now be doing as Nigerians. There is no need to debate, no need to struggle again. Let’s just hunker down and wait for the slam dunk. When all of these are over in 2023, we start to rebuild slowly. Na my take be that o. Meanwhile, let’s try Mudi. That tailor is not doing it, sir.

AYO ADEBANJO – I BEG TO DISAGREE You see, you have to be very careful when you attempt a critique of Baba like this o. It can be tricky o because if daddy vexes like this, kai, you will just be wetting your bed or you will gum on the wall, and no amount of deliverance will save you o. But let me take the risk. Daddy has been quoted as saying that Buhari will not hand over to Tinubu and that Buhari is just deceiving Tinubu, and Tinubu does not know it. I say not true. How can

Adebanjo

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LOUD WHISPERS you speak so authoritatively about something you are not even sure of?

Me, I know that Buhari will hand over to Tinubu. I know that one very well.

They are very close o. You don’t know.

Me, I know. I swear, ask Femi Adesina, and he will tell you that they are very, very, very close. In fact, I was passing thru on a tourist visit to Aso Rock when I overheard Tinubu asking Buhari exactly how MKO was asking IBB that will you hand over to me. Don’t let me go and embarrass myself o. If you know you will not hand it over to me, tell me now let me go and join Seyi’s company and build the biggest outdoor board company in Lagos, at least that one I get the experience. Buhari was very upset. I was there o. Ayo Adebanjo was nowhere near there. He must have been tending to his lafun and ewedu since he can no longer be indulging in the other room. Buhari was very upset with Tinubu for not trusting him. He put one finger on his tongue, brought it out, put it in his armpit and faced the sky and said, ‘I swear’ and Tinubu apologised to him for not trusting their friendship. So for the 62nd time, Buhari swore to Bola that he will be his Biden and that he has nothing to fear. So if you drive past Bourdillon today, you will see only one patrol van because they have all packed to Abuja in preparation.

So let’s all be talking with facts, abeg.

Thank you.

OBONG VICTOR ATTAH – THE CALL OF DUTY In this my short life, I have met and had discussions with plenty of historical figures. I have even gone ahead to produce plays on some of them. OBJ readily comes to mind. I am also doing another one on Awo this July. But one person that has always intrigued me has always been Obong Victor Attah.

He was once the Governor of my State Akwa Ibom, who put the state on the path of self-awareness. A phone call from my darling Aunty Rosemary and I found myself on the phone with the highly respectable figure. We spoke extensively about his thoughts and philosophy, and I pitched the possibility of putting his story on stage. He liked the idea and said we should explore it much later. I dropped the phone and felt light. This was just another dream to be realised. Massive.

SUNNY IRABOR – HAPPY BIRTHDAY It was uncle Soni’s birthday during the week. Those kind people you don’t ask for their age o. People that witnessed the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, you just say happy birthday and move on. But before I say happy birthday, let me just give you guys one small gist. When I was producing my powerful play, Emotan, I approached uncle Soni to come and do co-executive producer with me. The idea was to leverage his influence to get the necessary support required from targets. My people after ‘wakering’ for months with no kobo, Uncle Soni say he don tire. I understand I pity am because the thing no dey easy.

But he now called and said, there is one last one for Ikoyi we should go and try.

That is how we went. The people get money, and they get a bank. They offer us tea, me I no drink, uncle Soni, say na aristocrat he drink and cross leg. He say, Edgar oya talk. I slam. I can talk o.

You guys should see me giving a pitch.

That is how I talk and the woman say, ‘I like what I have heard and I will not speak for my husband’s bank but will speak for myself. I will support you guys. Uncle soni jump up with joy and

But will they hear?

CHIKE OGEAH – THIS TOO SHALL PASS My oga has been quiet for a bit, and I was wondering why. Then I got a small signal from a dove that he has ‘lost so many of his friends’ hence his pullback.

I immediately reached out, and he confirmed. He has lost so many friends this period and, as such, has decided to look at life in a different way. I connect because I, too, have had my own fair share. Apart from my mother and Erelu, if I mention my friends’ names that have gone in the last six months, you will think rapture came. My people, at some point, started calling me the king of sorrow. But joy comes in the morning, I know that one well. As I sat on this bed typing, getting ready to commit my mother to earth, I can only just look up and say, it is well. Abi, what else can we say?

Attah

I scream and we both say thank you ma and God bless you. My people almost two years after, we never see anything o. Na wa. Anyways, don’t let me spoil Uncle Soni’s birthday. Happy birthday my lord and we should try again with ‘joromi’ or what do you think?

ORJI KALU – WHICH GUTTER? Mbok, which gutter do they pick grown men from? I used to be an expert in gutter things. In fact, my late mother used to call me ‘gutter company’ because I spent most of my waking hours inside the gutter following a piece of paper from Morocco road down through Bajulaiye and into Akoka and sometimes to the Lagoon at Bariga. So when Orji Kalu said he

Kalu

picked a whole Senator Abaribe from the gutter, I am seated here wondering which gutter o? These politicians sef, before he will now come and say that it is a figure of speech, me, I no gree.

There should be decorum. Using such language only just goes to show the levels we now play. He was reported to have also said that he has built so many roads in just one year of being a Senator as against Senator Abaribe, who in 16 years has built nothing. Well, in that context, it looks like he has defeated the Senator, abi? But wait, can we ask the source of the funds he is using to fund these things because I rather stick to ‘poor’ Senator Abaribe, who has no questions to answer corruption as against...make I sha keep quiet. Some of these people should be a little bit quiet.

CHIOMA OKIGBO - KEEP THE FLAG FLYING I just want to say a shoutout to my friend and sister Chioma Okigbo.

The brilliant investment banker continues to win in her chosen field. She runs a distinct family office where she continues to deepen

Okigbo

her engagements and push boundaries. I am proud to call her a colleague even though na senior colleague cos she was already a Managing Director long before me. Good luck sis and keep the flag flying. Well done.

MOHAMMED ADOKE – JOY COMES IN THE MORNING If there is any perfect example of person carrying problem to himself is this oga. He published a book about his stewardship taking time out to explain the Malabu wahala and his role. What did he get in return? EFCC’s attention.

They used interpole to chase him and started a long traumatic journey through the justice system. He kept shouting his innocence and all but did they listen? No. the man was dragged through all the mud that could be found. But this week, an Italian court has vindicated not only him but also a myriad of people tainted in the wahala.

The whole thing is now beginning to look one kind. Kai. Anyway, the most important thing now is that justice has prevailed and the innocent has been vindicated. For our system, the need for reform jumps out. Who will bell this cat? Not me o, I get school fees to pay.

JAARUMA IN THE BANKING SPACE? Wonders they say will never cease.

The targets are my friends but this was too exciting to ignore. So Jaaruma sells aphrodisiacs with names like – last longer in bed, tighten your p…y, never let him go portion amongst other such killer things aimed at sexually entrapping men. I hear they say, she is the biggest. In fact the person who showed me the video in describing her, had said’ You know what Alibaba is to Comedy is what she is to the sexcatching men industry’. So she opened the video and I saw this curvy darkskinned woman with a northern accent saying that ‘what can I give you to make you move your account to Bank xyz. She continued, can we make this the greatest movement of accounts? My people in my laughter, I started asking some pertinent sales question. This bank which just left the tarmac, if they authorised this must have seen the volumes and the power of sex in the market place.

So they ensnare the biggest retailer of sex junk stuff their brand ambassador so that all the women trying to attract sugar daddies or have their men never leave them through an assortment of charms aphrodisiacs will now open accounts with them. This may truly be the biggest movement of accounts as she has rightly said. My own is that even the bankers should be careful so they don’t fall victims. As for me, this woman does not need any ‘catch him ointment’ to catch me. I will willingly and voluntarily submit myself to her and I already have account with the bank. Na for Awolowo Road Ikoyi I open the account. So we are already there, come and catch me. Thank you.

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Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

World Celebrates Elumelu, the Quintessential Banker at 58

Adenowo

Jumoke Adenowo: More Global Accolades for Africa’s Starchitect

O

lajumoke Adenowo is many things in one: Author, mentor, public speaker, radio host, entrepreneur, philanthropist… More than anything else though, she’s an architect of international repute, with a multitude of awards to boot.

It was no surprise then, when she was recently profiled in the book, ‘Raising the Roof: Women Architects Who Broke Through the Glass Ceiling’, which celebrates the inspirational achievements of women architects in every corner of the world.

Profiled alongside Adenowo are other world-renowned female architects like Tatiana Bilbao, who is leading the way in sustainable Mexican architecture; Rossana Hu, who is fighting to preserve Chinese village culture in her rapidly urbanizing country; and Elizabeth Diller, who created the High Line, one of New York City’s most beloved public spaces, and helped redesign the city’s Museum of Modern Art. This is just the latest in a long list of accolades bestowed on the Principal Consultant at AD Consulting, the boutique architecture firm she founded at 25.

In the years after, Adenowo has been involved in the design and construction of over 70 buildings in Nigeria, and has brought institutional facilities, epic 2,500-seat auditoriums, residences, estates and cutting-edge corporate offices to life.

She has become not just one of Africa’s most accomplished architects but also a feminist icon.

Little wonder she was recently on Forbes Woman Africa’s list of Most Powerful Women.

Relax! Businessman Kenny Duyile is Cooking Something Big

F

or some time now, Chief Kenny Duyile seems to have shunned the social circle, thereby setting many tongues wagging.

Since he began to stay off the klieg lights, many have repeatedly alleged that he is currently experiencing a reversal of fortune.

But Society Watch gathered that it was to enable him to concentrate on a particular business project that is dear to his heart.

The Ondo high chief, whose business interests include real estate, farming, hospitality, publishing, oil and gas, has been silently cooking something big that will see Ondo State becoming the hub of undiluted entertainment.

He is said to be investing heavily in what will become the talk of the town, not only in Ondo but also in the country.

Duyile was celebrated as the brains behind the hugely successful society journals such as Celebrity Mirror and Hospitality Haven and owning Rockview Hotels located in.

When you think of banking and investment in Nigeria, nay Africa, one of the names that come to mind is Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu. The Delta State-born banker and economist remains one the most brilliant bankers to have come out of this continent.

Many would be delighted if the chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation decides to write a book about his life experience.

Such a book, many believe, will be a treasure trove of information on how to run a successful business. It will highlight Elumelu’s wizardry in the banking sector, aplomb, and dexterity at the boardroom, making him a guru and shining light in the business firmament.

When a man with a larger-than-life image such as Elumelu celebrates, the world would definitely celebrate with him. The world certainly celebrated the Forbes-listed billionaire last Monday when he clocked 58. He received encomiums from myriads of well-wishers, friends, business associates, loved ones and fans, both far and near.

The high-flying banker did not roll out the drums. However, many quietly rejoiced with him on this special occasion of his birthday.

The contents of the messages speak volumes of his enviable place in the global business arena.

Also, it is obvious that most of those

who congratulated him via different platforms on occasion had encountered him and benefited immensely from his heart of gold.

For a man who has a flourishing business empire with substantial investments in banking, energy, hospitality, agribusiness, healthcare, real estate and recently, oil and gas, it is not for nothing that he is described as a visionary leader, an exemplary entrepreneur and an outstanding manager of resources.

Many would not forget in a hurry that fateful day when his journey to greatness began at 34.

Elumelu, aiming for the sky, had led a small group of investors to acquire the defunct Standard Trust Bank and restored it to profitability. Within a few years, he became a reference point worldwide, and his profile got a boost when he pulled off one of the greatest mergers in the history of African banking - the merger of Standard Trust Bank, STB and United Bank for Africa.

Elumelu’s feat was greeted with applause.

It was described as an audacious move by any Nigerian banker. The move it was gathered injected new ideas into the system, changing Nigeria’s banking sector for good.

However, subsequent events, which have since been documented, would bring out his resilience, unbending determination, focus, and business acumen.

Elumelu, who cherishes friendship a great deal, loves to put smiles on people’s faces with his philanthropy.

About a decade ago, precisely July 2010, the serial entrepreneur and philanthropist founded the

Elumelu

now internationally-recognised Tony Elumelu Foundation, TEF, after retiring as UBA CEO. The foundation is charged with the mission of driving Africa’s economic development by enhancing the African private sector’s competitiveness.

As a premier pan-African-focused notfor-profit organisation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation is dedicated to promoting and celebrating entrepreneurship and excellence in business leadership across the continent.

Kessinghton Adebutu’s Son, Adebisi , Soaring High Adebutu

Adebisi Abidemi Adebutu, the third son of billionaire businessman Chief Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, aptly fits into the description of a chip off the old block.

Adebisi, a serial entrepreneur, has more than a passing interest in creative engineering solutions.

Like some of his siblings, he started his career with the family-owned business Premier Lotto in 1990 as a business development officer and later rose to become the Executive Director, Operations and Business Development.

As the Executive Director, Adebisi led the implementation of several initiatives, which grew the family business to a multi-billion naira organisation.

But beyond this, he has also been doing his own thing. As a solution provider, he has led

strategic investments and turnaround of various business interests in the telecommunication, hospitality and infrastructure sector.

As a tech enthusiast, Adebisi has invested in the telecoms sector through Biswal Limited, a company he floated in 2001.

With the perennial challenges of battery and diesel theft in most base stations of the major telecoms operators in Nigeria, Adebisi has been at the forefront of advocating the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG as an alternative fuel by the MTOs. His quiet but impactful role can also be felt in the acquisition of the Ogun State-owned Gateway Hotels, Abeokuta by his wealthy magnate dad and the facility’s transformation - now known as Park Inn

by Radisson -to a proud five-star 400-room hospitality outfit.

It was gathered that in-between the execution of that, Adebisi’s innovative real estate development and investment group, First Investment Development Company, was announced as the developer of the upscale Ilubirin Foreshore Housing project, a new luxury Lagos coastal neighborhood started under the

administration of former governor of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola.

Despite the attendant controversies that trailed the project, Adebisi’s company still delivered the ambitious project.

Interestingly, the gaming mogul’s scion has also spread his tentacles to aviation infrastructure management with the recent announcement of the same FIDC alongside a consortium of investors as the preferred bidder for the concession of the Asaba International Airport.

Though the announcement was greeted with criticisms in some quarters, it was doused by the state government’s belief that the emergence of Adebisi’s FIDC as the concessionaire would turn around the fortunes and profile of the strategic airport.

So Adebisi is forging ahead alongside investors’ consortium to rebrand the airport and make it one of the best within the continent. Adebisi and his partners in the project are ready to expend at least N28 billion on various developmental investments in the airport over the 30-year concession period.

Oba Hameed Adekunle Oyelude’s Important Connections Those who have encountered His Royal Majesty, Oba Hameed Adekunle Oyelude, the Olowu of Owu Kuta, Osun State, would attest to his intelligence and brilliance.

His knowledge of the arts, sciences, current affairs and world politics always leaves many in awe.

All his life, he has never trivialised the importance of friendship. If making friends were to be a sport, the revered monarch’s house trophies and medals would flood everywhere.

When he started many years ago as a businessman and a contractor, he made many friends across the country and remained loyal to them.

In particular, when his path crossed that of Nigeria’s former Military President, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, they chummed up immediately.

The friendship was further cemented when Babangida nursed the ambition of contesting for Nigeria’s president in 2003.

Then, Oyelude was the National Chairman of IBB vision 2003, a job he did very well. He was able to worm himself into Babangida’s heart with his sense of organisation, wisdom and intelligence.

The monarch who speaks many Nigerian languages also met other top and influential

Nigerians during that period, such as Abubakar Adamu Kazaure, the secretary of IBB vision 2003, among others who are today the movers and shakers in the country.

In reminiscence, IBB reportedly influenced him in many ways, so much so that he was instrumental in him becoming king of his hometown. Since he ascended the throne, he has been using his influence to ensure the town’s development.

The monarch, a friend of the former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Buratai, also reportedly influenced the Nigerian Army to construct the age-long Osun Bridge on Kuta-Ede Road. That has now eased movement and encouraged trading among the people of the two towns and other towns around.

It was gathered that the Tegbosun III had committed and made a lot of social investments towards developing Kuta and promoting it globally.

He single-handedly built a police station, procured a patrol van in Owu Kuta and expended the sum of N6 million on the channelisation of waterways as well as the control of erosion at Isale Oba in Kuta.

He is also said to have scored a first by building a N75 million ultra-modern community palace, where he lives.

Oyelude

Today, he is loved by his people, not just because of his role in constructing Kuta Railway Station road but also because of securing job placements for numerous sons and daughters of Owu in different federal government agencies. This is made possible by his high-wired connections.

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

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BENEATH THE CONCEPTUAL TANGLE OF OZIOMA ONUZULIKE’S MUSINGS Cover continued on Page 72

Ozioma Onuzulike

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

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ARTS & REVIEW\\ART-LOGUE

BENEATH THE CONCEPTUAL TANGLE OF OZIOMA ONUZULIKE’S MUSINGS InanongoingsoloexhibitioninaLagos-basedartspace,theUniversityofNigeria,Nsukka-basedOziomaOnuzulikebreathes newlifeintotime-wornthemeswiththedeftmanipulationofhistrademarkmediums.Okechukwu Uwaezuokereports

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rust Ozioma Onuzulike to leave behind a trail of nuggets at each of his career’s many eureka moments, which – more often than not – tend to leave his adept devotees in awe. And, as one of these moments, his 2018 solo exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Yaba, Lagos, which was complemented by the artist’s poetry collection, fits the bill. It was indeed first at that exhibition, which was the 10th among his solos, that he drew uncanny parallels between yam tubers and motionless bodies encased in body bags.

He further explains: “When sorted and tied together (like in a typical African yam barn), they remind me not only of how African slaves were in the past crammed in slave ships like mere commodities but also how they are today tightly packed in trucks and boats hazarding the desert and the sea with the hope of going to ‘grow’ better in a more conducive environment. Many have been lost in transit.”

This above assertion – premised on his metaphorical allusion to Africa’s youth population as its yam seedlings – was a nod to the fact that yam seedlings used to be seen among his Igbo kinsmen as pointers to every family’s hopes for sustenance and wealth. Hence, that exhibition’s title Seed Yams of Our Land.

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s professor of ceramics and African art and design history further extends this thought in a body of works he calls the “yam project”, which with two other body of works forms a conceptual tripod for his ongoing exhibition at the Ikoyi, Lagos-based art space, kó. The two others are the “ceramic palm kernel shell beads project” and the “honeycomb project”.

Talking about the exhibition, titled The Way We Are, it is his 11th solo and the third of kó’s three-part exhibition series, featuring three leading lights of the New Nsukka School.

The New Nsukka School? This is a loose term for artists, who trained – and possibly also taught – at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s Fine and Applied Arts Department and are renowned for their adherence to the experimental process of producing art.

On the exhibition series, kó seeks to lift a veil on what the southeastern Nigeria-based tertiary institution stands for in the art scape through the prism of three of its lecturers: Ngozi Omeje-Ezema, Eva Obodo and Ozioma Onuzulike.

Hence, while the first solo exhibition featured the ceramics lecturer Omeje-Ezema between Thursday, January 28 and Thursday, February 11, the second featured the senior lecturer in sculpture Obodo from Thursday, February 25 to Thursday, March 11. Not surprisingly, the current exhibition, featuring Onuzulike, which opened on Thursday, March 25, will be concluded by Thursday, April 8.

Complementing the series, meanwhile, is a three-volume catalogue, which features texts and critical analysis by a senior lecturer in painting and drawing at the university Dr George Odoh.

Curiously, almost two decades have flitted by since Onuzulike indelibly engraved his name in the industry’s consciousness. This was when – in the good company of nine other young starry-eyed University of Nigeria, Nsukka artists – he came peddling alternative aesthetic canons in a commercially-driven Lagos art scene. Besides Onuzulike, the other artists featured at the group exhibition, titled New Energies were: Joseph Eze, Chika Aneke, Chiamaka Ezeani, Chikaogwu Kanu, Martin Iorliam, Chidi Nnadi, Erasmus Onyishi, Uchechukwu Onyishi and Nnenna Okore. Held concurrently at two Southwest Ikoyi-based galleries (Mydrim Gallery and Nimbus Art Centre) from May 16 to 26, 2001, the exhibition concerned itself less with the artworks’ commercial viability and rather focused on their conceptual values.

Two decades on, Onuzulike remains as riveted to conceptual art as ever. At the risk of sounding anachronistic, he reprises the time-worn

Ozioma Onuzulike with Treasure Island I jeremiads about the harsh living conditions of his fellow Africans, which he attributes to the political and socio-economic turmoil in the continent.

But it helps that he has taken the art of breathing new life into ceramics to more sublime levels. This is as the laborious and meticulous efforts the 49-year-old puts behind the production of each of his works continues to earn him the plaudits of his keen followers. This production process, he elaborates in what he calls his Notes on Recent Works. “Much of my works are political,” he writes. “I often rely on the conceptual qualities and metaphorical attributes of my medium (primarily clay) and work processes (including crushing, pounding, cutting, wedging, slamming, pinching, kneading, scotching, firing and much more) to address socio-political and economic issues germane to my immediate environment (Nigeria and Africa). I am often inspired by the social histories of the African continent and how such histories impact on the current realities around me (especially in the context of the human condition in my home country Nigeria in which I live and work).”

Nonetheless, Onuzulike still does a great job distancing his works from those, who would rather stick to their conservative notions about art. This is especially because, with these artworks, which are in an aesthetic class of their own, new life only seems possible in museums and public institutions.

Meanwhile, the exhibition’s 26 offerings are visual puzzles that compel the viewer to gather his wits together while engaging them. They are indeed visual puzzles, not only because of their cryptic messages but also because of their composition. Take a work like “August Visit I”, for instance. The viewer first needs to get over his fascination for the composition of the 26 kg, 3050-piece ceramic palm kernel shell bead amour before attempting to wrap his head about its hidden meanings.

Talking about amour, the artist uses the concept as his “own symbol of backwardness in the light of today’s war defence mechanisms”.

As for his allusion to palm kernel, it evokes “the lopsided trade/ power relations with the Western world”. Hear the artist: “I see the palm kernel shell (the remnants of the palm oil/kernel production) as

very historically charged. In their natural form, they look like beads – again, a trade token (popularly called Slave Beads) that carry a lot of historical baggage. I have made millions of palm kernel shells in terracotta, turning many of them into glass beads in a very laborious studio process. With them, I have woven mixed media ceramic structures that resemble Africa’s prestige cloths (such as the Nigerian Akwete and Aso Oke) or imported ones (such as the lace fabric) that are also highly regarded in Africa as markers of social status… In this way, I seek to call attention to the enormous burdens that Africa’s reckless politicians, and the elite in general, have to bear in their quest for ostentatious lifestyles (represented by the accumulation of the beads) that add nothing meaningful to the growth of their nations.”

Beneath the aesthetic tangle of works like “Africa, Our Africa”, which he classifies under the honeycomb project, lurks the artist’s terse reminder “that Africa’s natural resources have been at the base of its woes.” In their breath-taking suppleness, they attest to the artist’s long manipulation of a medium that only a few of his colleagues would venture to explore. Perhaps, this is what distinguishes him from the pack in a talent-glutted contemporary Nigerian art scene.

Still, on the honeycomb project, which is his most current studio project, it was “conceived during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and dedicated to all frontline workers risking their lives for the rest of us.”

Back to Onuzulike’s career’s eureka moments, they have launched him up the ladder-rungs of fame. This is in addition to positioning him for a forthcoming exhibition at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, the University of Cambridge in the UK. For this, he particularly has the [Re:] Entanglements Research Project led by Professor Paul Basu to thank. An alumnus of the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, USA, the Enugu State-born artist is also a fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Centre, Umbertide, Perugia, Italy, where he once participated in a residency programme under the UNESCOASCHBERG Bursary for Artists.

BOOK REVIEW

Nigeria in the Web of a Global System Politics, Law and Diplomacy, by Alaba Ogunsanwo, Sibon Books Ltd, 2020, 1296 pp

Bukar Usman

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he book, Politics, Law and Diplomacy, by Alaba Ogunsanwo is dedicated to a veteran Nigerian diplomat, Edward Olusola Sanu.

Ambassador Sanu, who is now over 90 years old, made his mark when he led the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to negotiate trade relations with the European Union (EU). The outcome was the Lome Convention of 1975. This is a fitting dedication as the book is an exploration of Nigeria’s relations with other nations.

Ogunsanwo ended his diplomatic career as Nigeria’s ambassador to Brussels in 1999. He was a

professor of political science at the University of Lagos in 1983 and currently teaches in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan. He had his first degree at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and post graduate studies at the London School of Economics. He has been affiliated with other local and overseas educational institutions. It is with such formidable credentials of diplomatic experience and academic rigour that Professor Ogunsanwo penned his book Politics, Law and Diplomacy, the subject of this review.

Politics, Law and Diplomacy is Prof.

Ogunsanwo’s collection of essays on various topics about the international system and the roles Nigeria played within that system at the West African, African and global levels.

The book is divided into two sections, 39 chapters and ten appendices. The essays were written and delivered at various fora between 2007 and 2019. Section 2 is devoted to

diplomacy, international legal order and international institutions. The narrative, rich in data, discusses Nigeria’s relations with major powers, middle powers, smaller powers, and equal-level powers. It identifies some countries and examines Nigeria’s bilateral relations with each of them on trade, aid, foreign direct investment, political and security matters, regional integration, growth and development. Nigeria’s interests, pursued through its consulates and other establishments, were outlined to cover economic, political, cultural, educational, religious, and commercial spheres. The author stressed that concerns for security and welfare as well as growing globalisation and interdependence, have made countries to relate with each other as a matter of necessity.

As a result, Nigeria, like other countries, has no option than to belong to regional and many bilateral and multilateral organisations.

––Dr Usman, former permanent secretary in the presidency, lives in Abuja.

Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

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CICERO

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

IN THE ARENA

The Audacity of Non-state Actors Exploiting overstretched, centralised security architecture, heavily armed non-state actors have apparently added state governors to their hit menu, writes. Louis Achi

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he quirky list of armed, red-eyed, non-state actors are lengthening by the day as well as the fogginess of their specific profiling: rogue herdsmen, bandits/ robbers, kidnappers, separatists, rustlers, Boko Haram terrorists, et al. In incremental audacity, some of this group of brigands have tweaked their grisly playbook and now state governors are fair game.

Even the recent shoot-on-sight order

by President Muhammadu Buhari has seemingly not proved much of deterrence.

Perpetrators are seldom found and there have been only few convictions. But things appear to be coming to a head, when they started boldly targeting state governors.

On Saturday, March 20, the Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom was attacked and narrowly escaped with his life. Although several questioned the governor’s narrative, President Buhari confirmed and condemned the attack.

The president also called for an “open and transparent investigation” of the attack, saying ‘whoever is linked to it should be caught and be made to face the law.”

According to the governor, the attack occurred, when he visited his farm in the state. Governor Ortom specifically linked the attempt on his life to suspected Fulani herdsmen alleging that his bold campaign against open grazing was the reason.

The police have since commenced an investigation into the attack.

Meanwhile, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria distanced itself from the alleged assassination attempt on Governor Ortom by gunmen on Saturday, March 20. The herders’ group’s Secretary-General, Usman BabaNgelzerma, asked Ortom not to politicise criminality, counselling him to alert the security agencies for proper investigations.

According to Baba-Ngelzerma, the Miyetti Allah is not a criminal organisaOrtom tion and did not at any time meet to plan Ortom’s killing as the Benue governor alleged.

However, Baba-Ngelzerma condemned the attack on behalf of MACBAN. He added that if there was truly an attack on the governor, the security agencies should be alerted to conduct a proper investigation.

He denied Ortom’s claim that MACBAN held a meeting in Adamawa State to plan his assassination just as he reiterated that the group did not know anything about the attack on the governor.

If the attackers had actually succeeded in killing the governor, many have theorised it could have become the tipping point and could have triggered a major uprising in the Middle Belt.

The emerging question is why herdsmen are unfairly or

fairly taking a lot of the blame for much of the depredations? At the centre of much of the crisis in the Middle Belt and Southern regions, farmer-herder clashes are fingered as the key enabler of the impunities.

And when major religious figures wade in to justify and defend bandits and herders’ often bloody impunities, many rational stakeholders are left scratching their heads in utter puzzlement. This scenario simply stokes dissent and anger.

In another befuddling development, a group known as the Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) claimed responsibility for the attack on the Benue governor. The group in a statement by a certain Umar Amir Shehu said the attack was an assassination attempt on the governor.

FUNAM claimed that it carried out the assault as revenge

for the governor’s actions against the Fulani people. No FUNAM operative has been arrested.

Last November, at least nine people were killed when Boko Haram terrorists targeted a convoy belonging to Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State. Members of the Boko Haram group attacked the convoy on Gajiram-Monguno road, killing seven soldiers and two civilians. Zulum escaped uninjured, but it was the third time he had been attacked by Boko Haram terrorists in the last few months.

George Akume, then governor of Benue State, narrowly escaped death when his convoy came under small-arms fire by unidentified gunmen some 150 kilometers from the capital, Abuja. At least one passenger in his car was killed.

No suspect was arrested.

Last week, governors of Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara States sought the assistance of the European Union (EU) in ending security challenges in their respective states.

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who led others in a meeting with the EU delegation also called for collective bid to halt banditry, kidnappings and violence in the North West.

According to Tambuwal, who attended the meeting alongside Governors Bello Masari, and Bello Muhammad Matawalle, the governors were interested in the support likely to be received from the EU on behalf of the federal government. Masari chimed in, saying, “We expect that results will come very soon.”

EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Ketil Karlsen, said, the meeting discussed insecurity in the region, regional dimensions of the conflict, influence of the Sahel conflicts and arms proliferation.

His words: “We all have programmes already on ground in the North-West. We have humanitarian programmes and development cooperation.

We also engage in political discussion at federal, state levels and civil societies.”

He said the EU and its partners were already providing support and assistance to the North West and hopes to establish more opportunities, “because we know that this is what is needed to have durable solution at end of the day.”

Apparently, these brigands are emboldened by the day, reading the body language of the national leadership, which centrally controls the national security architecture.

Meanwhile, a very real danger mounts that the country is taken over by non-state actors.

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

Y Buni

Like Buni, Like Alli obe State Governor and Chairman, Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, said recently that the plan of the ruling party was to be in power for 32 years. It wasn’t that Buni had something novel or alien to the

body polity.

On the contrary, his boasting had only brought to mind, a similar bragging by a former national chairman of the PDP, Ahmadu Alli, who had then proclaimed that the former ruling party was going to

be in power for 60 years.

Unfortunately, and contrary to Alli’s projection, PDP was only in power for 16 years with three presidents at different times. Thus, against this backdrop, a mathematical analysis of Buni’s proclamation by some Nigerians had given birth to a curious answer.

With a mischievous breakdown, which took PDP’s position into account, the result of the new calculation juxtaposed against Buni’s expectation is that the APC might not stay any longer than eight years.

Well, that’s not an inference for anyone to make but a position in the hands of fate. Fingers crossed!

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

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BRIEFINGNOTES Debating the Plea Bargain Option For Nigeria to fully embrace the plea bargain policy and consider it effective, government must include stringent conditions that would discourage potential looters, writes Alex Enumah

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n Tuesday, March 23, the Ministry of Justice organised a virtual roundtable to review the Draft Guidelines on Plea Bargaining for Federal Prosecutors. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN had at the meeting described the development of the Draft Guidelines as one of the strategic interventions by the Federal Ministry of Justice towards ensuring lasting reforms in the Criminal Justice Sector in Nigeria.

“You will recall that the purpose of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, as detailed in section 1(1) is to guarantee that the system of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria promotes the efficient management of criminal justice institutions; ensures speedy dispensation of justice, protects the society from crime; and protects the rights and interests of the suspect, the defendant and the victim”, he said.

The Minister, who was represented at the occasion by the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata, SAN, told the gathering that one of the major innovations of ACJA aimed at achieving these objectives is the introduction of plea bargain.

Quoting Section 494(1) of the ACJA, he described Plea Bargain as: “the process in criminal proceedings whereby the defendant and the prosecution work out a mutually acceptable disposition of the case, including the plea of the defendant to a lesser offence than that charged in the complaint or information and in conformity with other conditions imposed by the prosecution, in return for a lighter sentence than that of the higher charge subject to the court’s approval.”

The AGF went further to observe that effective deployment of the provisions of Plea Bargain would among others, enhance the recovery of the country’s stolen assets by public office holders, hence the need for an appropriate and effective guidelines for the prosecutors, who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that justice is meted out to criminals.

“As you are well aware, the Justice system in our nation is presently fraught with a lot of challenges, which prolong adjudication time and most times frustrate parties. The effective deployment of Plea Bargain provisions will therefore, reduce the financial cost of prosecutions, hasten trial process, eliminate uncertainty of trials, enhance the quick return of stolen assets, and generally, enhance the efficiency of the criminal justice system”, he said.

It is apt to state at this point that Plea Bargaining is not a new concept in Nigeria’s jurisprudence. It may be one of the major innovations of the ACJA, 2015, like the minister noted, Plea Bargaining however preceded 2015, as it was allegedly deployed to resolve some issues of corruption of some public office holders under the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

A lot of corrupt public office holders were said to have returned stolen public assets to the government under various agreement, which were not made public. It is therefore believed that those public office holders brought to the open for prosecution were those that the then president chose to embarrass.

Speaking on the issue, a senior lawyer, Mr. John Baiyeshea, SAN, said Plea bargain as a concept has both negative and positive effects. “The positive effect is that it saves time if the person accused of corruption (and they are so many in this Country), admits, and agrees to pay back the illicit money to the State.

“This will be done in exchange for promise by the State not to insist on maximum sentence/punishment for the accused upon conviction”, he said.

The senior lawyer went ahead to cite the case of Mrs. Cecelia Ibru accused of running down former Oceanic Bank. “She forfeited more than 40 properties and huge amount of money to the Government in exchange for light prison sentence. She eventually avoided going to jail.

“If plea bargain had not taken place, perhaps 10 years since 2008, she would probably still be in Court with Government

Malami trying to prove the case”, Baiyeshea noted.

On the other hand, he cited the case of former Abia State Governor, Senator Orji Kalu as an example of intractable and long years of prosecution. He lamented that after more than ten years of trial, the Supreme Court set aside Kalu’s conviction for a very technical reason.

“So, good as plea bargain may be, it can (and has indeed been like many Nigerian policies), despite its potentials for possibility of recovering so much looted fund, been subjected to gross abuse”, he said. Similarly, the policy has been queried by some for being too soft and liberal on looters and the big thieves of the people’s commonwealth. It is also believed that the policy allows looters to give back what belongs to the people, in a manner that suggests the looters are doing the Nation a favour.

Baiyeshea, therefore, argued that any policy that would allow thieves to keep part of the proceeds of corruption under the guise or disguise of plea bargain was immoral and ungodly and would encourage more people to steal.

“In the past, the plea bargain was abused in most obscene and condemnable manner. For instance, a former Governor of Edo State, was only given a paltry fine of N3m (no prison sentence), for humongous corruption relating to the funds of Edo State. In such situations, the person goes home to enjoy the loot while the Nation bleeds to ‘death’ in its economy”, he remarked.

The senior lawyer cum clergyman noted that a major reason for discussion on plea bargain was because the big thieves were able to manoeuvre the Nation’s entire legal system.

According to him, they have the fund to hire the lawyers to defend them. “In fact, when they steal, they steal enough to be able to afford legal fees no matter how high. And again the entire system succumbs to corruption in such a way that, convictions are so few, if at all.

“Some big thieves even go to the ridiculous extent of securing ‘abominable’ Court Orders to prevent them from ever being arrested or arraigned in Court for corruption. In other words, some courts ‘vaccinate’ them, to give them permanent immunity from arrest, investigation and prosecution for corruption.

“Meanwhile corruption in Nigeria has an endemic and pandemic nature like Covid-19. This is the only country in the whole wide world where such odium happens”, he added.

The senior lawyer, also observed that, it is against this backdrop of the nation not trusting its own judicial and legal systems that made the government to think of plea bargain, thereby, surrendering to the whims of the criminal cartel.

He, however, wants Nigeria to emulate order climes, where plea bargain is never a means to escape from Justice.

“Plea bargain can reduce your prison sentence like in the case of former President Trump’s Lawyer, Cohen. But you will taste jail/prison even if you release all the money stolen.

“I’m surprised they are just talking about guidelines for plea bargain. I was in a Committee (which worked with Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, of which Prof Sagay is chairman). And we completed work on it in 2016.

“Naming and shaming corrupt people will be the best thing to happen in anti corruption war in this Country. The present situation whereby corrupt people are hailed as if they are heroes and are rewarded with appointments and positions in/by government is most disturbing. This has reduced Nigeria to a laughing stock in the ‘Comity’ of civilised nations”, he added.

Mallam Ahmed Raji, SAN, on his part, shared a different opinion. He noted that Nigeria’s justice system is currently overwhelmed by a lot of factors hence the need for other measures of curtailing crime.

“There is no doubt the criminal justice system is overwhelmed by a number of factors. Resolving all infractions through the court system may not be a good option. It is more realistic and in the greater interest of the system to look for alternative solutions including plea bargain”, he said.

Raji believed that “ Naming and shaming” of people accused of corruption might not serve any useful purpose, adding that there was no provisions for such.

“Under what section of the Law do we have ‘naming and shaming’?” he queried, suggesting that the system should develop enough anti-abuse provisions to prevent most of the infractions. The senior lawyer also called for the tinkering of the current presidential system practised in Nigeria so as to give room for a modified parliamentary system with enough checks and balances with minimum costs.

“It will appear that in our climate, the presidential system is synonymous with executive impunity and unmitigated corruption with the bandwagon effects in all facets of our life”, he said.

While stating that Section 270 of the ACJA (2015) provides the general legal framework for the application of Plea Bargain, the minister expressed belief that this provision could also be effectively deployed to address compounding offences that feature in some statutes but without any procedural detail to aid its application.

“This lacuna is responsible for abuses in compounding of offences, which had strengthened the current public skepticism about plea bargaining in general. In spite of the laudable provisions of section 270 of the ACJA, there is no doubt that these provisions are inadequate to guide the prosecutor and the defendant in reaching a plea bargain that ensures the protection of public interest, the interest of justice and prevents abuse of legal process.

“This informed the development of the Draft Guidelines, which is before you for review. The Draft was developed by the Administration of Criminal Justice Reform Department in collaboration with Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (RoLAC) and other distinguished Experts,” he explained.

According to him, the purpose of the Draft Guidelines is to promote standardisation and consistency in Plea Bargain (including compounding of offences) by Federal Prosecutors as well as ensure that the principles of accountability, equity, integrity, and transparency are observed in reaching plea bargain agreements across board. He said the draft provides further support to the existing Code of Conduct and Prosecutorial Guidelines for Federal Prosecutors, which generally regulate the conducts and actions of Federal Prosecutors in the exercise of their prosecutorial discretion.

NOTES FOR FILE

Okunbo: Fate of the Just

Okunbo

The week that just ended seemed one of the best for billionaire businessman, Captain Wells Idahosa Okunbo. The report of a police investigation over alleged corruption against the retired pilot by Mr. Tunde Ayeni, a former chairman of Skye Bank Plc., which gave Okunbo a clean bill couldn’t have come at a better time.

Months ago, a petition by Ayeni had permeated the entire socio-political hemisphere, in which he alleged plans by Okunbo to sideline him after tricking him to sell his shares in the company they jointly owned as well as accusing him of corruption.

But Captain Hosa was very consistent and also convincing with his narrative. “Do you pay someone to keep their shares in your company or you buy their shares, when they offer?” he was quick to ask. Of course, that’s a no-brainer. Who pays anyone to keep his or her shares in his company?

Well, since patience is a virtue and Okunbo chose to partner that rare virtue and follow the law, his choice eventually paid off last week, when the police described Ayeni’s allegation as malicious, false and baseless. Indeed, the just shall live by faith and Hosa’s faith in the justice system didn’t fail him.

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CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

El-Rufai’s Unceasing Battle Against Banditry There’s a lot to take away from Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s stance on banditry in Kaduna State, writes John Shiklam

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here is no doubt that Kaduna State is getting a big dose of criminality from the rampaging bandits that are terrorising its residents.

Security operations are being conducted across the state, with helicopters often hovering in the air, but the criminals appear to be operating with daring intensity as they invade communities and schools – looting, killing and abducting residents for ransom.

Hardly does a day pass without cases of abductions or killings or destructions in communities. The worst affected areas are communities in Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Kajuru and Chikun Local Government Areas. Several villages have been sacked following the persistent raiding and burning of houses.

Kaduna shares boundaries with Zamfara, Katsina and Niger States, which are facing similar security challenges. The bandits are believed to have camps in the vast forests stretching across the three states and they operate freely across the states.

In many communities across Kaduna, farmers can no longer go to the farm for fear of being killed or abducted. Social and economic activities have been destroyed as a result of the reign of terror being unleashed on the people by bandits. And the situation has taken a different dimension following the recent targeting of schools by the hoodlums.

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, at about 11:30pm, the criminals invaded the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, located along the Kaduna airport road and abducted 39 students. The students were later seen in a viral video made by the criminals and shared on social media platforms.

In the video, the students were seen begging the government to come to their aid as the gun-wielding bandits were beating them. They students were still in captivity at the time of this report, while their traumatised parents have been protesting and pleading with the government to “act with dispatch to ensure the immediate and safe release of their children.”

Many of the students especially, the female students were barely covered while others were in their night wears, when the hoodlums came calling and in the confusion could not dress up.

They have been in captivity for over two weeks now, and since they appear on the video, nothing has been heard about them again. Their condition especially, the female students, could only be imagined.

Addressing a news conference in Kaduna on March 22, 2021, the parents said they were under excruciating pains and anxiety over the condition of their children.

Spokesman of the parents, Mr. Samuel Kambai, said since the abduction, parents had been having sleepless nights under excruciating pains and anxiety.

He lamented that the continuous silence of the government as well as the management of the school on efforts being made to rescue the students have further heightened the anxiety of the parents.

“We have called this press conference to address the world on the excruciatingly painful development surrounding the kidnap of 39 of our sons and daughters, students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna, Nigeria.

He said parents had thought that, “the government and the school authorities would swing into action and rescue the students,” lamenting that, since the incident, there had been no communication from the authorities.

“We have put our trust in the government and school authority to rescue the students in good time and safely, but that has not happened.

“Since the unfortunate incident happened, and we as parents have not received any positive message from either the school management, the Minister of Environment under whose ministry the school is or the Kaduna State government under whose territorial jurisdiction the school is located.

“Let us not forget that the students were taken in bad shape.

Some were barely covering themselves especially, the ladies.

This is a dangerous thing and should have made the government to act faster. We do not think enough is being done,” he stated.

Also speaking, Sani Friday, a parent of two of the abducted students, called on government to negotiate with the bandits.

Friday expressed the fear that the bandits might hurt the students, if government tries to use force to rescue them.

He recalled that about two years ago, “It is the same state government, which sometime ago told the entire Kaduna State that if it cost him paying bandits to stop killing the citizens of Kaduna state, he will pay them.

“One of the fears we have is if the government feels they can use force to bring out these children, it will be a disastrous move, because these bandits are well-armed”.

The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has been resolute on his decision not to negotiate with bandits, because according to him, bandits have challenged the sovereignty of Nigeria and must be wiped out.

El-Rufai, while receiving the 2020 security report at the Government House, Kaduna, on March 10, 2021, a day before the abduction of the students, declared that the state govern-

Some of the kidnapped students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation ment would never negotiate with the criminals.

“Banditry has severely impacted the rural economy and shaken the confidence of citizens. It has driven farmers from their land, putting food security at risk, displaced communities, stolen property and deprived people of their right to life.

“We must put a stop to these criminal acts and enable our people to live their lives in peace and safety. This is a most urgent task”, the governor had said.

He maintained that the state government’s stance on bandits, was unequivocal and consistent, insisting that, “bandits, cattle rustlers and armed militias must be degraded and decimated to a state of unconditional submission to constituted authority.

“We will neither negotiate with criminals of any description nor support any grant of amnesty. Criminal gangs, bandits, insurgents and ethno-religious militias made a conscious choice to challenge Nigeria’s sovereignty and menace our citizens. These criminals must be wiped out immediately and without hesitation.

“I am assured by the recent directive given to the federal security agencies to wipe out such gun-wielding criminals by the President”, the governor, said while receiving the 2020 security report, presented by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan.

The governor also re-emphasised this stance at an expanded security meeting with traditional rulers in Kaduna on March 16, 2021, when he said his job as governor was to enforce the law and help to prosecute people, who commit offences.

“We will not engage with bandits or kidnappers. Private citizens like clerics and clergymen can do so in their individual capacities to preach to them and ask them to repent. We also want them to repent but it is not our job to ask them to do so,” the statement quoted the governor as saying.

Many Nigerians are equally opposed to negotiating with the bandits and paying ransom for their criminality. They maintained that the criminals should be rounded up by security agencies and dealt with to put a stop these abductions and payment of ransoms.

But this is easier said than done especially, considering allegations of complicity by some bad eggs in the security forces that are said to be colluding with the criminals.

It is believed that the activities of these bad eggs that also benefit from the criminal activities of the bandits are seriously undermining efforts to fight the menace.

The students and their parents have suffered a lot of psychological trauma and as such government must take urgent steps to get the students out of the dungeon.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

CICERO/INTERVIEW

‘Our Nickname, Olowotabua, Has Proved Prophetic’ Prince Toyese Oyinlola, a Lagos-based businessman, is also a half brother to a former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The businessman, who turned 70 last Sunday, 21st March, spoke on his life’s journey – his ups and downs – and how he made it big in the business world. Excerpts:

H

Kwara. We were the first set and didn’t have any seniors in school then.

At the beginning, when we (myself and my mother) got to Koko, after the demise of my father, my mother maintained the Christian religion. But there was no church in the community. So, we did everything in the house, praying, doing service. On Sunday, my mother would lead the service preaching to me. My mother’s baptism name is Ruth. She was converted to Christianity by marriage. We kept ourselves like that.

So, her brothers, who were Muslims, told her that if anything happened to her like that, she would not go to al-Jannah (paradise) because there was no church and she was not going to the mosque to pray. She later agreed and was converted back to Islam. They sent her to Hajj. During this time, one of our senior brothers came to Koko to look for her and he eventually took her away and left me behind there in Koko.

While I was still in primary school, I had to join them in going to the mosque and I went for Quranic lessons. I can still read some verses of the Quran; I can pray in Arabic. I understand it a little bit but not too well. Later on, I had to turn back when I became independent on my own after finishing school. But before then, one day, I was at the Quranic School, and one of my late brothers - Olapade (we call him Onikoko) - came from Lagos to look for me.

You see, I had this Arabic teacher, who did not like me, because he knew I was a Christian and I was the most brilliant among his pupils. He didn’t like the idea that I, a Christian, was teaching those who were born Muslims the Quran. So, he always beat me like a dog. All the time, he was always beating me. So, this particular day when my brother came, my uncle told him to go and look for me at the Quranic School.

When he got there, he met the teacher beating me mercilessly as usual. My brother bust into tears and took me back to the shop. My uncle asked him why he was weeping. He told him that he met me, omo onile olona (a child of noble birth) being beaten by the Arabic teacher like a slave. That was the last day that I went for Quranic lessons.

ow do you feel at 70?

This is something that is awesome. I feel really good and I return all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turning 70 is not an easy thing. My mother had eight children for my father, but I am the only one who lived; others died at infancy. Indeed, I learnt that all the other wives had to rally round my mother for me to stay (live) too. Whenever they heard me cry, they all ran helter-skelter.

That is why till today, I recognise all the mothers in the house at that time as my mother. One has gone through so many challenges, so many ups and downs but God has been so faithful to keep one to this moment with lots of blessings – in good health, being able to sleep and eat, providing one with all one needs to grow in one’s life. I feel grateful with all gratitude to the Almighty God. You were nine years old when you lost your father, what was the experience like and what do you miss about him?

That was a turning point in our journey of life.

I can remember myself and my egbon, His Excellency (Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola) roaming about, enjoying ourselves as kids and we did everything together. Little did we know that baba would leave us so soon.

Baba left in 1960, when we were in primary school, and the real journey of life started. I had a rough journey. People from my mother’s side in Kwara State came and took me over to Kwara State, where I continued my primary education. In that moment, so many things happened. I went to Government Secondary School in Kwara State.

How did you become a businessman?

My mother’s family is predominantly Muslims.

They were all Muslims in the village and for me, somebody who came from the Christian side to Oyinlola survive there was a nightmare but I was lucky to adapt to the situation. They were all into business and trading. Education was not in their priority at all but they understood very well things about people going into business and becoming rich.

By the time I was in Form 3, I was already the managing director of their company. After class, I had to be at the office straight away. So, there was no chance for me to ask them for more than secondary school education, because what they believed in was trading, how to be rich.

They trained me on how to be a businessman, and they were very rich. I had to get some people to appeal to them to let me finish secondary school education. The only extra education I had was done there in their shop and in my office, where I had to apply to the Resource College in England for correspondence lessons.

At that time, we paid school fees through Standard Bank. I did salesmanship course and business management course and you

I remember he made one Ankara for us, which had printed on it: Olowotabua.

Olowotabua means a very rich man, someone with lots of money.The wife of one of our senior brothers would from that moment not call us by our names again. She started calling us Olowotabua.The woman is still alive.The name stuck on us and has proved prophetic to the glory of God

know you cannot get anything more than a Diploma. You see, when you trade with them (my guardians) for a long time, they allowed you to start on your own using the knowledge you have garnered. I then moved on and I started trading on my own.

After some years, I started what I will call real business as an importer. I started as an importer bringing in Iron-mould keys. It is used in doors, furniture and glass. From that moment, I started making my gains and everything started falling in place. That is how I became a businessman.

How did you become very successful at a very young age?

I was very young, when I started. I issued my very first one million naira cheque in 1975. I was not even married yet. I was 24 years old then.

You said you and former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola were very close right from childhood. Why was that? Your father had 64 children, why him, in particular, and why are you so close?

We had this pairing in the family and they paired us together.

Our older siblings were older than us by about two to two and a half years. He (former governor) came in February, I came in March 1951; so the two of us were naturally paired together. We are also older than those who came after us by about two years.

We had nobody in between us.

And during this period, our father did make the same type of dress for us, like twins. I remember he made one Ankara for us, which had printed on it: Olowotabua. Olowotabua means a very rich man, someone with lots of money. The wife of one of our senior brothers would from that moment not call us by our names again. She started calling us Olowotabua. The woman is still alive. The name stuck on us and has proved prophetic to the glory of God. The woman to this day is also called Iya Olowotabua (mother of rich men).

Your own mother is still alive?

Yes. Mama is still alive and she is about 100 years old. Sometimes you look at her and see someone that you won’t want to let go forever. What can one do?

Is it not surprising that you lived with her family in Ilorin but you did not become a Muslim?

I had my primary education at Ilumejo Community High School, Koko, Ilorin. We happened to be the first set in the school.

I met the session underway but they put me with the first set.

The same thing happened to me during my secondary education when late Gen. (David) Bamigboye was the military governor in

Why do people call you Toyestic?

Toyestic is the name of the first company I registered.

Chief Wole Olanipekun registered it for me when we were all operating in Ilorin in the 1970s. Chief Gboyega Awowolo later registered Makadam and some others for me. The two legal luminaries really helped to make me grow in business with their wise counsel. I thank them.

What was your immediate reaction when you learnt that your brother, Prince Olagunsoye had joined the Army?

I was scared.

Scared? Why? He was the closest person to me in the family and you wouldn’t want to lose anybody like that.

You are very close?

Yes. When we got married, we married ladies that knew each other; they were like friends. He did his own church marriage on July 1, 1978, and I did mine the following weekend, both in Lagos.

We later did the traditional marriage on the same day and it was reported as a marriage of twins.

Tell us about your businesses. What are you into now?

Our business lines cut across so many sectors of the economy.

The group as a whole has so many companies. PANAT Nigeria Ltd, which is the logistics and freighting company started with clearing and forwarding, shipping, inland freighting, sea freighting, air freighting and up till today, we are still one of the agents with the NNPC. Our operations are beyond Nigeria.

For instance, when apartheid collapsed and South Africa wanted to start trading with other countries, the first thing we did was to organise a trade fair here in Nigeria and we partnered the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce to which I happen to be a member.

With this, we agreed that some of the products, which South Africa brought to the exhibition be warehoused by us and eventually through that kind of an arrangement, Macadams Baking System was given birth to. The manufacturers decided that PANAT should be their Nigerian representative and since that time, and for several years now, Macadams has been the main manufacturer of baking and confectionery equipment in Nigeria.

We are known all over the country even in other countries like Ghana, South Africa etc. And that’s how we started out. And from there, we started Intertec Engineering Services. And then we started Safety Centre International, where we train people on safety-related matters on oilrigs and oil platforms, aviation and everything that has to do with safety. From there, our trading aspect came up. We later had new companies joining the group.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

77

CICERO/TRIBUTE

Tinubu: A Statesman at 69 Mobolaji Sanusi

“The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.” — Charles de Gaule(1890-1970).

I

t is not by human power but by the grace of Almighty God that in over two decades of the current democratic dispensation, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT), has become a puzzle that power brokers in the nation’s political firmament have found a hard row to hoe.

Tinubu, omo olodo ide, holds numerous important titles including the Jagaban of Borgu land, Asiwaju of Lagos and governor emeritus of Lagos State. Tomorrow (March 29, 2021), he will clock 69, but yet remains an enigma that keeps waxing stronger and escaping, in the process, the unceasing traps of his ever mounting socio-political traducers. This unfaltering torchbearer of progressive politics, looks set, to remain for a long time to come, a mystery that fake friends masquerading as his genuine allies, and confessed foes alike will try, albeit unsuccessfully, to unravel.

Tinubu, despite his unrivaled contemporary vilification by envious political gladiators and parasites, remains the most-soughtafter politician and perhaps, one of the few most significant of the progressive hue in modern-day Nigeria. The reality, even amongst those that hate to love Tinubu, is that he has become a veritable political brand that can be ignored at the peril of any noteworthy politician in the nation. Since 1999, when this new political experiment was born, Tinubu, like Awolowo achieved until his death in 1987, has been the main issue in our current democratic journey. When his political party was in the opposition until 2015, the concerns of previous governments was what will be Tinubu’s reactions to their Tinubu policies and actions: Now that his party controls the federal government, the concerns of those in government and also within the ruling political party’s topmost hierarchy is whether Tinubu is with them or how best they could tame his looming political image. Until he speaks on any issue of national significance, public opinion is not settled. That shows how purposefully powerful Tinubu has, so far, been to our body polity. The Asiwaju of Lagos has faced fears, betrayal and treachery but at the end of it all remain undaunted.

Today, in our political firmament, Tinubu has become a political brand whose name, most politicians deploy to win support at national and state levels during electioneering periods. The question to ask any aspiring politician seeking public office to determine his prospects or seriousness is: Have you been endorsed by Tinubu or not? That is how politically turbulent the Tinubu phenomenon is in today’s Nigeria.

This writer keeps observing how political ignoramuses deride him; the grovelers of centrist conservative elements impugn his character, but that is Tinubu, the enigma still standing like the rock of Gibraltar. No doubt, Tinubu has the skills of political liberation and he’s equally imbued with the power of intuition which makes him tower above adversaries. This man of unquantifiable knack for philanthropy has this uncanny nerve for discovering talent not minding the fact that most of these people turn out to stab him in the back.

But Tinubu, at sixty-nine, must ask himself a self reassessment question to wit: Could it be genuinely said that his created talents are discovering fresh beneficial talents or just using the platform he created for them to pursue their selfish agenda? It has become imperative for Asiwaju to start paying attention to how he handles back-stabbers and over-fed loyalists with diminished passion for what he stands for other than to continue to use his brand to extort, undermine and be envious of younger loyalists, creating avoidably in the process, more enemies for him.

Out of sheer envy for Tinubu’s result-oriented politi-

cal track record; his steadfast commitment to finding solutions to political challenges, most people that he helped to power later see him as serious threat to their ambitions to cling onto power.

Some, out of steep spite of his large-heart and enormous goodwill, will query his source of wealth: And simply because the man is doing what they cannot ever do or are not privileged to do since they are not in a position to do it, they harbour the ache in their bellies.

Some see him as being immoderate. But Benjamin Disraeli had an answer for the Tinubu-phobia when he said: ‘Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.’

There are empirical examples of Nigerians, irrespective of tribes and especially among the Yoruba, the man’s cradle, that have benefited immensely from his political and pecuniary largesse. But sadly, these same people still hypocritically relish speaking ill of him. Surprisingly, Tinubu relishes welcoming such backstabbers back to his fold. Most of us see this as a weakness but he sees that to be one sacrifice of greatness that he must pay. One can only hope that this inclination of taking back dangerous backstabbers would not turn to be his undoing later in life.

Whoever doubts Tinubu’s progressive credentials needs to embark on historical excursion. After not less than three failed attempts at the presidency, current president, General Muhamadu Buhari eventually clinched the coveted post in 2015 and 2019 respectively because of the invaluable support and political ingenuity of Tinubu. Former President Goodluck Jonathan, whatever reservation he might have for Tinubu will forever be secretly grateful for the irreplaceable support that Tinubu gave him in 2011. Also worthy of mention is the fact that at a time that the Yoruba states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti were falling to the gangsterism of dethroned People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2003 and 2007, it was only Asiwaju’s Lagos that stood to absorb the heat of conservatism before eventually launching,

single-handedly, the worthwhile battle that liberated the former western region but Ondo, from the grips of rampaging agents of feudal politics. Progressivism is indeed taking firm root in the country today because of the great political mind possessed

by Tinubu.

Despite the sleaze of political mudslinging by mostly beneficiaries of his political large-heartedness, Tinubu’s democratic scorecard remains very glittering and unassailable.

Tinubu is indeed and always politically determined to succeed. And it is this uncommon determination to be great and to politically liberate the people from the yoke of reactionary politics that compelled him to take with zeal, progressive politics, since year 2014’s merger of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with other opposition parties – far beyond the west and to all parts of the country. This gave birth to All Progressives Congress (APC) that today controls the seat of power in Abuja. The move at that time generated spite, covetousness as much as cynicism from those who always see impossibility rather than possibility in Tinubu’s laudable political initiatives.

The difference between Tinubu and the rest in the political arena is that he sees possibility where others predict doom. His often-talked-about political superiority complex does not mean haughtiness; although it might appear to be so in the eyes of the mischievous among politicians who want to see it so. Tinubu feels a higher esteem over the obstacles he desires to surmount and he is blessed with the rare courage of overcoming them, with enough energy reserved for any eventuality.

The positive roles of Tinubu in the successful political merger of the opposition parties; the outcome of the 2015 general elections in favour of then opposition and the fact that a precedent has been set that makes it impossible for a ruling party, especially at the centre, to take others for granted in the political space have become a burden of envy in the minds of most politicians that see Tinubu as a threat. Rejection of Tinubu’s political ingenuity is nothing but a deliberate creation of avoidable amphitheatre of perfidious hypocrisy.

Despite the sleaze of political mudslinging by mostly beneficiaries of his political large-heartedness, Tinubu’s democratic scorecard remains very glittering and unassailable. The current firm control of the centre by erstwhile opposition, hitherto considered as impossible, and the invaluable role played by the Jagaban of Borgu land in bringing it to fruition merely confirmed him as the definitive contemporary political leader of the progressives in the country.

Like Awolowo during his lifetime, Tinubu has, in contemporary Nigerian politics, become a thorn in the flesh of conservative/progressive politicians of less candour.

This unjustifiable kvetching syndrome by some of the current political elite class against Tinubu has become a catalyst that gives him more inspiration to surpass his present enviable feat. Tinubu must realize that this is not the time to rest on his oars. Things are really tough in the country and like the political magician that we know him to be, he should, once again, step forward and rescue this country from the current abyss of undesired change.

This writer, wholeheartedly wishes Asiwaju, the husband of adorable Senator Oluremi Tinubu, plenteous happy returns of your day in sound health and continuing political relevance. Happy birthday to you sir. And as the Yoruba would pray: Akanbi, omo olodo ide, “igba odun, odun kan.”

–Sanusi, a lawyer/Journalist, is the immediate past MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

FEATURE

Celebrating The Value of Water The BORBDA Way The Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA) Last Monday roll out the drums to mark the 2021 World Water Day when it commissioned various sources of water to its catchment states. Adibe Emenyonu, who witnessed the ceremony, captured all the excitement

O

n March 22 every year, the world celebrates World Water Day. The event, which has become a ritual globally, is commemorated to better appreciate water’s immeasurable value as a precious gift of nature.

The value of water is much more than its price. In other words, water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics, and the integrity of our natural environment.

Like the late Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti said in one of his evergreen songs, ‘Water No Get Enemy,’ water is used in our everyday living to cook, bathe, wash, farm, etc.

Therefore, this year ’s celebration with themed, ‘Valuing Water ’ was chosen to emphasise the importance of water not only on its economic value but its complexity for households such as food, culture, health, education, and the integration of our natural environment.

The celebration also calls for sober reflection on the need not to overlook any of these values; else, humanity risks mismanaging this finite, irreplaceable natural resource.

In commemoration of this year ’s event, the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA) decided to celebrate the day across its catchment states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti, and Ondo. It will include various activities like the inauguration of various water projects executed in the last year.

These projects are solar-powered boreholes at Ogbe Secondary School, Benin City, and Oghede-Ego Community in Ovia North-East local government area both in Edo State and a solar-powered borehole at Aule, Akure in Ondo State.

Others are installing the Central Pivotal Irrigation System (CPIS) at Ayede Dam, Ayede Ekiti, solar-powered borehole at Oketoro community, and Iyin Ekiti. Also inaugurated is the installation of a fish cage on Ogwashi-Uku Multipurpose Dam in Delta State.

Speaking during the inauguration of the projects, the Managing Director of Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority, Saliu Ahmed, said the facilities underscored some of the core mandates of the establishment which is to undertake comprehensive development of both surface and underground water resources for multipurpose uses; construction and maintenance of dams, dykes, wells, boreholes, irrigation, and drainage system.

Others, according to Ahmed, are to supply water from the BORBDA’s completed storage schemes to all users and construct, operate, and maintain infrastructural services such as roads, bridges linking project sites, etc.

He said part of the authority’s mandate, which is to provide water, motivated it to mark this special day in the world with communities across its catchment states.

He stated, “For us at the BORBDA, this event gives us another opportunity to reflect on our commitment to providing clean water and, in particular, make a note of the importance it plays with particular emphasis on its conservation and management.”

Besides, the BORBDA boss added that apart from the projects commissioned, the authority is currently constructing a dam to provide a water scheme for treatment and water supply to the Otuo community and environs in Edo; and to continue to maintain the Owena multipurpose dam in Ondo.

He said the essence of all this is to ensure an adequate supply of drinking water to the communities across and make all year-round farming

Engr. Saliu Ahmed, Managing Director, Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority

One of the solar powered boreholes constructed by the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority in Edo State possible on the farmlands around them.

“These water bodies have potentials for gaming and tourism, hospitality, power generation, aquaculture, and irrigation. From cooking to drinking, washing to farming, recreation to industrial use, water is the basic needed resource, and water is life.

Hon. Dennis Idahosa in caftan with face cap, flanked by the Ohen of Oghede-Ego Community, Edo State and some members of BORBDA Commissioned a solar powered borehole “Even the richest and wealthiest person, young and old, cannot live without water. We all need water, and together we must preserve it,” the BORBDA boss explained.

In his goodwill message at the occasion, the Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu, noted that the lack of potable water at home to over 2.1 billion people globally affected their health, education, and general well-being.

He said this year ’s World Water Day theme was apt and exceptional, “as it gives us another opportunity to reflect and reorientate our perspective about what water means to the people, its value, and how to better appreciate the immeasurable value of this precious gift of nature.”

He advised people to recognise the vital role water plays in their lives to appreciate its importance by avoiding wastage.

“As we commemorate this very auspicious day, we should recognise the immeasurable role water plays in our lives. We must contribute our quota to mitigate the global water crisis and reflect on how important it is to continue to ensure that someday soon, everyone can have access to clean water while conserving the natural resource.

“I enjoin every one of us to continue to take action to tackle the global crisis in different ways so that sources do not dry up or get compromised in any form before we learn its worth. We must conserve water usage, keep the tap closed when not in use, do not unnecessarily prolong bathing time, do not ignore water leaks, engage in rainwater harvesting, stop every act of water pollution. With this, we can make a difference,” he said.

The climax of the event was the inauguration of water projects which elicited excitement from the benefiting communities.

At Oghe-Ego Community, the Ohen of EghedeEgo, Pa Osaseren Osadolor, commended the management of BORBDA for constricting the borehole. He also thanked Dennis Idahosa, the lawmaker representing Ovia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, for attracting such a project to the community whose only source of water before the borehole was rainwater.

At Ayede Ekiti, the community head, Omoniyi Omonide, praised BORBDA and those who made the irrigation and solar-powered borehole project possible. “The community and its environs will not only have drinking water but can now farm all year round,” said Omonide.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ RCH 28, 2021

OPINION

Buba Marwa And The Bad Guys

Femi Adesina

N

ew things are happening at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and suddenly, there’s a throwback to the 1996-1999 Lagos State, when the then Colonel Mohammed Buba Marwa was military administrator.

Marwa took a broom, and swept Lagos almost clean. With Operation Sweep, criminals were given bloody noses, and sent scampering for cover. Roads, which had hitherto become craters, were suddenly fixed. Bitumen, which we had been told didn’t exist, miraculously materialized. Different aspects of life and livelihood were touched, and it became one big pleasure to live in the country’s commercial capital once again.

Now, another Operation Sweep is happening at the NDLEA. President Muhammadu Buhari has unleashed Buba Marwa on the agency, and the bad guys are screaming blue murder. Like a scythe going through wheat, he is just reaping a mighty harvest of hard drugs, the couriers, and some of the barons.

Within six weeks, what Marwa has done makes you proud of the President who appointed him, and of the man himself who remains ever a faithful and efficient steward. From places where he served, military governor under Ibrahim Babangida in Borno State, military administrator in Lagos under Sani Abacha, High Commissioner in South Africa under Umaru Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan, Marwa just reminds you of what Professor Ishaq Oloyede is doing at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) now, Hamid Ali at the Nigeria Customs Service, Hadiza Bala at the Nigerian Ports Authority, among others. Marwa is simply making conquests, and kindling the joy kiln in our hearts.

See strides in only about six weeks: over 60 billion naira worth of hard drug seizures, with the biggest being 233, 000 kg of cannabis in an Edo community. It’s the largest in the history of the agency.

Seizure of over N30 billion worth of cocaine at Lagos airport, N32 billion worth of cocaine at Tin Can port, 200kg of drugs seized at Lagos, Kano, and Abuja airports, and so on. To top it all, a drug baron, who had been evading arrest for ten years, is now in the net. Impressive.

Now, pause for a moment and think. Consider the nexus between hard drugs and criminality. Insurgents, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, ritual murderers, do all these heinous crimes under the influence of psychotropic substances. What if those humongous kilograms of drugs had melted into society, whether within or outside the country? Do you know the number of young men, whose lives would be destroyed, homes thrown into sorrow, families broken? May we have more of Marwas on the prowl, cleaning up society, and ridding it of vermin. Amen, somebody!

Marwa The retired military officer is not just chasing and dealing the bad guys a bad hand, he is equally retooling the agency within and outside. A committee has been set up to clear backlog of promotions. This would encourage the officers and men. A bi-monthly assessment is being done, and cash awards instituted for best NDLEA Commands, advocacy visits to other agencies of government, the media, and civil society groups, are taking place, and so on. Marwa is surely firing on all cylinders.

On our first official visit to the United States of America in 2015, I remember the then President Barack Obama saying President Buhari came to his assignment with a large dose of integrity and reputation. The same with Marwa. He came to the job well prepared. He had headed PACEDA, Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse, so he knew the enormity of the drug problem. He

had studied it, seen the havoc it wreaks on lives and society, so he came smoking. It was time to exact revenge on drugs and drug barons. No wonder he hit the ground running.

There’s nothing as good as having round pegs in round holes. The Oloyedes of JAMB, Hamid Ali of Customs, Hadiza Bala of NPA, Marwas of NDLEA, and many others. Nigeria has a surfeit of such. Just identify, and use them appropriately, as President Buhari is doing. And our country would make it. We would be proud, and give our best to the land.

I can only say to those bad guys dealing in drugs and destroying the fabric of society: Egungun be careful, na express you dey go. Shine your eyes well well. Buba Marwa is in town, lest you soon find yourself where you don’t like.

––Adesina is Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity

The Only Less Stable Countries than Nigeria are WarZones Joel Popoola

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he only less stable countries than Nigeria are warzones. Our increasing digital connectivity must become the cure of this instability, not its cause.

There are only 10 countries in the world judged to be more unstable than Nigeria.

Many of them – Syria and Yemen for example – are actual warzones.

It is in such an atmosphere of instability that misinformation can thrive.

In the past weeks, we have seen hundreds of Nigerians sharing online claims that the government has bought the major social network WhatsApp from Facebook for $7.3million in order to spy on us, and that the presidential residence Aso Rock has burned down.

I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but neither of those stories is true. The pictures purporting to show Aso Rock ablaze were in fact pictures of a market on fire in Ibadan, and Facebook is hardly likely to sell a company it bought for $22bn for $7.3m!

There was positive news for Nigeria however this week when the National Bureau of Statistics published figures showing that more Nigerians than ever have access to digital communications.

Mobile subscribers in Nigeria rose by almost 20m in 2020 – with digital connectivity in the South rising by 15.2% year-on-year.

On face value, these statistics show that Nigeria is making good progress towards becoming a modern digital nation, with all citizens able to take advantage of the educational, employment and engagement opportunities of the digital age.

But if these new users are receiving misleading or dangerous information on their devices it may only compound our political instability.

Voice and accountability is another international metric where Nigeria has a positive story to tell.

The international index for Voice and Accountability compares how citizens around the world perceive their freedom of expression, freedom of association, and a free media.

Nigeria is slowly but surely climbing up the rankings – we are still in the bottom half of the international league table, but we are undeniably heading in the right direction, with things a far cry from how they were in the days of military rule. We are currently ranked 121st. Twenty years ago, we were ranked 181st.

Increasing access to digital communications technology is a huge driver for this change. But we have to take steps to ensure that our increasing digital connectivity is the cure for political and social instability, not the cause or more.

At the digital democracy campaign I lead we are determined to harness mobile technology to build credible links between government and governed.

One of our projects is a free smartphone app called Rate Your Leader. Rate Your Leader allows direct person to person communication between verified electors and verified politicians, allowing direct communication and collaboration.

Not only does Rate Your Leader allow voters to raise issues directly with the people with the power to address them, it also allows local leaders to send important messages direct to the people who need to receive them.

Rate Your Leader also allows users to rate their local leader on accessibility, responsiveness and credibility,

allowing their friends, neighbours and peers to see at a glance that this is an information source that can be trusted.

Trust is important. There are those amongst us who deliberately share destabilising, damaging and dangerous information online because it aids their cause. They know how to grab our attention, and they know how to make their lives believable.

But they can only share this information from shady unverified sources. That is why it makes it so important that Nigerians know only to trust information from accounts who can prove that they are who they say they are and that have a legitimate reason to publish this information.

Nigerians know that recognised newspapers are – regardless of their politics – more rigorous and responsible in their reporting than random internet pages.

Now is the time to replicate that watermark of authority for social media accounts. Right now there is next to nothing stopping anyone of us setting up an apparently official account on a major social media platform and beginning to broadcast lies. Enough people believe those lies, it will threaten the entire social fabric of our nation.

At Rate Your Leader we are trying to address this issue by creating credible channels of communication between voters and elected leaders.

The digital age means more Nigerians then ever have a voice. This is a national success. Now we must take steps to ensure that that success does not lead to national failure.

––Joel Popoola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, digital democracy campaigner and creator of the Rate Your Leader app. You can reach Joel on Twitter @ JOPopoola

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

IMAGES

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t was a joyful moment for the families of Pastor James Bankole Adedoyin and Mr Muibi Sanni when they witnessed the tying of nautical cord between their children, Samuel Olaolu Adedoyin and Taiwo Kafayat Sanni at the Foursquare Gospel Church, Ire Akari, Oko Baale, Sango Otta, Ogun and the reception at Maridom Event Centre, recently. The photographs below show the personalities that graced the occasions.

Photographs: Akinyele Abayomi The couple Samuel Olaolu Adedoyin and his wife, Taiwo Kafayat Adedoyin

Groom’s parent Pastor James Bankole Adedoyin and his wife, Evang’ (Mrs) Eunice Olayinka Adedoyin

Bride’s parents Muibi Sanni and Ganiyat Kemi Sanni

L-R: Pastor Francis Eniola and District Overseer, Tomori District , Fourquare Church Nigeria, Rev. Mike Salaam

Rev. Kayode Daniel and his wife, Rev.(Mrs) Folashade Daniel

L-R: Pastor (Mrs) Fidelia Aire (representing Mummy G.O, RCCG, Pastor Mrs. Folu Adeboye) and Pastor Emmanuel Oluwatuyi

L-R: Princess Soetan Folashade and Otunba Funsho Owoyemi

L-R: Barrister Sam Biodun Eniayekan and Pator (Mrs) Bolanle Ajibade

L-R: Muhammed Mustapha and Chief (Mrs) Lola Amoran

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

IMAGES

Elder Yahaya Olufemi and his wife, Deaconess Beatrice

L-R: Elder Dapo Olasore and Prophetess Cicia Odeifa

L-R: Philip Ayeni and Ladun Olorunnaiya

L-R: Bereola Sola, Modupe Adelakun and Aremu Esther

L-R: Temidayo Oluyede, Biyi Oyekanmi and Obazine Charles

L-R: Chairman, Maridom Event Centre, Otunda Olaofe Oluwasisola, Monireti Fakayode and Afolake Iserhien

L-R: Lanre AbdulSalam and Alfa Semiu White

L-R: Esther Olayemi and Asiwaju Kayode Obafemi

L-R: Ajinihi Folasde,Victoria Olorunda and Mrs Sola Olorunda

L-R: Aghe Osaro and Omosalewa Afolabi

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MARCH 28, 2021 ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

with RenoOmokri THE ALTERNATIVE Garba Shehu: The Stomach Infrastructure Politician

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n the 23rd of December 2020, Garba Shehu falsely accused me of making money from my #FreeLeahSharibu campaign. That is a lie.

And I went on television to announce that if any individual, nation, foundation, institution, or church has given me even one penny to pursue the Free Leah Sharibu campaign that has taken me to 35 countries, they should speak

out and up.

I also repeated that challenge on social media, and I am now making it again on the print media.

Garba not only falsely accused me, he also insulted Leah, calling her an “unfortunate Christian girl”. It is sad that a Presidential spokesperson can show such obvious odium on a major religion. If Nigeria were a country founded on the rule of law and decency, Garba Shehu would have been forced to apologise and resign. But not so.

I have been the foremost campaigner for the release of Leah Sharibu, for which I have received awards in Hollywood and elsewhere for humanitarianism, yet, the government of Nigeria has sponsored many of their conscienceless minions to attack me.

The thing is that Garba Shehu is someone I know very, very well. I know him better than President Buhari does.

Garba’s office was two doors from mine when we worked at the Presidential Villa under then-President Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party government. He was a Special Assistant on Media, while I was Personal Assistant on Special Duties. I still have the paperwork in case Garba wants to deny it. I am a meticulous record keeper.

Garba was so paranoid when he wrote anti-Buhari propaganda that he would stand by his typist lest anyone read what he wrote before publication. I had one or two run-ins with him on that score.

In my opinion, Garba Shehu can sell his own father to secure a government post! And not just that, he is willing to tell any lie to maintain any position he is given. In my opinion, the man has no honour, and if you are locked in a room with a snake and Garba Shehu, leave the snake and face Garba.

It is impossible for me to respect men like Garba Shehu. They represent all that is wrong in Nigerian politics. Men without principles serving unprincipled principals. How can Nigeria ever make progress when we have men with such low morals at the helm? No wonder we are now the world headquarters for extreme poverty. Why would we not be, when we have such poverty of morals in Aso Rock?

Not surprisingly, those who knew him before he sold his soul to satan, like Professor Farook Kperogi, who was once his student at Bayero University, Kano, have written about their

Shehu disappointment at his transformation from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde.

Why has Garba done this to himself? With his pedigree, it is not as if he needs that job. I have been there before. And I make by far more money after being a Presidential spokesman, than when I was spox.

If it is about influence, how much influence does Garba Shehu have? From what I gather, he has become a glorified errand boy of Sabiu Tunde Yusuf, Buhari’s nephew who is old enough to be Garba Shehu’s son (Garba will be 59 this year).

It is almost as if Garba lost his worth because he never knew his worth in the first place.

Garba should have learnt the wisdom of not going back to less, just because you are too impatient to wait for more.

It may be that Garba does not know how well I know him. Let me give him a clue. My late father, Justice Jean Omokri, was the Director of Public Prosecution in Sokoto in 1982, and the entire family used to watch a brilliant young broadcaster on TV. I was just 8.

You can imagine the huge sense of disappointment I feel at the age of 47 to now watch that same broadcaster transform to a broad liar. Do you doubt me? Okay, find below a list of Garba Shehu’s more shame-inspiring lies: 1. Only 10 #KankaraStudents were abducted (over 330 were abducted) 2. Rats drove Buhari from his office (actually, Buhari was sick) 3. Buhari has created 12 million jobs (even the NBS refuted this) 4. Nigeria is now the second-largest rice grower in the world (we are not even in the top 10)

THE PUBLIC SPHERE with Chido Nwakanma

5. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Oby Ezekwesili influenced Transparency International to rate Nigeria low on corruption (TI refuted this lie) 6. Buhari has defeated Boko Haram (you be the judge of this statement) 7. Pastor Yemi Osinbajo’s aides were sacked to cut government costs (the aides were being paid by international donor agencies and not by the government) I mean, Nigerian editors should be embarrassed that this fellow was once the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. Look at his infantile lies, some of which can be busted by a primary one pupil. All of this just because you want to be a Presidential spokesman to a President whose wife is so ashamed of him that she voted with her feet and went to Dubai for six months, rather than be in the same house as a President who inherited an unemployment rate of 9% and has improved it to 33.2%?

The saddest part of the Garba Shehu tragicomedy, is that Garba Shehu thinks he has climbed up in life. Oh Garba! Who has bewitched you? Even your children may have to change their last names to avoid any connection with you when this regime from hell finally burns itself out.

Garba has allowed greed for money and power eats away at his integrity. I will give a perfect example. Garba is working for Buhari, yet Buhari’s wife and children regard him as a lap dog of the unelected cabal around Buhari.

Not able to hide her disdain for Garba, Mrs. Buhari said, “In saner climes, Garba Shehu would have resigned immediately.”

That is how little the First Family think of you, and they got to see you everyday, until they voted with their feet.

I worked for President Jonathan for four years, and I am held in high esteem by my former boss, his wife and children. Can Garba say the same?

He is held in so little regard at Aso Rock that he was once bounced at the Villa gate (Garba am I lying?). Let me assure people like Garba that I may not be able to say with confidence what they think in their minds, but I am able to know who they meet, and their schedule. I worked at the Presidential Villa for a total of six years (two years under President Obasanjo, and four years under President Jonathan, and I am very generous by nature. That combination wins you friends).

The pedestrian level to which Garba has fallen is really a cautionary tale to people who think that power is a be-all and end-all. No it is not! Power is just a platform. It is visibility. It does not give you influence per se. Rather, it gives you the pedestal to either expand whatever influence you already have, or to lose it entirely. And it would appear that the latter has been the case for Garba Shehu.

Read the full article online www.thisdaylive.com

@ChidoNigeria https://www.facebook.com/chido.nwakanma

Nigerian Advertising and the Biodun Shobanjo Years

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dvertising and the business undergirding it stand at an inflection point globally. The changes have also manifested in Nigeria.

The notion of the full-service agency as the producer and distributor of advertising messages through the media has taken a beating from the workings of the Internet and the barriers that it broke down.

So much has changed, yet fundamentals remain. The mass audience seems to have given way to the interactive media user, which may range from one person to several groups.

There is still a need, however, to produce persuasive messages, whether for multiple online groups or for the remaining mass in the broadcast or online platforms.

This is the backdrop for the launch of a book that captures the challenges and thrills of advertising as practiced by Biodun Shobanjo of the eponymous Insight Communications. Insight rose in 20 years to the foremost position in the Nigerian advertising firmament. It is therefore worthy of several studies.

Dotun Adekanmbi(2019), The Will To Win: The Story of Biodun Shobanjo. Lagos: Havillah Books/Strategic PR Wox. 542pp tells the career history of Biodun Shobanjo, co-founder and boss of Insight Communications/Troyka Group and a larger-than-life personality in Nigeria’s marketing communications industry.

There are many interfaces and points of convergence between Shobanjo’s career and the evolution of Nigerian advertising. It is the first point of interest in the book. Yet Dotun Adekanmbi attempted a distinction without a difference in The Will To Win: The Story of Biodun Shobanjo. He set out not to write a book on advertising but “a career biography, one that attempts to capture his perspective to explain his dream and its realisation”.

Because Biodun Shobanjo played significant roles in Nigerian advertising and marketing communication, ninety per cent of The Will To Win dwells on advertising. It covers Shobanjo’s sojourn and exit from Grant Advertising, Insight Communication’s birth, Insight’s business trajectory from

start-up through early years to growth and dominance.

You will read about Shobanjo’s background and early life, his early career in broadcasting that exposed him to one strand of the disciplines that would count in his career in advertising and his qualification as a UK-certified public relations professional through correspondence. That alone debunks the myth of a man with no formal education who then rose to the zenith of his business.

You share Shobanjo’s battles and his experiences with AAPN and AAAN; the media debt challenge; the fights over affiliation.

The journey to the book took 15 years and many exciting turns. Biodun Shobanjo challenged Dotun Adekanmbi to show proof ab initio of the necessity for a biography. The author then carried out a survey wherein respondents listed Shobanjo in the Top 5 of persons whose biographies they would love to read.

There were other tests in this collaborative endeavour between the biographer and his focal person. Their mutual understanding produced a book chockful of information, anecdotes, and insights.

The time and place dimensions enriched this biography. It is comprehensive and provides rich insights into various aspects of Nigerian advertising. Journalism posits that a rounded story covers the five Ws and the H. The Ws are Who, What, Where, When and Why. The H is How. Dotun Adekanmbi tackles the five Ws of Shobanjo’s involvement and exploits in advertising.

Significance is at the heart of biographies. It is the litmus test.

Good biographies seek answers to these questions: What is the significance of this person’s life? How did he or she change the world? What would happen if this person never existed? What is unique about what they did or made?

What did Biodun Shobanjo contribute and change in Nigerian advertising? The Will To Win does an excellent job of providing perspectives and insights. Some of the contributions of Insight/Troyka Group that Shobanjo led include at least 13 areas. Some of these are creativity and excitement; mutual respect between an agency and its clients; recognition of the limits of advertising. Shobanjo says, “Advertising helps a rolling ball roll faster, but it cannot get a ball to roll uphill”. Others are

creativity in media buying; explicit agreement on deliverables between agency and client, flamboyance and an orientation for high standards and quality: “Selling on Quality, Not on Price”. Insight recognized that advertising and IMC generally are knowledge businesses and emphasized recruitment of high quality human capital.

The Will To Win is a primer on management and entrepreneurship. There are lessons in management style, structures, HR, partnerships, competition, business, and personal relationships. Partnerships are common in the service industry.

Shobanjo shares guidance on partnerships: spell out all the terms of engagement in writing; avoid mixing friendship and business; understand the attitude of all partners to money; recognise the God factor.

Dotun Adekanmbi has written a success manual that walks the reader through the labyrinths of the advertising business.

As indicated, Adekanmbi does not treat the How of Insight’s advertising by design. However, the book gives enough pointers for another book on How To Create Advertising The Insight Way. It does this by mentioning across the book the many successful campaigns of the multiple award-winning firm.

The Will To Win is an ambitious book. The author struggles in some areas between writing a biography and a hagiography.

It is a thin line that he successfully skirts in the end. There are too many styles, from the New Journalism of elaborate scene-setting to the narrative and analysis.

The Will To Win deserves a place on the shelf of professionals in marketing communication, management and business studies. Following the breakdown of mass communication into seven disciplines, including advertising, books such as The Will To Win will provide case studies, particularly for graduate students.

It is serendipitous that another industry veteran, Lolu Akinwunmi, also released a corporate history cum autobiography (Lolu Akinwunmi (2020), Skin For Skin: The Prima Garnet Story. Lagos: Heritek Support Services. The books enrich the literature in the field.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 28, 2021

with ChidiAmuta e-mail:chidi.amuta@gmail.com

ENGAGEMENTS

Saving Our Imperfect Union

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spectre of strategic instability stares Nigeria in the face. It is not coming from jusst the rhetoric of politicians or the drama of the new breed of ethnic thugs and populist demagogues. We are familiar with noisy threats to Nigeria’s unity as a mode of political expression. Nigerians as a public are distinguishable by our noisy arguments about practically every subject.

Our political discourse is even worse; it is a theatre of menacing cacophony. Our politicians seek concessions by exchanging abuses in the day and caucusing over patronage and money at night.

That does hurt so much.

The ultimate real existential threat to Nigeria’s existence is coming from a convergence of bad things. What makes this moment more frightening is that we are faced with a rare cocktail of factors which would normally threaten the existence of any nation. There is a monumental insecurity the type and scope of which we have never seen before. A combination of a virtual oil market collapse and a global pandemic has literally wrecked an economy that has always been based on rents, commissions and sustained by syndicates of organized crime. To worsen this combination, the business of state appears to be in the hands of a chaotic and antiquated deep state cabal led by a practically absent sovereign. The national parliament, which should provide a bulwark of control and impetus to the errant executive, has itself degenerated into a conclave of infamy.

But the critical factor remains the vortex of insecurity across the country. It has become part of the language of daily living to talk of kidnappings, abductions and brazen armed robbery to the extent that people no longer get shocked at such bad news.

Government and its support cast of politicians have diluted the import of the current insecurity discourse by generalizing on it and proceeding therefrom to see general insecurity as the threat to national survival. Yes, the insecurity is bad news but we can help the security agencies by increasing the general understanding on the matter.

It will not help to put the insecurity into one basket. There are two broad levels and categories. The lethal insecurity which is an existential threat to the survival of the Nigerian state comprises of armed insurrection of the sort that is a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the country. In this category are things like the long standing Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, the rise of banditry in parts of the North West and North Central and the widespread dispersal of herdsmen wielding military grade assault weapons across all parts of the country. These are direct armed challenges to the sovereign pre eminence of the Nigerian state and its corporate existence.

These forms of insecurity require a stiff military reassertion of the territorial integrity and sovereign control of the nation. The clear and present danger that these forms of insecurity could lead to a catastrophic collapse of the state is evident. In most cases, the armed forces have proved incapable of liquidating these threats. In fact, some of these elements like Boko Haram and the new bandit gangs have occasionally outgunned the forces of the state to the point where only humiliating negotiations and silly compromises are the only options left for government to maintain its remaining credibility and tenuous control.

The deep strategic danger of these forms of insecurity is the recent revelation that there may have developed an unholy synergy and collaboration among them. In the recent mass abductions of the Kankara boys, for instance, no sooner had the boys been abducted than Boko Haram took responsibility for their plight and released photographs of their militants with the abducted boys. In other cases, people who were kidnapped by free lance bandits have ended up being handed over to Boko Haram. No one has been able to reveal the sources of the sophisticated weapons in the hands of criminal herdsmen all over the country in relation to either franchise banditry or Boko Haram or both. In nations where this form of insecurity is rampant, the stability and sovereign existence of the state is frequently challenged to the extent that either the state perennially totters at the brinks of failure or accepts categorization as a dangerous place. In this category, we have Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Mali and even Syria.

The second form of insecurity consists of acts of criminality either by lone wolves or organized crime syndicates. These range from transactional kidnapping, armed robbery, cyber crimes, narcotics trafficking, rape, cultism and urban gangsterism. This category belongs in the common run of criminal infractions which feature when economic, social conditions and crass materialism plus greed tempt errant citizens into criminal acts.

These are direct challenges to the police whose responsibility it is to fight crime and use the criminal justice system to bring criminals to book and ensure the security of law abiding citizens.

These sporadic criminal acts are a feature of even the most secure nations. They never in and of themselves constitute a threat to national sovereignty or challenge the defensive capacity of the state. For instance, a nation like Mexico is wracked by some of the most sophisticated and vicious organized crime syndicates in the world. But this fact has never put the sovereignty and existence of Mexico to question. Nor would the rash of daily gang shootouts in New York City cause the National Security Council in Washington to scramble tanks and jets to defend America!

A citizenry confronted by both categories of insecurity and who wake up daily to a barrage of bad news from all forms of insecurity may not have the luxury of distinguishing between ordinary crimes and sovereign assaults. As far as ordinary

Buhari people are concerned, the world around them is collapsing and Armageddon is not very far off. As a consequence, fear of widespread physical insecurity has bred the most far-reaching and widespread form of insecurity among Nigerians. This is an insecurity of faith and a crisis of belief. Wracked from all directions by the perennial fear of imminent injury or death in the hands of kidnappers, herdsmen, robbers etc., most Nigerians have fled to the comforting embrace of religion. Even in this place of ultimate peace of mind, the agents of violence have infused their crusades with elements of sectarian division. Boko Haram terrorists and their bandit franchises no longer disguise their sectarian preferences or religious affiliations. While Shekau and his rampaging Boko Haram jihadists have never disguised their fundamentalist zealotry, prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi has since assumed virtual ownership of the entire national bandit industry.

He negotiates ransom pay outs on their behalf, is advocating for paid amnesty for them and succeeds in communicating with them where officials of state cannot.

In this crisis of faith, the Christian faction of the national faith industry have little confidence in the state and fall back on agencies of organized religion like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to press their interests.

In situations where organized religion and the dominant faiths offer little or no sanctuary for a frightened populace, the natural recourse ought to be the government and the state. Sadly, the Nigerian state has hardly ever been there for the people to entrust their faith in. As a result, the citizenry like a flock in a thunderstorm seek protection in the warm embrace of ancient and primordial loyalties. The tribe, the ethnicity and the moribund regions have come back alive.

This is where we are now. In the last few weeks, something new and frightening has come to town. The threats to national unity have been hijacked by mob leaders and populist demagogues.

They are all deriving their strength from ethnic, regional and sectional backdrops. Elected governors look on in utter helplessness and hopelessness.

With neither verifiable education nor refinement, neither partisan affiliation nor structured political followership, rough ethnic and sectional stalwarts have taken over the high ground of national trouble making. Dangerous ethnic and religious mob energizers are waxing unchallenged. The new gangs are led by a rare combination of illiterate thugs and mob contractors. In the South West, an emerging ethnic solidarity front led by one Sunday Igboho with a background support cast of a Ganiyu Adams and throngs of tribal mobs has declared the imminence of something called Oduduwa Republic. Advocates, devotees and fanatical followers are growing both within and among diaspora Nigerians. Some diaspora Yorubas posted themselves on the internet shredding and cutting up their Nigerian passports!

In the South East, the collective sad memory of the Igbo nation has been exploited to resurrect, declare and re-declare the return of the defunct Republic of Biafra. For years now, an unproductive separatist movement (IPOB) led by one Nnamdi Kanu, a man of doubtful means and uncertain qualifications, has hijacked the tragic memory of Biafra as an enterprise of sorts. People with neither pedigree nor education have been propelled into public notice and unexpected wealth by mouthing the name of Biafra.

In a curious recent development, Mr. Asari Dokubo of Niger Delta militancy fame emerged from unemployed anonymity to announce himself as the new leader of the same ‘Biafra’ in an obviously sponsored mischievous machination to bunt the bite of IPOB and sow further confuse.

In the Northern precincts, two formations have emerged. Mr. Shekau, an incoherent and confused zealot and his patented Boko Harem has been leading a religious insurgency aimed at carving out a Caliphate from the North East of Nigeria. Of late, a riot of bandit gangs operating mostly in the North West has spread mayhem and mounted bloody campaigns, freely abducting and kidnapping school kids, on an industrial scale. They have added farmers, local chiefs and innocent citizens to their human

trove. Suddenly, Sheikh Gumi, a religious chieftain has emerged not just as the spokesperson of the bandits but also as a powerful mediator between the government and the bandits in negotiated deals to free the more embarrassing school abductees. As things stand now, we have a national formation of undertakers jostling for the carcass of a failing Nigeria state: Sunday Igboho (South West), Nnamdi Kanu (South East), Asari Dokubo (South South), Abubakar Shekau (North East), Sheikh Gumi (North west) and Miyetti Allah (Nationwide)!

It is easy to dismiss the threat of unschooled thugs and mob merchants in matters of national security. But in the history of nations, persons of murky background and lowly nurture have been known to plunge nations into anarchy, bloody wars and costly insurrections. Master Sergeant Samuel Doe was an inconsequential illiterate subaltern in the Liberian army. He capitalized on public boredom and disquiet in the country to topple President William Tolbert and move into the Presidential Mansion in Monrovia. That opportunistic act of unschooled rascality plunged Liberia into decades of instability and bloody civil war. The sophisticated society of privileged onlookers, the professors, judges, journalists etc. ended up fleeing into exile as refugees in far flung places like Nigeria where the Liberian elite were seen queuing up for food rations in refugee camps.

Idi Amin Dada was an illiterate Ugandan soldier. He managed to topple the government of Milton Obote and initiated a reign of terror. Uganda was plunged into unparalleled anarchy. The economy was wrecked. Hitler, too, was not exactly your ideal of the elite German soldier. He was a man of modest education and initial lowly rank who however carefully studied the political divide in the Germany of his time. He rose through the ranks to the summit of his party. The rest is history and the whole world has not quite forgotten the aftermath of Nazi Germany. Similarly, when the Arab spring dislodged the authoritarian Ghaddfi regime in Libya, it was inconsequential mob militia leaders who massed up in Tripoli and Benghazi to carve up Libya into hellish fiefdoms leading to the failed state that we have today.

The threat in the rise populist thugs and demagogues is worsened by the unenlightened nature of present day Nigerian society. We live in a Nigeria where the majority of the populace is still steeped in superstition and superficiality. This is a world in which the next ethnic group is the enemy, the rival faith is scheming to forcibly convert everybody else into their fold, and the neighbor next door has deployed juju to hijack your good luck. The populist demagogue and motor park thug leader who shouts abuses at authority is mistaken for a God sent liberator of the masses.

The rise of these populist mob entrepreneurs is a dangerous reversal of whatever progress had been made in enlightened leadership in the past. A progressive region like the South West that had given Nigeria outstanding leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, S.LAkintola, Olusegun Obasanjo, M.K.O Abiola, Wole Soyinka, Ernest Shonekan, Bola Tinubu., is now being escorted into anarchy by a Sunday Igboho accompanied by a Ganiyu Adams. In the South East, the land of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Akanu Ibiam, Michael Okpara, Louis Mbanefo, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Alex Ekwueme and the like is now cowing to the adolescent thuggishness of an Nnamdi Kanu.

Therefore, for the challenge of nation building and fostering national unity, these are the worst of times as well as the best of moments. It is the worst of times because never before in the over 50 years of post civil war peace time Nigeria have we witnessed such colossal insecurity and abysmal failure in the capacity of the state to rein in the forces of violence and anarchy. Yet it is also the best of times, a historic opportunity to walk back from the precipice and build a better place for our children.

For those who are excited about the prospect of Nigeria’s possible demise, I have bad news. Large federations like Nigeria do not split nicely. The bad news does not end there. The naive optimism that bad things may not happen here cannot in itself save us from a destruction we are working so hard to bring upon ourselves. There is even worse news for those waiting to harvest the benefits of successor states to a failed Nigeria. There will be neither sleep nor rest in any piece sliced off the Nigerian paternity.

There will be countless border wars, resource wars, wars over access to the sea, clashes over the assets of a Nigeria that dies under the watchful eyes of a disinterested United Nations. There will be endless troubles from itinerant and stateless armed gangs, private armies, unhinged militias, vigilantes and forces of darkness clashing over nothing except the carcass of a dismembered dream.

If therefore question comes down to whether we should save Nigeria or allow it to self-destruct, my position is a clear unambiguous reaffirmation of the sanctity of our union with all its imperfections. We must save Nigeria at all costs. We must preserve its unity by every means possible. From that convergence and the consensus that we need to urgently build around it, we can have any number of options and allow any decibel of noisy controversy about the future.

We can convene large conferences about a desirable structure of our union. We can mount endless partisan campaigns about the best mode of governance. We can disagree with facts on the desirable direction of Nigeria’s development going forward. People can mount the rostrum to pontificate on the scope of justice for individuals and groups of Nigerians. But it is too late in human history to subject our children to learning how to draw new maps, learn new anthems and fly new flags. By no means must we as elite subject our hapless citizens to the dire consequences of costly state failure and national meltdown.

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MA ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

INTERNATIONAL Insecurity and Self-determination: Is War on Igboho, Kalu and Dokubo a Solution to Nigeria’s Problem?

S

unday Igboho is not on record to have any movement beyond his resolution to stop what he believes to be a Fulani herdsmen aggression on the law-abiding Yoruba people. He is from the South-west. Nnamdi Kalu is leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He is from the South East. Mujahid Asari-Dokubo is from the South-South. He created a new anti-Nigeria group about a fortnight ago. What is common to the three leaders is their frustration with the political governance of Nigeria. The frustration is to the extent that they now want to liberate their people or carve out their territorial boundaries out of the corporate existence of Nigeria as it currently exists.

In reaction to this, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Ibrahim Attahiru, was reported to have declared ‘war on Igboho, Kalu and Dokubo.’ As reported by Tony John, the Army Chief told them as follows: ‘we’re coming for you.’ Again, in the specific words of the Army Chief, ‘the Nigerian Army under my leadership would remain proactive and jointly work with other security agencies to decisively deal with threats facing the nation. The Nigerian army under my watch remains resolute and is poised, more than ever before, to decisively deal with individual or groups that threaten the peace, security and stability of our great nation’ (vide Daily Sun, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, pp.1&6).

The statement of the Army Chief may not be simply seen as an expression of any jot of braggadocio. The Army Chief may mean well and may also have a seriousness of purpose. However, there is the need to ask if Nigeria’s problem is Sunday Igboho or Nnamdi Kalu or Mujahid Asari-Dokubo? It is also useful to ask whether declaring war on them individually or collectively is a good solution to Nigeria’s problem? What really is Nigeria’s problem?

Nigeria’s problem is profound, accidental and self-inflicted.

Nigeria’s profound problem is Nigeria. Her accidental problem is environmental-driven. The self-inflicted problem is attitudinal.

Nigerians like untruth. Nigerian politicians are at best, sycophantic. Nigeria appears to be the only country where untruth is worshipped and honoured and where intellectual energy and resources are always deployed to defend inequity, injustice and oppression. This is why the reported declaration of war on Igboho, Kalu and Asari-Dokubo is nothing more than a poor evaluation of the criticality of Nigeria’s main problem.

The Problem: Insecurity and Self-determination As noted above, Nigeria is the problem of Nigeria, which, in the eyes of many, is simply a geographical expression. In other words, Nigeria is not seen as a nation-state. And true, Nigeria cannot be developed into a nation-state because of another sub-problem: the erroneous belief that the Fulani owns Nigeria, or that they have sovereignty over Nigeria, and therefore, the need for Fulanisation.

Without scintilla of doubt, the Fulani is apparently believed to be treated as another God of Nigeria and given unnecessary preferential treatment in the governance of Nigeria, especially under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB). Many are the press reports according to which security agents refuse to act whenever the subjects of complaint are Fulani. This has raised much anger in the polity as at today.

More important is another belief that the Nigeria bargained for before her independence in 1960 is not what is being nurtured today. The independence leaders agreed on a true federal system.

And most important is the issue of the 1999 Constitution which many observers see as a major source of national misunderstanding, and therefore, should be jettisoned for various reasons. From the perspectives of the #end1999Constitution, Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution frees government from liability regarding citizen rights provided in Chapter 2, thus making these rights not justiceable. The Constitution was neither signed into law by the National Assembly or by the president, nor subjected to a referendum in order to legitimise it through people’s involvement.

The 1999 Constitution was written by a select few Nigerians and, therefore, seen by the people as a constitutional fraud. The 1999 Constitution, as further noted by #end 1999constitution, does not enable State Constitutions to create a true federation. Besides, it was not only kept a secret till after all inauguration activities in 1999, but also not printed by Government Printers in 1999. It only provides for one religion, Islam, in Sections 275-279 and neglects all other

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Major-General Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff religions, which gives the wrong impression that Nigeria has a state religion.

Thanks to the 1999 Constitution, political governance in Nigeria is unnecessarily over-centralised. The whole judiciary is centralised. The National Assembly is given power over concurrent items.

The Constitution also created a unitary government and not a federal government. And perhaps more disturbingly, it allegedly and falsely claims that Nigerians willingly handed over their lands and resources to the Federal government, thus pauperising the States and Nigerians.

Additionally, Sections 275-279 negate Section 10 on non-state religion. On the basis of the Constitution, State governors are the Chief Security Officers of their States, but the Constitution does not empower them with security outfits or power over the Nigerian Police. In the same vein, a civilian government can hardly meet Section 8 requirements for the creation of new States and Local Governments.

And funnily enough, the Constitution regards married girls below 18 years of age as adults who can sue and be sued, vote and be voted for. The inclusion of the military land use decree and NYSC decree (later Act) in the Constitution necessarily makes it very difficult to amend. The provision for only one police force, unlike in other federations, cannot but be a source of political suspicions. Section 6 of the Constitution frees Government from liability regarding citizens rights provided in Chapter 2, thus making the rights not justiceable.

Apart from constitutional problems, there is a video that has gone viral, showing that there is gold in Yoruba land, specifically in Ibadan, Oyo State. The gold is being secretly mined by the Fulani to the knowledge of ‘Fulani Government... The gold in Zamfara State is being mined by the local people while the mining of gold in the South West is by the Fulani. The video claims that the State government does not know much about this development. Whether or not the video is credible, viewers are already made to be hostile, not only to the Fulani, but particularly to a united Nigeria.

The foregoing constitute the ingredients of Nigeria’s problem, which is being manifested in the form of national insecurity and people’s agitation for self-determination. This is how Nigeria has

The 1999 Constitution is a major reason for theYoruba grievance.The visible protection of the Fulani under PMB to the detriment of other ethnic groups,and particularly the horrible and heartless killing ofYoruba people in their own homes, on public roads, on their own land, on their own farms and the mistreatment ofYoruba surely hardened their decision to call it to thy tents O Israel.Thus,the reported declaration of war by the Army Chief of Staff on Sunday Igboho, Nnamdi Kalu and Asari-Dokubo is completely playing to the gallery and not addressing the issues at stake. The bitter truth about Nigeria’s first civil war is that it has not ended.What ended on January 12,1970 with the surrender of Phillip Effiong was the battle and not the war.General Gowon only won the battle while the war only changed its form as from 1970.The 1999 Constitution is fraudulent in design,treasonable in content and centrifugal in application. If the Constitution is in itself a treason, any opposition to it cannot be treasonable but legitimate.This is why any attack and aggression on any community seeking to exit Nigeria by peaceful means will also have the entire global community to contend with, because selfdetermination is a right in international law and relations. PMB needs to see more clearly

become a problem unto herself, how national unity has been seriously threatened to the extent of irreversibility. The fundamental question being raised by the generality of the people is this: why is it that PMB is handling the problem with kid gloves? Why is he unwilling to accept national restructuring in order to douse the national tension, and by so doing, enhancing effectiveness in governance and peace and security through national cohesion?

The governance of Nigeria under PMB is that of political chicanery per excellence and has had Nigeria’s international image seriously tainted.

Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, was quoted as saying that ‘the world will never respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect. The black people of the world are looking up to Nigeria to be a source of pride and confidence. Every Nigerian citizen should be made to understand this.’ The concerns of the current Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo Dankwa, is not different. He reportedly told his compatriots as follows: ‘we must learn from the mistakes of Nigeria, and never in our entire history be ever so foolish. You cannot declare war on your country and still be enjoying federal allocation as a state except in complicity with the government. The Nigerian government is an ethnic government, not a nationalistic government. What I cannot understand is why Nigerians themselves are not angry enough to change the situation.’ This reported statement of the Ghanaian leader may be considered unfriendly because of the conflict between declaring a war against one country, while the attacking belligerent is still eligible for federal allocation. In this same logic, asking why Nigerians are not angry enough to address their national problems can be interpreted as an incitement of the Nigerian people against the Government of Nigeria.

The truth of the matter is that Nigerians are already transparently manifesting their anger through agitation for self-determination, which some observers misrepresent as treasonable. In fact, many people confuse the agitation for self-determination with the complaints against the deepening situation of insecurity in the country. First of all, the recidivist character of insecurity is what strengthens the agitation for separation, as the agitators have come to believe that PMB really has a Fulanisation agenda which they are not prepared to accept.

In this regard, whoever argues that an effort at self-determination constitutes a treasonable offence cannot but be looking at the issue myopically, disregarding the essence of self-determination in contemporary international diplomatic practice and during the colonial era. In fact, the way the Yoruba people are going about it not only makes the threats by the Army Chief to deal with Igboho, Kalu, and Asari-Dokubo completely nonsensical and irrelevant, and therefore missing the point, but also why the threats will be used to fast track the dismantlement of Nigeria. Put differently, the Yoruba people, for instance, are not talking in terms of war but going through international diplomatic processes. The Yoruba memorandum to the United Nations speaks volumes on the rationales for self-determination.

Yoruba Memoranda and Self-determination The Yoruba quest for self-determination cannot be said to be recent. Stricto-sensu, the aggravating situation of insecurity in the country is not the origin or main dynamic of the agitation. The factor of insecurity is simply a catalytic agent. It is on record that a 27-year old Headmaster, Mr. Modiyu Adeniyi-Osinowo organised a one-man campaign that Yoruba land should separate from Nigeria as Pakistan separated from India. The call for separation was in reaction to his perceived shabby treatment spewed on Chief Obafemi Awolowo by the Fulani-led Federal Government on the day of Nigeria’s independence in 1960. As reportedly quoted, ‘let’s have our own Pakistan. If they could rubbish Awo like this, sooner or later, they will be defecating on our heads.’

Although he was reportedly assassinated five years thereafter, there is nothing to suggest or link the assassination to his call for separation of Yoruba land. What is, however, noteworthy is that there have been growing complaints against the Fulani people in Nigeria since 1960. The current situation of insecurity in the country is nothing more than the tipping point of the problem. It is against this background that the Yoruba Memoranda should be explained and understood.

The memoranda is titled ‘Yoruba People’s of Nigeria Memoranda for Yoruba Nation Independence.’ By talking about Yoruba peoples, an attempt is made to underscore the point that there are different sub-ethnic groups: Akoko, Igbomina, Ijebu, Ijesha, Ilaje, Egba, Egun, Ondo, Onko, Oshun, Owo, etc. In fact, the memoranda identified 27 categories of peoples in Yorubaland. Amodern State in international relations since the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia is believed to exist when there is a union of government, territory and people or population. Although a school of thought has it that a fourth criterion should be included, that is, recognition of the State, the truth of the matter is that the non-recognition of a State does not in any way prevent the existence of the state in international relations. In the same vein, the non-recognition of a government does not also prevent the government from entering into international relations. The only difficulty in the factor of non-recognition is that the non-recognised State may not be able to establish diplomatic ties with the non-recognising country. This is the likely scenario to be expected in the event of an independence for Yoruba land in the foreseeable future in international relations.

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NEWSXTRA NDLEA Arrests 70-year-old Nigerien Bandits’ Drug Supplier Michael Olugbode in Abuja

A 70-year-old Nigerien drug trafficker, Mohammed Wada, who allegedly supplied illicit substances to Boko Haram and bandits, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The agency disclosed this in a statement its Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi issued yesterday.

The agency said Wada, who hails from Dallawa town, state of Agadez, Niger Republic, was arrested on Thursday with 10 pallets of skunk in Jebba, Niger State.

The statement said the suspect had brought into Nigeria hides and skin from Niger Republic to sell in Lagos.

During interrogation, according

to the statement, the suspect claimed he sold his goods for N300,000 in Lagos and used the fund to buy 10 pallets of skunk at N25,000 each.

The statement explained that the suspect was on his way back to Niger Republic through the North West where he sold drugs to bandits when he was intercepted in Jebba.

Quoted in the statement, the Commander, Niger State Command of the NDLEA, Aloye Isaac, said the arrest is a further confirmation of the nexus between drug abuse and the security challenges in parts of the country.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in an operation backed by soldiers in Ondo State have identified and destroyed three large cannabis

farms measuring in 95 hectares, located at Ogbese forest.

The Ondo state Commander of the agency, Haruna Gagara said although no one was arrested during the operation, investigation has since commenced to identify and apprehend the owners of the farms.

The Kaduna State Government has directed security agencies to take drastic actions to forestall the increasing incidents of attacks and counter attacks in Atyap Chiefdom, Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of the state.

The directive was contained in a statement the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan issued yesterday, asking the security agencies to end violence in the region.

The statement said the state government was worried over happenings in the chiefdom in the past one week.

It, also, noted with increasing concern the sequence of violent incidents, attacks and counterattacks in Atyap Chiefdom of

Zangon Kataf local government area over the past week.

According to the statement, it is very disturbing that groups opposed to peaceful coexistence are perpetuating violence against innocent citizens which has assumed very worrisome dimensions.

The statement assured the peace-loving people in the affected communities and the state at large of its commitment to law and order.

The statement said: “In furtherance of this, the government has directed security agencies to take drastic actions to forestall any recurrence of violence.

“Search-and-rescue operations by troops and police are in progress to protect lives and properties, rescue missing citizens and apprehend the perpetrators

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Despite incontrovertible evidence pointing to his complicity, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has denied that Peter Ogban the university professor jailed for election fraud, rigged the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress

of violence. “Amidst the grim situation, it is clear that the vast majority of the citizens from all the ethnic groups in the area sincerely desire, and are working for peace.

“These men and women have stood out as shining examples of resistance to the violent actions of few criminals and people of ill-will.

“The government of Kaduna state commends their exemplary action and appeals to them to continue their sacrificial work, until we collectively triumph over the forces of darkness.”

The statement said further that the government was working with security agencies to ensure thorough investigation of all incidents of violence in the area with a view to identifying the perpetrators for arrest and prosecution.

Tambuwal: First Nigeria Electric Car Portends Cultural Revolution Sokoto State Governor, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal has said that with the inauguration of maiden Nigeria electric car birthed by Sokoto-born Jelani Aliyu, a cultural revolution is in the offing that will affect the lifestyles and life chances of Nigerians.

He made this observation on Friday when he received the first electric car assembled in Nigeria by the Jelani-led National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) at the Government House, Sokoto on Friday.

The car, being part of items on

exhibition at the ongoing National Trade Fair for Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States holding in Sokoto, was presented to him Jelani, an erstwhile America’s General Motors proud designer of 2004 Pontiac G6 and 2010 Chevrolet Volt, is currently the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC).

At the presentation Friday, Tambuwal said: “As global scientific achievements push towards zero use of fossil oil, the country is going to have

many similar technological breakthroughs.

“The electric car will revolutionize the way homes are made and kept, roads are built and managed alongside the evolution of many other material culture, thus generally affecting the people’s lives.”

He, therefore, urged the federal government to take appropriate measures towards exploiting the potentials of Sokoto State in order to support the diversification of the state and federal government economy into the future.

Court Dismisses Suit Seeking to Invalidate Lagos Task Force on Land Grabbers Law Tobi Soniyi

The High Court of Lagos State has dismissed a suit which challenged the legality of the Lagos State Properties Protection Law and the Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabbers.

In an action commenced under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, Alhaji Tolani Bakare, the applicant challenged the invitation extended

to him by the Task Force which was investigating a petition by the Nigerian Union of Teachers that the applicant had no right to sell the land he sold to the union.

It was the case of the applicant that the invitation amounted to an infringement of his fundamental rights to life, dignity of human persons, personal liberty, freedom of association and assembly, and freedom to own property.

In the considered judgment

State and was heading to Kaduna State.

Kogi State Commander of NDLEA, Alfred Adewumi said the drug was concealed in sacks of chicken wastes loaded in a Mercedes-Benz 814 Truck with registration number: Taraba XA 366 ARD.

Speaking on the operations in Niger, Ondo and Kogi states, Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, Brig.Gen. Buba Marwa commended the commanders, men and officers of the three commands for their commitment and unrelenting efforts to rid their areas of illicit drugs.

Akpabio Disowns Professor Jailed for Rigging Election for APC

Kaduna Directs Security Agencies to End Violence in Zango Kataf John Shiklam in Kaduna

In a related development, operatives of the agency in Kogi State have intercepted and seized 116.1 kilogrammes of cannabis at a patrol point along Okene-Lokoja expressway.

A suspect, Sulaiman Said, who was arrested with the illicit drug, claimed he got them from Edo

delivered last week Justice Sharafa Olaitan upheld the contention of counsel to the Attorney General of Lagos State, Olanrewaju Akinsola that the Task Force’s meetings were called in furtherance of the statutory mandate of the Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabbers for the purpose of assisting the parties to resolve the ownership of land disputes between the applicant and the Nigerian Union of Teachers.

(APC).

Akpabio disputed this allegation in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Aniete Ekong yesterday, saying he was rather a victim of the fraudulent manipulation of the election of Akwa Ibom North West February 23, 2019.

Akpabio, the APC candidate, was defeated in the election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chris Ekpenyong and his hope of returning to the Senate dashed.

The Akwa Ibom State High Court 2 sitting in the Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area had sentenced Ogban to three years imprisonment and also imposed a fine of N100,000 for the electoral fraud he committed during the 2019 elections in the state.

The case, considered as a landmark in Nigeria’s election history, was prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Before his conviction and

sentencing, Ogban, in one of the court sessions, clearly told the court how the results of the district election were falsified in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local government areas to give the APC an unfair advantage over its main rival, the PDP. For instance, 5,000 fake votes were added to the APC’s score in Oruk Anam, in the election.

Ogban, during cross examination by the prosecution counsel, admitted that the votes he entered for both APC and the PDP in the two local government areas were not taken from results collated at the constituency.

As his defence, he said the votes he entered were “read out” to him by the local government areas returning officers.

However, two INEC witnesses – John Enoidem and Itemobong Ekaidem – contradicted the professor’s claim.

The witnesses, who are university lecturers, were collation officers in the two local government areas. They

told the court that what Mr Ogban entered as scores for APC and PDP were not what they presented to him.

Despite evidence from court processes, Akpabio yesterday said the claim by the PDP that Ogban, who was convicted for rigging election in favour of the APC and himself, was not true, unfounded and malicious. : “The question is: who was the beneficiary of the electoral fraud and manipulation in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District? Certainly not Akpabio, which was why he challenged the outcome of the election up to the Court of Appeal which upheld his appeal and ordered a rerun election with very strong condemnation of the activities of the Returning Officer and INEC. “How then could the same man whose actions Senator Akpabio was dissatisfied with and challenged in court be said to have rigged the election for Senator Akpabio?

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

NEWSXTRA Father of Kidnapped College of Forestry Student Dies Tobi Soniyi

Alhaji Ibrahim Shamaki, father of one of the 39 abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization Afaka, Kaduna State, abducted on 11 March but remained in captivity has died.

According to a family source, Shamaki lived in Badarawa, Kaduna. His health had worsened dramatically since Fatima, his primary hope, was kidnapped alongside 38 others.

Last week parents and colleagues of the kidnapped

State Assemblies Set up Constitutional Review Committee Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

The Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria yesterday constituted a constitutional review committee to articulate and submit its inputs in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.

The conference, an umbrella body of 36 speakers of the federation, also directed all state assemblies nationwide to pass the Funds Management Bill for effective implementation of the financial autonomy for the state legislature and judiciary.

These were revealed in a communiqué the conference issued yesterday at the end of its meeting held at the Hazibal Event Centre in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital.

The communiqué was signed by the chairman of the conference and Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Mr. Suleiman Abubakar.

In its communiqué yesterday,

the conference expressed deep concern over the spate of insecurity in Nigeria and recommended community policing as a way out of the security challenges facing the country.

While commending the federal government on its efforts at fighting insecurity in the country, the speakers called on it to tinker with the security architecture to reflect the demographic reality of Nigeria.

It appealed to the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) to exercise restraint in its struggle, saying a committee has been set up to engage the association with a view to resolving the lingering issues that led to its recent industrial action.

The conference, however, expressed appreciation to Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, for the warm reception he extended to its members during their stay in the state for their general meeting.

students accused the government of being silent after the abduction.

While protesting to register their displeasure with the government for failing to rescue the students, the parents said that nothing had been heard from the government 12 days after the kidnap incident.

Chairman and secretary of forum of parents Kambai Sam and Friday Sanni said parents of the kidnapped students had been traumatised by the incident.

On his part, Sam said not one of the 39 kidnapped students had been rescued.

“We have put our trust in the government and school authorities

to rescue the students in good time and safely, but that has not happened.

“It is now 12 days since the incident happened and we as parents have not received any positive message from either the school management, the Minister of Environment under whose ministry the school is or the Kaduna State government under whose territorial jurisdiction the school is located,” said Sam. He added that the parents were calling the attention of the government at state and federal levels and all stakeholders involved to act with dispatch to ensure

immediate and safe release of the kidnapped children.

But the police said they and the Kaduna State government were not silent over the abduction.

Kaduna police spokesperson Muhammad Jalige said that efforts were being put in place to ensure the release of the abducted students.

He noted that the state police had engaged the worried parents and assured them that the government was doing its best to ensure their safe release.

“When we heard that some parents and students want

to protest, we went there, engaged them and assured them that the government is not silent about it, and is doing everything to ensure the release of the students.

They have all gone home now,” Jalige said.

Gunmen breached the perimeter fence of the College of Forestry in Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped 39 students on Thursday, March 11.

Following their kidnap, the criminal elements have demanded N500 million ransom from the government and parents of their victims.

Saraki, Lawan to Speak on Restructuring Nigerian leaders of thought, policy makers and major stakeholders will gather in Lagos next month at the public presentation of the book, Roundtable Discussion On Economy And Restructuring In Nigeria published by the National Pilot newspapers.

A statement by the Managing Director of the paper, Mr. Billy Adedamola said among other issues that, the panelists would discuss the way out of the perennial economic crisis that is stifling the nation’s growth and development as well as how do to resolve the issue of restructuring that ‘is fueling ethnic tension and threatening national breakup.’

Expected to join in charting a way forward for Nigeria at the event which holds at Sheraton

Hotels, Ikeja Lagos on April 14, 2021, are the immediate past president of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, his successor, Ahmed Lawan and former occupier of the prestigious office, David Mark who will chair the occasion.

Also invited are the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who will be the guest speaker. The chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi leads other governors which include Prince Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Mr. Seyi Makinde of Oyo, while Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos is the chief host.

SEPLAT Boosts Quality Education in Edo, Delta Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City Seplat Petroleum Development Company (SEPLAT) has boosted education in Delta and Edo State by training 100 teachers and 43 chief inspectors in education in secondary schools in the two states.

SEPLAT, a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company, provided the three-month intensive training under the SEPLAT Teachers Empowerment Programme (STEP).

Chief Executive Officer of Seplat, Mr. Roger Brown gave these details at the end of the programme at the weekend, saying it was designed to support quality education in the two states.

Brown, who was represented by SEPLAT Director, External Affairs & Communications, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku, said STEP “is an educational initiative created by SEPLAT and its partners to improve

the country’s standard of education, particularly for host states.

“Over the years, SEPLAT has invested significantly in various educational Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Number 4, which speaks to education for all.

“At SEPLAT, we strongly believe that education is the bedrock for national development and our STEP deployment aims to enhance teachers’ competencies and empower them with the knowledge and skills to implement Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education, amongst other benefits.

“SEPLAT is committed to providing this programme annually because of its relevance and positive multiplier effects on boosting quality education,” Brown said.

FOR CLEANER LAGOS . . .

L-R: Special Adviser to the Governor on Drainage & Water Resources, Dr. Joe Igbokwe; Permanent Secretary, Office of the Environment, Mrs. Belinda Odeleye; Commissioner for the Environment & Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello; General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr. Dolapo Fasawe and Permanent Secretary, Office of the Drainage Service, Mr. Olalekan Sodeinde, during inauguration of LASEPA projects, Mini Effluent Treatment Plant, E-Library and Quality Monitoring Station at LASEPA office, Lagos... Friday

Bayelsa Suspends MoUs Between oil Companies, Host Communities Bayelsa State has announced the suspension of all agreements between international oil firms and their host communities across the state.

Gov. Douye Diri’s announcement is contained in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah on Thursday in Yenagoa.

The suspension is on the heels of an allegation by the Bayelsa government that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was fueling crises and insecurity in its host communities in the Niger Delta.

According to the statement, agreements between oil firms and host communities should align with policies of the state government.

It said this was necessary in order to foster better relationships between host communities and the oil companies on the one hand, and among the indigenes of such communities on the other hand.

The statement said the government would begin a review of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) between cluster boards and community trusts with International Oil

Companies (IOCs) in the state.

It said henceforth, agreements between oil companies and host communities would have to be approved and monitored by the state government.

“The state government is interested in being a party to such agreements to ensure all parties comply with the terms.

“A situation where oil firms breach agreements with their hosts would no longer be tolerated.

This often results in conflicts in communities.

“Consequently, no community in the state, especially those in the

Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, should sign any GMoU with IOCs and security companies operating in their area.

“Where such agreements have been inadvertently entered into, they remain invalid subject to a review by the Office of the Attorney-General through the Ministries of Local Government and that of Mineral Resources,” it said.

When contacted, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager, SPDC, said the company was aware of the Bayelsa government’s position.

States Must Access UBEC Funds, Says Reps Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

The House of Representatives has disclosed that all states of the federation are under obligation to access the Universal Basic Education Funds to provide basic education.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education, Prof Julius Ihonvbere said this yesterday at a session with the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi in Ado Ekiti.

Ihonvbere alongside members of the committee was in the state to carry out oversight functions.

At the session with Fayemi, Ihonvbere said it was mandatory

for states to access the Universal Basic Education Funds (UBEC) to provide education for Nigerians of school age in the country.

Ihonvbere said failure to access the fund is tantamount to disservice to the people, especially the little children who seek good education and prosperous futures.

He, thus, disclosed that the committee was in Ekiti as part of its oversight function to inspect basic schools and ensure that funds released by the federal government for execution of projects were judiciously utilized.

Ihonvbere said the committee was in the state as part of its constitutional responsibility to

assess the extent to which states utilised the federal government grants provided to them through UBEC. He commended the Fayemi administration for injecting passion and commitment to reposition and refocus basic education in the state.

He said, “Giving that we are very conversant with the distorted legacy inherited by the governor in the area of basic education, we are satisfied that there is passion, there is commitment.

“There is focus. There is a burning desire to protect our children and ensure they get the best in basic education.”

Also at the session, Fayemi urged UBEC and the Federal Ministry of Education to improve the mechanism for school monitoring and evaluation of projects in order to promote qualitative education in the country.

Fayemi also informed the committee on the need for the federal government to suspend counterpart funding as part of basic requirements for states to access UBEC funding.

Fayemi explained that the backlogs of funds domiciled in the UBEC account was a function of the inability of some states to raise counterpart funds to access it.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER MARCH 28, 2021

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Edited by: Duro Ikhazuagbe email:Duro.Ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Super Eagles Defeat Benin Squirrels, Qualify for 2021 AFCON Duro Ikhazuagbe

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igeria on Saturday secured her place in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 1-0 victory over Benin Republic at the Charles de Gaulle Stadium in Port Novo.

The victory condemned the Beninoise to their Àrst home defeat in eight years.

Paul Onuachu who came in as substitute for Kelechi Iheanacho secured all the points for Nigeria with a powerful header three minutes into added time, The three-time continental winners in 1980, 1994 and 2014, had earlier booked their passage even before kickoͿ in Port Novo as Lesotho and Sierra Leone drew goalless in the group’s other game to leave Eagles untouchable.

On a day that Eagles’ midÀeld was laid bared following the ineligibility of Everton player, Alex Iwobi, as he was believed to have tested positive for Covid-19, there was not much to cheer in a tepid Àrst half.

Henry Onyekuru’s snap header pushed out by the impressive goalkeeper Saturnin Allagbé was the major talking point of that stanza.

It was not a hugely interesting afternoon for a sparse crowd of just 200 people, a restriction forced on the host nation by CAF as part of coronavirus –curtailing measures.

Former U17 World Cup winners Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen and Samuel

Super Eagles players celebrating Paul Onuachu’s goal that crowned Nigeria winner of Group L on 11 points with a game to spare on Saturday evening in Port Novo

Chukwueze led the strike force for Nigeria, assisted by Henry Onyekuru, but the Super Eagles did not exactly press for an avalanche of goals on an afternoon they already knew their Áight to Cameroon was booked.

Two minutes into the second half, Chukwueze and Onyekuru failed to decide on who was better-placed to strike in the box, with Onyekuru eventually sending the ball sky-high. Five minutes later, the hosts came very close when William Troost-

IOC Bans “Accompanying Guests” from Tokyo 2020 Olympics Guests including partners of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will not be able to attend Tokyo 2020 after the organisation decided to limit accreditation to those who have “essential and operational roles” at the Games.

The IOC Executive Board said it would also axe or signiÀcantly reduce its guest programme and invitations to “Olympic athlete legends” as part of its attempts to limit the number of people at the event because of coronavirus concerns.

Accompanying guests “in any category” will not begrantedanaccreditationfortheGames,postponed to this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Invitees from organisations such as the United Nations will be limited under the measures, which the IOC claims will “signiÀcantly reduce the number of accredited people at the Games”.

A number of other initiatives typically run by the IOC during the event, including the observer programme for future hosts, will also be restricted.

IOC members will be able to attend the Games as they are “playing an essential and operational role”, but they will have to leave their partners at home.

It is thought Friday’s announcement from the ruling Executive Board will prevent considerably more than 1,000 people from securing an accreditation for Tokyo 2020.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 conÀrmed during a Àve-party meeting earlier this week that overseas fans would not be able to attend the Games.

The IOC said the Japanese Government “had

Niger State’s Contingent for Edo 2020 Receive Covid-19 Vaccines Laleye Dipo in Minna

2020 Tokyo Olympics summer

made it very clear that this also requires a very signiÀcant reduction in the numbers of accredited participants who do not have essential and operational responsibilities” during the meeting.

“In order to comply with these conclusions and the requests of its Japanese partners, the IOC Executive Board today decided to grant accreditation only to people who have essential and operational roles,”

the IOC said.

“IOC members as the ultimate decision-making body of the IOC are playing such an essential and operational role and will attend the Games.

“The IOC Executive Board has cancelled or reduced the IOC guest programme, the invitations to Olympic athlete legends and a number of other programmes.

FIBA Condoles with Nigeria over Death of Coach Jatau The Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) has sent messages of condolence to the NBBF, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Sokoto State Government after the fatal accident involving the state’s basketball team that claimed the life of Coach Elisha Jatau.

FIBAleadership in a statements the weekend described the accident as an unfortunate incident which has had a reverberating eͿect throughout the global basketball family.

At the FIBA Finance Committee meeting which has the Nigeria Basketball Federation,

Ekong allowed an onrushing defender to get a leg to the ball and heave it above goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, missing the net by inches. Osimhen, all strength and purpose, shot narrowly over the sticks in the 54th minute, and then struck the upright two minutes later as Nigeria switched into second gear.

In the 62nd minute, Okoye Áung himself full-length to thwart a glancing header from slipping into the net, and in the 90th minute, Osimhen forced a good save from Allagbé with a powerful header.

Onuachu, on the Àeld for 20 minutes after replacing Iheanacho, was gifted a gold –plated opportunity to score only his second goal for Nigeria as the ball rose high in the box following Victor Osimhen’s attempt from a Samuel Chukwueze’s corner kick.

The Eagles returned to their Golden Tulip Hotel in Cotonou after the match and will be back in Lagos today to begin preparation for Tuesday’s dead-rubber final-round game against Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

With Nigeria now having an unassailable 11 points to win the group, Tuesday’s final qualifier between Benin and Sierra Leone will be a bruising battle of survival. Benin on eight points, (three above Sierra Leone), will need just a draw to pull through behind Nigeria as Group runners up.

But should the Leone Stars Win, they are going to level on points with the Beninoise. Head-to-head May then be needed to separate the two teams.

Engr Musa Kida as member, the committee commiserated with the federation and the good people of Sokoto state.

Chairman of the committee, Ingo Weiss who presided over the gathering with the Secretary General of FIBA, Andreas Zagklis in attendance said, “At this trying time, we want to tell NBBF, the Ministry of Sports and Sokoto State Government that they are not alone in their moment of grief. We are sad to hear about the incident that happened which led to a loss of life.”

“Every life is precious and sacred. The loss of

one therefore will deÀnitely cost the basketball family greatly.”

Weiss thanked the Sokoto State Government led by Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal and his commissioners for Health and Sports for their timely intervention.

“We were glad when we heard about the roles played by the Sokoto State government which led to a prompt rescue, admission and treatment of the injured.”

Weiss prayed that the soul of the departed will be granted eternal rest while wishing the injured a quick recovery.

All the 120 athletes that will wear the Niger State colours at the 20th National Sports Festival scheduled to hold in Benin City have received the Covid-19 vaccines in Minna.

The vaccines were administered on the athletes last Thursday under the direct supervision of the Director of Disease Control in the state’s Ministry of Health, Dr Samuel Jiya.

Jiya asked the athletes to disregard any negative information they might have heard about the vaccine insisting that it is safe and efficacious.

Jiya also assured the athletes that the vaccine has no side effects and therefore asked the contingent to go ahead with their preparation for the National Sports Festival.

The state’s Commissioner for Sports, Mr Emmanuel Umar, said at the kickoff of the vaccination that the exercise is in fufilment of one of the requirements for states to present athletes for the festival.

Umar who was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mallam Yunusa Na Hauni, asked the athletes to ensure they abide by other Covid-19 regulations for their safety.

It was learnt that the state’s contingent to the festival will depart Minna for Benin City on April 2, this year.

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Orji Kalu to Enyinnaya Abaribe

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“Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has spent 16 years in the Senate with no single project for Abia South. Abaribe is busy speaking grammar as if English is what the people need.

You need infrastructure, you need good roads, you need schools and hospitals. Go to Abia North, just a year in the Senate, I have given them 19 roads, renovated schools, built hospitals with a lot of empowerment. Abaribe is so shameless that he doesn’t even have a road leading to his village in Umuekwensu” – Senator Orji Kalu, Senate Chief Whip, taking a swipe at the Senate Minority Leader while addressing a crowd in Aba, Abia state.

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The Twists and Turns of OPL 245

M

y phone vibrated. The number was unfamiliar. I picked, all the same, and the caller introduced himself as Mohammed Bello Adoke, “former attorney-general of the federation”. It was in March 2017, nearly two years after his exit from office, and his name was trending on the internet over the OPL 245/Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd affair.

I had never interacted with him, not even by phone. I had seen him in flesh just once — at the canteen near the Nigerian mission in New York during the UN General Assembly in 2011 — but I did not even greet him. I hardly walk up to the high and mighty. I always try to maintain my lane, as we say in Nigeria. We probably would have become friends.

A senior colleague had told me beforehand that he had given my number to Adoke and I should expect his call. After some little talk, Adoke agreed to grant an interview to TheCable on the sole condition that we would not hesitate to publish “everything” he would say. I said “as long as you don’t libel anybody”. He laughed, assuring me that he had his facts. He lamented that his name had been maligned over the OPL 245 deal, insisting that he did no wrong but was only being witch-hunted for political reasons and had to go on self-exile. He accused the Ibrahim Magu-led EFCC of using the media to destroy him. He was ready to tell his side of the story without filter, he promised.

I’d be honest: until 2017, I was not really following the OPL 245 affair. All I knew was that Gen Sani Abacha, as head of state, awarded the oil prospecting licence (OPL) to a company in which we later discovered that Mohammed, his son, and Chief Dan Etete, his petroleum minister, had interest.

Thanks to Premium Times, we got to know the real Malabu shareholders: “Mohammed Sani” was Mohammed Abacha (50 percent); “Kweku Amafegha” was Etete in flesh and blood (30 percent); and Wabi Hassan is the wife of Hassan Adamu, Nigeria’s ambassador to the US then (20 percent). Along the line, Etete had taken total control of Malabu, leaving Mohammed Abacha with zero shares.

Adoke spoke to us extensively on the OPL 245 saga: how licences were awarded to Nigerian companies in 1998 under Abacha’s “indigenous participation” policy at a discounted “signature bonus” of $20 million; how Malabu got OPL 245 and Gen TY Danjuma’s South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd (Sapetro) got OPL 246; how President Olusegun Obasanjo revoked OPL 245 in July 2001, possibly because of the Abacha links, and gave it to Shell; how Malabu went to court; how Obasanjo’s government entered into a court-ordered settlement to return the block to Malabu in 2006; and how Malabu tried to enforce the judgment, without luck, under President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

In 2010, when Jonathan assumed power, Malabu raised the issue of the court settlement again.

Jonathan asked Adoke, his AGF, for legal opinion.

Adoke said the agreement was binding. OPL 245 was thereafter returned to Malabu. Shell and ENI moved in and negotiated to buy 100 percent of Malabu’s interest in the block for $1.1 billion. They also agreed to pay $210 million – a record – as “signature bonus” to Nigeria. Andrew Obaje, director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), objected to the deal because the industry regulator was not part of the negotiations. Adoke said after this was sorted out, Obaje dropped his objections and the deal was signed in April 2011.

All done? Not quite. International watchdogs started scrutinising the deal, largely because of Etete’s involvement. There was a red flag: in 2007, he had been convicted in France for money laundering in a different matter (the conviction was quashed in 2014). The activists alleged that the

Adoke payment of $1.1 billion to Malabu was a scheme to bribe Nigerian politicians for facilitating the OPL 245 deal. The campaigners argued that officials of Shell and ENI tried to “insulate” themselves from corruption charges by paying directly to Nigeria’s accounts at JP Morgan in London for “onward transmission” to Malabu. The money could have improved Nigeria’s healthcare and education, they lamented.

JP Morgan, on Nigeria’s instruction, transferred $875 million to Malabu and the rest to the company’s middlemen, two of whom have now been jailed for corruption in a different case. Etete later bought a jet and a Phantom, among other instruments of status symbol. Ordinarily, what he did with his money shouldn’t be anybody’s problem. After all, Danjuma bought mansions in Spain and a jet after CNOOC of China paid $1.7 billion to acquire 45 percent of OPL 246 from Sapetro.

Mrs Folorunsho Alakija also bought a jet after her Famfa Oil hit gold. What’s the difference?

Well, we can say Danjuma and Alakija did not award the licences to themselves; more so, they did not use pseudonyms.

When Italian prosecutors launched the globally celebrated corruption trial of Shell, ENI and others in 2017, Adoke was not a party to the case. But I guess the Nigerian government wanted to support the Italians by trying to prove that the attorney-general who gave the legal opinion on the deal in 2011 was corrupt. If that could be established in Nigerian courts, it would help the case in Italy. Nigeria wanted Malabu’s $1.1 billion returned. There were rumours that Mr Ibrahim Lamorde was removed as EFCC chairman in 2015 a day after he told the powers-that-be that there was no evidence to go after Adoke. Magu came on board and Adoke became the face of the “Malabu scandal”.

EFCC initially said he took $801 million bribe but toned it down to N300 million. Adoke flatly denied, retorting that “a corrupt attorney-general can bankrupt Nigeria”. The N300 million, he said, was a mortgage transaction. He had been offered a property for N500 million, he said, and he secured a N300 million mortgage from Unity Bank. His equity contribution was to be N200 million. The bank transferred the N300 million to Carlin International Ltd, the property company owned by Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar. Adoke said when he could not pay up his equity, Abubakar refunded the N300 million to the bank and sold the property, located at No 271, Cadastral Zone A06, Maitama, Abuja, to the CBN. According to Adoke, the entire records are with the EFCC: when the mortgage account was opened, when it was credited with N300 million, when the N300 million was transferred to Carlin International, when the N300 million was returned

to the bank, and when the account was closed.

He said Magu’s boys had looked everywhere to find something to pin on him. They, reportedly, checked the records of the $2.1 billion arms fund, scrutinised the accounts of the ministry of justice and perused the election funds allegedly shared by Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, former petroleum minister. When they found nothing, Adoke said, they decided to scandalise the failed mortgage deal.

I started following developments around OPL 245 closely after listening to Adoke’s story. In Italy, a prosecution witness, Ferri Alessandro, confirmed to the court that Carlin International offered the property in question to Adoke with a letter of “offer to sell” dated October 5, 2011 and that N300 million was transferred to Carlin from his Unity Bank account on February 15, 2012, after which the account went into deficit. He also said by the entries and exits from the same account between February 15, 2012 and October 17, 2013, roughly N300 million was returned to Adoke’s account to repay the mortgage. Astonishingly, it was the same EFCC that gave all these details to the Italians.

Two witnesses said Adoke did not take a bribe. Ednan Tofik ogly Agaev, a former Russian ambassador, told the court that he was pressured to mention Adoke under FBI interrogation. Vincenzo Armanna, a former ENI manager, also told the court that Adoke actually confronted ENI officials that if they gave or took bribe, he would order them arrested and prosecuted. On the legal and technical details, Mallam Abubakar Malami, the AGF, and Dr Ibe Kachikwu, then-petroleum minister, wrote separate letters giving the OPL 245 deal an all-clear. Justice Binta Nyako also ruled that Adoke could not be held liable for carrying out a lawful presidential directive.

I had thought the Nigerian government just wanted to throw Adoke under the bus to win the case in Italy, but I stopped doubting his political vendetta theory when he was arrested in Dubai, UAE, in November 2019. The judge that issued the warrant of arrest had vacated it, but the Nigerian authorities refused to inform Interpol. He was detained for 35 days. With Nigeria unable to extradite him because of a legal logjam, Adoke decided to finally return to Nigeria. On arrival, he was arrested and detained for another 55 days by EFCC – despite court orders that he be released on bail. Adoke later said there were efforts to link him to the P&ID scandal but EFCC could not find anything.

And now, the Italian court has cleared Shell and others of corruption in the OPL 245 deal. The details are not yet public but I suppose the court took the view that Malabu legally owned OPL 245; therefore, Shell and ENI cannot be held liable for how Malabu spent its $1.1 billion. After the news broke, Adoke called me and said, tearfully: “Do you now believe me that I did no wrong?

Yet I have been branded a thief, persecuted and humiliated for six years. If I was corrupt in office, I can assure you EFCC would have gleefully charged me to court with concrete evidence, not trumped-up charges on OPL 245. I served Nigeria with all my soul and with all honesty.

God is the ultimate judge.”

I told him it was not that I doubted him, just that when the powers-that-be in Nigeria decide to go after you, it will take a miracle for you survive with your reputation intact. It is now left for him to clear his name in the courts. He is on trial in two Nigerian courts. In one, EFCC appears to admit that the N300 million was a mortgage but is questioning the mode of repayment which it says broke money laundering laws; in the other, the agency is saying it is a bribe. Also, in the UK, Nigeria is in court with JP Morgan, asking for the restitution of the $1.1 billion. How much impact will the Italy judgment have on these cases? Let’s just say we have not heard the last of the OPL 245 saga yet.

And Four Other Things…

ELECTORAL REFORM We have been discussing electoral reform for ages, but something has happened that I hope will contribute to the quest for credible elections in Nigeria. On Thursday, a high court in Akwa Ibom state sentenced Peter Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar, to three years in prison for manipulating election results. It is very easy to arrest thugs – who are mere messengers – and parade them before a judge for electoral malpractices. But what about the professors, the INEC officials, the security agents and the politicians?

They need to be jailed to show that we mean business. I hope this landmark conviction will open the door for more convictions. Reform.

POLICE ENDANGERED This is worrisome. As many as 14 police officers have been killed in the south-east in the last three months. Their stations are usually attacked and razed, with arms stolen as a result. This looks like a systematic campaign. If I recall very well, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) launched a series of attacks on police stations in 1999/2000 in the south-west in their campaign of independence for the “Yoruba Nation”. Boko Haram, I also recall, started their campaign of terror in 2008 by targeting police stations and other security agencies with IEDs. We still don’t know what is going on in the south-east but it does not look pretty.

Any hope that this bleeding will stop soon?

Disturbing.

COVID CHIPS I was finally injected with the Bill Gates Chips (known in some circles simply as “COVID-19 vaccine”) on Wednesday. Unlike many people, I do not fear injections. As a kid who frequently had bouts of malaria, I often confounded doctors by choosing the needle above those bitter, nauseating chloroquine tablets. Since I was born, I have taken vaccines against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT), tuberculosis, polio, measles, cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM), hepatitis and yellow fever. Thankfully, I did not react badly to the COVID jab. Now that Bill Gates has started controlling my DNA with the “chips”, I notice I’m beginning to think and act like the dollar billionaire that he is. Zombies.

AND FINALLY… If you are having a bad day, just think about the story of one Yusuf Saliu who was arrested by officers of the Lagos state police command for allegedly being in possession of a stolen motorcycle. It was not an ordinary bike: when the #EndSARS mayhem was unleashed on Lagos in October 2020, as many as 10 police stations were attacked, with arms and property looted.

According to the police, what the 32-yearold Saliu was riding leisurely around Lagos state was a police motorcycle that was stolen during the attack on Dalemo Police Post. This is exactly what is meant by the prayer: “Don’t be unfortunate.” I just imagine what Saliu is going through now in the hands of the police. Pity.

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