WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY 2020

Challenges Facing WTO Not Insoluble, Says Okonjo-Iweala Envisages strong support from Africa Ejiofor Alike with agency reports Nigeria's candidate to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, has described the

challenges facing the world trade body as not insoluble, noting that she felt "strong support" from Africa and expects African leaders to unite behind one candidate.

Reuters reported that the

former minister of finance, who has more than 25 years of experience at the World Bank, is seeking to replace Brazil's Roberto Azevedo who announced last month he would step down on August

31 in a surprise move at a critical juncture for the body.

Africa has struggled in the past to unite behind one candidate and the Genevabased watchdog has never been led by someone from

the continent or by a woman, and there is a broad feeling it's Africa's turn.

"I cannot presume for any group but I can tell you that I feel strong support from the region," she told Reuters late

on Monday, saying she was having "very constructive conversations" among the 164 members.

One delegate described her Continued on page 9

Lawan, Gbajabiamila Lobby Presidency to Halt New Electricity Tariffs... Page 8 Wednesday 1 July, 2020 Vol 25. No 9214. Price: N250

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With $2.8bn AKK Gas Pipeline, Buhari Targets More Jobs, Technology Transfer Inaugurates project 3,600mw to be generated, says Kyari OPEC’s oil output lowest in 20 years as Saudi, others deepen cuts Omololu Ogunmade, Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja, Ejiofor Alike, Peter Uzoho in Lagos and Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday inaugurated $2.8 billion Abuja-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project, with disclosures that the contract would create jobs,

enhance technology transfer and boost local manufacturing.

Sharing the president’s optimism, the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, said the project has the capacity to generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity.

Continued on page 9

14 Parties Beat INEC Nomination Deadline for Edo Gov Election Nnamani, Bello head Edo, Ondo APC reconciliation committees Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Fourteen of the fifteen political parties that indicated interest in contesting the September 19 Edo State governorship election met the deadline for the

submission of the nomination forms of their candidates, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) said in a statement last night by its National Commissioner and Continued on page 9

TIME TO ACCOUNT… L-R: Managing Director, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc, Mr. Basil Agboarumi; Chairman, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi; and Company Secretary, Mrs. Omolara Bello, during the company’s 10th Annual General Meeting in Lagos…yesterday

COVID-19 Scare Hits APC HQ as Akeredolu Tests Positive... Page 8

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

Keyamo, Legislators Fight over 774,000 Jobs Deji Elumoye and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Caution was thrown to the winds yesterday as members

of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity engaged the Minister of State for Labour, Productivity

Despite Protest, Firm Auctions Stolen Nigerian Artefacts in Paris Ejiofor Alike with agency reports Despite protest from the federal government, auction house, Christie's, has sold artefacts allegedly stolen from Nigeria, insisting that the transaction was lawful given that the objects were sold at past auctions.

Al Jazeera reported that Christie's has gone ahead with the sale of statues that the Nigerian museum officials said were stolen during the country's civil war in the 1960s.

Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments had demanded Christie's stop the sale of the artefacts, which were collected by an art dealer and adviser of the late French President Jacques Chirac.

But Al Jazeera reported that at Monday's auction in Paris, the pair of "museum quality" Igbo statues were sold for 212,500 Euros ($239,000), while a "major Urhobo statue" estimated at 900,000 Euros ($1 million) failed to sell.

The three pieces from Nigeria were among a number of "African masterpieces" that Christie's said came from an "important European private collection" they declined to name.

However, the head of the National Museum in Benin City, Mr. Christopher Umogbai, had said the objects were stolen during the Biafran war that raged in the late 1960s and appealed to Christie's "and other auction houses to halt the process immediately."

"They have to repatriate such works and pay compensation to us in the interest of natural justice," Umogbai said.

A Princeton scholar, Chika Okeke-Agulu, who also raised the alarm earlier this month that the objects were looted, said the pieces are "an important part of Nigeria's art and cultural heritage."

"Nations and societies value the examples of the great art and cultures of their ancestors.

"So to have this set of objects

that were stolen from eastern Nigeria during the civil war up for sale when we should be discussing the terms of their return because they were illegally taken out of Nigeria, that's why I started the call for repatriation," he told Al Jazeera.

Okeke-Agulu said the objects were taken through "an act of violence" and should not be sold. An online petition with the hashtags #BlackArtsMatter and #MyHeritageMatters collected more than 3,000 signatures demanding the auction be halted.

But Christie's has refused to stop the sale, saying the objects had been previously sold at a major international art fair.

In a statement to the Associated Press news agency, the auction house said: "These objects are being lawfully sold having been publicly exhibited and previously sold over the last decades prior to Christie's involvement."

While Christie's said it recognised the "nuanced and complex debates around cultural property," it said public sales of objects like these should go ahead to stop the black market flourishing.

It said there was "verifiable documented provenance" that the objects were taken out of Nigeria before 2000, as the law required.

Christie's said the objects were most likely traded by local agents before being sold to Jacques Kerchache, the French art dealer, in Cameroon or in Paris.

"We believe that this type of statue would not have been sold without the agreement of local chiefs/leaders," it stated.

But Mallam Abdu Aliyu of Nigeria's Museums Commission said they were convinced the objects were taken illegally.

"For years, we have clamoured for the repatriation of these works to no avail. We have been negotiating through dialogue and diplomacy to have these works brought back to their original owners.

and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), in a 30-minute shouting match over the proposed employment of 774,000 Nigerians under the Special Public Works Programme of the federal government scheduled for October.

At the end of the debate, the committee threatened to suspend the programme for which N52 billion had been voted for in the revised 2020 Appropriation Bill.

Trouble started when the committee at the interactive session in Senate Room 231 asked the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr. Ladan Argungu, to explain the composition of the 20-man committee inaugurated on Monday by the labour ministry for the implementation of the programme.

But Argungu's explanation was that he was aware of only eight members of the committee, and referred the federal legislators to the minister for further clarification.

The lawmakers were not satisfied with Argungu's explanation, saying he was not

in control of the programme and accusing Keyamo of hijacking the programme from NDE, while alleging acute lopsidedness in the entire programme.

The joint committee Chairman, Senator Godiya Akwashiki, argued that the NDE director-general and the minister were not on the same page over the matter and suggested that the committee should go into an executive session with both officials so as to resolve the issues.

However, when the lawmakers asked journalists to leave the venue, Keyamo kicked against the move insisting that having been openly accused he should as well be allowed to defend himself in public.

"I came here for an open session and not closed-door session and since you have accused me in public, I will have to defend myself in public and not in executive session," he said.

When told that he could not dictate to them how the committee session would be run, Keyamo banged the table shouting that he won't go into a closed-door session with anybody.

Irked by the minister's outburst, a member of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, moved a motion that the minister should apologise for tackling the committee over the rule of procedure.

Oloriegbe's motion which was adopted by the committee, however, worsened the situation when Keyamo was asked by the committee chairman to tender an apology.

The minister refused to apologise to the lawmakers, saying he had neither done anything wrong nor made any derogatory statement.

The minister was asked to leave if he would not apologise.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after, Keyamo accused the lawmakers of trying to take control of the recruitment exercise under his ministry.

He said while he was not averse to the committee investigating the programme, they could not direct him on what to do as doing so would mean sharing in the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Keyamo said despite granting the lawmakers 15 per cent of the job placement,

they still want to hijack the entire programme, taking over the power of the president in the process.

He said: "We have said it before that there is about 10 per cent to 15 per cent reserved for the lawmakers.

I have said it openly. What do they need more than that? They want to control the programme and I said no except the president says I should leave it, then I will leave it, but they cannot control the programme.

"They can investigate the programme. I can be coming here every day to explain but they cannot control it. I did not apologise because I did not say anything derogatory.

I only insisted that the cameras must be there. There is nothing to apologise for because the constitution says: expose corruption. You cannot expose the corruption behind the public.”

In a statement issued later yesterday, Keyamo rejected what he described as the move by the National Assembly to suspend the selection process.

The minister directed the state selection committee chairmen to proceed with the selection process as planned.

ENDANGERING NNPC OFFICIALS’ LIVES… L-R: Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello; Chairman, Oilserve, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa; and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, at the inauguration of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline Project in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, where the governor’s refusal to wear a mask in line with NCDC’s COVID-19 protocols endangered the lives of other officials at the event…yesterday

MultiChoice Mulls Dropping EPL, UEFA Broadcast Rights Emma Okonji SuperSport, broadcast rights owners of the English Premier League (EPL) in Nigeria and most of the rest of Africa, and MultiChoice, parent company to DSTV and SuperSport are considering not renewing rights for the EPL, the UEFA Champions League, when they come up for renewal at the end of the 2020/21 football season, THISDAY has learnt.

A reliable source close to the companies attributed the development to the rising cost of international sports rights and the continually falling

value of the naira against other major currencies.

“It is becoming impossible to maintain many of these sports rights, especially the EPL, for Nigeria. The recent fall of the naira against the dollar has equally not helped matters,” the source said.

The company’s annual report, published at the end of last month, showed a gaping hole in its Nigerian operations, a situation the source attributed to the cost of EPL rights, as well as those for other competitions such as the UEFA Champions League to Nigeria, which is charged separate to the rest of Africa.

“Rights for the African continent used to be bought singly, but this changed in 2007 when a competitor, backed by the federal government, forced the EPL to excise Nigeria from the rest of Africa. Now, the cost of the rights for Nigeria has risen to almost the same with the rest of the continent put together, while the number of subscribers Nigeria is only about one quarter of the rest of the continent,” the source said.

The decision to reconsider the continued purchase of the EPL rights, THISDAY learnt, was not exactly new.

Two years ago, the source said, MultiChoice almost did not renew the rights because the company was having difficulties justifying the huge cost when placed side by side with what its subscribers were able to pay as subscription when compared with the rest of Africa.

According to it, “The cost of subscription in Nigeria continues to lag behind what is paid in the rest of Africa, especially in the face of the falling value of the naira.

The company is approaching a situation in which it may be forced to choose between continuing to broadcast the

EPL and its business survival.”

MultiChoice pays about $250 million dollars for the rights to the EPL and about 100 million Euros for the UEFA Champions League, another football property the company may have to jettison if it wants to stay in business, explained the source.

MultiChoice Nigeria, according to the group’s annual report available on the company’s website https:// www.multichoice.com/, is only managing to break even in spite of rising subscriber numbers that keep it only second to South Africa in subscriber count.

The results show that percentage increase in expenses exceed a percentage increase in revenues, an indication that while it is spending more on its operations, it is not making enough to keep up.

This, the source said, is attributable to the high cost of content like the EPL and UEFA Champions League.

Attempts to reach MultiChoice Nigeria for comments on this failed, as the company’s communication department continued to decline comments on its business relationship with content providers.

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Lawan, Gbajabiamila Lobby Presidency to Halt New Electricity Tariffs Timing is wrong, say National Assembly leaders Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday met with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to make them halt a new tariff regime in the electricity market billed to take off today.

The two leaders of the National Assembly who held separate meetings with the president and the vice president at the State House in Abuja, described the timing of the new tariffs as wrong and

ill-conceived.

Lawan told State House reporters after the meetings that the joint leadership of the National Assembly met with the electricity distribution companies (Discos) on Monday, and convinced them that the timing for the increased tariff was wrong.

He said Nigeria was currently battling a myriad of challenges caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hence adding more to the burdens of Nigerians through a higher electricity tariff regime would amount to insensitivity.

Lawan said both the Discos

NEITI Begins Ranking of Oil Companies, Agencies on Audit Compliance Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is to undertake a compliance ranking of all companies and government agencies that are participating in its ongoing 2019 oil and gas industry audit.

The ranking, which is instituted to examine levels of compliance with the data gathering component of the NEITI’s audit process among participating entities, it said, would focus on two indicators – timeliness and completeness of submitted templates, checklists and supporting documents.

It said while timeliness examines how participating entities meet the deadlines for submission of templates and supporting documents, completeness would focus on full, comprehensive, and accurate disclosure of all information and data.

A statement signed by the Director, Communications and Advocacy of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, stated that the information on the ranking, the indicators, and the deadlines had been communicated to the participating entities and the public.

NEITI noted that after extensive consultations with the concerned companies and agencies, the deadlines for submission of the audit templates were moved from the initial date of July 13 to 27, while the date for the submission of the supporting documents was moved to

August 3, 2020, from the initial date of July 13, 2020.

“The agency also notes that the outcome of the ranking exercise will be shared with the companies and government agencies covered by the audit and will also be made public.

“A total of 80 oil and gas companies that fall within the materiality threshold of the NEITI audit are expected to participate in the audit exercise.

"The audit also covers ten government entities that are receiving, managing or warehousing oil and gas revenues,” the organisation explained.

It reiterated its intention to release the 2019 audit report this year, which it said would be a new record for among EITI-implementing countries.

NEITI added that the move would further cement Nigeria’s current profile of setting new reporting standards by its publication of its EITI reports months before the deadline set by the global body.

“It also enhances the timeliness and usefulness of the reports by stakeholders who need the data contained in the report for informed engagements and decision making in the oil and gas sector,” it added.

NEITI introduced the audit data compliance ranking in 2017 to, according to the organisation, incentivise greater compliance at this critical stage of the audit process and recognise highly compliant companies and agencies.

and consumers should have a middle level ground on electricity tariffs, adding that rushing to increase electricity tariffs, while majority of citizens are not metered amounts to putting the cart before the horse.

According to him, a situation where the billing of consumers is not predicated on any scientific proof, but on mere assumptions of the Discos, is wrong.

He explained that efforts need to be intensified by the Discos to correct the anomalies in the billing system before considering increase in tariffs, adding that the vice president reasoned with them.

Lawan said: "We have come to visit our vice president, one of our leaders, in connection with the impending electricity tariff in the country. The joint leadership of the National Assembly sat yesterday with Discos and the Nigeria regulatory agency. We believe that this is not the right time to increase the tariff in the electricity sector.

"Nigerians have a lot of challenges today because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation requires that we do everything possible to make life easy for our citizens. Of course, government is doing a lot in this respect, but we believe that Discos should meet with consumers, find better cost-effective tariff.

"But before then, there must be some steps to ensure that the consumers are properly metered. Otherwise, you will still go back to guessing what consumers are consuming.

"That is to say that let the billing be scientifically based.

It has to be based on what you actually consumed.

"So, we had this discussion with Mr. Vice President and we are sure that that announcement on the increase of electricity tariff in Nigeria is untimely.

We believe that we need to do more work to ensure that before any increase, there must be some measures, steps, line of actions that must be exhausted including the metering. This is a welcome idea to the vice president as well."

Lawan added that the Discos have the responsibility to abide by the share purchase agreement they signed with the federal government during the privatisation process.

According to him, the Discos are saddled with the mandate to provide services and could only make huge profits after they have lived up to their own responsibilities by providing effective services for consumers.

The senate president explained that the federal government also has the responsibility to play its own roles as spelt out in the share purchase agreement, noting that

when both parties play their parts as required, power supply would reasonably improve.

He stated that as long as the government has the responsibility to play its own roles as contained in the share purchase agreement, it could not continue to divert funds meant to build hospitals, for instance, to fund Discos and the generation companies (Gencos).

Gbajabiamila also said they had earlier met with the president before the meeting with the vice president, adding that the meeting was informed by the necessity to ensure that both the executive and the National Assembly share the same position on a major policy like the hike in electricity tariffs.

He said whereas they had all initially agreed that the current situations in the power sector demanded increase in electricity tariffs, its implementation, however, was coming at a wrong time.

The speaker said good timing was more important than even the policy itself, adding that it had earlier been resolved that the hike in electricity tariffs should be suspended until consumers are carried along.

He stated that both the president and the vice president listened attentively to them yesterday and consequently, they expected a prompt move from the presidency, which,

however, he said was too late to happen yesterday.

He said: "Let me just say that we saw the president earlier this morning and we have seen the vice president today. The whole idea is that when there is a major policy decision, it is always good that the legislature and the executive are on the same page so that we don’t sing different tunes.

"I will like to say that I think we have all agreed on an increase in cost-reflective tariff but the issue is that the timing is also important. Sometimes, timing is more important than even the policy decision that you make. There is a saying that the road to hell is often paved with good intentions.

"So, the intention is good but what about the timing. We have all agreed to suspend this for a while, tarry awhile and get the buy-in of the people, explain to the people why this has to be done, that it is for the betterment for the electricity to get stable.

"They are businessmen and cannot be undercutting themselves. I think so far, so good, the president listened attentively. The vice president listened attentively and I think everybody is on the same page and hopefully, we will get some reprieve between now and whenever, but it’s not going to happen today."

WELCOME ONBOARD… Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun (left), and the new Head of Service, Alhaja Selimot Ottun, during the inauguration of the new service head in Abeokuta…yesterday

COVID-19 Scare Hits APC HQ as Akeredolu Tests Positive Governor directs aides to go for test Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and James Sowole in Akure Fear has gripped leaders of the All Progresswives Congress (APC) and the workforce at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja as Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Akeredolu was at the party’s secretariat on June 16 to submit his nomination forms and had interacted with officials of the party.

Also in a video that has gone viral, Akeredolu was

seen sneezing when he went to submit the forms.

Akeredolu also attended the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APC last Thursday in Abuja, where he was advised by a fellow governor to go for the COVID-19 test.

Following this development, the party has said it would expedite action to get Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to test everyone at the party secretariat.

Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview, the former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the

NCDC to check status of party's national secretariat staff, others

party, Mr. Yekini Nabena, said with the news of Akeredolu testing positive, the ruling party would expedite action on testing on everyone at the secretariat as soon as possible.

He said: "Even before now, the party has been making arrangements to get NCDC to test everybody in the party secretariat. With this one now, we will now expedite the system so that people in the secretariat can be tested."

He added that even journalists covering the party would also be tested.

Akeredolu confirmed his positive status via his Twitter handle yesterday.

He tweeted: “Today, I tested positive for #COVID-19. All is well. I’m asymptomatic and have been self-isolating. Work continues. Your continued prayers over my wellbeing are most appreciated.”

In a video attached to the tweet, Akeredolu said he took the COVID-19 test after being treated for malaria.

The governor explained that he was advised to take the COVID-19 test by a governor at the APC NEC meeting.

He said: “My good people of Ondo State. It gives me great pleasure to address you at this moment. I had malaria two days ago and was treated. I did get over it.

“At the APC NEC meeting, one of my colleagues spoke with me. He advised that malaria should not be just treated as likely - that I should go ahead and have a test for COVID-19.

“The result came out today, June 30, 2020, and I tested positive. But I am asymptomatic. I am not feeling sick nor feeling odd

in any way.

“But my doctor has said that I should take the necessary treatment and self-isolate. I believe that supervised home management would be ideal for me for now.”

The governor directed all members of the cabinet, close aides and others who have had reasons for constant contact with him to undergo a compulsory test.

The governor gave the directive in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo.

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PAGE NINE WITH $2.8BN AKK GAS PIPELINE, BUHARI TARGETS MORE JOBS, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER The president pledged the federal government's commitment to timely delivery of the project within budgetary allocation and specifications.

The president, who made this commitment at the virtual inauguration ceremony of the project at Ajaokuta, Kogi State and Rigachikun, Kaduna State camp sites simultaneously, said the project was strategic for Nigerians and hence, must succeed.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said the president charged NNPC and its partners to remain focused, describing the AKK project as part and parcel of the delivery of the present administration’s next level agenda for sustainable development, enhancement of economic prosperity and an increase in the country’s infrastructure assets.

Adesina said Governors Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna physically inaugurated the projects at both Ajaokuta and Rigachikun sites, while the president watched remotely via video-conference from the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja. ‘‘We promised the nation that we will expand the critical gas infrastructure in the country to promote the use of gas in the domestic market. These include the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline System - 2 (ELPS-2), Obiafu to Obrikom (OB3) pipeline and AKK. ‘‘These projects are fundamental to our desire to industrialise and energise the entrepreneurial spirit that is ever present in our population," Buhari said.

Adesina said the president highlighted the benefits of the project with a completion period of two years, saying it would provide gas for power generation and gas-

based industries that would facilitate the development of new industries.

He also said the project would ensure the revival of moribund industries along transit towns in Kogi State, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger, Kaduna and Kano states, with the unquantifiable output when the project finally takes off. ‘‘It has significant job creation potential both direct and indirect, while fostering the development and utilisation of local skills and manpower, technology transfer and promotion of local manufacturing,’’ the president said.

Buhari, who said Nigeria had learnt huge lessons from the global COVID-19 pandemic, disclosed that some oil-rich countries had used their crude oil as the platform for economic and industrial diversification.

The president described the pandemic as another justification for federal government's pursuit of export substitution initiatives and projects meant to promote local manufacturing.

Buhari used the occasion to challenge the private sector to champion the efforts for optimal use of the nation’s gas resources, pointing out that the private sector has what it requires to create a petrochemical hub aimed at resurrecting the manufacturing industry and putting the country on the path of increased self-sufficiency.

He said: ‘‘As the world evolves, we owe our people the responsibility to prepare them for what the future holds. We, therefore, must be bold and fearless and can no longer be incremental in our approach. ‘‘Today marks an important chapter in the history of our great nation. It marks the day when our domestic natural gas pipeline networks,

from Obiafu in Rivers State, Escravos in Delta State and Lekki in Lagos State, are being connected through Kaduna to Kano States thereby enhancing national energy security, creating balanced development, and further integrating our nation."

Buhari appealed to the governors of Kogi, Niger, Kaduna and Kano states as well as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide the enabling environment and support for the project.

Kyari, in his remarks, said the AKK gas pipeline project, which he described as part of the trans-Nigeria gas pipeline project, involved the establishment of a connecting gas pipeline network that would link the northern region of the country with the Niger Delta as well as the South-east and South-west.

Kyari disclosed that the EPC contract for 614-kilometre AKK gas pipeline project was awarded at the rate of $2.592 billion to Messrs. Oilserv Plc/China First Highway Engineering Company (Oilserv/CFHEC Consortium) for the first segment covering 303 kilometres.

Assuring that the contractor would live up to expectation, Kyari said upon completion, the project would result in the injection of 2.2bscf/d of gas into the domestic market and equally facilitate additional power generation capacity of 3,600 megawatts of electricity.

Meanwhile, banking on the commercial viability of the project, the lead contractor/ Oilserv Limited, has expressed its readiness to deliver the project.

The Chairman of Oilserv and Head of the project's consortium, Dr. Emeka Okwuosa, stated this while speaking with journalists at the virtual presidential inauguration of the project in Ajaokuta.

He said when completed and it comes on stream, the gas infrastructure would be able to generate fund for the repayment of the loan obtained for it earlier than the repayment date.

Okwuosa said: "As I said, this is fully viable. The facility being taken is meant to be repaid in 15 years, but this project can pay itself in less than 10 years because this is a commercial venture.

When you pipe this gas, you have gas flowing through to industries, to power plants.

"There are tariffs to be paid to even transport this gas if you understand the mechanism of gas transportation. For every cubic metre of gas that passes by, there is an amount that is paid by those who use it.

"In addition to that, the gas itself that passes by would have to be paid for, to be used.

So, this is a commercially viable project. It's not the kind of project that the government has to support for it to be viable."

According to him, "We are ready for it, in fact, what we are carrying out today is official flag-off which is the groundbreaking ceremony.

But as you can see over there, we are ready. We are already working, we are laying the lines."

OPEC’s Oil Output Lowest in 20 Years as Saudi, Others Deepen Cuts Meanwhile, the crude oil output by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hit the lowest in two decades in June as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab members made larger cuts, pushing the group’s compliance in a supply reduction pact above 100 per cent despite incomplete adherence by Iraq

and Nigeria.

Reuter’s survey showed 13-member OPEC pumped 22.62 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in June, down 1.92 million bpd from May’s revised figure.

OPEC and its allies in April agreed to a record output cut to offset a slump in demand caused by the pandemic.

An easing of lockdowns and lower supply have helped prices climb above $40 from April’s 21-year low of below $16 a barrel.

OPEC, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to cuts of 9.7 million bpd, or 10 per cent of global output from May 1.

OPEC’s share, to be made by 10 members from October 2018 levels in the case of most countries, is 6.084 million bpd.

So, far in June, they delivered 6.523 million bpd of the pledged reduction, equal to 107 per cent compliance, the survey found. Compliance in May was revised up to 77 per cent.

June’s output would be the lowest by OPEC since at least 2000, excluding membership changes since then, Reuters survey records show.

The biggest drop in supply came from Saudi Arabia, which pumped 7.55 million bpd in June, almost one million bpd below its OPEC+ quota, and the lowest for the kingdom since 2002 according to Reuters surveys.

The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait also delivered extra voluntary cuts, sources in the survey said.

OPEC supply also fell because Iraq and Nigeria, which were compliance laggards in May and in previous OPEC+ deals made bigger cutbacks in June.

Iraq reduced exports from the south and north of the country, lifting its compliance to 62 per cent, although its adherence remained lower than that of Gulf Arab OPEC

members, while Nigeria boosted its compliance to 72 per cent.

Iranian and Libyan supply held steady in June and Venezuelan output dropped further.

All three are exempt from voluntary cuts because of the US sanctions or internal issues limiting output.

Venezuela, contending with both US sanctions and a long-term decline in output, posted another drop in exports in June.

Oil output in Libya has plunged since January due to a blockade of ports and fields by groups loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar.

Talks are underway to enable a restart.

Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the OPEC cartel, held a call with Nigeria as the organisation strives to deliver production cuts aimed at bolstering global crude markets.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari discussed “ways of cooperation to enhance the stability” of the market during a phone call on Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.

It’s unusual for the prince, who is effectively the kingdom’s ruler, to call other leaders about OPEC matters.

Last week, Nigeria promised additional curbs to make up for its initial non-compliance.

Some of these were already made in early June and the remainder would be fully executed by mid-July, according to the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari.

Nigeria should pump about 1.37 million barrels of crude oil a day next month in order to meet its OPEC quota and compensate for past undercompliance.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have also endorsed the candidature of Nigeria’s two-term former minister and erstwhile Managing Director (Operations) of the World Bank.

The West African leaders made their position known in a statement signed by President of Niger, who is

also ECOWAS President, Mahamadou Issoufou.

“Since the creation of WTO on January 1, 1995, which is a successor to the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) established on January 1, 1948, no African has assumed the position of director-general of the organisation,” the group had explained.

CHALLENGES FACING WTO NOT INSOLUBLE, SAYS OKONJO-IWEALA as "definitely the favourite," especially since European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan dropped out and likely to be acceptable to China and the United States.

Egypt's Hamid Mamdouh, a former WTO official, is also a candidate and was endorsed by the African Union months ago, before Okonjo-Iweala's candidacy

was announced.

The new head's in-tray includes overseeing reforms, clinching a long-overdue multilateral trade deal, coping with a post-COVID recession as well as growing protectionism and US-China trade tensions.

"The problems are very deep and challenging but they are not insoluble," she

said, adding that the need for reform including of the body's top court which is a priority for Washington.

Critics say she does not have enough direct trade experience, but she says being an outsider is an advantage. Backers laud her negotiating skills, including a deal to cancel billions of dollars of Nigerian debt.

"Over my long career, I've managed to build relationships and platforms at levels high enough to be able to dialogue with the right people," she said.

Nominations are open until July 8 at WTO, which traditionally chooses a chief by consensus.

The Heads of State and Governments of the 15

14 PARTIES BEAT INEC NOMINATION DEADLINE FOR EDO GOV ELECTION Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye.

The electoral body had closed its dedicated portal for the submission of the parties’ nominees on Monday night, promising to vet the nominations yesterday.

Meanwhile, one of the contesting parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday began the process of reconciliation after years of internal wrangling with the composition of two committees to resolve bickering among its members in Edo and Ondo states.

The party's Caretaker/ExtraOrdinary National Convention Planning Committee named former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, and Governor of Niger State, Mr. Abubakar Bello, to chair the reconciliation committees for Edo and Ondo states respectively.

Meanwhile, INEC Chairman,

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission would prefer electronic balloting in Anambra State governorship election scheduled for 2021 as well as electronic voting in subsequent elections The statement listed the parties and their candidates that beat the deadline as Action Alliance, Mr. Obahafuosu Paul, 35, running with Mr. Sunday Johnbull, 35.

ADC has Mr. Aikhigbe Benjamin, 38, running with Ms. Mabel Akomu Oboh, 56; ADP, Obvious Emmanuel, 36, with Desmond Kola Imasuen, 36; APC has Osagie Ize-Iyamu, 58, with Audu Abiding Ganiyu, 50.

APGA has Lucky Osagie Idehen, 45 as the governorship candidate, running with Mallam Isah Suleiman Asekhaimen, 40; APM, Igbenieweka Osamuede 42, with Obiyan Christian age 40; APP, Amos Areloegbe, 52, with Afolabi Saki-Ogah,

56; Labour Party, Paid Isaiah, 60, with Omobayo Marvellous, 35; NNPP, Agol Tracy, 48, with Enobhaysobo Jonathan, 57; NPM, Steve Ozono, 53, with Osadolor Festus, 53.

PDP has Godwin Obaseki, 63, running with Philip Shaibu, 50; SDP, Felix Obayangbon, 63, with Onion Omonye, 37; YPP, Jones Osagiobare, 52, with Samson Idowoage, 49; and ZLP, Akhalamhe Amiemenoghena, 39, with Thompson Osadolor, 64.

Okoye said the provisional list of the candidates disaggregated on the basis of name, gender, age and qualification has been uploaded on the commission’s website and social media platforms, adding that as required by law, the particulars of the nominated candidates would be published in the commission's office in Edo State and simultaneously uploaded on its website on Thursday, July 2, 2020.

He said: "We encourage members of the public to go through the nomination forms, affidavits and documents submitted by the parties on behalf of their candidates, as any person, who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information in the affidavit or any document submitted by any candidate is false, may file a suit at the Federal High Court, High Court of a state or the FCT against such a candidate seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false. The final list of duly nominated candidates will be published on August 13, 2020, after withdrawals by candidates and substitution by their political parties."

On Ondo State governorship election and Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election, he said: "We remind political parties interested in nominating candidates for Ondo State

governorship election that the conduct of party primaries will commence on July 2 and end on July 25, 2020. The last date for the submission of the names of duly nominated candidates is July 28, 2020.

For the Nasarawa State Central Constituency bye-election, the conduct of primaries for the nomination of candidates starts today, June 30 and will end on July 6, 2020."

On the nomination of candidates, Okoye said that the commission is encouraged by the seamless online nomination of candidates for Edo State governorship election using the newlyintroduced dedicated portal.

The same procedure, he said, would apply to Ondo State governorship, Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election and all subsequent elections to be conducted by the commission.

Continued on page 10

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WEDNESDAY, ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Court Rejects Melaye’s Request to Stop Passage of Infectious Diseases Bill Alex Enumah in Abuja Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court yesterday refused to stop the House of Representatives from deliberating on the Infectious Diseases Bill.

Justice Ojukwu turned down the request to halt proceedings in the bill because doing so is not justiciable, and accordingly struck out the suit instituted by a former lawmaker, representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye, challenging the propriety

of the Control of Infectious Disease Bill 2020.

Melaye had challenged the bill initiated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, on the grounds that the proposed bill is inconsistent with provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The plaintiffs in the suit include the National Assembly, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Inspector General of Police

Aviation Unions Kick against FG’s Plan to Concession Airports Chinedu Eze Labour unions in the Nigerian aviation industry have kicked against the plan by the federal government to concession the country’s airports and bring in the private sector to invest in the development of the facilities.

The unions, at a world press conference held yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, vowed to frustrate the government’s plan, saying they represent the interest of ordinary Nigerians, and therefore, would not support the handing over of the country’s wealth to few individuals.

Last week, the federal government announced that the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) had given the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the certificate of compliance to concession four major airports in the country, including that of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Aviation unions, comprising the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE); Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN); Association of Aviation Professionals (ANAP), and National Union of Pensioners (NUP) branch of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), have vowed to stop the planned concession, saying

the plan would only destabilise the country’s aviation progress rather than uplift it.

Speaking on behalf of the unions, NUATE General Secretary, Ocheme Aba, told journalists that the Minister of Aviation was allegedly fraudulent in his attempt to concession the airports.

He insisted that the plan to concession Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano was criminal and against public interest.

Aba argued that the airports slated for concession were the live wires of other 22 airports in the country, adding that several staff of the FAAN would lose their jobs.

He insisted that efforts to resolve the issue with the minster had been futile in the past, and vowed that the unions would continue to kick against the attempt.

He alleged: “It is highly regrettable that both the minister and ICRC are engaging in a ruse, and are indeed taking Nigerians for a ride. We can say authoritatively that everything so far about the issue of concession for the four airports have been single handedly decided by the minister, and the ICRC has not carried out any due diligence on the concession exercise. If it did, the commission would have discovered wide gulfs of deception in the exercise.

(IG).

Melaye also predicated his action on the grounds that the bill, if passed into law, would breach his fundamental rights to own property, among others.

Melaye questioned Section 13 of the proposed bill, which empowers the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to order the arrest of anybody suspected to have COVID-19 and refuses to make himself available for medical examination.

The applicant also queried

the power of the NCDC Director-General to take over anybody's house and convert it into an isolation centre without an order of the court.

However, ruling in a preliminary objection against the suit, argued by Dr. Kayode Ajulo on behalf of the speaker, Justice Ojukwu agreed that Melaye's case is not justiciable for now.

Justice Ojukwu also agreed with Ajulo that what Melaye complained against was a draft of a bill that has not been subjected to hearing and

public debate by the House.

The judge said the draft bill, for now, has no binding force of law that could be held against anybody, adding that such a draft could only be litigated upon when finally passed into law and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

However, the judge agreed that Melaye has sufficient reason to fear that his fundamental rights would be infringed upon, but said for now, there's no cause of action since the contentious draft bill could not be said

to be conclusive in character.

"From the clear and understanding of the position of law, the draft bill complained against is not enjoying the binding effect of the law.

"The draft bill can only be said to be at the embryo stage and granting the reliefs sought by the applicant at this stage will open floodgates of litigations that may hinder the discharge of functions by the National Assembly," she added.

The judge struck out the case for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

Presidential Council Gives Conditions for Implementation of N2.3tn Stimulus Package Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) yesterday gave conditions for the implementation of the N2.3 trillion economic stimulus package recommended by the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Giving a word of caution ahead of the implementation of the plan at a virtual meeting held yesterday with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Chairman of PEAC, Prof. Doyin Salami, said if cognisance is not deliberately paid to tackling certain problems, it could hamper the smooth implementation of the package.

Salami, who made the submissions during a presentation on behalf of the council at the meeting, spelt out some criteria that must be observed to avert such problems while implementing the plan.

“PEAC welcomed the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) produced by the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) headed

by Vice President, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, and adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), but warned that in the implementation of the N2.3 trillion spending

plan, there could arise a number of problems which if unattended, could hamper smooth implementation.

“The committee advised among others, that the ESP should be implemented using existing institutional and administrative structures; attention be paid to sources of funding to avoid inflation; ensure that priorities, targets and time limits be set for all projects to make for their completion within the 12-month life-span of the ESP, and where this is not achieved, such projects should be rolled into the new Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP II),” he said.

Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement, last night, said PEAC also recommended that ESP must promote “export-oriented production strategies;” ensure the use of local resources; curtail post-harvest loses in agriculture now put at between 40-60 per cent and above all, the need to make the economy attractive to “non-debt” private sectorfunded investment in order to cut the rising cost of debt services.

The statement listed other recommendations by PEAC to include the need to embark on mass housing schemes to create jobs financed through

a public private partnership arrangement; the urgent need to move away from multiple exchange rates to a unified currency exchange rate, and to do all that is necessary to continue to ease the environment of doing business in the country.

Shehu said the council commended the administration of Buhari for implementing several of its past recommendations, and proceeded to present the government with various tough choices to make in its effort to put the country’s economy on a more productive path.

According to him, Salami expressed pleasure over some moves already undertaken by the government, including the review of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2020 budget following the crisis caused by COVID-19; the deregulation of the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS); approval of the implementation of the Oronsaye Report on the need to rationalise and restructure federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as the adjustment of the exchange rate of the naira.

He added that Salami suggested that more needed to be done to increase efficiency, coordination and accountability

by MDAs. However, the statement said the president in his remarks, accepted the immediate need to implement the proposal by PEAC on the establishment of public policy coordinating office in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, assuring the group that “we will continue to listen to you and do our best.”

The statement also said Buhari appreciated the outstanding support and guidance provided

by PEAC so far, describing such guidance as a “tutorial,” and implored the members to do more to help the country exit “our very terrible state of development.”

The president lamented the state of the economy, saying “we are a country characterised by a large population of poor people, serious infrastructure deficit, lack of housing and a vulnerable economy now haunted by the COVID-19 pandemic and collapse of the oil sector and its effect on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

Other members of PEAC, who participated at the meeting, were Dr. Mohammed Sagagi (vice chairman); Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; Prof. Ode Ojowu; Dr. Shehu Yahaya; Dr. Iyabo Masha; Mr. Bismarck Rewane and Dr. Mohammed Salisu (secretary).

reconciliation bid to prevent the opposition from taking over the two states in the forthcoming governorship elections.

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Yekini Nabena, in a statement yesterday, said the appointment of the reconciliation committees was in line with the process of reconciliation among leaders and members of the party at all levels.

Nabena said besides Nnamani, others on the Edo State Reconciliation Committee included Minister of Works, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo; Prof. Tahir Mamman, Senator Margaret Okadigbo, Mr. Sanusi Musa and Hon. Abdul-Rahman Sumaila as Secretary.

Those on Ondo State Reconciliation Committee are Senator Adamu Aliero,

Senator Bamidele Opeyemi, Mr. Gambon Magaji, Mr. Jasper Azuwatalum, Ms. Binta Muazu, Hon. Iquo Inyang and Mr. Shina Pellar as secretary.

14 PARTIES BEAT INEC NOMINATION DEADLINE FOR EDO GOV ELECTION Accordingly, he said political parties are encouraged to obtain their nomination access codes from the commission for the bye-election and upload the list of their candidates and their particulars to the dedicated portal between July 3 and July 7, 2020.

For Ondo State governorship election, the INEC commissioner said the commission’s dedicated portal for the submission of the names of candidates that emerge from valid party primaries would open on July 21 and close on July 28, 2020.

He said political parties are encouraged to submit the list of their candidates on time as the portal would automatically close at 6.00 p.m on the last date for the submission of nominations.

He added that the commission would like to take this opportunity to again draw the attention of all political parties, candidates, aspirants

and supporters on the need to obey all laws, regulations and guidelines especially in their campaigns, adding that equally important is the need for strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols to ensure their safety and well-being, as well as that of members of the public.

Electronic Voting Speaking at YIAGA Africa town hall meeting hosted by Channels Television, Yakubu said INEC targets electronic voting in Anambra State and subsequent elections in the country.

However, he said this would be subject to an amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

The INEC chairman added that Section 52 of the 2010 Electoral Act has to be amended to give the commission the constitutional powers to do electronic voting.

He also called for the setting

up of the election offences commission to punish electoral offenders.

Yakubu said electoral reforms would ensure transparency in the system and reduce cost as well as punish electoral offences.

He said INEC had made 34 changes in the electoral reforms and 24 constitutional electoral reforms, urging that the amendments must commence now as timing is of the essence.

He decried what happened during the 2019 general election when the amendments did not come on time, urging the National Assembly to act.

In his comments, a former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the hallmark of the reforms would be the amendment of Section 52 of the Electoral Act to make electronic voting legal.

According to the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Mr. Samson Itodo, the town hall

meeting was organised to urged the National Assembly to accelerate the consideration of the electoral amendment bills and ensure their quick passage before the end of 2020.

APC Reconciliation Committee In the meantime, APC has asked Nnamani and Bello to wade into the crises in Edo and Ondo states and separate the warring members.

APC has been enmeshed in crises in almost one year in Edo and Ondo states, both of which are holding off-season elections in September and October respectively.

However, with last week's dissolution of the party's National Working Committee (NWC) and the replacement with the caretaker committee, chaired by Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, the party launched the

Party Denies Any Zoning Arrangement ahead of Convention The party has also denied zoning offices ahead of its planned national convention.

In a separate statement, Nabena called on party members, supporters, stakeholders and the general public to disregard the report.

According to him, "If and when a zoning arrangement is made for the planned national convention, it will be officially communicated and publicised."

Nabena said the caretaker committee, at its inaugural meeting on Monday, did not discuss or issue the fake zoning arrangement for the planned national convention.

WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 •T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍŻËœ 2020

COMMENT

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE SERVANT GOVERNOR Crusoe Osagie pays tribute to Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, at age 63

I

n the last three years and seven months, the people of Edo State have been enthralled by the re-enactment of people-powered governance led by the citizens, with Governor Godwin Obaseki on the front seat, designing and executing people-centric policies, and programmes which have transformed the state.

Edo is today basking in the euphoria of an orderly society where the rule of law holds sway and is ratcheting up the ease of doing business amid a boisterous social sector.

The story was not always this inspiring! Gone are the days when thugs wielded giant whips, scourging poor mothers struggling to eke out a living in markets as well as commercial bus drivers who were toiling night and day to cater for their families.

Obaseki briskly put an end to the menace of these hoodlums who oppressed honest citizens daily in the name of revenue collection. Although this won him numerous political enemies because the patrons of these enforcers were ‘big men’, it was the right thing to do and it was in the best interest of the majority, so Obaseki stuck to his guns.

For setting the people free from the strangleholds of political thugs and their collaborators in the corridors of power, Edo people salute Governor Obaseki as he adds another year to his age today.

Even at the risk of placing his re-election bid in jeopardy, Obaseki refused to mortgage the wellbeing and future of Edo people to those who were desperate to return the state to her inglorious past. Interestingly, with the support of Edo people, Obaseki has won virtually all the political battles initiated by his detractors.

Obaseki reminds one of servant leaders in history such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, (Mahatma Gandhi) who led his people in India with his civil resistance movement to independence from Great Britain.

Gandhi did so at great personal cost, he was arrested and detained several times for his pro-people ideology. Gandhi died leaving behind a pair of slippers, a piece of loin cloth and a pair of eyeglasses.

The servant-leadership model, with its mass appeal, has proven to be practicable only by few leaders with the moral stamina to defend their people and put their interests first. A great deal of courage is required to keep the faith. Obaseki’s leadership style has the manifest stamp of a servant leader, determined to provide the greater good for the greater majority of Edo people even at the risk of his personal comfort and life.

In his essay first published in 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf, who first coined the phrase, servant leadership, said: “the servant leader is servant first‌it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then consciousness brings one to aspire to lead.â€? He added: “That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.â€?

Author and Harvard Business Review contributor, David Burkus, explains that “Servant leaders get results for their organisation through whole-hearted attention to their followers and followers’ needs‌servant leadership puts its emphasis on collaboration, trust, empathy, and ethics.â€?

The governor continues to demonstrate his affection for his people, task after task, no matter the cost: Obaseki was quick to define the place of Edo people in his administration shortly after assuming office, when he intimated his team of his resolve to put an end to the criminal activities of some persons that were parading themselves as members of Community Development Associations (CDAs).

The Ant-Community Development Association Development Law, was the administration’s response to the myriad of attacks on real estate

OBASEKI REINVIGORATED THE PROSECUTION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AND THEIR PARTNERS IN CRIME AND DEPLOYED MASSIVE GRASSROOTS MOBILISATION AGAINST RISKY TRAVELS THROUGH THE SAHARA DESERT TO EUROPE

developers by these persons who had formed themselves into criminal gangs that were notorious for selling people’s properties and hounding genuine investors in the sector.

As with most servant leaders, initially, Obaseki’s decision was unpopular among some segments of the political class, some of whom were working hand in gloves with the CDA members, who were used as political thugs during elections.

The governor, after wide consultation with the leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly, the Benin Monarch, Omo N’ Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, galvanised the making of the Anti-CDA Law, which criminalised the illegal reign of the community development associations.

The socio-economic gains accruing to developers, home and abroad, governments and other stakeholders have become reference points in parts of the country where such people-oriented law is not in place.

The icing on the cake in the sector was the creation of the Edo State Geographic Information Service, an agency that delivers Certificates of Occupancy to property owners in less than eight weeks, and at an affordable price. In all, Edo people won the battle against the killer community gangs.

Convinced that a reformed revenue collection system that would leverage modern technology would better serve the people, Governor Obaseki introduced Point-of-Sale devices to ensure efficiency and transparency in the sub-sector. The initiative was met with resistance as it was misconstrued by the operators as a threat to the old manual method of collecting revenue which was fraught with lack of transparency and accountability.

Again Obaseki, with the support of the people, directed the revenue collectors, who were not ready to migrate to the modern technologybacked platforms, to leave the state’s motor parks, markets and other business places.

For Obaseki, such brutish approach where traders were assaulted and harassed by revenue collectors, belonged to the past and must be discontinued. The response from some of them who were political thugs and had enjoyed enormous patronage from previous governments, was as expected, a declaration of war on the Obaseki-led administration.

On the flip side, this singular action freed business people from years of harassment and abuse from these political thugs. Yet Obaseki was unruffled and supervised the migration of the old revenue collection method to the new one.

Again, Obaseki demonstrated his affection for the citizens when he collaborated with the Benin Monarch to rally support for victims of human trafficking. Instead of blaming the victims who were primed by bad leadership of the past to migrate, Obaseki took responsibility for the failures of his predecessors and challenged governments at all levels, non-state actors and development partners to rise to the challenge and nip the problem in the bud.

Through carefully cultivated and sustained partnerships with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), federal government agencies like the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Obaseki reinvigorated the prosecution of human traffickers and their partners in crime and deployed massive grassroots mobilisation against risky travels through the Sahara Desert to Europe.

Osagie is the Special Adviser to Governor Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy

OSHIOMHOLE: THE ROAD TO WHERE Ă’Ă? ĂœĂ?Ă“Ă‘Ă˜ Ă™Ă? ÞÒĂ? Ă?Ă™ĂœĂ—Ă?Ăœ Ă˜Ă‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă– Ă?Ă’Ă‹Ă“ĂœĂ—Ă‹Ă˜ Ă’Ă‹Ă? Ă?Ù×Ă? ÞÙ Ă‹Ă˜ Ă?Ă˜ĂŽËœ ĂĄĂœĂ“ĂžĂ?Ă? Dele Olowo

C

ausation is an important conundrum in event analysis. It refers to the idea that every historical development was initiated or caused by events that came before. It also explains the relationship between multiple historical causes and effects raising important distinctions between the long term and proximate. As a 20-year- old in U.I I was profoundly shocked when I read a history book in which the author declared with magisterial certitude that “ when the first shot was fired in 1914, the First World War was perhaps 70 years old�. It sounded both odd and counter intuitive until he explained. The war, he postulated, was a direct consequence of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The aim for Otto Von Bismarck the Prussian Chancellor, was to use the conflict to expand the north German federation dominated by Prussia. Prussia seized Alsace and Lorraine and its fortune was ascendant and preeminent.

The delicate balance of power which had sustained European peace up till that point had been deranged. It was only a matter of time before open conflict would break out. This was the basis for the somewhat hyperbolical determination that the Ist World War was probably 70 years old, when the first shot was fired. On Thursday 25 July, at a meeting in Aso Villa and in response to recommendations proposed by President Buhari, the National Working Committee of the APC was dissolved and a caretaker/ Convention Committee was set up headed by Alhaji Mai Mala Buni the Governor of Yobe State. Party members who had any case of any

sort against the APC were asked to either withdraw the litigation or face expulsion.

Surely Buhari’s disgruntlement with party matters did not unravel in one sudden convulsion. Signs of impairment, internal dissonance and impunity had prevailed and was there for all to see. More than others, Comarade Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman was the most guilty and visible party. The APC had grave difficulties like every party. Of all the worries however, it seems the turmoil provoked by Oshiomhole’s fight with Governor Godwin Obaseki, has been the most decisive in unsaddling Comrade Oshiomhole. Many still wonder where Oshiomhole, summoned the animus which turned Obaseki, a former head of the Edo Economic team, subject of fulsome veneration and best man at Oshiomhole’s marriage, into a figure of such rabid hatred. So high did passions rise, that the same party under which Obaseki ruled was also deployed in disqualifying him from participating in the APC primaries.

Buhari is a man of few words or frequently, of no words. But the growing chaos and Oshiomhole’s lone wolf management style would not have escaped his gaze, producing curiosities as he stepped up his act. The meeting of the National Executive Council was called by the Deputy National Secretary of the party, Victor Giadom who assumed the role of acting national chairman. His first assignment, namely, calling the emergency meeting, was also his last. This might be just one of those singular occasions when a turkey has voted for Christmas! But surely, Buhari’s dissolution of the National Working Committee has not been a ringing endorsement of Oshiomhole’s

stewardship. Indeed it has been further suggested that in lumping him with others in the NWC for a group exit, some indignity has been done to Oshiomhole’s reputation. This is neither here nor there. In the end, they are no tasteful farewells. If he had been named specially and thanked for his services, the irony would not have been lost; nor would the hurt from such a bad fall have been less.

Fresh from his relative successes as trade unionist and governor, his tenure as national chairman of the APC should have given Comrade Oshiomhole a privileged window to provide a philosophical leavening for his years as warrior king. Rather he would seem to prefer wandering about baying for combat, contention and gut! And the jurisdiction of his current political disagreements has been his own home turf. One of the more touching ironies of Oshiomhole’s last days as national chairman, came not from some distant adversary. Oshiomhole’s suspension was inflicted by his own people, presumably small fries in Ward 10 Etsako. This number 10, globally famous for its offensive triumphs in association football, once again turned out to be crucial in putting Oshiomhole’s tenure as chairman to the sword.

Comrade Oshiomhole has his own gifts and he will be remembered for his contributions to Nigerian trade unionism and pretensions about populist governance. But where is his tomorrow? Where does the political road lead to? He has made his home, Edo State: a jurisdiction for rancour both for himself and Pastor Ize-Iyamu, his latest blue-eyed political adoptee. Oshiomhole has a plenitude of

mood swings and this new alliance can have its own vulnerabilities. That will be a subject for the diviners. He will be expected nonetheless to come to the party with records of deliveries. He will also have to contend with his own words from yesterday.

However strong his words might be, it must now be understood, that having lost his position as national chairman, Oshiomhole will now be playing with a broken bat!

Oshiomhole is customarily a great advocate, a loquacious man, quick with the repartee. But some of this seems to have ebbed away only lately. His ouster was announced on Thursday; as seismic and as personal as this matter was, the world waited for Oshiomhole’s response for two days. Silence.

Perhaps he was grieving. Then some members of his NWC in a statement said the sack was illegal and that they would be consulting their lawyers.

Oshiomhole has long been in the wars. Reputedly, he has never lost one. He would not lose this. But he is a clever man too and would not fight above his weight. In hiding behind the statement by his NWC, he retained the option of making a statement later if the waters seemed unnavigable. Clearly there was a hostile torrent. So he cleverly found his voice only after discovering that the truculence of the statement of his NWC was unsustainable. He therefore adopts another subterfuge. A phony hoax, Oshiomhole talked of his love for Buhari and Nigeria as the reasons he has accepted the changes including his unsaddling. Oshiomhole has long cultivated a personal tradition of invincibility, not minding that a huge chunk of it has been apocryphal.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020

EDITORIAL POLICE AND PARTISAN POLITICS The police must be professional at all times

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he crude attempt to circumscribe the liberty of the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi by preventing him from moving his personal belongings out of the government house is symptomatic of the extent to which personnel of the Nigeria Police Force have been dragged into partisan politics. The ‘offence’ of the deputy governor was that he would be leaving the political party that brought him to power and moving to another political platform as most politicians do in Nigeria. That it took the intervention of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, for the Ondo State Police Commissioner, Bolaji Salami, to restore the security details of the deputy governor is a shame. How can such a police officer who is already sucked into partisan politics enforce law and order in the state? Who will trust him to be dispassionate in the coming gubernatorial election?

As we have always argued on this page, the moment police personnel are seen THE ONDO SCANDAL as acting in promoSHOULD BE PROBED AND WITH APPROPRIATE tion of one political party or another, SANCTIONS METED TO the principle of CULPRITS equality before the law is eroded and so does their credibility. It is therefore no surprise that citizens now turn to gangs, vigilance group and militias to protect themselves as it is increasingly becoming common across the country. Due to the failings of the police, we now have a situation in which ill-equipped and clearly confounded young soldiers are deployed all over the nation, to deal with civil policing duties that fall outside their charge.

One of the critical elements defining a democratic society is a police force that is subject to the rule of law, rather than the wishes of some politicians. At all times and in all circumstances,

their personnel must be accountable to the public, as the myth that stands between chaos and social order. That then explains why their functions make no allowance for partisan politics. So, when their personnel begin to openly take sides with certain politicians or ruling parties as it has become a fad in Nigeria today, the society is endangered.

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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

t a time they need to develop professional capacity and build the trust of the civil populace, it is important for the police force to understand the level to which it has undermined itself through the conduct of its men and officers. In recent years, some of them have been used to rig elections and commit acts of atrocities against the very people that they are out to protect. The last gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States were sordid examples. Some police personnel were accused of being agents of politicians in ballot box snatching and all acts of electoral malpractices. The current situation in which police personnel were also deployed as enforcers in the drama that led to the dissolution of the National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was another disgraceful occurrence.

A police force whose senior personnel would seek to deny a sitting deputy governor his fundamental rights is a disgrace to the society. The earlier some of their officers who are acting like card-carrying members of the ruling party realise the damage they are doing to the system and retrace their steps, the better for the society. The Ondo scandal should be probed and with appropriate sanctions meted to culprits. It is the nonchalant attitude of not investigating and punishing misconduct that has allowed this culture of impunity.

The Inspector-General of Police therefore has the primary responsibility of re-educating his men especially in the area of respect for people’s rights so they would not continue to see misconduct as a badge of honour.

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The Rise And Fall Of Obi, Hushpuppi

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binwanne Okeke, the CEO of Invictus Group and Forbes - rated young Nigerian entrepreneur, has recently pleaded guilty to computer and wire fraud allegation in an American court. Okeke prominently known as Invictus Obi had initially been apprehended by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over an alleged $11m cyber fraud and other related fraud schemes.

Invictus Obi who became an internationally celebrated entrepreneur in the business community having featured in Forbes Africa “30 under 30”; one of Africa’s most outstanding 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 in 2016. He was subsequently named as Africa’s Most Innovative Investment Company of the year by African Brand Congress (ABC), a nominee for Young African Business Leader (West Africa) category for the All African Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) among other awards.

Obi’s success story in an investment conglomerate revolving around oil and gas, renewable energy, technology, construction, agriculture and real estate appeared regularly in Nigerian and international mainstream media outlets. He was a guest speaker at TEDxYaba 2018 where he spoke about “the DNA of the Nigerian entrepreneur.”

He was also featured as “Man Crush Monday

series” of BellaNaija, a top entertainment media platform in Nigeria. The coin of life eventually turned against Victus Obi as his success story hit the rock. His true life story was rewritten as one of the greatest fraudsters historically recorded.

In the same light, the Dubai police detectives have recently released the hidden criminal profile of a Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. Hushpuppi, following his arrest. The account of his exploits spans across Europe, the U.S. and Africa and seemed to have surpassed Invictus Obi. The self -acclaimed Gucci ambassador and real estate developer came into the spotlight with the continuous flaunting of his groundbreaking riches on Instagram prior to his arrest.

Few weeks ago, Hushpuppi was on top of the world. Ironically, he is currently at its ebb.

Virtually all his admirers have dissociated from him. His personality has become an emblem of stigma. The International Police (INTERPOL) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) combat against international and local internet fraudsters respectively have continued to yield results. The unalloyed support of all and sundry to these agencies is required in quenching cybercrimes.

Binzak Azeez, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife

Food Safety And Hygiene In Nigeria

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ood safety has remained an important issue in developing and developed world. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports show that the illness due to contaminated food is perhaps the most widespread health problem in the contemporary world and an important cause that has reduced socio-economic productivity. Adequate and satisfactory food hygiene and safety is one of the foundations on which the people care should rest.

The need to amplify the sensitization of Nigerians on food safety and hygiene against disease, death and disability arising from consumption of unwholesome foods must be taken seriously.

According to Professor Alfred Ikenkuronye, more than 200,000 persons die of food poisoning in Nigeria annually. Death due to food poisoning is caused by various ways -from food exposure to contamination in unhygienic environment. The need for avoidance of contaminated food with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, chemical and physical contaminants is very important. Ensuring food safety is key to preventing food-borne illnesses and other viral diseases contracted from consumption of unsafe foods. The signs and symptoms of food-borne illness range from gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach upset, diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and dehydration, to more severe systemic illnesses such

as paralysis and meningitis. Hence emphasizing the importance of food safety and hygiene is vital in prevention of food-borne illnesses.

Thus people living in both rural and marginalized communities need an engaging sensitization to create more awareness on food safety and hygiene. Recognition of FAO and WHO guidelines and regulation for food processing, handling and consumption are of great importance. Food safety starts from farm to the dishes. Farmers must check how they grow their food crops in the farm and avoid adulteration of food, food processors and packaging companies must ensure contamination-free process. Government should sign into law the labeling of genetically modified foods imported in the country to save consumers from risk.

Contamination can occur anywhere in the food cycle, everyone must take food safety as a matter of personal business and inclusive sensitization to reduce morbidity and mortality rate, together with the fight against COVID-19 infection. Nigerians should be aware to practice the FAO and WHO’s key principles of food hygiene which are; keep clean, separate raw and cooked food, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperature, use safe water and raw materials. Food safety is everyone’s business!

Godwin Adinoyi Jimoh, jimohgodwinadinoyi@ gmail.com

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WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 • T H I S D AY

Dr. Olawale BABALAKIN (B.O.B) Dr. Wale Babalakin is passionate about his friends. He is fond of them and deliberately creates time for them. When he is in their company he lets down all airs. He is never tired of listening and lending helping hands to them.

These friends span all walks of life. They include his childhood friends, where he grew up in Ibadan at the Sacred Heart Private Primary School, those he met in high school at Government College Ibadan and the Universities, first the University of Lagos where he got his first degree in Law in 1981, before the Nigeria Law School for the call to the bar in 1982. And thereafter, as one of the only three Africans admitted for the Masters degree in Law at Corpus Christ College of the Cambridge University and he got a Ph.D to boot, in 1986, on the eve of his 26th Birthday. Wow! That’s some 34 years ago. There are those he met along his career paths, from working in the chambers of Chief F. Rotimi Williams to setting up his law firm, Babalakin and Co. He owns Stabilini Visinoni, one of the best known names in Nigeria’s Construction Engineering and BiCourtney Ltd, owners of the only private commercial airport in West Africa. Some of his friends are also people within his social circles and others simply inherited from some other friends. They don’t distract him, neither do their problems and he is never tired of lending a helping hand. He gives without questioning and expects nothing back but trust. These are his family so to speak, his extended family.

naturally, attracted by like goodness He is the eldest son of Supreme Court Judge, Bolarinwa Oyegoke BABALAKIN, the Original B.O.B, if you like. His father is his mentor. With all his enviable wealth he wishes always, that he had his father’s discipline. But they don’t make them like this anymore. So Wale remains our own B.O.B, ebullient, outgoing, restless and very adventurous. He adores his mother, late Mrs. Ramotu Ibironke BABALAKIN, and he’s never tired of reliving those motherly memories they share. The pioneer female hospital proprietress was also very fond of Wale apparently, and provided a lot of succor from his imagined dad’s highhandedness. Today he dotes over his immediate family. His adorable wife, from a Lagos Royal Family, she too a lawyer and daughter of Justice Jinadu together with their three children of two daughters and a son form the bedrock of his strength to achieve. They have all come a long way together. And together they are marching on.

Marching on means being appointed in 2005, into the National Political Reforms Conference where he became the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Sub Committee.

He was once the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Maiduguri between 2009 and 2013.

He is Chairman of the Committee of Pro Chancellors of Federal Universities in Nigeria.

Chairman of The Federal Government Committee to renegotiate the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the University Unions He is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos.

In return they pray for him, stand by him, celebrate him and above all, share in his dreams. And that is the strongest bond. But Wale Babalakin doesn’t have patience for little minds. All those around him are always a part of articulating the Wale’s large heartedness is legendary. way forward for our society.

He gives as if there is no tomorrow Today Dr. Wale Babalakin comes of the and recipients have no boundaries. golden age. He turns 60. It’s a day his University of Ilorin got an 80 bed hospital family of friends had looked forward to. named after his father. While in memory A day when they planned to celebrate of Mrs. Ramotu Ibironke BABALAKIN, him in pomp and pageantry. But GOD his mother, Ogun State also got an 80 redefined what manner of celebration bed hospital. there is today. While we might brood and fret over our inability to party and He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria jollification we must be very thankful to at age 42 and was conferred with the the Almighty GOD for Life particularly National Honour of the Officer of The in these times. And the larger than life Federal Republic of Nigeria, OFR, in 2007. achievements remain monumental That to me is the Greatest Birthday Gift to our Wale has a huge appetite for the breathtaking. He became the first friend. He loves GOD, and no doubt, GOD loves him. It individual this side of the world to own shows in all the strides he takes in life, and operate a public commercial airport, even in adversity as in the period of his the Murtala Mohammed Airport incarceration by the Abacha regime, Terminal 2, in Lagos. By the time he GOD ALMIGHTY Stood for him and turned 50, he had conquered his dreams was the Strength that saw him through. and reaching for the skies. 60 is just a number where Wale is concerned. So Dr. Wale BABALAKIN is the result of turning 60 today may as well be just strong family ties. His family pedigree another day. What his friends and family more than anything else assured the hereby celebrate today July 1, 2020, is to good men and women that became give thanks to THE ALMIGHTY GOD his friends. They were not courted or FOR KEEPING HIM ALIVE IN THESE chosen deliberately, they just came TIMES.THAT, IS ENOUGH PROFIT

BY : MALLAM ABDUL OKWECHIME.

DR. WALE BABALAKIN

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WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 •T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

A N A LY S I S

YIAGA Africa, CSOs Recommend Areas of Electoral Reforms Chuks Okocha takes a look at the recommendations for electoral reforms as proposed by Yiaga Africa, a foremost civil society group.

Buhari

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orried by endless cases of electoral irregularities within every election in the country, coalitions of civil society groups have commenced a series of townhall meetings to bring to the front burner issues that tend to cast aspersions on conduct of elections in Nigeria.

In the same manner, baring any changes, the Senate and the House of Representatives could commence public hearings on the amendments of the electoral act. One important aspect of this town hall meeting on the electoral reforms is that pressures would be mounted on the President, Mohammadu Buhari to sign the passed electoral amendments in to law before December this year. This would be unlike the 2019 general election that the President refused to sign amendments to the electoral reforms because it was adjudged to be too close to the election The town hall meetting is being put together

by Yiaga Africa in conjunction with coalition of other civil society group.

According to Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, the town hall meetings is being organized within the framework of the EU Support to democratic governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) programme with the following EU-SDGN partners; the Albino Foundation, International Press Centre (IPC), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), CLEEN Foundation, European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).

Others involved in the planning of the town hall meeting are the Westminster Foundation, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), BBC Media Action, Institute of Media and Society (IMS) and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).

The planners have listed areas of expected electoral reforms before the next general elections and other scheduled elections.

The reforms will involve the three arms of government to wit” The Executive, National Assembly, INEC and other stakeholders, like the civil society groups In a copy of the recommendations made available to THISDAY, YIAGA Africa is urging the National Assembly to accelerate the consideration of the electoral amendment bills and ensure their quick passage before the end of 2020. The groups also called upon the National Assembly to consolidate and harmonize all electoral amendments into a Repeal and Re-enactment Electoral bill.

The two arms of the National Assembly have been asked to set a December 2020 as a definite timeline for concluding all reforms to

Yakubu

the electoral legal framework, while urging it to consider the following key electoral reform priorities: *Strengthen the financial autonomy of INEC by providing legal timelines for the release of funds to INEC to conduct elections *Provide legal recognition for electronic accreditation of voters, e-voting, e-collation and electronic transmission of results; *Review timelines to allow the conduct of early primaries, campaigns and submission of list of candidates as well as prescribe limits to fees, charges, and dues imposed by political parties on aspirants *The provision of legal grounds for the rejection of list of candidates submitted by parties to INEC as well as conditions for cancellation of elections; *Review the duality of jurisdiction between Election Petition Tribunals and regular courts, and harmonize timelines for the determination of pre-election matters so pre-election disputes can be resolved well before the date of elections; *Subject declarations and returns made by Returning Officers under duress or controversial circumstances to further review by the Commission; *Establishment of an electoral offences commission to prosecute electoral offenders *Political inclusion of women, youth and persons with disability in the electoral process YIAGA Africa and it’s associate called upon the executive arm to, as a matter of urgency, leverage the harmonious working relationship with the National Assembly to ensure expeditious passage/assent of electoral amendment bills currently being considered

Itodo

by the National Assembly.

Accordingly, they said, “The President should demonstrate intolerance for electoral impunity by directing the Attorney General of the Federation and Inspector General of Police to investigate and prosecute all suspects involved in all forms of criminality and violence. This should include an executive order preventing the Attorney General from entering nolle prosequi in the prosecution of electoral offences”.

On the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the civil society groups said that a comprehensive audit of the Bayelsa and Kogi governorship elections is required given the high level of critical incidents and malpractice.

They said that findings of the audit must be shared with the public and sanctions met on culpable INEC officials.

The CSOs said that given the sensitive nature of elections, INEC should ensure clarity in its regulations and guidelines, explaining that ambiguity in electoral guidelines creates room for manipulation and fraud.

They called Commission to maintain consistency in its decisions and uphold the values of integrity, neutrality and accountability in the management of future elections, while polling unit level results of elections should be posted online to facilitate public access to election results.

On the security of elections, YIAGA Africa called on the INEC’s Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to audit the performance of the security officers in previous elections, particularly in areas where

Baring any change, the Senate and the House of Representatives could commence public hearings on the amendments of the electoral act. One important aspect of this town hall meeting on the electoral reforms is that pressures would be mounted on the President, Mohammadu Buhari to sign the passed electoral amendments in to law before December this year. This would be unlike the 2019 general election that the President refused to sign amendments to the electoral reforms because it was adjudged to be too close to the election

elections were disrupted by violence.

In addition, ICCES said that INEC should investigate the allegations that some police officers refused to deploy to polling units thereby giving political thugs and those in fake security uniforms an unobstructed path to disrupt the electoral process.

According to the recommendations, YIAGA, “For credible elections, security agencies must remain impartial, neutral and professional in the management of election security. Loyalty must be to the Constitution not individuals”.

On the side of political parties, the CSOs called for the building of national consensus on priority issues for electoral reforms through an inclusive and collaborative process It said, “Political parties should ensure a transparent and democratic candidate nomination process and allow independent observation of the process. Parties must comply with their own internal guidelines and electoral laws in nomination of candidates.

“Political parties should remove members who undermine elections and promote violence through sanctions and withdrawal of membership”. On the side of the CSOs and Citizens, YIAGA Africa called for massive citizens mobilization to advocate and promote electoral reforms at the local, state and natioonal level as well as hold the executive and legislature to account for their commitment on electoral reform They urged the CSOs not despair or deter from their mandate of civic engagement despite the attacks and fatalities suffered during the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa, urging them remain resilient in providing oversight of the electoral process and voter education.

According to YIAGA Africa. “For democracy to thrive, citizens must remain committed and strive continuously to defend it despite the challenges. Not participating in the electoral process creates greater opportunities for poor governance to thrive and accountability to fail”.

The Yiaga Africa, Executive Director Samson Itodo explained why the grip decided to embark on the electoral reforms. He said that politicians are more interested in power than democracy. According to him “Democratic institutions and processes are the only means to access and sustain this power. They are respected, followed and supported only for this purpose, and are easily eschewed when they become obstacles to politicians’ political and economic interests”.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020

POLITICS

After 55 Years of Dispute, Peace Returns to Akwa Ibom Communities

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

Okon Bassey writes that warring parties in an Akwa Ibom community have embraced peace

L-R: Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Hon. Olawale Fapohunda; Ekiti State First Lady and Chairperson, Ekiti Gender based Violence (GBV) Management Committee, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Commissioner for Information and Values Orientation, Aare Olumuyiwa Olumilua; Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development; Mrs Moji Fafure; and Coordinator, Ekiti Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Barrister Rita Ilevbare: during the official opening of the Sexual Assault Referal centre in Ado-Ekiti

Emmanuel

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he age long dispute between Nung Oku Ekanem and Afaha Ubium villages in Onna Local Government Area of the oil rich Eket Senatorial District, Akwa Ibom State which lingered for the past 55 years has now been resolved.

The dispute ended, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the both parties.

The event which was witnessed by the Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Boundary Committee,Mr. Moses Ekpo, took place at the Palace of the Paramount Ruler of Onna, HRM. Edidem Raymond Inyang, in Awa Ndon village.

Speaking, the Deputy Governor condemned in strong terms the unwarranted loss of lives and property occasioned by incessant and aviodable communal clashes across the State, noting that such evil wind never blows any one any good.

Mr Ekpo noted that the peace brokered between the two communities would promote healthy living and attract development to the area.

He commended them for seeing the need to sheath their swords and embrace peace, even as he called on other communities involved in one crises or the other to emulate them and tow the line of peace.

“I have always said that only warring communities can end their boundary crises and win peace for their areas.

“What you have done is a great honour to your son, the Governor of this State and your children will grow up to call you peace makers.” he opined.

He assured the Communities that the State government would look into the report and recommendations of the Peace Committee and do whatever is necessary to ensure permanent peace in the area.

Ekpo also lauded the Peace Committee, led by the Paramount Ruler of Onna, HRM. Edidem Raymond Inyang, for their prompt action in settling the age long feud, noting that the peace that the Supreme court could not secure for the area over the years, is what the Committee has accomplished in record time.

Speaking, the Chairman of the Peace Committee and Paramount Ruler of Onna, HRM. Edidem Raymond Inyang, expressed appreciation to God and the State government for wading into the matter and supporting the committee to succeed in its assignment.

While thanking both Village Heads for their cooperation, he called on both communities to respect the boundaries set by the State and warned against any further trespass on the disputed land.

The Local Government Council Chairman, Hon. Imo Atat was excited that the signing of the MOU would end years of fighting and bloodshed in the area and thanked the State government for its intervention.

In their separate responses, the Village Head of Nung Oku Ekanem, Eteidung Ntiense Samuel Nda and that of Afaha Ubium, Eteidung Samuel Adiakpan both expressed delight for being part of the history making event.

They said they were happy to sign the signature of peace and leave a lasting legacy behind, while praying for God to sustain the peace.

Others who spoke were the Secretary of the Peace Committee and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Nkopuruk Ekaiko and a Community Leader, Obongemem Uwemedimo Essien, who appealed to the State government to consider the immediate construction of roads in the area and payment of compensation to the victims of the age long crises.

The event which was witnessed by the Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Boundary Committee,Mr. Moses Ekpo, took place at the Palace of the Paramount Ruler of Onna, HRM. Edidem Raymond Inyang, in Awa Ndon village.

Speaking, the Deputy Governor condemned in strong terms the unwarranted loss of lives and property occasioned by incessant and aviodable communal clashes across the State, noting that such evil wind never blows any one any good. Mr Ekpo noted that the peace brokered between the two communities would promote healthy living and attract development to the area

L-R: Wife of Osun State Governor/ Founder Ileri-oluwa Development Initiative on Advocacy Against Sex Abuse and Gend-Based Violence , Mrs Kafayat Oyetola, and others, during a courtesy visit to the Governor in his office, Osogbo

Speaker, House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila presenting an award of excellence for outstanding performance to DCP Abba Kyari and his team during plenary at the National Assembly

Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola (right) with the new Oniru of Iruland, Oba Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal, during the Governor’s courtesy visit to the monarch in his Iruland Palace, Lagos State

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FEATURES

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

A Commitment to Serve Charles Asambu writes that the First Lady of Ogun State, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, has kept faith with her commitment to serve women, children and the vulnerable in the society

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hen the present administration in Ogun State came on board on May, 29, 2019 and the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, took the oath of office, his wife, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, the first lady made a commitment to the women of the state. Her mission was simple-to render support to the governor to address the challenges of the people, especially women, children and the vulnerable.

Succor for Widows The first point of call for her was the women, especially widows. Thus, as part of efforts to reach out to this group, she organised the 2019 International Widows Day Activity for widows across the state.

The event which had in attendance 1,500 widows provided an opportunity for the empowerment of widows through financial support and the provision of other items.

The event which was organised a month after assuming office took place at Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta.

Health Health-wise, the first lady also enhanced the health status of women and children, an initiative which she sees as focal point of the administration.

As Hepatitis Zero Ambassador in Nigeria, she flagged off the Hepatitis Zero Mission in the state in response to the global celebration of the 2019 World Hepatitis Day. The event provided a platform for residents to come together at the Primary Health Care Center, Ota, and not less than 100 residents were vaccinated against Hepatitis, as the exercise was free of charge.

At Ijebu Iloti, Abiodun showed concern for rural women who she described as pivotal to the economic growth and development of the state. She alluded to their strength in agriculture and small scale enterprises notwithstanding their low level of education. In a bid to strengthen their health, particularly in enhancing their sights, free eye test, treatment and eye glasses were received by the women.

In furtherance of the administration’s commitment to health, and in response to the need of the women folk, free breast and cervical cancer screening was held for not fewer than 1,500 women which cut across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Women gathered at Imeko Afon, Itori and Sagamu on October, 2019 which are locations reflecting the Ogun West, Central and East Senatorial Districts.

Caring for the Vulnerable In the area of caring for the less privileged, and the physically challenged in the society, the first lady decided to engage the group.

According to her: “The physically challenged are integral part of the society and their interest should be put in the front burner.�

She organised a workshop for persons with disabilities. The aim of the workshop was to reassure them of government’s commitment to their needs and re-emphasise that ‘there is ability in disability.’ The workshop explained that disability is not merely physical as the World Health Organisation (WHO) sees disability as any form of incapability to meet desired objectives by an individual to the society.

Her efforts in addressing the issues of the disabled are not limited to adults in the society, she therefore thought it imperative to not only look into the welfare of the children with special needs as a mother of all in the society, but also to ensure that these children are trained in their respective schools by qualified teachers and caregivers who are expected to appreciate them and respond with the right teaching and pragmatic approaches in classes.

In February, 17-21, she organised the first ever training for need teachers in the state, given her desire to make them understand

Abiodun the global dynamics and tools application for effective teaching and learning.

To conduct the training, Abiodun invited a crop of professionals from the United Kingdom. The training facilitator Mrs. Sola Ogunde of Jesse Place Foundation came with her colleagues and began the training at the June12, Cultural Center, Kuto, Abeokuta.

During the training and interactive session at the Conference Hotel, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, participants broke into groups and practically demonstrated using the facilities brought in by the experts.

The governor’s wife and the resource persons responded to questions and the participants left well informed and equipped with modern teaching methods. They certainly have become passionate in teaching the children with special needs.

Education In the area of education, Abiodun understands how knowledge can help change the economic fortunes of the state. Her passion to improving the knowledge base of the children is a pointer to the administration’s unalloyed commitment to address the issue of literacy. To her credit, 42,000 textbooks and instructional materials were donated to the state by Learn Africa Plc in a colourful event that took place at the Mitros Hall.

The books and instructional materials have been distributed and this has increased the number of books in the libraries of most schools and had greatly helped in facilitating and promoting reading culture. The latter has faded over the years among the young and the old particularly given the advent of the internet and other electronic media applications.

COVID-19 Palliatives During the national lockdown in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the first lady played an important role to complement the state governor’s effort in addressing the socio-economic hardship caused by the lockdown occasioned by the novel COVID-19 pandemic. The wife of the governor supported the less privileged women, children and widows.

Abiodun distributed palliatives to widow groups, associations of persons with disabilities, vulnerable groups, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs), aged, youth associations and others. The items distributed were rice, beans, semolina, garri, maize, pastas, disinfectants, soap and others.

The first lady’s efforts in this regard came to fruition as she personally contacted and got responses from companies within and outside the state and religious bodies. She also supported the vulnerable, the aged, women and children, irrespective of social and political affiliations.

The routine activities of her office such as Christmas and Ileya kiddies parties were held in the year with increase in number of children that attended. She takes delight in the cultural values of our people and had been guest to most communities as a show of responsiveness to cultural heritage and its promotion. She was guest to Akesan and Isanbi Day celebrations at Iperu and Ilisan Remo.

Advocacy on Climate Change Abiodun is passionate about the environment especially climate change. In the light

of this, she effectively participated in the tree planting exercise at Ilisan High School, Ilisan, on the 20, July, 2019. At the event she said: “The future benefits of planting trees outweighed the immediate economic gain of cutting them down. For every tree cut down, five should be planted to replace it.�

Recognition Her commitment especially her amiable nature has endeared her to quite a number of people, young and old, rich or poor and regardless of creed or religion.

Little wonder therefore that within 365 days she has enjoyed recognition by various groups and associations that include grand matron of the Girls Guide in the state and patron of Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Ogun Chapter.

She was made the champion of the Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) by the Civil Society Coalition (CSC) for her contribution to education, social infrastructure, health, wealth generation among other goals outlined in the SDG. She has expressed assurance to remain passionate and committed to achieving all the goals. Aside this, she was also inducted as global hepatitis eradication ambassador by the Hepatitis Zero Commission, Nigeria in recognition of her efforts at ensuring a healthy citizenry.

The Office of the First Lady wants to expand her frontiers in the area of caring for women and children and will partner with several associations and groups. A synergy is being worked out by the governor’s wife to collaborate with relevant agencies in a bid to improve on her contributions to the people of the state through her office.

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OVERNIGHT OBB

A S

REPO 16.10 15.20

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

15 16 18

A T

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

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

J U N E 544.73% -0.02% 5.17%

2 6 ,

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

2 0 2 0 116.98% 13.21%

EXCHANGE RATE N361/1US DOLLAR* ĚŠ

Quick Takes Troli Introduces Ready-to-Eat Sauce

GLOBAL ECONOMY UPDATE

L-R: Division Chief, World Economic Studies Division, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Malhar Nabar; Chief Economist, Gita Gopinath, and Deputy Director, Research Department, Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, during a media briefing on the World Economic Outlook update held in Washington‌recently cory hancock

Fitch:NigerianBanks’Lendingto Slump to2.5%in2020 Obinna Chima The present economic downturn is expected to weigh heavily on the Nigerian banking sector in 2020, with loan growth projected to decelerate from 14 per cent year-on-year in 2019, to 2.5 per cent in 2020.

Fitch, one of the leading global rating agencies made the prediction in its latest: “Nigeria Banking & Financial Services Report.�

However, the firm anticipated that loan growth would improve slightly in 2021, to 4.3 per cent.

Fitch stated that downside risks in the sector are elevated due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a weakened oil sector.

It further stated that demand for credit was set to weaken amid reduced economic activity and elevated uncertainty among consumers and businesses, while deteriorating asset quality will make banks more cautious in issuing loans. “Increased government bor-

ECONOMY rowing from domestic banks will help to support asset growth over the coming years. That said, there are risks of this crowding out private borrowers from receiving credit, hampering the economy’s long-term recovery. “We expect that the oil sector downturn and government measures to limit the domestic spread of Covid-19 will cause Nigerian loan growth to slow significantly over 2020. “Since 2015, the oil and gas sector has accounted for an average of 28.8 per cent of total commercial bank private sector loans, which has left the banking sector highly exposed to external oil price shocks,� it added.

It noted that the 2016 recession caused by falling oil exports and the subsequent years of economic weakness weighed significantly on loan issuance, with credit extension falling

by an average of 2.4 per cent between July 2017 and June 2019.

In July 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced a minimum loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) of 60 per cent for commercial banks in order to bolster loan issuance, with penalties for failing to reach this.

A number of banks missed the target, leading to levies exceeding a total of N400 billion in September and the CBN raising the minimum LDR to 65 per cent.

Nonetheless, growth of commercial bank loans to the private sector has since accelerated to 13.8 per cent year-on-year in February 2020. “However, we expect this growth to slow over 2020 as the economy returns to recession. Demand for credit is set to weaken due to reduced economic activity and elevated uncertainty among consumers and businesses. “With the oil sector accounting for over 90 per cent of exports - and

having strong linkages with other industries -this year’s sharp decline in oil exports will weigh on the wider economy and be a driving factor behind real GDP contracting by 3.5 per cent in 2020,� it added.

Furthermore, the rating agency noted that following a 15 per cent currency devaluation in March, it expects that reduced exports and a decline in foreign currency reserves would, “prompt the CBN to further weaken the naira towards N410/USD by the end of 2020.� “We expect that the weaker currency will contribute to inflation accelerating from an average of 11.4 per cent in 2019 to 13.5 per cent in 2020, weighing on purchasing power and credit demand. “Additionally, we expect restrictions on public gatherings and uncertainty among consumers and businesses due to the pandemic to dampen Continued on page 24

MAN: Border Closure Raised Manufacturers’ Production Value by 42% Dike Onwuamaeze The marginally favourable performance recorded by the Nigerian manufacturing sector in the second half of the 2019 has been attributed largely to the border closure announced by the federal government last year.

During the period under review, the Manufacturing Production Value (MPV) of the Nigerian manufacturing sector grew by N2.77 trillion in the second half of 2019, which represented 41.8 per cent increase when compared to its performance within the same period in 2018.

This was revealed in the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Economic Review of the Second Half of

ECONOMY 2019, which stated that “the increase in manufacturing production within the period was ascribable to improved volume of activity in some sectors on account of the border closure and the relative tranquility in the foreign exchange market.�

In addition, the review also showed that in the second half of 2019, inventory of unsold finished manufactured goods dropped marginally in the sector to at N202.16 billion, down by N23.73 billion (10.5 percent) when compared with N225.89 billion recorded in the corresponding half of 2018. “The development can have

attributed to the closure of land borders of the country within the ECOWAS regions which made Nigerians resulting to the purchase more of locally manufactured goods in the period,� said MAN. Furthermore, the report showed that the border closure had a positive impact on local sourcing of raw materials by Nigerian manufacturers. “The utilisation of local rawmaterials in the manufacturing sector increased marginally in the second half of 2019, attributable to the closure of the country’s land borders by the federal government in the year. This is found impressive particularly coming on the back of a decline in local sourcing of raw materials in the sector.

“In the second half of 2019, Local sourcing of raw-materials in the manufacturing sector increased to 64 per cent from 63.7 per cent recorded in the corresponding half of 2018; thus representing 0.3 percentage point increase over the period. It also indicates an increase of 7.0 percentage point when compared with 57.0 per cent recorded in the first half of 2019. “Local raw-materials utilisation in the manufacturing sector averaged 60.5 per cent in 2019; representing 0.02 percentage point decline when compared with 60.3 per cent recorded in 2018,� the report stated.

Troli International Limited (TIL), a food manufacturing company, has boostedtheconsumergoodsindustry,withPepperetti,aninnovative ready-to-eat sauce for various segment of the market. During the launch of the new product,TIL said all the ingredients that were used to manufacture Pepperetti are locally sourced except the pepper seeds, which are imported and provided to farmers to grow locally.

According to the four-year-old company, Pepperetti can be enjoyed with among other foods, rice, beans, grilled ďŹ sh, chicken, noodles, fried yam, shawarma, barbeque, amala, eba, and semo. “The brand’s vision is to be the authentic ready to eat sauce for the African palette,â€? MD/CEO of Troli International Limited, Kehinde Salami said, adding that Pepperetti is for anyone who desires “that peppery zest in their meal. It’s not designed to replace stew but rather to complement itâ€?.

While describing the sizes of the sauce product to be in 370g and 200gpackagedwithninemonthsshelflife,TILsaidPepperettisauce is currently available in 100 grocery outlets in Lagos and soon to be available in other leading chain stores like Shoprite, Spar, Ebeano, and lots more.

Sovereign Trust Posts 51.5% ProďŹ t Rise

SovereignTrust Insurance Plc said it recorded a 51.5 per cent growth initsproďŹ tbeforetaxinitsauditedďŹ nancialreportfortheyearended December 31, 2019.The company, during the period recorded proďŹ t before tax of N819 million as against the N540 million it realised in 2018. Also, its Gross PremiumWritten in 2019 stood at N10.8 billion, compared to the N10.5 billion achieved in 2018.This represented a minimal 3.43 per cent growth.

In addition, the company’s proďŹ t after tax also rose to N503 million asagainsttheN344millionitpostedin2018,whichalsorepresented a 46 per cent growth.

SovereignTrust Insurance Managing Director, Mr Olaotan Soyinka, told journalists that the company, during the period grew its balance sheet and claims payment ďŹ gure simultaneously.

Accordingtohim,claimspaidduringtheperiodgrewfromN1.7billion in 2018 to N2.2 billion in 2019.Total assets also grew by 18.5 per cent to N13.4 billion in 2019, from N11.3 billion in 2018.The shareholders’ funds also rose from N5.8 billion in 2018, to N7.7 billion in 2019, culminating into a 33.7 per cent increase.

Brandlife Launches Digital Platform

Brandlife Limited, a marketing service agency with presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, Ghana and Nigeria has announced the launch of its digital marketing subsidiary, Brandlife Digital. According to a statement, the initiative was prompted by the desire to provide digital marketing services and utilise the online platform to increase brand visibility, product awareness as well as build an online community for brands.

The Group MD, Brandlife Limited Julius Agenmonmen, was quoted in the statement as stating that the aim was to provide support and resources to brands that are quickly embracing the use of digital marketing techniques to connect with their target audience.

He said: “With our digital services, we would endeavor to provide impressive content and communication strategies that are best suited to brands and their message. “This is a clarion call to companies, both big and small to embrace digital marketing and other online channels. This no doubt will help build the right level of awareness for their brands with measurable results. “The marketing industry is growing tremendously and over the last decade a lot of progress has been recorded in the Nigerian online market space, which has also become a great avenue for brands to relate directly with their target consumers, receive feedbacks and build captivating brand experiences.�

He further stated that the emergence of social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram provide a platform to reach out to customers and retain them with unique stories both in pictures and videos, adding that many companies may ďŹ nd it challenging to utilize the platform directly.

“Nigeria is an oil exporting country; so the impact of the pandemic is being compounded by the sharp decline in oil prices �

Director, African Department, IMF,,

Continued on page 24

Mr. Abebe Selassie

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FITCH: NIGERIAN BANKS’ LENDING TO SLUMP TO 2.5% IN 2020 potential borrowers’ appetite for loans,� it added.

According to the report, despite the CBN’s minimum LDR policy, banks are likely to struggle in issuing large amounts of credit, even if this results in further charges which threaten profitability. “Asset quality is also likely to deteriorate this year, making banks more cautious about lending. Nigeria’s ratio of nonperforming loans (NPLs) to total loans rose from 5.3 per cent in fourth quarter 2015 before the recession to as high as 15.1 per cent in third quarter 2017. “The rise in NPLs was driven primarily by the oil sector’s 2016 downturn and widespread weakness in following years,� it added.

MAN: BORDER CLOSURE RAISED MANUFACTURERS’ PRODUCTION VALUE BY 42%

It also showed that production value totaled N11.99 trillion in 2019 as against N9.98 trillion recorded in the 2018, which represented N 2.01 trillion or 20.1 percent increase over the period.

The MAN’s economic review, which was released during the weekend, said that in “the second half of 2019, manufacturing production value stood at N7.38 trillion as against N5.22 trillion recorded in the corresponding half of 2018; thus indicating N2.16 trillion or 41.8 percent increase over the period.�

Similarly, it increased by N2.77 trillion or 60 percent when compared with N4.61 trillion recorded in the first half of 2019.

Moreover, the review also indicated that manufacturers’ confidence in the economy also grew marginally in 2019.

The reviews perception index that surveyed more than 400 companies in Nigeria for the fourth quarter of 2019 disclosed that the Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) perception of the Nigerian economy stood at 51.9 per cent in fourth sector.

Previously, the CEOs’ perception index was 51.7, 50.9 and 51.3 point in the third, second and first quarters of 2019 respectively.

It also showed that the food,

New Framework for Financial Performance Reporting Coming Peter Uzoho A new framework for measuring and reporting annual financial performance of companies in Nigeria, known as Integrated Reporting, is under way.

The integrated reporting is a reformative idea that seeks to measure and report performance of corporate organisations on the basis of their financial performance and other key capital classifications including manufactured capital, intellectual capital, natural capital, social and relationship capital as well as human capital, on a holistic manner.

The new financial reporting method is being championed in Nigeria by the Nigerian Integrated Reporting Committee (NIRC), set up by the institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) with support from World Bank and the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA).

It is to replace the current financial reporting framework in Nigeria and other African countries by making intangible assets in financial statements represent 80 per cent value of a company as opposed to current 20 per cent.

Speaking to journalists recently, the Chairman of NIRC and ICAN representative at the Africa Integrated Reporting Council, Mr. Innocent Okwuosa, explained that the idea emanated from the analysis of the global financial crisis which revealed deficiency

in the current financial reporting framework.

He said the new framework has long been adopted by the big international companies, adding that Nigeria was yet to adopt it due to lack of capacity to carry out integrated reporting, hence the current drive to domesticate it in the country.

Owuosa said: “So what we are then talking about is how do companies create value? When you ask the question, you then discover that financial capital is just one capital that is being used to create this value. The other capitals, financial reporting is

not well equipped to capture. “So integrated reporting came up with six capital classifications.

So there is financial capital which we also know, there is the manufactured capital which again financial reporting is currently capturing in its reporting.

But there is natural capital. So the natural capital is not well represented now. “Intellectual capital is not well represented now, social and relationship capital is also not well captured now, human capital is not represented well now by financial reporting.�

Continuing, he said: “And so

integrated reporting is saying, let’s go beyond a reporting that is just based on the financials alone and let’s begin to measure corporation by how they manage the other capitals.�

In addition, he said such detailed information as would be captured by the integrated reporting would help investors to be able to make informed decisions while board and management of organisations would be better prepared to manage other variables Okwuosa further said: “But how do top management at the board manage these other

capital. So we have information where for instance there was one Ejiro, a Nigerian citizen in US that manufactured an app which was bought at $1billion.

That’s a typical example of what intellectual capital can do in a firm. “So if you have staff and you are able to report on what they can do in terms of their individual human capital, then you would see that a company will be better managed and if you sit on the board you will have a better matrix on how to measure your board and top management.

SUPPORTINGFIGHTAGAINSCOVID-19

L-R: Assistant Brand Manager, Cereal, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Olumide Olaokun; President, Lagos Food Bank Initiative, Michael Sunbola, and Category Manager, Diary and Cereal, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Olayinka Vincent, during the donation of the company’s products to communities in LagostosupportthefightagainstCovid-19‌recently

NEPZA Boss Identifies Bottlenecks to Economic Zones’ Devt James Emejo in Abuja The acting Managing Director, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Mr. Bitrus Dawuk, has said periodic interference of other government agencies in free zone operations, overtly stringent or impromptu government fiscal and monetary policies as well as an outdated legal framework which had existed for over twenty years, all constitute barriers negating efforts in attracting and retaining investors in free trade zones across the country.

But he said with President

Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment toward ensuring effective and efficient management of the country’s free zone scheme, the sector would be stabilised to become the country’s economic powerhouse.

The acting MD said the government was working toward using the sector to trigger the economy after months of docility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dawuk, who spoke at a web conference with the theme: “Attracting Increased FDI to Nigeria’s Free Zones in the Post COVID-19 Era,� said the authority had enjoyed

some considerable increase in budgetary allocation since Buhari discovered the need to support the sector to perform optimally, adding that the president’s exposure to the Chinese free zone scheme had positively robbed off on NEPZA and the country’s free zone as a whole.

However, in his presentation titled “Seeking New Frontier for Repositioning NEPZA for Maximum Investor Attraction and Retention in the Post COVID-19 Era�, Dawuk said the pandemic presented both challenges and opportunities for free zones development globally.

He noted that the pandemic had also challenged the manufacturing value addition of free zone enterprise and disrupted the global supply chain.

In a statement by Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, Mr. Martins Odeh, the acting chief executive added that the authority was prepared to cash in on the prevailing business environment by developing robust actionable plans to reposition the country’s free zone for maximum investor attraction and retention in post COVID-19 and Brexit era.

He added: “NEPZA has identified two major opportunities

presented by COVID-19: the first is inward production, involving a change in sectorial focus in favour of agro-allied and healthcare, while the second is in the global and regional value and supply chain, involving manufacturing and supply of capital goods to other African countries�.

He said the agency was enthused by Buhari’s special interest to ensure the scheme surmounted all prevailing challenges so as to leverage on the opportunities provided by the scheme to accelerate attraction of Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) into the country.

Ganiyu Now Nigerian Insurers Association Chairman Ebere Nwoji

Group Business Editor

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

ÙÎÎã Ă‘Ă?Ă˜Ă?

Comms/e-Business Editor

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

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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

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The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has witnessed a change in leadership with its immediate past chairman, Mr. Tope Smart handing over to his former deputy, Mr. Ganiyu Musa as the association’s new chairman.

The leadership change took place at the 49th virtual Annual General Meeting of the association

held recently.

At the meeting, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, was elected as the Deputy Chair person of the association.

The outgoing Chairman Tope Smart, is the Group Managing Director, NEM Insurance Plc, his successor, Musa is the Group Managing Director, Cornerstone Insurance while Nwachukwu is the Managing Director NSIA

Insurance.

Musa an experienced management professional with diversified experience in insurance, reinsurance, audit, consulting, business advisory and financial management.

Prior to joining Cornerstone, Ganiyu worked at African Reinsurance Corporation for 19 years, holding key positions, including Director of Finance & Accounts

/ Chief Financial Officer for 10 years and Deputy Managing Director, Services for 5 years.

He played a lead role in the creation and initial supervision of the risk management function at AfricanReinsurance Corporation and supervised the design of the Corporation’s investment guidelines and asset allocation.

He was also instrumental in the preparatory work and the

eventual setting up of the African Reinsurance subsidiary in South Africa, where he subsequently served on the Board and Audit Committee. At various times, Ganiyu served as a member of the investment committee of a US100million private equity fund and as chairman of the investment strategy committee of a top 3 Pension Fund Administration company.

Unity Bank Refutes Allegation of Secret Account by NPA The management of Unity Bank Plc has refuted claims by a certain whistle-blower that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) operated a secret account containing the sum of $1 billion with the bank.

The bank made its position

known in a statement yesterday. “The attention of Unity Bank has been drawn to the claims by a certain whistle-blower that NPA operated a secret account containing the sum of $1 billion with the bank. “We hereby state categorically that the said claim

is false, baseless, and lacking in merit whatsoever. The clarification has become necessary following certain online reports citing the whistle blower’s petition to President Muhammadu Buhari. “As a responsible organisation conducting its business with

utmost professionalism and due regard for all extant regulatory and statutory requirements, the Bank’s banking relationship with the NPA is without any blemish,� it explained.

It, therefore advised members of the public to ignore the

entirety of the report. “We are confident that the relevant apparatus of government must have investigated the alleged whistle blower’s claim, found the same untrue, and therefore unworthy of any further consideration in the circumstances.

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Ernest Ebi: Celebrating a Boardroom Guru Obinna Chima writes on the contributions of the Chairman of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Ernest Ebi, to the bank as well as the industry

T

he Chairman of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Ernest Ebi, yesterday marked his 70th birthday.

Ebi, a former Deputy Governor, Policy and Corporate Services at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for 10 years (1999 to 2009), was appointed the board Chairman in 2016.

Since then, with his solid wealth of corporate experience, he has contributed significant to the success story of Fidelity Bank in the past four years.

His contributions in the second tier bank can be seen in its profit after tax which climbed remarkably by 420 per cent, from the N5.457 billion it recorded at the end of 2016, to N28.425 billion in its financial statement for the year ended December 2019.

Also, the bank’s total asset has risen by 63 per cent from the N1.298 trillion it was in 2016, to N2.114 trillion at the end of 2019.

Similarly, under the leadership of Ebi, the bank’s loans and advances disbursed to its customers climbed by 56 per cent, from N718 billion in 2016, to N1.126 trillion at the end of December 2019, just as its customer deposit rose by 54.5 per cent, up from N793 billion in 2016, to N1.225 trillion at the end of 2019.

Clearly, it is safe to say that Ebi is one of the most respected bankers of this generation.

Indeed, when anyone decides to chronicle the accomplishments and struggles of Nigeria’s most influential boardroom leaders, Ebi’s story will prove to be an invaluable manual for building character and competence in leadership.

Since quitting active banking, this consummate professional has become a most sought after business leader, applying his vast wealth of experience in steering the Boards of various companies and organisations, from banking to manufacturing.

Born in June 30, 1950 in Imo State, Ebi attended Howard University, Washington DC, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing in 1978.

In 1979, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from the same university.

He started his banking career in 1978 at the Community Federal Savings and Loan Association, Washington D.C., U.S.A. where he held the position of Assistant Vice President/ Controller.

In November 1981, he returned to Nigeria and joined International Merchant Bank (IMB) Plc, where he served in various capacities including heading the Treasury Department and becoming the Chief Credit Officer of the bank from June 1989 to January 1992.

From January 1992 to June 1993, he was the Head of the Audit and Risk Management Department. In a very distinguished career within the financial services industry, he went on to serve in leadership positions across a number of banks.

Interestingly, Ebi is one of the few people to have seen action in the regulatory side of the financial services industry and as a bank operator. These two unique experiences have put him in good stead to proficiently navigate the country’s complex business environment.

One cannot fail to remember the decent turnaround job that he spearheaded in the now defunct New Nigerian Bank. Several years he spent building capacity as a banker having worked in several departments made his task easier.

His exploits in New Nigerian Bank did not go unnoticed. In fact, his managerial astuteness and capacity to stay unruffled even in the face of a raging storm attracted the attention of the regulators. He was given the opportunity to serve as a Deputy Governor in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he covered the policy and corporate services portfolios over a ten-year period. he took the opportunity with both hands and discharged his duties with honour and candour.

Ebi maintained oversight functions over Nigeria’s External Reserves, International Economic Relations, Trade & Exchange and Research Departments among other responsibilities. He was a notable member of the banking sector reform team, especially during the major

Ebi consolidation process in 2006 and was chairman of the implementation committee of the Legendary Project EAGLES that transformed the CBN into a leading global reserve bank. “The bedrock of my position today is the times in the past where I sacrificed a higher pay for competence and knowledge. This is the secret of my staying power and capacity to add value in complex or difficult decisionmaking scenarios�, said Ebi during a leadership conference.

This profound quote best explains his longevity in the corporate world. Despite his towering achievements, of which his turnaround job at New Nigerian Bank stands out, Ebi has remained modest and unassuming, placing God first in everything he does.

A stickler for sound and strong corporate governance, which for him is of more importance than immediate gratification, Ebi has continued to lay the foundations for management and oversight in all the organisations where he sits on the board. He encourages a strong culture of corporate ethics and adherence to the highest standards of communication and reporting.

Indeed, Fidelity Bank has benefited immensely from his expertise and dedication to professionalism. Under his leadership as Chairman, the board has sets the tone and direction for the bank which has translated into year-on-year growth.

Recognising his sound professional background and unblemished track record of meritorious service, the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2007 awarded him the National Honor of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR). In the same year, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) also awarded him a Fellow of the Institute (FCIB).

Ebi is unquestionably a sage and national treasure, who has contributed over 40 years of sheer hard work and dedication to the growth of Business Corporation and institutions impacting the Nigerian economy. As we commemorate this milestone celebration of his life, we wish him more years of active service and further contribution to the growth and development of this great country.

In his goodwill message to Ebi, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, described

him as a senior and respected colleague in the banking industry.

Emefiele explained: “Like you know, he spent over 20 years in the banking industry, beginning from International Merchant Bank, and retired at Diamond Bank as an Executive Director. He moved on to the Central Bank of Nigeria as Executive Director and spent 10 years, where he conducted himself as a professional banker and he earns the highest respect and regards of the CBN as a retired Deputy Governor. “While he was a Deputy Governor, he played his role actively, not only in the Corporate Services Directorate, but also in the Economic Policy Directorate. His contributions are very visible in whatever the CBN has become today. “As he celebrates his 70th birthday, we are wishing Ernest all the best of luck in his future life. He is 70 years now and when I am 70 I will like to be resting. So, he should enjoy his retirement with his children and grandchildren and have all the fun. We pray that the Lord would bestow on him good health all the time.�

To the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, Ebi is a seasoned banker as well as a seasoned regulator who sits on many boards and has left his marks on many organisations.

Okonkwo said: “For me, having to work with him on the board of Fidelity Bank as my Chairman was an invaluable gift. And that is because over the period I worked with him as my Chairman, I could see the value he brought to the board. In fact, upon resumption, he said he was going to focus on three pillars as Chairman of the board. “These were: Governance, risk management and capital. His work ethics is simply outstanding. For a Chairman of a Board, sometimes you give him up to 20 documents and his maximum turnaround time is the next day and he when you receive the document back, on a 20-page document, I guarantee you that he would make comments on a minimum of 15 of those documents, which would show you that he read everything. “So, for me, that is professional discipline at its peak. A CEO that has that kind of chairman knows that he too has to be on his toes because

the person you are working with knows what you know and beyond. So, for me, he has brought tremendous value to Fidelity Bank’s board. “So, we thank him so much for his service to the bank and we are very grateful that he accepted to serve on the board of the bank.

Coincidentally, his birthday was yesterday so I wish him more strength, God’s blessings and guidance in all endeavors.�

Also, the Chairman and Founder of the Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, described the Chairman of Fidelity Bank as a decent man. “When I call him a decent man, I mean every definition of that word. He is a man of integrity, a man of God and a very good Christian. He is also a humble man. The biggest asset you have in 21st century is humility. Ernest has excess of it, despite all he has achieved in life. “He is an extremely humble man and that is very rare, from where he comes from. He is naturally humble and he is not pretentious about it. So, that is the Ernest you know and you can trust every word out of his mouth.

He is a man who is not chasing wealth. He respects himself and he respects people around him. His love is genuine. “So, when you have a good man around, as he gets older, you feel a little bit pained because there are very few good men around.

I am praying that God will keep him and his family, because a man without a quality family is not a complete man. Ernest is a definition of a complete man. He is at peace with his family. We pray that God should keep such people as living legends. “So, on his 70th birthday, I can only wish that Ernest should make it to 100 years and from 100 years, what he wants to do with himself is his decision. So, I wish him a worthy birthday celebration as well as God’s grace and wisdom to continue to mentor all those that look up to him,� Ekeh said about Ebi. In his goodwill message, Engr. Joseph Makoju, a former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan and former Group Managing Director/ CEO of Dangote Cement Plc, wrote about Ebi: “ I have the privilege of having had a long close friendship and business relationship with Ernest spanning over the last 30 years.

Simply put and as they come, Ernest is just a fine gentleman and a naturally people-centred person. He is urbane, erudite, highly cerebral and humble. “His scholarship and deep knowledge in his areas of specialisation prepared and qualified him for service to this nation in various critical positions early in his career. As a recognised guru in the nation’s financial sector he has today become a reference point when it comes to analysis and commentary on our nation’s economic direction. In such discourse he brings to bear his excellent knowledge and understanding of the workings of the global economy. “In any such debate or discourse in which he participates he can be counted on to frankly speak his mind on any issue based on facts and sound analysis without any fear or favour. Not surprisingly he has held and still holds leadership positions in many reputable organisations both public and private where his rich experience and knowledge of the businesses combined with his excellent human relations skills has consistently propelled such organisations to deliver record breaking performance during his tenure. “In my view, Ernest Ebi will make an excellent subject for a Case Study on a Model Boardroom player in any world class Business School today. Outside the boardrooms and in spite of his hectic business schedules Ernest is known to find time to maintain links with his home communities and to actively quietly support many causes that empower and bring succour to the less privileged in society. “I have no doubt that hundreds of grateful beneficiaries will be joining his family, business friends and colleagues to celebrate Ernest at 70 and to wish him many more years of long life in good health to continue to serve the nation and to continue to positively touch the lives of so many.�

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T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

Okonjo-Iweala Touts ‘Fresh Eyes,’ Reform Record in DG Bid Hannah Monicken Facing an existential crisis, the World Trade Organisation needs a leader that can take office with “fresh eyes� and a reform-oriented approach, according to Nigeria’s candidate for the director-general role, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She believes she’s the one who can deliver.

As of last Wednesday, Okonjo-Iweala was one of five candidates looking to succeed Director-General Roberto AzevĂŞdo, who will step down at the end of August, a year early.

The other four are JesĂşs Seade of Mexico, Hamid Mamdouh of Egypt, Tudor Ulianovschi of Moldova and Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea.

Okonjo-Iweala entered the race earlier last month with perhaps the most robust international political bona fides as Nigeria’s former – and longest-serving – finance minister, and the former managing director, the number-two position, of the World Bank.

Couple that resume with early backing from the Economic Community of West African States, a group of 15 African countries, and Okonjo-Iweala is widely seen as a strong early contender.

A longtime developmental economist, OkonjoIweala said trade issues have been central to her career despite the word, “finance� in the title of one of her most notable positions. “I’ve been with trade all my career,� she said in an interview with Inside U.S. Trade. “I think maybe because of the title ‘finance minister,’ people think it is just about finance.�

However, she said, in Nigeria customs were part of the finance minister’s portfolio and, more broadly, she worked closely with the trade minister in many areas.

She also pointed to trade policy reform programs she worked on at the World Bank. “I bring that trade experience, actually on the ground,� she argued. “It’s not theory. It’s that I’ve done it through my job at the World Bank and through my job as a finance minister.�

Trade is a critical part of development for countries, she added. As the center of the international trading system, the WTO is “one of the most important multilateral organisations,� she said.

Okonjo-Iweala argued that the director-general role requires more than facility with trade policy.

Because the organisation is membership-based – and the director-general position is bestowed with little power of its own – whoever takes on the role must have “very strong political and negotiating skills,� she said. “The DG does not have direct power, but works through influence,� she continued. “So, you really need someone who can straddle different sides of a negotiation and, through influence and building trust, deliver on the job.�

Fresh Eyes To Okonjo-Iweala, her somewhat outsider status at the WTO is a benefit. It can be hard to see problems clearly when entrenched in them, she said, but coming in from the outside can lend fresh perspective. “I’m a fresh pair of eyes,� she said. “I’m not from the WTO – I haven’t done my career there – but I know trade issues. I can approach things from a fresh set of eyes and look at what are the opportunities, where can we make progress.�

Okonjo-Iweala would be the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO – and both distinctions, she believes, would be beneficial for a director-general.

Perhaps most importantly, given the geopolitical tensions between two of the largest WTO members – the U.S. and China – an African can be an “objective observer,� she said. Africa “can help straddle these gaps and divides,� she added.

Okonjo-Iweala said she can, “put my ego in my pocket,� arguing that skill is vital when identifying an issue and looking for solutions.

It also requires being a good listener, she argued, which involves more than just meeting with a member – it’s more about understanding the root of the concern from all sides, she added.

Rewarding Corporate Governance Adherence Goddy Egene writes on the Best Corporate Governance in NigeriaAward by the World Finance that was recently won by FBN Holdings Plc

Okonjo-Iweala With the U.S. and China, for instance, she said the key would be to identify overlapping areas of interest to find incremental steps of building trust.

The director-general’s office needs someone committed to reform, “and a track record to go with it,� she argued, citing her own history of reform and deal making, particularly in Nigeria.

She outlined where she saw opportunities for reform at the WTO: Revitalising the largely paralysed negotiating arm, establishing “clear mandates� for dispute settlement, improving transparency and notification obligations, enhancing the effectiveness of the regular bodies and improving Secretariat efficiency to better support members.

Addressing the negotiating arm, she pointed to what she called the “core principles� of the WTO: non-discrimination, predictability and fairness.

Members should enact reforms that “restore� these principles, she said. But she added that the WTO rulebook clearly needs updating as well – both strengthened rules and negotiated new ones. She cited digital trade and the “green economy� as areas ripe for common ground among members.

Dispute settlement will pose one of the biggest challenges for the next director-general. The U.S. has torpedoed the Appellate Body for the time being – with no intentions of easing up – while other major economies are operating under their own interim system. Citing her discussions on the subject with members and other stakeholders, Okonjo-Iweala said it was obvious to her that all members want WTO dispute settlement.

However, she also noted that “it is clear we need to revamp� the system.

While it is “commendable� that some members have fashioned an interim plan, she said, “what we really want is a system that everyone will buy in to and trust and use.�

This will require defining mandates “very clearly� to establish the bounds in which the Appellate Body must operate, she said.

Noting her managerial experience at the multilateral institution level, she said she would join the Secretariat with the aim of ensuring it supported members as efficiently as possible so they could be effective in negotiating.

This would include supporting members in implementing WTO obligations as well as monitoring that implementation. “I really do believe in this organization,� she concluded. “This is a bit of an existential moment. And I’m someone who has a reform record and energy and passion to do it.�

Culled from insidetrade.com

FBN Holdings Plc is the non-operating financial holding company of one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in Africa. It is a truly diversified financial services group, offering a broad range of products and services, covering commercial banking, merchant banking and asset management and insurance to millions of customers.

Over the years, FBN Holdings has remained resilient overcoming the challenging operating environment to deliver significant value to shareholders in its financial performance.

For instance, the group posted gross earnings of N627 billion for the 2019 full year, showing an increase of 6.7 per cent compared with N587.4 billion in 2018. Profit before tax (PBT) grew by 30.9 per cent to N83.6 billion in 2019, from N63.9 billion in 2018, while profit after tax (PAT) rose 26.5 per cent to N73.7 billion compared with N58.2 billion. Earnings per share grew from 161 kobo to 195 kobo, out which the board recommended that 38 kobo be paid as dividend to the shareholders.

The group has consolidated on that performance going by the results for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2020.

Details of the Q1 performance showed that FBN Holdings posted net interest income of N60.253 billion, compared with N71.662 billion.

Impairment charges fell from N13.847 billion in 2019to N9.7 billion, making the group to end the quarter with a profit before tax of N28.68 billion as against N17.764 billion. PAT grew by 62 per cent to N25.7 billion, from N15.8 billion.

Apart from strengthening its risk management architecture, another factor that has led to the improved performance of the group is its strong corporate governance.

FBN Holdings recently won the 2020 Best Corporate Governance in Nigeria Award by the World Finance. World Finance is renowned for its comprehensive coverage and analysis of the global financial services industry, international business, and the global economy. For the past 13 years, World Finance has been celebrating corporate achievements in the areas of corporate governance, innovation, and market leadership in the financial services sector across all the regions of the World.

And FBN Holdings Plc won this award for the second consecutive year on the back of its strong corporate governance practices and outstanding leadership in the Nigerian financial services industry.

Commenting on the award, Group Managing Director, FBN Holdings Plc, UK Eke, said: “Winning the award in quick succession is a demonstration of not only the strength of our corporate governance practices but also its resilience. As a holding company, we emphasize the highest standards in corporate governance across all operating entities in our quest to deliver value to our numerous stakeholders.�

The award came at a time when FBN Holdings is concentrating more focus in the area of core competence through divestment. A McKinsey & Company study of the performance of the 200 largest United States corporations from 1990 to 2000 revealed that companies that actively combined divestment in managing their business portfolios created substantially more shareholder values than those that passively held their businesses.

Some legendary executives that leveraged tactical divestiture programmes to remarkably enhance the fortunes of their organisations, according to the earlier Harvard Business Review, include Jack Welch. Proactive divestment fast becoming a trend Therefore, it was not surprising when FBN Holdings Plc in April 2020, revealed it was in discussions to divest from its insurance business as part of a broader strategy to focus on the group’s core business of banking.

According to Eke the divestment would enable the group to deliver greater value to

Eke all stakeholders. “The successful divestment is one more step in the direction of our medium to long term strategic objective of focusing on our area of core competence, for greater efficiency, and deliver greater value to all our stakeholders,� he said.

The core competence he referred to is the banking business which has been contributing the most to the group’s bottom line. In the financial report for the year ended 2019, First Bank contributed 88.2 per cent to gross earnings, and 85.2 per cent to the profit before tax of the group.

New generation and shared leadership For over a century, First Bank held sway as the leader in Nigeria’s financial services sector.

Though it remains the most valued banking brand, the increasing dynamism in the sector has seen the bank cede some part of its sectoral leadership to a couple of other institutions that gained market shares following their emergence as new generation banks in the 1990s.

However, in pursuit of its brand purpose to always put customers, partners and stakeholders at the heart of its business, while standardising customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, the management at FBN Holding has taken strategic steps at reclaiming category leadership of the banking sub-sector in recent years. One such measure has been the deliberate re-tooling of its operational models with technology and innovations.

This committed effort to upscaling its digital banking in Nigeria has been quick to yield commendable results. For example, First bank was the first to issue over 10 million debit cards in Nigeria. Over 228 million users on its USSD banking service through the nationally acclaimed *894# banking service and First Bank pulled in over 3.4 million users on its Firstmobile platform.

Primed for full banking sector leadership However, these substantial strides are about to get better for the Nigerian banking public going by the words of CEO of First Bank, Dr Adesola Adeduntan. Commenting on the bank’s performance in the 2019 financial year, he said: “Overall, we are pleased with the progress that has been made in our digital journey as over 85 per cent of our customer-originated transactions are now processed on digital channels. We will continue to leverage technology to offer superior customer service and enhance operational efficiency.

With this divestment therefore, the apple farmer has pruned the vineyard, letting go of a perfectly good insurance business apple. The FBN Holding orchard is about to deliver bountiful harvests of first-class modern banking solutions in a technology-immersed future to the youth and the youth-at-heart.

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻ, 2020

IMAGES

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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×

A cross section of the 2nd Niger Bridge’s ďŹ rst span of the Bridge Deck during an inspection of progress of work on the bridge by Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN (2nd right) in Anambra and Delta States...recently

R-L: Executive Director, West African Region, Chartered Institute of Public Resources Management and Politics (CIPRM&P), Ghana, Dr Richards Kpoku-Aquarte presenting the lifetime recognition award to the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, in Abuja...recently

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commiserating with widow of former Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi during his condolence visit to Senator Abiola Ajimobi’s Family at their Lagos residence...recently

Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State (second right), Oyo State Deputy Governor, Mr. Rauf Olaniyan, (middle) and others at the prayer for the late immediate past governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, at his Oluyole Estate, Ibadan...recently

Consultant/Structural Engineers, PSE Consultants Ltd, Vincent Ozoilo (right) and Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, Prof. Sebastian Maimako, during the oďŹƒcial inauguration of Faculty of Social Science of the University in Jos...recently

L-R: Chief of Policy and Plans Naval headquarters, Rear Admiral Ifeola Mohammed receiving COVID-19 ventilators from Country Representative Messrs OCEA Yemi Aluko and other senior oďŹƒcers of Navy, during the presentation of 20 COVID-19 ventilators to Nagerian Navy in Abuja...recently PHOTO: ENOCK REUBEN

Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr Bashir Jamoh, (left), with the President General of Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Mr. Adewale Adeyanju at the celebration of the Seafarer 2020 at the NIMASA headquaters in Lagos...recently

L-R: Head of Multimedia, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Felix Ajide; Director-General, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr Babatunde Irukera; and Managing Editor, NAN, Mr Ismail Abdullazeez, during NAN Forum with Mr Irukera, at NAN Headquarters in Abuja...recently

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T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻ, 2020

EDUCATION Nigerian Varsities Unite to Kick-out COVID-19 Pandemic through Research Nigerian universities are improving their capacity to contribute to the global response to the pandemic through innovative solutions. Some university administrators, who spoke to Funmi Ogundare, explained their efforts

R

epurposing of old drugs for COVID-19 because it is cheaper and faster to achieve than new development, as well as the invention of a novel AmbuVent ventilator (now patented) are top on the list of innovations either in the pipeline or achieved as Nigerian universities scale-up research into COVID-19.

Babcock University is leading a tri-party effort to repurpose old drugs, in collaboration with the University of Ibadan and the University of Wolverhampton, UK in an international research consortium.

Researchers at the University of Lagos developed a new AmbuVent Ventilator (now patented), and hand-sanitisers which formulation included the utilisation of local plants.

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities in Nigeria set up a committee of seven universities to write a proposal for submission to the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) for ground-breaking collaborative research on COVID-19. Collaborating institutions are Redeemers, Covenant, Bowen, PAMO, Chrisland, Babcock and Lead City Universities.

Professor Bola Oboh is the Director, Research and Innovation, University of Lagos. She spoke of cross-cutting research in the institution. It involves researchers in Economics, Business Administration, Finance, Industrial Relations, Sociology, Estate Management, and Urban and Regional Planning. They “are increasingly keen on researching new business models, organisational changes and a new design of housing and urban planning models that will enhance COVID-19-friendly living,� she stated.

She said UNILAG has been supporting the formation of multi-disciplinary research groups and research centres to attract and utilise research grants from local, national and international funding agencies, adding that the grants would provide a simple, but effective solution to complex societal problems.

UNILAG has also taken the bold initiative to deepen the contribution of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for research and development to drive economic growth in the country.

According to her, “the university is supporting researchers to develop resources and facilities that are critical and useful for frontline healthcare workers and the society at large, especially where there are inadequacies.�

She cited instances of such interventions to include the recent development of a novel AmbuVent ventilator (for which it has received a patent), and hand-sanitisers which formulation included the utilisation of local plants.

The institution is also supporting researchers from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to actively collaborate with all stakeholders for innovative solutions that consider the peculiarities of the economy, especially the informal sector, and co-develop simple, creative, efficient, and sustainable policies to stabilise it.

The don noted that its Research and Development (R&D) initiatives also focuses on infrastructural development in transport, particularly in densely populated city of Lagos, adding that just before the pandemic, the state had enormous challenges following the ban on motorbikes and tricycles-a significant means of commuting for over 70 per cent of its inhabitants. “We are establishing a research centre for transportation and logistics to explore sustainable and efficient solutions in this aspect critically.

We are interested in shaping the post-COVID era through innovative research in Medicine as a team of experts are currently working to develop rapid diagnostic tools for COVID-19, to stem the tide with current challenges of testing Nigeria’s large population of untested individuals.�

In terms of job losses, the pandemic has invariably exacerbated the already bad situation of youth unemployment in Nigeria, as Oboh noted, “UNILAG seeks to resolve this ugly

Some researchers at work situation via the establishment of an innovation hub to empower youths. They would become globally competitive entrepreneurs in all facets of economic activities, particularly the use of digital platforms to generate and create wealth.

They are strengthening the initiatives through several virtual meetings and webinars for innovative solutions to the problems of youth unemployment.�

She said the use of the university’s Centre for Unemployment and Skills Development has produced substantial interest and grants.

They are deploying the grants for the research. “The university will be channelling a large proportion of its research funding portfolio (garnered from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) through the Central Research Committee and Office of the DVC-A&R, into funding faculty research proposals. The focus would be on understanding the virus, producing other equipment for post-COVID-19 management and reshaping the schooling and education system as well as the business environment to be resilient post-Covid19 era,� Oboh stressed.

The Vice-Chancellor, Babcock University, IlishanRemo, Ogun State, Professor Ademola Tayo said his institution has set up an international research consortium. Members are Babcock University, the University of Ibadan and University of Wolverhampton, UK. Babcock takes the lead because it initiated the research project. “Babcock University is also the lead author for a ÂŁ500,000 grant that the consortium is writing for capacity building post-COVID-19.â€?

The consortium is currently working on the clinical trial of Chloroquine compared to Azithromycin plus vitamin C for the treatment

We are interested in shaping the post-COVID era through innovative research in Medicine as a team of experts are currently working to develop rapid diagnostic tools for COVID-19, to stem the tide with current challenges of testing Nigeria’s large population of untested individuals

Photo: Reuters of COVID-19, epidemiology and risk factors for COVID-19, including seroprevalence in the environment, sentinel surveillance of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in the environment.

They will also train 10 master’s degree students to acquire the relevant expertise, strengthen laboratory capacity for current and future epidemics or health issues. Two students will also proceed to PhD. Tayo said the expected outcomes of the research project would be setting up sentinel research sites, strong partnership with government for quick policy turnaround concerning epidemics, the graduation of 10 master’s degree holders, as well as setting up a strong international consortium. “Besides, publications and policy briefs would be produced from the research. The group has already produced a COVID-19 paper. We are thinking very big,� the VC said.

The Faculty of Engineering, Lagos State University (LASU) partnered with the Nigeria Society of Engineers, Victoria Island branch in the production of an automated solar-powered hand-washing station machine as its contribution.

The machine enables three persons to wash their hands at the same time, taking into consideration the social distancing regulations of the government.

The leader of the Faculty of Engineering COVID-19 Research Team, Dr. Nurudeen Raji, explained that the automated solar-powered hand washing station machine does not require any touch from the user, adding that it has only one switch to power it on. “The machine uses two small rechargeable batteries which can power the system continuously for a year. Water gets to the machine through a transparent hose that connects to either side of the machine. Another hose drains waste water (which may contain coronavirus) to a nearby ground for proper disposal. The machine has LED indicators to indicate when it is charging and when it is working visually. It has soap dispensers which can serve 1,000 users at each refill.�

The Chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities in Nigeria, Professor Timothy Olagbemiro said the body met recently online to deliberate on how it will embark on collaborative research as a response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The body set up a committee of seven universities made up of Redeemers, Covenant, Bowen, PAMO, Chrisland, Babcock and Lead City Universities to write a proposal for submission to the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) for ground-breaking collaborative research on COVID-19.

The research proposal, Olagbemiro noted, was designed towards sourcing funds from the federal

government for research on COVID-19, adding that the institutions were expected to harness the resources of relevant staff in their respective institutions to write a credible proposal to be labelled ‘Private Universities Research Initiative on COVID-19’. “Relevant resources in these universities across the country would be harnessed to research for the benefit of the Nigerian populace and the world as a whole,� Olugbemiro who is the Vice-Chancellor of Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta State, said.

He said the committee also approved a team of five vice-chancellors to draft letters of appeal to the Central Bank of Nigeria for a grant of N250 million to each university in Nigeria as a palliative to mitigate the enormous economic distress of COVID-19 pandemic on its operations. The VCs are from Western Delta University, Fountain University, MacPherson University, Pan-Atlantic University and American University of Nigeria. “The financial assistance is urgently needed to equip laboratories, classrooms and offices with advanced technology that will enhance teaching and learning environment for the staff and students based on the needs of the individual private university. The body also requested for financial assistance from TETfund, knowing the huge cost they will incur while preparing their campus for safety when students return after the government’s lockdown is lifted,� the VC said.

The Vice-Chancellor Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State, Professor Babatunde Idowu, said the College of Basic and Applied Sciences would encourage possible collaboration with Pax Herbal and other firms which was a follow-up to the resolution reached during the 2018 international conference on science and technology.

He added that the Centre for Research and Development Esanland (CERDEL) has launched a strong awareness campaign on COVID-19 pandemic. “We will sustain these campaigns because health issues are not event-oriented but process-oriented concerns. Unlike the case of Ebola, COVID-19 campaign will continue after the disease must have gone. Mainly, CERDEL is working so hard to attract grants from UNESCO and other world bodies. We have concluded arrangements to go into cutting-edge cultural studies that will create strong social reengineering in Africa. I must admit that the centre is critical to our research drive,� he said.

He added that its library has equally developed an online repository that allows researchers to freely access materials anywhere in the world, adding that the platform is dynamic and freely accessible, and would also ensure the upload of documents on past conferences.

During a visit to public institutions in Lagos, this reporter discovered that some reports of research efforts have been turned into academic publications and written in esoteric language.

At the same time, many doctoral theses gather dust on the shelf.

This reporter also discovered the unavailability of laboratory and workshop equipment, tools and compatible consumables for executing developmental research, as well as disconnected research efforts that may not impact the economy and development of the nation.

The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and a lecturer at the Department of Curriculum Studies and Instructional Technology, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, spoke to THISDAY. He said “research comes in different grades and dimensions. These are foundational research activities not necessarily meant to invent tangible products, but to prepare grounds for innovations and inventions; and applied research directed at addressing practical problems in the immediate community or the society at large.�

He said TETFund is encouraging applied research through its new policy on research and development, as many professors have won competitive grants.

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T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻ, 2020

MOUAU ASUU Decries Non-payment of Five Months Salary, Blames VC, Bursar for Delay Amby Uneze in Owerri All is not well at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) as members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the institution have decried the non-payment of five months salary arrears. They accused the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Francis Otunta and the Bursar, Mr. Joseph Kalu Okorie of complicity over the delay.

Reviewing the cause of the delay even as lecturers in other universities had since received their February to May salary arrears in compliance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives, the institution’s chapter of ASUU sent a delegation to the vicechancellor and Pro-Chancellor/ Chairman of the Governing Council, Hon. Lawal Zayyana to investigate the delay in the payment of their five months’ salary arrears.

Buhari had issued directives to all federal universities to pay all ASUU members who did not enroll in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

They also resolved to pass a vote of no confidence on the vice-chancellor and the

bursar for not being proactive in ensuring that the federal government’s directive was strictly adhered to even when all other federal universities have complied fully with exception of MOUAU. THISDAY can authoritatively confirm that MOUAU ASUU members attributed their fate to an internal problem which can only be resolved by the vice-chancellor and the bursar.

Some of the lecturers who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity, wondered how other federal universities who have the same problem with MOUAU could have all received their salaries leaving them behind not minding what they had passed through within the three month’s lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They accused the vicechancellor of not taking into consideration the sufferings of the members of staff, especially ASUU members in spite of their support for his administration.

Efforts made by THISDAY to reach the vice-chancellor and the ASUU Chairperson of the institution, Prof. (Mrs.) Echendu proved abortive as their phone numbers could not connect.

Eight Regent School Students Honoured for Best IGCSE Results Eight students of The Regent School, Abuja have made the school proud, as they are being celebrated by the British Council and Cambridge Assessment International Examinations (CAIE) for obtaining the best results in Nigeria and the world.

While announcing the feat, the Board of the school stated: “The Regent School received the information from the British Council and Cambridge International that eight of her students emerged with the best results across 13 subjects in the June 2019 Cambridge IGCSE Examinations in Nigeria and the world.�

The awards of exceptional performance at a national and international level were granted to seven students. The awards included: Highest in the World in Mathematics, achieved by two students.

The students who obtained the best results in the June 2019 IGCSE examinations were Abubakar Sadiq Tafida, Aditi Amol Sohoni, Chisom Angela Angel Akahara, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Phinola Yeani Aruna, Shreya Jindal and Sybel Nyenimana Shreya, Phinola, Ibrahim, Sybel, Chisom, Abubakar and Aditi were adjudged to have obtained the best results across Nigeria in 11 subjectsAccounting, Additional Mathematics, Biology, Physics (Shreya Jindal); Art and Design (Phinola Yeani Aruna); Environmental Management (Ibrahim Abdulsalam); Foreign Language French (Sybel

Nyenimana); Global Perspectives (Chisom Angela Angel Akahara); Music (Abubakar Sadiq Tafida); Information and Communication Technology (Aditi Amol Sohoni) and Mathematics (Shreya Jindal and Aditi Amol Sohoni) Shreya Jindal had an outstanding result as she was the best (student) across eight subjects – first place while both Shreya Jindal and Aditi Amol Sohoni achieved the highest results globally in Mathematics (without coursework). “The board and entire Regent family are particularly delighted and proud of the outstanding achievements of the award-winning students.

This goes further to reinforce and validates the academic excellence, holistic education and life-long leadership skills provided at The Regent School. “Just last year, six students of the school achieved the best Cambridge IGCSE results in Nigeria in seven subjects in the IGCSE examinations of June 2018. This perennial endorsement by the British Council and Cambridge International is a testimony of the school’s mantra of ‘Excellence in Everything We Do’. Our students’ impressive results justify their hard work and that of all our dedicated staff.

We will continue to set the pace in our commitment to providing a holistic experience for all our students, and equipping them with all the necessary tools to excel in all facets of their promising futures.�

COVID-19: Effective Online Teaching for Basic Education is Possible, Says UNICEF Kuni Tyessi in Abuja Contrary to reports about the smooth running of online classes in Nigeria’s education sector, with emphasis on basic education, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that utmost success can be achieved in this style of learning, saying that it has been tested and proven.

In a statement signed by its communications specialist, Dr. Geoffrey Njoku, it said to enhance the effectiveness of home based learning programmes, especially in the wake of the total lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF Nigeria is providing technical support and ensur-

ing that edu-volunteers are part of the monitoring effort supporting state officials and parents.

It added that the efforts help states in tracking down the number of children via the platform, with feedback being received from callers on radio, television and the websites during monitoring sessions.

Using Ekiti State as an example, it said in a field research supervised by UNICEF’s Awwal Nasir in Ido Community, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and ministries of education, science and technology are using digital teaching and learning programmes to make sure that

learning is not interrupted for pupils while the lockdown continues.

However, it said while programmes have run smoothly in some areas, others have faced challenges such as poor internet connectivity, teaching and learning resource limitations, level of parents’ literacy, poor electricity supply, distractions and high level of poverty. “Lessons covering primary years 1-6 air in radio and television stations, and some are uploaded on dedicated websites. Assignments are often given during classes and learners are expected to complete and submit them online.

“These efforts help states to track the number of children via the platforms. Feedback is received from callers on radio, television and the websites during monitoring sessions, assignments submitted are used as a performance indicator to measure the impacts of programmes. “Overall, reports show that many parents and guardians subscribe to the programme, and also making efforts to ensure their wards have the support needed to participate.

The platform has been useful and has helped reduce the negative impact of the stayat-home order, allow children to continue to learn even in difficult times,� it added.

Children displaying placards with various inscriptions during a walk against rape to mark the International Day of the African Child, held recently by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB)

Cranfield Varsity Opens PG Courses in Water, Energy, Environment to Nigerians Uchechukwu Nnaike Cranfield University, a specialist postgraduate university in the UK, is inviting Nigerians to apply for a postgraduate course in its School of Water, Energy and Environment for the September 2020 academic session.

The university is ranked number two in UK for graduate employment; number one for research income per academics and a six-time winner of the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize.

A statement by the institution read: “The university is globally renowned for teaching and research excellence and creating worldwide leaders in technology

and management.�

It said the School of Water, Energy and Environment is dedicated to training students to become leaders in the environmental and energy sectors and empowering them to facilitate changes and address major environmental issues like fossil fuel energy replacement, improving precision agriculture and soil health, wastewater treatment among others.

According to the yniversity’s representative for sub-Saharan Africa, Mrs. Ifeanyi Udofia, “Cranfield University has a longstanding reputation for training professionals in the environmental and energy industries. Our postgraduate degree courses form an

extensive portfolio covering all aspects of the diverse, modern environment and energy sectors and our full-time postgraduate degrees are ideal for ambitious graduates and professionals from Africa and across the globe.�

She added that with the current global focus on the full range of environmental issues, graduates of water, energy and environment courses at Cranfield University are highly sought after by employers globally as they possess advance knowledge and management skills to analyse processes, principles and practices essential to environmental challenges. “Successful graduates have been able to pursue or

enhance careers in a variety of key areas such as research consultant, environmental scientist, waste consultant, risk prevention and environmental engineer, project engineer and more, while previous students have gone on to jobs within prestigious institutions like Golder Associates, Arup, Seche Environment, Deloitte, BP, Chevron, WSP, Jacobs, SCOTEC UK and Mondelez International,� she said.

Cranfield University offers a series of funding opportunities to African students that can be accessed on the university’s funding finder page, which provides a list of financial support sources for international students.

Osun to Review Schools’ Reclassification Policy ahead of Resumption Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Osun State governmen has concluded plans to implement the review of the reclassification policy of schools which it approved earlier.

The review is targeted towards restoring 6-3-3-4 classification system through which each level of education will return to its earlier class structure.

This was revealed when the team of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) led by the Chairman, Israel Famurewa joined the conclud-

ing part of data gathering and physical assessment tour round the nine federal constituencies of the state by government officials held at Ijebu-jesha High School.

The state government had approved the reversal of the single school uniform, ‘reclassification’ of the public school system and the restoration of conventional single sex schools.

The approval came after ‘some’ recommendations made by a panel led by Olu Aina, which was set up to review education policies of the past administration, were considered

by the state government.

The panel, made up of experts became necessary after the clamour for the policy review by educationists, school administrators, missionaries, school owners and people of the state.

The implementation of the recommendations has necessitated the data gathering and physical assessment of schools for takeoff.

The officials of SUBEB, who joined Famurewa in the tour included the Executive Secretary of SUBEB, Mr. Adeoye Bakare; Commissioner (Technical), Chief

Moshood Adekunle Oluawo, Commissioner (Services), Amos Akindiya, and other members of the board and directors.

In his submission, Famurewa said “there is need to fast track the process of implementing the review on the education policy so as to put necessary logistics in place before the schools resume. “Thus, this necessitated this tour across the nine federal constituencies of the state as it’s hoped to bring the desired result in no distant time for the benefit of our children and their teachers.�

30

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻËœ 2020

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

SMEs Urged to Invest in Technology, Localise Supply Chain Dike Onwuamaeze Operators of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) have been advised to invest massively in technology and find ways to source their raw materials or supplies locally in order to remain afloat in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said this yesterday, at the quarterly UBA Business Series webinar.

According to him, it is important that businesses redefine their activities to adapt to the new normal which most economies have found themselves as a result of the raging virus.

The UBA Business Series organised by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc is a capacity building initiative held

every quarter, where leading business leaders share insights on best business practices and how entrepreneurs can build a sustainable business empire especially in the challenging business environment in Africa.

This edition was moderated by the Chief Executive Officer, Lyd Consulting, Bankole Williams.

Ogunsanya spoke on the topic: ‘Strategies and competencies for adjusting to a Post COVID-19 Business Environment’, where he sought to equip business owners with the important and essential strategies on how to recover and rebuild their business concerns following losses incurred due to the pandemic which took the world by storm, forcing many businesses to re-examine their models and strategies in line with the new normal.

Giving essential strategies to

business owners to help their businesses thrive and stay afloat, he said, “I must stress the need for business owners to invest in technology as it is very key in the new normal to ensure that our employees are able to deliver the goods and services to customers while remaining safe and keeping the customers safe also. “Remember that the customer is still the king, so it is important to ensure that you configure all your operations to make sure that they are still able to transact their businesses and also encourage online payment for services because handling cash can also be dangerous. More importantly, look for ways to configure your businesses to what your customers actually need especially in this era of physical and social distancing.�

$14m Debt: Court to Hear Sahara Group’s Suit against Ecobank Davidson Iriekpen Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned further proceedings till Friday, July 3, in an alleged $14million debt case between Sahara Group Limited and Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

The judge, however, awarded N50,000 cost against Sahara Group Limited in favour of Ecobank for stalling the matter on Monday.

Ecobank’s lawyer, Mr. Kunle Ogunba had told the court that the proceeding was for the hearing of his client’s motion seeking a summary judgment for the sum of $9,125,119.34 against Sahara.

Ogunba told the court that the application was not opposed by the respondents.

But Sahara’s counsel, Mr. Bode Olanipekun, pointed out that Sahara Energy Resources Limited, which Ecobank listed as first defendant in its application was not the same as his own client, Sahara Energy Resources

Limited, Isle of Man. Olanipekun told the court that Ogunba’s firm served the process meant for Sahara Energy Resources Limited on him and he had filed an application seeking to set aside the service, among other fresh applications.

But Ogunba fumed that Olanipekun’s “deluge of applications, which he refused to serve on me� were a calculated attempt to frustrate Monday’s proceedings.

He prayed the court to award a cost of N500,000 against Olanipekun for “lack of diligence.� “In fairness to us and because the proceeding is being frustrated today by the act of my learned friend, Your Lordship should give cost to serve as a deterrent,�

Ogunba said.

Though Olanipekun opposed the prayer for award of cost, Justice Aikawa, in a short ruling, awarded N50,000 cost against the first plaintiff, Sahara Group Limited, and adjourned till Friday

to take pending applications.

Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Isle of Man, and Sahara Group Limited had dragged Ecobank to court seeking an order to stop the bank from carrying out a “unilateral review of interest rates� on loans obtained by the oil firms.

But Ecobank filed a counterclaim, insisting that it “reserves the right to review its interest rates from time to time in line with prevailing market conditions.�

The bank claimed that based on computation, Sahara Energy Resources Limited and Sahara Group Limited were indebted to it in the sum of $14,069458.30 “being the principal sum and interest due to the counter-claimant as of 21st August, 2019.�

Ecobank said though the oil firms had offered to pay it $9,125,119.34 “as full and final settlement of their indebtedness,� it remained firm in its demand for $14,069,458.30 as their debt as of August 21, 2019.

Samsung Strengthens Retail Presence in Nigeria Samsung Electronics West Africa, in partnership with Cash ‘N’ Carry has stepped up its nationwide market expansion drive in Nigeria making its brand and services now available in all Cash ‘N’ Carry stores across the country.

According to a statement by Samsung, the retail expansion drive was designed to enhance consumer experience and provide consumers with a thrilling avenue to interact with Samsung’s full range of solutions and an extensive range of premium

household appliances in one easily-accessible location, whilst creating widespread destinations where consumers can experience firsthand Samsung’s extensive product ecosystem and receive personalised service from trained sales consultants.

Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. Caden Chiyeon Yu, described the partnership as a testament to the strength of Samsung as a brand in Nigeria and the customer loyalty that the company has built over the years.

“At Samsung, our retail strategy is hugely influenced by our consumer-focused approach on providing captivating products and experiences that address consumer needs. We do not just deliver innovative technology but also smart, easy to use and eco-friendly products.

We remain committed to maintaining our strong leadership position by expanding our retail footprint and by providing unprecedented levels of service and education on all of our products,� Yu said.

Maryland Mall Marks Fourth Anniversary, Developers Announce New Outlet Raheem Akingbolu The Maryland Mall has announced the fourth anniversary of its unveiling to members of the public.

The shopping outlet is among the leading neighborhood retail and entertainment centre in Lagos and plays host to a mix of local and international brands including Shoprite, Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, Stanbic

IBTC Bank, Uber, Workstation, Medplus, Miniso, PEP amongst retail, hospitality and entertainment brands.

The Maryland Mall is a redevelopment of the Maryland Business Plaza seating on a 7,700 sqm piece of land and located on the ever-busy Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

Chief Executive, Purple, developers of Maryland Mall, Mr. Laide Agboola, expressed

delight over the achievements of the mixed-use center till date. “The successes of Maryland Mall showcases the fact that domestic investment fuelled by the indefatigable spirit of Nigerian entrepreneurs is key to driving national economic growth. We are proud to be supporting the retail and entertainment industry and creating lifestyle experiences for Lagosians on that axis,’’ he said.

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

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Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

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OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE Ëœ Ͱ͡ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $37.33 a barrel on Monday, compared with $37.99 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

31

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍŻËœ 2020

MARKET NEWS

NASD Plc OTC to Enhance Capital Raising Capabilities Goddy Egene The Managing Director/ CEO of NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale, has said the company, which is providing over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of securities not listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), will become the hub for capital formation in West Africa.

Speaking at the annual

general meeting (AGM) in Lagos, Ajomale said NASD Plc was expanding its product offerings and services to cater to the new business and capital raising environment. “We have embarked on a material technology overhaul that will improve our scope, efficiency and effectiveness as an OTC market. We shall continue to deliver our objectives to all stakeholders in NASD Plc,� he said.

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

Ajomale noted that NASD had since inception been committed to providing innovative solutions that are reliable, resilient and functional. “We recognise the new opportunities that are rising out of this situation and intend to remain versatile and flexible to maintain market operations while providing capital raise services to enterprises that now have an even more

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

pronounced need for the capital market,� he stated.

According to him, the company shall continue improving its operational efficiency by investing in its existing structure, using scalable technology and driving innovation. “In line with our objective to be the market of choice especially for growing companies, our enterprise portal (NASDeP) has re-

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

mained open and continues to attract the attention of pre-IPO companies. We had initially expected to match such companies to private equity investors who would provide managerial capacity in addition to capital,� the CEO said.

In his address, Chairman, Board of Directors, NASD Plc, Mr. Olutola Mobolurin, said exchange exposed some draft rules to the public in 2019

O F

in furtherance of its efforts to ensure an orderly market and expand service offerings The rules, according to him, include Rules for executing Negotiated Deals, Admission of Rights Issues, Admission of Commercial Papers and Registration of Sub Brokers.

According to him, they expect these rules will further improve transparency and price discovery on the market.

3 0 / 0 6 / 2 0 2 0 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

32

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Conoil Records N1.9 Billion Profit, Recommends 200 kobo Dividend Goddy Egene

14.4 per cent compared with its net assets from N15.26 billion Based on N122.2 billion posted in 2018. to N16.82 billion.

Conoil Plc, a total energy Profit after tax (PAT) rose 11 the improved performance, provider, has reported a per cent from N1.796 billion to in fulfilment of its promise to its shareholders, the company revenue of N139.8 billion for N1.985 billion.

The company also recorded has proposed N1.39 billion as the year ended December 31, 2019, showing an increase of an increase of 10.2 per cent in dividend, which translates to A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager. investment vehicle that allows both small and Investors with similar objectives buy units of the large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their that willl generate their desired return. investments. The assets are divided into shares that An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, GUIDE TO DATA: etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 29shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the Jun-2020, unless otherwise stated.

“We repositioned our retail 200 kobo per share.

Explaining the performance, stations by embarking on massive the company attributed the upgrade of the outlets thereby impressive results to effective boosting sales. The modest cost management strategy, dividend proposal is hinged on aggressive marketing and the need to consolidate our cash management effort vis-à-vis the improved sales.

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

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

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

liquidity squeeze in the economy.

We look forward to opportunities in the coming years to continue to deliver solid financial results and increase competitive returns and shareholder value,” the company stated.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 114.35 115.78 -22.70% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.20% Nigeria International Debt Fund 329.08 329.08 10.47% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.92 0.93 2.47% ACAP Income Funds 0.79 0.79 10.31% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.50% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.83 2.90 15.15% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 5.91% Anchoria Equity Fund 96.92 97.25 -5.17% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.28 1.28 10.94% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 14.43 14.86 -5.82% ARM Discovery Fund 337.65 347.83 -2.25% ARM Ethical Fund 30.51 31.43 4.92% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.23% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 92.58 93.23 -3.64% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.13% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.11 2.11 19.78% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 1.82 1.83 -7.34% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 0.07 0.05 6.61% Paramount Equity Fund 11.02 11.26 -11.80% Women's Investment Fund 108.20 108.99 -2.08% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.26% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 98.58 98.81 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 100.66 100.90 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.78% Coronation Balanced Fund 0.91 0.92 -1.50% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.50 1.50 12.77% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 4.09% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 4.16% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,241.51 1,252.06 7.20% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,335.90 1,337.21 9.74% FBN Balanced Fund 148.34 149.40 1.04% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.91% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 116.64 117.33 1.02% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 116.98 117.68 0.81% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 115.26 116.71 -11.43% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.44% Legacy Debt Fund 3.78 3.78 3.35% Legacy Equity Fund 1.09 1.11 -4.09% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.11 1.11 2.52% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,051.38 3,084.41 0.34% Coral Income Fund 3,179.89 3,179.89 3.39% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 5.41% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.60% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 119.78 120.49 11.43%

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.55% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.33 2.37 6.22% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 9.85% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 146.48 147.04 2.14% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.39 1.41 13.52% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.95 12.00 6.02% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 3.68% PACAM Equity Fund 1.03 1.04 PACAM EuroBond Fund 106.75 109.07 SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 122.61 115.46 -7.12% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.02 5.06% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,521.35 2,532.80 -1.12% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 210.33 210.33 0.36% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.88 0.89 -0.57% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 273.87 273.95 0.42% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 154.92 156.64 -1.31% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.41% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,674.15 7,756.30 -0.29% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.16 1.16 0.25% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 118.18 118.18 0.00% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.13 1.15 -5.79% United Capital Bond Fund 1.83 1.83 5.32% United Capital Equity Fund 0.64 0.66 -9.30% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.57% United Capital Eurobond Fund 115.61 115.61 3.33% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.07 1.07 -2.12% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 10.18 10.30 -0.95% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.86 11.98 2.10% Zenith Income Fund 23.60 23.60 6.10% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.48%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

3.50 115.88 53.01

-33.06% 3.43% 1.84%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

9.10 87.26 67.07

9.20 89.05 68.26

4.51% -3.51% -2.84%

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

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

2.84 4.37 11.40 1.00 11.83 193.82

2.88 4.45 11.50 1.00 12.03 195.82

-19.96% -25.89% -5.84% 5.32% 13.76% 2.62%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.29

16.90%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

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NEWSEXTRA

Herdsmen, Fulani Farmers’ Clash in Bauchi Claims 10 Lives No fewer than 10 people were reportedly killed while several others sustained injuries during a communal clash between Fulani farmers and Fulani herders in Zadawa village in the Misau Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

However, the state Police Command confirmed that nine people were killed.

The clash was over ownership of land in the surrounding settlement where herders were located and have been grazing for several years although the land belongs to the government.

The land was to be converted in to a farm by the local government, a development that did not go down well with the herders.

It was gathered that on Monday, the local council officials went to the place with security backing but the herders violently reacted

and a clash erupted leading to deaths and injuries.

The Caretaker Chairman of the LGA, Mr. Yar Gwaran, however,

said security personnel had taken control of the situation.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmed Wakili, said:

“From report we have, nine people have been killed in the clash while six others were injured and are receiving treatment.”

IG: Community Policing will Take off By September Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, has given an assurance that community policing will be ready for take-off across the country by September.

Adamu, who disclosed this yesterday at an interactive session with Senate Committee on Police Affairs, stated that already the implementation committees of community policing had since been inaugurated in all the 36 states of the federation.

“All the committees for the community policing strategy implementation have been inaugurated in all the states of the federation. We are at the level of selection of the community policing officers now. We hope

by August/ September we will complete the process”.

According to him, “I was invited by the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to discuss the

implementation strategy of community policing and security challenges and we briefed them on what we have done so far.”

The IG also expressed optimism that community policing “will take care of everything - the criminals are coming from the communities, which means within the community if you come from that community you will be able to identify that A, B, C are engaged in acts that either will lead to the commission of crime or they are committing the crime” “So, because you come from the community, you will identify them and let the community policing committee in the ward and the local government level to identify them so that they take them out before they commit the crime. So, it is going to be effective in terms of grassroots policing and this is what is required,” Adamu explained.

CLO Threatens to Sue IG over Seven Bayelsa Policemen Killed By FSARS Onungwe Obe in Yenagoa The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has threatened to sue the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, if the police failed to investigate and take action on the killing of seven policemen from the Bayelsa State Police Command by members of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Ughelli, Delta State, last month.

Speaking at a press conference in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, yesterday, the state Chairman of CLO, Nengi James, and civil rights activist, Morris Alagoa, said the organisation, like many other well-meaning organisations and individuals, would not allow the matter to be swept under the carpet.

The seven policemen, made up of sergeants and corporals, attached to the Bayelsa State Police Command were two weeks ago allegedly shot dead in Ughelli by some men of the FSARS, who alleged that they were involved in armed robbery.

But some other accounts had alleged that the deceased were caught in the middle of an arms deal that went awry and were executed.

The pictures taken from the scene of the crime showed the bodies of the deceased policemen lined up in their uniforms with bullet injuries and their rifles.

CLO gave out the names of six of the seven dead policemen as Sergeants Hitler Mumbo, Dieyete

Joweigha and Brown Abedinigo.

Others are Omoro Akpoe, Philip Seikpo, Oyanidine Ongogha, all police corporals.

But organisation said the silence of the police high command on the incident is suspicious, and called on President Muhammandu Buhari, the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights, the Amnesty International, rights groups and the media to take up the matter.

Nengi said: “In view of the current unprecedented security challenges facing Nigerians, it gives more concern when uniformed personnel, in this case, policemen, were gunned down by fellow policemen in circumstances that have been shrouded in silence from the police authorities.

“Without making references to other continental and global instruments on Human Rights, the CLO draws ample strength from Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The chapter of the constitution deals with fundamental human rights and the right to life is recognised as number one.

“The CLO is interested, for the general good of all, in knowing the circumstances that led to the killing of seven serving policemen.

Seeing the photos of their lifeless bodies with rifles placed on them presents an unnatural situation.

We want to once again express our unacceptability of the extrajudicial killing.

LET THERE BE GAS FOR POWER...

L-R: Executive Director, North, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Hassan Imam; and Chairman, Oilserv Limited, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa, at the ground breaking ceremony for the $2.8bn AKK Gas Project at Ajaokuta, Kogi State...yesterday

UN Begins Campaign to Curb Fake News The United Nations yesterday launched a new initiative to foster behaviour change and counter the growing threat of misinformation online.

The campaign, called Pause, asks digital users to take the time to think about what they share before posting it online.

“Misinformation is spreading faster than the virus itself, and is seriously disrupting public health efforts by dangerously distorting sound scientific guidance. It is designed to exploit our emotions

and biases at a time of heightened fear,” said UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres.

“But there are ways users can learn to recognize bad information and slow the spread. We are aiming to have the phrase, ‘Pause, take care before you share,’ become a new public norm.”

A range of media companies around the world, including Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, France Médias Monde, MultiChoice Africa and StarTimes, are distributing Pause content on

TV channels, online and via SMS. Major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Google (YouTube) and TikTok, have also committed to promoting Pause, while indicating a willingness to scale up their ongoing efforts to suppress the circulation of misinformation.

“It is encouraging to see steps already taken by social media platforms, such as swiftly removing misinformation surrounding COVID-19, flagging harmful content, questioning

sharing intentions and also promoting sound health advice, including from the World Health Organisation (WHO),” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, “Just as social distancing slows the spread of the virus, behaviour changes around sharing will go a long way to slow the spread of misinformation. But it can only be meaningfully halted if there is no place for misinformation on social media platforms.”

Troops Kill Four Tiv Militia Men in Benue Troops of Operation Whirl Stroke operating under Operation Accord deployed in Gbise, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area in Benue State, and Sector 4 in Taraba State have killed four Tiv militiamen and recovered firearms and ammunition.

The troops came in contact with the suspected Tiv militias at Che Jukun village during a joint operation at Rafin Kada in Wukari LGA and Yojaa in Donga

LGA of Taraba State on Monday.

The army in a statement yesterday said the militia opened fire on sighting the troops who responded with superior firepower thereby neutralising four of them while an unconfirmed number escaped with gunshot wounds.

The statement by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, said items recovered include two locally-made

rifles, 55 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 117 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, three mobile phones, three AK 47 magazines, two motorcycles, one military shirt uniform, one Peace Corps ID card belonging to one Mr. Anyor Fidelis and some charms.

It explained that the troops also apprehended a notorious kidnap kingpin, Kobo Ishor (aka “Lesser” ), an associate of late Orjondu.

The statement read, “Ishor

was apprehended and currently undergoing interrogation, to be handed over to the Nigeria Police afterward for prosecution.

“The high command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria congratulates the gallant troops of Operation Whirl Stroke for their dexterity and professionalism and encourages them to remain resolute in curtailing the activities of criminals in the North Central zone of the country.”

House Asks FG to Order DSTV to Reverse Service Price Hike Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives yesterday asked the federal government to give marching order to the Broadcast Satellite Service providers, particularly DSTV, to reverse the recent June 1, 2020, subscription price hike, and revert to the old price.

The House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the non-implementation of the payas-you-go tariff by Broadcast Satellite Service Providers in Nigeria made this known at a hearing, saying there is no going back on the decisions of the parliament.

The Chairman of the

committee, Hon. Uyime Idem, stated that this was not the best of times to increase the prices of services no matter the reasons for such increase, taking into consideration the ravaging effect of COVID-19 on the economy of Nigerians.

He urged the federal government to come up with a strategy to break the monopoly and open up the industry for larger participation.

The lawmaker also asked the federal government to implement Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) tariff regime for the digital TV broadcasting in Nigeria with particular reference to DSTV, GOTV,

Startimes and Kwese TV. The committee further called on the federal government to ensure the deregulation of content right by Direct-toHome (DTH) Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) operators, and encourage local content participation through content sharing.

Responding to lawmakers questions on various issues raised, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the pay-asyou-go model is achievable in Nigeria, and a pay TV provider, Startimes, is already offering it, thereby puncturing the fallacy

that it is not possible.

He stressed that all that’s required is that the existing content should be taken back to the drawing board to accommodate the PAYG options.

According to Mohammed, “When I became minister some years ago, I was seriously concerned about the issue of monopoly. We did include it in the amended new broadcasting code, which I just signed following due process, as a draft was submitted to me. All the stakeholders who went through it went to Lagos and it was approved.

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Saraki: Senate under My Leadership was People’s Parliament Chuks Okocha in Abuja The President of the eighth Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who is also the board chairman of the Africa Political Institute, yesterday publicly spoke glowingly of his tenure as the Senate president, stating that his life in the Senate was devoted to making the parliament relevant to all Nigerians.

He said: “My life in the eighth Senate was devoted to making the parliament relevant to Nigerians of every social class and in every field of endeavour. I worked for us to have a ‘People’s Parliament’, and that was what we had.

“I know it was the best way to get the people to understand, support and get involved in the work of the parliament. I have the belief that we will be securing the future of our democracy if

this is achieved. The parliament remains the critical barometer to measuring the success and growth of democracy.”

Speaking yesterday on the International Day of Parliamentarianism, which was organised by the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Saraki said: “In 2018, I visited Russia to attend the 137th Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and decided to use the occasion to meet Nigerian students there. There and then, I saw myself confronted with the case of stranded students on federal government scholarship whose tuition fees and allowances had not been paid for many years by the government. On my return, we invited all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and raised the issue. And they promised to resolve the issue. That is how

significant a parliament should be to the people.”

Continuing, the former Senate president said: “The National Assembly under my leadership was the first to implement the provision of the law on Basic Healthcare Provision Fund when we included in the 2018 budget one percent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to be devoted to primary health care. It was part of our plan to ‘Make Nigeria Stronger’ by helping to maintain a healthy citizenry. The then Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, described that move as a ‘Game Changer’. From Bill Gates to Bono, the musician, to the Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros, it was commendation galore for the eighth Assembly.”

Discos: N’Assembly Initiated Suspension of New Tariffs Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Power distribution companies (Discos) yesterday rejected insinuations that they connived with the National Assembly to force the postponement of the review of extant electricity tariffs paid by consumers in the country.

Describing the report as a “conspiracy theory,” the Discos stressed that the call for the suspension of the proposed service reflective tariffs was initiated by the National Assembly last Monday due to their concerns on its timing and what they saw as lapses in the internal workability of the plan within the sector.

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) made the clarification in a statement signed by its Executive Director on Research and Advocacy, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, in response to a report published by a national daily that he wrongly claimed that the Discos lobbied for the postponement.

He said while several attempts at justifying the conspiracy theory are being cooked up, what is actually being insinuated is that the leadership of the National Assembly can easily be manipulated by anyone or group of people.

“The members of the National

Assembly are representatives of the people. Based on the feedback they have been getting from their constituents, mainly around the difficult financial realities, they called for a meeting which we attended, and during the meeting, they laid out their concerns.

“Discos have spent the last couple of weeks carrying out massive sensitisations across different platforms preparing their customers for the new service reflective tariff as instructed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Discos have also been at the forefront of the call for a reviewed tariff for many years.

AfDB: Ireland’s Former President Joins Panel to Review Adesina’s Probe Dike Onwuamaeze The campaign to stop the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, from getting a second term has taken a new turn following the acceptance of Former President of Ireland and ex-United Nations Human Right Commissioner, Ms. Mary Robinson, to be included among the panel of three that would review the report of the internal Ethic Committee of the AfDB that cleared Adesina of all the allegations leveled against him.

Robinson, who served as the President of Ireland between 1990 and 1997, practiced as a human right lawyer.

This followed the decision of the Board of Governors of AfDB to set up a panel of three “neutral, honest, high-calibre” persons to review the report of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Ethics Committee that cleared Adesina.

The setting up of the independent panel was reportedly instigated by the United States of America.

Adesina had been under

investigation since April by the Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption (PIAC) as well as the Ethics Committee and Audit and Finance Committee of the AfDB following allegations by “concerned staff members” of the bank who accused him of “various cases of alleged breaches of the code of conduct” of the bank in some appointments and several contracts “approved by Adesina’s team supposedly in violation of the AfDB’s statutory and ethical rules.”

According to The Africa Report, 16 of the allegations were documented in English while several others were made in French, including what the employees described as “unusual managerial style,” “dominance of impunity and nepotism,” “chaotic management of human resources” and the “financial waste and lack of budgetary discipline.”

However, a report signed by the Chairman of the Bureau of the Board of Governors of AfDB, Niale Kaba, in May, absolved Adesina of all the allegations “which were thoroughly investigated by the Ethics Committee of the Board

of Directors.”

However, barely four weeks of absolving Adesina, the board of governors in a dramatic turnaround authorised that an independent body should be empanelled to review the ethics committee report that exonerated Adesina.

This followed the United States’ Department of the Treasury demand for an independent probe of allegations leveled against Adesina.

The Bureau of the Board of Governors said: “The independent review shall be conducted by neutral high caliber individuals with unquestionable experience, a high international reputation, and integrity within a short time period of not more than two to four weeks maximum, taking the bank’s group electoral calendar into account.

“The bureau agrees that within a three to six months period, and following the independent review of the ethics committee report, an independent comprehensive review of the implementation of the bank’s group whistleblowing and complaint.

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N’Assembly, Keyamo Fight over Employment of 774,000 Nigerians Deji Elumoye and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Caution was thrown to the winds yesterday as members

of the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity engaged the Minister of State for Employment, Labour and

Nigeria’s COVID-19 Cases Rise By 561 to 25,694 Records 17 deaths in one day Martins Ifijeh Nigeria has recorded 561 new cases of COVID-19, bringing to 25,694 the number of confirmed cases in the country.

It has also recorded 17 deaths in a single day, raising the tally from 573 to 590 within the last 24 hours.

Announcing this yesterday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lagos recorded 200

new cases; Edo, 119; Kaduna and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 52 each; Niger, 32; Ogun, 19; Ondo, 16; Imo, 14; Plateau, 11; Abia and Oyo, eight each; Bayelsa, seven; Katsina, six; Kano, five; Bauchi, Osun and Kebbi, three each; Borno, two; while Jigawa recorded one case.

It said: “Nigeria has recorded 25,694 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

9,746 persons have been discharged, while 590 have died.”

Oshiomhole Withdraws Appeal Challenging His Suspension The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, challenging his suspension from the party.

A three-man panel of judges presided over by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam unanimously dismissed the appeal yesterday at the request of the former APC national chairman.

Oshiomhole had approached the court seeking to challenge his suspension from the party by officials of his ward in Edo State.

Justice Danlami Senchi of an Abuja High Court had given effect to the suspension of Oshiomhole from his ward on the ground that the executives of Ward 10 in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State acted in line with the constitution of the party.

At the resumed hearing of the

suit, the counsel representing the former chairman informed the court of his client’s decision to withdraw the suit which originally sought a stay of execution on the judgment of the court affirming his suspension.

Other members of the threeman panel are Justice Mohammed Mustapha and Justice Muazu Lamido.

This comes after President Muhammadu Buhari appealed to all aggrieved members of the APC to withdraw all pending litigations in the interest of peace.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the party had also dissolved the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC. In his reaction, Oshiomhole accepted the decision of the council and pledged his loyalty to the ruling party and the president.

FG Makes Changes to Reduce Risk of Marginal Oilfield Disputes The federal government has changed the way marginal oilfields are allocated to avoid legal problems that bedevilled a previous bidding round, the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Auwalu Sarki, said yesterday.

Federal government in early June launched its first bidding round for marginal fields - smaller blocks typically developed by domestic companies - in nearly 20 years.

It hopes the round will boost oil output and bring in much needed revenues.

The DPR has said none of the fields being awarded faced legal issues, but courts have blocked two fields that were revoked in April from being included in any new licensing round.

Sources have said other legal challenges were expected from those holding 11 licences revoked

in April.

The DPR’s director said the previous round was “fraught with litigations and other challenges,” which hampered the development of some of the oilfields, but added authorities had learned from previous mistakes.

“This time around, our awardees will be credible investors with technical and financial capability,” Sarki said, while addressing the Africa Marginal Oilfield and Independent Producers Webinar Conference.

“There is also the Post-General Award Conditions. This deals with transfer of interest post award. It means awardees cannot transfer more than 49 per cent interest to another party post-award.”

He said the conditions also allow the petroleum minister to withdraw the interest of a party that fails to meet its obligations in terms of joint awardees.

Productivity, Mr. Festus Keyamo, in a 30-minute shouting match over the proposed employment of 774,000 Nigerians under the Special Public Works Programme of the federal government scheduled for October.

At the end of the debate, the committee threatened to suspend the programme for which N52 billion had been voted for in the revised 2020 Appropriation Bill.

Trouble started when the committee at the interactive session in Senate room 231 asked the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr. Ladan Argungu, to explain the composition of the 20-man committee inaugurated on Monday by the labour Ministry for the implementation of the programme.

But Argungu’s explanation was that he was aware of only eight members of the committee, and referred the federal legislators to the minister for further clarification.

The lawmakers were not satisfied with Argungu’s explanation, saying that he was not in control of the programmme and accusing Keyamo of hijacking the programme from the NDE while alleging acute lopsidedness in the entire programme.

The joint committee Chairman, Senator Godiya Akwashiki, argued that the NDE DG and the minister were not on the same page over the matter and suggested that the committee should go into an executive session with both officials so as to resolve the issues.

However, when the lawmakers asked journalists to leave the venue, Keyamo kicking against the move insisting that having been openly accused he should as well be allowed to defend himself in public.

“I came here for open session and not closed-door session and since you have accused me in public, I will have need to defend myself in public and not in

executive session”.

When told that he cannot dictate to them how the committee session would be run, Keyamo banged the table shouting that he won’t go into closed-door session with anybody.

Irked by the minister’s outburst, a member of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe moved motion that the minister should apologise for tackling the committee over rule of proceedings.

Oloriegbe’s motion which was adopted by the committee, however, worsened the situation when Keyamo was asked by the committee chairman to tender apology.

The Minister refused to apologise to the lawmakers; saying he had neither done nothing wrong nor made derogatory statement.

The minister was asked to leave if he could not apologise and he packed his file and stormed out

of the meeting.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after, Keyamo accused the lawmakers of trying to take control of the recruitment exercise under his ministry.

He said while he was not aversed to the committee investigating the programme; they cannot direct him on what to do as doing so will mean sharing in the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Keyamo said despite granting the lawmakers 15 per cent of the job placement; they still want to hijack the entire the programme; taking over the power of the President in the process.

“We have said it before that there is about 10 per cent to 15 per cent reserved for the lawmakers.

I have said it openly what do they need more than that? They want to control the programme and I said no except the President says I should leave it I will leave it but they cannot control the programme.

ALL EYES ON ONDO POLL...

L-R: Senior Organising Officer, All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Sabiu Bello; Director of Organisation, APC, Prof. Al-Mustapha Usuudu; APC governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Chief Olushola Oke; and former member of House of Representatives, Hon. Mike Omogbehin, during the submission of expression of interest forms by the aspirant at APC secretariat in Abuja... yesterday ENOCK REUBEN

FG Targets N1tn Revenue from Stamp Duties N66bn remitted to federation account in six months James Emejo in Abuja The federal government has urged the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to recover all stamp duties collected on behalf of the federal government but yet to be remitted by government agencies, banks and other companies.

The Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Boss Mustapha, who gave this charge in Abuja yesterday, added that the federal government was targeting N1trillion from stamp duties.

Speaking at the inauguration of the inter-ministerial committee on Audit and Recovery of Back

years stamp duties and the launch of Federal Inland Revenue Service adhesive stamp, the SGF noted that the government will focus on revenue from stamp duty.

He disclosed that stamp duties have the potential to yield up to N1trillion annually if properly harnessed.

Mustapha told the FIRS that the federal government expects the Inter-Ministerial Audit and Recovery Committee “to judiciously undertake an audit and recover on behalf of the Government all stamp duties charged from January 2016 to date but yet to be remitted by the

relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies, Deposit Money Banks and Nigerian InterBank Settlement System Plc among others.

In order to ensure transparency and accountability, Boss Mustapha directed and requested that “all recoveries made by this Committee be remitted to appropriate Stamp Duty Account maintained by the federal government with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

He also directed “all relevant MDAs particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria, NIBBs, DMBs, NIPOST and FIRS should give maximum cooperation to the

Committee in the discharge of its mandate.”

He said it had become imperative to recover stamp duties because of government’s dwindling revenue “which was caused by the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic which has led to a budget deficit of over N5trillion.”

Responding, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS Mohammad Nami said the stamp duty recovery efforts will start from his agency and directed the finance and accounts department to remit 39 billion being stamp duties collected by the Service to the Committee.

ICPC Declares Ex-staff Wanted over Gratification Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday declared a staff of the commission, Mrs. Gloria Obioma Elih, wanted for demanding and receiving gratification.

The commission said the former staff was declared wanted for allegedly demanding and receiving gratification from officials of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. “”Criminal charges were filed

by ICPC against Elih, a former staff of the Commission, before

an FCT High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Adeniyi for allegedly demanding and receiving gratification from officials of Federal Ministry of Water Resources who were being investigated”, it said.

The statement said “she is declared wanted as all efforts to serve her and procure her

attendance in court have proved abortive.

“Elih is an indigene of Anambra State and speaks English and Igbo languages fluently. She is 44 years old and dark in complexion.

“Her last known address is El-Salem Estate in Lugbe, Abuja”.

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Paucity of Funds Bane of Justice Delivery, Says FCT CJ Alex Enumah in Abuja The Chief Judge (CJ) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello has identified paucity of fund as one of the major challenges that hamper justice delivery in the country.

Justice Bello who stated this in an interview on ARISE NEWS Channel, a sister broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, noted that if the justice sector

must perform optimally, government at all levels must show commitment in the provision of necessary funding.

The CJ who commended major actors in the sector such as the police, the judiciary and the correctional service for performing well in the face of the limited resources at their disposal, however called for some radical reforms in order to move the sector forward.

“Against the background

of challenges faced by the government apparatus that is the police, the court and the Correctional Service, I will say they have done well in the discharge of their mandates. I repeat, against the background of challenges, because the three require intensive investment in terms of provisions of the wherewithal to either conduct

investigations that is referring to the police department or any agency.

“A lot of provisions are required in terms of logistics, scientific apparatus, forensic lab and many other related things for them to perform optimally.

“In the face of paucity of funds, challenges are enormous

and they can only perform within the availability of funds and what such paucity of funds can provide in terms of enabling environment for effective performance. The same explanation applies to the judiciary for the purpose of discharging adjudicative responsibilities.

On how paucity of funds

affect justice delivery in relation to the Correctional Service, Justice Bello noted that the cou r t ma y be rea dy for t r ia l bu t t he defenda nt is not a va ila ble du e t o some log ist ic s a nd ot her c ha lleng es faced by the service in producing the defendant in court.

House Grills Accountant General over N1.819tn Extra-budgetary Spending Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, yesterday, quizzed the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, over extra-budgetary expenditure worth more than N1.819 trillion in 2014 fiscal year.

The lawmakers summoned both the AGF, and the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine, after expressing dissatisfaction and rejecting the response provided by the AGF to various queries issued by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

The breakdown of the extra-budgetary expenditure includes N54 billion borrowed fund for staff of PHCN in 2014 and N745.4 billion payment allegedly approved by President Goodluck Jonathan from the Natural Resources Fund account; N594.3 billion loan withdrawn from the Stabilisation Fund, which belonged to the three tiers of government.

It also include the sum of N73.5 billion paid in 2014, out of which N36.4 billion was released to the National Security

Adviser (NSA) for rehabilitation and construction of dam; N31.3 billion paid to an account which a political appointee was a signatory and additional sum of N2.8 billion paid for purchase of hand sanitizers.

The House said it was not satisfied by the explanation of the Accountant General that the closing balance that was not returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation was not government money, but money belonging to other agencies such as unions and taxes meant for other states.

The auditor general queried the accountant general’s office over the sum of N200.9 billion deducted from Federal Government’s share of the Federation Account, out of the total sum of N797.9 billion reported in the 2014 financial statement that showed the variance of N52.7 billion.

Ahmed disclosed in his response to various audit queries issued by the Auditor General of the Federation in 2014 financial year that the N54 billion was borrowed fund for staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2014 for payment of staff pension.

Oba of Benin Denies Insulting Buhari Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewaure II, has denied the dissociated the Palace from an alleged insult on the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a press statement issued yesterday by the Secretary, Benin Traditional Council (BTC), Mr. Frank Irabor, the monarch described as “fake news” the trending video on social media anchored by one Eranomigho Edegbe, who hurled invectives at Buhari, claiming he had the authority of the monarch.

The statement also condemned the aspersion cast on the persons of the sacked National Chairman of APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole and business mogul, Capt. Hosa Okunbo, in the same video.

The statement went further to clarify that the relationship that existed between the Palace and the President which date back to his days as the head of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), was still being maintained.

The Palace maintained that it would not only continue to pray for the well-being of the President, but would also continue pray for the success of his administration.

According to statement, “for

the purpose of clarification, and to set the record straight, His Royal Majesty wishes to make it categorically and irrevocably clear that the said video and the contents therein was not commissioned nor was it encouraged by the Oba. “We condemn in the strongest terms the malicious attacks on the integrity of the President and all other persons whom the video seek to malign.

“We wish to state unequivocally that our love for the President is unparalleled as the relationship shared date back to days of the late Oba Erediauwa, the immediate past Oba of Benin, which has been extended to the present monarch.

“We also wish to state that Oshiomhole has always respected not just the traditional institutions in Edo, but also the Palace of the Oba of Benin. His affection for our father who adopted the Comrade as a son is well known.

This relationship was also further reinforced during his tenure as the Governor of Edo State.

“Capt. Hosa Okunbo is an illustrious son of the Palace of the Oba of Benin; thus, there can be nothing but goodwill and positive prayers for this distinguished son of Benin Kingdom.

CONGRATULATIONS...

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (left), and new Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area, Hon. Cosmas Ibeziako Ugwueze, shortly after the new chairman was sworn in at the Government House, Enugu...recently

Health Workers Threaten Strike over Unpaid Allowances, Lack of PPE Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The leadership of the Medical and Health Workers Union of has said that its members may be forced to embark on industrial action if federal government fails to address their demands.

The union threatened that if the meeting with the minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, scheduled for today (Wednesday) fails to yield expected results, it will issue a short notice for strike.

Federal government had earlier said that it has released

funds for the payment of the health workers hazards allowances.

However, addressing journalists yesterday afternoon at the union’s headquarters in Abuja, the President of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), Comrade Josiah Biobelemoye said its members were aggrieved over the delay in the payment of the recently approved hazard allowance for frontline health workers involved in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

He said that the delay in

effecting the payment of the new allowances is now generating huge uproar within the health system, hence the convening of an emergency meeting to enable things to be sorted out.

“There have been protests in many hospitals but we as leaders have stepped in that they should not allow this to break down.

“The ministry of health has invited JOHESU for a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday). We are appealing to our members all over the country to exercise a little patience with us. We are hoping that by the end of tomorrow’s

meeting, the ministry if health will think better than pushing us into shutting the health system down and the ministry of health will correct its misinterpreted documents,” he said.

The JOHESU president said that effort will be made at the meeting to see how they can salvage the situation and to prevent a total shutdown of the health system in this period.

He said that the health workers are very mindful of the consequences of shutting down the health sector.

Ekiti to Reopen Religious Centres, Schools on July 17, 20 Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has unveiled the plan of the state government to reopen schools in line with the federal government’s directive on July 20.

In the same vein, the worship centres, including churches and mosques would reopen for safe activities on July 17.

President Muhammadu Buhari lifted ban on interstate restriction on movement and also directed students in graduating classes to resume in their schools to write their

examinations.

Fayemi said in a statewide broadcast in Ado Ekiti yesterday that efforts were now in top gear to ensure that children return to school from July 20, 2020, as recommended by the interface between the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and all stakeholders in the education sector.

He said: “However, this might be in phases starting with students in terminal classes SS3, JSS3 and Primary 6 to prepare for their examinations.

Other classes will be gradually absorbed as schools meet all

requirements to accommodate them safely and responsibly.

“A certificate of Readiness showing that a school has adhered to all the conditions required for school reopening will be issued to all schools before they can reopen.”

Fayemi added that the government, apart from setting the general standard for both the private and public schools to reopen, has embarked on a quick rejuvenation of our schools to ensure that basic facilities such as water, sanitiser, soap and other facilities to aid hygienic practices are in place.

The governor also directed that all the schools should be fumigated and kept safe for the students before reopening.

Fayemi also stated that religious worship centres might resume controlled services from Friday, July 17, 2020, once a week: Friday Jumat for Muslims and Saturday and Sunday services for Christians.

“This is however subject to strict and full compliance with the regulations regarding worship centres, which includes social distancing of 6-feet between worshippers, hand washing and face masks.

Badaru Closes Jigawa Market for Flouting Social Distancing Order Ibrahim Shuaibu in Dutse The Governor of Jigawa State, Mr. Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, yesterday, shut down the weekly Shuwarin Market in the state for nonobservance of social distance order.

Abubakar stressed that the disrespect of COVID-19 protocols in markets, viewing

centres and other social gatherings would no longer be tolerated in any part of the state.

Speaking yesterday during a press briefing at the Government House, Dutse, the governor said the state is gradually overcoming the surge of the pandemic as the state has not recorded new cases of the

disease despite carrying out intensive testing.

Badaru explained that this impressive development has made the government to ask officers from grade level 12 upward to resume work by next Monday, July 6.

The governor also commended Dangote Group for donating two ambulances

to the state and disclosed that commissioners in the state have pledged 10 per cent of their salaries to the fight against the pandemic in the state.

He explained that after the testing, samples would be transferred to the newly formed molecular laboratory for the results.

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Performance of Lottery Commission’s DG Satisfactory to Board, Says Lawyer The performance of the Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila, has been satisfactory to the Board and the shareholders, his legal advisor, Mr. Frank Ike Chude, has said.

Chude stated this in a response to a petition sent to the Gbajabiamila and the media by an Abuja-based group, Global Integrity Crusade Network, accusing him of malfeasances in the running of the commission.

Chude argued that Gbajabiamila has advanced the 15- year-old organisation, performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Governing Board and other stakeholders of the commission, especially in management and

generation of revenue for the government.

According to him, in less than three years of leadership, Gbajabiamila has efficiently turned around the fortunes of the commission and earned billions of Naira into the coffers of government in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the lottery commission which he has raised, astronomically by over 400 per cent.

Global Integrity Crusade Network had accused the Gbajabiamila of corruption, financial misappropriation, abuse of office, contract splitting and granting of unwarranted waiters to operators among other allegations.

But Chude debunked all the allegations contained in the

petition describing them as “fictitious, unfounded, malicious and gravely defamatory.”

Chude said: “our client has been running the commission diligently, effectively, efficiently,

honestly and in total compliance with the statutes of the establishment and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He has, in profound measures added verifiable values to the

commission.

“The National Lottery Regulatory Commission under the leadership of our client has been performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Board and its

other stakeholders. The profundity, creativity and zeal with which our client leads the commission have resulted in astronomical increase in the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the commission.

N78bn Refund: Wike Thanks Buhari, Invites Him for StateVisit Davidson Iriekpen River State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the N78.9 billion as reimbursement for the amount spent on executing some federal road projects in the state Wike also used the opportunity to invite the president for a state visit.

The federal government had approved the disbursement N78.9 billion as reimbursement for the amount spent on executing some federal road projects in the state, including Port Harcourt-Owerri road.

The approval for the refund was granted at the virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Buhari on June 3.

In a advertorial in some national newspapers, Wike thanked the president for approving the refund, saying the gesture has shown Buhari’s love for the people of the state and as a president for all.

The governor said his administration is willing to work

with the federal government to develop the state.

“I wish to on behalf of the government and people of Rivers State appreciate and most sincerely thank you for graciously approving the refund of the sum of N78.9 billion to Rivers State Government, as cost of the execution of federal government road projects in Rivers State,” Wike said.

“Let me also through you thank the Vice President, His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbajo as well as other members of the Federal Executive Council for the support they provided for our request.

“Mr. President has by this remarkable and heart-warming gesture shown not only your love for the government and people of Rivers State, but also demonstrated expressly that you are indeed a president of every state of the federation and Nigerians.

“I assure you that Rivers State Government is willing and ever ready to cooperate and partner the federal government to advance the development aspirations of Rivers State in particular, and our nation

Group Raises N22.1m for Children of Woman Killed

by Fiancé Sunday Ehigiator A digital hub for female entrepreneurs and professionals, Accessing Grants for Startups (AGS), has raised a total of N22.170 million from its members to ensure the education of the two children of late Olamide Alli, who was allegedly murdered on June 21, 2020, by her fiancé.

AGS, a pan-African community, built to connect and build the capacity of young entrepreneurs and professionals, started the fundraising after the suspect, Chris Ndukwe, brutally murdered his fiancé, Ali, a mother of two.

Ndukwe would afterwards commit suicide by allegedly drinking a poisonous pesticide, after allegedly stabbing his 25-year-old spouse to death with knives.

AGS in a report issued yesterday by its founder, Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti, on her Instagram page, confirmed that late Alli,

was their member.

According to her, “In the early hours of June 21, Olamide Alli, a lady very dear to our community, was horrifically killed by her fiancé, Chris Ndukwe, who was the father of her two children at their home in Victory Park estate in Lagos state. He, however, committed suicide after the deed.”

She said following the tragic incidence, with permission from Alli’s family, AGS Tribe started a “fundraising in her honor, and all proceeds from the fundraising will be used to set up a Trust Fund for her children ages 7 and 3 respectively.

“The Trust Fund will be managed by FBN Quest Trustees.”

Durosinmi-Etti further revealed that N20 million was earlier targeted, but was surpassed by over N2 million, totaling N22.170 million, as she thanked well-meaning Nigerians for their donations and support for the deceased children.

WALKING THE TALK...

L-R: Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prof. Placid Njoku; Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma; and Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the governor, Mr. Oguwuike Nwachuku, addressing the media after an inspection of road projects at World Bank area of Owerri... yesterday

Fitch: African Countries’ Debts Rising Faster than Other Regions Obinna Chima Nigeria and other countries in Africa’s debt burdens are rising at a faster pace and to a higher level than for other emerging markets (EM), heightening the risk of further downgrades and defaults, Fitch Ratings warned yesterday.

The agency in a statement posted on its website yesterday, forecasted the median government debt/GDP ratio

for its 19 rated African countries to reach 71 per cent at the end of 2020, from 57 per cent at the end of 2019 and 26 per cent in 2012.

It explained that the coronavirus and oil price shock was having a severe impact on countries in the region.

Owing to this, Fitch forecasted that the median real GDP would fall by 2.1 per cent in 2020 and the budget deficit would widen

to 7.4 per cent in 2020, up from 4.9 per cent in 2019.

“This combination, amplified by currency depreciation in many cases, will cause a 14 percentage point jump in the median debt ratio this year.

“The coronavirus shock compounds a marked secular deterioration in Sub-saharan Africa’s (SSA) public debt and interest burdens that has been running for a decade and that will be challenging to reverse.

“Mozambique and the Republic of Congo have defaulted since 2016, and Fitch believes further sovereign defaults are probable,” it added.

According to the report, widening primary budget deficits have been the largest contributor to rising government debt/Gross Domestic Product.

Debt will continue to rise without substantial fiscal consolidation, it added.

TB Joshua Heals Foreign Medical Doctor from COVID-19 Faith Akah A medical doctor from Cameroon has testified with “scientific evidence” to being healed from the deadly COVID-19 on TB Joshua’s popular Christian channel Emmanuel TV. A gynecologist and obstetrician, Dr. Kameni Pierre, revealed that he was suffering

with COVID-19 and in isolation in a hospital ward when he called in via video to receive prayer during an interactive programme on Emmanuel TV. Pierre, speaking in French, explained his symptoms included a cough, headaches, difficulty in breathing and pains throughout the body.

He showed his medical report confirming him positive to

COVID-19, which has infected more than ten million people worldwide and resulted in more than 500,000 fatalities.

“Distance is not a barrier to what God can do,” one of the ministers in TB Joshua’s church can be heard counselling Pierre in the clip. “In fact, God is even more powerful in distance.”

Turning to pray for Pierre,

he “commanded healing” upon his system, upon which the Cameroonian doctor fell involuntarily to the floor and began to “vomit uncontrollably”.

“That deadly virus, that incurable virus – be healed, in the name of Jesus Christ,” the minister prayed as Pierre continued to sweat profusely before being declared “free from the virus”.

House Threatens to Arrest Directors of DPR, Others over Revenue Leakages Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives has threatened to issue warrants of arrest on the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Managing Director of the National Petroleum Investment

Management Services (NAPIMS) over their failure to submit documents before the House Joint Committees on Finance, Banking and Currency, which is conducting investigative hearing into the alleged $30 billion annual revenue leakages by multinational oil companies.

This was made known

yesterday by the Chairmen of both Committees on Finance, Mr. James Faleke and Banking and Currency, Mr. Victor Nwokolo.

The House had at the plenary on March 5, 2020, mandated its joint committees to conduct a public hearing to ascertain the abuse of billions of dollars in foreign allocation to companies

for the purpose of payment of foreign vendors.

The committees were also mandated to go through various originating documents maintained

by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the deposit money banks, forex dealers, the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and other beneficiary companies.

Senate Asks FG to Subsidise Electricity Till 2021 Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate has advised the federal government to subsidise electricity bills till the first quarter of 2021in line with the conditions given by the Distribution Companies (Discos).

This is just as the upper chamber adjourned plenary to Wednesday (today) in honour

of one of its deceased member, Senator Bayo Osinowo, who died of complications arising from COVID-19 pandemic disease in Lagos on June 15.

The representatives of the DISCOs had at a meeting with the National Assembly leadership on Monday in Abuja reiterated that if the planned hike in electricity tariff is to be deferred till next year, the

federal government should continue to bear the difference between the current tariff and what was considered as the appropriate tariff.

Shedding more light on the issue, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswan, stated that it would not be out of place for The Presidency to pick the differential between what

consumers currently pay and the envisaged increase between now and the end of the year.

Suswan expressed optimism that the federal government would accede to the request of the Discos. “I think the executive will agree, even though it’s going to come at a cost but what cost is more than lessening the burden on the people?”

Suswan asked.

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Forex Market Scam: CBN Gets Nod to Freeze Suspects’ Accounts A Federal High Court in Lagos has frozen for 180 days the bank accounts of foreign exchange dealers suspected of damaging the financial stability of the forex market and the economy.

Justice Muslim Hassan made the order following an ex parte application by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The CBN told the judge that the order would aid its ongoing investigation of dealers allegedly

procuring foreign currencies to import items which had been designated as invalid for the forex market.

The names of the owners of the four bank accounts frozen

by Justice Hassan are: Raufu Folashade, Yusufu Ali, Ali Yusufu and Ali Yusufu.

The CBN alleged that the illegal activities of the dealers had continually undermined the apex bank’s “efforts to maintain a stable foreign exchange regime, which

causes significant economic and financial instability to the Nigerian economy.”

Its counsel, Adekola Mustapha, told Justice Hassan that there was an urgent need to freeze the four bank accounts because “there is a strong probability that the respondents may tamper with the funds currently in their various

bank accounts, which are strongly connected to or being strongly suspected to be proceeds of the serious infractions of the foreign exchange market regulations.”

In the supporting affidavit to the ex parte application, a litigation officer in Mustapha’s office, Afolabi Oyelodun, said, “Preliminary investigation revealed

that the respondent applied the foreign exchange obtained from the CBN, through their various bank accounts, to fund transactions in some prohibited items, leading to serious infractions and violation of the CBN circular, TED/FEM/ GEN/01/010 of June 23, 2015 “The activities of the respondents now under

investigation constitute serious risk to the financial stability of the foreign exchange market and the economy at large.

“It is in the interest of justice, safety of the economy and public policy that this application is granted by the honourable court.”

Justice Hassan granted the application as prayed.

Police, Others Restrained from Taking over Bhodes Integrated Limited’s Land Sunday Okobi A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has stopped the Nigeria Police from taking over a property in Jahi District, Abuja, belonging to Bhodes Integrated Limited.

A former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, is the Chairman of Bhodes Integrated Limited.

In an exparte motion filed through its counsel, Adebola Oyeneyin, at the weekend, the firm prayed the court to restrain the police from further erecting structures on the property.

In the exparte application with motion number M/5177/2020, the firm also joined the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Police Force Property Development and Construction Company Limited, Minister of FCT and Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in the suit.

The company had prayed the court for an order of interim injunction restraining the police and its property development company, which are first and second

defendants in the case from taking over the land.

After arguing the exparte motion, the Presiding Judge, Justice AS Adepoju, held that: “Both parties, whether by themselves or by their servants, officers, agents, privies or otherwise, howsoever so described, are further restrained from trespassing, erecting, building, occupying, demolishing, disturbing, excavating of soil and altering the natural state or interfering with the Plot No. 237 measuring approximately 5957.18 m2 bounded by beacon numbers P82. P83, P86401, P86402 and P36403 Cadastral Zone BIS of Sector Centre A in Abuja and covered by an Offer of Statutory Right of Occupancy dated November 21, 2019, pending the hearing and the determination of the substantive suit.”

The case has been fixed for July l5, 2020, for hearing.

About three weeks ago, the company had written a petition to the chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), dated June 5, 2020, over the taking over of the land.

7.8m People in Need of Humanitarian Assistance in Nigeria, Says UN Michael OlugbodeinMaiduguri The United Nations has lamented that COVID-19 has increased the number of people in dire need of life-saving assistance in Nigeria to 7.8 million.

Speaking to THISDAY yesterday, the Head, Public Information Unit, United Nations Office of Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (UN-OCHA) in Nigeria, Ms. Eve Sabbagh, said before the pandemic in Nigeria, the humanitarian situation were already bad with 7.1 million people needing urgent life-saving assistance in 2019, the number which has since grown to 7.8 million people due to COVID-19 in 2020.

Sabbagh said: “Before the COVID-19 pandemic got to Nigeria, humanitarian needs were already worsening and increased from 7.1 million people in need of urgent life-saving assistance in 2019 to 7.8 million people in 2020.

“The UN and its partners needed $834 million to provide urgent aid to 5.9 million people.

“We are half-way through the year and so far only 15% of funding has been received. Now

with the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the economy and livelihoods, many more people need urgent assistance.”

She revealed that in 2019, the UN and NGO partners provided assistance to 5.2 million people.

“Every day they saved the lives of 650 children facing severe acute malnutrition in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. Nearly three million people received food assistance and over four million benefited from health services.

“With the funds available now, aid organisations have been able to immediately react to the COVID-19 pandemic by setting up hand washing stations, distribute soaps, and are erecting quarantine and isolation centres in the North-east,” she said, adding that “with the rainy season and the lean season approaching, it is critical to have the funding needed to bring assistance in areas like Rann, which risks being cut off due to floods.

“It is also extremely important to have funding in time to provide support to farmers during the planting season, as there is a risk to see more people facing hunger this year.”

FIFTY HEARTY CHEERS...

L-R: Managing Director, Prestige Assurance Plc, Mr. Sarbeswar Sahoo; Non-Executive, Mrs. Funmi Oyetunji; Chairman, Dr. Doyin Salami; and Non-Executive Director, Mr. Sidharth Pradhan, at the 50th Annual General Meeting of Prestige Assurance Plc held in Lagos... yesterday ETOP UKUTT

Buhari Insists on Lifting 100m Nigerians Out of Poverty President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday at the United Nations outlined the federal government’s plans to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within the next 10 years.

The president spoke in a video message to a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on poverty eradication.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the virtual meeting featured the launch of the Alliance for Poverty Eradication

(APE).

At least, 94 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, according to Oxfam.

APE is designed to serve as a forum to galvanise UN member states, the international community and other stakeholders to support actions geared toward poverty eradication.

Buhari welcomed the launch of the initiative and expressed Nigeria’s endorsement of all multilateral actions aimed at

actualising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said: “Nigeria attaches great importance to poverty eradication.

“It is for this reason that in May, 2019, on my inauguration for a second term in office, our government committed itself to starting a new programme of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within a 10-year period.

“It is my conviction that devoting our efforts towards

human capital development, efficient management of our resources, greater financial inclusion, and transformation of the agricultural sector to ensure food security are crucial to poverty eradication.

“In this regard, Nigeria continues to strengthen its existing social safety net initiative by increasing access to enrollees who fit the various programmes in the scheme.

Oyo Police Parade 31 Suspected Kidnappers, Armed Robbers Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The Oyo State Police Command, yesterday, paraded 31 people for allegedly engaging in killings and other criminal acts such as armed robbery and kidnapping.

The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, who paraded the suspects at the command’s headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, said that seven persons were arrested over their involvement in various kidnapping cases in the state.

Enwonwu also said that no fewer than 20 armed robbery

suspects who have been terrorising the state were arrested while five persons were also arrested for their involvement in murder cases.

The suspected kidnappers, according to the police commissioner, include Mr. Abubakar Abdulahi, who was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of one Anuoluwapo Adeyemo; Mr. Nasiru Lawal and Mr. Shamsu Auwal were arrested in Ibadan; Mr. Taiwo Adeoye was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Mr. Dahiru Wetti and Mr. Musa Mumini; Mr. Abdul Macheu and Mr. Sheu Aliyu were

arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Ore Ojo Temitope and Ojo Funbi Victoria in IgboOra. He added that a suspected murderer was arrested in connection with the killing of one Happiness Winifred in Ojoo area of Ibadan, the state capital.

Enwonwu said: “On June 25, 2020, at about 0700hrs, a complaint was received at Ojoo Police Station, Ojoo, from one Agu Benson ‘m’ of Oritoke Area ,Ojoo, Ibadan that one Happiness Winifred ‘f’ age 30 years who left her house on Sunday, June 21, 2020, was found

inside a well on June 25, 2020, in the same area. One Shagbada Erigga ‘m’ confessed to have carried out the dastard killing.

“On June 23, 2020, at about 12 p.m., one Vanzan Qudus ‘m’ aged 12yrs was shot with a single barrel gun on his left check and left hand by one Akinyemi Akinlolu ‘m’ on the instruction of his father one Daniel Qudus age 43-yrs, a Nationale of Republic of Benin, but domiciled at Aba Oyo Olorunda Area, Akobo, in order to test efficacy of a charm he acquired from an herbalist.”

UNILORIN Student Sentenced to Nine Months’ Imprisonment for Fraud Hammed Shittu in Ilorin An Ilorin High Court in Kwara State yesterday sentenced a 19-year-old Chemistry student of the University of Ilorin, Mr. Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi, to nine month’s imprisonment for defrauding three students seeking accommodation.

The Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the court case against the affected student.

According to the charge sheet presented against the student in court by the EFCC, “That you, Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobiloba, in the month of November 2019 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this court, did cheat by deceiving one Anjorin Oluwabukolami Eniola, a University of Ilorin student, when you fraudulently induced her to pay N45,000 into the GT bank account 045262140 of one Hassan Adefemi Daniel for hostel accommodation, a representation you knew to be false, and thereby

committed an offence contrary to section 320 of the Penal Code and punishable under section 322 of the same law.”

Justice Sikiru Oyinloye, who delivered the ruling, also ordered Oluwatobi to pay the sum of N105, 000 fine to serve as deterrent to others.

He said: “The defendant was brought before this court on a three-count charges, which were read to him, and he pleaded guilty, and this court accepted the evidence of the prosecution; the

testimonies of the sole prosecution witness; the unchallenged and uncontradicted testimonies.

“This court is of the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, therefore, the court hereby finds you, Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi guilty of count 1, 2 and 3. You are hereby convicted for the offence.”

However, the defence counsel urged the presiding judge to temper justice with mercy and give his client an option of fine rather than custodial sentence.

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Warri Chief, 11 Others Remanded for Kidnapping, Murder Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The Edo State High Court, Benin City, yesterday approved a remand order sought by the police to keep the Iyatsere of Warri and leader of Itsekiri people in Edo State, Mr. Johnson Atseleghe and 11 others over alleged kidnap and murder of the Youth Leader of Kolo-kolo community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Sunny Etchie.

They were brought before the court with Charge No. B/ Ed/445M/2020 on four count charges of “attempted kidnap, kidnap, attempted murder and murder of Sunny Etchie,” which is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, Section 2 (2) and punishable under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Prohibition (amendment) Law 2013 of Edo State, Section 324 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap 38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Section 316 (1) and punishable under Section (319) (1) of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Justice Efe Ikpomwonba

refused any bail application by counsels to the accused and granted that the accused be remanded in police custody for two weeks and adjourned sitting to July 23 while he ordered that duplicates of the case files be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice.

The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Johnson Kokumo, confirmed to newsmen on phone that Atseleghe was in their custody and being investigated on the disappearance of Etchie.

Kokumo said: “I can confirm to you that one Mr. Johnson Atseleghe is in our custody who is being investigated over allegation over an incident that somebody is missing and the persons who were last seen with the missing man were linked to him.”

According to THISDAY investigation, Etchie was reportedly picked by some persons alleged to be under the directive of Atseleghe over three weeks ago and he is assumed to have been killed.

A group known as Benin Solidarity Movement (BSM)

Bombs Buried in Seven Yobe Towns, Say Police Michael OlugbodeinDamaturu The police have warned members of the public that there could be explosives buried in Geidam, Damaturu, Tarmuwa, Dapchi, Kanamma, Gulani and Buni Yadi towns in Yobe State.

A press release that was signed yesterday by the Police Public Relations Officer, Yobe State Police Command, ASP. Dungus Abdulkarim said: “The Yobe State Police Command in recent times discovered and diffused some improvised explosive devices in Damaturu and Buni Yadi Local Government Areas (LGA) of the state.

“It is highly probable that more of these explosives may be buried in the ground in such places like Geidam, Damaturu, Tarmuwa, Dapchi, Kanamma, Gulani and Buni Yadi.”

Abdulkarim added that “as the farming season progresses the command wishes to warn all and sundry engaged in cultivation of crops and other farm lands to report any suspicious object(s) on their farms to the nearest police station.”

He disclosed that on June 20, 2020, one Adamu Haruna found one of the unexploded bombs in his farm in Gujba LGA and unknowingly took it to his house. “However, while trying to dismantle the object, it exploded and injured the victim on various parts of his body. He is currently receiving treatment at the hospital,” he said.

Abdulkarim also said that on June 24, 2020, at about

6 a.m., detective from the Divisional Police Headquarters, Geidam in collaboration with members of the community succeeded in apprehending two notorious armed robbers, namely: Garba Sale of Nguru LGA and Shehu Usman of Geidam LGA. He said the items recovered from the hoodlums include one AK 47 Riffle, 25 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, an empty AK 47 riffle magazine and other offensive weapons.

He added that the gang of six armed with lethal weapons on June 24, 2020, at about 2 a.m. attacked the house of one Adamu Jabure and his son one Idi Adamu of Dilawa Village in Geidam LGA. The miscreants demanded the sum of Nine Hundred Thousand Naira (N900,000:00) Naira only and threatened to return later in the day for collection of the money as the victims promised to make it ready.

He said detectives from the Divisional Police Headquarters, Geidam and the community trailed the hoodlums and engaged them in a shootout at their location in Digara village, Geidam where four of the armed robbers fled with various deegrees of injuries while two were arrested after the encounter.

He said efforts are ongoing to arrest other fleeing syndicate members for interrogation and subsequent prosecution.

He urged the members of the general public to continually offer support to the police in the fight against crimes and criminalities in the state.

recently raised alarm over alleged incessant killing, kidnapping and disappearance

of people in Kolo-kolo village.

The President of BSM, Mr. Curtis Ugbo, who led a protest

to the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Zone 5, also called on the police to hold

the leader of Itsekiri people in Ologbo, Atseleghe, responsible for the happenings in the area.

FIGHTING PANDEMIC...

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, unveiling the newly equipped Bauchi Molecular Testing Laboratory Centre in Bauch...recently SEGUN AWOFADEJI

Niger CP Blames Difficult Terrain for Banditry Laleye Dipo in Minna The Niger State Police Commissioner, Mr. Adamu Usman, has attributed the persistent banditry in parts of Niger State to the difficult terrain of some areas of the state and lack of communication network that made distress calls to get to the late.

Usman also included rape, cattle rustling and armed robbery among

the challenges facing the police in the state.

He made those comments yesterday when he spoke with journalists at the premises of the Niger State House of Assembly after a closed door session with legislators who invited him to explain why bandits continued to hold sway in the state, especially in the Niger East Senatorial Zone.

The police commissioner said: “The particular challenges we

face are the difficult terrain and communication. There are some places that if you have to go, you have to go through Kaduna State so the terrain is a problem, and also some of these communities have no network connection. So, before information gets to us, the bandits would have escaped.”

The police boss sought the cooperation of the lawmakers in providing information to the police of their closeness to the

people in the rural area.

He assured the legislators that the police would continue to do its best to ensure that banditry would be removed permanently eliminated in the state.

Moreover, the Niger Accountability Group (NAG), has claimed in its 2020 first quarter report last May that not less than 92 persons were killed by bandits in the state during the period.

NCAC Unveils Virtual Cultural Tour of Nigeria Charles Ajunwa The National Council for Arts and Cultural (NCAC) has unveiled a virtual tour of Nigeria, the first of its kind in Africa.

The cultural tour which took place in Abuja, was the seventh in the series of zoom meetings the Council has held since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Director-General of NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, said the essence of the weekly virtual meetings was to keep stakeholders engaged and the sector busy at this period of

global health emergency.

He said that rather than keep the sector idle, the virtual meetings were evolved to get the views and opinions of experts, members of the diplomatic community and industry players on emerging trends and how to reposition the sector to mitigate the effects of post-COVID-19.

Mr. Runsewe said the virtual cultural tour was held to give an opportunity for participants worldwide to tour Nigeria from the comfort of their homes and to mark the end of the first series of online meetings of the Council.

He noted that Nigeria has

diverse cultural manifestations which offer great opportunity for investment in tourism and other recreational services.

“COVID-19 is like rain falling and it gives us an opportunity to think outside the box and to come up with this virtual cultural tour which serves as a therapy and rain jacket for the pandemic.”

The online cultural tour is made up of two parts, the Executive Summary and an array of cultural manifestations across the states of the country.

The Executive Summary showcases Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria;

Tafawa Balewa Tomb in Bauchi State, North-western Nigeria; Ikogosi Warm Spring in Ekiti State, South-south Nigeria.

Others are Leje Iron Smithing Kingdom in Enugu State, Southeastern Nigeria; Kanta Museum in Kebbi State, North-western Nigeria and Military Cemetery in Zugeru, Niger State in Northcentral Nigeria.

The NCAC boss said that the virtual cultural tour shall be used as a template for the forth-coming National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) slated to hold in Jos, Plateau State in October this year.

COVID-19: Leadspace Partners Arizona University to Provide Quality Education University of Arizona in the United States of America and a Nigerian firm, Leadspace, have announced a Global Campus partnership to help Nigerian students earn a US degree (BSc and MSc) without leaving their home country.

The partnership has been described as particularly exciting considering the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Commenting on the partnership, the President of University of Arizona, Robert C. Robbins, said: “Not only does Global Campus help solve the

mobility challenges of today caused by COVID-19, it is a meaningful and long-term effort at meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal of providing accessible quality education to the world.”

Given travel restrictions, school delays and visa moratoriums, Leadspace has created flexible and affordable options with University of Arizona to allow students in Nigeria earn a full U.S. degree – or U.S. transfer credits.

With an exclusive, substantial scholarship in place for residents

of Nigeria, the offer has been described as one of the most affordable ways to get a fullyaccredited US degree from a top US university without leaving Nigeria.

“Education is single most impactful investment anyone (parent or student) can make.

We are thrilled to introduce such a timely, flexible, and high quality education opportunity to the millions of young students across Nigeria seeking a world class university education,” said the Chief Operating Officer at Leadspace, Nonyelim Okolie.

COO Leadspace The University of Arizona Global Campus degree programme present students with flexible degree path options and provides access to advisers who could help students create a customised degree plan.

“The events that caused the current situation in international education have hastened the dawn of a new post-mobility world in which physical travel is unnecessary for the creation and transmission of knowledge across borders.

WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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

Rohr Commends CAF for Shifting AFCON to 2022 It is a wise decision instead of playing next summer Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report Super Eagles Head Coach, Gernot Rohr, has commended the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for moving the next Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) from January next year to 2022.

The AFCON 2021 was earlier scheduled to hold between January and February next year in Cameroon but the coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted all sporting calendars, including the qualification series of the tournament caused CAF to yesterday push forward the edition till January 2022.

The German gaffer who led Nigeria to a bronze medal finish at the last edition in Egypt last year believes the new dates will enable him more time to get his wards ready to go for their fourth African top football title. “I think this is a wise decision because time is very short now and they could not postpone to the summer,� Rohr told BBC

Sport Africa yesterday from his base in Europe. “I can understand this decision - we have more time now to prepare our young boys.

It is not all bad.

While admitting 2022 will be a busy year for African teams as it coincides with the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Rohr is nonetheless unfazed as Super Eagles will have ample time to play enough friendly game for his young team to jell into top contenders in the continent. “There is a positive side in all this and we have time for some friendlies and also for the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers - normally we will begin in November with this, and I think we can follow the plan and still have time to the Afcon qualifiers starting in October, so it is a wise decision and it will be a big year in 2022.�

Also, the African Nations Championship (CHAN), which should have been played in April, will now take place in January 2021. Cameroon

is scheduled to host both competitions.

CAF arrived at the decision to postpone the AFCON 2021 by one year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, while the women’s version of the tournament has been cancelled altogether.

While throwing light on the decision to shift the AFCON 2021 by one year, CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad said the matter of health was top priority before any other thing. “Health is our number one priority. We must remain vigilant,� stressed the CAF president at a news conference to announce the postponement yesterday.

The postponement means the biannual tournament will now

be in the same year as the 2022 World Cup - something that last happened in 2010 when Angola hosted the continental fiesta and South Africa was the venue for the big Mundial party in Africa for the first time. And they made a show of it.

AFCON was moved to oddnumbered years in 2013 - that year’s tournament coming only a year after the previous one - to avoid such clashes, which risked disadvantaging African teams at the World Cup by giving them such an extended season of competition.

Late Stephen Keshi went into history books as the second African player and coach to win the competition in South Africa in 2013.

Traditionally held in January,

the most recent Africa Cup of Nations, in 2019, was moved to the summer in an effort to avoid clashing with the major European league competitions.

This was meant to be the case for the Cameroon tournament as well, but that was then changed back to January owing to climate conditions in the country and a potential clash with the Club World Cup. About to be crowned English Premier League champions Liverpool will be the most beneficiary of the postponement of the AFCON to 2022 as the Reds will play all of next season without losing their key strike force of Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah to international duty. In addition to Naby Keita, Liverpool would

have lost these key players for six weeks in 2020-21 had the tournament gone ahead as planned.

For Africa’s top players though, 2022 is set to be an exhausting year. Along with their club commitments, many will start the year with the Africa Cup of Nations and then end it with a World Cup in Qatar.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the women’s Africa Cup of Nations comes as little surprise given the tournament had no host, while not one qualifier had been played.

There was however a boost for the women’s game with the launch of a new Women’s Champions League for Africa in 2021.

NNL Clubs Vote No Promotion, No Relegation as League is Cancelled Thirteen clubs in the Nigerian National League (NNL) yesterday afternoon voted against the plans of the some Club Owners to push for the promotion of the four top teams in each of the groups to NPFL using the PPG format.

The NNL club owners who met on Monday to present the proposal that would have seen the likes of 3SC of Ibadan, Crown of Ogbomosho, Kada Stars of Kaduna and Niger Tornadoes of Minna been promoted to the NPFL, met a brick on Tuesday as majority of the clubs voted against the proposal.

In the expanded virtual meeting which started at 12 noon on Tuesday to finally ratify the agenda of promoting of clubs to the elite division of the league, saw 13 clubs voting against the agenda, and

insisted that no team should be promoted or relegated. 12 teams voted in favour of promotion of teams to the NPFL with only five match-days played before suspension of the season.

Four Clubs clubs had their votes cancelled for voting late against the stipulated time though sources at the meeting said they voted in favour of no promotion, no relegation.

Teams that voted against the promotion of teams to the elite division include; ABS of Ilorin, Delta United of Asaba (Kwara Stars), Zamfara United of Gusau, Giant Brillers of Enugu, Gombe United of Gombe, Sokoto United of Sokoto, J.Atete of Warri, Rovers of Calabar, Elkanemi Warriors of Maiduguri, Malumfasi of Malumfasi, DMD of Maiduguri, Kebbi United of Kebbi, and Dynamites FC of Warri.

Southampton Join the Race to Sign Arsenal’s Balogun Southamptonhave joined the list of clubs keen on Arsenalstarlet Folarin Balogun.

Arsenal are set to lose Balogun, 18, this summer after failing to agree a new deal with the prolific striker.

According to UK’s Daily Mail, Arsenal turned down a £5million offer for Balogun from Championship promotion hopefuls Brentford in January.

His current deal expires next summer.

But the Gunners have been

Folarin Balogun ...Arsenal starlet on Southampton radar

unable to convince Balogun to extend his contract and that the Emirates remains the best place for his development, either with their offer or his involvement in Mikel Arteta’s first-team setup.

Rather than lose Balogun for nothing when his deal runs out, Arsenal are now preparing to consider offers this summer.

Brentford remain interested along with AC Milan who also wanted Balogun in January while Southampton have joined the list of admirers.

Balogun’s exit would see Arsenal lose a player rated as one of the best young attacking talents in England.

The New York-born striker scored 28 goals in 28 youth appearances for Arsenal last season, including 25 in just 19 games at under-18 level.

This season Balogun has scored another 10 goals in just 15 appearances for Arsenal’s under-23s before the youth season was curtailed in May, bringing his campaign to an end.

Super Eagles players now have more time to prepare for the AFCON shifted to 2022

Transfer: Osimhen, Agents Hold Talks with Napoli Officials Coppa Italia champions Napoli are hopping they can convince Nigerian forward, Victor Osimhen to make a big-money move from Lille after the striker was long reported to have agreed personal terms with the Serie A club.

This is amid rumours suggesting that Osimhen is against the move, but Lille are forcing him to accept it.

According to French Italian

football transfer expert, Manu Lonjon, Napoli are planning a double swoop on Osimhen and Lille defender Gabriel believed to be around 100 million Euros.

But while Gabriel is ready to accept a 30 million Euros offer from the Italians, Osimhen, whose transfer fee could be around 70 million Euros, needs more convincing.

Sky Sport Italiareported yesterday that Osimhen and his agents were

due in Naples where they will hold face-to-face talks with Napoli officials.

Osimhen flew back to France at the weekend after the burial of his late father in Lagos.

The agents, who include Belgian Didier Frenay, will be ferried on a private jet to Italy, according toHet Nieuwsblad.

Napoli coach Gennaro Gatusso has insisted Osimhen is his No 1

target to replace Arkadiusk Milik.

If the deal pulls through, the Super Eagles striker will be given a five-year contract, which is now believed to be worth 85 million Euros.

Osimhen has been a wanted man in Europe after his goals for Lille this past season in France with the Ligue 1 club resigned to cashing in on his exploits in the transfer market.

TA B L E T E N N I S

Aruna Quadri Ready for New Challenges in Germany The clock has started to tick for Aruna Quadri as the Nigerian is eagerly looking forward to joining elite players in the world for the 2020/2021 Germany Table Tennis Bundesliga League.

After more that a decade plying his trade in the Portuguese League where he has established himself as the number one player, Quadri will in September start a new chapter in his illustrious career when he plays for TC RhĂśnSprudel Fulda-Maberzell in the German Bundesliga. “For years, people are aware that the German league is the toughest and strongest in Europe and for me, I have no doubt about that. I am fully aware of what I am going to be facing with the start of season 2020/21. “The Portuguese league is entirely different from the German league, there is an

enormous difference regarding the level. The German league is of the highest level. “The German Bundesliga has several players rated in the top 100 or even top 10 in the world. For this reason, the level is high and the competition is tough,� revealed Quadri as he looks forward to playing in the league.

To bolster the team ahead of the new season, the management of Quadri’s club has signed Hong Kong’s number three player, Lam Siu Hang.

The central Germany -based team will be relying on Quadri to spearhead the squad which also has German international Ruwen Filus and German youth international, Fan Bo Meng.

The Nigerian added that he is familiar with his teammates at his new club, when he said: “Yes, of course! During the

world tours I used to practice with Ruwen Filus for a while.

He is a great player and one of the best defenders in the world. I also met Fan Bo Meng on world tours, he has lots of talent. I am certain we will all become a great family in the TTBL. “Just like every other team, we want to be the champion. My goal is to be a great ambassador

for my team in the league and to always give 100% performance,� the Oyo State-born table tennis player pledged.

Earlier this year, Quadri signed for TC RhÜnSprudel Fulda-Maberzell and he will be the only African competing in the German elite league this year after Egypt’s Omar Assar left Borussia Dusseldorf for France.

Aruna Quadri (centre, front) in company with officials of his new Germany club

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Lazio Consolidate with Victory over Ola Aina’s Torino Lazio’s dreams of a first title in 20 years remain alive as they come from behind to win 2-1 away at Torino yesterday evening.

Nigerian defender, Ola Aina was on for Torino for 70 minutes before he was replaced by Simone Edera.

The win steadied Simone Inzaghi’s wards second in the Italian Serie A log on 68 points from 29 matches just a point adrift of leaders

Juventus who were also away at Genoa last night.

Inzaghi was delighted his side rescued this one after going behind with that early penalty against Lazio.

Torino took the lead as early as the fifth minute after Andrea Belotti scored from the penalty spot.

In the 48th minute Ciro Immobile drew Lazio level before Marco Parolo scored the winner on 72 minutes.

The defeat leaves Torino in 14th position on 31 points and are five points away from the relegation zone.

It is not likely Aina will be with the Serie A club next season as both Everton and West Ham United are

set to be on alert, with Torino now willing to cash in on full-back.

The former Chelsea star has established himself at the Italian Serie A club after Torino splashed out â‚Ź10m to sign him permanently

from the Blues following a successful loan.

According to insidefutbolOla Aina has been linked with a move away from Torino, with Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton and David Moyes’ West

Ham reported to be interested in the versatile defender who can fit into anywhere in the back four.

His penchant for joining attack appears an added edge for the Nigeria player.

TRANSFER NEWS...

Man City Agree to Sell Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich Manchester City have agreed to sell winger Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich in a deal that could earn them ÂŁ54.8m.

The Germany international will join the Bundesliga champions for an initial fee of about ÂŁ44.7m, with addons which could increase it by more than ÂŁ10m.

Sane, 24, joined City from Schalke in 2016 for ÂŁ37m and has claimed two Premier League titles with the club.

He was a key part of the team that won a domestic treblelast year, but has been injured for much of this season.

City manager Pep Guardiola said last week that Sane, whose present deal was due to expire at the end of next season, had refused the offer of a new contract and wanted to leave.

The player is now set to travel to Germany in the next 24 hours to complete the transfer.

Although he cannot play for Bayern in the Champions League this season, it is understood Sane will not return to City and has played his final game for the club.

City have also negotiated a 10% sell-on clause, with the fee representing their largest

ever outgoing transfer deal.

It is understood City were unwilling to get close to the estimated ÂŁ20m annual salary Sane will receive from Bayern.

Although the Premier League club did have the option of keeping him for the final year of his contract, they felt it would have been counter-productive under the circumstances.

Quite apart from the player’s desire to leave, and potentially do so for nothing in 12 months’ time, Sane is yet to prove his fitness after suffering a major knee injury during the Community Shield in August.

City also believe they have are plenty of strength in wide positions, with Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling all options.

Sane has been in the matchday squad for all four City games since the season resumed earlier this month.

However, his only appearance was for 11 minutes as a substitute in the 5-0 win against Burnley last Monday.

Sane departs the Etihad having made 192 appearances for City, scoring 52 goals.

Valencia Sack Coach, Sporting Director Resigns Valencia have sacked manager Albert Celades after only nine months in charge, while the club’s Sporting Director, Cesar Sanchez has resigned.

Voro Gonzalez has replaced Celades as manager until the end of the season in what is his sixth spell as Valencia’s temporary boss.

He first took over in 2008 after Ronald Koeman’s sacking and helped the La Liga side avoid relegation.

Celades was named Valencia boss in Septemberafter Marcelino’s

sacking.

He is the sixth manager to be dimissed since Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim bought the club in 2014, while Sanchez - appointed in January - is the sixth sporting director to leave in the same period.

According to reports in Spain, Sanchez resigned shortly after Celades’ sacking on Monday, having earlier told the squad their manager would still be in charge for Wednesday’s game against Athletic Bilbao.

Ola Aina (right) played for 70 minutes before he was replaced against Lazio yesterday evening

Inter Snatch Real Madrid’s Hakimi on Five-year Deal Inter Milan have reportedly sealed the signing of Real Madridfull-back Achraf Hakimi on a five-year contract for an initial fee of £36million.

The Moroccan international was spotted arriving in Milan to complete his medical ahead of sealing a move to Antonio Conte’s Serie A side amid interest from Premier League clubs

including Chelsea and Manchester City.

Hakimi, 21, made 17 appearances for Real Madrid but shot to prominence during a two-year loan spell with Borussia Dortmundthat brought 13 goals in 72 games.

Crowds had gathered outside Inter’s headquarters to catch a glimpse of their new signing ahead of the

defender sealing his move.

Born in Madrid, Hakimi opted to represent the country of his parents at international level and to date has won 28 caps as well as representing Morocco at the 2018 World Cup. His performances for Dortmund this year, with 10 assists across 25 games, had put top European clubs on alert after he failed to

agree a new deal with his parent club.

Inter sit third in Serie A after the resumption of action and next host Brescia as they aim to closee the gap to the top.

They are currently eight points from leaders Juventus with 10 games to play following an encouraging debut season for Antonio Conte.

Leicester Matches to go Ahead Despite Local Lockdown Leicester City’s matches will go ahead as planned and they will continue to train at their Belvoir Drive facilities despite a stringent lockdown in the city after a spike in local Covid-19 cases, the Premier League club said on Tuesday.

Leicester, in England’s eastern Midlands, accounted for 10 per cent of all positive coronavirus cases in England

in the past week, prompting police to enforce a local lockdown.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters told Sky Sports that Leicester’s matches could be moved to a neutral venue or postponed depending on the situation in the city but the club said the lockdown would not affect their operations.

“All parties remain entirely satisfied that, through the continued implementation of our Covid-19 operations plan, the club’s football operations can continue to safely function under existing protocols,� Leicester said in a statement. “In doing so, there will be no greater risk posed to club personnel, visiting teams or our surrounding

communities. Consequently, first team training will continue at Belvoir Drive and our forthcoming Premier League fixtures remain unaffected.�

Brendan Rodgers’s side, who are third in the standings with 55 points, have three home games remaining – against Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Manchester United.

Man Utd Beat Brighton to Move to Fifth Manchester United brushed Brighton 3-0 aside with a vibrant, all-round display to stay in the race for a Champions League spot.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side totally dominated the contest at the Amex Stadium and extended their unbeaten run to 15 games to move up to fifth in the Premier League, two points adrift of Chelsea.

Teenager Mason Greenwood bamboozled Seagulls defender Lewis Dunk with quick footwork and drilled in an accurate

opener for the visitors.

United were ruthless in the final third as midfield playmaker Bruno Fernandes, who was highly impressive once again, netted via a deflection before the Portuguese volleyed in to finish a swift counter-attack.

Brighton did pose some threat in the second half but David de Gea made a flying save to deny Aaron Connolly as Graham Potter’s side remain in 15th place, six points above the relegation zone.

Bruno Fernandes (right) scored a brace as Manchester United defeated Brighton 3-0 last night to move up to the fifth place on the English Premier League

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Wednesday July 1, 2020

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MISSILE

Tambuwal to NBS “I do not intend to join issues with the NBS, but I appeal to them to come clear on their variable(s) and how they do their assessments of poor states in Nigeria; and then how they arrived at Sokoto being the poorest” – Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, faulting the National Bureau of Statistics for grouping the state as one of the poorest in the country.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974

Snippets of Underdevelopment A n expert in agriculture regretfully observed recently that the real farmers were yet to have access to adequate fertilizer.

He also raised an alarm about the dearth of agricultural extension officers whose professional work is vital to increasing the capacity of the farmers and productivity.

Such a statement might not be a surprise to those familiar with the situation of things in the agricultural sector.

In any case, lack of fertilizer is just one piece of bad news in that all-important sector of the economy.

It is, however, a piece of evidence of the lip-service paid to policy. These are not the sort of stories that should be told in a nation that should be taking developmental leaps.

For decades, even those who are not in the business of agriculture have been turned into experts in the economics and politics and of fertilizer. The fertilizer question has always been a political one in both military and civil dispensations.

Invariably, the issue of fertilizer comes up during political campaigns.

For more than four decades, different administrations have made a sing-song of the “diversification of the economy” with agriculture being prominent in the list of areas of great economic opportunities.

Instead of the simple availability of fertilizer, the public is often regaled with the nitty-gritty of the science of its production. One of the ingredients in the production of fertilizer, phosphate, also assumes its own politics and, sometimes, diplomacy. Allegations of corruption associated with the distribution of fertilizer are legion. It is commonplace to find the phrase, “fertilizer racket “ in newspaper headlines.

For local production, phosphate has to be imported. Morocco is one source of phosphate for local production of fertilizer in Nigeria .

The people of Western Sahara fighting for their freedom from Moroccan domination have been serving a notice to Nigeria that the phosphate destined for Nigeria is from their soil. The dispute is yet to be resolved.

Now, the perennial fertilizer tale is just one of the several stories of the gross underdevelopment of the agricultural sector. Yet, it is this shameless story of the non-availability of fertilizer and other structural issues that the people are daily fed with instead of food on the table.

Hence, after decades of slogans, summits, seminars, task forces, committees, commissions etc. food insecurity remains a threat.

Nigeria still imports food.

Apart from the agricultural sector, there are other soul-depressing stories of things that have worked elsewhere in development terms but have simply not worked in Nigeria.

Monuments of underdevelopment abound in infrastructure. There are roads, bridges and water projects conceived in the 1960s which still remain uncompleted or, worse still, abandoned after a lot of money has been invested.

“Abandoned project” is a very familiar phrase in Nigeria’s developmental lexicon.

A government takes off making a lot of noise about abandoned projects. The president or governor sets up a committee to audit the projects and recover public funds from contractors that failed to execute the projects. There is a soul-lifting promise that the projects would

Buhari be completed within the tenure of the leader.

However, such promises are hardly kept.

More often than not the register of abandoned projects is expanded by the time the president or governor leaves office.

Take a few samples.

Ajaokuta is a story of how not execute a project. The idea of what once promised to be a model steel production plant was conceived almost 60 years ago. The project is yet to serve the purpose for which the plant was built. Metallurgical lectures by experts have been offered to the helpless public for decades on the project. The crucial nature of the iron ore in Itakpe has been stressed and the necessary linkage drawn. There have been several attempts to privatise the plant. Yet the Nigerian dream in conceiving the project is yet to realised. .The second Niger Bridge is truly an important project for the nation’s socio-economic development. But for geo-political considerations it is regarded as a south-east project. But that is not the important thing in this reflection.

The idea of the bridge is an old one in the discussions of infrastructural development.

It is an index of underdevelopment that public officials spend years explaining technical details of projects to the public without the projects being completed

However, the bridge comes into focus more often during elections. Different models of financing the project have been put forward by various administrations depending on their fancies. Today, only the ardent optimists hope that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would complete the project before 2023 given the history public disappointment with the execution of the project.

The delay in executing the project is a feature of the culture of disarticulation in Nigeria’s development story. It should be obvious in a setting of sound economic planning that such a bridge is a priority that is worth all the investments put into its prompt execution.

But in a dispensation in which development is equated with random award of contracts, the strategic place of the bridge could easily be missed.

Now, if you think the fate of the bridge is due to the fact that no Igbo man has been president in this dispensation, ponder the fate of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the east-west road in the Niger Delta.

A former president said towards the end of his tenure that he felt ashamed of the state the federal highways and bridges. That was an honest moment some years ago. The highways are largely not motorable even today, after five years of another president in power The Lagos-Ibadan expressway was commissioned 42 years ago. It is obviously an economically important road in Nigeria.

The reconstruction of the 127.6 kilometre road has been a major feature of the politics of this civil dispensation. It has been a subject of flag-off ceremonies and various economic experiments. Although it is a Nigerian road in every socio-economic sense, yet in the geo-political taxonomy of projects in Nigeria it would be classified as a south-west project for budgetary considerations.

Meanwhile, a Yoruba man was president for eight years and the road could not be fixed during his tenure. So much for identity politics without social content!

The famous east-west road is reputed to traverse all the Niger Delta states. It is a very important road to this region that has suffered great injustice endemic in the distorted Nigerian federalism. The other day, a television on footage of a portion of the road showed a total collapse of things. Travellers got trapped and spent nights on the road. The pains were quite evident on the faces of the helpless people.

So, this economically crucial road in the region from where crude oil is exported is yet to be fixed. Yet, an Ijaw man was president for at least five years. The east-west road is a metaphor for the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region.

Meanwhile, seminars and conferences have been held on the execution of these pivotal projects and several others. For decades, successive minsters in charge of works have conducted tours at the sites with their teams of project managers. Besides, experts adept at rationalising failures of successive governments have explained to the public the details of the engineering required in the construction of these projects. All the bolts and nuts needed have been mentioned. Instead of stories of people enjoying the benefits of these projects, the public sphere has been inundated with all the technical details of the raw materials needed and the operations to be carried out

for the projects to be consummated. It is as if everyone should know as much as a civil engineer before travelling on the road or crossing a bridge.

It is actually an index of underdevelopment that public officials spend years explaining technical details of projects to the public without the projects being completed.

All this amounts to a rationalisation of the monumental failure to deliver public goods.

Come to think of it, the thirst of water consumers would never be quenched with technical rationalisation of why millions of Nigerians have no access to potable water.

And the people do not actually require the knowledge of an engineer before having water to drink.

Politicians take pride in commissioning boreholes in 2020 instead of planning and executing large water schemes to supply the people with adequate potable water.

By the way, members of the Nigerian elite visit other countries and they enjoy facilities that “remain on the drawing board” in their own country. Does it occur to them that no one bothers them with the technical details of the provision and operations of the items of infrastructure?

For instance, Dubai is a major destination of the Nigerian nouveau for holidays, meetings and celebration of weddings and birthdays.

Perhaps, the only event that Dubai is yet to be made the venue is the funeral of an aged parent who dies in Nigeria! The attraction of Dubai is that the infrastructure works - roads, airports, hospitals, schools, recreation and other facilities. Power supply is steady. Potable water is taken for granted even the desert. All this is a result of planning and vision. Dubai didn’t happen by mere execution of contractor-induced projects which are programmed to be abandoned.

In many aspects, the underdevelopment of Nigeria requires a surgical approach to even reduce poverty and inequality.

The politicians in power and their advisers and technocrats are the surgeons with the task of putting the nation on the path of development. Now, a good surgeon would, of course, explain the surgery to his patient to the extent that a layman would require to agree to be operated upon. The surgeon actually knows what to do as a consummate professional. It would be sheer failure if a surgeon engages his patient endlessly with jargons meant for scientific conferences without performing the surgery. Worse still, if the patient dies for lack of urgent attention, the surgeon could be considered a misfit not knowing his purpose.

So, it is with governments.

The poor state of infrastructural development cannot be explained away as due to only lack of resources. Resources have been wasted, misapplied and misappropriated.

With prudent management of resources and competence in administration, the Nigerian developmental landscape should be relatively brighter than it is today.

Even when you have all the resources, Nigeria will only take developmental leap in the context of economic planning and governance oriented towards the delivery of public goods and people’s welfare.

Otherwise, instead of the benefits of development, stories of underdevelopment will continue to be told.

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