WEDNESDAY 29TH APRIL 2020

Relief for FG as IMF Approves $3.4bn Emergency Support for Nigeria CBN gets firepower to stabilise currency with another $3.5bn awaited from World Bank, AfDB Senate endorses conversion of N850bn external loan to domestic borrowing Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Obinna Chima in Lagos The Board of the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday approved Nigeria’s request for $3.4 billion in emergency financial assistance under the fund’s

Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to support the federal government’s efforts in addressing the severe economic impact of the COVID-19

economic shock and the drastic fall in oil prices.

This would bring a sigh of relief to fiscal and monetary authorities as the Minister of

Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, awaits another $3.5 billion in support loans from the World Bank and the African

Development Bank.

RFI, which is given to member countries without Continued on page 9

NAICOM Mulls Shift in Recapitalisation Deadline... Page 5 Wednesday 29 April, 2020 Vol 25. No 9151. Price: N250

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P&ID: FG Seeks Banks’ Statements to Overturn Case Ejiofor Alike with agency reports

GATHERING TO SUPPORT ECONOMY...

L-R: Director, Regulatory Services, Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC), Ms. ljeoma Ezedinma; Vice President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Zone, Mr. John Aluya; NSC Executive Secretary, Mr. Hassan Bello; Chairman, Maritime Trade Group, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, lndustry, Mines and Agriculture, Mrs. Margaret Onyema-Orakwusi; Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and lndustry, Mr. Muda Yusuf; and NSC Director, Consumer Affairs, Chief Cajetan Agu, during a meeting between the council and the Organised Private Sector in Lagos...yesterday abiodun ajala

The federal government is seeking documents from 10 banks, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., in a bid to overturn a $9.6 billion arbitration award related to a gas supply deal that the country alleged is shrouded in corruption.

Bloomberg reported that the Continued on page 9

WITH 195 COVID-19 CASES IN 24 HOURS…

Analysts Ask FG to Prepare for Another Lockdown to Avert Disaster Trump calls Buhari, promises to provide ventilators NCDC seeks to test 2m persons in three months Omololu Ogunmade, Olawale Ajimotokan, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Obinna Chima in Lagos The ramping up of testing for COVID-19 is raking up an alarming figure of people returning positive for the virus and projecting into the future,

analysts are asking the federal government to prepare for another lockdown to avert disaster.

Yesterday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 195 new cases, up from the 64 of the previous day, bringing the tally to 1,532 with 255 persons discharged

and 44 dead across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). So far, only three states have been spared by the deadly virus.

According to NCDC, 10,918 persons have been tested, meaning roughly 14 per cent of those were positive.

Yet it has announced that it

intends to ramp up its testing to two million in three months.

This is where the analysts are concerned, wondering if the infected are this high during the lockdown, what would happen when the restriction is eased.

Yielding to public pressure, President Muhammadu Buhari

had on Monday night signed a proclamation easing the lockdown he had imposed on the FCT, Lagos, and Ogun states on March 30 through the COVID-19 Regulations 1, which he renewed with the second regulation on April 14.

The president had, in a nationwide broadcast, eased

the restriction replacing it with a country-wide curfew from 8pm to 6am effective from Monday, May 4. He banned inter-state travels as well as social and religious gathering and compelled the use of face mask in public places.

Continued on page 9

Military Rescues 15 Kidnapped Victims, Uncovers 48 Illegal Refineries... Page 8

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

NAICOM Mulls Shift in Recapitalisation Deadline

Ebere Nwoji National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is to reconsider the deadline for insurance companies to recapitalise, THISDAY has learnt.

It was gathered that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NAICOM may extend December 31, 2020 deadline to a date yet to be ascertained.

An official commission told THISDAY that the decision on the recapitalisation would be announced only after an impact analysis of the effects of the pandemic on the economy had been conducted and the length of its inactivity period determined.

The Acting Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, while responding to THISDAY’s enquiry on the issue said: "Decision concerning the recapitalisation programme can only be taken after an impact analysis and the period of inactivity determined.”

The umbrella body of insurance underwriters, the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) also told THISDAY that insurance underwriters would push for the extension of the time given by the regulator for insurers to raise their fresh capital.

NIA Chairman, Mr. Tope Smart, in response to THISDAY's enquiry, said: “The insurers will push for an extension of time given the economic impact this pandemic is having on the economy of not only Nigeria

but the whole world."

Smart, who is also Managing Director Nem Insurance, added that the insurers are currently focused on efforts to aid health workers to fight the spread of the pandemic.

He said the insurers were doing this through the donation of working tools and protective gear to the health workers and free life insurance covers for them.

He explained that insurers would approach the regulator to review the deadline for the recapitalisation after the pandemic.

Another chief executive of one of the leading insurance firms, who did not want his name in print, also said the regulator should know that even if it did not want to cancel the recapitalisation, it should extend the deadline by a minimum of one year, from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

According to him, it would be difficult at this period for insurers to attract the much-needed investments, from either local or foreign investors.

As such, he said, any insurer looking at foreign investors to put money in his company, “in the next two years must be joking.”

He said it would be unfair if NAICOM should insist on going ahead with the initial deadline for the recapitalisation.

Also, analysts at CSL Stockbrokers Limited noted that though the recapitalisation was long overdue considering the substantial increase in the

value of insured assets as well as the adverse impact of fragile macro conditions since the last recapitalisation in February 2007, the decision to extend the deadline could be imperative in the light of the weak investor sentiment brought about by the dual shock of COVID-19 and the downturn in oil prices.

“Accordingly, we think the issuance of debts instruments may come at a very high cost to the players at this time

considering the risk premium that will be demanded by investors.

“On the other hand, raising equity capital does not appear feasible. Some of the undercapitalised players currently have a negative book value of equity and are trading below their par values.

“Weak macro conditions would further deter investors as they remain sceptical on the ability of the players to unlock

the potentials in the industry.

Nonetheless, we expect to see a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the industry once conditions become more favourable,” the Lagos-based firm added.

Under the revised capitalisation requirements, life insurance firms are required to have a minimum paid-up capital of N8 billion, from N2 billion previously, while general insurance companies are required to raise their minimum paid-up

capital to N10 billion, from N3 billion previously.

The regulatory capital for composite insurance was also raised to N18 billion from N5 billion previously, while reinsurance businesses are now required to have a minimum capital of N20 billion from N10 billion previously.

The companies were initially given June 30, 2020 to raise the capital, but it was later extended to December 31, 2020.

MATTER OF URGENT NATIONAL IMPORTANCE...

President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan (left), and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, during the plenary of the Senate that approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s N850 billion loan request in Abuja…yesterday

Survey: More People View Nollywood Films on Africa Magic Netflix, Iroko Trail Vanessa Obioha A recent survey carried out

by THISDAY and supported

by Dorinda Afrika Ltd on 41 individuals from different walks of life revealed that Africa Magic, a platform on cable TV, DStv, is the preferred choice for Nollywood films.

The findings showed that while 50 per cent of the respondents are active Netflix subscribers, only 21.1 per cent watch Nollywood films on the platform.

Africa Magic claims 50 per cent of that population followed

by Iroko TV, the video-ondemand platform with 15.8 per cent. Those who admitted that they watch most Nollywood films in cinemas were 10.5 per cent. The rest claimed they watch Nollywood films on Facebook.

Interestingly, 15.8 percent of the respondents preferred going to the cinema to watch movies rather than subscribe to a monthly plan to view content because of the outdoor experience, but as the pandemic has forced most cinemas to shut down, they are glued to their TV screens or mobile devices.

This showed that the cinema culture, which received a boom in the 2000s following Silverbird Group opening of its cinemas chain, has not yet penetrated every nook and cranny of society.

Most cinemas in Nigeria are concentrated in the highbrow areas of the city, giving only

the rich easy access to the multiplexes.

Though there has been an increasing demand for cinemas in the country, the survey finding is a pointer to the fact that streaming platforms like Netflix and Cable TV are winning the viewing war.

The reasons for subscribing to a monthly plan, however, vary for most of the respondents. From convenience, affordability to easy access and quality of movies, these individuals explained that they preferred to view content at home.

Out of the 41 respondents, only 78 per cent affirmed that they watch Nollywood films regularly. Others watch when necessary or by accident.

The findings also showed that romantic comedies and comedy genres appeal to consumers more.

Both genres were the preferred choice for 29.3 per cent of the participants. There is also an appetite for short films with 7.3 per cent preferring it to thrillers and action thrillers which had 14.6 and 12.2 per cent respectively.

Only a tiny fraction chose horror and animation as their favourites.

Surprisingly, the percentage who loved romantic comedies had more males than females.

Last year, Nollywood's submission to the distinguished global film awards, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) popularly known as the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film was thrown out

of the window because the submitted film 'Lionheart' was majorly in English language.

The category recognised films which have a high percentage of its dialogue in an indigenous language (that is non-English language). The outcry that followed that missed opportunity sparked discourse on the need to promote our diverse languages in films.

However, when respondents were asked which language film they preferred, 80.5 per cent stuck with English language, while 12.2 per cent preferred films in pidgin language. The rest preferred Yoruba and Ibo languages films.

Last February, Netflix announced its plans to produce original Nigerian content. That piece of news was greeted with fanfare. Top executives of the streamer flew into the country, a Netflix Naija Twitter was created, the billing currency was changed from dollars to Naira and top 10 Netflix films/TV series feature was added to the app. All of these were done to solidify the relationship between the film industry and the global streamer, which started before the acquisition of Genevieve Nnaji's film 'Lionheart' in 2018.

However, it was Nnaji's film that made many filmmakers consider distributing their films on the platform.

At the 2019 edition of the Nigerian International Film Summit, Group Executive Director of FilmOne

Entertainment, Moses Babatope, disclosed that Netflix acquired 34 Nollywood titles from the distribution company.

Before the end of the last quarter of 2019, Netflix had an impressive number of Nollywood films in their rich vault.

That trend continues this year as Nollywood filmmakers hoped to reach the over 160 million subscribers of the platform worldwide at the time. Netflix revealed recently in its first quarter earnings of the year that it added nearly 16 million subscribers, bringing its total membership to over 180 million. What this means is that a Nollywood film has the opportunity to reach at least one quarter of that population.

Netflix is known for being secretive with its viewing numbers. The company barely releases the exact figures of viewings on the platform. It considers a two-minute viewing on a particular show as a view.

By so doing, viewers need not watch the film completely before the company counts it as a view for the TV show or film.

With the growing criticisms of the secrecy, the platform rolled out the top 10 features.

The feature was to help critics as well as filmmakers know the success of their films.

When the feature was rolled out for Nigeria last February, 'Queen Sono', the South African TV series which marked the first original TV content from the

continent enjoyed the number one spot. Other Nollywood films like 'The Ghost and the Tout' also made the top 10 list.

Subsequent weeks had fewer Nollywood films on the list.

'Alakada Reloaded' was the last film to enjoy the spot as at the time of compiling this report.

This begs the question of whether Nigerians watch Nollywood films on Netflix.

Despite the low turnout of Nollywood films on Netflix, most of the participants welcomed the idea of Netflix sourcing new content in Nigeria. Before it suspended productions in many countries apart from South Korea, filmmaker and director, Akin Omotoso, was commissioned to produce a Nigerian TV series for the streamer.

According to the participants, Nollywood is underrated and has a lot of potential that is yet untapped. Four persons out of the 33 that responded to this question thought that the film industry lacked the required resources and creativity to meet the standards of the platform.

The rest were indecisive.

Notwithstanding, 65 per cent of the overall participants were confident that the Nollywood films available on Netflix have a global appeal. Films like 'The Wedding Party' which broke box office records in 2016 are some of the Nollywood films on the streamer's vault. Five per cent strongly stated that the films lack global appeal while 30 per cent

preferred to stay ambivalent.

The survey showed that Kemi Adetiba's film 'King of Boys' and Nnaji's 'Lionheart' have been viewed more than other Nollywood films on Netflix since the lockdown. 'Isoken', 'Up North' and Merry Men: The Real Yoruba Demons' follow closely.

When compared to Hollywood films on Netflix, 45 per cent strongly opined that Nollywood, the third largest producing film industry in the world is a far cry from Hollywood. Those who thought otherwise stood at 37.5 per cent. The rest were unsure.

Out of the 31 participants who responded to the question on whether Netflix is what Nollywood needs now, 24 affirmed that indeed Nollywood needs the streamer to project its image to the international audience. "It's a good step ahead for progress in the industry," wrote Grace, a sales manager in a beverage company.

The rest partly agreed that the industry, which has battled distribution challenges such as piracy, needs to explore the streamer.

While streaming and TV platforms have witnessed a surge since the pandemic, 37.5 per cent of the respondents disclosed that they have not watched any Nollywood film since the lockdown. For those in this category, films like the Spanish hit TV series 'Money Heist' and 'Locked Up' are their bingeing favourites.

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Military Rescues 15 Kidnapped Victims, Uncovers 48 Illegal Refineries Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja Troops of Operation Delta Safe have liberated 15 kidnapped victims from pirates in Nembe,

Bayelsa State and uncovered 48 illegal refineries in Rivers and Delta states.

A naval patrol team also recovered 1.5 million litres

Salary Cut Will Be Resisted, NLC Warns FG, States Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday cautioned the federal and state governments against any bid to slash workers' salaries on the excuse of the economic crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It urged all its affiliate unions and state branches to resist any salary deduction.

As part of measures to restart the economy, NLC advised the federal and state governments to intensify testing, contact tracing, public fumigation and robust public health education.

It also urged the federal government to build at least a test centre in each state.

NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, cautioned employers against tampering with workers’ salaries, adding that this is not the time to stop or deduct from workers’ salaries.

Wabba, at the commemoration of the 2020 International Workers' Memorial Day in Abuja, said such an action "would be both illogical and illegal as workers’ salaries are core elements of employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements."

"This is not the time to stop or deduct from workers’ salaries.

Such an action would be both illogical and illegal as workers’ salaries are core elements of employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements.

“We have asked our affiliates and state councils to resist any salary deduction on the account

of COVID-19," he said.

Wabba explained that the current crisis requires employers of labour to show solidarity with the workers.

"In reciprocation of the enormous sacrifice made by workers, we urge employers of labour to show solidarity with the sacrifice of our workers and people by ensuring wage protection, income support and social inclusion at these trying times.

"We reassure our workers that our priority in these trying times remains the cautious, gradual, evidence-led and smart restart of the economy so that our workers can go back to work. We are also completely committed to the recovery of lost jobs, protection of wages, support for income and livelihood and improvement of Nigeria’s social safety net," he added.

Given the current lockdown and in line with its global realities, Wabba said this year’s May Day would be low keyed.

He, however, added that the union has earmarked some symbolic events, including solidarity visits and gestures to frontline workers.

The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Stop the Pandemic at Work.”

Wabba described the commemoration as significant coming on the heels of the global fight against the COVID-19.

He praised the contributions of frontline workers, especially those in the healthcare sector to fighting the pandemic.

of stolen crude oil in another operation.

The troops were said to have encountered the pirates, while on a routine patrol on Nembe Owelese in Bayelsa State.

A military statement issued yesterday said the pirates on sighting the troop's gunboats escaped into the creeks, while 15 persons held hostage in fivespeed boats by the kidnappers were rescued.

Similarly, acting on a tip-off, the Nigerian Navy Ship, Pathfinder, patrol team intercepted and arrested three barges - MV Rock 1, Julianah and an unnamed barge laden with illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) at AGIP Waterfront for suspected involvement in illegal bunkering activities.

An update on military operations in the Niger Delta region issued by the Directorate of Defence Media Operations (DDMO) said the team also arrested another barge laden with suspected stolen crude oil around Okochiri River entrance.

In another operation, troops of Sector 3, Operation Delta Safe, raided four illegal refining sites along Dema Abby - Oputumbi - Nanabie - Promise Land - Otobie and Ogono general area.

"Items discovered and appropriately handled, include seven boilers, nine storage tanks, eight metal tanks, one dugout reservoir all filled with stolen crude oil.

"Others are eight metal tanks, 18 metal drums, 11 reservoir

tanks filled with illegally refined AGO and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK). Also, two empty Cotonou boats, one generator set, one pumping machine, two welding machines, one filing machine, rolls of hose, and one speedboat mounted with 75 HP engine (use for illegal bunkering activities) were also discovered within the site," it said.

The statement signed by DDMO Coordinator, Major General John Enenche, said troops of Sector 3 on patrol also intercepted a barge laden with suspected illegally refined AGO around Orutoru general area of Rivers State.

It said following intelligence report, troops of Headquarters Operation Delta Safe discovered

and appropriately handled an illegal refining site at Uzere community at Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, while troops of Sector 2 Operation deployed along KCTL pipeline at Odau Community in Abua/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State arrested three suspected pipeline vandals around Shell Petroleum Development Company pipeline.

"Overall, a total of three weapons were recovered, 48 illegal refineries, 28 surface metal storage tanks, 60 cooking ovens and 18 Cotonou boats amongst others were discovered, while about 58,500 litres of DPK, 11,750 liters of PMS, 855,900 litres of AGO and an estimated 1,507,000 litres of crude oil were seized by troops," it added.

TOTAL WAR AGAINST COVID-19...

Motorised Modular Fumigators donated to Lagos State Government by Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos…yesterday

Business Leaders, NMA Differ on Relaxation of Lockdown Martins Ifijeh and Dike Onwuamaeze Leaders of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and a former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mr. Olumide Akintayo, have expressed divergent views on the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to relax the lockdown imposed on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun states.

Buhari, in a broadcast on Monday, had said the lockdown would be relaxed effective May 4 and that other measures would be put in place to halt community spread of COVID-19.

While NMA and Akintayo said the gradual relaxation of the lockdown would fuel community spread of the disease, OPS described the president’s decision as a welcome development.

President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Mansur Ahmed, said the decision to gradually wind down the lockdown was a step in the right direction, because the economic cost of any further extension on businesses would be unbearable.

Ahmed said a continued lockdown might lead to the death of some companies, especially the micro, small and medium

enterprises, which would not be able to come back to business again, thus further worsening unemployment in the country.

He, however, called on the government to come out with clear guidelines for industries in order to avoid compounding the health risk.

Similarly, the Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the chamber expected the gradual phasing out of the lockdown to enable the economy to come back to life.

Yusuf added that the one-week extension would be used by the government to come up with a proper protocol that would enable business to go on without endangering the health of the citizens.

He urged organisations to use the one week to adjust their business models to suit the new environment.

On his part, the DirectorGeneral of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Dr. Timothy Olawale, commended the federal government for relaxing the lockdown as a way to find a balance between promoting public health and sustaining the economy.

NECA said measures to avoid a fresh outbreak of the pandemic as occurred in Ghana and China were important.

“It is of interest to note that for businesses to survive and protect their current employment trend, there is a need for more direct intervention from the government such as direct wage or income support, wage subsidies, tax credits or tax deferrals, short-term work schemes, a moratorium on loan payments and the establishment of a COVID-19 Job Retention Scheme, where the government pays up to 60 per cent of private sector salaries until June," he added.

In its reaction, the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Power (NACCIMA) described the relaxation of the lockdown as a right balance needed to prevent the total destruction of businesses and the economy.

A statement issued yesterday

by NACCIMA Director-General, Mr. Ayoola Olukanni, however, advocated that the gradual reopening should be done in a careful manner to prevent a resurgence of the virus.

Chief Consultant of B. Adedipe and Associates (BAA), Dr. Biodun Adedipe, viewed the gradual opening of businesses as a step in the right direction that must be carefully managed to avoid the dreaded “W” curve.

“If there is a spike in the rate of infection, do we lockdown again? That's what we call the

'W' phenomenon,” Adedipe said.

He advised the government to also consider the business losses during the lockdown and come up with fiscal stimulus, such as cash injection into businesses, that goes beyond tax breaks.

Relaxation of Lockdown Will Fuel Community Spread, Says NMA However, NMA Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Dr. Saliu Oseni, said the relaxation of lockdown would fuel community spread of the pandemic.

He told THISDAY yesterday that there was a need for extension of the lockdown, adding that the country is already battling with person-to-person transmission, which should require stringent measures to tackle.

He said: “It is obvious the government is unable to meet up with the palliatives for poor Nigerians and hence could no longer justify the lockdown. I presume that is why the president relaxed it.

“What the government is doing presently is just an alternative to what they were supposed to do. This alternative is not better than the total lockdown.

“The truth of the matter is that the government did not do what it was supposed to do to make the lockdown work appropriately.

That failure by the government is what has translated into the community spread of the virus we are seeing now.”

He added that for the country to win the fight against the virus, the federal government should invest in awareness, increase capacity for testing and then put those that are asymptomatic in holding areas rather than allowing them to isolate themselves at home.

“One of the challenges we are having is that the government has asked those without symptoms to self-isolate, but it has forgotten that few days before symptoms are noticed are the days when the virus spreads easily.

“These asymptomatic people have no awareness; so, they just go home and live normally since they do not have symptoms, and by so doing they are spreading the virus in the community,” he stated.

He also blamed rich Nigerians with COVID-19 who refused to isolate themselves for the spread of the virus, noting that they have now transferred the virus to ordinary Nigerians who lack the means to stay at home for so long.

On his part, Akintayo described the relaxation of the lockdown as a mistake, saying the federal government should rather extend it nationwide for the next 14 days.

He told THISDAY that the relaxation from May 4 was not because the government had halted community spread of COVID-19, adding that it was done to pacify stakeholders and the poor who are tired of the stay-at-home order.

He said: “The whole essence of the lockdown was to tackle community spread of COVID-19, but what we should ask ourselves is whether we have successfully tackled community spread, which is no.

“We instituted a lockdown, while we were not doing enough COVID-19 testing. To determine whether anyone has COVID-19 in Nigeria, you would have to take samples to the molecular laboratory, but in more serious climes, these tests are done through rapid diagnostic tests, which ideally are handled by community pharmacists and the private sector.

“When you look at the top three African countries that have done high numbers of COVID-19 testing, you will realise they went further than the use of molecular laboratory testing.”

According to him, South Africa has tested over 160,000 samples, while Ghana has tested more than 70,000, adding that Nigeria with over 200 million people has not tested up to 15,000 samples.

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PAGE NINE P&ID: FG SEEKS BANKS’ STATEMENTS TO OVERTURN CASE federal government has asked a Federal Court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials, including former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The politicians were in office when the state signed a contract with Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) and later became involved in a costly dispute with the company.

“There is good reason to believe that ministers at the highest level were involved in a corrupt scheme to steal money from Nigeria,” Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), was quoted as saying in court filings submitted on March 24.

Nigeria's chances of annulling the giant penalty hinge on proving the 2010 gas supply arrangement was a sham designed to fail by P&ID and government officials.

The saga became a full-blown crisis for Nigeria last August when a U.K. judge ruled P&ID could enforce an arbitration tribunal’s 2017 ruling, now totaling $9.6 billion, including interest, which found the country

breached the agreement.

A spokesman for P&ID denied wrongdoing, saying Malami has “manufactured a claim of fraud and bribery” to evade the state’s legal obligation to pay what amounts to about 30 per cent of the country’s foreign reserves.

Malami’s application is “nothing but an absurdly overbroad fishing expedition,” P&ID said in an April 24 court filing.

However, Jonathan has not been informed of the application, his spokesman said.

Malami didn’t respond to a request for comment about the court proceedings when contacted

by Bloomberg.

But the federal government is seeking the bank documents as part of an internal investigation into the contract and the arbitration proceedings.

The findings would form the basis of the U.K. appeal.

P&ID “had no ability or intention of ever performing” the contract, which required the company to build a gas processing plant and the government to supply it gas, Malami said.

Nigeria wants the US court’s permission to obtain information from the banks relating to

companies and individuals affiliated with P&ID, as well as former government officials, to aid the ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The 10 institutions are likely to have processed U.S. dollar transactions connected to P&ID’s operations, as either correspondent banks or the New York branches of foreign lenders, the filings said.

United States’ District Judge, Lorna Schofield, allowed Nigeria to send copies of its application to the banks, eight of which had been served by April 15, according to filings.

The court, however, hasn’t decided whether to give Nigeria access to the financial documents.

The country’s request may run into opposition from the banks.

JP Morgan was said to have complained in a court filing that it has “substantial concerns about the breadth of the proposed subpoena.”

The federal government is seeking documents from lenders, including Citigroup and JPMorgan, as well as the New York branches of Deutsche Bank AG and United Bank for Africa Plc. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank

declined to comment on the case, while JPMorgan and UBA didn’t respond to emails and calls.

EFCC is probing the roles of two former oil ministers, late Dr. Rilwan Lukman and Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, according to Nigeria’s court filings.

Lukman allegedly signed the contract while Alison-Madueke was accused of “flagrant mishandling” of the government’s arbitration strategy until 2015, the federal government said.

However, EFCC has not yet found “direct evidence” the politicians received payments from P&ID or its affiliates, the country said in its court filings.

Malami’s application “is wild speculation and no evidence exists” to back it up, P&ID said.

A lawyer for Alison-Madueke, in a separate EFCC investigation, said he had not been briefed on the government’s application to the US court, while another lawyer for the former petroleum minister did not respond to calls and messages.

Although Malami did not mention Jonathan as a subject of the EFCC probe, the former president appears alongside the ex-ministers in Nigeria’s proposed subpoenas.

The request includes “all

documents, concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit” of Jonathan and his wife between 2009 and the present day.

I Have No Account or Property Abroad, Says Jonathan Reacting to the report that the federal government has subpoenaed bank records for former President Jonathan and his wife, Mrs. Patience, in the United States of America, the former president said in a statement yesterday that he has no account or property abroad.

The statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze also stated that the federal government did not contact Jonathan or his wife before issuing these subpoenas, adding that if the government had contacted them, the former Nigerian leader would have advised the government “that you cannot subpoena what does not exist.”

The statement also recalled that on March 5, 2014, during the swearing-in of new ministers, the then President Jonathan said: “I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I

don’t have accounts or property abroad.”

“We are confident in stating that between that time and now, nothing has changed with regards to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. He has no accounts in the United States of America, and encourages US authorities to cooperate fully with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s subpoena.”

The statement also recalled that during his tenure as President of Nigeria, Jonathan “extended every courtesy to former Presidents and Heads of state, because he believed and still believes that promoting, projecting and protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty and image is the paramount duty of her government, because it is not possible to belittle Nigerians without belittling Nigeria.”

“Finally, we state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration, and that government gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice, if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances,” the statement added.

WITH 195 COVID-19 CASES IN 24 HOURS… ANALYSTS ASK FG TO PREPARE FOR ANOTHER LOCKDOWN TO AVERT DISASTER He, however, locked down Kano State, which had become the new epicentre of the rampaging virus.

Although he noted the rising cases of the pandemic despite the four-week lockdown, the president appeared helpless in the face of restiveness of the citizens who were complaining of hunger due to lack of livelihood.

The business owners were also complaining and warning of the potential danger to the fragile economy if the lockdown persisted.

But extrapolating from the

figures turned in yesterday, analysts foresee disaster ahead.

NCDC in its update said the pandemic had soared by 195 from 15 states, including Lagos 80, Kano 38, Bauchi 15, Ogun 15, Borno 11, Gombe 10, Sokoto nine, Jigawa five, Edo five, Zamfara two, FCT one, Enugu one, Rivers one, Delta one, and Nasarawa one.

According to analysts, who spoke to THISDAY, with an infection rate of 14 per cent and a death rate of three per cent, the figure could become huge when testing is ramped

up to two million as projected

by NCDC. “What this means is that at the present rate of 14 per cent, we would be looking at about 280,000 infected persons and 8,400 deaths when the testing increases to two million in three months,” said one of the analysts.

Saying this is a disaster waiting to happen, he advised the federal government to prepare for another lockdown to avert the impending public health crisis.

The analysts, however, recognised that the president had

eased the lockdown in the first instance because the government had failed to properly channel its palliatives to the poorest of the poor, whose then became very restive.

Going forward, they advised the federal government to use the period of the easement to do a restructure its palliative distribution strategy, saying it had to take into cognizance that it could not fund it alone.

“Government must realise that it could not foot the palliatives alone, therefore it must mobilise both the private sector and

encourage communities to be their brothers’ keeper,” an analyst said, pointing to the example of Lekki Food Bank in Lagos State.

“Every community must be encouraged to set up its food bank and distribute to the needy,” he said, explaining that except the poor and the workers are food-secure no lockdown would work.

Trump Calls Promises to Ventilators

Buhari, Provide

President, Mr. Donald Trump, has promised to send some ventilators to support Nigeria in the fight to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the country, which has afflicted 1,532 persons and killed 44 while 255 have been discharged.

Trump, in a telephone conversation with Buhari, gave assurances that the United States would stand by Nigeria in her fight to stamp out COVID-19.

According to presidential media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina,

Meanwhile, the United States

Continued on page 13

the benefits inherent in external borrowing.

He explained further that presently, the conditions in the domestic capital market were favourable in terms of availability of funds and relatively low interest rates.

“This cause of action is deemed prudent given our current realities. I have directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to make herself available to provide any additional information or clarification which you may require,” Buhari said.

Earlier yesterday, the senate president had lamented the negative impact of the pandemic on the 2020 budget, rallying senators behind the executive to see the country out of the woods.

Welcoming the senators back after a long break, Lawan said: "The pandemic has affected our budget for this year, not just because of falling oil prices, but also because it has forced a reduction in economic activities, leading to an enormous loss of revenue,” he said.

He noted that the Senate leadership had been working with the executive on areas of adjustments for a more realistic implementation, adding that the resumption yesterday would lead to a quicker resolution of some of its decisions.

"The pandemic has unsettled economies, affected the way we relate to each other and disrupted calendars of activities across different sectors,” Lawan said, adding: “Government has responded well under the recommendations of scientists and experts."

He also appealed to senators to continue to educate Nigerians and their constituents on COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and using of facial masks as one of the ways

to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

After the approval of the Senate votes and proceedings for yesterday, the Senate president adjourned plenary sine die.

RELIEF FOR FG AS IMF APPROVES $3.4BN EMERGENCY SUPPORT FOR NIGERIA the strings and conditionalities attached to an IMF formal programme, is being disbursed immediately "in a matter of days, and will boost the foreign currency reserves of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and give monetary authorities the required firepower as it moves towards convergence and stability of the exchange rate in a time of supply and demand shocks," analysts said.

The Washington-based institution disclosed this in a statement by its Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa.

IMF Executive Board approved Nigeria’s request for emergency financial assistance of Special Drawing Right (SDR) 2,454.5 million (US$ 3.4 billion, 100 per cent of quota) under RFI to meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest approval by IMF is the largest allocation to member countries, so far, to assist in the fight against the pandemic.

The multilateral institution pointed out that the COVID-19 outbreak had magnified existing vulnerabilities, leading to a historic contraction in Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and to large external and fiscal financing needs.

Furusawa explained: “The COVID-19 outbreak—magnified by the sharp fall in international oil prices and reduced global demand for oil products—is severely impacting economic activity in Nigeria.

“These shocks have created large external and financing needs for 2020. Additional declines in oil prices and more protracted containment measures would seriously affect the real and financial sectors and strain

the country’s financing.

“The authorities’ immediate actions to respond to the crisis are welcome. The short-term focus on fiscal accommodation would allow for higher health spending and help alleviate the impact of the crisis on households and businesses. Steps taken toward a more unified and flexible exchange rates are also important and unification of the exchange rate should be expedited.”

He advised the federal government that once the COVID-19 crisis passes, the focus should remain on medium-term macroeconomic stability, with revenue-based fiscal consolidation essential to keep the country’s debt sustainable and create fiscal space for priority spending.

Furthermore, he said the government should also focus on implementing the reform priorities under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, particularly on power and governance, which remained crucial to boost growth over the medium term.

“The emergency financing under the RFI will provide much needed liquidity support to respond to the urgent Balance of Payment needs. Additional assistance from development partners will be required to support the government’s efforts and close the large financing gap.

“The implementation of proper governance arrangements—including through the publication and independent audit of crisismitigating spending and procurement processes—is crucial to ensure emergency funds are used for their intended purposes,” he added.

According to IMF, in the nearterm, the economic impact of COVID-19 was expected to be severe, stating that already, high

downside risks in the country have increased.

It pointed out that even before the COVID-19 outbreak, “Nigeria’s economy was facing headwinds from rising external vulnerabilities and falling per capita GDP levels.”

IMF said it remained closely engaged with the Nigerian authorities and was ready to provide policy advice and further support whenever required by the country.

Senate Endorses Buhari’s N850bn Loan Request The Senate yesterday returned from a five-week break to speedily approve the N850 billion local loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari to fund critical capital projects in the 2020 budget after which the lawmakers adjourned indefinitely.

The upper legislative chamber, after rising from a two-hour executive session, considered the loan request contained in a two-page letter dated March 24 from Buhari, and read at plenary by the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan.

The Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, moved a motion for the suspension of Order 1 of the Senate Rules to allow the Senate to consider the loan request.

He requested that the loan application be granted due to the necessity of the time and the strategic projects to be executed with it.

There was no dissenting voice and the Senate unanimously approved the N850 billion loan request.

Lawan thereafter directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to furnish the Senate Committees on Appropriation and Finance with

full details and breakdown of the approved loan.

Buhari had sought the approval in the letter entitled: "Request for the National Assembly to raise N850 billion in new external borrowing in the 2020 Appropriation Act in naira from the domestic capital market."

In the letter, the president noted that the 2020 Appropriation Act provided for N1,594,986,700,544 of new domestic borrowing and N850 billion of new external borrowing.

These borrowings were to part-finance the 2020 budget deficit of N2,175,197,885,232 only.

"Furthermore, the Senate may wish to note that external borrowing from the international capital market increases Nigeria's external reserves, provides access to lower costs as well as avoids crowding out private sector borrowers who also wish to access the domestic capital market,” he said.

The president said recent developments in the global economic environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in international oil prices had made it less attractive to borrow from the international capital markets at this time.

“To ensure that there are adequate funds to finance critical projects and programmes in the 2020 budget, I hereby seek the Senate's approval to raise the N850 billion of new external borrowing in naira from the domestic capital market instead of from the international capital market,” he said.

The president, however, explained that it might still access the international capital market when situations improve to refinance the N850 billion of new borrowing and epitomise

DMO Explains N850bn Borrowing Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has shed more light on the N850 billion domestic borrowing, saying it was initially captured in the 2020 Appropriation Act as 'External Borrowing.'

It said in a statement yesterday that the Appropriation Act approved a total of N1,594.99 trillion as 'new borrowing' to part-finance the deficit in the budget.

This, it stated, was made up of N794.99 billion domestic borrowing and N850 billion external borrowing.

TOP GAINERS CORNERSTONE LASACO FCMB GTBANK ZENITH BANK TOP LOSERS WAPIC AFRIPRUD CAVERTON

NGN NGN 0.05 0.59 0.02 0.28 0.10 1.70 5.00 21.00 0.65 14.85 NGN 0.02 0.25 0.22 3.48 0.12 2.35 UNILEVER 0.50 10.50 INTERBREW 0.20 4.60 HPE Nestle Nig Plc ₦920.20 Volume: 266.63 million shares Value: N2.755 billion Deals: 4,259 As at yesterday 28/4/2020 See details on Page 27

% 9.2 7.6 6.2 5.0 4.5 % 7.4 5.9 2.3 4.8 4.1

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

AfCFTA Postpones Implementation of Agreement Dike Onwuamaeze The Secretary-General the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr. Wamkele Mene, yesterday announced the postponement of the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement scheduled for July 1, 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mene said: “It is obviously not possible to commence trade as we had intended on 1 July under the current circumstances.

“I think that’s the responsible thing to do. I don’t think it would be appropriate when people are dying to be focused on meeting the 1 July deadline.

Instead all governments should be allowed to concentrate their

efforts on fighting the pandemic and saving lives at home.”

Mene did not disclose the targeted implementation date, but there were strong speculations that the new commencement date might be January 2021. “The political commitment remains, the political will remains to integrate Africa’s market and to implement the agreement as was intended,” he said.

The AfCFTA was promoted as having the capacity to bring about $3.4 trillion intra-African trade with 1.3 billion people across Africa and constitute the largest new trading bloc since the World Trade Organisation was formed in 1994.

According to the Head,

House Pushes for Repatriation of Illegal Chinese Immigrants Udora Orizu inAbuja Following the maltreatment of Nigerians in China, the House of Representatives at the resumption of plenary on yesterday ordered investigation into the legality or otherwise of Chinese nationals living in the country currently for possible repatriation back to China.

The House consequently mandated its committees on Interior, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring, and Commerce to investigate the Nigerian Immigration, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board, and any other relevant Ministry, Department or Agency in a bid to commence processes that will lead to the repatriation of illegal Chinese immigrants.

The committees are to check the validity of all immigration documents of every Chinese person in Nigeria and the expatriate quota of all the Chinese businesses in Nigeria to ascertain the number of illegal and undocumented Chinese immigrants in Nigeria and to repatriate them to China to regularise.

The lawmakers also condemned “in its entirety, the maltreatment,

discrimination and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians 1n the Peoples Republic of China.”

The resolutions were sequel to a motion titled: “Maltreatment and Institutional Acts of Racial Discrimination against Nigerians Living in China by the Government of China:” sponsored by Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu and nine others.

While moving the motion, the lawmaker said the House is aware that as a result of the mutually beneficial diplomatic and economic relationship between Nigeria and China, about 10,000 Nigerians, including investors, traders, workers and students, currently reside in and around Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province of the Peoples Republic of China.

“These Nigerians have generated massive trade volumes between the two countries such that for 2019 alone, the Nigeria-China trade value was worth over $8.6 billion.

“Recalls that sometimes on April 8, 2020, photos and videos appeared on various social media outlets depicting institutionalized acts of racial discrimination, maltreatment, xenophobic assaults, embarrassments, illegal detentions and forceful evictions of Nigerians and other Africans living in Guangzhou.

FG Books Hotels for Returning Nigerians

The federal government has booked hotel rooms in Lagos for Nigerians returning from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on account of the pandemic.

The citizens will be quarantined in the hotels for two weeks on arrival to ascertain their status.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed that the concerned individuals may be repatriated on Monday.

Providing an update in Abuja yesterday, during a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the minister disclosed that some hotels in Lagos have agreed to accept the returning citizens.

“The low hanging fruit at the moment are those who already paid for their flight from Dubai, they were expecting to be here last week, but unfortunately, they had not cross-checked to find out the health situation.

Foreign affairs was not as directly involved as we would have liked.

“Be that as it may, since they have already paid, everything is more or less in place. That flight was supposed to go to Lagos, we have made a bit more progress with hotels here in Abuja than in Lagos.

But speaking to the governor, we agreed that we just have to do the first one quickly, we learn lessons and so forth. It is absolutely important to get that flight here.”

Onyeama lauded the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for assisting with the hotel accommodations, noting that his committee was trying to bring the rates down.

He added, “We have been able to identify hotels here in Abuja and also in Lagos. I was on the phone this afternoon with the Governor of Lagos and he has done a wonderful job in trying to bring the prices of the hotels in Lagos down and we are struggling to bring the prices down here in Abuja.

Division of International Economics Relations, Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Dr. Efem N. Ubi, the postponement of the take-off date was in order to enable African countries focus fully

on surviving the threat from COVID-19.

“The focus should be on sustaining our economy and see how we can win the war against COVID-19 by managing what we have. And the most

important thing for the post COVID-19 economy is for African countries to focus on the kind of education that will promote science and technology that will transit the continent from a primary producer to

a manufacturing economy.

The focus onward should be science, technology, agriculture and health so that Africans can produce and have things to trade among themselves,” Ubi said.

CELEBRATING ROYAL DONATIONS…

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; and Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, during the donation of Motorised Modular Fumigators to the Lagos State Government by the Ooni of Ife, to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the state, at Lagos House, Marina...yesterday

IG Appoints New CPs for Adamawa, Imo, Plateau Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, yesterday ordered the posting of new Commissioners of Police for Adamawa, Imo and Plateau states.

They are: Olugbenga Adeyanju for Adamawa State; Isaac Olutayo Akinmoyede for Imo State; Audu Adamu for Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Force Headquarters, Abuja and Edward Chuka Egbuka for

Plateau State.

A statement signed by the Force PRO and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Frank Mba, said the IG while enjoining the citizens of the affected states to accord the CPs maximum support and

cooperation, charged the newly posted officers to “ensure that they effectively consolidate and improve on the performances of their predecessors”.

Mba said the postings take immediate effect.

Nigerian Advertised for Sale on Facebook By Lebanese Rescued The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Mrs. Abike DabiriErewa, has disclosed that the woman who was offered for sale on Facebook by a Lebanese, Wael Jerro, has been rescued.

She said the victim, Busari Peace, was with the Nigerian Mission in Beirut, Lebanon.

Jerro had advertised the victim with her Nigerian passport on a Facebook page, ‘Buy and Sell in Lebanon’.

He put a price tag of $1,000 on the 30-year-old Ibadan, Oyo

State indigene.

Dabiri-Erewa later announced the arrest of the suspect by the Lebanese government, whom she said also condemned the act.

She assured that Busari would be rescued.

In a tweet yesterday

accompanied by a video clip, she said the victim had been rescued.

“Update on Nigerian girl put up for sale by a Lebanese, Wael Jerro, on Facebook. She has been rescued and safely with officials of the Nigerian Mission in Beirut,” she wrote.

Okowa Relaxes Restrictions on Movement, Extends Ban on Large Gatherings Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has announced a partial relaxation of the state lockdown to tackle COVID-19 pandemic, which included weddings and burial ceremony, with strict observance of social distancing rules.

While thanking the citizens, security agencies and other

stakeholders for the contribution to the appreciable success and gains of the 28-day lockdown, Okowa said in a broadcast in Asaba yesterday that the ban on certain public gatherings like sports and religious congregation as well as mass movement in vehicles would still be in force.

Schools are to remain closed for at least one more month while the ban on inter-state

movement, other than for specified essential services as announced last Monday by President Muhammadu Buhari, would be strictly enforced in Delta State, the governor added.

Okowa, who reiterated the readiness of his administration to continue to tackle the challenge posed by coronavirus frontally and proactively, said: “We have every reason to believe that the

lockdown has helped to limit the spread of the virus in our state. As at today, six cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, while five of the patients are doing well in our case management centres.

Sadly, we lost one of them who presented himself late to the medical authorities; his test report, which turned out to be positive, was received after his unfortunate demise.

and Productivity. Akwashiki replaced Senator Benjamin Umajumogu, who died last December in Abuja Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) has also been named Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora.

Basiru, who until his new

assignment chaired the Senate Committee on Diaspora, was a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Osun State.

Akwashiki (Nasarawa North) was before yesterday, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs.

Senate Gets New Spokesman Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate now has appointed a new spokesperson in the person of Senator Ajibola Basiru , representing Osun Central .

He was yesterday named the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media

and Public Affairs.

President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, who made the announcement during plenary, also named the erstwhile acting spokesman of the upper legislative chamber, Senator Godiya Akwashiki as the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour

Four Persons Killed in Cult, Communal Clashes in Akwa Ibom, Benue George Okoh in Makurdi and Okon Bassey in Uyo No fewer than four people were killed in cult-related clash as well as communal clash in Benue and Akwa Ibom states.

Three persons were reportedly killed in a bloody clash between two rival cult groups in Akwa Ibom State.

The clash occurred in Inen community in OrukAnam Local Government Area of the state.

THISDAY gathered that one Otobong Ben Ufenang was allegedly killed last Monday by a five-man gang and his body dismembered near the community primary school at Inen Ikot Etim.

Another victim was allegedly lynched in Odoro Ikot at the boundary village between Ukanafun and OrukAnam council areas.

Also, the third victim was murdered in Inen Ikot Obio Idang, where houses were looted and residents fled the area for their dear lives.

Meanwhile, the state

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnudam Frederick, has confirmed the incident, but insisted that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area would ascertain the number of suspects arrested.

According to him, “The DPO of the area actually called me that there was a clash between two rival cult groups”.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

A N A LY S I S

The Tourism Option for Post COVID-19 Boom Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that the federal and various state governments that are worried by how to get their economies back on track after the COVID-19 era should be interested in the robust propositions that are tied to growth of domestic tourism propounded

by Mr. Folorunsho Coker, Director General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation

Buhari

Ehanire

Coker

Ihekweazu

R

is being done by the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC. His conclusion is that they have done a great job combating the pandemic thus far and in the circumstances.

“Without their professionalism the virus would have been more widespread across Nigeria than it presently is. The foresightedness, preparedness and strategic planning of the NCDC team should be commended. They had prepared a tracking template (arrival card) to be filled by all passengers arriving from foreign countries way before the first case in Nigeria was identified. They are active and interactive on different social media platforms and they continue to inform the public on a daily basis on measures to take to stay safe, the numbers of the infected across the country, as well as diligently tracking possible contacts of COVID-19 patients across the country. Our capacity to fight the pandemic could be improved if all citizens recognize the need to be responsible and follow the guidelines and protocols provided by the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC.” Coker superintends a very expansive industry with many sub-sectors, accommodating scores of professionals and millions of workers, which is the reason he was hesitant to volunteer opinions without the privilege of a studious response, when this reporter approached him.

To Coker, the tourism industry should always anticipate the worst because it has “this silent ugly component of disease transfer seen before with Ebola crisis, “but he agreed no one was prepared for this novel Coronavirus pandemic, which has caused a global shock.

For the country to get along during this pandemic, Coker outlines what needs to be done: The transparency of govt institutions, fact checking of a free non-sensational press, civil obedience and separation of operations from command and control is essential for clarity and calming unease during this period.

COVID-19 pandemic has definitely hit the travel and tourism hard, but as the common song goes, ‘it is not a death sentence,’ even for corporates. In the estimation of the Chief Promoter of Nigerian Tourism, the pandemic offers a rare opportunity for reflection and recalibration to properly develop travel and tourism as it is uniquely equipped to be part of global recovery efforts going beyond tourism.

“As a country and part of a global community, we should consider adopting and domesticating the protocols and recommendations put forward by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Tourism Crisis Committee which has been busy looking into solutions for recovery since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global pandemic.

All the measures recommended to member states are tailored towards managing the crisis and mitigating its impacts, providing stimulus and accelerating recovery for the industry whilst also planning for tomorrow.

As a nation, we need to consider and deploy innovative recovery solutions that are home grown and practical, tailor made for our specific environment and people and are in three possible policy thrusts: Healing for the People, Healing for Prosperity and Healing for Destinations. Health, Employment and

Environment.

Stemming from the above, possible steps on the path to recovery for the sector in Nigeria may include but not limited to: a) Provision of liquidity instruments for restarting tourism businesses with a maximum single digit interest on loans with repayment suspended till the end of year 2020 or when business improves post the pandemic. b) A reduction in the current Value-Added-Tax regime of 7.5% for as long as it takes for consumer spending to increase. c) A halt on the payment of loan instalments for the whole of 2020 with a possible year’s extension on repayment for all travel and tourism related business loans. d) Provision of special incentives by government to the Tourism, Aviation, Hospitality and Entertainment industries to enhance recovery. e) Possible suspension of the income tax payment regime for 2020 by all travel and tourism related businesses. f) A targeted promotional campaign programme through the cooperation of all MDAs and tourism stakeholders to promote Nigeria as a destination and encourage Nigerians to Tour Nigeria. g) Cooperation with other regional governments in West Africa for a recovery plan as tourism and transport will not thrive without common ECOWAS protocols for health control as regards travel. h) ECOWAS and The African Union could do with a Marshall Plan style similar to that provided after the Second World War. As multilateral banks (e.g. AFDB, IMF, World Bank, International Finance Corporation) are granting funds to national governments to help and support micro and small enterprises, there is need for governments to include investment funds for tourism which represents a priority sector for global economic recovery.

Tourism stakeholders are encouraged to ensure that they are part of the discussions which are held on both state and national levels in order for the tourism sector to be considered and added as a beneficiary in the relief packages that are being proposed to help support and mitigate the effects of this pandemic.”

In the meantime, the NTDC realizes that any proposed strategic path for recovery envisaged for the industry must leverage on innovative and disruptive tech ideas to enhance and promote domestic tourism after the pandemic. Coker is convinced that “The Soft Power of Nigeria and our digital penetration supported incentives/financial support packages can truly make a difference.”

esponse to COVID-19 by the various governments of countries around the world have been largely disastrous. The common excuse is that the disease is novel and even the advanced countries of the world had their period of groping in the dark, before they found a handle to walk through the recovery process. As acknowledged by President Muhammadu Buhari in his April 27, 2020 nationwide broadcast leaders around the world are faced with the same difficult decisions, “on how to balance the need to protect health while also preserving livelihoods.”

The painful reality painted by President Buhari is that the lockdown of the nation comes at a very heavy economic cost. Many citizens have lost their means of livelihood, while businesses have shut down. Therefore, walking a middle course between those who wished for continuation of a complete lockdown and others advocating the lifting of restrictions, Buhari opted to follow “strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures while allowing the restoration of some economic and business activities in certain sectors.”

But in which sectors will “some economic and business activities” be restored? This is where the Director General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr. Folorunsho Coker strongly wishes to draw attention to those whose income were tied to services that have been put under lock and key. For this category the lockdown is a horrific economic nightmare they wish to wake up from. A lot of people may not reckon with the financial dividends that come from concerts, hotels, night clubs, drinking joints, art shops, culture hubs, book shops, hair salons, tailoring services, transportation and laundry services to mention a few.

So, Coker, who runs the Nigeria government’s tourism promotion agency with an acronym that sounds like another parastatal that is everybody’s lips these days-NCDC-the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control is concerned that the country should take some hard lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. Thinking of the likelihood of a future occurrence, he cautioned that Nigeria needs to map her “vulnerability by exposure to disease in an increasingly global community, acknowledge the efficiencies and capacity of her institutions, especially the health systems in time and space whilst being aware that her people reside in dense urban settings with high populations in cities or in displaced camps.”

The multi-sectoral nature of tourism demands that Coker looks closely at what

This is where he sees opportunities that others may not be looking at. The virus, he says, has already remapped our life as we knew it and may never return back to the old normal again. Businesses that relied on the convergence of people in defined spaces for recreational, entertainment, or other reasons are the worst hit by the pandemic in view of the need for social distancing to reduce its spread (air travel, theaters, events/festivals, cinemas, sporting events, religious gatherings etc. have all been negatively impacted). Will we ever forget the harm of a sneeze or a handshake? In order not to sound like a prophet of doom, Coker left open a window of opportunity. Going back to normal for the travel, tourism and hospitality industry is possible but will not be easy

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

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WEDNESDAY, ͺ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS WITH 195 COVID-19 CASES IN 24 HOURS… ANALYSTS ASK FG TO PREPARE FOR ANOTHER LOCKDOWN TO AVERT DISASTER the two leaders commiserated with each other on fatalities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in their respective countries.

They also shared ideas on how to successfully combat the global pandemic.

He said Buhari expressed condolences to the government and people of the United States over the fatalities recorded in the pandemic and expressed concern over the high rate of deaths caused by the disease across the world.

The statement added: "The associated negative impacts of the pandemic on the world’s economy also came up for discussion.

"The Nigerian president lauded his American counterpart for the various initiatives adopted by his government to contain the further spread of the virus across the United States.

"He indicated Nigeria’s readiness to cooperate with the United States to fight this common unseen enemy.

"President Buhari informed that Nigeria had taken a number of proactive measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 across the country.

"The president welcomed the valuable friendship and expressed appreciation to President Trump for reaching out at this time."

However, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who earlier broke the news of the conversation between Buhari and Trump during the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, said the US president promised to send some ventilators to Nigeria to help in managing COVID-19 cases.

“President Buhari used the opportunity to brief the American president on the steps that Nigeria is taking to contain the spread of the disease.

“For his part, President Trump assured (Buhari) that the United States stands in solidarity with Nigeria in this difficult time and promised to send ventilators to support the country in its fight against the pandemic,” Mohammed added.

Also speaking, the Chairman of PTF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, warned that the next phase after the easing of the lockdown would be demanding as it would require personal responsibility from every citizen.

Mustapha said drawing from the experience of previous pandemics that ravaged the world, it would not be a party time for Nigerians.

“This is the time for each and every one of us to take personal responsibility and the only way we can take personal responsibility is to take heed to the advisory, the medical advisory of keeping a safe distance, of personal hygiene, of wearing masks, of avoiding unnecessary travel and visitations because what will happen to every one of us going forward will depend on what we do.

“Government is doing the best it can to provide safety, resources, and facilities for us to combat COVID-19 but the reaction of the citizens on individual and collective basis will determine whether we will succeed or not,” Mustapha stated.

NCDC to Test 2m Persons in Three Months At the press briefing, NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, unfolded plans to test two million people within the next three months.

He said the move was in line with the charge given by Buhari while addressing the nation on Monday to expand the nation's testing capacity.

He added that the centre would work with development partners to achieve the target.

He also explained that Nigeria had so far conducted a total of 12,004 tests.

Ihekweazu, who acknowledged that the country was behind some

more likelihood of people running into other persons with COVID-19, and it is clearly impracticable to always expect sufficient social distancing with community spread, hence other measures have been instituted to ensure the virus is halted. And one of such measures is the compulsory use of face masks. Therefore if Nigerians are able to protect themselves with an extra layer like face masks or handkerchief, we will reduce the possibility of sharing droplets.

“Mask wearing alone is not the only measure to take. People should wash their hands regularly, use sanitisers and spending time mostly at home.

“Travel restrictions are still in place because the virus is transported from one person to the other. Travel restrictions are very important. The curfew put in place will help stop night travels, especially since interstate travels are banned, those who may want to travel at night would then be contravening the law.”

He listed some of the constraints in the fight against FG Sets up Expert Study COVID-19 to include tracing of contacts in cluster areas, delays Group on Pandemic in getting tests done and issues In his briefing, the Minister around transportation of samples, of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, adding that despite having 15 said his ministry had set up laboratories, the government is a ministerial expert advisory working on improving its courier committee, headed by a prominent and delivery service of samples.

“We pray the virus doesn’t get virologist, to study the evolution and development of the COVID-19 outbreak and the responses in Nigeria. The team would also advise on the national strategy and action plan, using lessons learned across the globe.

"This will help us to identify and adopt the promising strategies and align our plans with best practices and advisories," he said.

Ehanire added that there's a national concern about the sharp increase of COVID-19 cases in Kano, concentrated in seven municipal council areas and also about certain so-called "unexplained" deaths.

He said his ministry had sent a nine-man delegation to Kano on a fact-finding mission and to support the COVID-19 response in the state. other nations in testing capacity and the number so far tested for the virus, expressed worry that certain human factors were inhibiting the NCDC's drive to carry out more tests and contact tracing.

"We have learnt from every other country and we have found out that the only way to achieve this is to test more people. Our strategic group that is attending to this outbreak has set itself a target of testing two million people in the next three months.

"This is a very ambitious target.

We are working very hard with our development partners and friends to equip our laboratories to be able to make this happen,” he stated.

Ihekweazu expressed concern that frequent non-essential travels by people are threatening the efforts of NCDC to check the spread of the virus in Nigeria.

He explained that the goal of NCDC is to avoid the spread of the virus and to keep states with no-case or few cases exactly that way.

Chinese Medical Personnel Test Negative Ehanire also said the Chinese doctors, who arrived in Nigeria on April 8 with medical supplies to aid in the efforts to combat the pandemic, had tested negative for the virus.

He said his ministry had concluded the close monitoring of the team.

“As for the Chinese persons who came in, the tests have been done after their 14 days quarantine. All of them were negative. The Federal Ministry of Health is done with that particular case,” he said.

Ehanire: We Don’t Have Social Structure to Sustain Lockdown Ehanire also stated that the relaxation of the lockdown by the federal government is the right decision as the country does not have the social structure to keep it going.

Speaking on Arise Television, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers yesterday, he said the lockdown had a devastating effect on the economy, livelihood and social lives, adding that the relaxation would ease the economy disruption a little bit, while other measures are put in place to address the health concerns posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “We do not have the structures of other countries that are able to take care of their poor citizens in a very difficult time as this. We are not structured that way, so I think President Muhammadu Buhari made the right decision.

“With the relaxation, there is

to hard-to-reach areas because we are doing well with tracking those in the cities. Contact tracing has to be very efficient, especially now that there are suspicions of some cases coming into the country from the land borders. We have no choice now but to increase testing capacity and ramp it up by three months.

“On the shortage of health workers, we are recruiting people all the time. I don’t think the shortage is what is affecting testing, it is the strategy for testing we need to work on,” Ehanire added.

He said Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigerian Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) were all working towards finding vaccines and cure for the virus, adding that the federal government has given researchers the support to address the pandemic.

Private Sector Relief Fund Hits N27.16bn Donations to the private sector relief fund championed by CBN to raise funds to combat the pandemic had risen to N27.160 billion as of April 23, up from the N25.894 billion reported previously.

A statement issued yesterday on behalf of the coalition

by CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, showed that the number of contributors into the fund has increased from the 107 reported previously, to a total of 123 individuals and organisations.

Okoroafor, while urging more Nigerians and corporate bodies to contribute to the fund, charged them to do their part in checking any further spread of the virus.

“The coalition is grateful to all the institutions and individuals that have open-handedly donated to this fund.

“We urge others to consider contributing to this national solidarity to provide not only medical equipment and materials, but also to render urgently needed palliatives to the poor and vulnerable segments of our society.

“We pledge to continually ensure full disclosure and accountability for all donations made,” CBN spokesman added.

The objective of CACOVID is to mobilise private sector leadership and private sector resources; increase general public awareness, education, and buy-in and provide direct support to private and public healthcare ability to respond to the crisis as well as support the federal government’s efforts.

UNIBEN Produces Clinically Tested Ventilator

A group of researchers at University of Benin (UNIBEN) has produced a clinically-tested ventilator to manage COVID-19 patients in the state.

UNIBEN’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Benedicta Ehanire, in a statement issued yesterday, said the feat was attained by researchers drawn from the institution’s Faculties of Engineering and Medical Sciences.

She said the group, led by Prof.

Kensington Obahiagbon, took into consideration the peculiar circumstances of the country while producing the ventilator.

According to her, the project has now been presented to the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Lilian Salami, alongside other members of the school management.

Speaking on the project, Obahiagbon said: “The ventilator was produced to work without electricity for at least one hour.”

Germany Donates Additional €5.5m to Nigeria Germany has announced another financial intervention to assist Nigeria in its response to the pandemic.

The country, in a statement via its Twitter handle, @GERinNigeria, yesterday, said it was providing €5.5 million to support vulnerable people in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.

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COMMENT

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

THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY Life is filled with turbulence, argues Sonnie Ekwowusi

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nce upon a time (in 523 A.D. to be precise) there lived in Pavia, a city south of Milan, Italy, an Italian statesman, scholar and academic called Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. Boethius was born into a highly successful and wealthy family at the threshold of the collapse of the Roman Empire. As a boy Boethius was very brilliant. He studied Classics. He translated much of Plato and Aristotle’s work from Greek into Latin. He was very wealthy. He lived in a luxurious Villa, eat sumptuous meals. Besides, he married a woman of great charm and beauty called Rusticiana. Rusticiana had two sons for Boethius. Both were very handsome. Like their father, they were very successful in life. Given his attractive talents Boethius eventually ventured into Italian politics. Shortly after entering politics, he rose to political stardom. He occupied a number of elevated political posts under Theodoric, the then King of Ostrogoth, Italy.

But one day Boethius heard some hard knocks at his door. Upon opening his door some soldiers from King Ostrogoth stormed into his bedroom and had him arrested on a falsified charge of plotting to overthrow King Ostrogoth. Without being allowed to bid his lovely wife and children farewell Boethius was whisked away and dumped into a tiny cell without trial. Even though Boethius had been imprisoned most citizens of Pavia knew that he was innocent of the trumped-up charge.

Abandoned to die in a suffocating cell, and deprived of his dignity, the affection of his beautiful wife Rusticiana, his lovely children and friends, Boethius soon sank into a deep melancholy. All his disheveled hair soon turned white. Boethius was downcast. He was emaciated. He was dejected. On contemplating how he fell from grace to grass and his separation from his lovely wife and children, Boethius fell into despair.

It was at this time that an expected visitor visited Boethius in prison. In the words of Boethius, “while I was pondering thus in silence, and using my pen to set down so tearful a complaint, there appeared standing over my head a woman’s form, whose countenance was full of majesty, whose eyes shone as with fire and whose power of insight surpassed that of all men‌â€?

Boethius’ first shock was that the uninvited visitor still found her way into his cell even when the cell was locked with a padlock. The lady was very beautiful. She was dark in complexion, tall and splendidly built. Her voice was tender as much as it was consoling. No sooner had Boethius tried to open his mouth to engage the visitor in a conversation than the visitor merely introduced herself as Philosophy. Taking a closer look at the lady, Boethius discovered that she was carrying a pack of philosophical and classical books on one hand and a sceptre on the other hand. Lady Philosopher inquired from Boethius the cause of his anguish and melancholy. After Boethius had finished unburdening his heart, a long conversation between her and Boethius ensued. Lady Philosopher explained to Boethius that external violation of one’s freedom does not affect the exercise of one’s interior freedom which happens to be the utmost freedom. She told Boethius that it is unwise to put blind faith in the ephemeral gifts of fortune- material wealth, fame, power, prosperity, money, reputation and career- which many people mistakenly believe are the fundamental ingredients of happiness when it is obvious that one would surrender them some day at a stroke. She reminded Boethius

EVEN THOSE PERIODS WHICH WE THINK MOST TRANQUIL ‌ TURN OUT, ON CLOSER INSPECTION, TO BE FULL OF CRIES, ALARMS, DIFFICULTIES, EMERGENCIES

about the inconstancy in human affairs. She reminded him about Fortune’s famous saying, �Inconstancy is my very essence; it is the game I never cease to play as I turn my wheel in its ever changing circle‌ yes, rise up on my wheel if you like, but don’t count it an injury when by the same token you begin to fall, as the rules of the game will require‌.

Isn’t this what tragedy commemorates with its tears and tumult?�

After saying this, Lady Philosopher sat down and thereafter delivered to Boethius the kernel of her message. She told him that true happiness cannot be found in one’s material possession or one’s activities or things governed by chance: true happiness truly lies in what one can never lose, in what the Stoic philosophers called ‘inner citadel,’ which develops one’s powers of reasoning in order to give one access to the beauty, mystery and complexity of the universe. At this juncture Boethius recovered from his melancholy. He came to his senses. He cleared his eyes, and took a studied look around his tiny cell. No lady.

His visitor was a metaphorical figure. Thereafter Boethius sat down and penned what has become a classical masterpiece with the alluring title, The Consolation of Philosophy.

Our troubled coronavirus pandemic times deserve to rediscover the message of Philosophy. The people of our times need to appreciate that those who build their happiness and prowess exclusively around the ubiquity and fickleness of material wealth, fame, power, prosperity, money, reputation and career (as if these things are the object of human destiny or the quencher of human thirst) are the most sorrowful and dejected of all men. Whereas the coronavirus pandemic had unfortunately killed many across the world including Dr. Alfa Sa’adu, Carol Jamabo, Ugochukwu Erondu, Bassey Offiong, Abba Kyari and other Nigerians, those who are still alive in their respective homes observing the stay-at-home directive are anxiously wondering what would be their fate if the coronavirus pandemic worsens or what would happen to their material wealth. They fail to realize that by possessing themselves they already possess everything. The provocative message of Lady Philosopher to the people of Boethius’ times and I suppose to the people of our times is that the best way to find happiness and peace of mind in troubled times is to ensure that the ingredients we associate with happiness are not direct conduits to a fundamental instability and fickleness that lead to inner torment and anxiety. In his book entitled, The Overlooked Factor: The Power of Being Fully Human, Paul Mimbi writes that unlike Nietzsche and Heidegger who held that the temporal horizon of man’s existence is un-surpassing, man, in his spiritual nature, can transcend time. “Man is happy in the measure that he surpasses time by means of hope, enthusiasm and love�.

Man is happier to the extent in which he accepts the difficulties and emergencies confronting him and tries to excel in them instead of lamenting them. For example, those anxiously waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to end so that life will return to normal may be multiplying their anxiety and sorrows. C.S Lewis words in 1948 at the time the atomic bomb posed a great existential threat still rings true today, “We are mistaken when we compare war with ‘normal life’.

Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil ‌ turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms, difficulties, emergencies.�

CRY THE BELOVED CONTINENT

The Covid-19 crisis calls for elimination of waste, theft and inefficiencies in governance on the continent, writes John F. E. Ohiorhenuan

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n the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, African governments called on their multilateral and bilateral development partners, following the virtual meeting of Minsters of Finance on March 19. They appealed for $100 billion in immediate financial assistance to help African countries address the safety net needs of their populations, feed school children and protect jobs. They called for additional resources of least $15 billion to support Africa’s health systems. They requested a debt standstill package for two years for all African countries, and they sought an increase in Special Drawing Rights Allocations (SDRs) to provide additional liquidity particularly for the procurement of basic commodities, food and fuel. In return, the leaders pledged to build and strengthen systems to fight corruption, and to enhance predictability, transparency and account ability of flows so finance ministers can plan effectively and civil society stakeholders can help track fund flows to ensure these reach those most in need expeditiously.

Subsequently, the African Union Chair, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently appointed four eminent Africans (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Donald Kaberuka, Tidjane Thiam and Trevor Manuel) as African Union Special Envoys to lead the mobilization of international support for Africa’s efforts to address the health and economic fallout of the pandemic.

Three of these envoys were signatories to an April 9 op-ed in Project Syndicate that argued Africa’s urgent need for immediate support. Similarly, the recent World Bank’s Africa’s Pulse report (Spring 2020) has called for additional financial assistance from Africa’s bilateral and multilateral development partners, including a debt service stand still with official bilateral creditors.

The exceptional vulnerability of African countries is undeniable. For a majority of Africans livelihoods remain very fragile. Sub-Saharan Africa has less than 15 percent of the global population, yet it accounts for more than half the number of people globally who live in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day). More than one third of employed workers in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.90 a day.

Two thirds of the world’s maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The proportion of people with access to safely managed sources of drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa is about 28 percent.

Thirty-four percent of sub-Saharan Africans live in slums or informal settlements, accounting for almost one quarter of the global slum population. At the best of times their situation is precarious.

Even these dreary numbers hide the depth of misery and the existential fragility of the poor and extremely poor African, and the feeling of hopelessness of millions of unemployed youth. Poverty and unemployment will increase with the COVID-19 crisis. This precarious situation, compounded by the pandemic, highlights the need for immediate attention in light of the greater health and food security imperatives brought on by the Corona virus.

Now as then, the response of African leaders to the crisis is eminently sensible. Africa needs help.

However, it is impossible to ignore an agonizing sense of dĂŠjĂ vu. A decade ago, in the context of the global financial and economic crisis, the same sorts of calls were made on behalf of the continent.

In a submission to the April 2009 G20 Summit, African leaders described the measures they were taking to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. They were providing fiscal stimulus packages, revising budget expenditures to target key sectors, and

strengthening banking regulation. They argued that Africa simply did not have the ability to preserve the foundations of its growth over the next few years.

They estimated that the continent would require an additional $100 billion in the next two years just to maintain pre-crisis levels of growth. Their plea, then as now, to the G20 leaders was to deliver on their previous commitments to increase aid to Africa and to unlock “new and additional resources� now in light of the covid-19 pandemic.

The deeper question here is how long can African leaders continue to ignore the structural roots of Africa’s perpetual crisis. Neither the fiscal and monetary policy measures taken in 2008-2009 to mitigate the impacts of the financial crisis, nor current emergency strengthening of Africa’s health systems and expanding safety nets, go to the root question of structural change and economic diversification.

This crisis should focus African countries on the question of what must be done to avoid carrying a begging bowl any time there is an exogenous shock, or because of weak progress on the SDGs, which is true at the best of times. Let us begin with the low hanging fruits.

All African leaders are committed to the elimination of corruption. This crisis is the moment to intensify efforts to eliminate waste, theft and inefficiencies from governance and procurement systems and install anticorruption systems and mechanisms that may have been thwarted in the past by powerful interests.

This crisis should be an occasion to embrace the imperative of speedy implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area strategy. Africans know that Africa is not one country. Africa is 55 sovereign states, but many are small economies in global

terms, even recognizing the three largest economies of Nigeria, South Africa and Angola. Harnessing economies of scale, and the scalability of new technologies, is an obvious policy imperative for our small economies. The pandemic highlights the urgency of local production of medical supplies and equipment and indeed the urgency of local resilience.

The COVID pandemic will not be last global disease outbreak, or the only thing to disrupt global supply lines. The SDGs require local resilience.

The importance of a responding to this crisis at the level of production reforms merely tells us that we can longer avoid the vigorous management of Africa’s position in the international economic system. We must confront the fact that our problem lies in the absence of an organic link between our pattern of domestic resource use and our pattern of domestic demand.

Many Africans of my generation will recall the plea, in our glory days in the Seventies, to match our production and our resource use to the basic needs of people and build up our nascent industries to reduce our extreme dependence on imports for everything. Unfortunately, we have allowed a select few to benefit from the exploitation of its natural resources with the result of widespread poverty and extreme import dependence. Africa has taken the wrong lessons from the economists’ theory of comparative advantage.

There will be time enough to expand on this.

But suffice it to say that Africa must absolutely recapture much of the local production of basic industrial goods. Much can and has been written about industrializing Africa. The real impediment has been the will and commitment of our leadership.

Ohiorhenuan wrote from Uganda

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EDITORIAL PRIVATE HOSPITALS AND COVID-19 It will be wise investment to reach out to private hospitals

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he recent revelation that unaccredited health professionals secretly treat people with Covid-19 infections has added a worrying dimension to a health challenge that has almost subdued the nation. Health Minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure in the wake of the unfortunate death of a medical doctor who was infected while trying to manage a Covid-19 patient. Since that incident, some medical centres have been shut down for decontamination after their workers were exposed to the viral disease.

As things stand, it is dangerous to allow private clinics to treat COVID-19. Because of their limited skills in the treatment and management of people with infectious diseases, health professionals and patients in such clinics run the risk of being exposed and infected. Moreover, only few of them can afford the infrastructure for isolation, including personal protective equipment (PPE) essentially because of their prohibitive costs.

All over the world, skilled doctors and nurses at hospitals with cutting-edge equipment are constantly being infected, some fatally.

INTEGRATING PRIVATE It is then little wonder HOSPITALS INTO THE that dozens of health CURRENT MANAGEMENT professionals have OF THE PANDEMIC WILL BE already been infected TO THE ETERNAL BENEFIT in our country. But OF THE NATION’S HEALTH as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control SYSTEM (NCDC) is ramping up tests across the country, the numbers of people infected with Covid-19 are becoming increasingly disturbing. According to the figures released by the NCDC on Tuesday, the total number of confirmed cases across the country stood at 1,337 out of which 255 persons were treated and discharged, and 40 deaths.

This is more than 1000 per cent increase from when President Muhammadu Buhari imposed a lockdown on Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory a month ago in March. The isolation centres where the patients

are being treated will soon be under intense pressure. It will become even more overwhelming when the NCDC has the wherewithal to buy or acquire the necessary equipment and scale-up the testing exercise.

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

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

n order not to wait until the few isolation centres are brimming, many are of the view that the capacity of the country’s health concerns could be enlarged by training some private hospitals and their personnel in the skills, procedures, protocols and safety measures in order to handle infected patients. It will be an easy choice for many patients as about 70 per cent of Nigerians get their medical treatment from private hospitals.

“What are they doing for the patients at the isolation centres that is beyond the normal medical practice?” asked Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria’s President Dr. Ugwu Odo. “The few who have what it takes should be accredited and be allowed to treat them.”

Indeed, the authorities in India, for instance, have since incorporated private hospitals in the treatment of the Covid-19 cases. Perhaps Australia presents an ideal example of an effective synergy of public-private collaboration. Tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives from the country’s private hospitals are available for redeployment within the public health system as part of a robust package designed to prop up the sector and tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Besides, the World Health Organisation said one of the critical lessons from the 2014-16 West African Ebola crisis is that both the public and private sectors need to work in tandem to contain large-scale-pandemics like Covid-19. Nigeria’s Ebola index case was contained in a private facility.

Considering the growing numbers, even when testing is still at a primary stage, we cannot afford to wait until the public health system collapses before we get the private hospitals integrated into the fold. Even if the pandemic does not get to the level where private hospitals will play a pivotal role, integrating them into the current management of the pandemic will be to the eternal benefit of the nation’s health system.

TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

Letters to the Editor

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

ON KANO’S MYSTERIOUS DEATHS

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he harvest of deaths in Kano State has become a matter of great concern. This bad news is coming amid the country’s persistent rise in cases of covid-19. It is reported that over 200 people have died within two days last week. The mysterious deaths have caused palpable tension and fears among the residents. Initially, the state government looked indifferent to the increased rate of deaths, pretending all is well. It later came up with the decision to investigate the rising cases of deaths. In its report submitted to the governor, the state ministry of health blamed malaria, typhoid and diabetic complications as the main causes of the death.

Nigerians have cause to worry over the frequent rate of death in the most populous city of Nigeria. First, Kano is a commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria. It attracts people from all walks of lives who often visit the state for commercial and other purposes. Second, with Covid-19 outbreak which neces-

sitates lockdown in many states in the country coupled with the failure of Kano State government to acquire adequate testing kits, there is every tendency that the massive deaths rocking the state might have been linked to deadly corona virus. The last time Kano State had its test results was last week Wednesday, where infected people jumped to 73. As of now, the state does not have an actual data of covid-19 victims.

Lastly, in an interview granted to BBC on Monday, Governor Ganduje blamed the federal government for abandoning his state. He accused the NCDC for not providing testing kits for the state medical personnel. If most of the deaths are not tested, how can the state quickly conclude it was not covid-19? According to Islamic rites, the dead are to be buried immediately. This Islamic jurisprudence gives little room for copses autopsy. There is the urgent need for the federal government to come to the aid of Kano State.

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State

CAN I LEGALLY MARRY ONLINE?

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legal marriage in Nigeria requires the physical presence of the parties involved. There is difference between Church wedding (white wedding) and registry marriage (court marriage).

Registry marriage is regulated by the Marriage Act. For a marriage to be valid, it must have been done at either: One, at the registry, licensed place of worship or a Nigeria diplomatic or consular office abroad.

Furthermore, there are certain requirements of the law for a valid marriage which cannot be satisfied by online marriage, such as presentation of caveat, publishing of notice of marriage.

Section 23 of the Marriage Act provides that: A minister shall not celebrate any marriage except IN A BUILDING which has been duly licensed by the minister, or in such place as the license issued under section 13 of this Act, may direct. Section 27: After the issue of a certificate under section 11, or of a license under section 13 of this Act, the parties may, if they think fit, contract a marriage BEFORE A REGISTRAR, in the presence of two witnesses IN HIS OFFICE, with open doors, between the

hours of ten o’clock in the forenoon and four o’clock in the afternoon, and in the following manner.

Section 29 which may have been of consolation to those who want online marriage also restricted it to the requirements of licensed place of worship or registry.

Going through the gamut of the Marriage Act, it quickly becomes obvious that the need for an online marriage was not envisaged in the composition and intent of the Marriage Act in Nigeria.

It is settled law, that clear and ambiguous words in a statute needs to be given their ordinary meaning when construing it – Niger Progress Ltd N.E.I. Corp 1989 3 NWLR Pt. 107 68; Garba V Fed Civil Service Commision 1988 I NWLR Pt. 71 449; Bamiyi V A.G. oF Fed 2001 90 LRCN 2738; Ainabeholo V E.S.U.W.F.M.P.C.S. LTD. 2007 2 NWLR Pt.1017, p.33 at p.37.

In conclusion, Nigeria law does not envisaged online marriage (Registry Marriage); any such purported marriage cannot be said to be in conformity with the law.

Opatola Victor Esq., adeopatola@gmail.com

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FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 08038901925

Tackling Youth Restiveness through Empowerment Chinecherem Ojiako writes that youth restiveness in the Niger Delta is being tackled aggressively by the numerous empowerment schemes by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio

B

efore now, youth restiveness, no doubt, has been on the increase in almost all communities of the Niger Delta region. Violence of all forms and killings were recorded through bomb blasts, kidnapping and abduction in the region. Expectedly, it affected sustainable development in the region.

Following the continued restiveness in the region, the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) just barely a year after the return of democracy in 1999 with the sole aim of put to an end the crisis in the area and as well see to the development the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The idea behind the establishment of NDDC was as a response to the demands of the population of the Niger Delta, a populous area inhabited by a diversity of minority ethnic groups. During the 1990s these ethnic groups, most notably the Ijaw and the Ogoni established organisations to confront the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies.

The minorities of the Niger Delta have continued to agitate and articulate demands for greater autonomy and control of the area's petroleum resources. They justify their grievances by reference to the extensive environmental degradation and pollution from oil activities that have occurred in the region since the late 1950s.

In order to ensure the total return of peace in the region, in September 2008, President Umaru Yar'Adua also announced the formation of a Niger Delta Ministry, with the NDDC to become a parastatal under the ministry with core mandates of training and educating the youths of the oil rich region to curb hostilities and militancy.

But years after its establishment, many lament that the NDDC which was meant to address the developmental challenges in the region has rather allegedly enriched a few. Several faceless contractors have pocketed monies meant for projects leaving majority of the people of area with nothing.

The vision behind the formation of the commission was to ensure formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta area, conception, planning and implementation, in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programs for sustainable development of the Niger Delta area in the field of transportation including roads, jetties and waterways, health, employment, industrialisation, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications, surveying the Niger Delta in order to ascertain measures necessary to promote its physical and socio-economic development, preparing master plans and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the region and the estimation of the member states of the commission.

And also the implementation of all the measures approved for the development of the Niger Delta region by the federal government and the states of the commission, identify factors inhibiting the development of the region and assisting the member states in the formulation and implementation of policies to ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the region, assessing and reporting on any project being funded or carried out in the region by oil and gas companies and any other company, including non-governmental organisations, as well as ensuring that funds released for such projects are properly utilised, tackling ecological and environmental problems that arise from the exploration of oil mineral in the region and advising the federal

Akpabio government and the member states on the prevention and control of oil spillages, gas flaring and environmental pollution, liaising with the various oil mineral and gas prospecting and producing companies on all matters of pollution, prevention and control and executing such other works and performing such other functions, which in the option of the commission are required for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region and its people.

In order to put an end to the bad perception the people have about NDDC and also ensure the development of key infrastructure to promote diversification and productivity in the region, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio promised to work in line with the mandates the commission was established so as to restore the hope of the people.

Akpabio is known for his sense of modesty and a trusted performer. This is no doubt, the reason behind his appointment as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs by President Muhammadu Buhari as against the choice of others.

In Akpabio’s first meeting with the management of NDDC, he stated that it was a shame that a commission which so much funds has passed through was still a tenant and gave them a marching order to complete the permanent headquarters building. The building which is almost completed would be commissioned and put to use in the next few months. The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs would also soon complete the construction of nine housing estates as well as the construction of one skill acquisition institute in each of the Niger Delta States.

Akpabio, who realises the importance of peace in the development of the Niger

Delta region, has rolled out programmes to ensure the successful empowerment of the youths and women of the region. Identifying youth empowerment as best means of achieving peace even right from when he was governor of Akwa Ibom, Akpabio recently empowered about 1600 youths and women with different skills through the youth empowerment programme of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

Also, Akpabio secured the commitment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for strategic alliance for improved agricultural development and the provision of employment opportunities for the teeming youths of the Niger Delta.

The ministry is embarking on a pilot programme on rice production in the nine states of the region which would also help to provide employment opportunities for the people check hostilities and youth restiveness and improve the living standard of the people.

During the training and empowerment programme for women and youths from Niger Delta Region held in Abuja, the ministry said that the empowerment initiative is in line with the governments drive to diversify the economy from substantial dependence on crude oil.

The scheme according to the ministry, would promote national food security, invest in people and equally generate employment for the good people of Niger Delta Region, adding that the training package was meant to provide the participants with skills in the assigned areas and also equip them with knowledge in entrepreneurship to enable them manage their business and finances in order to transform their business into successful enterprises.

Akpabio noted that the Empowerment and

Community Development Programmes being organised by the ministry are continuous to expand reach in the effort to ensure that no one is left behind.

He, however, informed the beneficiaries that the officials of the ministry will periodically monitor their progress to provide guidance, mentorship and ensure compliance in line with the objectives of the programme.

Speaking further, the minister explained that the ministry was actively involved in other forms of empowerment programmes aimed at encouraging the growth and development of micro and small businesses such as provision of tricycles and motorcycles to entrepreneurs and farmers to ease transportation of goods and services.

Other areas of empowerment according to him include provision of sewing machines and other accessories for fashion designers, equipping of ICT centres, hospitals, schools amongst others.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Ofuyaekpone Charles Tuoyo, the class representative, appreciated the MNDA for the programme and assured that the ministry’s efforts would not be in vain.

Tuoyo delightfully expressed that they have been trained from the scratch on the hatching process in fish farming among other things and they have realised that farming is a viable business, noting that they have deliberated among themselves on how to start the business successfully and assured the ministry that the empowerment package given to them would be well utilised to enhance their income and livelihood. Apart from farming, the ministry went further to make sure that the trainees acquire knowledge in ICT and entrepreneurship to enhance their businesses.

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OVERNIGHT OBB

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CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

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

A P R I L

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

488.04 % 0.04% 4.80%

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

2 0 2 0

4.80% 1.43%

EXCHANGE RATE N361/1US DOLLAR* ĚŠ

Quick Takes FBNInsurance Supports LASG

DISCUSSING GLOBALTRADE

Director General, World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevêdo (left) with President of the Permanent Commission for International Trade and Foreign EconomicRelationsoftheGovernmentofCuraçaoandChiefNegotiatorforWTOAccession,MrCarylMonte,attheWTO’sofficeinGeneva‌recently

Banks to Reap Higher Income from Digital Platforms, Says Agusto & Co Obinna Chima Agusto & Co. has predicted that more bank customers would embrace digital banking platforms which could result in higher electronic banking income for the financial institutions.

The pan-African ratings agency stated this in its latest banking sector report.

According to the Lagos-based firm, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry would be difficult to measure in the near term.

It stressed that, these are indeed difficult times for the industry that barely recovered from the recession. But, it noted that despite various identified risks, opportunities exist in the sector. “For instance, working capital needs of companies in key economic sectors will increase

BANKING because of the naira devaluation and higher inflation, presenting prospects to grow loans to obligors with good business fundamentals in resilient economic sectors. “We expect more bank customers to embrace digital banking platforms which could result in higher electronic banking income for banks. Furthermore, banks can leverage intervention funds provided by the CBN to susceptible sectors during this pandemic to grow loans. The Nigerian banking industry remains resilient and we expect this narrative to remain,� it stated.

According to Agusto & Co., non-interest income accounts for approximately 42 per cent of the industry’s net earnings, largely driven by electronic banking

activities, account maintenance fees, credit related fees and securities trading income.

It pointed out that with the lockdown resulting in skeletal operations, banks have leveraged their electronic banking platforms to boost income as more banking transactions are only consummated through digital channels during the lockdown period. “However, minimal trade activities will moderate credit related fees. We expect some correspondent banks to pull back on their lines of credit.

We also anticipate repricing by correspondent banks to reflect the elevated credit risks emanating from lower liquidity in the foreign exchange market. “Outstanding obligations to foreign portfolio investors seeking to exit Nigeria stood between $700 million and $900 million as at April 2020. The regula-

tory induced reduction in bank charges which became effective in January 2020 will also moderate non-interest income. “Nonetheless, expected revaluation gains from a further devaluation of the domestic currency will support the earnings of banks with net foreign currency assets positions. With expected pressure on revenue generation, cost containment will be top burner in 2020. “While the Industry’s operating costs are expected to increase on account of a rise in inflation and a growth in foreign currency denominated costs (such as technology-related expenses), we believe that cost management strategies will be paramount to sustained profitability. “Nonetheless, Agusto & Co Continued on page 20

WTO Unveils New Report on Medical Products in Trade Agreements Hamid Ayodeji The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has released a new report on the treatment of medical products in regional trade agreements (RTAs) amid current supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report examined the extent medical products are traded among preferential partners and the difference in liberalisation rates within and outside these trade agreements.

The world’s top ten exporters

HEALTH of medical products ship 27 per cent to 77 per cent of these goods to their RTA partners according to the report.

It also revealed that WTO members have eliminated tariffs on over 84 per cent of medical products for 2020 under their various RTAs. According to the WTO, medical products face an average tariff of 1.6 per cent within RTAs as compared to the 3.8 per cent average tariff for

medical products traded outside RTAs, suggesting room for further trade liberalization at the WTO. The report also examined other provisions in RTAs that may restrict or facilitate trade and also highlights the need for forging mutual recognition agreements that recognise standard conformity assessments by authorities in other countries. “The share of exports by the world’s top 10 exporters of medical products to their regional trade agreement partners ranges from between 27 per cent for China

to almost 77 per cent for the Netherlands. “The majority of the top 10 traders in such products are EU member states. In their RTAs, WTO members had liberalised over 84 per cent of these products by 2020. “The share is higher for developed members (99.5 per cent) than for developing (84.3 per cent) and least developed members (68.4 per cent),� it added.

Continued on page 20

FBNInsurance and its subsidiary, FBN General Insurance, have donated an ambulance to the Lagos State Government as well as food items to communities in the state. The companies said the initiative was part of organisations’ corporate social responsibility as well as support in the ongoing ďŹ ght against the COVID-19.

Presenting the ambulance to the Lagos State government, the Managing Director and Chief Executive OďŹƒcer of FBNInsurance, Mr.Valentine Ojumah, said both companies had earlier collaborated with other insurance companies in putting together resources to provideinsurancecoverformedicalpersonnelwhoareinthefrontline of the ďŹ ght against the COVID-19 virus. Receiving the ambulance on behalf of the state government, the wife of the Governor, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, alongside the Lagos State Chief of Sta, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, applauded FBNInsurance for the donation and assured that the state would put the ambulance to adequate use to serve the purpose. Mrs Sanwo-Olu, said the donation would also help the state government in the management of other health related issues.

On his part, the Managing Director of FBN General Insurance, a subsidiary of FBN Insurance, Mr. Bode Opadokun, used the occasion to urge Nigerians to adhere strictly to the precautionary measures as stipulated by the medical practitioners to atten the curve of the virus. In a related development, FBNInsurance recently provided fooditems(rice,beansandsemolina)to6,000LagosiansinAjegunle, Iwaya and Agege areas of the state.

According to the company, the donation was meant to cushion the eectofthecoronaviruspandemiconthelessprivilegedintheareas.

Facebook Expands Information Center

Facebook has expanded its Coronavirus Information Center to 24 more countries in Africa as part of its ongoing commitment to empowering people around the world with timely and accurate news from trusted health authorities. The COVID-19 Information Center is featured at the top of News Feed and provides a central place for people to keep informed about the virus. It includes realtime updates from national oďŹƒcial sources, regional and global organisations such as the Africa Center for Disease Control and theWorld Health Organisation as well as helpful resources - articles, videos and posts - and tips about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19.With this, Facebook users can opt-in to the Center to get notiďŹ cations and see updates in their News Feed from oďŹƒcial government, regional or global health authorities.

Facebook’s Director of Public Policy, Africa, Kojo Boakye, said: “Facebook is supporting the public health community’s work across the world to keep all communities informed during the coronavirus pandemic. “We are happy to provide nearly every country in SubSaharan Africa with its own Information Center so people across the continent have a central place to ďŹ nd authoritative information around COVID-19.â€?

AfDB, SA Taxi Seal Deal

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and SA Taxi Development Finance Proprietary Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SA Taxi Holdings Proprietary Limited, have signed a $100 million loan agreement to support the ďŹ rm’s growing strategy to empower taxi operators with limited access to ďŹ nance from traditional ďŹ nanciers.

The loan agreement, which carries an eight-year tenor and includes a six-month grace period, was signed on Monday, 16 March between theBank’sDirectorofInfrastructure&UrbanDevelopmentAmadou Oumarou,andLorenzoCardoso,ChiefFinancialOďŹƒcerandDirector of SA Taxi. “The funding transaction entered into with the African Development Bank is instrumental to SA Taxi’s medium and long term strategy.The tenor and size of the transaction will contribute towards the continued success of SA Taxi to empower SMEs and create opportunities that ensure the sustainability of the minibus taxi industry,â€? Cardoso was quoted in a statement to have said. “We are proud to be an internationally recognised African business.â€?

The ďŹ nancial package, comprising a senior loan of $10 million and an associated facility of ZAR 1.4 billion (about $97 million), will provide a powerfulboosttoindustrialisationthroughimprovedurbanmobility for working class South Africans.

“Businesses that survive post COVID-19 will have to leverage technology to provide some level of resilience to address what will become the new normal in enhancing social distancing�

COO, MDXi

Gbenga Adegbiji

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BANKS TO REAP HIGHER INCOME FROM DIGITAL PLATFORMS, SAYS AGUSTO & CO expects the Industry’s pre-tax return on average equity (ROE) to moderate to between 12 per cent and 14 per cent in 2020 unless regulatory support is granted in some areas such as reduction in cash reserve requirement (CRR).

The report predicted that earnings from the industry’s core business would decline in the short term on account of an expected rise in impairment charges, lower yields on the loan book and a contractionary monetary policy stance, exacerbated by discretionary CRR debits by the regulator.

It revealed that the interest rate on federal government’s intervention funds (granted through the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria) to targeted sectors, which account for about 10 per cent of the loan portfolio was reduced by 400 basis points to five per cent in March 2020, as part of the palliatives to support businesses.

This translated to a 300 basis points decline in yields on such loans for banks.

Officially, the CRR for banks is 27.5 per cent. However, the effective CRR for some banks are as high as 50 per cent due to the CBN’s non-refund policy and the discretionary excess debits seen in the last few months.

WTO UNVEILS NEW REPORT ON MEDICAL PRODUCTS IN TRADE AGREEMENTS It showed that developed members surveyed had eliminated tariffs (both mostfavoured-nation (MFN) tariffs — that is, without discrimination between trading partners — and preferential tariffs) in medicines and in their RTAs for medical equipment and personal protective (PP) products (compared to an average MFN rate of 0.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively).

Their average preferential rate for medical supplies is 0.5 per cent compared to an average MFN rate of 1.8 per cent.

In developing and leastdeveloped members, average MFN and preferential rates are higher, especially for medical supplies, medicines and PP products.

Group Business Editor

ĂŒĂ“Ă˜Ă˜Ă‹ Ă’Ă“Ă—Ă‹ Capital Market Editor

ÙÎÎã Ă‘Ă?Ă˜Ă?

Comms/e-Business Editor

Wapic Insurance Appoints Sunmonu Board Chairman Ebere Nwoji Wapic Insurance has announced the appointment of Mutiu Sunmonu as the chairman of the company.

It also announced the appointment of Bababode Osunkoya as chairman of its subsidiary, Wapic Life Assurance Limited.

Sunmonu and Osunkoya succeeded the immediate past chairman, Aigboje AigImoukhuede, whose retirement from the company took effect from April 27, 2020, after eight years of diligent and committed service to both organisations.

Aig-Imoukhuede, was appointed chairman to champion the transformation of Wapic Insurance, Wapic Life Assurance Plc and Wapic Insurance (Ghana) Limited following the company’s successful execution of a merger with Intercontinental Properties Limited in November 2011.

Over the past eight years, Wapic Insurance and Wapic Life Assurance have grown remarkably from an industry position of 18 to eight, and transformed into a frontline insurance company in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the company, “this board-leadership transition heralds the second phase of its growth plan, which is focused on extending its culture of distinction in service excellence, innovation, technology, sustainability practices and operational efficiency.�

The company in a statement to this effect said during the first transformation phase under

Aig-Imoukhuede’s exemplary leadership, Wapic Insurance and Wapic Life Assurance implemented a number of transformational initiatives that stabilised and returned the 62-year old company to profitability and enabled Wapic to take its place amongst Nigeria’s Top 10 Underwriting companies.

It expressed optimism that as Wapic moves to the next phase of its transformation, Sunmonu and Osunkoya, would effectivele lead the boards of Wapic’s Nigerian businesses.

According to the statement,

over the next five years, Wapic Insurance and its subsidiaries aspire to a top three position in the Nigerian insurance industry and to expand operations further across the West African sub region.

Commenting on the appointment, Sunmonu, said: “I am excited to take on this new role and build on the tremendous achievements of Aigboje AigImoukhuede. I am going to work with management and employees to actualise the aspirations espoused in the second phase of our company’s growth plan,

most especially creating value for shareholders.�

The insurer explained that both Sunmonu and Osunkoya’s appointments were well-considered because of their pedigree and extensive boardroom experience, garnered through serving on the board of various organisations across multiple sectors of the economy. “Sunmonu was outstanding in his role as Managing Director of Shell Petroleum and Development Company of Nigeria,� it added.

On his part, Osunkoya, said, “under Mr Aig-Imoukhuede’s

leadership, Wapic Life Assurance has not only raised the capital to meet the N8 billion minimum capital requirement, it is now one of Nigeria’s top Group-Life underwriters. “It is a great time for me to assume the role of Chairman as we are well positioned to becoming the leading Life underwriters in the Industry.�

Prior to his appointment, Osunkoya who joined the Wapic Assurance Board in January 2013, was the Chairman of the company’s Board Audit and Compliance Committee.

CSR IN ACTION

L-R: Representative of Vice President of Ghana/Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Ghana, Mr. Anthony Osei; Lagos State Governor, Mr. BabajideSanwo–Olu;VicePresidentProf.YemiOsinbajo;ManagingDirector/ChiefExecutiveOfficer,AirtelNigeria,Mr.SegunOgunsanya;Minster of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, and Oni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, during the Airtel Touching Lives Season 5 Premiere, held in Lagos‌recently abiodun ajala

SON Provides Guidelines for Face Mask Makers, Users Chris Uba The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has published an extract of the international standard AFNOR SPEC-S76-001:2020 on production and delivery of essential materials.

A statement from the office of the Director General, Osita Aboloma , disclosed that the 6-page handbill was to serve as

quick guide to users as well as makers of face masks across the length and breadth of the country, particularly the micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

Aboloma, stated that the guidelines became necessary in view of the emergency situation occasioned by the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document according to him focused on scope, description,

coverage, materials, safety features and test of barrier masks as well as instructions on the proper usage and disposal of the masks.

The SON Chief Executive said the document was being disseminated through social media platforms as well as the regular media to ensure its rapid spread.

He stated this became imperative in view of the mass production being commissioned by some

state governments, corporate bodies as well as smaller units by families across the country.

According to Aboloma, SON was already working with all other 14-member countries of the Economic Community of West African States and the bECOWAS Commission to harmonise the standards for barrier masks in the fight against the pandemic in the region. The ECOWAS

Standards Technical Management Committee has thus set up a Task Force to be Chaired by Nigeria while Mali serves as Secretary, to harmonise the standard within the shortest possible time through virtual meetings online, he said.

Other members of the Task Force according to the SON Chief Executive are Senegal, Cote D’ Voire, The Gambia, Ghana and Cape Verde.

AXA Group Commits â‚Ź5m to COVID-19 Research Ebere Nwoji The AXA Group, the parent body for AXA Mansard Insurance Nigeria, said it has earmarked fresh â‚Ź5 million as part of philanthropic research funding to eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic in the world.

The Chief Executive Officer, AXA Group, Thomas Buberl, while announcing the funding said: “At a time when intensive care units around the world are under increasing pressure, AXA Group has partnered with Fund 101, an organisation that federates more than 1,200 intensive care

units across 60 countries, to share and accelerate improvements in therapeutic protocols.�

He said in France, AXA Group purchased two million masks, which was given to the medical system whilst also helping health workers by financing their meals.

He said in addition, AXA Group has gone a step further in its commitment with 101 Fund by launching a global solidarity challenge, tagged AXA Solidarity Response, with its employees to support 1,200 intensive care units in 60 countries including Nigeria.

According to him, the chal-

lenge campaign, which would run from April 7th to June 30th, 2020, would give each AXA employee the opportunity to generate a donation of 5 Euros, financed by AXA, to 101 Fund by publishing a solidarity message on their personal Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram account, enabling them to also take action.

Buberl said, “The world is going through a crisis that will stand in collective memory. In an unstable environment, AXA has been fully mobilised since the outbreak of the pandemic

to respond to two challenges: the health emergency, by protecting its employees and clients, and the economic and social emergency, by ensuring the continuity of a business that is essential to society. “In line with our mission, and consistent with the actions taken by public authorities around the world, we are announcing today new commitments to reinforce the impact of initiatives already underway�, Buberi stated.

He also said AXA Mansard has aligned with the group’s

resolve to see the COVID-19 pandemic eradicated with its donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worth millions of Naira to the Lagos State Government, College of Medicine & University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, adding that the company has meaningfully responded to the fight against the disease, having also donated life insurance cover for 100 medical professionals across Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan.

Ă—Ă—Ă‹ Ă•Ă™Ă˜Ă”Ă“ Senior Correspondent

Firm Donates Palliative to Kwara Govt

Ă‹Ă’Ă?Ă?Ă— Ă•Ă“Ă˜Ă‘ĂŒĂ™Ă–Ă&#x; (Advertising) Correspondents

Ă’Ă“Ă˜Ă?ĂŽĂ&#x; äĂ? (Aviation) ĂœĂ™Ă—Ă™Ă?Ă?Ă–Ă? ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ (Maritime) Ă‹Ă—Ă?Ă? Ă—Ă?ÔÙ (Finance) ĂŒĂ?ĂœĂ? åÙÔÓ (Insurance) Ă’Ă“Ă˜Ă?Ă—Ă? Ă•Ă‹Ă?Ă™Ăœ Ě™(Energy) Reporters

Ă&#x;Ă—Ă? Ă•Ă?Ă‘Ă’Ă? (Money Market) Ă™Ă?Ă‹ Ă–Ă?Ă•Ă’Ă&#x;ÙÑÓĂ? (ICT)

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.

An agricultural firm, Versa Nigeria Limited based in Kwara State, has joined other corporate bodies in the state to donate some palliative materials to the state government.

The donation was to cushion the effect of lockdown ordered to

curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Among some palliative materials donated to the government included 60 bags of rice with tomato paste and other condiments for distribution.

Speaking at the handing over of the palliative materials to the state Deputy Governor and

Chairman of the state COVID-19 committee, Mr. Kayode Alabi in Ilorin, one of the directors of the firm, Mr. Ibrahim Ibitade said the gesture was to support the government in making life more bearable during the trying period occasioned by the pandemic ravaging the world.

According to him, “there is no

doubt that, the support would also add value to the people of the state at this period of lockdown in the state when the people cannot go out to embark on anything for living.�

Ibitade said the co-owner, Mr. Mustapha Olasunkanmi, had been involved in giving back to the community before

the outbreak of the pandemic.

He added that, “our firm operates hectares of lands where we grow vegetables, pepper among others in a farm at Okeya near Igbaja in Ifelodun local government area of the state, while we also operate real estate and transportation businesses in Lagos�.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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Using Pension Fund for COVID-19 Palliatives Ivor Takor

Ajibola Olayinka

S

of

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ome media outfits on Saturday 25th April 2020, carried the response of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, to a question as to whether the contributory pension fund could be used as palliatives as the lockdown entered the fourth week.

The said question was asked during the Joint National Briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Friday 24th April 2020.

The NLC President as expected, opposed using contributory pension funds for palliatives.

He was quoted to have said, “pension fund is not free money; it is the money that belongs to pensioners, which is in pensioners’ retirement savings accounts. It is structured in such a way that a pensioner continues to draw this money throughout his life.�

He talked about the need to protect the fund and ensure that pensioners or the workers contributing the monies would have something to rely on.

He was further quoted as haven concluded by saying that the money should not be used for COVID-19 palliatives. For taking this position and saying it out and clear, we at the Centre for Pension Rights Advocacy (CPRA) are proud of him.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presentational Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, was quoted to have assured that the federal government will not borrow from contributory pension fund to provide palliatives to cushion the effect of COVID-19 lockdown in the country.

He was quoted to have said: “We had looked at the issue of pension funds. As a matter of fact, we even got the Minister of State of Education to do us a position paper and our conclusion is that the time is not even right for us to go there because the entire world order in terms of our economy and in terms of our health system has been disrupted by COVID-19 and the consequences nobody can imagine until the dust is settled.�

We at the Centre applaud the conclusion reached by the Presidential Task Force on the matter.

This conclusion and the response of the NLC President would have been sufficient to put to rest, any further comment of the matter.

However, some issues in the SGF’s response need to be addressed and that is what we intend to do here. The SGF was quoted to have said: “As a matter of fact we even got the Minister of State of Education to do us a position paper and our conclusion is that the time is not even right for the us to go there ‌â€?.

The federal government has been eyeing the contributory pension funds for a long time now.

First it was for infrastructural development and now for COVID-19 palliatives.

The centre along with other critical stakeholders of the fund including the NLC had made it known that they are not opposed to using pension funds for infrastructural development because pension funds are long term investable funds that are also opened for investment in infrastructure, provided that is done within a legal framework acceptable to all. Therefore, we will rest the case with regard to infrastructural investment of pension fund.

What is worrisome at the moment to us at the centre is the idea that government had even eyed the contributory pension fund for COVID-19 palliatives.

Unfortunately, whenever there is a slide confusion in the economy, government without first taking into consideration the principal objectives for which the fund was established; which is ensure that every person who worked in either the public service of the federation, federal capital territory, states and local governments or the private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due; and assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their lively hood during old age.

Steady Rewind Mode on Global Civilisation

PenCom Acting DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar That the PTF even remotely considered the use of the contributory pension funds for COVID-19 palliatives to the point of getting a Minister to do a position paper for government on the matter, is a matter of great concern to some of us stakeholders of the fund.

This discussion will limit itself and will therefore not go into discussing the federal government compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

The Act established the Fund, and laid down rules and guidelines on how the fund should be manage, invested and pensions paid.

It is impossible for the government, to take pension fund for any purposes outside the law establishing the fund.

In the first place, almost 70 per cent of the funds had been invested in government treasury bonds.

The money is not cash. Assuming without conceding that it can be used for COVID-19 palliatives, then the government will have to first provide the cash to buy back the bonds.

In the total funds in the kitty, federal and states governments workers account for less than 50 per cent of the value of the over N10 trillion contributory pension fund.

The balance is owned by private sector workers. The composition of the fund is the contributions of public sector workers, private sector workers and the return on investments.

The fund is being used for the payment of current pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and future pension for current workers (contributors) in both the public and private sectors.

The fund is in the respective Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) of the pensioners and workers. Moreover, part of the fund, has been used to purchase annuity with Life Insurance providers, for retirees who opted for Annuity as against Programme Withdrawals housed

by Pension Funds Custodians and managed

by Pension Funds Administrators.

The question, which the person who asked the question during Friday’s Joint National Briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Presidential Task Force that commissioned the Minister to State of Education to do a position paper on the matter have to answer is: how can money that already belongs to the pensioners and workers become a palliative?

We conclude by siding with the NLC president’s position that the contributory pension fund cannot be used for COVID-19 palliatives now or in the future. Rather the fund should be protected for the achievement of objectives for which it was established. We also want to remind all that the federal government lacks jurisdiction over the management of the fund; the mandate of the government is to provide the enabling law and the regulation of the fund. t5BLPS JT UIF %JSFDUPS $FOUSF GPS 1FOTJPO 3JHIU "EWPDBDZ

It was 2020, a year seen only once in a century.

Records were dug out of outlandish events on the spectaculars only seen in the something twenties and 2020 was believed to belong to the pantheon.

There was the 1720 plague, 1820 cholera, 1920 Spanish flu and now 2020 coronavirus.

The 100 years clock-set has remained a mystery beyond the Nostradamus 1551 writings interpreted as prediction of the current crisis. Individuals, families, corporations and nations were occupied with planning, scenarios and futuristic modelling to make history out of the leap year.

When the smoke of COVID-19 spewed out of Wuhan China therefore, the emergence was a butt of joke from the rest of the world. Social media was inundated with the usual animal consumption

by Chinese without respect for preparation and promptly concluded this as the veritable source of the new attack.

The height of disbelief even by those who should know better came from America’s White House when the President dismissed the “Chinese Virus� that it will not see the end of the day in the United States. Her citizens were daily glued to the television interviews and campaigns for the next presidential election and the new leader.

For the rest of the world, it was business as usual.

While the world played the ostrich, globalisation continued unabated with people, aircraft, luxury ships, etc., ferrying mankind and goods from one end of the world to another end. You can control your action but you cannot control its consequences.

Before the world could usher in the 2020 new year, the raging infection has scattered to political, economic and social centers of the universe ready to wreak unprecedented havoc never seen before in this generation.

It was obvious the universe has gone on a forced holiday. Others believe the earth is ripe for Sabbath or a year of Jubilee. The megalomaniac concluded it is the apocalypse before the earth crash.

Welcome to a new world on reverse gear as COVID-19 pandemic is gifting the world rewind mode from civilisation to the early man.

Pandemic or War? The acceleration dynamics confounded the experts and the World Health Organisation (WHO) quickly moved the virus (code named COVID-19) from a local infection to a global pandemic.

Discovered in December 2019, it has zig-zagged to global extremes within weeks due to movement of people, goods and cargoes.

The pestilential devastation peaked by midFebruary in Hubei province in China and this compelled the supreme commander to take over its management. Horror films and videos were salaciously served daily how human packs of the dead were moved to the graves as statistics of the disease. Mega hospitals were constructed in record time to accommodate the sick.

In spite of elaborate procedures by health authorities, the novel virus has no known medication for now. Patients at the critical stage only got access to Ventilators to recover bursting lungs and loosing breath and once it went beyond this, a new death record was created. This was only in China.

Fleetingly, there was the rude incursion of conspiracy theories. The virus was the outcome of the launch of 5G, the latest generation of the data super highway invented to deliver explosive score-card with China and the western nations on the forefront. China must have embarked on a biological warfare to show her superiority over America and the Wuhan results were outcome of tests carried out. There were also outright denial that Coronavirus was a figment of WHO imagination.

Unfortunately, the virus is a novel landfall and data about it were few and far between. Nevertheless, the transmission continued on its exponential scale, unprecedented in this generation.

Subsequently, Europe and the United States became the epicenter and curves in Italy and Spain in particular started climbing north very fast.

With the emergence of the moment of truth, panic set in as hospitals could no longer hold massive infected patients while hotels, luxury ships, military bases and sport facilities were augmented to accommodate the pandemic surge. Cities and countries became locked down in all the nations of the world. Aviation and global transportation

came to a standstill.

Freedom was curtailed with ‘stay at home orders’ to minimise community spread.

The outcome of the situation could not be better demonstrated than the scene in Italian cities. For weeks the streets were deserted, devoid of life and busting they were accustomed to. Having wiped off many families and generations, people began to throw into the streets cash and expensive materials.

Work flows and food supply chains became abruptly truncated. Despite release of strategic food banks hunger loomed large even in rich suburbs.

In dense municipalities hoodlums engage state securities in rampage, looting, stealing and killing in the name of survival. Foods and survival kits are being rationed in several countries as hunger looms in the corner for those who escaped the Virus. Hope was on a tenterhook.

Wild goats and dangerous animals flooded several counties in Wales and the bewildered creatures were shown watching families locked up in various houses due to lockdown. Ecuador witnessed dead bodies of the victims of the virus lying on streets without burial attention.

Finally, the US Surgeon General told a shocked audience that infection and subsequent death from Coronavirus is worse than 9/11 attack and Pearl Harbour at the peak of World War II. In war time, people die from attack; fear hangs in the air; lockdown becomes compulsory; foods are rationed; lives and livelihood are disconnected; devastation hits hard and what takes years to build are forcefully taken down; ceasefire becomes unpredictable; peace wings away leaving crisis behind; freedom is curtailed and work abandoned.

Life becomes “nasty, brutish and short� and uncertainty rules the air. The boundariless pandemic is war on a universal scale with no respect for race, color, social status or nation. Nuclear arsenal, biological weapon, economic supremacy, intellectual property, mega prosperity (name it) pales to nothing against the contagion of Coronavirus. It is the worst war fighting invisible enemy.

Places, Cases and Faces The first coronavirus index in Nigeria, an Italian was on a call of duty when he arrived at Lafarge.

Two weeks before then, the stakeholders were honking the nation for shutting the airports and borders to commence the protocols for fighting the spread from importation.

Now it is known with the benefit of hindsight that the Committee delayed the shut down because several important personalities were abroad for business, government or personal reasons and their interests were protected with that position.

By the time the shutdown was activated the infection has been generously transmitted to families, friends, cronies and acquaintances by the new arrivals. Those who responded for quarantine and isolation began to get government attention and mild and serious cases became admitted into special hospitals. However, the second categories of returnees ignored instruction and ended up in regular hospitals when the virus became critical. The latter set accounted for the major deaths recorded so far across the country. Thereafter, community infection has accounted for daily increase in the number of the sick.

Italy, Spain, UK, France and USA were not as lucky. These nations are paying for inaction, indiscipline, arrogance and negligence to keep the rampaging virus at bay.

First, the epicenter has migrated from China to Europe and America. Second, there has been a harvest of death and Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York State in the US captured its gory picture in his daily media briefing. Third, the disease has remained an equal opportunity predator with the high and mighty coming under its hammer, the highest ranked being the Prime Minister of UK, Mr. Boris Johnson.

The world breathed a sigh of relief on his recovery.

Fourth, global economy has changed tragically from what we used to know with stock market free fall, record high unemployment, heavy deficit in budget numbers, economic depression of the highest magnitude, tendency towards zero productivity, trade and currency exchange losses, virtual collapse of the SMEs amongst others.

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

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IMAGES

Photo Editor ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ ÔËÖË Email Ă‹ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜Ë›Ă‹Ă”Ă‹Ă–Ă‹ĚśĂžĂ’Ă“Ă?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ù×

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Justice & Attorney General, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Oniwereku of Iwereku Kingdom, Oba Tajudeen Afolabi-Adebanjo Elemoro; Head of Service, Lagos State, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola and Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, during the handing of Police Area J Command to the Force Authority, by Lagos State Governor, at Elemoro Town, Ibeju-Lekki Lagos‌recently PHOTO: KOLA OLASUPO

L-R: Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo; Governor Douye Diri and Chevron Contractor, Mr. Selepri Matthew, during the inspection and handing over of Mother and Child Hospital built by Chevron to Bayelsa State Government in Yenagoa...recently

Governor Hope Uzodimma (sitting); surrouded by Deputy Governor, Prof. Placid Njoku and some House of Assembly members during the signing of Covid-19 Bill into Law in Owerri....recently

Medical team testing Epe Local Government Chairman, Hon. Adedoyin Adesanya, during the commencement of a community test for COVID-19, at the Primary Healthcare Centre, Ita-Opo, Epe, Lagos State...recently

Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde; Executive Adviser on Agric Business, Dr Debo Akande; Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Muyiwa Ojekunle and Chairman Kartlos Farms Limited, Mr Osinowo Owolabi during the tour and inspection of the farm by the governor at Akufo farm Settlement, Eruwa road, Ibadan...recently

Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Mrs Salako Oyedele, at the Covid -19 testing centre, Ota, Ogun State...recently

L-R: Groom’s Father, Mr. Akinola Ariyo; Bride’s Mother, Pastor Mrs. Elizabeth Aremu; Couple, Olawale & Love Ariyo; Groom’s Mother, Mrs. Caroline Ariyo and Bride’s Father, Bishop Thomas Aremu during the wedding reception of the couple in Ibadan...recently

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EDUCATION Parents, Educators Unite to Protect Children from Sexual Predators Guarding against sexual and gender-based violence and supporting survivors is a collective responsibility, as parents and educators explained to Funmi Ogundare how they have been able to put the interest of the children first and restore the dignity of the child that has suffered abuse

I

n the aftermath of a sexual assault or rape, survivors can face complicated and painful emotions and experiences. So parents and educators are devising safety plans to teach children how to protect themselves.

These include making the home comfortable for the children to live in by ensuring the right communication and cordial atmosphere, the commitment of parents to each other and the children seeing that they are living the values, parents believing in their children and giving them the right words to say. Other plans are paying attention to people who may be paying attention to their children, teaching them the age-appropriate sex education, protecting their children, as well as monitoring individual relationships that others may have with them.

Educators and parents say they have considered their parenting styles, devised a safety plan, educated their children by teaching them the age-appropriate sexuality education. They have also analysed their Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) and are standing by their children to protect them from falling prey to sexual abusers.

The Executive Director of Media Concern for Women and Children, Princess Olufemi Kayode said: “As a family, we have values and a constitution. We have had to redefine certain roles and we don’t demean our children because these are the things that make children fall easily to abuse.�

She said she has ensured that the home should be the first place where children should learn the values and beliefs so that they do not go out and fall into negative influence.

According to her, “when things happen to them, they are free to come back and discuss it openly with me. I have had to let my children know that the world they are in is dangerous.

Sometimes they are exposed to sexual content; so as a parent, you need to explain to them why such is detrimental to them. The atmosphere is cordial, and there is open communication between us which makes the home more comfortable for them to live in.�

Kayode said once an extended family member is coming to visit or stay with them, they make an effort to introduce such a person to the family, adding that they will let him or her know the things they don’t tolerate in the house. “It’s a collective responsibility,� she said.

The Executive Director Pathfinder and Empowerment Resource Centre, Mrs. Folashade Rojugbokan said the organisation took its campaign against sexual violation to different schools in 15 out of the 23 local government areas in Kaduna State. It has been teaching students both at the primary and secondary levels how to protect themselves.

For violated teenagers, she said her organisation has been working with the Ministry of Human Development and Social Services in Kaduna and rendered psychological help to the victims. “The ministry made it easy for us because most of the cases there were taken up by the government. We are also in close collaboration with the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Department of Sexual Violence and Gender Abuse. The adolescents are speaking up because we can help them with the help of these people. “Our targets have been secondary schools and teenagers that are out of school, so the campaign has been highly effective, especially with the support of the Ministry of Human Development and Social Services. The response from parents has been tremendous,� Rojugbokan stressed.

She said the organisation has also been empowering school teachers, principals and proprietors on preventive measures and the red flag signs that they should take note of among sexual abusers, as well as how to talk to parents during PTA meetings properly. “We took our campaigns to religious houses and schools and spoke to the proprietors and

They must be protected from sexual predators school principals. We trained the teachers in the secondary schools and empowered them about preventive measures; and established pathfinder clubs in schools around Kaduna State. “We talked to them about self-esteem, sex education, emotional intelligence and empathy.

The result and feedback have been wholesome.

We are looking forward to extending this to other states in the northern part of the country.�

Rojugbokan said she recently carried out a research work about the prevalence and determinants of sexual abuse among adolescents in secondary schools in Kaduna metropolis, noting that the results she got were alarming. “About 78 per cent of them have been sexually abused and still being sexually abused by the same people because they don’t know what to do. We offered free counselling against sexual abuse, psychological help for those who are in need and even invited some of their parents over especially those who are in need. Once the parents are aware, they can help their children,� she said.

A social empowerment advocate, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami said his organisation created resource materials which were sent to different media to enlighten the public about the rights of the girl-child.

According to him, “our model is predicated on enlightenment which is superior to enforcement.

We have created resource materials. For instance, I have a blog where I have 800 articles, and from time to time, I am on TV and radio advocating for the rights of girls. From my personal story, the impact of sexual abuse is internal. Because of that, I had to work extensively in developing materials that can help us to prevent sexual violence.�

When it comes to the issue of sexual violence, he said knowledge is vital, adding that parents must know what to do and have the right attitude on how to do it. “These are fundamental things that parents need to understand. We have created the resource material on our website, social media, and meeting an initiative campaign to help us to understand the right of children. We try to understand that culture is key which is the dominant value system of the people,� he said, adding that his organisation has been re-orientating the people about their perspective on the girl-child. “The girl-child is not a sex object; neither must she be portrayed in popular music today. No one should portray the boy-child as a sex-machine.

These are things to which we call attention. We have been enlightening people through a lot of advocacy, social empowerment of people with the needed knowledge, skill and attitude to protect their children.�

Taiwo said the organisation made huge progress in creating awareness about the rights and responsibility of parents to children. “We have been doing a lot of work to ensure that there is policy implementation and enforcement of the law when people become affected.

Others include ensuring psycho-social support and addressing the fundamental issue of poverty on the issue of protecting children from sexual violence so that they don’t become easy prey.

The response has been encouraging to a large extent.�

Growing numbers and sober statistics THISDAY checks reveal that girls and women across Nigeria are falling victim of sexual assault and rape.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), sexual and gender-based violence affect an estimated one in three women worldwide. Men and boys can also be targets.

Sexual and gender-based violence manifest in physical, sexual and psychological forms. It is a harmful act directed against a person based on gender using coercion.

This reporter visited the Centre for Children’s Health, Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE Hope) a non-governmental organisation located in Ogba, Ikeja and met Miss Mariam Abisoye (not real name), 13, a junior secondary three student of Emmanuel Academy, Akute, Ogun State receiving counselling and words of hope by the founder of the organisation, Mrs Betty Abah. She was a victim of rape.

From a poor background, Mariam had left home that Friday morning before the closure of schools with high hopes just like any of her mates, oblivious of what will occur to her.

On her way from school at about 2pm, four boys accosted her. They poured some powdery substance in her face, and she became unconscious.

The boys dragged her into an uncompleted building, gang-raped her. Those she felt could protect her, instead betrayed and deflowered her.

She was miserable and depressed with tears flowing from her eyes as she tried to recall how the gang rape happened.

She shared her story with THISDAY: “When I was coming back from school on Friday, I was

accosted by a particular Sheriff who is my boss’ fiancĂŠ whom I work for as a trainee auxiliary nurse at Baale Akinwusi Street, in Ajuwon. I noticed he was coming behind me, and he suddenly held my hand and poured a powdery substance in my face. That was the last thing I remembered. “By the time I regained consciousness, I saw myself in an uncompleted building with blood all over my body. I saw four boys standing there beside me. I asked them what I was doing there.

They told me not to worry and threatened that if I alerted anybody, they will kill me. He gave me another powder to rub my face at that point and mentioned his name as Sheriff Agunbiade.

Though I was very weak, I discovered that they had removed my uniform and shoes and I was left with the singlet I wore under my uniform in the morning. I managed to escape from the uncompleted building.�

Mariam fears going back to school because of the shame she might face. She said, “My classmates and teachers may think I am a bad girl and may want to stigmatise me.�

Maria’s issue is one of many cases of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated in Nigeria.

Most times, it either goes unchecked, or no one pursues the claims to a logical conclusion because of stigma and the culture of silence in the society.

The Executive Director, The Spring Centre (SARC), Mr. Damola Lapite said his organisation had been engaging parents at the PTA levels while reminding those that have forgotten their responsibilities about the need and the things they ought to do to protect their children. “We engage in training school owners/administrator, guidance counsellors and caregivers on how to protect children in their care, what to look out for in protecting the children, as well as standard guiding principles to be put in place by their institutions. “We also engage in public enlightenment campaigns by visiting communities, markets, churches and mosques to teach on protective measures to put in place in protecting the children; and things to watch out for when a child has been or is in danger of being sexually violated.�

Aside the parents and school owners, Lapite said his organisation has been engaging in ageappropriate sexuality education for children of all ages imparting practical knowledge of what is appropriate for them. “We teach them about their bodies, appropriate and inappropriate touches and about how to protect themselves,� he said.

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BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Investors Urged to Take Advantage of Opportunities in Nigeria Nume Ekeghe Nigerians living abroad have been advised to take advantage of the various investment opportunities in Nigeria especially now that some assets are underpriced.

Senior Economist, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, Mrs. Chinwe Egwim, said this yesterday at the FITC Future Webinar Series, with the theme: ‘Post Covid-19: Turning Adversity to Advantage,’ which had in attendance Nigerian living abroad.

Egwim, also gave the advice to people in paid employment and gave business tips to potential entrepreneurs. Also, the online seminar brought together other business leaders, industry experts and thought leaders who shared their best thinking on the post crisis recovery. Egwim said: “There is an upside for those in the diaspora, especially those in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada. They can now get more naira and this is a good time to make some investments at home and diversify your investment portfolio. “You can also consider getting

properties using the right agents and with due diligence. Everyone should have a diversified portfolio with a mindset of medium to long term mindset as suppressed to short-term investing. “For stocks, we are in a highly volatile environment now and most stocks are cheap. The advice is to buy good companies and hold because there would definitely be an upswing.

Also, the bond market is interesting to look at now and mutual funds,� she added.

Further speaking, she said: “Businesses are in a hazy environment and most decision makers across are trying to navigate to the new normal. “Now is not the time to stick to your key performance indicator (KPI). You need to work beyond your desk and have an entrepreneurial mindset while thinking of how to make your company move forward.�

Also speaking on sectors to consider while looking for business opportunities, she said: “The economic effect of this health crisis could last for at least six months and with this,

agriculture still remains a viable sector because people must eat. “Logistics segment which the bureau of statistics calls the transport and storage sector is very promising at this time. This service has surged and this is likely to last even after restrictions is lifted.� The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, FITC Mrs. Chizor Malize, in her remarks said the institute, despite the pandemic would continue to engage individuals and businesses with impactful content.�

Other participants and speakers were the Founder, Joy Inc. and Co-founder RED Media group, Mr. Chude Jideonwo, who spoke extensively on the need to spread joy and hope during this period.

He added: “Build your own immunity at this time and spread positive viruses.�

Other speakers were the President, Gemstone Nation Builders foundation, Mr. Fela Durotouye, the Chief Executive Officer, EdgeEcution, Mr. Steve Harris, who gave insightful thoughts to answers of the participants on business strategies and mental health.

Rosabon Unveils Collateral-free Loan for Civil Servants Rosabon Financial Services has announced collateral-free and guarantor-free loans as low as N40,000 and up to N6 million to cater to civil servants in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a statement, the initiative was part of measures by the company to support civil servants who are currently affected by the lockdown and have their payroll handled by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

Speaking about the public sector loan package, Managing Director of Rosabon Financial Services, Mr. Chukwuma Ochonogor said: “Rosabon is indeed proud to provide solutions for our customers in their time of need. There is no gainsaying the fact that

the lockdown has placed many civil servants in a huge financial predicament. “While loans and other credit are usually hard to get hold of, obtaining a loan for many public sector workers may be more difficult during this lockdown period.�

Currently, the federal government has mandated that civil servants’ salaries should be paid to mitigate the impact of the lockdown.

However, some states were yet to pay their workers and this has affected many workers’ ability to buy food and other necessities and may cause severe hunger during the stay at home order to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease. “With the Rosabon Public

Sector Employees’ Loan, civil servants, upon meeting the set terms and conditions, now have the advantage of accessing affordable loans with a flexible repayment tenor of up to 24 months with favourable interest rates,� he added.

In addition to these measures, Ochonogor reiterated Rosabon’s commitment to supporting individuals and businesses in tackling the economic impact of the lockdown. He further stated that, “Rosabon is focused on delivering the best possible service to all Nigerians and supporting the Nigerian economy, while taking deliberate steps to further support parts of the nation most in need at this critical period.�

Entrepreneur Seeks Tax Relief, Waivers on Loans Ayodeji Ake To cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, an entrepreneur, Mr. Taiwo Samuel Olatoye has appealed to the federal government to provide tax relief and waivers on loan repayment to schools and other businesses in the country.

Speaking with THISDAY, recently in Lagos, Olatoye, said the pandemic and its increasing incidence calls for strategic measures to save

businesses from imminent collapse.

According to him, with the decline in the price of crude oil and uncertainties in the country presently, there was need to stimulate economic activities by helping small businesses, others pull through the crisis.

The entrepreneur drew President Muhammadu Buhari’s attention to the plights of industries, companies, schools and others servicing loans from the Bank of industry (BOI), among other institutions.

He added: “The federal government should take measures to save small/large scale businesses, companies, institutions, private schools and organisations that are in great difficulty paying back loans, salaries, settlement of outstanding bills, and logistics due to the pandemic.�

Olatoye, urged governments at all levels to apply wavier on levies and taxes to help struggling businesses avoid bankruptcy during the crisis.

LAPO Refutes Allegation of Customer Harassment Sunday Ehigiator The Chairman, LAPO Microfinance Bank, Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, has refuted allegation by a news platform that the bank harasses its customers with phone calls to repay their loans this period where several businesses have been affected by the COVID-19

pandemic.

A statement described the allegation as false. “The report quoted an unnamed source in Benin City, the home of LAPO. The fiction cannot be better. It also mentioned a cluster of other ‘microfinance agencies’ without names but only existed in their fertile imagination, as also

involved. “The simple facts are: LAPO MFB closed down its operations across Nigeria on March 23, few days before the lockdown directive on Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory. “LAPO MFB made contributions to efforts of two states at providing palliatives to Nigerians,� it added.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

SEPTEMBER 2019 Money Supply (M3)

35,029,779.72

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

7,374,356.91

Money Supply (M2)

27,655,422.82

-- Quasi Money

116,533,891.21

-- Narrow Money (M1)

11,121,531.60

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,625,047.69

---- Demand Deposits

9,496,483.91

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

13,911,335.83

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

21,118,443.89

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

35,918,179.45

---- Credit to Government (Net)

10,452,199.38

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

11,007,422.79

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

25,465,980.07

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-14,799,735.56

--Other Assets Net

7,000,253.07

Reserve Money (Base Money

2,005,600.83

--Currency in Circulation

4,677,530.81

--Banks Reserves

317,121.43

Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

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

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE Ëœ Í°Íľ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $13.30 a barrel on Monday, compared with $14.31 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

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MARKET NEWS

Q1: Stanbic IBTC Records N61bn Earnings, N21bn Profit After Tax Goddy Egene Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced its financial results for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2020, showing a marginal increase in top-line and profitability.

Gross earnings stood at N61.4 billion, showing an increase of 4.6 per cent over the N58.7 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019.

Net interest income fell 8.3 per cent from N20.2 billion to N18.5

billion, while credit impairment charges printed at N1.967 billion, compared with a write back of N1.391 billion in 2019. Operational expenses increased from N23.5 billion to N24.8 billion, making the bank to end the quarter with a profit before tax (PBT) of N24.4 billion, as against N23.5 billion.

The PBT in Q1 2020, showed an increase of 3.8 per cent compared to Q1 of 2019.

However, profit after tax rose faster by 7.6 per cent from N19.2 billion in 2019 to N20,6 billion

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

in 2020 on the back of lower tax expenses. Stanbic IBTC recorded loans growth of 16.9 per cent from N535.2 billion to N625.7 billion, while customers’ deposits rose 31 per cent per cent to N1.167 trillion compared with N887 billion in 2019. Total assets rose by 29 per cent from N1.877 trillion to N2.427 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian equities market closed in the positive territory as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 0.49

S E C U R I T I E S MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

per cent to 22,727.87. Similarly, market capitalisation added N58.2 billion to be at N11.8 trillion.

Activity level rose as value and volume traded climbed 151.4 per cent and 106.7 per cent respectively to N2.8 billion and 266.6 million shares.

The most active stocks by volume were UBA (48.8 million shares units), FBN H (39.1 million shares) and Access Bank Plc (34.1 million shares) while Nestle Nigeria Plc (N538.5 million), Zenith Bank Plc (N395.1

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

million) and GTBank (N391.7 million) led the value chart.

UBA, which led the activity chart by volume will hold its annual general meeting (AGM), while FBN Holdings Plc that came second, had its AGM on Monday.

At the FBN Holdings’ AGM, shareholders approved that approved the N13.64 billion dividend recommended for the year ended December 2019, even as the group reiterated its promise to place its shareholder value at the forefront of its operations.

O F

Commending the board and management on the improved results and the dividend recommended, Sir Sunny Nwosu of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), said:“I want to put on record, our appreciation for the dividend being proposed. We look forward greater dividend in the future because we believe we have in place a management with good thinking.

So, we are expectant of good products.�

2 8 / 0 4 / 2 0 2 0 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020 •T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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WEDNESDAY, ͺ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ THISDAY

BACK PAGE CONTINUATION BETWEEN ABBA KYARI AND ABBA KYARI forbearance and peaceability of mankind.

The lessons we are to learn from the applicability of the precept of not speaking ill of the dead, consist of the following: first, the individual is no longer around to respond and defend himself from charges proffered against him. This explicit one sidedness fails to meet the bar of rudimentary justice.

There is also the question of good faith- that is what is our motivation for entering into judgement in the first place? The surrogates of the dead, in this instance, the late chief of staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari are equally enjoined not to unfairly, bear false witness, good or bad, in his memory.

Second is the compassionate disposition of showing sensitivity to those who mourn, especially the family, with whom we are scripturally enjoined to join in mourning.

Third is that, as a community of faith, which we are not, we are supposed to understand that the person is now answerable, having completed his earthly race, to the superior judgement of the ultimate judge himself, God. And it is in recognition of inherently falling short of the standard of God, where the cleanest among us is like a filthy rag before God- we fervently plead with God to have mercy on the soul of the departed.

By not speaking ill of the dead we are also setting the standard to which we become liable when it is our turn to answer the last call- judge not, lest ye be judged, for the measure with which you judge shall ye also be judged. Another reason we are requested not to judge is that, unlike God the omniscient, we can never be in the full picture of the totality of the whats, wheres and hows of another person’s

life. This is one other extenuation being pleaded by those standing proxy for Kyari.

Specific to the Kyari case however is the parallel observation that the dead is not your typical citizen and his deeds and misdeeds disproportionately impinge on the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerian citizens, individually and collectively. Whoever, of his freewill and volition sought and secured governance proprietary privilege over the rest of us, has waived his right to be assessed with the same standard as nondescript Ojo or Aisha.

High office incumbents have assumed the commensurately elevated parameter embodied in the saying that to whom much is given, much is expected. How do we seek public accountability without being able to hold those in public office to account?

By the way, I rather doubt if any community of feeling, beyond the new testament rooted Christianity, is bound by what is essentially a new testament prescription. There is the Yoruba injunction that warns, ení se rere, ko mu ra si rere, eni se ika, ko mura si ika, a ti ore, a ti ika, ko si eni ti ko ni ku, sugbon ojo a ti sun ni ebo - meaning: the moment of death calls for the review of how one has acquitted himself, while alive. The obligation commentators properly owe is to know where legitimate inquiry stops and malicious inquisition begins. Columns like this are held in trust for the Nigerian public and would amount to a betrayal of that trust were the trustee to divert it to the service of THISDAY equivalent of a condolence register.

What we can learn from the controversy generated by his transition is the difference between Abba Kyari the private man and Abba Kyari the public figure. It would amount to lack of character for his family, friends, associates and supplicants not to have kind words to say about him at his earthly transition. They would then be liable to be condemned as fairweather friends.

By the same token, it would amount to dereliction of responsibility not to give a tempered and balanced evaluation of his stewardship-given, especially, the reality of the fundamental nature the Buhari Presidency has impacted Nigeria in the past five years. If Kyari had extra marital affairs and was beholden to the green bottle, I would argue it is nobody’s business. He may be the angel his friends have portrayed him to be but we can only comment on the strength of what is publicly available and as it bears relevance to the Nigerian public.

As a reputable journalist who served as editor of the Kaduna based democrat and member of the editorial board of Thisday, the late Presidential aide would stand for nothing less.

Not long ago, his principal, President Buhari conspicuously and publicly implicated him in whatever becomes of his Presidency by directing his newly sworn in cabinet members to relate to Kyari, essentially, as his alter ego. It was left to those who would deal with the federal government, at the highest level, to ascertain the veracity of this uniquely delegated power and authority. The corollary here is that it would amount to a contradiction in terms not to thereby

hold him accountable for the net effect of the Buhari dispensation. Unfortunately, what is revealed in the content analysis of the literature review on the governance of Nigeria, in the past five years is, to put mildly and evasive language, a sad commentary. As activist chief of staff, for whose benefit that office was dramatically redefined, how would it now look to, by omission or commission, absolve him of partnership in the deeds and misdeeds of the government. If the encomiums that had been heaped on him are worth the paper they are written, he would not want to be absolved of a joint plea in the failings of a President who practically entrusted his Presidency to him. Any logic to the contrary does not speak well of him.

With malice to no one and with charity for all, the point needs be reiterated we are at one of those critical juncture where Nigeria must make the right call and insist on applicable universal standards.

No nation progresses by addiction to the culture of bending the rules in fulfillment of a penchant for a peculiar and below par Nigerian standard of conducting public affairs. Aristotle once expressed the wisdom that let ‘fools contend, what is best administered is best’. This pearl of wisdom speaks to Nigeria in the interpretation that no one would have bothered or bat an eyelid, were Buhari to delegate his Presidency to the first lady-if Nigeria gets value for expenditure, if blackouts in Nigeria are cut by fifty percent and safe drinking water is accessible to the majority of Nigerians- then any criticism will become academic.

of federal and state budgets, as well as the utilization of loans, since 1999 gives very compelling reasons for pessimism about any presumed nexus between government expenditure and the welfare of citizens.

All expenditure headings under which national resources have been deployed, ostensibly for the common good, since 1999 have recorded impressive deficits.

Look at roads, healthcare, power, water supply and national security. Meanwhile many people who could not rustle up fifty thousand Naira before 1999 have become multi billionaires, simply because they held public office.

While the unexplained income is the norm, the states, towns, villages, clans and homesteads of former and serving public office holders are worse off than they were twenty years ago. The subsisting integrity deficit hovering around nearly all of those managing our national affairs today is real. Deliberate falsehood is the major raw material for public administration and state policy. The South-east, with its interesting clan of leaders, is the worst hit in all of this. The region’s leaders cannot

say “no” to anything in the name of their people. That is why the zone has remained the poor cousin of the six zones in the Nigerian federation since after the civil war. It suffered during the years of military rule and also got unimpressive allocations throughout the sixteen years of the PDP government. The zone has fared so miserably in federal appointments, federal projects, budgetary allocations, provision of special federal infrastructure and relevance in national reckoning under the present dispensation that the hapless APC political elite in the South-east are just a laughingstock.

Going back to the core issues of concern here, the nation is in trouble; and at three levels: (1) At the level of governance vision and capacity; (2) At the level of resource derivation, allocation and optimisation and (3) At the level of realism, with regard to what needs to be done to save the situation.

To rally for a new order demands a new leadership vision, not foolish spending, lies and grandstanding. In their grandstanding, they not about to see the clear auguries at all.

ANATOMY OF FOOLISH SPENDING only in a proper federation that we can speak of the primary stakeholders as the ones who must always be consulted before commitments and who would calmly pick any bills arising from joint endeavours. But ours is not a genuine federation.

It is, at best, an agglomeration of dangling territories of questionable viability under a central authority that runs on its own rails. This federation neither commits to equity, nor takes decisions and actions based on the overall short, medium and long term interests of all federating units as one ecosystem of interdependent life forms.

The proof that ours is a conquered territory, wherein the presumably federating units are just vassal territories under the dominion of a central authority, became manifest when we set out to borrow some 2.7 billion dollars just before the COVID 19 outbreak. The money was to be spent in our name and according to his discretion of a Federal Government that did not consult the federating units, or their representatives in the National Assembly. It wanted to borrow as it deemed expedient, spend as it deemed fit and prioritize what to spend on as it also deemed fit and present the payback bill to the federating units; whether or not their interests were served by the loans.

All the projects and programmes pencilled down to be executed with planned the 2.7 billion-dollar loan fall under what can best be described as “procurement, consumption and redistribution of poverty.” It is the same with much of what is being spent in the IDPs, procurements for national military operations and other presumably well intention d national interventions. It will all create new billionaires, or expand the purse of existing ones, without any real positive impact on the welfare of the average Nigerian. The questions we can raise about all of the foregoing are these: Who, or what, really determines the items spelt out under the various expenditure headings of this government? How does the federal government arrive at its decisions on national priorities these days? Which team of economic experts, respected elder statesmen/women, federal and/or state lawmakers and stakeholders have been advising the executive arm of government on the wisdom, timeliness and likely positive developmental impact of its expenditures?

How has government spending, and even projected spending, of the last one years alone advanced our overall national interest and economy, strengthened national unity,

Buhari

addressed unemployment, youth bulge and burgeoning national recurrent expenditure and bloated debt servicing budgetary provisions?

It is not easy to drive real development in a nation where National Development Plans has given way to regime plans and where even the so-called regime plans degenerated into threadbare concepts, supported by a lot of nebulous grammar and dodgy speechmaking. The sixteen years of the Peoples Democratic Party saw the original, and really brilliant, NEEDS and SEEDS development template of Obasanjo became the Seven-Point Agenda of Yar’Adua. The concept of national development has collapsed under the imprimatur of a misguided elite that now understands development only in terms of procurement, award of contracts and records of expenditure; without any attention to the negative or positive impact of government activities on the welfare of the people.

All state governors and state Houses of Assembly must wake up to the fact that they are all putting fertilizer on a tree of death.

Our experience with the implementation

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WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Liverpool Open Osimhen Transfer Talks with Agent

Liverpool are understood to have taken the lead in the big chase for Victor Osimhen as the Premier League club have

opened talks with his agent.

French media outfit,Le Sport 10, reported yesterday that Liverpool, who are just two

Babayaro Laments Drogba’s Disgrace at Cote d’Ivoire FA Election Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Emmanuel Babayaro yesterday said that he is yet to come to term with the result of Cote d’Ivoire FA election where African football legend, Didier Drogba, scored zero vote at the poll.

The ex-Chelsea star was tipped as the favourite to defeat challengers Idriss Diallo and Sory Diabate to the exalted office.

But in last Sunday’s election conducted among former Ivorian players through video conferencing, the two-time African Player of the Year scored zero out of the 14 votes available.

Just like Drogba, incumbent Vice-president Diallo got no votes as league President Diabate reaped 11 ballots, while three withdrew.

Didier Zokora, who was Drogba’s assistant captain, shockingly was among the retired players who failed to approve the choice of the 42-year-old to lead Ivorian football for a new lease of life.

Babayaro in an interview with bsnsports.comsaid the outcome of the election clearly explains the disharmony among footballers after retirement from the round leader game.

“My brother did you see Drogba score zero in a vote cast by ex-internationals in his country? Have you noticed how many players’ union we have even here in Nigeria? And ex internationals Union too? Can you see what is happening to Edema Fuludu and Victor Ikpeba (at Delta FA) with very little or no support from their constituency of ex internationals? “That is the lot of African players, envy, jealousy, hate etc. Synergy is near impossible for now,� stressed the 1993 Under-17 World Cup winner with Golden Eaglets.

Babayaro attributed the root cause of these disharmony to petty envy. “First, I will attribute this to envy because most times, ex-internationals seem to envy themselves especially when one is thriving. There is so much envy and bad blood amongst us former footballers,� Emmanuel Babayaro told BSN Sports Whatsapp platform.

Drogba’s shock loss in the Cote d’Ivoire Football Association poll to Sory Diabete came as a rude shock to many football fans in the African continent.

UEFA Leagues Have Up Till May 25 to Decide on Seasons European leagues have until 25th May to tell UEFA whether they want to complete or cancel their seasons.

Football is suspended in all European countries apart from Belarus because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Premier League has this week stepped up its plans to resume the season in what has been labelled ‘Project Restart’.

Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham have opened their training grounds to players for individual work.

The Premier League league is hopeful of a potential 8 June restart and finishing at the end of July to fit in with Uefa’s European competition plans.

This would require full training to begin by 18 May. Top-flight clubs will meet on Friday to discuss options for the restart.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he had been in contact with clubs about restarting the Premier League “as soon as possible�.

Professional Footballers’ Association deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes said: “We have been assured of the intentions of all that there

would be no resumption unless guarantees of safety could be given to the players. “The overriding principle for all parties is the health and safety of all participants on and off the field, and of course the wider public.�

The Scottish Premiership is suspended indefinitely and the season could yet be declared over, a move already taken with the second, third and fourth tiers north of the border.

On Tuesday, the French government banned all sporting events, even without spectators, until September, signalling the end of the season for the top two divisions in the country, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.

The Dutch top flight was abandonedon Friday with no promotion or relegation and no champions, while on Monday Belgian clubs postponed a vote on confirming the cancellation of their top flight until next week.

The deadline set by Uefa is referred to in a set of guidelines on ‘eligibility principles’ for European competitions that the governing body’s president and general secretary have sent out to football bodies.

wins away from a 19th Premier League conquest, have swung into action to sign the 21-yearold Lille striker by discussing a transfer this year.

Osimhen has netted 18 goals in 38 matches for Lille in Ligue 1 this season.

He has attracted interests from several Premier League clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United and most recently Leicester City.

Speculations on the future of the Nigeria star hit the roof last

week when the Lille president announced he has received two firm bids from the Premier League.

However, he did not mention the target of these offers. Leicester City is also speculated to be amongst team in the English topflight target the U-17 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets at Chile 2015.

Serie A clubs Juventus and Inter Milan are also believed to be interested in the all-action striker.

Victor Osimhen ...now the target of Liverpool

Didier Drogba ...was let down by his constituency

CAF Boss, Ahmad, ‘Delays’ 2nd Term Bid for Fight against COVID-19 Femi Solaja With less than a year to another Elective Congress of Confederation of African Football (CAF), the incumbent, Ahmad may have tactically shelved his intention to seek re-election into the continental football top job.

The CAF President said yesterday that he wanted to be focussed and not ‘distracted’ in the fight to banish the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world footballers as no exception.

Amid power struggle within the cabinet and an alleged large scale misappropriation of funds levied against his leadership, the Malagasy

football technocrat announced on his verified twitter handle that “Today, several medias announced my application to a second mandate of @ CAF_Online’s President. I am fully focussed on the #Covid19 crisis management. When I will take my decision, I will let you know,� Ahmad tweeted at about midday local time yesterday.

But while the CAF boss is still playing mind games towards the crucial elective congress, a former scribe of the body, Amr Fahmy, has already threw his hat into the ring as a major challenger almost the same way and time that the incumbent began his plot to upstage immediate past

President, Isah Hayatou. The Cameroonian held sway since 1988 before he was roundly beaten at the Addis Ababa congress in Ethiopia.

Incidentally, Fahmy, who is a scion of the legendary Egyptian football family is the grand child to the first CAF Secretary General of CAF but fell out with the present regime after serving from November 2017 till early this year.

THISDAY can recall that most of the foot soldiers deplored by Ahmad camp to upstage the former Executive have fallen out with the former finance minister of Madagascar because of his alleged bitter politics and style

of administration.

At the last CAF General Assemble shortly before AFCON 2019 in Egypt, Ahmad worked against the return of Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick who was the 1st Vice President following the resignation of Ghanaian Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Pinnick was the rallying point for most of the executive committee members and is believed to have led the plot that ousted Hayatou.

However, in the wake of the weighty allegations of fraud at the confederation under Ahmad’s watch, FIFA’s Secretary General, Ms Fatma Samoura was appointed by the world body to sanitize CAF administration.

World Athletics Creates $.5m Pandemic Fund to Support Athletes World Athletics and the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) have come together to launch a $500, 000 fund to help athletes in financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global governing body said on Tuesday.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought sporting events worldwide to a halt, leading to a loss of income for athletes.

World Athletics president

Sebastian Coe will chair a group assessing applications for assistance. The group will meet this week and also look into how to raise additional funds. “I am in constant contact with athletes around the world and I know that many are experiencing financial hardship as a consequence of the shutdown of most international sports competition in the last

two months,� Coe said in a statement. “Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we’re mindful that our competition season, on both the track and road, is being severely impacted by the pandemic,� he said. “We’re hopeful that we will be able to stage at least some competition later this year. In the meantime we’ll

also endeavour, through this fund and additional monies we intend to seek... to help as many athletes as possible.�

The Diamond League, the elite track and field competition, was forced to postpone events in seven cities scheduled between April and June due to the outbreak.

The next scheduled meet is in London on July 4 followed

by Monaco on July 10.

Wednesday April 29, 2020

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MISSILE

Jonathan to FG “We state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration, and that that government gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice, if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances” – Former President Goodluck Jonathan exonerating his administration from the P&ID saga.

AKINOSUNTOKUN Between Abba Kyari and Abba Kyari DIALOGUE WITH NIGERIA

akin.osuntokun@thisdaylive.com

“I

n spite of our age difference, he encouraged me to call him by his first name Abba, but I always preferred Mallam Abba.

Forget what anyone might tell you, Mallam Abba was a decent, humble and simple gentleman who delighted himself with intellectual and higher pursuits. He was cerebral. He was a technocrat, a workhorse and an accomplisher. He was not a perfect human being. Nobody was, nobody is and nobody will ever be. But he was a totally decent human being. Mallam Abba had no desire whatsoever for riches and worldly accoutrements. He had ample opportunities to feed such desires, if he had any. He was Managing Director and CEO of UBA at a time the bank was still at the top of the banking industry in Nigeria. Compare him to all those who had occupied that office in the past and you would understand what I mean”.

“Blind allegiance to individuals is one of the biggest obstacles to meaningful progress in the Nigerian nation. In a way, this may well be linked to the artificial formation and structural dysfunction of the Nigerian nation state- such that individuals inspire more devotion and greater inspiration than

Kyari

the nation-state. We have enough evidence available in the public space to evaluate his performance as an office holder. Kyari’s offence is not based on some spurious tale around the former Health Minister.

It is based on overwhelming evidence already in the public sphere, and from

which neither he nor his apologists can extricate themselves. This sort of behindscene anecdotes, like the ones eulogising Kyari, should be repudiated with equal vehemence- in the interest of consistency to the overarching principle and criteria for scrutiny of political office holders. Unless we see the memos or links to verifiable documents, this narrative doesn’t carry much weight. But that does not by any means exonerate Abba Kyari.”

Scriptural and philosophical precepts are commonly stated as moral imperatives and often in absolute terms. In order to avoid any ambiguity about them, they are abstracted into, what are, by realistic and scientific standards, exaggerated ideal types.

They are what we know as archetypes, models and perfection-towards which we can only aspire but never attain. It is what we intend when we acknowledge reality and seek extenuation by saying perfection belongs to God. In other words, we are confessing our limitations and incapacity to meet the pure and perfect standards of God - to become Godlike. Humankind lost this Godlike approximation potential when our primal forbears, Adam and Eve, reduced themselves from immortality to

mortality (and sensuality) at the subversive behest of the serpent in the idyllic setting of the garden of Eden. It was on account of this self- degradation, the fall of man that is, that God sent us packing out of his innermost sanctuary where only the pure can dwell in direct cohabitation with him.

In order to recreate his original purpose, God contrived the life and mission of Jesus Christ, a perfect role model to eternally intercede for us. When we invoke such moral imperatives as “don’t speak ill of the dead” we can only invoke them as working hypothesis not a theoretical destination. One such working hypothesis is the pacifist entreaty of ‘turning the other cheek, for another dirty slap, after receiving one on the previous cheek. The other such rarefied injunction that readily comes to mind is ‘pray for your enemies’- which is made easier to accept by the incentive and encouragement that by so doing you are heaping red hot burning coals on their heads. As it is by now apparent, these injunctions are also parables for learning and cultivation of wisdom- ultimately yielding unto the virtues of perseverance, Continued on page 30

OKEYIKECHUKWU EDIFYING ELUCIDATIONS

okey.ikechukwu@thisdaylive.com

Anatomy of Foolish Spending

O

ur banks did not pay anything into the accounts of their customers, as evidence of goodwill to enable them cope with the lockdown and hardships imposed by the COVID 19 Pandemic. But they donated billions of naira to the federal government, to distribute as raw cash to the poor. The banks also did not reduce, or eliminate, certain online charges. Instead, they made their customers to pay more at ATM machines. Machines that hitherto dispensed a maximum of forty thousand per Naira per transaction now dispense a maximum of N10,000 per transaction. The person who wants to withdraw N40,000 must thus make multiple withdrawals and pay four times of what he used to pay. That is their understand of Corporate Social Responsibility at a time like this: donating money in order to be called a good boy/girl by the government, while enthroning economic demony elsewhere.

Our rich people and rich organisations also gave money to the Federal Government.

They did not give it to their staff, or to the poor around them and in their local communities. And the federal government

since gone ahead to distribute the money as physical cash, thereby showing that it has no interest in incentivising a cashless economy; or rewarding those who are within the technologically accessible net of verifiable actors in the national social, economic and financial milieu. That is the folly of a political and business elite that mistakes empty gestures for genuine and impactful interventions in the lives of the nation and on real people.

How a federal government that has not demonstrated tolerable proficiency in the distribution of voters’ cards could magically distribute cash to millions of Nigerians with incredible speed in a matter of days is still a mystery, though. That a government that has no reputation for any modicum for statistical planning should suddenly identify, access and pay the poor, giving them money one house after another, is quite impressive. But to then turn around, after this wonderful national service, and tell us that the names of the poor would not be made public, to protect their dignity and identity is not right. See how This is how hundreds of billions of Naira have gone up in smoke in the last few weeks,

in the name of fighting and/or managing the COVID 19 pandemic?

Scores of billions of naira have also been spent in the last few years, in the name of agricultural loans to boost food production, food sufficiency and food security. But there is still no food. And the loans cannot be recovered, because the people who allegedly received it are not in any position to pay back. They are also not faring any better than they were faring before they got the loans. The supposed beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer distributed all over the nation by the Vice President, on behalf of the federal government, are no better off either. The story is the same with the much-vaunted School Feeding Programme and the trillions of Naira lost to petroleum subsidy. We have deficit performance in all the places where we have spent, and are still spending, the most. Why? The reason is quite simple: we are spending foolishly, and we are not doing any costs-benefits analysis. That is all. An Igbo man who borrows money to take an Ozo title is a living abomination; especially if he planted nothing and is not expecting any harvests any time soon. The current

price of crude oil, the fact that we have no storage facilities out there, the fact that Nigeria pays nearly $400,000 everyday for carrying its ocean borne cargo that no one is now willing to buy on leased storage says everything about the cascade of misfortunes to come.

With expected national income from crude oil standing dangerously close to zero today and with the national and state political big boys and girls not paying attention, our governors and the privilege-drowned lawmakers at all levels may soon be in for a rude awakening. There are still outstanding loans and there will be no willing lenders out there, after this pandemic.

Repayment of federal loans falls squarely on the shoulders of the federating units in any modern state. This is because the federating units are the primary stakeholders, and real owners, of the commonwealth. They are the ones who must agree to any financial commitments, the terms for such commitments and the justification and sustainability of the conditions pertaining thereto. But it is Continued on page 30

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