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96 Firms Bid for Rehabilitation of NNPC Pipelines, Depots Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Ninety-six companies from various jurisdictions have indicated interest in rehabilitating the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) downstream infrastructure,

including critical pipelines, depots and terminals.

A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said the 96 companies emerged during a virtual public bid opening

for the pre-qualification of bidders for the contract.

It stated that the public opening of the bids for the contract was in keeping with the NNPC management’s commitment to transparency and accountability in all its processes and transactions.

The NNPC noted that the public’s response to its Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) financing model, was buoyed by the prevailing culture of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) of the current management of the

corporation.

There have been renewed efforts by the national oil company to open up its operations to public scrutiny after years of opaqueness, with the NNPC, recently releasing its 2018 and 2019 audited financial statements for the

first time in 43 years.

It has also joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a supporting the organisation, implying a commitment to disclose information along Continued on page 9

To Stem Tax Evasion, Experts Seek Tighter Transfer Pricing Regulation... Page 8 Friday 15 January, 2021 Vol 25. No 9413. Price: N250

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Nigeria is Better than I Met it, Says Buhari Your performance below average, insist PDP, Afenifere Deji Elumoye and Chuks Okocha in Abuja In a self-assessment yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari

awarded his administration high marks, saying the country is better than he met it more than five years ago.

But the main opposition

party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, faulted the president’s claim, contending

that he has underperformed.

Buhari, in assessing his administration yesterday, gave himself a pass mark for a job well done, tasking the elite

to be fair in their criticism of his stewardship.

Buhari, who spoke while hosting the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian

Pilgrims Commission, Reverend Yakubu Pam, painted a bad picture of the Continued on page 9

Govs Move to Take Over COVID-19 Vaccines’ Distribution, Meet Wednesday Say experience of polio eradication will be useful Urge Buhari to persuade traditional rulers to back vaccination Chuks Okocha in Abuja Following concerns over the opaqueness of the recent allocation of expected 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to states by the federal government, governors of the 36 states of the federation are making moves to take over the distribution of the life saving substance, THISDAY gathered yesterday.

The allocation made by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has come under severe attacks by stakeholders that wondered about the formulae for the exercise as the allotment was disproportionate between the non-prevalent and prevalent states.

Subsequently, the state governors plan to meet on

Wednesday to deliberate and take a position on the allocation by NPHCDA, a reliable source told THISDAY. The governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), are also optimistic that with the experience gathered by the states in polio eradication, they can effectively handle the distribution and vaccination of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The NPHCDA, at a webinar conference last week, had released the sharing formula for the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

According to the data shared

by NPHCDA, the distribution breakdown is as follows: Kano, 3,557; Lagos, 3,131; Katsina, 2,361; Kaduna, 2,074; Bauchi, 1,900; Oyo, 1,848; Rivers, 1,766; Continued on page 9

No Harm Must Befall Kukah, CAN Warns...Page 5

DISCUSSING KEBBI’S PROGRESS...

L-R: Director-General, Security and Exchange Commission, Mr. Lamido Yuguda; Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Bagudu; and Executive Commissioner, Operations, SEC, Mr. Dayo Obisan, during a meeting between SEC officials and the governor in Abuja…yesterday

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NEWS No Harm Must Befall Kukah, CAN Warns Group News Editor Ejiofor Alike

Email Ejiofor.Alike@thisdaylive.com, 08066066268

Charges Buhari, security agencies to ensure Catholic bishop ’s safety Wounds of civil war yet to heal, says cleric CAN has, however, fit to sanction him because went wrong” along the line. through.

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has cautioned those threatening the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, to stop their “unlawful” actions.

It also asked President Muhammadu Buhari and security agencies to ensure the security of the cleric, who is under attacks from Muslim groups over his Christmas homily in which he accused the president of promoting northern hegemony.

This comes as Kukah said Nigeria has not recovered from wounds of the civil war, 51 years after it ended.

In a statement yesterday

by CAN’s General Secretary, Rev. Joseph Daramola, said it has been watching the ongoing controversy since Kukah spoke on the state of the nation in his Christmas homily and the threats directed at him from some people.

The statement came a day after the presidency cautioned an Islamic group that demanded that Kukah should apologise or quit Sokoto State for allegedly attacking Islam and Muslims, to back off.

The presidency said in a statement by a presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu that it was wrong for the group based in Sokoto, Muslim Solidarity Forum, to ask Kukah to apologise or leave the seat of the Caliphate over the homily, interpreted by some Islamic interests as attacking Islam and Muslims.

Kukah, in the homily, had said that there could have been a coup if a non-northern Muslim president had done a fraction of what Buhari did.

His homily drew censures from the federal government and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), led by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, which attacked the bishop for allegedly denigrating Islam and Muslims.

The Muslim Solidarity Forum joined the fray on Tuesday, with a call on Kukah to apologise for his alleged attack on Islam and Muslims or leave the Caliphate.

accused the security agencies of pretending as if nothing unusual is happening.

It wondered if those threatening the bishop are above the law or if they are sacred cows in the country.

It said: “We have studied the whole Christmas message of Dr. Kukah and we are yet to see any incitement against Islam or non- Christians. We see nothing wrong in his message to the nation that has been under the siege of terrorists, herdsmen, killers, bandits and kidnappers as if there was no government in place.

"We see nothing wrong in telling a government whose lopsided appointments are against Christians the whole truth.

“If criticism against a Muslim president today is an incitement to violence against Islam, it then means those who were criticising the duo of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan when they were in power were actually attacking Christianity.

“When has it become an offence to speak the truth to power? When has it become a crime to criticise a government in the country?”

The CAN wondered why security operatives have failed to arrest those threatening to attack the Bishop.

It added: “When did the police and the Directorate of the State Security Services lose their power to miscreants and lawless people who are making boasts of their lawlessness without a challenge? We wonder if those Muslim groups who are threatening to deal with Kukah got an equal response from their Christian counterparts, are we not setting up the country on fire?”

CAN said Kukah was posted to serve in Sokoto by the Papacy and threatening him to leave is a threat to Christianity worldwide.

“In this same country, we have a Catholic priest whose name is synonymous with President Muhammadu Buhari, yet the Catholic Church has not deemed it

freedom of speech and association is not only a constitutional matter but godly,” CAN said.

The association called on Buhari and all the security agencies to ensure that no harm befalls Kukah.

CAN stated that as far as it is concerned, what Kukah said in his Christmas homily is within the purview of the law.

“It is high time those hiding under religious sentiments to promote violence and crises stopped doing so if we want this country to progress. We have had enough of bloodshed in the country and we call on the security agencies to rise up to their constitutional responsibilities. Nothing must happen to Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.

Enough is enough,” CAN stated.

Wounds of Civil War Yet to Heal,

Says Bishop

Meanwhile, Kukah has said Nigeria is yet to recover from the wounds of the civil war, 51 years after it ended.

Speaking at the second edition of the ‘Never Again Conference: 51 years after the Nigerian-Biafran civil war,’ held on zoom, the bishop said the country failed to adopt resolutions meant to heal the wounds of citizens.

The Cable reported that the ‘Never Again Conference’ is the brainchild of Nzuko Umunna, a pan-Igbo sociocultural organisation, which organised the first edition in Lagos in 2020.

Kukah said some of those resolutions came from the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, popularly known as Oputa Panel, which was set up by the Obasanjo administration.

He added that while the military laid the foundation for Nigerians to begin a process of rebuilding the nation, “things somehow

“I have met a lot of people who fought the war who are full of regrets. There is a lot of resentment, anxiety and frustration that we have not learnt any lessons.

“Fifty-one years after the war, we are still hearing the kind of agitations that ordinarily, with commitment, dedication, focus and the right leadership, we should have put a lot of the anxieties behind us. Unfortunately, they are still with us,” he said.

The bishop described the Oputa panel, of which he was a member, as “the best school I would ever hope to attend.”

“Oputa panel managed to generate quite a lot of data and information that academicians and policymakers would have used to ensure we erect the signpost saying, ‘Never Again’, because it gave us an opportunity, a mirror to look at ourselves after hearing from all sides but we didn’t have the discipline to follow

“We have not been able to forgive ourselves as a people. The wounds of the civil war have not been able to heal. Coups and counter-coups that followed were more or less miniature civil wars by themselves because they threw up the same contradictions, anxieties and feeling of divisiveness across the country,” he added.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the initiative started as an advocacy “in trying to bring a better understanding of the civil war and its aftermath to the Nigerian people.”

According to him, this is being pursued in a way that “it will become a source of energy for bringing a new nation.”

“We know that if people learn enough from errors of yesterday, they can, in fact, make more progress than they are currently making,” he said.

REPORTING PROGRESS...

President Muhammadu Buhari (left) and Executive Secretary, Christian Pilgrims Commission, Rev. Yakubu Pam, during a meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja…yesterday

Jonathan Confident Mali will Meet Return to Civil Rule Deadline Ejiofor Alike After two days of meetings with Malian political and civil society figures, the mediator for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed optimism that Mali’s postcoup interim administration will hand over power to civilians within the agreed 18-month deadline.

“It’s too early to doubt them,” said Jonathan, who was accompanied on the trip to Bamako by ECOWAS President Jean-Claude Kassi

Brou and other members of his mediation team.

“We believe they will be able to complete everything that they have set out to do within the 18 months timeframe,” he said, adding that the President of the Transition and Head of State, Bah N'Daw, had assured him of their commitment to the deadline.

The visit followed increasing questions over the post-coup government’s ability to reform the constitution and stage elections within the remaining 14 months, while tackling the country’s brutal

jihadist insurgency.

Jonathan’s spokesman, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, said in a statement yesterday that the former president told journalists that the mission encouraged the transitional government to finalise and release a road map with an action plan indicating the various activities to be carried out while being respectful of the transition period scheduled for 18 months.

He said: “The mission insists on the necessity to reinforce consultation through open dialogue with all the stakeholders to

ensure an inclusive transition process. This will allow greater internal ownership of the various decisions relating to the transition, in particular the development of fundamental texts.

“On the social level, the mission urged the transition authorities and social stakeholders to engage in dialogue to reach a solution that preserves the interests of Mali.”

Jonathan also expressed concerns about the recent arrests over an alleged coup attempt, adding that the delegation urged the administration to follow

“legal procedures in force, in a transparent manner while respecting human rights.”

The committee, however, reiterated the solidarity of ECOWAS with the government and the Malian people and expressed its willingness to assist them in the process of achieving a successful transition.

It also noted the progress made by the Malian authorities with the appointment of all the heads of the organs of the transition, namely, the president, vice president, prime minister and the president of the National

Transition Council.

While in Bamako, the mediation team met with N'Daw, the vice president of the transition, the prime minister and head of government as well as the president of the National Council of the Transition.

It also held consultations with other stakeholders, including civil society, political parties, the diplomatic corps, the director-general for elections (or chairmen of the General Delegation to the Elections) and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

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To Stem Tax Evasion, Experts Seek Tighter Transfer Pricing Regulation Nume Ekeghe and Dike Onwuamaeze Tax experts have advised the federal government to tighten regulations around transfer pricing in order to stem the loss of revenue through tax evasion by multinationals operating in Nigeria.

The experts spoke to THISDAY against the backdrop of the revelation by the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami, that over $178 billion (about N5.4 trillion) was evaded by multinationals doing business in the country between 2007 and 2017.

Nami, at a workshop on the effective audit of multinational corporations for domestic revenue mobilisation in Nigeria had stated that many “rich multinational corporations do not pay the right taxes due from them, let alone pay their taxes voluntarily.”

Reacting to the huge revenue loss due to the antics of the multinationals, tax experts told THISDAY in separate interviews yesterday that the federal government should tighten regulations on transfer pricing.

A chartered accountant and former Senior Partner at Deloitte Nigeria, Mr. Henry Manafa, said such amount of loss was staggering and would impact the economy negatively.

Manafa advised that “regulations on transfer pricing should be tightened as this presents a major area for tax avoidance schemes.”

He also called for thorough auditing in order to ascertain the loopholes exploited in the nation's tax system that could have resulted in such humongous loss.

“The integrity of the tax personnel could also have been compromised. Also, there could be outright non-disclosure or falsification of taxable income by these multinationals,” he added.

He, therefore, suggested “a review of the entire tax

administration system in the country with a view to close up areas of the law that enabled such practice and institute a rigorous and continuous tax audits that should be performed by competent personnel with integrity.”

He also advocated the implementation of “strong sanctions on any incidence of tax evasion without exception.”

Manafa, however, said a distinction should be drawn between tax evasion and tax avoidance, stating that the former is an outright crime against the state through refusal to pay the due tax through fraudulent manipulations of records of earnings while the latter is exploiting the tax laws to maximise all available tax reliefs by planning the tax affairs of the organisation.

President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mrs. Olajumoke Simplice, called for an immediate audit of suspected companies and demanded they be punished.

She said: “This is referring to a period of 10 years from 2007 to 2017 and before they could evade such taxes, somebody must have prepared their accounts. So, I believe that what we need to do at this point is audit them.

“Tax evasion is a crime against the nation and in doing the audit, we are not only going to look at how much we have lost, we are also going to look at who are accomplices inputting their figures together that would have amounted so much for the loss and that is a way of putting professionals on their toes.

"Also, in doing their audit, they should also look at the processes that lead to the tax loss. N5.4 trillion is a lot of money and when you look at what that can do for our economy, such multinationals cannot do that in their country of origin.”

She suggested that going forward, such multinationals should be reported to their

countries for sanctions.

“And if they are reported and fined, it must also be escalated to seek redress and ask them to pay what they have evaded,” she stated.

However, Fiscal Policy Partner and West Africa Tax Leader at PwC, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, said the report from which the figures were attained from also cited that multinationals were more tax compliant compared than domestic companies.

He said: “It is important to understand the comment and the context to which it was made. I believe the FIRS chairman was referring to a report on illicit financial flow and pricing which estimates how much Africa was losing to illicit financial flow and transfer mispricing. And they said Nigeria accounted for the biggest portion, which was estimated at $178 billion.

“That report itself does not say evasion, you can have an illicit financial flow, which is

done mostly by politicians, and then you have transfer mispricing, which is mostly done by multinationals and what that means is that if you provide services and you charge from abroad to a Nigerian company and you charge $100,000 and someone would say you shouldn’t have charged $100,000 it should have been $30,000 meaning you have overcharged Nigeria entity for it and, therefore, you have reduced the charge that should have been paid to Nigeria.”

Oyedele added: “In 2012, Nigeria had introduced transfer taxing regulation and what that means is since 2012, those issues should have been significantly addressed because that way the authorities have a legal framework to try and look at what multinationals are doing and then be able to see if they are paying the right amount of tax.”

Chairman of Okwudili Ijezie and Co., a firm of

charted accountants, Mr. Blakey Ijezie, noted that it was easy for the multinationals to beat the country’s tax system, if they choose to because they employ high quality chartered accountants and tax consultants to handle their accounting and taxation affairs.

Ijezie said most of the professionals employed by the multinationals “are more qualified than the tax administrators in various FIRS’ offices. They understand the tax laws and the loopholes embedded in the various laws, and can easily advise their clients on how to avoid additional taxes. I used the word ‘avoid’ as it is legal to avoid taxes. But it is illegal to evade taxes.”

He, however, suggested that tax evasion could be curtailed by establishing more tax audit teams to periodically audit the tax of the multinationals.

“If the companies know that their taxation affairs would be routinely subjected to thorough

analysis and audit by the FIRS, they will more likely comply with the taxation laws,” he explained.

He suggested that the FIRS should expose its staff to regular training on accounting and taxation, especially on the nitty-gritty of tax audits.

He, however, wondered why the FIRS provided information for a period of 10 years, from 2007 to 2017, without updating it to 2020.

He said: “I wonder why the report did not highlight the amount lost between 2018 and 2020. Has the trajectory been checked? Or is the losing trend still up? Has the loophole that warranted such loses been detected and curtailed? Or does the FIRS not have an up-to-date statistics?”

He called for integrity test on the staff of the FIRS periodically to ensure that they don’t collude with the multinationals to arbitrarily reduce the taxes due from them to the federal government.

PROMOTING INNOVATION...

L-R: Director of Finance and Accounts, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Ibrahim Otaru; Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, Dr. Francis Chizea; and Head of Space Technology Innovation Facility, NSRDA, Dr. Mohammed Haruna, during the inauguration of COVID-19 Disinfection Tunnel, indigenously-produced by the agency, in Abuja…yesterday

OPEC: Nigeria’s Economy Challenged by Inflationary Pressures Predicts GDP rise Maintains 2021 global oil demand growth forecast Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday noted that the Nigerian economy remains challenged by inflationary pressures on the back of rising food prices and possible recent naira adjustments.

The 13-member oil cartel also maintained its 2021 forecast for global oil demand growth, but kept projections cautious amid uncertainties over the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OPEC, writing in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for January and quoting secondary sources, stated that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to rise in the

medium term, given the current rising oil prices and positive vaccine trajectory.

It said: “Nigeria’s economy entered a recession in 3Q20 with real GDP contracting by 3.6 per cent y-o-y after a sharp contraction of 6.1 per cent y-o-y in 2Q20. Moreover, the inflationary pressure continued to challenge Nigeria's economy, as the CPI rose to 14.9 per cent y-o y in November from 14.2 per cent y-o-y in October.

“Elevated food prices and possible naira adjustments pose additional inflationary risks. Inflation rose by 1.60 per cent m-o-m in November 2020, the highest since May 2017, following an increase of 1.54 per cent in October 2020.

“On a bright note, consumer confidence increased to -14.80

points in 4Q20 from -21.20 in 3Q20. Business confidence, in contrast, decreased to -15.20 points in December from -15.0 points in November.”

Quoting Moody’s, OPEC stated that Nigeria's credit rate is now B2/negative, which reflects increasing exposure to fiscal and external shocks amid the limited fiscal resources available.

“Otherwise, the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI increased to 51.8 in December 2020 from 50.9 in the previous month, indicating an overall improvement in the Nigerian non-oil private sector. Also, according to the survey, sentiment regarding 2021 recorded a five-month high, fuelled by business expansion plans

“In the meantime, a meaningful rise in oil prices following the recent DoC decisions along with a positive trajectory from Covid-19 vaccines would brighten the 2021 outlook and lay the groundwork for a hopeful medium-term real GDP expansion,” it noted.

On the global plane, OPEC said it expected oil demand in 2021 to increase by 5.9 million barrels per day year-on-year to average 95.9 million barrels per day, unchanged from last month’s assessment.

The group said world oil demand growth in 2020 declined by 9.8 million barrels per day year-on-year to average 90 million barrels per day, adding that the fall is marginally less than expected

in December.

“Uncertainties remain high going forward with the main downside risks being issues related to COVID-19 containment measures and the impact of the pandemic on consumer behaviour.

“These will also include how many countries are adapting lockdown measures, and for how long. At the same time, quicker vaccination plans and a recovery in consumer confidence provide some upside optimism,” it added.

OPEC said its 2021 forecasts “assume a healthy recovery in economic activities, including industrial production, an improving labour market and higher vehicle sales than in 2020.”

OPEC+ initially agreed to

cut output by 9.7 million bpd, before easing cuts to 7.7 million and eventually scaling back further to 7.2 million from January.

International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $55.77 a barrel yesterday, down 0.5 per cent for the session, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures stood at $52.76, around 0.3 per cent lower.

“Demand for OPEC crude in 2020 remained unchanged from the previous report to stand at 22.2 mb/d, around 7.1 mb/d lower than in 2019.

Demand for OPEC crude in 2021 remained unchanged from the previous report to stand at 27.2 mb/d, around 5.0 mb/d higher than in 2020,” the report stated.

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Schools Resume Monday, FG Clarifies Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, yesterday laid to rest the uncertainty over schools’ resumption date, reaffirming the January 18 earlier scheduled for students to resume their studies.

Adamu, while answering questions on Monday during a press briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja, had

said the federal government might review the resumption date due to the second wave of COVID-19 currently ravaging the country.

He said: “It (January 18 date of school reopening) is not sacrosanct. When we decided on that date, it was just a target towards what we were working on.

“Of course, we are keeping it in view and looking at what is happening in society and then it is supposed to be subject to

constant review.”

But in a statement yesterday by the Director of Information and Public Affairs in the ministry, Mr. Ben Goong, the Federal Ministry of Education said it had appraised the situation, adding that there is no need to delay school resumption.

It said: "After extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders, including state governors, commissioners of education, proprietors and

heads of institutions, staff unions and students, the consensus of opinion is that the resumption date of 18th January should remain.”

The statement urged parents and institutions to ensure full compliance with COVID-19 protocols, including the compulsory wearing of face masks by all students, teachers and workers.

It also urged stakeholders to ensure temperature checks and handwashing facilities

at strategic locations in all schools, as well as the constant supply of water and sanitisers, enforcement of maintenance of social distancing and suspension of large gatherings such as assembly and visiting days.

Other measures include: "Avoiding overcrowding, including limitations in class sizes and hostel occupancy, availability of functional health clinics with facilities for isolation and transportation of suspected cases to medical

facilities, adherence to all other non-pharmaceutical protocols, restrictions and containment measures as may be prescribed/ approved by the PTF from time to time."

The statement said the measures, which are to ensure the safe reopening of schools for academic activities will be subject to constant review "as we urge teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders to ensure strict compliance."

million doses would be coming from the GAVI Foundation.

Gavi is an international organisation created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children and other concerned persons.

According to him, the primary concern of the governors at the moment is to contain the current demarketing strategies by Nigerians against the vaccines.

He said at the governors' last meeting with Buhari, they stressed the need to create public awareness on how to contain the rising risk of the pandemic.

"We told the president that there is the need to go beyond political leadership

and include traditional rulers, religious leaders and others in the entertainment sector and others concerned to spread the awareness and importance of the vaccines,” Fayemi said, adding: "With this, we can create the needed and necessary enlightenment and raise the level of consciousness against the pandemic.”

A source at the NGF also told THISDAY that some of the states had called the forum’s secretariat to inquire whether there were special criteria submitted that enabled the NPHCDA to arrive at how the vaccines would be distributed.

The source said the governors are canvassing that more priorities be given to states regarded as frontline

states where the pandemic is said to be rampant.

It was gathered that some states are already making plans to purchase the vaccines, but there is the problem of storage as there are special storage facilities like the availability of refrigerators and electricity in the rural areas for the storage of the vaccines.

States like Ogun, Oyo, and Cross River States had reportedly faulted the number of COVID-19 doses allocated to them by the federal government.

It was gathered that the Benue State government said the allocation of COVID-19 vaccine doses ought to have been discussed at the governors’ forum.

He said: "Honestly, herders who are grazing cows on the expressway in Abuja must have seen some changes and, therefore, are not living in the same country with us. It is a clash of civilisation we cannot overcome in any way."

The main opposition party, the PDP, faulted the president for resorting to what it described as “desperate face-saving media stunts in his incongruous plea to Nigerians to accept that the situation in Nigeria is better under his watch, despite the contrary harsh reality in the country.”

The party said Buhari’s illusory self-assessment further validated its position that he has since abandoned governance for the luxury and pleasures of the Presidential Villa, having lost touch with how the country has fared under him.

The PDP stated that every fair criticism of the Buhari administration reveals failures and a reversal of fortunes for the country.

"It is unfortunate that at a time Nigerians expected the president to be remorseful for his failures and rally compatriots for a solution, he is

rather seeking an endorsement of his cluelessness," the party said.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party wondered how the president “wants an unmerited pass mark knowing that under his watch, bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and vandals, who have been pushed to the fringes before he took over in 2015, have now resurged, taking communities hostage, raping our women, beheading our compatriots and foisting a reign of terror to the extent that our nation ranked as the third country with the highest level of terrorism in 2019, after Iran and Afghanistan?

"How does President Buhari sleep in the night, in the comfort of Aso Villa, knowing that because of his failures, millions of Nigerians go to bed on empty stomach; that since he took over, more than 30 million businesses have crumbled; that over 60 million Nigerians have lost their means of livelihoods resulting in excruciating hardship in our country in the last five years?”

The party said it is

unfortunate that Buhari wants Nigerians to overlook the fact that he wrecked a robust economy handed over to him in 2015 with Fitch B+ rating as one of the fastest-growing economy in the world.

It accused the Buhari administration of turning Nigeria into the world’s poverty capital and a beggar nation that is now borrowing from all parts of the world.

It stated: "Is President Buhari trivialising the pain of a nation, which his administration plunged into the worst type of economic recession; where families can no longer afford their daily meals and other necessities of life; and where life has become so unbearable that compatriots now resort to suicide and slavery mission abroad as options?"

The party added that when Buhari took over in 2015, one dollar was N160 whereas it is about N500 now.

and evacuation from the nation’s refineries post-revamp through an open access model and charge market reflective prices and tariffs to recover the investment.

Earlier, the Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, Mrs. Aisha Katagum, had commended the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for providing guidance for the project and assured the bidding firms of a fair, equitable and transparent selection process.

On hand to observe proceedings at the public bid

opening were representatives of the ICRC, BPP, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Civil Liberties Organisations (CLOs).

The highpoint of the event was the display of the 96 companies that submitted bids for the rehabilitation projects.

Some of the firms which showed interest in the bids include China Petroleum Pipelines Engineering Company, A.A Rano, Process Design and Development Limited, China National Chemical Engineering JV, MRS Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited as well as Fenog Nigeria Limited.

GOVS MOVE TO TAKE OVER COVID-19 VACCINES’ DISTRIBUTION, MEET WEDNESDAY Jigawa, 1,712; Niger, 1,558; Ogun, 1,473; Sokoto, 1,468; Benue, 1,423; Borno, 1,416; Anambra, 1,379; Kebbi, 1,268; Zamfara, 1,336; Delta, 1,306; Imo, 1,267; Ondo, 1,228; and Akwa Ibom, 1,161.

Others are Adamawa, 1,129; Edo, 1,104; Plateau, 1,089; Enugu, 1,088; Osun, 1,032; Kogi, 1,030; Cross River, 1,023; Abia, 955; Gombe, 908; Yobe, 842; Ekiti, 830; Taraba, 830; Kwara, 815; Ebonyi, 747; Bayelsa, 589; FCT, 695 and Nasarawa, 661.

However, while all the states had reportedly said they were not involved in deciding the sharing formula for the 100,000 vaccine doses, others said they planned to buy more.

THISDAY gathered that

some of the governors were not carried along on the criteria used in the allocation of the vaccines to the states.

But speaking exclusively to THISDAY yesterday, the Chairman of the NGF, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who is also the governor of Ekiti State, confirmed that the governors would meet on Wednesday on the matter.

He said the main item on the agenda of the governors meeting next week would be the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

He said: "The governors don't run the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19 and, therefore, we cannot say the criteria reached or used in the distribution of the vaccines.

"The governors see the COVID-19 as a challenge and will work with all stakeholders to address and contain the pandemic. "Experience of the efforts of the state governments in the eradication of the polio epidemic, through the use of the vaccines, is on our side.

This is because of our roots in rural areas. The states are directly in contact with the rural areas."

However, he said he learnt that the NPHCDA’s 100,000 vaccines would be for the health workers and the elderly persons, stressing that the vaccines will cater for only 50,000 persons since it is to be taken twice.

Fayemi explained that the main vaccines of over 20

NIGERIA IS BETTER THAN I MET IT, SAYS BUHARI economy, infrastructure as well as the security situation in the North-east as at the time he became president on May 29, 2015.

The president, in a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, charged Nigerians, especially the elite, to be fair in their criticism of his administration, given the state of the nation in 2015 and thereafter.

He said: “Those criticising the administration should be fair in terms of reflecting on where we were before we came, where we are now and what resources are available to us and what we have done with the limited resources.

“We had to struggle paying debts, investing in road repairs and rebuilding, to revamp the rail and try to get power. This is what I hope the elite, when they want to criticise, will use to compare notes.”

On security, especially in the North-east, the president said: “What was the situation when we came? Try and ask people from Borno or from Adamawa for that matter and Yobe. What was the condition before we came and what is

the condition now?”

Buhari added that although there are still some security challenges in the North-east, the situation has improved.

"Still, there are problems in Borno and Yobe, there are occasional Boko Haram problems, but they know the difference because a lot of them moved out of their states and moved to Kaduna, Kano and here (in Abuja). We were not spared of the attacks at a time.

The government is doing its best and I hope that eventually, our best will be good enough,” he stated.

The president also expressed the determination of his administration to ensure a better life for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

“The people in IDP camps, the weak, the aged; I feel sorry for the young because this is the time they are supposed to get an education. We must not allow this time to pass because it will never be regained. So we are really interested in what is happening there and we are doing our best."

He commended Pam on his appointment and activities on peacebuilding around the

country despite his short time in the saddle.

Earlier, Pam had intimated the president with some of the activities of the commission since he was appointed in July 2020.

These, he said, include the organisation of a peace summit on Southern Kaduna as well as peacebuilding efforts in Plateau, Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States, adding that the commission is proposing to host Christian leaders at a summit to ease tension in the polity.

PDP, Afenifere Reject President’s Claim Buhari's self-appraisal, however, attracted criticism from Afenifere and PDP. But the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) declined to comment on his claim when contacted by THISDAY. Spokesman of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, told THISDAY that Nigeria in the last five-and-a-half years of the Buhari administration is much better from a backward perspective.

96 FIRMS BID FOR REHABILITATION OF NNPC PIPELINES, DEPOTS the extractive industry value chain–from how extraction rights are awarded, to how revenues make their way through the government and how they benefit the public.

Through its participation in the EITI, the NNPC has now joined 55 other countries, which have agreed to a common set of rules governing what has to be disclosed and when using the EITI standard.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), Mrs. Ada Oyetunde, said the exercise was in conformity with the mandate of the federal government to prioritise

the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure nationwide.

She listed the facilities to be rehabilitated by successful bidders to include critical pipelines for crude oil supply to the refineries and evacuation of refined products, depots, and terminals.

Oyetunde stated that the objective is to get the facilities ready to support the refineries when they become operational after their ongoing rehabilitation.

“An open tender for prequalification of interested companies was published in August 2020 in the national dailies, for the rehabilitation

of NNPC downstream critical pipelines and associated depots and terminal infrastructure.

“This was done through Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) to cover the four lots namely: Lot 1: Port Harcourt Refinery related infrastructure; Lot 2: Warri Refinery related infrastructure; Lot 3: Kaduna Refinery related infrastructure; and Lot 4: System 2B related infrastructure,” Oyetunde added.

She explained that the BOT arrangement would provide a reliable pipeline network and automated storage facilities for effective crude feed, product storage

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NEWS

CBN Confirms Payment Mandates for Students on Overseas Scholarship Scholars await disbursement Festus Akanbi Nigerian students studying abroad on scholarship may start getting their SeptemberDecember 2020 allowance any time from now as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the payment of all the mandates emanating from the Federal Ministry of Education.

With this development, education experts said the ball is now in the court of the Nigerian Scholarship Board to ensure immediate disbursement of the funds to the students in their respective countries of study.

The CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, in a response to THISDAY enquiries, said all mandates received from the Ministry of

Education had been treated except one.

“The fact is that all mandates received by the CBN from the Federal Ministry of Education have been paid with the exception of one, which was queried. We expect that once the issues raised have been sorted out by FME, that would also be paid,” he stated.

The clarifications confirmed an earlier assurance given by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, in an earlier interview with THISDAY. The minister had told THISDAY that the federal government had not defaulted in the payment of allowances to the scholars abroad, saying: “All Bilateral

Education Agreement, BEA, scholarships have been paid from January to August 2020.

Documents covering funds for September to December 2020 scholarships were processed and sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on November 19, 2020, for remittance to the BEA countries.”

He, however, blamed the delay in the payment of the

students' allowance on the need to address exchange rate differentials caused by the instability in the nation’s exchange rates in the recent time.

He said: “The issue of exchange rate differential, as a result of fluctuations of the dollar to naira exchange, has also been processed and submitted for approval. I would like to assure you that

the federal government is up to date with scholarship payments.”

Some parents were worried that the pressure brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerian students abroad could distract them from their studies if not promptly settled.

A source, for instance, stated that the students

have to be financially okay for them to keep safe in the period of the pandemic.

“Now that the CBN said the coast is clear for the remittance, I see no reason why the scholarship board cannot begin the disbursement to these students in Russia, Hungary and other countries,” a parent who preferred anonymity said.

Insurgents Buying up Fertilisers to Make Bombs, DHQ Warns

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday raised the alarm over the purchase of fertilisers by suspected terrorists to manufacture explosives.

The Coordinator of the Directorate of Defence Media Operations, (DDMO), Maj. Gen. John Enenche, gave the warning at a media briefing in Abuja on the military's operations from January 7 to 13.

He said no fewer than 64 fighters of Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) were killed during an encounter with troops in Yobe State.

He said the use of fertilisers by criminal gangs threatened the security of the nation.

According to him, “While fertilisers are majorly for agricultural purposes, the possibility of it being acquired by criminal gangs, terrorists and militants for sinister purposes cannot be disregarded as fertiliser has remained a potential component for the fabrication of explosives owing to its content of Ammonium Nitrate.

“Furthermore, fertiliser poses a security threat considering current security challenges.”

Enenche said no fewer than 64 fighters of the Boko Haram and the Islamic State of the West Africa Province, (ISWAP) were killed during an encounter with troops in Yobe State within the week.

He added that troops of the newly-launched subsidiary, Operation Tura Tskai Bango, engaged some marauding Boko Haram elements at Gujba Local Government

Area of Yobe State.

“During the encounter, 28 terrorists were neutralised and several others escaped with gunshot wounds while one gun truck and several arms and ammunition were recovered,” he stated.

He added that troops had an encounter with some Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists at Gonan Kaji Village along Damaturu-Buni Yadi Road in Yobe State.

“Thirty terrorists were killed in contact while caches of arms and ammunition were recovered by troops,” he said.

The troops also engaged some marauding Boko Haram elements at Kafa Village in Damboa Local Government Area of Yobe State.

“During the encounter, six terrorists were neutralised and a gun truck and several weapons as well as equipment belonging to the terrorists were destroyed,” Enenche said.

Speaking on military operations in the SouthSouth, he said troops of Operation Delta Safe have sustained the fight against economic sabotage in the zone.

“Notably on 9 January 2021, gunboats of Forward Operating Base Ibaka, while on routine patrol around Effiat waterways, intercepted and arrested a large wooden boat laden with 1,184 25kg bags of Yaraliva Nitrabor Fertiliser suspected to be smuggled in from the Republic of Cameroon with two suspects.

“Suspects and items are currently in custody and will soon be handed over to the appropriate prosecuting authority," he said.

OUR STORY...

L-R: Immediate past Nigeria’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Senator Ajadi Suleiman; member, Elders’ Forum, All Progressives Congress, Kwara State, Ambassador Nurudeen Mohammed; and chairman of the forum, Mr. Kunle Suleiman, during a press conference in Abuja…yesterday enock reuben

Lagos Eyes N192bn Fresh Loan for Infrastructure Peter Uzoho The Lagos State government is to borrow N192 billion this year to finance infrastructure development in the state.

The funds will be raised domestically, with N100 billion expected to come through a bond issuance while N52 billion and N41 billion will be sourced through external and internal loans respectively.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Rabiu Olowo, gave the figures yesterday in Lagos, during a media roundtable on the "Facts-Behind-the-Figures" on the state's 2021 budget.

The state Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had signed the N1.164 trillion 2021 Budget, tagged 'Budget of Rekindled Hope' into law last December, with the total capital expenditure put at N702.935 billion and the total revenue put at N460.587 billion.

However, Olowo said that the loans would be in naira to protect the state from exchange rate risk.

He said: "On deficit financing, of course, we know that most part of the budget

is predicated on revenue.

"We cannot depend on our own internally generated revenue or federal transfers that we get from the federal government to have the kind of development that Lagos needs at this time.

That means that we have to go out and borrow.

"The breakdown of the N192 billion deficit financing as shown in the budget, we will go out for some domestic fundraising in local capital market through the bond of about N100 billion.

"We will do an external loan of about N52 billion and we will also do an internal loan of about N41 billion, and everything adds up to about N192 billion.”

Olowo, however, said the benchmark on revenue-todebt service in the 2020 budget was lower than the two benchmarks being followed, adding that the state closed 2020 at 19.8 per cent.

He explained: "I think what is more important is our sustainability benchmark. To answer the question straight, we have two benchmarks that we follow.

"There is the federal

Debt Management Office benchmark of 30 per cent, revenue to debt, and of course, there is the World Bank benchmark, which is 40 per cent. So on that basis; we closed the year 2020 at 19.8 per cent, very far low from any of the benchmarks that I am talking about.

"And I think the question also moves to what will be the implication of the additional debt, giving the 2021 budget. We see ourselves landing at about 22 per cent, giving all the numbers, revenues and the additional debt we will put on our activities for 2021."

According to him, Lagos State debt charges as shown in the budget is about N31 billion while its total debt repayment, including CDSA principal and interest, is about N158 billion.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube, had said the state was audacious in its plan to deliver the multi-billion naira red and blue rail metro lines.

He said the state is working with special funds with tier one banks in Nigeria for the funding of the rail

projects, adding that it is completely Nigerian parties that are making the funds available.

He added that the state also has support from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in ensuring the receipt of the funds.

Also briefing journalists on the ongoing projects being supervised by her ministry, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Mrs. Aramide Adeyoye, said the financial closure for the 4th Mainland Bridge construction will be achieved within the third and the fourth quarter of 2021 with the emergence of preferred bidders.

Adeyoye said the challenge being encountered by Lagosians on Itire Road would soon end, as the problem on the road will be addressed by the first quarter of the year.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the state is making special plans to secure COVID-19 vaccines to supplement the federal government's planned vaccines roll-out.

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COMMENT

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

FROM MEGA TO SMART CITY Sanwo-Olu relights Lagos, writes Eni Olukotun

L

agos, the commercial nerve centre of the nation and the economic pride of Nigeria remains the pillar for economic sustainability of the country. A melting pot for all tribes and faith and land of opportunities for all sundry.

This smallest geographic space in Nigeria ironically accounts for over 70 percent of its economic activities. It’s unarguably the powerhouse of Nigeria’s economy. When Lagos sneezes every state including Abuja, the federal capital, catches cold.

The state’s Gross Domestic Product and other economic indices also dwarf economic outputs of some nations in the West Africa corridor. Ghana is no match for Lagos. The volume of trade and economic activities, a burgeoning population grossing over 20 million people and other peculiarities are both blessings and burdens. The chief executive of a state like Lagos must be above board all the time and must be vastly innovative to survive. A mediocre can hardly last a week on the seat.

From 1999 when the builder of modern Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu assumed office, his successors had consciously demonstrated fidelity to the trajectory of development espoused by the leader. From almost a ruined city, Lagos progressively witnessed developments in all aspects and morphed into a mega city and ultimately a Smart City.

According to CityPopulation.de, at least, 37 cities are identified as megacities in the world: Lagos and Cairo, capital of Egypt, top the chart in Africa. Yet experts agree that there are challenges like slums, traffic snarls, crimes, gentrification, urban sprawls, homelessness and air pollution, among others. In other climes, the national governments intervene to lessen the burden on megacities. But Lagos through innovative governance and deft of resources management substantially bears the burden and succeeding too.

The calls for special status for Lagos have not been heeded.

Multi-million dollar light rail project connecting Okokomaiko to Marina/CMS is being constructed on the balance sheet of the state, making Lagos the only sub-national entity in the world to single-handedly embark on such a massive project without a dime from the central government.

The incumbent governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the tradition of excellence in governance is relighting Lagos in a most energy conserving manner. The governor has concluded plans to retrofit the existing street lighting systems with more efficient LED lighting. The new lighting system will give better illumination with minimal energy usage. The latest lightning technology also proves to be more durable reducing cost of maintenance significantly.

The plan of accelerating the 24-hour economy for Lagos will be greatly hampered without lighting up the city. When there is illumination, crime rate drops as men of the underworld can’t hide under the cover of darkness to unleash terror on residents and businesses.

The initiative is a great enable which will strengthen the THEMES agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration which are Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and

AS LAGOS STATE EVOLVES TO A SMART CITY, THE UTILISATION OF SMART AND ENERGY EFFICIENT STREETLIGHTS IS VITAL IN ENSURING IMPROVED GOVERNMENT SERVICE DELIVERY IN AREAS OF SECURITY OF LIVES AND PROPERTY OF LAGOSIANS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century State and Security and Governance.

The Streetlight Retrofit Project was unanimously approved by the Executive Council as part of the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda of Mr. Babajide Sanwo Olu-led-administration, which will make the state a 21st century economy as it leverages on private sector partnerships to accelerate infrastructure interventions.

Speaking on the project, the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olalere Odusote, who represented Lagos State Governor, Mr Sanwo Olu disclosed that the state has executed a streetlight infrastructure agreement with LEDCO Limited for the retrofit of existing conventional high-pressure sodium (HPS) streetlight installations across the state to Smart Light Emitting Diode (“Smart LED”) lights (the “Streetlight Retrofit Project”).

On why the retrofitting is expedient, the commissioner explained that one of the features of the LED lighting system is the use of significantly lower energy to produce the same amount of luminosity, explaining that in the pilot phase of the project, it was determined that LED lighting resulted in a reduction of up to 60 per cent of the operations and maintenance costs of streetlight infrastructure.

“As Lagos State evolves to a Smart City, the utilisation of smart and energy efficient streetlights is vital in ensuring improved government service delivery in areas of security of lives and property of Lagosians and environmental sustainability (reduction in Co2 emissions from reduced energy consumption of energy efficient luminaires) whilst also improving socioeconomic activities in the state by enabling a functional 24-hour economy”, he explained.

Governor Sanwo-Olu has continued to demonstrate dexterity in governance since 2019 when he assumed office. From roads, health, education and transport, he has been setting the pace.

He inherited a state filled with filth caused by the disastrous experimentation of the VisionScape project by the previous government. He mobilized and energized the wearied local waste operators and pronto sanity began to return. Heaps of refuse that littered street corners were cleared and Lagosians can once breath fresh air and savour splendor of the aquatic city.

Terrific gridlocks on the roads were also visited. A twin approach of enforcement and re-engineering of conflict points worked wonders. Erring motorists especially the recalcitrant commercial bus drivers were whipped into line. One-way offenders on ‘mission suicide’ forfeited their vehicles and faced the law.

The officers of the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service that were hitherto reined in by the previous government were directed to return back to the roads with a caveat to shun their excesses or face stricter sanctions. The officers helped in ensuring roadworthy vehicles ply Lagos Trunk A and B roads.

Incessant breakdown of vehicles reduced and Lagos was moving.

Olukotun wrote from Lagos

PANTAMI AND PANDEMIC OF INSECURITY

writes that a comprehensive biometric information of citizens is the best option to checkmating criminality

B

ehind Nigeria’s problems, over the decades, have been the conspiracies of successive political elites to inflate and politicize population data for partisan agenda. Since those controversial censuses of the early 1960s, the credibility of population estimates across state boundaries has played out as toxic fights, especially between the North and the South, with the former singled out, although unfairly, for tampering with national data to maintain political dominance.

This generational distrust hasn’t only left behind a country where politicians are in a contest to exaggerate the population of their political strongholds to attract fat revenue allocations from Abuja, but also one with vastly undocumented citizens. As Nigeria loses monopoly of force to terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and cybercriminals on a rampage across its territory and cyberspace, this inadequacy of biometric data is telling.

The past governments all rolled out fancy policies to document and manage citizen data, which were more successful in disappearances of billions from the national treasury. The trending call for citizens and legal residents to acquire national identity and have it linked to their mobile phone numbers, is a reminder of the past and it’s easy to see why the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, is jumping from one media outlet to another to emphasize the difference this time around.

Last Friday, on a Channels TV evening programme, Politics Today, Pantami was reminded of the hurdles in front of citizens and the staff of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in this rush to obtain National Identification Number (NIN). The February 9 deadline, the anchor said, was too short, and the Minister instantly clarified that the announcement for citizens to have their NIN linked to their phone numbers was made in February 2020. He also explained that the protocols set aside for potential registrants were being grossly violated by citizens at-

tempting to cut corners, and attributed that to the congestion at the registration centres. The consequences are the reason for that short-lived strike by NIMC employees in the field.

Looking past Pantami’s passion to execute a project likely to sabotage his fellow northerners’ political capitals—based on the largely bigoted conspiracy theory that the North inflated their census numbers for electoral advantage—one can also excuse the attitude of everyday Nigerians towards NIN. The responses to the deadlines are classical conditioning sustained by the previous governments’ insincerity in such projects. Since 1979, when General Olusegun Obasanjo-led military government set up the Department of National Civic Registration to manage the nation’s identity card system, Nigeria’s bids to build a credible database were unsurprising waste of resources.

In 2003, I also registered for the national identity card in Suleja, then under the supervision of Directorate of National Civic Registration (DNCR), and waited in vain to acquire the card promised. My friends and I only got to acquire slips, and the project, as claimed by the government, had over 50 million Nigerians registered. When NIMC was established in 2007 to integrate the existing databases and register more citizens, as its founding act says, our idea of such “integration” wasn’t rendering the previous identity “slips” invalid.

Nigeria has never taken seriously the task of preserving citizen data, and even basic decadeold records of citizens obtained by government institutions are often difficult to access in a country at the centre of a security crisis. But what has set this renewed call for registration apart, aside from the emphasis on its digital nature, is that, without it, Nigeria is unlikely to bounce back from its quick descent into a criminals’ playground. This bid for comprehensive biometric information of citizens must be treated as a dying nation’s gasp for oxygen, and that’s also our best option in checkmating these multiplying bands of criminals.

Nigeria has also often been defined by the

statistical projections of foreign organizations, but local politicians are also quick to question unfavourable rankings where they’ve no superior or alternative data to present. On his Twitter in October 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari referred to the data “developed abroad by the World Bank, IMF and other foreign bodies” as “wild estimates that bear little relation to the facts on the ground.” He also added that “We can only plan realistically when we have reliable data.” But, without harmonized registers of citizens, his preferred data are only as factual as the foreigngenerated statistics he disregards.

The choices before Nigeria aren’t as simple as they seem. We are stuck between the consequences of violating coronavirus regulations and underestimating the centrality of biometrics in rescuing Nigeria from the gaping maws of insecurity. The virus hasn’t neutralised kidnap-for-ransom, cybercrime, banditry and insurgency which have stripped Nigeria of its sovereign integrity, with our hopeless and clueless politicians compelled to negotiate peace with bloodthirsty criminals. So, it’s hollow to refer to the pandemic in arguing that the conditional NIN registration is ill-timed.

Despite being victims of past governments’ historical nonchalance in, and subsequent abandonment of, ambitious identity management projects, Nigerians are not ones to willingly submit themselves for stressful exercises if they’ve nothing to lose. When BVN was first announced, the response was slow until banks threatened to restrict unlinked accounts. This time, the motivation to present oneself for NIN registration is the fear of having one’s mobile phone number barred, which is a clever understanding of Nigerian psychology.

The convergences at NIN registration centres are in nowhere different from the daily gatherings at Balogun market and Wuse market, and can be easily coordinated in adherence to the social distancing protocols. The short-lived strike of NIMC staff is also a desired warning shot for Pantami and his team, even though, as revealed in the Channels TV interview,

the striking staff did not make known their grievances and that he was unaware of the underscored infrastructure deficit stalling data collections.

For instance, ahead of the United States elections last November, about 10 million Americans had contracted COVID-19, and 230,000 had already died with it. But the significance of the US last elections couldn’t be dimmed by a devastating pandemic that had left the country’s healthcare system wrecked and the political leadership also vulnerable and dangerous. Like America, Nigeria only needs to rely on the guidance of its disease control agency—and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been impressive and proactive in this venture—to devise safe and orderly means of conducting this biometric documentation.

The escalated breakdown in Nigeria’s internal security is itself a pandemic and bound to outlast this disease that originated from Wuhan. Nigerians can’t afford to relegate either unless there’s a secret aspiration to wake up without a country someday. NCDC and NIMC must work hand-in-hand to disinfect and preserve Nigeria, respectively, because both agencies have been tasked with preempting Nigeria’s collapse. The past few months, from the theatrics over the distribution of palliatives to the sights of hoodlums disrupting #EndSARS protests, underlined this older pandemic that’s the lack of harmonized social registers of citizens and legal residents.

Since renaming his station Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, which was once simply Ministry of Communications, Pantami has been obsessed with the immensity and potential of Nigeria’s digital markets. The minister has been stuck in a game theory with criminal beneficiaries of Nigeria’s dysfunction, and it’s easy to predict their payoff to determine his Nash equilibrium, and that’s when a fingerprint or phone number is enough to track down a criminal.

Kakanda wrote from Abuja

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EDITORIAL

PREVALENCE OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE Government could do more to contain the menace

T

he alarming rate at which vulnerable groups among the young and old are getting hooked on illicit drugs has become very worrisome. Hard drugs, ranging from cannabis, often called Indian hemp, to cocaine, heroin and amphetamines are increasingly available on the street in most towns in Nigeria and abused by both the young and the old. Yet these are substances that cause serious problems for the user and the society at large. Heroin and amphetamineMANY OF OUR YOUNG type stimulants and over-the MEN ARE HOOKED ON counter drugs SUBSTANCES THAT ARE are also being MORE OR LESS A ONE-WAY increasingly TRAFFIC TO DESTRUCTION abused in most of our cities.

In a survey conducted in 2018 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Center for Research and Information on Substance Abuse with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), about 15 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria reported a “considerable level” of use of psychoactive drug substances. Sedatives, heroin, cocaine and the non-medical use of prescription opioids were recorded as being prevalent, especially among young people below the age of 30.

While we urge critical stakeholders to pay more attention to this social malaise that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the nation and threatens the future of a generation, it is regrettable that President Muhammadu Buhari does not seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation. ‘‘I have charged them (Customs officials) and other law enforcement agencies to go after those trafficking in illicit drugs that are causing much harm especially among young people,” he said in what is to date his most notable intervention on the issue, as if it is a problem that can be resolved by locking

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some people up.

Even when statistics may be hard to come by, there is a correlation between the abuse of drugs and the prevalence of crimes in our country today. Indeed, many of the audacious crimes including vicious robberies and murders, raiding of banks, prisons, churches and kidnappings, are said to be aided by drugs, going by the confessions of some of the culprits that were caught. But the real danger now is that many of our young men are already hooked on substances that are more or less a one-way traffic to destruction.

Therefore, we are worried about the future of the nation when several of the youths are hooked on drugs. It is more disturbing especially when our institutions do not keep enough data to know what we are battling with and the needed infrastructural facilities to handle cases of drug abuse. Experts have always argued that due to medical consequences of the prohibited substance abuse, there is increased disease prevalence that is made more difficult to treat while the lifestyle associated with addiction also contributes to a heavy cost on healthcare in the country.

From different findings, individuals with addiction and chronic illnesses such as asthma, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, are less likely to recover as quickly as others with the same illness but no addiction.

Besides, drugs and alcohol abuse lead to high healthcare cost and with our patchy health facilities, we will continue to lose resources to other countries.

There is no doubt that the threat of drug abuse is real; but we believe that with effective counselling programmes, the problems can be tackled. Therefore, the government, at all levels, should create drug awareness units, especially in schools. It is also important for religious and cultural organisations to join in the efforts to rid our society of this dangerous habit that can only impact negatively on the future of our country.

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

AMINU KANO HOSPITAL AND MAGGOTS’ HEALING POWER

A

s the country grapples with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and Lassa fever, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), has pioneered the use of clinical graded maggots to treat chronic wounds that often lead to the amputation of limbs.

The procedure is called Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT). It was an ancient process that is rediscovered by Medical Entomologist for the benefit of humanity. And it is now heart-warmingly available in Nigeria.

The maggots are applied to the wounds that develop mostly in patients that have underlining ailments, such as diabetes and vascular diseases. According to WebMD, “The maggots clean the wounds by consuming all the dead and infected tissues, without hurting healthy tissues.

They also help fight infection and speed healing by releasing chemicals that kill bacteria.”

The use of specially bred selected species of larvae in laboratory to treat stubborn sores at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, which pioneered it in Nigeria, is by Dr. Mustapha Ahmed Yusuf, a medical entomologist who

completed a PhD program in 2020 from abroad.

Dr Mustaph noted that the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano is the model and pace-setter for maggot therapy in Nigeria because so far it is the only tertiary health institution in the country that has a Maggot Debridement Therapy Centre.

He added that, “Medical Entomologists work in collaboration with Orthopaedic and Plastic Surgeons in the hospital. The Orthopaedic Surgeons refer patients for maggot therapy as the final treatment option before amputation; and Plastic Surgeons conduct skin graft when the wound debridement is achieved, thus it is a complimentary role in patient care.”

By December 2020, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed Yusuf has successfully treated and discharged 30 patients who had chronic wounds on Maggot Therapy at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano.

This record which was achieved within a year, is likely to be broken in the coming months as more patients become aware of the procedure and seek treatment in the teaching hospital.

Dr Mustapha emphasised in the interview that “Maggot Therapy as a process of debridement /disinfecting of

chronic wound achieves quick healing rate and reduce extended hospital stay.

It is a standard treatment process being practiced in the developed nations and some African countries for patients with chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers osteomyelitis and necrotising fasciitis.”

He said that for years the United Kingdom and United States of America have approved this method because it is a simple bed-side procedure in which patient don’t have to be taken to the theatre to undergo surgery, and that even patient with electrolytes imbalance can be treated using maggots therapy.

Indeed, writing in an edition of the Journal for Diabetes Science and Technology, Dr. Ronald Sherman of the BioTherapeutics, Education and Research Foundation, California, United States, pointed out that, “The medical literature is rapidly growing with scientific evidence demonstrating the efficacy and safety of maggot therapy for a variety of problematic wounds.”

“Dr. Sherman added that, “Diabetic foot ulcers alone are so common, affecting approximately 15 per cent of the diabetes patient population ( in the USA) that they account for over 1.5 million foot ulcers and at least 70,000 amputations annually.”

He wrote further, “While technological advances have led to significant improvements in medical care, including wound care, nonhealing wounds still remain a significant problem. The annual cost of management for these wounds exceeds $20 billion. Worse yet, the prevalence of nonhealing wounds is on the rise.”

In an article on “Extremity Amputation in Nigeria - A Review of Indications and Mortality,” Dr. O. A. Thanni and A. O. Tade of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu, discovered that “the most common indication for amputation in Nigeria is trauma, complications of TBS, malignant tumours, diabetic gangrene, infections and peripheral artery disease.

The uncommon causes are snakebite, congenital malformation, ainhum and chronic ulcers. “ With the introduction of Maggot Debridement Therapy in Nigeria by the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital under the watch of the Chief Medical Director, Professor Abdulrahnan Sheshe, there is hope that many Nigerians afflicted by ulcerous and gangareous wounds, sores and snakebites can be saved from the amputation of their affected limbs.

Salisu Na’inna Dambatta, Kano

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FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Gunmen Abduct 36 Businessmen, Villagers in Kano, Kaduna John Shiklam in Kaduna and Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano In separate incidents, suspected gunmen have abducted 18 businessmen from Kano State who were on a commercial journey to Abia State, and another 18 villagers in a community in Kaduna State.

The Kano incident occurred when the abducted victims, who were businessmen from the Kano’s popular textile market of Kantin Kwari were traveling to Aba in Abia State to buy goods.

Multiple sources disclosed that

their vehicle was attacked by the armed men who moved them to the bush. President of Arewa Youth Traders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Kabiru told journalists in Kano yesterday that the businessmen were on their way to Aba, in on Sunday night when kidnappers shot the tyre of their luxury bus and abducted them.

According to him, “the traders were on their way to Aba on Sunday so as to buy their goods on Monday morning and return to Kano on Tuesday morning when kidnappers shot at their

SSANU, NASU Threaten Indefinite Strike, to Meet on Tuesday Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Varsity workers under the aegis of the Non-academic staff of educational and associated institutions, (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Universities (SSANU) have threatened to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike over non-implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Federal Government on 20th, October, 2020.

The unions will also meet on Tuesday next week to deliberate on their next line of action.

The threat was contained in circular jointly signed

by SSANU President, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim and his NASU counterpart, Mr. Makolo Hassan and addressed to all branch chairmen of NASU and SSANU in the universities and Inter-University Centres in the country.

According to the presidents of the unions, the National Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU met yesterday, to appraise the three days nationwide protest as decided at its meeting held on Friday, January 8.

“Evaluating the nationwide action, the leadership of JAC commended the courage and commitment of members in effectively prosecuting the protests across the branches.

“The National JAC further observed the need for members of the unions (NASU) and SSANU) to take ownership of subsequent decisions in respect of the way forward after the nationwide protests.

“To this end, Branch Chairmen of NASU and SSANU are hereby directed to convene joint congresses simultaneously on Tuesday January 19, 2021 to take a resolution on the possible commencement of an indefinite and total national strike.

“This is in respect of nonimplementation of the issues contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed and agreed with the unions by the federal government on October 20, 2020.

It said the resolution of these congresses are to be forwarded to the national secretariats of the respective unions via email, while a meeting of the leadership of the National JAC shall be convened on Thursday, January 21, 2021.

luxury bus on Kaduna –Abuja Highway”.

Also, the Managing Director of Kantin Kwari Market Management Board, Mr. Abba Bello confirmed the incident.

Bello said the kidnapped businessmen were 18 in number, adding that the market management board has so far confirmed the names of 12 victims.

“They were all traveling to Aba in Abia State when the gunmen attacked them along Lokoja-Okene expressway in Kogi State”.

Bello also revealed that he has not officially received information on whether the kidnappers have contacted the families.

However, Kano State Police Command yesterday said it has not received the report of the incident.

Spokesman of the command, Mr. Abdullahi Haruna Kiya told THISDAY that the incident should be reported to the state police command in the state where the abduction took place.

In a related development, no fewer than 18 people, including four nursing mothers were reportedly abducted by bandits in Mando village, Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The incident, according to a statement by the Chairman of Brinin Gwari Emirate Progressive Union (BEPU), Mr. Salisu Haruna, occurred on Wednesday night.

According to him, the bandits who were armed with AK- 47 rifles, raided several houses in search of grains and other food items.

The statement said the bandits

went from house to house, looting property and food items, despite the location of a security outfit about three kilometres away from the community.

“After relative calm along

Birnin-Gwari-Funtua road after the sustained onslaught by security forces, we regret to inform the general public of an attack at Mando village, a distance of five kilometres from

Birnin-Gwari town.

“In the latest incident, armed bandits attacked Mando shortly after midnight around 1.30 am and abducted 18 people, including four nursing mothers.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

Joint Managing Director, Borini Prono and Company (Nigeria) Limited, Dr. Paolo Prono (left),and Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, during the inspection of the ongoing repairs and restoration works on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State...yesterday

Change Constitution before Elections, Adebanjo Tells Nigerians Afenifere chieftain and elder statesman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, yesterday asked Nigerian leaders to change the constitution, noting that the constitution is the problem of the country that needs to be changed before any election.

Adebanjo said this at a conference organised by Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Ummuna, in partnership with Ovation International and Njenje Media, held virtually.

Speaking on the theme: ‘The Second never again conference: 51

years after the Nigerian-Biafran Civil war,’ Adebanjo reiterated the need for restructuring.

He said: “Our problem is our constitution; we need to go back to where we started in 1960. We have a fraudulent constitution and there are some who are

benefiting from it.” Reacting to Nnamdi Kanu’s comment, Adebanjo opined: “Fulani’s are the one killing people in the country. We need to amend the constitution. No restructuring no Nigeria. Change the constitution now”. Vanguard News Nigeria.

Mohammed, Saraki Have No Electoral Value, Says Kwara APC Faction FG to Reopen Third is a faction loyal to the state Kunle Suleiman, while fielding the capability to win elections.

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Abdulrahaman questions from journalists “Ministers are not elected Mainland Bridge February 15 The crisis rocking the Kwara governor, Abdulrazaq, also declared said: “Those ministers and officials. President Muhammadu The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, yesterday reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to the speedy completion and reopening of the Third Mainland Bridge to traffic on February 15.

Fashola, during an inspection of the bridge, assessed ongoing construction work as well as the planned diversion shifts on the bridge which will take effect from Friday, January 15 to February 13.

The minister expressed hope that work on the bridge would be completed and reopened to traffic on February 15 to enable the government to begin work on the Falomo Bridge.

He explained that work on the Falomo Bridge was being delayed to avert the gridlock that may ensue.

“On Third Mainland Bridge most of our work is almost done, we lost two weeks during the civil protest and our completion date earlier was towards the end of January, that has slipped.

“We are hoping that by 15th of February we should be done and the bridge should be opened to the public.

“That is one of the reasons why I also came to see how far and when this bridge will be opened to the public because this is delaying our work on Falomo Bridge.

“We have done some work on Falomo Bridge. We are going to have to close Falomo Bridge as soon as this is done so that we can also replace the expansion joints there.

“All the other preliminary work has been done there, but we left it in order to reduce the inconvenience to commuters in and around Lagos.

“So, the Eko Bridge that was closed is opened now, this one (Third Mainland Bridge) is going to be opened by February 15,’’ he said.

The minister added that the closure of the Falomo Bridge will happen in consultation with the Lagos State Government.

State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took another dimension yesterday with a group within the party, which identified itself as Concerned Kwara APC Elders/Stakeholders describing the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Transport, Gbemisola Saraki as paper-weight politicians with no electoral value.

The concerned elders, which

support for the APC National Caretaker Committee Chaired

by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni for the removal of Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa as the state party Chairman.

Another faction led by Mr. Iyiola Oyedepo, had on Tuesday while addressing press conference in Abuja rejected the removal of Bolarinwa by the Buni committee.

The Chairman of Kwara APC Elders Forum, Mr.

association of failed governorship aspirants can come to Abuja to say nonsense but they are just paperweight politicians.

They have no influence at the grassroots. Even a professor, like Oba Abdulrasheed who prides himself as a former university vice-chancellor, would still have to come to the grassroots to learn”.

On his part, Senator Suleiman Ajadi said the two ministers are presidential appointees who lack

Buhari picked them not based on their capability to win elections.

If you check the pedigree of the two ministers you will understand what I am saying that they do not have the capacity to win elections.”

Addressing journalists on behalf of Kwara APC stakeholders earlier, Ambassador Nurudeen Muhammed, described the decision by the national leadership of the party as a life-saving decision.

NCDC: We Received over 580,000 Phone Calls in Nine Months The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) yesterday said it received over 580,000 phone calls on COVID-19 between March and December 2020.

The centre, whose mandate includes “leading the preparedness, detection, and response to infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies”, disclosed this in a statement, titled: ‘NCDC Announces 6232 as Short Code

for Public Enquiries.’

The health agency described the quick code as a strategic tool for its surveillance and risk communications activities.

Unveiled in partnership with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the shortcode requires no charges, and it enables Nigerians to have access verified information on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

NCDC’s Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, was quoted as saying, “Between March and December 2020, the NCDC Connect Centre received over 580,000 COVID-19 related phone calls.

“The shortcode number ‘6232’ will be used alongside the existing toll-free number – ‘0800 9700 0010’, with a gradual phase-out of the existing toll-free number.

“The NCDC remains strongly

committed to working with relevant government institutions and partners to protect the health of Nigerians.”

According to the statement, the shortcode can also be used to obtain verified information on other infectious diseases.

“We urge the public to use the shortcode responsibly, in accessing verified information on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.”

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

NEF: Elite Must Rescue Nigeria from Bad Leadership Segun James The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on the elite to rescue Nigeria from failed leaders.

The elders accused the present administration of failing in all aspects of governance.

It, therefore, called on the elite to rise to the occasion of making Nigeria great again by speaking with one voice towards national cohesion.

NEF Spokesman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed stated this yesterday while speaking at the ‘2nd Never Again Conference: 51 Years After Nigerian-Biafran Civil War’ organised by an Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Umunna.

The NEF spokesman said

Nigerians are more bitter as a people 51 years after the civil war because the past was not left in the past.

He said, “We finished this war in 1970 and within four years, virtually all the Igbos who had left the north who were still alive came back to the North; they continued with their lives. Northerners moved to the East and Nigeria moved on.

“Here we are 51 years after, abusing each other, disputing history. It is a good thing that we are saying ‘Never Again’, but we need to recognise, ‘Never What Again’.

According to him, the postcivil war elite has substantially failed this country, even more

than those who plunged this country into the disaster that ended in 1970.

The elite of Nigeria, he said still speaks in a manner that suggests that the country still fighting a war, stressing that this is an indication that this country has not made any progress at all.

“We need to be very careful.

We need history but our present and future should not become captives of the past. “If we do that, we will never fix the problem, we will always

fight over what happened in the past.”

Ahmed accused the present administration of massive failures in all aspects of governance, including security, economy and infrastructure.

He said, “As we speak, this nation has never been worse than this —not even during the civil war. The civil war isn’t the worst disaster; the day is the worst disaster we are living in. We are a very poor government and leadership that do not care about Nigerians.

You have massive insecurity, no fresh ideas and complete vacuum in leadership. It is only going to get worst unless something dramatic happens.

“When we say ‘Never Again’, we must understand something that it can happen again. Let’s not deceive ourselves. When IPOB says ‘we are leaving Nigeria’ and other parts of the country not keen on staying in the country also say they are leaving, then, that is a big issue.

“The Nigerian state is very

fragile, not just because there is no consensus but because the elite who should work together are not working together. We need to adopt a sense of urgency and change the quality of leadership that we produce. We are on our knees now because we made wrong choices in the type of leadership that we elected and politicians who have no business being in power are in power. We need to review the process with which leaders emerge.”

Nigerian Soldiers Killed 2,278 Terrorists, Bandits in 10 Months, Says Presidency Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Presidency reeled out the achievements of the military as it revealed that Nigerian soldiers in a period of 10 months in 2020 killed 1,805 Boko Haram insurgents/terrorists in the North East as well as 473 armed bandits in the North West.

The Media Adviser to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, who made this public in a statement titled “Security Check List As Nigeria Marks Armed Forces Remembrance Day,” also stated that the military from 18 March to 30 December, 2020 neutralised 2,403 criminal elements, including terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and cattle rustlers, across the country in addition to scores of other terrorists and armed bandits killed during air strikes.

He explained that the military through Operation Lafiya Dole in the North East killed 1,805 insurgents and terrorists, including commanders apart from several others killed via air raids and attacks by troops.

“In the North East, 200 kidnapped victims were rescued by troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE. A total of 1,385 rounds of ammunition, 45 grenades as

well as 95 assorted rifles were recovered from BHT/ISWAP fighters. In addition, several gun trucks were captured, while some others were destroyed during air strikes. Additionally, within the period, a total of 79 arrests were made including high value targets” Adesina emphasised that apart from the 473 armed bandits killed, a lot of recoveries were made by the military in the North West.

His words: “In the North West, 5,281 livestock, 6,951 rounds of ammunition and 120 assorted rifles were recovered from the armed bandits by the gallant troops in the Zone, 455 kidnapped victims were rescued and 461 arrests were made in the Zone including high profile armed bandits, gun runners and bandits’ collaborators, while a total cash of N6,365,550 was recovered from armed bandits and their informants in the zone”.

Other activities of the military as highlighted by Adesina include rescue of a total of 864 kidnapped victims by troops across the country, recovery of a total of 9,684,797 litres of stolen diesel and 33,516,000 litres of kerosene.

Schools to Resume in Kwara, Kogi on January 18 Kogi State Government has reaffirmed that all public and private schools in the state are to resume academic activities on January 18, 2021, calling on all relevant stakeholders to comply.

The Kwara State Government has also announced that the second term academic session of schools in the state will commence on January.

Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Wemi Jones, made the announcement at a press briefing yesterday in his office in Lokoja.

Jones reiterated that all schools in the state should resume on January 18 to continue the first term of 2020/2021 academic session.

“It has become imperative for me to address the media this morning to clear the air in order to prevent confusion on account of school resumption in Kogi State.

“I will like to state unequivocally that resumption date for all schools in the state

remains January 18, 2021. This applies to both public and private primary and secondary, and tertiary institutions of learning in the state,” Jones said.

The commissioner explained that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology had done a revised school academic calendar to accommodate and cover up for the two-week break extension due to lockdown prompted by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, in a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the state government however called on the students of the schools to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 protocols so as to make the resumption a hitch-free exercise.

According to her, “The state Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has approved January 18, 2021, as the official beginning of the 2020/2021second term academic session in the state.

ENHANCING ACCESS TO COMMUNITIES…

L-R: Ekiti State Coordinator, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), Hon. Sunday Adunmo; National Coordinator, RAAMP, Mr. Aminu Mohammed; Chairperson Ado-Ekiti Local Government, Mrs. Motunde Fajuyi; Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Funminiyi Afuye; and Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi; during the official flag-off of the 1,000 kilometres of rural roads in Ago-Aduloju and Imesi-Kosomolate-Ipole in Ado Ekiti... yesterday

Osinbajo Seeks More Funding to Curb COVID-19 Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has canvassed for more government funding to curb increase in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Osinbajo, who stated this yesterday at a virtual meeting with top government officials and a group of Nigerian scientists stressed that the pandemic provided an opportunity to ramp up public health infrastructure in Nigeria while government should be doing more in the area of funding.

According to the Vice President, “I think that we must be talking now about local vaccine production, improving the training of laboratory scientists, and generally improving our capacity to respond in various ways.

“We must really focus on the opportunities that this period really gives us. What I have noticed is that unless something like this happens, we are very frequently relaxed and just hope for the best.

I think we are in a position now where we can do a lot. In fact, there is the opportunity to do

more in terms of government funding.”

“So, I think this is a major responsibility for us, the government, at this time, to really look at how we can, at least, do much better in terms of preparing young men and women for the challenges ahead. This point was also made about the quality of laboratory scientists and the quality of medical personnel and paramedics and all that.”

Osinbajo who spoke after listening to the submission of the experts said: “We are at a point where we can gain tremendously

as a people from this pandemic and a lot of what has been said will really help in putting this in perspective for us as government, so we can actually go out and resolve many of these problems and improve the environment for ourselves, and for the coming generations in particular”.

Acknowledging the significance of the interaction with the scientists especially in providing valuable suggestions in addressing the country’s public health challenges, the Vice President noted that “this has been an inspiring intervention and discussion.

Opeifa: We Have Restored Law, Order in Apapa Eromosele Abiodun The former Executive Vice Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on the restoration of Law and Order in Apapa, Mr. Kayode Opeifa has stated that his team has achieved its mandate with the restoration of law and order in Apapa.

Opeifa who stated this in his handover statement, disclosed that after weeks of planning the task team has successfully handed over its activities to the Lagos State Government, which

will be supported by the Lagos State Police Command.

According to him, “President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the task force chaired by the vice president with me as the Executive Vice Chairman on April 25, 2019.

Following the restoration of relative normalcy on the axis with a massive reduction in congestion and traffic, the task force completed its task and decided to withdraw on October 7, 2020.

“A report of the activities of the team was presented to the Presidency on October 7, 2020

at a meeting Chaired by His Excellency the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and in attendance; the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola; Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd); Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman; Executive Secretary, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Hassan Bello; Federal Road Safety Corp Marshal, Boboye

Oyeyemi; Mr. Ade Ipaye and the SSA to the President on Media.”

Opeifa said the handover process started on November 8, 2020 and was officially completed on December 29, 2020.

He added that as a result of the activities and efforts of the team made up of representatives of the Inspector General of Police, Lagos State Government, government agencies and other stakeholder, it was able to restore law and order on all roads leading to the Lagos Ports and within the Lagos Port Maritime logistic Corridor.

Family of Nigerian Diplomat Sues Boeing over 737 Max Crash The family of a Nigerian diplomat, Abiodun Bashua, killed in the 2019 crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia has joined litigation against the company in US federal court.

Abiodun Bashua, 67, held many foreign service jobs for Nigeria and worked with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa over a 40-year career.

He was among the 157 people killed when a Max operated

by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa.

The family has accused Boeing of negligence in development of the Max. The Bashua family lawsuit, which also named Boeing contractors, Rosemount Aerospace and Rockwell Collins Inc., according to a report by the Associated Press, was filed last month in US district court in Chicago, where lawsuits filed

by dozens of families have been consolidated into two cases, one for the Ethiopian crash and the other for a 2018 Max crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people.

Most of the other lawsuits were filed in 2019.

Lawyers said it took longer for the extended Bashua family to decide on its legal team.

“Thinking of him sitting in a plane, a place he was very comfortable … watching a bunch of people falling to

the ground and knowing that they were about to perish, knowing that for the first time in a long time he could not do anything about it, is one of those memories that haunts me today”, one of his sons, Lekan Bashua said during a news conference organised by the family’s lawyers.

A Canada-based scholar of Nigerian descent, Professor Pius Akinsanmi, was also killed on the flight.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021

18

POLITICS

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

Coup In The Capitol Hill and The Divided States of America Magnus Onyibe, a former member of the Delta State government condemns the mob action that disrupted the activities in the United States Capitol

T

he strange events that reached the crescendo on 6 January , in the country formerly known as the United States of America , USA , which with heavy heart l’m reluctantly rechristening , the Divided States of America, DSA, are indeed unprecedented and epochal , but fortunately not apocalyptic.

That’s because at the end, the coup detat that was launched against the CapitolHouse of Parliament, as vice president Mike Pence emphatically and defiantly noted , democracy won , not the coup plotters.

The victory of democracy referred to by the out-going Vice President, mr Pence is encapsulated by the fact that the ceremonial certification of former Vice President, Joe Biden’s election as the next president of the country from 20 January this year , which the coup plotters wanted to stop from happening, was concluded as the very resolute American congressmen and women , quickly regrouped, after initially retreating into safety, at the onset of the insurrection .

With their constitutional duty of facilitating the transition of presidential power fulfilled, a process which George Washington, the first US president introduced in December 1783, was accomplished, and Trump’s last proverbial trump card was demystified as his untoward plans were thwarted.

The noble gesture of handing over power when there was overwhelming pressure for George Washington to serve a third term , according to recorded history had earned the first American president , the title “ The greatest man(president) in the world “ .

It is an adulation which no less a personality than king George lll of England bestowed on George Washington as the king marveled at how a man who just won a war would yield power so voluntarily to John Adams.

Donald Trump who by all indications thrives best in controversy, even if he failed to accept that he lost the presidential contest to Biden , could not as much as deign to be high minded enough to end his tempestuous four years term as president with dignity.

One disconcerting fact that has been pricking my mind is that with eighty one (81) million votes cast for Joe Biden the winner and seventy four (74) million votes for the incumbent , Donald Trump, the loser in the presidential election of 3 November, America is clearly divided almost in the middle or by half.

So without a scintilla of doubt ,there is a huge gulf between blue and red America , (hence l chose to rechristen the country, Divided states of America, DSA) represented by the coup plotters who are part of president Trump’s supporters that stormed the capitol and the true democrats and devotees to the rule of law, that went ahead to certify Biden’s victory as the elected 46th president of the USA .

Not attesting to the challenger , Joe Biden’s electoral college votes of 306 thats more than the 232 cast for the incumbent , Donald Trump, on 6 January, 2021, could have resulted in a constitutional crisis that would have been like the situation in Nigeria in 2010 whereby our constitution did not (at the time) make provisions for what would happen when a seating president suddenly dies which was the case when Umar Yar’Adua passed on in 2010.

It took the doctrine of necessity to cure that lacuna. Now, would there have been a similar extra ordinary measure in the USA , if Trump had succeeded in perpetuating

his zeitgeist ideology of having his way or the high way?

Conscious of the fact that 6 January was sacrosanct , president Trump had set up the booby trap by driving his supporters into a frenzy with inciting words that

charged them up with the intention of hanging the Vice President, Mike Pence and assassinating the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi as evidenced by the battle cry of the enraged secessionists in their chants when they laid

Addressing the lies About Composition of NDDC Board Damian Nwikinaka and Ochuko Kanuhor, executive officers of the Niger Delta Renaissance Coalition debunk the assertion that the board of the Niger Deltaevelopmemt Commission did get the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari

C

hief Joe Omene’s recent comments in the media wherein he made false claims as to the composition of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission that has been on hold since it was cleared by the Senate in November 2019 is both irresponsible and unfortunate.

In the interview, Chief Omene, who falsely parades himself as President General of Urhobo Progress Union claimed that the appointment of the Board, which was cleared by the Senate on November 5, 2019, did not have President Buhari’s approval. This is false.

The president’s letter to Senate President Ahmed Lawan, which is dated October 18, 2019 and which he personally signed, was made available to the media and has been published widely.

The president’s letter titled, ‘Confirmation of Appointments of the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission’ reads: “In accordance with the provision of Section 2(2)(a) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment) Act, 2000, I write to forward, for confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the under listed nominees for appointment into the NDDC board, to occupy the positions indicated against their names.”

President Buhari then went ahead to list the following: Dr Pius Odubu (Edo State) as chairman of the Board, Bernard O. Okumagba (Delta State) as the Managing Director, Engr Otobong Ndem (Akwa Ibom) as Executive Director, Projects,

and Maxwell Oko (Bayelsa) as Executive Director, Finance and Administration.

Others include the following as State representatives: Nwogu N Nwogu (Abia), Theodore A Allison (Bayelsa), Victor Antai (Akwa Ibom), Maurice Effiwatt (Cross River), Prophet Jones Erue (Delta State)), Chief Victor Ekhalor (Edo State), Olugbenga Edema (Ondo), Hon Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian representing Imo State.

The rest of the board nominees listed by the President in his letter to the Senate President are Aisha Murtala Mohammed from Kano State to represent the North West, Shuaib Ardo Zubairu from Adamawa State to represent the North East and Ambassador Abdullahi M Bage from Nasarawa State to represent North Central.

President Buhari, in the letter, expressed the hope that “the Senate will consider and confirm the nominees in the usual expeditious manner.”

Accordingly, the written request from President Muhammadu Buhari, which was read on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, was given expeditious consideration by the upper legislative chamber, which directed its standing committee on NDDC to carry out the screening exercise on all the nominees and report back within a week.

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

siege on the Capitol like charging bulls.

Trump’s programmed insurrection as reflected by the storming of the Capitol Hill by the enraged supporters is akin or reminiscent of the sort that caused the American civil war fought from 1861-5 .

As it may be recalled , American civil war was a battle between 11 states in the south that seceded and declared themselves as the confederates and then engaged in four years long war with the federalists in the north. The secessionist confederates were eventually defeated by the federalists army, much the same way that the 6 January coup detat was foiled thus retaining the unity of all the fifty United (divided) states of America.

A status which the current schism is threatening to end after 250 years of sustaining it.

According to information obtained from www.pbs.org with respect to the cause of the civil war “ a common explanation is that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery.

In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict” the report concluded.

Although the causative factors for the 6 January insurrection, now tagged the coup in Washington, are not exactly the same as the trigger for the civil war fought continuously for four years, about two and half centuries ago, but the current issues are a sort of hack back to the white supremacist days , fostered by the outgoing president Trump, via his promotion of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, KKK during his abou-to-expire four years tenure in the White House.

That said , let’s now dwell on the present and the future by referencing my earlier essay focused on the ruckus arising from the presidential elections in the USA. It is titled “From First To Third World: The USA That Trump Would Bequeath To Biden” written and published on 28 December 2020.

In that piece, l made a prognosis of what might happen on 6 January. Given that president Trump is easy to second guess because he tends to act on impulse , l had predicted that there may be chaos during the certification of the electoral college result by a joint session of Congress presided over on 6 January, by Vice President, Mike Pence. When the anticipated attack eventually occurred , it was shocking to see that it was beyond mere chaos, as the capitol was engulfed by mayhem unleashed by the unhinged Trump supporters who exhibited zealous , if not lunatic ferocity in the onslaught on the Capitol Hill .

Below is what l had predicted .

“In a seminal book by two Harvard University dons, titled” How Democracies Die”, the duo of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt detailed how elected leaders can gradually subvert the democratic processes and system to increase their power.

According to the social scientists, when they embarked on the project of writing the book published in 2018, they had the notion that the culprit would only be in far way Africa , South America or Middle East. But they had no inkling that such a country that would typify a dying democracy due to the subversion of the system by its leader, would be the USA and a perfect example of such a leader would be the 45th president of the USA , Donald J Trump.

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T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021

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PERSPECTIVE

The Ikpeazu Magic in Aba Sad bye, Trump

Chido Nwangwu, Founder and Publisher of USAfrica multimedia networks sums up the tumultuous last days of President Donald Trump of America

S

he is one of the daughters of the arch-conservative Republican Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the United States. She is not only conservative and well-spoken, she’s the 3rd in rank among the Republicans in the U.S House of Representatives.

Wyoming Congresswoman and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney did not mince words in articulating the reasons to impeach Donald Trump as President of United States on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.

She released the following statement, ahead of votes: “On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic. Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough.”

With clarity and factual sense of responsibility, she stated: “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not.”

Immediately, she delivered one of the most critical indictments of Donald Trump; specifically that “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President.”

And, she did! Voting alongside Democrats and nine other Republicans (Reps. John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Tom Rice of South Carolina and David Valadao of California), they affirmed Mr. Trump’s name as being at the same notorious status of any criminal commander of a domestic terrorist organization.

His name was instantly reduced to the level of an insurrectionist.

The man, Trump, immediately became legislated into history as the first President of America who levied war of destruction of the institutions of democracy in America.

Americans including those who supported him all these years could not believe their eyes when the instinctively petty and chaotic Trump openly and viciously instigated his mob to walk to the Congress and “show strength.” It was a direct and naked message for confrontation.

It was an open invitation to violate the operations of the legislative arm of the American government through his own

mob!

Trump’s mob and their insurrection had led to the deaths of six persons, including two Capitol Police officers.

Immediately after the vote to impeach, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an acknowledgement of Republican Cheney and co, noted that “Today, in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States, that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country.”

After realizing that history and decency and patriotism had left him while he chose to be Trump’s shameless apologist and water carrier, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., managed to say that Trump, the same man he was screaming election lies for, “bears responsibility” for the insurrection.

McCarthy was engaging in his own Kabuki dance while Trump was morphing into several colours and beings, everyday.

Worst of all, he falsely claimed that: “People thought what I said was totally appropriate.”

When his exhausted enablers and tired apologists told him that claim was not only unbelievable but exposed him to potentially legal complications, he issued yet another video statement that threw his radical supporters under the bus.

“Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. There must be no violence, no lawbreaking and no vandalism of any kind.”

Overall, to put it more accurately, Mr. Trump has, through a combination of recklessness, lack of self restraint, selfglorification, an over-bearing instinct to lie, and petty vindictiveness reduced his own name and legacy to the lowest levels of the worst Presidents in American and world history of democratic governments. Sad

With clarity and factual sense of responsibility, she stated: “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing.

None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. Immediately, she delivered one of the most critical indictments of Donald Trump; specifically that “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.

I will vote to impeach the President

Onyebuchi Ememanka, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Abia State recalls the sorry state of roads and other infrastructure in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state before the governor’s redemptive intervention

T

o be honest, i feel somewhat uncomfortable saying that renowned fast food chains like Chicken Republic, Domino’s Pizza, Coldstone Ice Cream, and shopping malls like Market Square just opened shop in Aba for the very first time.

These are things that should have happened yesterday.

When I brought my family back from Lagos after my seven year sojourn, one of my most difficult moments was having to find an answer to my children’s questions about the total absence of such things in Aba. In Lagos, they were used to seeing and visiting such shops all over the place.

That these things have been non existent in a huge town like Aba speaks volumes about the story of Aba and its economy, especially in the last two decades.

The truth must be told.

Certain imperatives drive development.

Discerning and serious businesses take decisions based on hard facts. No businessman or investor can take his hard earned money to a place where there is no guarantee of Return on Investments (ROI).

ROI is perhaps the most compelling factor that influences business decisions by investors.

Questions like security, favorable government policies, accessibility, big market, etc rank topmost amongst the considerations that bug the mind of an investor who plans to move his business to a new area.

Let’s look at the issue of infrastructure and accessibility.

The economy of Aba draws its oxygen from two major routes. The Calabar/Akwa Ibom axis and the Port Harcourt axis.

As at 2015, there was no way to enter Aba through the Akwa Ibom flank. The only entry point then was the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Federal Highway. With the total collapse of that road, there was a total annihilation of business from the Akwa Ibom route.

Every Aba person knows that the volume of traders who come from Akwa Ibom and Cross River States to buy stuff in markets in Aba is massive. Indeed, some Aba traders survive exclusively on them. When that flank closed, businesses suffered in Aba. Many shut down and the town bled profusely.

The story was the same for the PH flank.

With the massive dilapidation of the Enugu PH expressway, reaching Aba from Port Harcourt was a hellish experience.

Then when you manage to navigate to Aba on the expressway, it became almost impossible to enter Aba town proper.

All the routes that linked Aba from the expressway had collapsed completely. The only available route was through Osisioma Junction and the trip from to that Junction from the PH road Junction was so long and became a huge disincentive to the average PH businessman. Gradually, that end of the Aba economic oxygen was plugged off.

The result? Economic asphyxiation set in.

Then inside Aba proper, internal roads were in a terrible shape. Movement from one place to the other became a herculean task.

Add these to the spate of insecurity and kidnapping ravaging the town then, Aba looked like a lost city. Environmental Sanitation became a major problem as refuse trucks couldn’t access major roads to cart away refuse on account of bad roads.

Refuse heaps developed at a very fast rate.

The government of the day then was overwhelmed completely. Their main focus was on fighting the rampaging criminality in the city. Huge funds that should have been used for development were channeled into the fight against violent crimes like brazen armed robbery, kidnapping and other vices. Banks closed shops in Aba and many people fled the town.

Under the above circumstances, no

business man will have the nerve to bring any investment here. Not even a fast food shop. It’s the simple truth!

When Ikpeazu came on board, he understood that the only way Aba could rise again was to boost trade and commerce. He saw clearly the need to remove impediments to accessibility into the town.

He saw the need to stabilize security and improve road networks, especially roads leading to our markets.

Aba was in dire need of economic oxygen. Ikpeazu understood and went to work.

Today is story is changing and we are making progress. Some may argue that it’s slow but it’s steady and will remain so.

Today, the Akwa Ibom flank has come back to life. Businesses from that flank are alive again. Using the bypass done by Ikpeazu along the Umuaro - Ekwereazu Ngwa - Nto Edino road, vehicles now ply from Akwa Ibom into Aba with ease.

As at 2015, there was only one road available for use between Obikabia Junction and Aba Town. Today, there are four of them.

All delivered by Ikpeazu, namely Ehere, Umuola, Ukaegbu and Omoba roads.

Vehicles coming from Akwa Ibom now have a choice of four roads into Aba town proper.

If you want to know the volume of trade between Aba and the Akwa Ibom flank, go to Ogbor Hill between 6pm and 6.30pm.

The number of vehicles moving goods from Aba and headed for Akwa Ibom and Cross River States will shock you. The traffic gridlock experienced around Ogbor Hill every evening is because “Ndi Mmong” are going home after a busy day in our markets. Our traders are smiling again.

Same for the PH flank.

Ikpeazu’s strategy was to open up roads linking the expressway into Aba. Today, driving from PH into Aba, you have options, you either use Ariaria Junction, Tonimas/Umule, Chima Nwafor road or Oomne drive. All of these lead you into Aba depending on the part you are going to. Ariaria International Market is now accessible from the expressway for the first time in over 30 years.

The other two most important link roads into Aba from the expressway, PH Road and Uratta will also be fixed by the Ikpeazu administration.

Internal roads are also getting fixed.

More will follow.

There is peace and security.

Government has demonstrated in practical terms that it is committed to the recovery of Aba. The Governor says it everyday. He has brought back a sense of pride in our artisans.

As these things unfold gradually, the business community is watching with keen interest. They are observing.

So when you see these businesses coming into Aba, it’s not by accident. It’s the response to careful planning by Ikpeazu.

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

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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24 HOURS...

24 HOURS...

Obasanjo Mourns Bolu Akin-Olugbade Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, described the late billionaire businessman, Chief Bolu AkinOlugbade, as passionate in

his defence of Nigerian unity.

In a condolence letter addressed to his wife, Mrs. Oladunni Akin-Olugbade, the former president said the

Alleged Copyright Infringement: Court Reserves Judgment in NUC, ZAIN’s Appeal Alex Enumah in Abuja The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Zain Nigeria Limited (now Airtel) against the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The appeal is seeking to set aside the guilty verdict passed on the appellants by the lower court as well as the subsequent N703 million fine for allegedly infringing on the property rights of the plaintiff/ respondent.

The Federal High Court judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, had in May last year slammed a whopping sum of N703 million fine against NUC and Zain for infringing on the copyright of a media outfit, TV Xtra Production.

Chief Executive Officer of TV Xtra Production and General Editor of Arise News, Mr. Christian Ogodo had accused both the NUC and Zain of airing a quiz programme, which he designed and registered as the ‘University Challenge’, with the National Copyrights Commission (NCC).

In his judgment, Ekwo found the defendants guilty of violating the rights of the plaintiff and fined them accordingly.

Displeased with the lower court’s decision, NUC and Zain approached the Court of Appeal praying it to reverse the judgment to their favour.

Counsel to the NUC, Mr. Solomon Akuna, informed the appellate court that they were denied fair hearing as they were not served with relevant hearing notices.

WHO, AU to Procure 900m Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines for Africa in 2021 Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The World Health Organisation (WHO) is collaborating with the African Union (AU) to secure 900 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the end of this year.

The WHO stated yesterday in an online press conference that the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in Africa in March under the auspices of COVAX and GAVI. The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said that 600 million doses of vaccines to be sourced from COVAX in 2021 would cover about 20 percent of the African population.

Moeti added that another arrangement is being made under the auspices of the AU to secure 70 million doses of vaccines before the end of the year.

She said: “It is unfortunate that so far vaccine distribution is still being awaited in Africa.

It is a massive undertaking. The global facility, which is being coordinated by COVAX and GAVI, aims to provide about 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa in 2021. We expect the first batch to arrive in March with a larger roll-out in June.

“Together we will delivery nearly 900 million doses of vaccines this year.”

She disclosed further that the WHO has developed a national vaccine deployment plan for countries and is also carrying out training on key aspects of vaccines development.

Moeti, however, said that the findings of the WHO have revealed significant gaps in the level of preparedness among countries in Africa.

The WHO’s regional director for Africa noted that just as getting the vaccines is an important aspect of dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring their safe handling is equally very important.

Ortom Condemns Quit Notice to Bishop Kukah George Okoh in Makurdi Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has called all Nigerians, irrespective of religious and political affiliations, to uphold unity, peace and dialogue as panacea for the myriad of problems confronting the country.

The governor’s advice was in reference to the statement credited to a group known as Muslim Solidarity Forum, which asked the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev Mathew Kukah, to tender an unreserved apology over his Christmas Day message on Nigerians state or leave Sokoto State.

In a briefing yesterday by the governor’s Press Secretary, Mr. Terver Akase, the governor

said he finds the statement as a contradiction of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution which accord Nigerians the right to live freely in any part of the country.

He said the statement of the group directing Bishop Kukah to apologise or leave Sokoto State is a clear affirmation that Nigeria is being controlled by forces which are bent on setting the country ablaze if their interests are not guaranteed.

Ortom stated that Nigeriansboth Christians and Muslims-need to set aside religious and other sentiments to come together in humility to fast and pray for peace and unity of the country, rather than the current situation where some persons are fanning the ember of disunity and hatred.

deceased was also devoted to his roots.

Obasanjo remarked that Bolu would be greatly missed by his community, local government area, state, and the nation in general, lamenting that all Owu people have lost a great son.

The former President is the Balogun (Prime Minister) of Owu, where the late billionaire hails from.

Obasanjo in the letter issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kehinde Akinyemi,

said in spite of his privileged background, Bolu did not lose the common touch.

The former president said, “He was as passionate in his defence of Nigerian unity as he was devoted to his roots.

“No wonder, he actively promoted the history and culture of his local community who also immensely benefited from his wise counsel and generosity.

“As Aare Ona Kakanfo and a prominent son of Owu Kingdom, our much-respected

brother contributed to better understanding and harmony among our people.

“He was a committed and effective representative of his people and worked for their progress. His unfaltering support for the general interest of Owu Kingdom and its Chiefs-in-Council cannot be over-emphasised. He was loyal, devoted, dedicated, and faithful generally to Owu cause and interest.

“As the Chair of Owu Empowerment Committee, he

gave in cash and kind. Bolu will be greatly missed by his community, Local Government Area, State, and the nation in general. All Owu people have lost a great son.

“Given Bolu’s pedigree, it is not surprising that the life of his brilliance as a lawyer began to show itself right from his days at the University of London, University of California (Los Angeles), and Cambridge University where he had his legal education.

MEDIA PARLEY…

L-R: Imo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Bernard Ikegwuoha; Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Declan Emelumba; and Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Oguwuike Nwachuku, addressing journalists after the state executive council meeting at the Sam Mbakwe Exco Chambers, Owerri…yesterday

FG Releases N63.8bn for COVID-19 Response AuGF report indicts NCDC for financial irregularities Udora Orizu in Abuja The federal government released the total sum of N63.8 billion for COVID-19 response for the period that covered between March and June 2020.

The released amount is N20.097 billion lower than the N83.9 billion the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19 had budgeted in its proposals.

This was disclosed in the “Interim Report of the Special Audit of Federal Government of Nigeria’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic for the Period, 1st March to 30th June, 2020” that was submitted to the Clerk to the National Assembly

by the Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine.

A copy of the interim report that was sighted by THISDAY showed that N22.2 billion was released to the PTF and N24.6 billion was released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from the 2020 Capital budget.

The report observed that the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) failed to keep proper accounts of its financial expenses, donations and other activities amounting.

It showed that N17 billion was released as the federal government’s financial intervention to the state

governments on COVID-19; N1.9 billion was obtained from public donations into the five dedicated commercial bank accounts and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) while funds mobilised for COVID-19 responses stood at N226.9 billion.

The report said: “A total of N83.9 billion was budgeted by the federal government for the response to the pandemic and the expected sources to fund this budget were as follows; N16.9 billion from the 2020 Budget; N32.5 billion from the COVID-19 Special Account/ Levy and N34.5 billion was to be funded through donations

from the public and private sectors. ‘’In the course of implementing the COVID-19 intervention activities, funds mobilised from various sources as at June 30, 2020 include: “N30.1 billion raised

by Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) and is under their direct management. N110.05 billion in cash and in kind was raised by 12 international development partners and their intervention efforts are on-going in collaboration with the PTF. N21 billion was raised by the NNPC and its oil and gas sector partners and is under their direct management.”

Expert Cautions FG against Politicisation of COVID-19 Vaccines Distribution So how on earth would we be that the process must be based does not seem logical.

Eromosele Abiodun and Nume Ekeghe

A former consultant to the Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Rekevwe Ugwumba, has faulted the vaccination sharing formula across states in Nigeria, which was released by the federal government yesterday.

She warned against politicising the distribution process, stressing

on available data and science.

Ugwumba, who is a family health expert, stated this yesterday during as interview on the ‘Morning Show’ on Arise News, the THISDAY sister broadcast arm.

She said Lagos, which is the epicentre of the virus being given less allocation of vaccinations compared to some northern states which have rarer cases,

According to her, “We are doing politics where politics has no business. This is a science-based decision making that must be done through science, not politics. Lagos State that is densely populated would get less vaccines than Kano State, whereas we know there are over 1,000 infection cases today in Lagos, and it is actually where the infections really found.

giving the North more vaccines than the densely populated area where the vaccine is needed?

“The bottom-line is we really need to stop doing politics where politics has no business. We really need to ask the scientist, doctors and researchers to help us distribute these vaccines so that we can stop the spread of the COVID-19.”

Fayemi Flags off Construction of 1,000km Roads in Ekiti Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti Profound excitement was yesterday felt across many communities in Ekiti State as the state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, flagged off the construction of 1,000 kilometre-rural roads in the three senatorial districts of the state.

Fayemi, who was represented by the state

Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, explained that the roads, when constructed, would stimulate the grassroots economy, provide access to markets for farm produce and prevent post-harvest losses always incurred by farmers.

He said the project is co-financed by the state government, the World Bank and the French Agency for Development (AFD) under the

Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP).

The project took off with six pilot roads namely: OgotunAlagbede Road, Kajola-Ago Aduloju Road, Iyin Odo OroAroto Road, Itaji-Orisunmibare Road, Oke Ako Farm Road and Imesi Kosomolate Road, with others to commence in due course.

According to Fayemi, “The vision of this administration is

to construct 1,000 kilometres of rural roads across the 16 local government areas of the state with a view to increasing farm produce for local and foreign income earnings.

“You are all aware that the state government is embarking on the construction of a cargo airport to help transport our farm produce to other parts of Nigeria and other countries.

21

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯͳ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A S

A T

REPO 8% 9.33 %

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

6% 4% 6%

J A N U A R Y S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

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

8 , 2 0 2 1

671.24 % -0.00 % 0.14 %

S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE 0.14 % YEAR TO DATE 0.14 %

EXCHANGE RATE N379/1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes

FAAN Records 5m Passengers in 6 Months

STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP

Acting Managing Director, ZOLA Electric Nigeria, Mr. Olufemi Ashipa (left) and Lagos State Commissioner For Energy and Mineral Resources, Engr. Olalere Odusote, during the presentation of ZOLA Solar Systems to the Lagos state government... recently

Passenger Traffic, Air Fares Drop after Yuletide Chinedu Eze Air fares have started coming down after the Yuletide celebration as passenger traffic has dropped at the airports.

THISDAY checks revealed that there has been reduction in passenger traffic on many of the routes, but the Abuja-Lagos; Lagos-Abuja and Abuja-Owerri; Owerri-Lagos routes still record high traffic, even.

However, the cost of economy class has come down to N27, 000 from the over N60, 000 sold during the Yuletide.

Spokesman of Arik Air, Adebanji Ola, told THISDAY that airfares have marginally come down, but still relatively high compared to this time the previous years. He attributed

AVIATION this to the weakening exchange rate against the dollars.

He said as long as the value of the dollar remains high compared to the naira, airfares would still be high as aviation expenses are denominated in dollars.

“Yes fares have come down but they are still very high because the exchange rate to the dollar is still very high. That was the major reason that drove up airfares during Christmas season.

“Yes, there was high demand of tickets, which pushed the fares to upper bucket after the lower bucket was exhausted due to demand, but fares will still be high. What we have now is marginal decrease,” he said.

The Arik Air Communications

Manager also said that the removal of 7.5 per cent VAT from aviation also helped to drive down the fares.

“We have removed VAT from our fares, but fares are still relatively high until naira gains value against the dollar,” he said.

Travel expert and organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko, told THISDAY that the cost of operations for airlines is in dollars, except staff, which is not a high margin of expenses, as maintenance, training, spares, insurance and aircraft acquisition are expended in dollars.

The federal government on January 1, 2021, suspended the deduction of 7.5 per cent VAT on airfares and other air transport services.

The decision, which was contained in the 2020 Finance Act recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, became effective on January 1, 2021, elicited commendations from aviation industry operators who said that it would go a long way in reducing the cost of operation and also lead to reduction in airfares.

Head of Communication, Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa told THISDAY that government deserves commendation for the decision, but noted that while this could lead to slight reduction in fares, the major problem airlines are facing currently is the high exchange rate of the dollar.

He said if government could Continued on page 22

Custom Agents Clamour for National Shipping Policy to Check Malpractices Eromosele Abiodun Custom agents in the country have called on the federal government enact a new National Shipping Policy to match the prevailing realities in shipping businesses and end illegal and arbitrary charges by shipping companies.

In a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, they warned that except a properly defined industry guidelines are issued with the aim to revise and reform business practices in the industry, the shipping industry will never guarantee freight fluidity, “rather it will remain a rip off to the Nigeria Shippers as it stands now.”

The agents in the petition signed by Head, Research and Policy, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), said: “First is to begin by reminding

MARITIME Mr. President that, for many years, the businesses of the Nigeria Shippers together with critical transport service providers such as the freight forwarders have been frustrated by certain business practices employed by container shipping lines and terminal operators.

“In some instances, petitions are filed to the economic regulator for rule making, often the regulator appears to be overwhelmed by some other factors limiting their prompt regulatory functions.”

The agents also appealed to the government to constitute a fact finding team to undertake an inquiry into various inherent focused fact scenarios in the shipping and terminal operations.

“Such fact finding team will be charged to bring to your attention the real time problematic business

practices inherent in our maritime industry and difficulties thereof, especially as it relates to the shipping and terminal operations.

The shippers and forwarders strongly believe that, based on the supplementary information to be unravel by the inquiry team, that a further clarity to potential application of the interpretative rules to several businesses within the shipping- port value chain is apt.

“This is so because most of what presently represent Industry interpretative rules does not match the reality on ground.

Most importantly such reviewed application will motivate parties to act reasonably and facilitate disputes resolution within industry saving time and cost. Here again, this is most cogent, as envisaged change in shipping application will help keep the supply chain fairly and efficient, which in our thoughts is paramount to your

government,” they stated.

NAGAFF added that there is need to confirm the level of compliance to the earlier circular issued through the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), directing the terminal operators and shipping lines to wave storage and demurrage charges on shipments that falls within a stipulated period.

“A directives the shippers and forwarders applauded and termed it as “positive response and reasonableness of detention and demurrage charges during the early Covid-19 lock down.

However, this directive was subtly thwarted and politicised. The applied haphazard implementation of this directive led to the trapping of so many containers in the ports, aiding the present congestion in our port.

“Mr. President, permit us to also inform here that, the

The domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, known as the General Aviation Terminal One (GAT) recorded over five million passengers between July and December, 2020.

This was disclosed by theTerminal Manager, Mr. Adekunle Aderibigbe, who said passenger traffic was low during the period, but picked up during the Yuletide celebrations despite the effects of the pandemic.

He added that the airlines were up to their game in deploying more aircraft to handle the passenger upsurge.

Aderibigbe explained that safety, security and comfort of passengers remained the priority of FAAN, especially in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols. He, however, stated that the major challenge faced by the airport staff was dealing with travellers who refuse to comply with the protocols, saying despite the evidence of deaths caused by coronavirus, some people still believe the virus can’t kill Nigerians.

He added that a team had been constituted to enforce compliance to ensurethatpassengersabidebytheCOVID-19protocolattheterminal.

Aderibigbe said the airport had been cleared of unwanted visitors especially to avoid bottlenecks on the access roads, stressing that arriving passengers board their vehicles at the terminal car park.

He also applauded airlines for their insistence on passengers buying their tickets online, adding that this had led to a reduction in touting in the terminal, a development he said was welcomed.

Qatar Resumes Flight Service to Riyadh

Qatar Airways said it has resumed flights to Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a daily service.

QR1164 from Hamad International Airport to King Khalid International Airport took off in Doha at 13:45 local time and landed safely at its destination at 15:10.The flight was operated by Qatar Airways’ Airbus A350-1000. The airline said later this week, it would resume flights to Jeddah today with (QR1188 departing DOH at 18:50) and to Dammam tomorrow (QR 1150 departing Doha at 17:10).

“Passengers from KSA can once again enjoy the award-winning Qsuite, featuring sliding privacy doors and the option to use a ‘Do Not Disturb (DND)’indicator.TheQsuiteseatlayoutisa1-2-1configuration,providing passengers with one of the most spacious, fully private, comfortable, and socially distanced products in the sky.

“The national carrier of the State of Qatar continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 110 destinations with plans to increase to over 125 by the end of March 2021. A multiple awardwinning airline, Qatar Airways was named ‘World’s Best Airline’ by the 2019 World Airline Awards, managed by Skytrax. It is the only airline to have been awarded the coveted ‘Skytrax Airline of the Year’ title, which is recognised as the pinnacle of excellence in the airline industry, five times,” the airline said.

UK Imposes Mandatory Covid-19 Tests

The United Kingdom said starting next week, inbound passengers arriving by boat, plane or train would have to take a test up to 72 hours before departing the country they are in and could be denied boarding without this. International arrivals from anywhere in the world, including India, would now be required to prove a negative Covid-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to departure for the UK, as part of new measures announced on Friday to contain the spread of new variants of coronavirus circulating internationally.

Passengers would be subject to an immediate fine of 500 pounds if they fail to comply with the new regulations on pre-departure testing.

Starting next week, inbound passengers arriving by boat, plane or train will have to take a test up to 72 hours before departing the country they are in and could be denied boarding without this.

“We already have significant measures in place to prevent imported cases of Covid-19, but with new strains of the virus developing internationally we must take further precautions,” said UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

“Taken together with the existing mandatory self-isolation period for passengers returning from high-risk countries, pre-departure tests will provide a further line of defence – helping us control the virus as we roll out the vaccine at pace over the coming weeks,” he said.

Priortodeparture,passengerswouldneedtopresentproofofanegative Covid-19 test result to carriers, as well as fill out a passenger locator form, which was already in force.

“This new (COVID-19) strain from all intents and purposes is just another variant of coronavirus. we prevent its spread by enforcing protocols at the airports” Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),

Capt Hamisu Yadudu Continued on page 22

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BUSINESSWORLD PASSENGER TRAFFIC, AIR FARES DROP AFTER YULETIDE ensure a stable exchange rate for airlines it would go a long way to sustain their operations.

“The removal of VAT is good.

That will help to reduce cost of tickets as fares have returned to normal after the Yuletide. But we are not rejoicing because the dollar is still very high and everything we do is in dollars while we sell tickets in naira.

This is a problem. We wish that government could fix dollar exchange at lower rate for the airlines. This will help them to survive,” Ezenwa said.

Passengers are also paying more for passenger service charge (PSC) as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services (BASL) have increased their PSC.

CUSTOM AGENTS CLAMOUR FOR NATIONAL SHIPPING POLICY TO CHECK MALPRACTICES economic developments in our maritime shipping indicated a decrease trends in global manufacturing during the Covid19 lockdown. Thereby causing changes in local economies, which in response, impacted negatively on buying pattern of the consumer,” they added.

The agents requested that the federal government direct the port economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to establish, within its purview, a Bureau of Trade Analysis (BTA).

They noted: “The Bureau if empowered will traditionally relied on a combination of vessel operators to confidently provide data and information from commercially available industry data to monitor and analyse container carrier freight rates and service market trends.

“Finally, most countries are factoring economic policies towards guaranteeing food security, as this year witnessed many man-made draughts, courtesy of communal clashes, in which so many farmers lost their farm produce across states of the Federation, impacting on the nations agricultural products outputs.

“More farmers are presently rendered homeless thereby increasing the feeding provisions on the part of government. In addition, the rainfall this year has its own implications with regards to lesser harvest as opposed to bumper.”

ACCI Commends Moves to Harmonise Taxes within FCT James Emejo in Abuja

The President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Alhaji Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, has welcomed the declaration by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory Administration, Alhaji Muhammad Bello on plans to harmonise tax policy within the territory to ease the burden of multiple taxation on SMEs. He observed that multiple taxation within the FCT and the larger national economy had imposed crippling consequences on businesses, leading to several failed businesses, rising inflation and lack of capacity to engage unemployed youth among other consequences.

In a statement, he said the, “path of lower taxation to speed up the growth of the economy is a tested tool that has helped many economies.”

He noted that lower, but harmonised taxes will enhance prosperity of the economy adding that as an SME nation, expanding the base and health of the business sector is a smart choice to exit recession and adjust to the pandemic economic disruption.

He pointed out that Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, old Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, and Israel

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represented some of the nonwestern countries which had in the last 100 years, managed to move their countries from developing to developed economies through a combination of lower tax rate and high tax base.

The ACCI president said: “It is thus gratifying to note that FCTA is taking the lead to ease the tax burden on SMEs. Such an action will have multiplier effect on the FCT economy, leading to more job creation

and reduction of poverty rate.

“The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry is of the view that governments at all level should focus on increasing the tax base rather than the tax rate. According to official data, as a percentage of GDP, Nigeria taxes represent 6.1 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. The tax-to-GDP ratio in South Africa was 29 per cent, Ghana 18 per cent, Egypt 15 per cent and Kenya 18 per cent, says the OECD in

a 2019 report.

“More businesses and citizens should be brought under the tax regime albeit with reduced and well harmonised rates that is devoid of multiple taxation. We want to note that the tax policy reform being contemplated by the FCT administration is of direct significance and interest to us at the ACCI. Our members are negatively impacted by multiple taxation.”

He said the economy of the FCT was stunted by the

crippling tax regime adding that, “It is therefore our pleasure to identify and work with the FCTA to accomplish these noble objectives.”

“We consequently call on the FCTA to engage critical stakeholders in this very laudable reform. This will ensure that all relevant inputs are integrated before the finalisation of the reform plan. The ACCI is ready to provide interactive policy reform platform in support of the process,” he said.

CAPACITY BUILDING

L-R: Mr. Merkus Meinzer; Mr. Javier Garcia-Bernando, both of Tax Justice Network, and Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Service (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami during a 3-day workshop held in Abuja...recently

Products’ Authentication Will Safeguard Consumers, Says SON DG James Emejo in Abuja

The Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, has stressed the need for an authentication scheme to empower consumers at the point of purchase.

He, however, lamented the current situation where the agency is unable to carry out quality verification of all its regulated imported products at the points of entry nor accost suspected substandard products outside the ports.

Salim maintained that SON was set up to provide technical assistance and support to genuine local manufacturers as

well as protect them from unfair competition from substandard products.

Speaking in Kano during a working visit to the National Vice President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), North West Zone, Alhaji Ali Madugu, the SON chief executive, nonetheless, acknowledged the sacrifices on the part of manufacturers through investment in infrastructure, creation of job opportunities and regular payment of taxes as part of growing the country’s wealth and assured them of his commitment and support.

Highlighting the need for products authentication system, he said, “We need a symbiotic

relationship to succeed without loss of business and relevance.”

He stated that efficient service delivery remained his focus and invited MAN to pull forces together with SON for collective success in the interest of the Nation’s economy and the wellbeing of its people.

The SON DG further urged MAN and other stakeholders to look forward to seamless and robust deployment of information communication technology to enhance the agency’s delivery of efficient services and an appreciable reduction in turnaround time for standards development, product certification and registration amongst others.

He also called for partnerships to protect their brands through the deployment of a product authentication scheme to empower Consumers at the point of purchase.

He insisted that SON would not back down from implementing the law by diligent prosecution of standards infractions.”

Salim said: “We need to partner with MAN to protect genuine manufacturers and legitimate importers by sharing intelligence to apprehend and prosecute standards infractions.

With adequate consequences for actions, most people will follow the rules”.

Earlier, Madugu had called for the proper positioning of the

standards agency at the nation’s entry points in preparation for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

He also emphasised the need for SON’s quality verification of all imported products including those from West African Countries, even with the rule of origin in the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme.

According to him, the commencement of the AfCFTA further underscored the need for SON’s presence at the entry points to prevent Nigeria from being turned into a dumping ground of substandard, fake and counterfeited products from other African countries.

INTELS Empowers Fresh Batch of 40 Women via WEPSS Eromosele Abiodun

Group Business Editor

NEWS

Leading oil and gas logistics company, INTELS Nigeria Limited, has completed the training of a fresh batch of 40 women under its Women Empowerment Programme Scheme Synergy (WEPSS).

WEPSS is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative established by INTELS in 2013 to empower 5,000 community women over a 20-year period

through training in fashion design and tailoring. The beneficiaries are trained in two batches every year.

Since inception seven years ago, no fewer than 1,400 women drawn from various communities across the country have benefited from the empowerment scheme.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for beneficiaries of the 2020 Batch ‘A’ training held at the Federal Lighter

Terminal, Onne Port, Rivers State recently, the Managing Director of INTELS Nigeria Limited represented by the Regional Human Resources Manager, Mr. Michael Ndon, said WEPSS was designed to make the beneficiaries, “future employers”.

He said: “Graduation of trainees has been a tradition for us because INTELS cares.

This is one of our empowerment schemes for the communities

around us and we are very happy that over the years, so many people have graduated from this scheme and we are also aware that many of them are doing very well.

“We realised that there was a need to empower the people, to create future entrepreneurs.

This is not about just giving fish, but teaching how to fish so that they become future employers.”

While commending the WEPSS trainers for their com-

mitment to the realisation of the scheme despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ndon urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the knowledge acquired in the course of their training.

“This year has particularly been a difficult year because of COVID-19. We thank the team of trainers who, during this period, were able to get the training done and we are now witnessing the graduation.”

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Okunbo Adetona to Lead Nairabox’s Growth Plan Nigeria’s foremost lifestyle platform, Nairabox, owned by JORG Technologies Limited, has announced changes to its leadership structure with Tokunbo Adetona taking the reins as the sole Chief Execu-

tive Officer (CEO) of the firm effective 1 January 2021.

Prior to this restructuring, Nairabox maintained a dual CEO structure with Ugochukwu ‘Jay’ Chikezie serving alongside Adetona as Co-CEO.

Jay will provide support in implementing Nairabox’s 2021 growth plans as a member of the Board of Directors, JORG Technologies.

Speaking on the new structure, Adetona said: “While the

Co-CEO structure was necessary to bring Nairabox to where we are today, we recognise the rapid changes in today’s world that have necessitated a transition to a single CEO leading the business. With this

move, we will be better able to consolidate on the gains of previous years, increase our investments in business innovation and introduce more products and services to meet stakeholders needs.

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AJ Walters Emerges Preferred Bidder for Nigerian Maintenance Facility Stories by Chinedu Eze AJ Walters has emerged as preferred bidder for the establishment of aviation leasing company and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) centre in Nigeria.

The announcement was made by the Federal Ministry of Aviation, which explained that the Consortium of A J Walters Leasing Limited and Glovesly Pro-Project Limited emerged as the preferred bidders to establish the Aviation Leasing Company; while the Consortium of A J Walters Aviation Limited, EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering (EGME) and Glovesly Pro-Project Limited emerged as the preferred bidder to establish the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Centre.

The Ministry also explained that A J Walters Leasing (AJW Leasing) is the leasing subsidiary of A J Walter Group, adding that the company optimises airline fleet strategies by leasing aircraft engines and spare parts.

“This flexible approach is particularly beneficial for small to medium sized airlines seeking to maintain competitive advantage, manage cash and strictly control operational costs

for maximum profitability. AJ Walters Leasing manages a substantial portfolio of leases and has a customer base of 22 airlines in more than 20 countries. Glovesly Pro-Project Limited is an indigenous and integrated company incorporated under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The company has the capacity and the capability to contribute to the challenging and growing requirements in the aviation industry, communication, power sector, building construction, civil engineering, Road Construction and General procurement.

The ALC will be structured as a Joint Venture (JV) between the federal government and the private investor. The business model would be, in the short term, to lease aircraft from international lessors and subsequently sub-lease to African airlines while long-term plan is to acquire, own and lease aircraft directly to African airlines,” the Ministry said.

The statement further stated that AJ Walter Aviation Ltd provides supply, exchange, repair, and lease of commercial aircraft spare parts. Founded in 1961, the Company offers

total repair process management; logistics, transport, engineering, and aircraft project management services to clients worldwide.

“EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering (EGME) is a Leading MRO in the Middle East and Africa offering Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services to commercial aircraft, engines and components, with a customer base of over 81 airlines.

“Glovesly Pro-Project Limited is an indigenous and integrated company incorporated under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The company has the capacity and the capability to contribute to the challenging and growing requirements in the aviation industry, communication, power sector, building construction, civil engineering, road construction and general procurement.

The Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility which will be sited at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, will also run through Public Private Partnership (PPP) using the Build, Operate and Transfer (BoT) model and will have the capacity to service both Narrow Body (Jet and Turboprop) and Wide Body aircraft,” the Ministry disclosed.

Stakeholders Confirm Participation at AIB/LAAC Conference Stakeholders in Nigeria’s aviation industry have confirmed that they would participate in the conference organised by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigeria’s sole accident investigation agency, in partnership with the League of Airport & Aviation Correspondents (LAAC).

The event holds today in Lagos, with 70 stakeholders to attend physically and over 250 aviation industry professionals from across expected to participate virtually.

Those who have confirmed their physical participation include Engr. Akin Olateru, Commissioner/CEO, AIB; Capt Musa Nuhu, Director General,

Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA); Mr. George Uriesi, Managing Director, Ibom Air and Mr. Gbenga Olowo, President, Aviation Round Table.

Dr. Harold Demuren, former Director General of NCAA has also confirmed that he will participate virtually.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika is expected to be the Special Guest of Honour while Olateru will be the lead speaker. The Director General of NCAA will be the keynote speaker.

The programme will feature a panel discussion session with representatives of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), National Association of Aircraft

Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and other stakeholders on the panel.

NAAPE President, Mr. Galadima Abadinego and NATCA President, Mr. Agoro have both confirmed they will be physically present at the event. AON has equally confirmed physical participation.

Air Traffic Controllers, airline operators, air traffic and aircraft engineers, pilots, representatives of aviation agencies, security agencies and other stakeholders from across the world are expected to participate in the conference virtually.

Emirates Launches Global Sales to Inspire Nigerians Travellers Emirates has launched its muchawaited global sale to inspire and enable Nigerians reconnect with family and friends as well as explore new destinations in the New Year.

The airline said Nigerians can now travel to London at a special price of N317, 655.

The all-inclusive Economy Class fares to Manchester (UK) is N329, 875 and N313, 585 to Dubai.

Flights to Washington DC and Toronto are pegged at N378, 745 and N456, 120 respectively. Similarly, Business Class travel to London is fixed at N1, 478,320, Dubai is N1, 215,645, while flight to Washington DC has been discounted to N2, 260,240, and

Toronto N2, 423,140.

With these offers, Emirates customers could make up for lost time in 2021, the airline stated.

However, a statement explained that bookings have to be made between January 11, 2021, to January 25, 2021, for travels between January 11, 2021, and June 15, 2021.

“Emirates’ booking policies also offer customers flexibility and confidence to plan their travel. The Middle East carrier said customers who purchase an Emirates ticket for travel on or before June 30, 2021, can enjoy generous rebooking terms and options, if they have to change their travel plans. Customers have options to change their

travel dates or extend their ticket validity for two years. .

“Emirates Skywards, the loyalty programme of Emirates and flydubai, is also making sure members get the best out of their travels with special Cash + Miles rates. Bookings made from January 3 to 20, 2021, for travel between January 3 and 15 June 2021 can enjoy a special conversion offer where 2,000 Skywards Miles is equivalent to $20 for Economy Class flights; and 2,000 Skywards Miles is equivalent to $40 for First and Business Class flights. With no minimum number of Miles needed to spend, Skywards members can pay for part of their ticket’s cost with as little as one Mile,” it stated.

Pains of COVID-19 Test, Payments Delays

MMIA Chinedu Eze Passenger who have travelled back to Nigeria since international flight operations reopened on September 5, 2020, have complained of delays at the coronavirus screening procedure where arriving passengers are made to spend hours before they are attended to by port health officials.

THISDAY learnt that the passengers are also made to pay for COVID-19 tests, which many of them see as exploitation because some of them are allegedly not tested after the payment.

Informed sources told THISDAY that the travellers on many occasions have protested over the COVID-19 protocols, which sometimes takes as long as four hours, as testified by some passengers who spoke to journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja recently.

The objective of the screening is to make sure that arriving passengers are coronavirus free.

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had directed in the revised protocol that international travellers arriving Nigeria must conduct a mandatory COVID-19 PCR test within four days (96 hours) before departure to Nigeria.

The Nigeria International Travel Portal directs that arriving passengers must fill passenger pre-boarding health declaration screening form and pay between N48, 000 to N50, 000 for the conduct of coronavirus test on arrival. After the payment Port Health was supposed to assign the passenger to a lab, where he would be tested for COVID-19.

THISDAY investigation at the Murtal Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos revealed that this process takes a long time.

Passenger that arrived at the airport spend not less than one and half hours at the COVID-19 screening.

A passenger who recently arrived from South Africa, who simplify identified herself as Christiana, told THISDAY that she spent about two hours at the COVID-19 screening area before going to Immigration, noting that the

I am also aware that there were people who were invited for test and they went and were tested but since the test was done they have not received any result from them over a week now

delay could also be determined by the influx of passengers, as flights land at the airport.

THISDAY also learnt that many of the passengers who make payment do not get confirmation and the Port Health don’t assign some of them to health facilities where they could be tested.

A passenger who arrived MMIA in December last year who confirmed this to THISDAY, saying there was so much pressure for her to make payment and it was the same thing with other passengers. According to her, once the payment was made, Port Health officials did not follow up with the same steam to ensure that the passengers were tested.

“When we arrived we filled forms because I did not fill it online. After filling the form they brought POS for payment. I paid and I was told I would get the health facility where I would go for the test. Some of the passengers I was with at the flight also paid money and there was no follow up about going to do test.

“I am also aware that there were people who were invited for test and they went and were tested but since the test was done they have not received any result from them over a week now. What I don’t understand is why they insist on payment for repeat test when they do not follow up to ensure that the test was administered. I travelled to the East on my return and I found out that many hospitals are doing the test free. So why insist on payment of the money for test when most people who made the payment are not tested?” she queried.

THISDAY spoke to the Director, Port Health Services at the Lagos airport, Dr. Morenike Alex-Okoh on telephone and she said she was not authorised to talk as a public servant, she however maintained that port health officials were carrying out PTF COVID-19 directive.

However, the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu told THISDAY that the agency was not responsible for the delay at the airports, noting that Port Health is wholly in charge of COVID-19 procedure and confirmed about the delay of passengers.

She noted that as a gateway the two international airports in Lagos and Abuja, which currently serve international flight operations, are carefully maintained by FAAN because the agency is aware that foreigners rate the country from their arrival at the airports and whatever impression they have affects the image the Nigeria has abroad.

“We have really improved the airport.

We have renewed the COVID-19 protocol markings and improved facilities and are fully ready for the second phase of the virus. The procedure for screening of arriving passengers are under the Port Health. They are fully in charge of that; so if there are any issues you should find out from them. Yes, I learnt that passengers spend long time during COVID-19 screening and I am hopeful that concerned officials will look into it,” she said.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Fagbemi: NAHCO Lost 70% of its Market Due to COVID-19 The Group Managing Director, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, Mrs. Olatokunbo Fagbemi, in this interview reveals that the company lost 70 per cent of its market during the coronavirus lockdown. This, she says has started picking. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts:

W

hat is the impact of COVID-19 on your operations since 2020?

Last year was a very, very challenging and interesting one, and this time last year we were projected for growth. And if you look at our figures, which were published, at the beginning of 2020, I think we had about 20 per cent or 30 per cent growth in the month of January. And by the end of the quarter it dwindled a bit because of, I think the impact of COVID-19 started in March. We made our projections for 2020, looking at the gains of November and December 2019, but we didn’t imagine that it was going to be what it was, but we were aware of what was happening in Asia in terms of COVID-19 disruptions. As part of our strategy for 2020, we took cognisance of the impact of SARs (Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome) and all the others ones and projected that their effect would not extend to Africa, as it happened in the past. So we had our eye on COVID-19 but we never imagined it would have such devastating effect. As at March 2020, we had a business contingency plan and a business continuity plan as part of our operations policy. So one of the things that we did just before the lockdown was to do a business continuity plan again, reviewed it, attached names, and really rolled out what we intended to do if anything happened. What would we do? How do we shut down? We had that, and then we took it to our board and luckily we had a very good, strong board with good corporate governance.

We had to go back to the Board because we had to do things differently in response to the impact of COVID-19. We already had what we had planned for the year, an approved budget, approved revenue, but we now had to do things differently. We got the full support of the board.

We had meetings with our managers to update them. We did not fully envisage what was going to happen but that was what helped us to be able to move forward. We met with our staff, the union but not with everybody because we couldn’t wish to make everybody panic. So when the lockdown started and the shutdown of the aviation industry, we had already put our team in place. And kudos to our team, we have people that practically lived here for months, working in maintenance.

Without activities and earning revenue, how are we going to fund everybody? And then there is also the issue of having so many people come around when you are talking about social distancing, and you didn’t even know what was happening. So, each unit selected the number of people that would stay. I wish to use this opportunity to commend our staff because without them we wouldn’t have survived. We wouldn’t be talking as we are talking now.

And a lot of people had to make sacrifices to stay behind, not moving back and forth, to be able to ensure that things were happening.

For example, our maintenance team, the skeletal team that stayed on ground during the lockdown, spent that time in refurbishing equipment, painting, cleaning of the yard and making things work. So we had a smaller team doing the work that a lot of people would do. And that is a sacrifice for those people that did that. As things evolved, it turned out that, as you are aware, it was cargo that picked up. And cargo did not just pick up, it changed; it changed from cargo coming on freighters to cargo first being loaded in the aircraft with the seats inside the aircraft. So you can imagine how difficult it was. It was difficult moving cargo in aircraft, especially with social distancing protocols. But our team was able to successfully take up the challenge and they supported the airlines and today we can say that we had seamless cargo operations all through and that helped us. But we lost revenue. Everyone lost revenue. But it taught us how to do things differently, how to operate differently, how to manage our enterprise ourselves as a whole, differently.

organisation lost during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond?

You know COVID-19 has not ended that is why I said I want to wait till the end of the year. But I said that at a point in time we were hitting 70 per cent lose when it was at the tick of it and nothing was happening. And then we began to tapper down to about 20 per cent, 30 per cent. But we need to finish the year, when we finish the year we will practically say COVID-19 has impacted on everything, even though we didn’t realise it then as such in Nigeria, but that was the impact. Because cargo was going down, cargo goes down during the Chinese New Year, which is around February but it really dipped and then it kept dipping rather than picking up after. So, on the improvement of passenger services side, maybe yes, at the end of March but the impact was there already.

Fagbemi So we also had to go back to our Board and let them know that these were the realities and we had the support of the Board to review our outlook for the year; look at things that were not tenable and say, okay how do we move forward? Last year was supposed to be a year of consolidation because we started our transformation plan and we had this investment plan to keep investing in equipment. We did some but we couldn’t do it to the level at which we wanted to do it to. But we still needed to have the support of the Board to say look, this is what we agreed, this is what the Board has told us to do, this is what we are now doing. As services began to increase, we began to call people back. And during the year, we met all our obligations to our staff, yes, we had to rework for those that were at home and at the end of the year, we are grateful to God that everything that we normally give to our staff at the end of the year, we are able to ensure that everybody had a nice end of year. We wouldn’t have finished the year the way we finished it successfully if not for them.

Just as you said earlier, the outbreak of COVID-19 had negative impact on your business. In terms of percentage, what was the drop between 2019 and 2020?

At a point in time, when it was really bad, it was as bad as almost like 70 per cent. When things were bad, but then it began to improve.

And one of the other things that have been a challenge for us is the fact that we were spending more money in the course of our services because the dollar has gone up in value against the naira. The cost of everything has gone up but in Nigeria we charge less than every other person in the region. Sometimes

we charge as low as 200 per cent to 300 per cent less. So we should be supported as ground handlers because we have put in a lot to support the businesses, especially the domestic market and we understand the challenges. But we also know that there is a time when there is need to be supported and we need that support now from every quarter. This is how we can really; really ensure that we recoup all that we put in to do this business.

On the financial side, what was the relief when the cargoes started coming?

The cargoes started to come and we were relieved that we had something, but it did not come at the rate of 2019 in terms of volume, no. But that it came and it was improving, that was a ray of hope for us that definitely we were on the right track. And it has helped in cushioning a lot of effects because as you are aware, more of our business is passenger services, aircraft handling. So, yes, we had that support from cargo and we are still looking on for that. We actually have a new airline coming directly from China. We handle them and we can see their business picking up. All our airline clients have had an improvement in cargo. And we are happy for them and we are ready to support all the airline business whether it is DHL, Air France KLM, Qatar, Ethiopian etc. You know some were also doing belly cargo so when the passenger aircraft did not come in, then there was no belly cargo from airlines like Lufthansa. But as the passenger aircraft started to come in, we started having that cargo. We also had a lot of people come in to do charters and add up. So, yes, it wasn’t so bad.

You didn’t actually tell us how much the

I think that our domestic airlines should veer towards doing more cargo. And the other thing is that we haven’t properly, as a country structured cargo well enough to optimise the benefits of cargo

You made mention of the changing dynamic when it comes to cargo coming from freighter, aircraft to passenger, how easy is it to adjust from your own operational angle?

It has not been easy but we have had to do that. We had to review how we use our resources. So the kind of high loaders you will use for a freighter is different from the high loader you will use on the passenger services.

So you will see that we need to be very strategic in how we deploy the use of our high loaders.

You need more steps; you need more people because with the freighter you just practically roll it and roll it onto the high loader and it comes down. Now you have to do a bit more physical work, it is actually easier now; most of the airlines have removed the seats.

But initially when it started they had the seats on. But we understood where they are coming from; first, a lot of the things that were coming were to support CACOVID (Coalition Against COVID-19) and co. So as a citizen of Nigeria, we needed to do everything to support that. It wasn’t whether it was convenient, it wasn’t about the money, and it was this is what is needed at this point in time, aboding by the Coronavirus safety protocol. That was the first approach, yes initially there was some resistance. But we sat down and we spoke to our people and then we also spoke to the airlines and said, if you are going to continue this way then put some form of safety to it; so that while we provide this service, we can provide it as safe as possible. And I think that is part of the reasons why the seats are out now so it is easier to move. Yes, we want freighters, it is purposely built for that job, it is easier to do but we also understand where the industry is and the dynamics and the needs of the industry.

To what extent do you think that Nigeria is maximising the shift in cargo freighting locally and what do you think domestic airlines can be doing differently?

I think that our domestic airlines should veer towards doing more cargo. And the other thing is that we haven’t properly, as a country structured cargo well enough to optimise the benefits of cargo. For example, there is no standard Nigerian packaging. When you see packages from China, you know that they are from China. When you see packages from England, you know they are from England, when you see packages from India, you know they are from India and also the kind of weight it has; that is a lot of work.

And some of the work may involve government closing their eyes to some banned items.

For example, if you want to take things with some of these packages that maintain the temperature, I don’t think it is fabricated here.

So will government close their eyes and say we ban some paper things but you can bring this type? Those are the kind of things that we had a discussion on with Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC). So we have to standardize the process. We have even tried to do so to create some NAHCO packaging.

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BUSINESSWORLD

MARITIME

Safeguarding Seafarers’ Welfare Eromosele Abiodun writes on the commitment by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to ensure the safety, training and welfare of seafarers in the country

S

hipping is an industry that contributes over 90 per cent to the world economy.

There are about 51,400 merchant ships operating all over the world, transferring goods between places, keeping economies running. Whether it is oil from the Gulf or iPhones in containers being delivered from one part of the world to another, everything is running round the clock, with precision and diligence.

Who are the people responsible for this non-stop action? While the shipbrokers and the charterers and the owners take care of the financial aspects backing the viability of the trade, the seafarers are the ones executing it in real life aspect. The trade is only so good when the product is delivered safe and on time to the receiver, and seafarers ensure that Sundays or public holidays notwithstanding.

Seafarers do not understand the concept, rather cannot be allowed to understand the concept of Sundays because someone, somewhere, is in need of a product that must be delivered clean and on time.

Also, nations are fuelled by gas and to make it clearer, the shortage of oil supply because of a stalled ship can cause chaos.

The job of seafarers involve years of rigorous training in mastering the aspects of navigation, cargo work and ship operations and the everyday precise application of it.

Ships carry more than 90 per cent of the world trade and these ships are manned and operated by seafarers. Hence, it can be safely said that seafarers are serving 90 per cent of mankind’s need directly or indirectly.

Experts believe that with the recent advancements in technology wherein ships are gradually moving towards being unmanned, this could be deemed as a threat to the seafaring profession.

While it might affect the profession in some way, leading practitioners are optimistic that the years of theoretical knowledge, practical applications, and experience at sea can never be replaced by machine.

The sea and winds, they argued, do not always follow the predicted patterns adding that the human angle to shipping will always be invaluable.

However, as critical as seafarers are to the Nigerian economy, the practitioners are often treated shabbily by ship-owners who mostly employ them. There is a gradually shit, however, as concerned stakeholders makes moves to ensure adequate welfare of seafarers.

In a bid to ensure sanity in the relationship between ship owners and seafarers, the federal government recently threatened to sanction ship owners who default in the implementation of the contributory pension scheme for seafarers.

Improving quality of training As part of the effort to improve seafarers’ welfare the Nigerian government recently announced that there are policies in the pipeline to improve the quality of training and certification, as well as remuneration for the country’s seafarers.

Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this while speaking at an occasion to mark the Day of the Seafarer held in Lagos.

The session, attracted local and international participants, with the key speaker and consultant at Transbasin Limited, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Karen Ogidigben Onimisi, and Nigerian Labour Attaché at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Switzerland, Essah Aniefiok Etim, calling for better welfare and support for seafarers.

According to Jamoh, “Policies are in the pipeline to improve the quality of training and certificates we give to the seafarers. We are taking steps to standardise the curriculum of our training institutions in line with international standards. We are also working on increasing the remuneration of our seafarers. These policies would be announced as soon as we complete work on them.”

He said seafarers were among the most courageous people in the world, stressing that the theme for this year’s Day of the Seafarer, ‘Seafarers are Key Workers,’ is a “testament to the fact that the world cannot do without seafarers. Seafarers hold the key to humanity’s

Jamoh

survival on a day-to-day basis. They hold the key to our wellbeing in this time of COVID-19 period.”

Jamoh praised seafarers for sustaining the global supply chain, distributing urgently needed medical supplies with enormous risk to their lives and families.

“The seafarers are unsung heroes, they are also our invisible heroes. We see their handwork every day and everywhere in agricultural machinery, the food we eat, and the unbroken run of the manufacturing base, despite the global lockdown.”

The DG spoke on the challenges faced by seafarers amid the coronavirus pandemic, including stringent work conditions in some countries, movement restrictions, lockdowns, crew change difficulties, fatigue and seasickness, and disruption of contracts.

He said: “As a regulator, we have taken steps to alleviate the suffering of the seafarers.

NIMASA was among the first government agencies to declare seafarers as being on essential duty, and we published this in a marine notice. We also issued COVID-19 guidelines to incoming ships towards ensuring that there is no importation of the virus by sea.

“NIMASA was the first in West Africa to issue a COVID-19 marine notice. We challenged ship-owners and employers of seafarers to take necessary proactive measures to lessen the pains of seafarers. We also walked in lockstep with the IMO to tailor all our marine notices in the early period of COVID-19 towards supporting the extension of the validity of seafarers’ certificates, crew change, guidelines, procedure and their designation as essential workers.”

According to Jamoh, “It is said that a good sailor weathers the storm he cannot avoid; COVID-19 was a storm Seafarers couldn’t avoid.

As tried and tested seamen and women, our seafarers have continued to weather this storm for us. We celebrate you today. Nigeria thanks

you, the world appreciates you, NIMASA as a regulator will never abandon you. We will support you all the way.”

On her part, Onimisi called on the international community to render necessary assistance to seafarers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She commended NIMASA for supporting seafarers during the pandemic and emphasised the need for Nigeria to develop post-pandemic measures to make the country’s seafarers internationally marketable and competitive.

Onimisi said: “Seafarers are part of the global supply chain and should have access to shore leave at ports in accordance with global regulations. There is also a need to look at improved ways to mitigate the challenges that COVID-19 has brought before us, commencing with digitalisation of our processes, including local training and licensing of Nigerian seafarers.”

Also speaking Etim sued for better working conditions for seafarers.

He called for greater opportunities to make their voices heard, saying they should be encouraged through appropriate rewards and compensations.

Marginalisation Meanwhile, seafarers in the country have in recent times decried what they described as marginalisation by foreign shipping lines and Nigeria LNG Limited in preference for their counterpart in other countries with less qualification.

This, they said, is despite the massive investment in seafarers’ development by the federal government championed by NIMASA. According to them, the discrimination formerly popular among foreign companies has become evident in Nigeria with several indigenous companies including the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), a liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing company with the Nigerian government as a shareholder.

We are taking steps to standardise the curriculum of our training institutions in line with international standards. We are also working on increasing the remuneration of our seafarers.

These policies would be announced as soon as we complete work on them

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, a seafarer, Daniel Ikueyemi, posited that the poor feedback mechanism at NIMASA has deprived the agency of the true impact of the investment in seafarers’ development.

Ikueyemi lamented that most seafarers trained under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) are on the verge of having their Certificates of Competence (CoC) expire, “yet many have no resources to renew it because they never had an opportunity of going on board vessels even for a single day.

“NLNG rejects seafarers with Nigerian CoCs. NLNG is a company in which the nation has shares. If this certificate doesn’t have value in our country and organizations like NLNG reject it, there is no need talking about acceptability of this certificate around the globe. There is no point wasting our time on that, “he said.

Ikueyemi proposed that NIMASA creates a seafarers’ desk at the agency with the onus of receiving valuable information and experiences of seafarers especially on practices onboard vessels.

According to him, this can be an avenue to enable the agency resolve the numerous problems associated with seafaring, as “NIMASA would better capture seafarers experiences.”

His words: “NIMASA shouldn’t allow their resources waste away because that is what happens when the seafarers aren’t engaged. The duration of CoC is five years and it becomes useless if one doesn’t utilize it during that timeframe.”

“Imagine the millions of dollars that has been spent on NSDP already. Nevertheless, NIMASA can’t give account of the number of cadets they have trained so far. A lot of people have left the system unnoticed.”

On the discrimination of Nigerian seafarers because of the quality of their CoCs, he said: “Every Nigerian that goes to have his or her CoC outside the country already understands the issue of discrimination. It has become a common thing for us. Discrimination against those operating with Nigerian CoCs has become the norm. Nigerian seafarers are already discriminated. So the discrimination resulting from the CoCs becomes discrimination out of the discriminated. Our CoCs are now discriminated among the discriminated CoCs.” “We don’t need to go far to talk about how other countries discriminate seafarers with Nigerian CoCs. The discrimination is evident in Nigeria. There are lots of companies in Nigeria that state clearly that they want seafarers with foreign CoCs. These are companies operating on Nigerian waters.”

Engaging seafarers He encouraged NIMASA to have Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several countries for seafarers’ engagement, especially African nations in dire need of seafarers.

“We should not only focus on the Western countries for such partnerships. There are lots of African nations in dire need of seafarers and we can start from Africa. The essence of having MoUs with African nations shouldn’t only be to lobby for IMO Council elections. Nigerian seafarers can have privilege to work in other African countries with these MoUs,” he said.

He also stressed the need to improve the quality of Nigerian CoCs so that it can’t be easily forged, noting that around the globe there is a perception that Nigerian CoCs can be easily forged.

According to him, these perceptions further reduces the value of Nigerian CoCs, adding that a lot of people with the Nigerian CoCs never attended the required classes to sit for it, meanwhile a lot of those who have taken the classes don’t have the ability to pass the examination for the CoC. “We have discovered from the studies and data collected that more than 50 per cent of the people who sit for the examinations say that there is no correlation between what is taught in class and the curriculum for the examination.

The curriculum given for the examination is obviously different from what is done in the classes,” he posited.

He also lamented the long waiting time for results of CoCs, which takes almost one year in Nigeria, whereas other nations complete the process in one week or one month at most.

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THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 08038901925

Erica Nlewedim: Star Girl, Queen of Elites

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Erica Nlewedim: Star Girl, Queen of Elites Erica Ngozi Ugomma Nlewedim is an actress, model, beauty queen and TV reality show star but call her Star Girl and you won’t be mistaken. Although her brand has grown to encompass premium ambassadorial deals, Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that during her sojourn to the Big Brother Naija Lockdown edition, she bagged herself an irreplaceable treasure- her fans, known as The Elites Paul Okoye.

Soon after she announced her ambassadorial deal with luxury hair, Kukushair. She afterwards bagged premium dual deals as the face and ambassador of Legend Extra Stout and Star Radler of the Nigerian Breweries Company. She also got signed to Deshapeables, a weight loss company.

W

ind! Fire!

Water! Earth are the four elements that best define Erica Ngozi Ugomma Nlewedim. Like the wind, she soars; like the fire she blazes through life despite hurdles; like water she is fluid and like earth, her core is grit. Welcome to the world of the Star Girl as she was dubbed by her fans- The Elites, otherwise known as the Elite League.

Dedicated Song As part of the torrents of love continuously showered on her, one of her fans, who is also an upcoming artist with stage name ‘Eyecan’ just released a new song titled ‘Are you fine like Erica’. The feel-good song has become popular among Elite fans, especially after Erica posted a video of herself vibing to it.

Life Before Big Brother Even before Big Brother, Erica was already on to great things. According to information on IMDB, “Born to Oby Nwokolo and Eric Nlewedim Christian in Lagos, Erica Nlewedim is a Nigerian actress, model and entrepreneur.

“She had her secondary school education at Victory Grammar School, Lagos and was later moved to Command Secondary School, Ikeja. Erica’s quest for knowledge took her to Covenant University where she graduated with a degree in Business Administration.

“Erica discovered her modeling talent at a young age. In 2013, she became the brand ambassador for Natures Gentle Touch; a personal style brand that uses natural ingredients to solve hair and scalp challenges.

“In 2014, she participated in the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MGBN) pageant where she quickly became a fan favourite which earned her the MBGN Miss Photogenic award. The competition made her gain massive recognition which saw her work with high profile brands. She also featured in a Peak Milk TV advert alongside Nigerian pop Artiste, Falz.

“Over her modelling years, Nlewedim has worked with brands including Glo, Jumia, and MyZotoApp. from 2015-2017, Nlewedim was the brand face for Zaron Cosmetics, Access Bank and Maltina.”

Acting Career Also according to IMDB, “Erica’s acting career kicked off in 2015 with a lead role in Secrets and Scandals. She also featured in the TV Series, Royal Castle for three seasons.

In that same year, she starred in the movie Poka Messiah.

“In 2016, she featured in a thriller; Once Upon A Night, where she played a supporting character. Erica has also featured in TV series and movies like My Flatmates and The Paternity Deal, Being Farouk, Dead Rites, Fractured, Win or Lose, Made in heaven and a host of others. She also played a supporting role in the blockbuster movie, Hire A Woman.

“In a bid to further her acting career, Erica studied Acting for Film at the Met Film School, London, in 2019.” At the end of the training, she produced her own short film ‘Mercy Mercy’.

Foundation Given her philanthropic nature, IMDB further revealed that Erica founded the Erica Nlewedim Foundation in 2018; a nongovernmental organisation geared towards catering to underprivileged children. The foundation embarks on periodical visits to orphanage homes with the donation babies’ supplies and other consumables.

In December 2019, the foundation launched

Erica: Queen of Hearts Novella Also dedicated to her was a novella by an avid fan, Mira Harlson titled Erica: Queen of Hearts. According to the author, “this book is dedicated to Erica Nlewedim, an award winning Nigerian actress and ex reality TV star. Purely a work of fiction, however, some aspects are real, based on her life inside and out of the show Big Brother Nigeria. Erica is currently one of the biggest names in Africa, and this book celebrates her growth, and achievements.”

Elite Anthem Composed by Happy Tenebe, the Elite Anthem chronicles Erica’s journey, pains and triumphs, as well as the love and staunch support of her fans.

Elite Career Database Aside the day-to-day cruising on social media with trends, the Elite fan base has proven to be career and goal oriented. They recently set up a ‘Career Database’.

According to the figureheads (@Pricey_Mona, originator; @Ms_Dhemie, blog host; and @Fehintola, editing), “the Elite Career Database is a professional hub aimed at promoting the careers and businesses of Elites all around the globe, helping us network with colleagues in our fields and encouraging us to do business with one another.”

Ugomma Nlewedim

its Hunger Heroes Campaign which successfully fed 1000 less privileged individuals on the streets of Lagos.

Journey to BBNaija Like other housemates, Erica joined the 2020 set of Big Brother Naija Lockdown edition. There she lived up to her truth, showing her vulnerability, emotions and attachments. Although it garnered her more enemies than friends, she proved to be a strong contender for the throne.

Disqualified but a Star Regardless On September 6, 2020, her journey in the BBNaija house was abruptly cut short after she got into a messy fight with one of the housemates. Contrary to public opinion that she would fade to obscurity after such an unceremonious exit, a certain factor proved that wrong- The Elites.

Unexplainable Love of an Elite Family If there was one thing that kept her going apart from the love from her family and friends, it was the strong support of her fan base-The Elites, a fact she has acknowledged countless times.

Lending credence that they were not just there for the good times, her fans proved a

strong backbone from the hate. From classy meet and greets to showering her with gifts like flowers, money bouquets, designers items, and even dogs, they also trend her each day regionally and even globally.

Fundraising Channeling their anger from the disqualification, the Elites started off a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe. The organisers targeted $100,000 but they raked in a whopping $71, 887 and closed the account, having met over 75 per cent of their initial goal.

Elite League Clothiers When she was still in the BBNaija house, her then management produced the customised Elite League clothings made up of Sweatshirt, crop top, hoodie, joggers, beanie, Tee-shirts, varsity jackets, face mask and it was sold out within five hours. Although they are yet to restock, many elites have already queued up to show their purchasing power.

Ambassadorial Deals After staying off social media to recuperate, Erica’s first move was to be signed up to be managed by renowned Upfront and Personal Management Company owned by

Elite League Magazine Championed by Muslimah Idris, Kudirat Ijeoma Ibeabuchi, Kagiso Malgas, Poelano Gasehete, Lucy Nonso and Sandra Egwenum, the elites also executed another first- they successfully launched the Elite Magazine.

According to Idris, the magazine, which was launched on November 10, 2020, was created to make Erica and the Elites League known to the world.

Elite Station Head Radio Not one to do things in half measures, the fan base also recently set up an Elite Station Head Radio, a virtual radio base, where fans can express themselves.

Although vendors are invited to advertise their business and skills, the objective of the radio is to “expand our coast.. #eliteleague is more than a fanbase, it’s a community.. come with your positivity as we connect”.

Summarily, without subtracting her sheer determination and grit to succeed, if one counts the genuine love of her fandom or Elite League like they love to be called, Nlewedim’s light is not about to dim anytime soon. Although she did not win the BBNaija Lockdown season, she did win one of the greatest blessings ever- a family like no other- The Elites.

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Egyptian, Rwandan Government Award Certificate to Lord’s Chosen Church

Director of Training Day, Tolu Ajayi

“Training Day” Selected for ARFF International Amsterdam 2021 Awards Showcase

Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, acknowledging cheers from Chosen worshippers

Stories by Mary Nnah The government of Egypt has honoured the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, Egypt branch with a Golden Certificate Award.

The Coordinator of Egypt branch of the church, Pastor Rufus Obi, disclosed this while testifying to the work of God at the four-day annual International Crusade of the church, titled: What God has determined shall be done, in Imo State, which held from January 3 to 6, 2021.

He said issuance of the golden certificate was an indication of a clean bill of health to the church to carry on with their activities and operations in the land of Egypt without hitch.

According to him, it was also an indication that the Chosen Church is a peace -loving church, not only in Egypt, but worldwide.

Obi also explained that a certain member of The Lord’s

Chosen was arrested in Egypt, for not having the required documents, but when the certificate was shown to the police, the person was released.

Obi said the certificate is a sign of recognition and blessings of God, pointing out that it would help immensely in safeguarding Chosen members in Egypt, especially immigrants.

“For over eighty to ninety years ago, no church has been given the golden certificate in Egypt. But that which seemed impossible to do, has been made possible. In fact , it is only God that can do it”, Obi noted.

He urged Chosen members who go to Egypt, to feel free because the Chosen has a Golden Certificate to protect their interests. Also, the government of Rwanda has issued the legal personality to the Lord’s Chosen in the country.

Also speaking at the crusade, National Coordinator of the church in Rwanda, Pastor Chukwuemeka Innocent hinted

that the government, under President Paul Kagame issued the permanent document to The Lord’s Chosen, even when there is a strict restriction on establishment of churches in the country.

“When we got to the country on September 8, 2020, almost all churches were closed by the government on strict conditions and no one was given authorisation.

“When we applied for authorisation to establish our church, we did not know that the authorities in Rwanda visited Nigeria to find out whether we are genuine.

“We were surprised when they told us about our church, our General Overseer and our way of worship. Thereafter, they commended us, saying that our church will be useful to them, and issued the certificate to us.”

He explained that 95 per cent of churches in Rwanda are owned by indigenes, as

no foreigner was allowed to establish a church.

Speaking at the crusade, General Overseer of the church, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, said with a 10billion soul mandate, the church and visitors who came to the crusade from all over the world were hopeful that the programme would bring healing, deliverance, miracles, signs and wonders.

Muoka admonished all to jettison immoral acts capable of leading them to hell fire, but should be conscious of making heaven at last.

“You target should be making it to heaven at last, and that cannot be possible without holiness and righteousness”, Muoka added.

Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri and former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha were among the personalities that attended the programme to receive fresh blessings and power to face all challenges in 2021 and beyond.

Rotary District 9110 Gets New Governor Mr. Bola Oyebade was recently decorated the new District Governor of Rotary District 9110 covering all Rotary clubs in Lagos and Ogun State.

Oyebade, who has a Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA), was installed in a ceremony held at the Rotary Centre, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

Rotarian Oyebade said it is his intention to create various opportunities for Rotarians to make greater impact in their communities.

District Governor Oyebade said, the major programme for the rotary year, which started July 1, 2020, and ends by June 30, 2021, is to focus on prostate cancer. We have decided to focus on two sides; one is the screening aspect.

“We want to screen 1,000 people that are above the age of 40, as of now, after spending about four months in the current rotary year, we have screened over 500 people and currently screened over 600 people out of the 1000 people mentioned. While the

District Governor of Rotary International, District 9110 Nigeria, Rotarian Bola Oyebade with his family during the event.

building of Rotary prostate cancer center also need support.”

In addition, Oyebade also revealed that another project close to his heart is

the Micro Credit Scheme where 26 people has been given N50,000.

The Scheme aims to empower 34 beneficiaries with an interest-free loan of N50,000, repayable over a period of five months, and already 46 people have been awarded.

The District Governor, while delivery his speech, thanked the Ogun State government for supporting the Rotary club with four plots of land at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital, to construct the prostate cancer center.

“There is no better way to supporting rotary and supporting the project”, he said.

According to him, “this year, I assure residents of Lagos and Ogun States, which make up district 9110 that they will see, read and hear more about the impressive exploits that the rotary club will be doing. I have no doubt that we will be delivering significant projects and making an impressive impact”.

Tolu Ajayi, the Director of the short, “Training Day”, was selected as “Best Director” as part of the official Monthly Selection (December 2020) for the ARFF Amsterdam International Awards.

“Training Day” is a short film based on Paradigm Initiative’s 2019 Digital Rights in Africa report, featuring the story of a young man whose quest for work took an unexpected turn.

The film tells the story of a young man, Jude, (acted by Tomiwa Tegbe) whose quest for work took an unexpected turn.

After witnessing for himself what the perceived security company he secured a job in was into, he was turned between accepting the job offer or turn it down.

Produced by Bolanle Akintomide, “Training Day” features Sinmiloluwa Hassan Tomiwa Tegbe, Mitchelle-Micheal and others.

The 19-minute-long short film features a growing trend of African governments aggressively taking steps to suppress digital rights of Africans.

The film subtly but powerfully expresses how governments and agents of State are increasingly making overt and covert moves to muzzle the voices of Africans online and shows the importance of young people being vigilant and aware of their rights.

Igbo,YorubaEthnicGroupsto HoldHistoricUnityConference For the first time in recent memory, the troubled relationship between Igbo and Yoruba nationalities, the two biggest ethnic groups in Southern Nigeria, will be addressed in an historic meeting from 3pm to 6pm on Zoom.

The webinar will be hosted by Fatherland Group, the leading socio-political movement that continues to draw the best of professionals from across Nigeria and the Diaspora.

In a press release made available to THISDAY by the Executive Director, Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), Adewale Adeoye, stated that the Fatherland Group Convenor, Mr Dele Ogun, a London-based Corporate Lawyer and Historian, said the historic meeting will hold on January 15, being the anniversary of the day Nigeria witnessed her first military coup, led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu and other radical soldiers with the stated objective of cleansing a rotten political system.

“The coup went awry after being hijacked by reactionary soldiers, an event that led to the counter-coup of 29 May 1966, political instability and then a civil war that lasted for 30 months.

“The war and its aftermath continue to dominate bitter debate between Igbo and Yoruba people with each trading blame. Opportunist politicians have, over the years, exploited the rivalry with a selfish harvest of parochial political fortunes, to the dismay and detriment of millions of Yoruba and Igbo people who are naturally blood bound by circumstances of faith and commerce even in the midst of the bitter rivalry.”

The theme of the January event is tagged “Yoruba and Igbo Speaking with one voice from a shared experience: Wetie to Biafra.”

The summit being organised by Fatherland Group, a global organisation with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, is intended to find common ground, in the face of mounting common challenges occasioned by instability and existential threats to the lives of millions of Nigerians.

The Fatherland Group Convenor, Ogun, whose group has acquired a reputation for high level thinking on the condition and trajectory of Nigeria, said the summit will open a new chapter in Yoruba-Igbo relationship.

He said this is a first step towards building a new constructive relationship between generations of Igbo and Yoruba people who have been divided by hostile narratives which have sown seeds of discord since the beginning of the campaign for Nigerian Independence in which the two great civilisations played the leading roles but in which both have been poorly served.

The process of reconciliation is to be aided by Dr. Biki S. V. Minyuku, who was the Chief Executive of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Bishop Desmond Tutu. This historic conference is to be chaired by Jo Wealleans. Speakers at the event include Emeritus Professor Emmanuel Chukwuedo Nwanze, former Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof Banji Akintoye, the world-wide leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, the Yoruba global movement, Timothy Modu Jnr., as well as the Historian Dele Ogun.

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MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

Tama Nisa is the Love Portion Fairy Stories by Vanessa Obioha Singer and actress Tama Nisa has been unveiled as the official ambassador of The Love Portion, a creative hub nestled in the Sangotedo Ajah area of Lagos state.

Announcing her appointment as the Love Portion Fairy, Ike Nnaebue, CEO of The Love Portion Creative Hub emphasised that “As a remarkable, well talented, expressive and a hard-working embodiment of creativity, Tama will bring her charm to the Love Portion brand.

She has a high level of professionalism coupled with natural leadership skills which has helped her in continuing to rise to new heights.”

As The Love Fairy, Tama will work closely with the organisation to enhance far-reaching visibility for the brand, bringing her wealth of experience to bear. She has equally demonstrated her vocal and artistic prowess on platforms like Nigerian Idol, The Voice Nigeria and through her life-changing art projects for young people tagged ‘Young Gifted Artists Nigeria (YGAN)’.

Tama’s desire to encourage young people to pursue their passion by living their dreams through the arts has endeared her to many.

The collaboration is one of the ways The Love Portion is solidifying its name in the creative space. In the past six months it opened doors for business, the creative hub has hosted big and upcoming names in the entertainment industry who use the hub for their numerous creative works. Notable creatives who have found a home at The Love Portion include Uche Jombo, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, Rita Dominic, Klint D Drunk, Late Chico Ejiro to mention just a few.

The Hub also serves as a hotspot for corporate training, film screenings, photoshoots, red carpet events and other creative activities. Production teams continually utilize the space for exceptional film shoots. The Love Portion is poised to become a leading creative hub with a target of over 250 hubs globally by 2030 and over 85% of the hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tama Nisa

Odugbemi to Head Entertainment Jury in Pitcher Awards 2021 The annual Pitcher Festival of Creativity recently appointed Femi Odugbemi — one of Nigeria’s foremost filmmakers and member of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States — jury president in the Entertainment category for Pitcher Awards 2021 edition.

The Entertainment category is a new addition to the festival which is known as Africa celebration of creativity. Under the Entertainment category are subcategories which span entertainment film, comic skits, music video, sports, live events, media promo, entertainment audio, and the use of music.

The category is the fifth in the Pitcher Awards programme and has its jury. Other categories of the prestigious awards include Heritage, Channel and Digital.

On Odugbemi’s appointment, the Chief Executive Officer of CHINI Africa — Cannes Lions official festival representative in Nigeria and organisers of the Pitcher Festival of Creativity— Nnamdi Ndu described Odugbemi

Femi Odugbemi

as“indeed an accomplished storyteller and we’re so excited to have him play this leading role in presenting Africa’s top success stories on the world stage”.

Odugbemi, as the jury president, will be

bringing his vast wealth of knowledge to bear.

He is one of Africa’s leading storytellers with a robust career in advertising, filmmaking and broadcasting. He is a co-founder of iRepresentative International Documentary Film Festival (iREP) and a four-time Head of Jury of Africa MagicViewers’Choice Awards (AMVCA). On screen, Odugbemi has dazzled and entertained audiences across Africa with films,documentaries andTV series such as the longest soap opera on Nigerian screen, ‘Tinsel’, which he serves as a founding producer; ‘Battleground’which he executive-produced and his recent production ‘Brethren’.

“I am delighted to serve on such a prestigious international jury focused on rewarding creativity in Africa’s entertainment and content industries. Promoting excellence through innovation and best practices is an important and vital key to growing sustainable creative industry. I am honoured to join the Pitcher Awards vision in that goal,”said Odugbemi.

Entries are currently open for the fourth edition of the awards.

Big Brother Naija, My Flatmates, Among Showmax Most WatchedTVShows of 2020 MultiChoice streaming platform Showmax recently announced its most-watched shows of 2020.The list boasts of fans favourites, notably realityTV show Big Brother Naija Lockdown season which impressively gathered 900 million votes.The Lockdown season broke the Showmax live-streaming record, becoming the most-watched live entertainment content ever on the streaming service. Asides the live stream, fans tuned in to watch other BBNaija Showmax exclusive highlights like ExtraView, Daily Highlights and more.

Mercy and Ike is another reality TV show that made the list.The show follows the lives of the BBNaija‘Pepper Dem’couple as they deal with the pressures of life outside the BBNaija house.The show remains a hot favourite for fans and even birthed the now popular phrase “relass and be taken kiaruf”.

TV comedy shows ‘The Johnsons’ and ‘My Flatmates’ also made the list. Produced by comedian Bright Okpocha aka Basketmouth and Kayode Peters,‘My Flatmates’ is one of the longest-running comedies on TV and continues to gain popularity among Nigerians.

‘The Johnsons’on the other hand is one of the most loved family comedy-dramas. It follows the lives of an average Nigerian family and the challenges they face. The star-studded cast includes Osita Iheme (Lara and the Beat,

My Flatmates cast members

Aki na Ukwa), Ada Ameh (Oloture, Phone Swap), Charles Inojie (The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, The In-laws) and Olumide Oworu (Shuga, A Soldier’s Story).

Two surprising shows on the list are‘Enakhe’ and‘Riona’. Both shows premiered on Africa Magic channels during the last quarter of 2020. Set in Benin City, ‘Enakhe’ tells the story of a rebellious daughter who, after the sudden death of her father, is forced by circumstances to grow and become the leader of her extended family and the family’s criminal empire.The hit telenovela stars Alex Usifo (Battle of Musanga, A Soldier’s Story), AMVCA winner Ivie Okujaye (Slow Country, Hotel Majestic), Lancelot Oduwa Imaseun (Games Men Play, Invasion 1897) and Lota Chukwu (Ajoche).

‘Riona’ centres its narrative on a village

under siege and a king who does everything he can to stop a dark prophecy from coming to pass.The hit telenovela stars Big Brother Naija season 1 housemate Frank Kowea as King Ofotonku. Also starring are Michelle Dede from Unbroken, Elvina Ibru (Bling Lagosians), Mimi Chaka (Tumini in The Men’s Club) and Big Brother Naija Season 4 housemate, Jeff Nweke.

Of course‘Halita’the popular drama series made the list.The show gained popularity for its riveting storyline and characters, particularly its lead character Halita, a 19-year-old village girl forced to move to the city and work as a maid in the powerful Zamani household.

The show finale aired in September 2020, with fans taking to social media to say their goodbyes. All episodes of Halita are currently available for binging on Showmax.

Joeboy Joins Samsung Galaxy A Series Family

Joeboy

The year is kicking off on a good note for ‘Don’t Call Me’ crooner Joeboy. He was unveiled as the Samsung Galaxy A series ambassador at a PR launch of the new Galaxy A Series.

“Joeboy will be responsible for our customer engagement for our A series throughout the year,” said Head of Marketing Ireti Oke. The new A-series are the mass models of the smartphone maker. Mainly known for high-end phones, the new A-series which consists of A12, A02s and A02 are targeted at Generation Z, thus the affiliation with Joeboy to help bring that share of the market into the Samsung space.

The new products offer affordability, a longerlasting battery, a sleeker screen and improved camera quality. All these are meticulously tailored to meet the needs of the younger generation who are social media-driven and need a smartphone that is innovative, affordable, has bigger memory storage to save captured moments and offer a longer battery lifespan to stay connected to families and friends.

Joeboy whose album is due in a couple of weeks expressed excitement on the new partnership. According to him, his phone is his office and with the longer battery life (5000mAh), he can connect with fans on social media, particularly Tiktok where he has a large fanbase.

“This partnership is definitely an exciting moment for me. 2020 was a wild year for everybody including me, and being picked as a brand ambassador for a big company like Samsung is actually good stuff for the year.

This is the second week of January and good news are already coming in,” he said.

The upcoming days will see the musician who shot to fame in 2019 following the release of the hit single ‘Baby’ participating in brand activations for the company. He also hinted that the smartphone maker will be playing a vital role in his album launch.

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ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

Gray’s Anatomy of Dealing with Life Challenges Ejiro Gray, a lawyer and Company Secretary at Sahara Group, captures engaging thoughts on how to handle life challenges described as ‘stones’ in her debut book titled “Roll Away the Stone.’’ Yinka Olatunbosun reports

“R

oll Away the Stone’ may come off as an unusual title of a bookbut it is indeed a powerfully loaded one. The writing wasessentially inspired by Ejiro Gray’s personal interrogation into the scriptures which started some seven years ago. It took a rather aggressive turn in the last quarter of 2019.

“I got the title through a revelation around a particular chapter of the book, what is now chapter 7,’’ she began. ‘’It underscores the difficulty of standing in faith in the face of undisputed facts.At the time I started writing, I had just discovered Isaiah 54. I had spent time reading it and I felt a burning desire to share these promises with others by bringing it home to them in a simple and relatable manner.”

Describing her writing style as poignant, she explains in the book that setting timelines for stones to be overcome should not be the focus of someone who is in a dire situation.

Instead, the courage to roll away the stones should be paramount. She explained the concept of faith as an act of trusting God against the odds.

“Our expressions of faith may not seem to align with the norm. The odds may come in the form of facts and logic.

Faith is a choice to believe and trust God and the power of His word regardless of these opposing circumstances. The

Ejiro Gray

key phrase here is, ‘believing and trusting God over all else.”

While reflecting on how her writing skills would have been an asset to legal practice and vice versa, she argued that lawyers and writers have a knack for language, play with words and give life to them for specific purposes. Ejiro also works in an organization with a volunteer policy that encourages employees to invest their time and resources into charitable and social causes.

“Beyond that, as an orga-

nization, creativity is a core part of our DNA and so it is not surprising that the people who make up the entity called Sahara, have diverse skills and expressions of creativity which the organization and humanity, benefits from. As such, we are encouraged to express and celebrate our uniqueness through our gifts in order to explore and attain our highest potential, individually and as a cohesive Group,’’ she remarked.

Ejiro had honed her writing skills by being a voracious

reader. Although the bible is a major influencer in her values and faith, certain secular literature and authors had also proved to be impactful in her writing life.

“Enid Blyton Books opened up my imagination and love for reading; African Writers Series made me fall in love with African proverbs and my heritage, Reader’s Digest from the age of nine, opened up my mind to diverse areas of interest such as medical research and general knowledge, Tim La Haye’s “Why you act the way you do” helped me understand my personality and idiosyncrasies.

My favourite African authors include Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Cyprian Ekwensi, WoleSoyinka, Ngugi wa Thiongo, and Mabel Segun for their storytelling skills, use of language and ability to immerse the reader in the story.

There is a saying that “a good book makes you want to live in the story, a great book leaves you with no choice”. The latter mirrors the effect that their books have on me. They leave me with no choice but to live in the stories,’’ she revealed.

To keep pace with the readers in the digital age, Ejiro said the proliferation of ebooks may be a right step towards mobilizing readership inspite of the potential distractions that the use of technology can bring. The book is available at LaternaBookstore, Roving Heights, Vog&Wod Bookstore and Amazon.

Ndidi Dike Sets for Solo Exhibition Yinka Olatunbosun The Lagos-based contemporary sculptor and mixedmedia artist Ndidi Dike is ready to show art enthusiasts her latest collection of installations and media art. Titled “Commodities of Consumption and Sites of Extraction in the Global South,’’ the show will open tomorrow January 16 and run till 24 at the Alliance Francaise/Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The show is a multifaceted and ongoing artistic project thatexplores issues of forced migration, race, postcolonialism, market aesthetics, consumerism, globalization gender equity, multiculturalism, decolonization, identity and contemporary politics.

In this exhibition, materiality, metaphors and geography serve as entry points into the colonial past of the Transatlantic that feature her installations. In the artist statement, she explained how she developed the body

An installation by Ndidi Dike

of works for this exhibition.

“For quite a while, I have been intensely engaging historical archives and working across a range of artistic media including lens-based technologies, collage, installation, painting and sculpture.

“I have also been concerned with the political dimensions of commodities-

their consumption, circulation, manufacture as well as geo-political policies that underwrite the control and extractive industries that govern natural resources and appropriation in Africa,’’ she declared.

Dike graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a Diploma in Music Education and later

a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine and Applied Arts in 1984, with a major in mixed media painting. After her National Youth Service Corp programme, she became a professional studio artist in her home in Owerri. She is a member of the Guild of Fine Arts Nigeria (GFAN) and the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA).

Nigerian-Brazilian History Project appoints Adebowale as its Senior Curator

Adebowale

Yinka Olatunbosun Cultural activist, Oludamola Adebowale has been appointed as the Senior Curator, Nigerian-Brazilian History Project. With his new role, he is expected to work closely with the project coordinator and senior editors to achieve the project’s overall aims and objectives. The NigerianBrazilian Public History Project is an initiative that seeks to recover the extensive contributions of Afro-Brazilians and their descendants to Nigerian society since their arrival in West African communities from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The project will curate, archive and disseminate various aspects of social, cultural, religious, economic and political life of Nigerians of Afro-Brazilian descent to the transformation of Nigerian society in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial contexts.

Adebowale is the creative director and founder of ASIRI Magazine, Nigeria’s foremost vanguard when it comes to history, great archival content and well researched contents.

His research works with ASIRI Magazine have been featured in Top Colleges, Universities and Academic Institutions all over the world. He is a major contributor to the Arts and Culture pages of Guardian Life – the Sunday Magazine of Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper. His well-researched articles on topics like Women Arise in the face of Misogyny: A Cultural and Historical Perspective; Jaja of Opobo: Rivers of Oil and Blood; Re-Discovering the Benin Art: A Universal Vessel for Cultural Importance; ÀBÍKÚ: A Thin Line that cuts between Tradition and Science, have been cited by Academic scholars within and outside Nigeria.

Oludamola was one of the few Nigerians selected for the Horniman Museums and Gardens (UK) for the #ThenandNowNigeria at 60 Interrogative Project. As a Heritage Specialist, Oludamola has work on the importance of language and was cited in France info Africa, a major news website based in France on why Genevieve Nnaji’s movie titled “Lion Heart” was disqualified from the 2020 Oscars Selection.

As a curator, Oludamola has curated and produced exhibitionsfor the Ogun State Government, such as African Drum Festival’sTimeless Memories Project for Prof. Wole Soyinka in 2018,2019 and 2020 and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi’sMuseum Booth at Federal Polytechnic, Osiele, Abeokuta. His other shows had been featured at cultural hubs like Terra KultureLagos, The British Council, Lagos Book and Art Festivals, Freedom Park and lastly his latest project Vintage Nigeria Digital Campaign (A Nigeria at 60 Archival Celebration of the Past Times) Collaboration with The Rockefeller Archive Center and Ford Foundation.

“For me, the appointment is a welcomed development,” Adebowale remarked. “As a culture activist, historian and curator, I have dealt with numerous narratives about the Nigerian-Brazilian community; history in pre-colonial times and also created projects/ body of works on the subject-matter. More also, I have always wanted to do something on a larger scale that would impact more people across the border. This right here is that opportunity I have been waiting for”.

Adebowale expressed his eagerness to bring the organization aims and objectives to fruition within the stipulated time. The project through its website is aimed towards providing useful materials that underscore the enormous role of Afro-Brazilians in West African public and private life, serve as important teaching tools from elementary to tertiary levels, provide resources for research and scholarship, and knowledge.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯͳ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

ͱͰ

METRO

…Your city life in print

Petroleum Ministry’s Autogas Drive The Ministry of Petroleum Resources under Chief Timipre Sylva believes autogas is capable of solving the challenge of the rising price of petrol and is leaving no stone unturned to actualise it, writes Iwonume Ekeghe

F

Auto-gas

For several decades, Nigeria and Nigerians have depended on petrol to power their cars.

Vehicular movement is reliant on petrol, a by-product of crude oil which the country has in large quantity.

Most times, especially during festive periods, it becomes taxing for some car owners to driver in their cars because the product (petrol) which helps rev their engines, is scarce. This scenario also affects the socioeconomic and political events.

Bothered about the angst the situation engenders, the Federal Government mulled the idea of alternative source of powering car engines. That alternative is gas which Nigeria has in abundance. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s natural gas has not been put to use maximally.

Committed to ensuring the use of cleaner fuels in Nigeria, the Federal Government has ordered the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to convert all its official vehicle fleet from petrol to Autogas and natural gas.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, gave the order in 2019.

Since then, the government has been working hard to ensure a wider adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to ease pressure on petrol imports.

Sylva said the conversion of vehicles in his ministry and agencies shows that the government is working on the use of Autogas nationwide and supports its declaration that 2020 as the year of gas.

To help the government to realise its dream, THLD International Logistics Limited, a logistics and energy solution firm has launched an air-cooled tricycle powered by LPG and converted vehicles to operate on LPG/petrol bi-fuel systems.

The Chief Executive Officer of THLD Oluwasegun Olajuwon has reeled off the benefits inherent in using this alternative fuel system.

He said: “It is cleaner, it is safer, and it is environmental-friendly and affordable.” As a fast-developing economy, it will be beneficial for Nigeria to join other developed and developing countries in the use of Autogas as alternative fuel systems. With this alternative, drivers can easily switch over to LPG after exhausting the petroleum or vice versa.

Olajuwon noted: “In the last three years, I have noticed that for every five filling stations, there is a tank for LPG. They sell cylinders for people to cook. We want to do the same for Autogas as well.”

Though it took some time before the average Nigerian realised the benefit of using the LPG for cooking, it became exciting for most people that embraced its use later. So it will seem to be for the use of Autogas. This could be why Olajuwon said “we know the market and we want to encourage Nigerians to cultivate the habit of making use of LPG for their machines.

These include cars and all manner of vehicles.”

Good news is that the company’s conversion centres will be strategically located all over Nigeria, where cars, heavy duty trucks, buses and generators will be converted to run on both LPG and CNG. But how easy will it be for Nigerians to access the LPG and the CNG for use? To ensure seamless access to these products, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed Sylva to work out the pump prices of the CNG and the LNG. The President gave the order at the virtual launch of the autogas scheme, during which he urged Nigerians to embrace gas as alternative fuel for their vehicles.

As a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the project, Sylva had launched the autogas station at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Lugbe, Abuja which served as a showcase for the launch of the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative.

He also launched the five gas-fueled buses at the venue, which he handed over to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

The five buses were just a tip of the iceberg as Sylva revealed that the government will release 100 of the buses to the union going forward.

At a virtually held event at the State House to unveil the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative, President Buhari said: “I express my deep appreciation to Nigerians for their patience, and Organised Labour for their maturity and patriotism as we collectively navigate these global economic and other challenges.”

Urging Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to fuel, President Buhari said: “It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with has hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilisation.

“With a proven reserve of about 203 trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilisation is apparent,” he said.

President Buhari said the deregulation of the downstream sector had exposed many to price volatilities in the global market, urging attention to more affordable alternative for energy, especially with Nigeria’s heavy reserve.

“Therefore, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Autogas Initiative is coming at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations, coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market.

“These developments have made it imperative to focus on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications, to cleaner, more available, accessible and affordable energy source.

President Buhari

Timipre Sylva

“The outcome will not only cushion the effect of the downstream deregulation that this government has to painfully implement, but also create new markets and enormous job opportunities for our people.’’

Mr President said the autogas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilisation and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development, even as he encouraged everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.

The President directed the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to commence the process of handover of mass transit buses to Organised Labour as part of government’s pledges to continue providing support that will ease the transportation challenges Nigerians are experiencing.

To ensure non-dearth of skills and manpower, Sylva said the ministry is focusing on development of skills, technology and manpower as well as growth in the utilisation of LPG, CNG and LNG. The National Gas Expansion Programme was initiated last year to boost the utilisation of gas in the short and medium-term and it is expected to create two million jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition and enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

How successful will the implementation of the national gas policy be without inputs from the private sector? The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) thinks the government cannot do this alone as it needs to partner with the private sector to achieve this.

The group has noted that the Federal Government needs the support of the private sector to successfully implement the National Gas Policy which was aimed at deepening gas utilisation in Nigeria.

According to MOMAN Chairman, Mr Tunji Oyebanji, the nation would soon begin to reap the benefits of the government’s gas policies, some of which include the Autogas scheme, and the National Gas Expansion Programme.

Oyebanji said: “Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will experience a lot of activities this year.

“We expect government’s policies in these areas to begin to bear fruits and gas consumption, both for our domestic cooking gas and autogas, will move forward.

“We cannot say that in 2021 autogas will replace the Premium Motor Spirit totally, but we can begin to see some progress being made in that area.”

Stating that tagging 2021 to 2030 as the decade of gas was a great move by the Federal Government, he said it required the support of the private sector to ensure its success.

According to him, marketers are ready to key into the autogas scheme, but need the assurances that their investments will be protected. This is where security in all ramifications comes in.

Oyebanji said: “If you want CNG retailers across the country, you will need a lot of financial investment.

“Those who are going to make the investment also need some assurances regarding the protection of their funds.

“There should be continuous engagement and involvement of the private sector as the policy is being fine-tuned and formulated, so that by the time it evolved, it will be driven largely by the private sector.”

Oyebanji expressed optimism that significant progress would be made on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill in 2021, adding that stakeholders should be carried along in the process.

The switch to use of autogas seems to be necessitated by its affordability. Since petroleum products are somewhat costly, it becomes necessary to switch over to an alternative to fuel which is cheaper than petrol.

As an immediate response to the rising price of petrol, and by extension, the return of fuel subsidy, the Federal Government insists that operators in Nigeria’s downstream sector of the petroleum industry should shift to Autogas.

The call was premised on the fact that Autogas is cheaper. According to a breakdown provided by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), indicates that the landing cost of petrol rose from an average of N143.60 in December to N158.53 per litre on January 7, 2021. But the product is currently being sold at between N160 and N165 per litre at many filling stations.

However, worried about the continued bearing of the subsidy burden by the NNPC, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, through the National Gas Expansion Programme has intensified efforts to achieve a massive shift to Autogas in 2021.

Without doubt, this laudable policy, which comes on the heels of the concerted and constructive efforts by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources to revitalise gas-based industrialisation propositions, is an exemplary achievement and significant step towards accelerated gas-inspired economic growth.

Autogas is the common name for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) when it is used as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators.

It is a mixture of propane and butane.

According to Wikipedia, Autogas is widely used as a “green” fuel, as its use reduces Carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaust emissions by around 15 per cent compared to petrol. One litre of petrol produces 2.3 kg of CO2 when burnt, whereas the equivalent amount of autogas (1.33-litre due to lower density of autogas) produces only 1.5 * 1.33 = 2 kg of CO2 when burnt.

“Autogas is the third most popular automotive fuel in the world, with approximately 16 million of 600 million passenger cars powered using the fuel, representing less than three per cent of the total market share.”

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T H I S D AY ˾ ͯͳ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

POLSCOPE Agents of COVID- 19 Spread

Canticles….

Igbos and the 2023 Challenge mmm, wonders will never end.

I hear the Igbos now have a new King.

Never! Where did you hear that? Igbos don’t have kings.

They only have Igwes What is the difference?

Go and read your history books again.

In any case, who is this new king you claim?

Did you not hear that Professor George Obiozor has been elected the President of the Ohaneze Nd’igbo?

Dr Osagie Ehanire

chain of fighting and defeating the disease.

In the face of the huge cry by the federal government that it is running out of facilities and equipment in carrying out the mandatory test of persons, as well as not having enough facilities to accommodate and treat COVID-19 patients, the members of the Medical Laboratory Council have not helped the matter as private sector persons who are desirous of either importing relevant kits or setting up laboratories have not been exactly encouraged by the Medical Laboratories Council of Nigeria. How? On their website, they demand that anyone wanting to import relevant test kits must submit, wait for it, “300 worth of test kits for the validation exercise”. Such persons are also required “to pay all applicable validation fees”.

They probably did not have the courage to state that the said validation fee for each kit is N1,000,000. Yes, One Million Naira! And this must be paid into their Remita platform on their website: www.miscn.gov.ng So, the question is why does the Council require a whopping 300 pieces of one test kit to do their validation test? So assume that an interested individual imported ten different types of kits to assist in the fight against the pandemic, he has to give out 3000 kits altogether as Validation sacrifice, after which he has to pay N1 million per kit, bringing the total to ten million Naira. If the

effort is for business purposes, and he has lost 3000 pieces of kits and another ten million naira, then what is left of his business venture?

It is issues like this that fuel the narrative in the public domain that the COVID-19 matter is either politicized or being escalated for pecuniary benefits for certain people. Government does not have enough testing kits. Not enough people are being tested everyday. People are getting infected and indeed dying in their dozens across board. Some people want to assist in bringing in such test kits and the said Medical Laboratories Council of Nigeria becomes a stumbling block that is bound to frustrate private sector initiative. Yet, the Council’s lingo claims that “Labs help save lives”.

The Medical Laboratory Council can therefore not afford to be one of the agents, inadvertently, fuelling the deadly grip and spike of the plague called Corona Virus.

It is worrisome that the Federal Ministry of Health including NAFDAC which should control and regulate the operations and policies of the Council are either indifferent or negligent; none of which is good enough! If the private sector is responding to calls from the federal authorities to collaborate in the fight against the scourge, no organ or agency of government should be seen to be discouraging or outrightly blocking such efforts.

Donald Trump Has Five Lonely Days To Go

I

He holds the unenviable record of being the first American President to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. He got impeached, for the second time, last Wednesday. At that, his hope of seeking office again in 2024 has been constitutionally zipped.

Although Donald Trump has been impeached, he may remain in office for another five lonely days before his political Nunc Dimitis is sung.

The Lawmakers—lower and upper chambers, seem determined to throw him out “immediately” given the unprecedented assault on the temple of democracy with the recent invasion of the Capitol Hill by Trump’s supporters. They were as riotous as Belzeebub’s apostles.

To say the world was dazed and shocked at the despicable drama will be sheer understate-

ÏÎÎã˛ÙÎÓàáÜÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט ͸΀͸ͽ ͻ͸; ΁ͻͽ;

H

B

y now, many Nigerians who have been living in denial about the existence and reality of COVID-19 should have been convinced to the contrary. If their loved ones have not contacted the disease or even died, they must have heard of someone they know who have also contacted the disease or even died.

Incidentally, the second wave of the pandemic is not only spreading faster, it is apparently fiercer and deadlier.

Yes, the blame has largely been on many Nigerians who have refused to adhere to the safety protocols, what has now been described as non-pharmaceutical guidelines. It is true. After the lifting of the lockdown, most Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief and swiftly returned to “normal life”, dropping quickly what had been accepted as the “new normal”.

We generally relaxed the observance of the safety protocols. Transit buses and taxis went back to carrying normal number of passengers. The use of face masks was ignored, or at best worn as chin pads. Some may prefer to tuck it into their pockets or bags, just in case they are harassed about it, then they pull it out. Hand washing and the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers also became unfashionable. Even many corporate organisations stopped insisting that those coming into their facilities should observe these non-pharmaceutical guidelines.

In all of these, the men and officials of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), have been shouting themselves hoarse, warning people of the then impending second wave.

But we largely paid deaf ears.

Not even when other countries like UK, Spain , Italy etc., had declared a second or even third lockdowns, did we take caution.

Worse still, all the travel restrictions had been lifted, including to and from countries which had had evident second wave spike. The result is the swathe of cases we are contending with today. But one set of Nigerians who, ironically have not helped the containment of the pandemic are members of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria. It is a body of medical laboratory practitioners, who are highly essential in the value-

áÓÞÒ ÎÎã ÎÓàáÜÓ

Trump

ment.

Never before has America, the avante guard of Democracy, ever experienced the extreme recklessness of an elected president.

Trump is (if not was) just in an ignoble class of his own. Notorious for his uncouth character, hatred for blacks, rash in his decisions, unfiltered fury, come-and-fight posture, plus many of his other vices, it is a wonder that he still had as many as 74 million Americans who wanted him continue in the White House, a historical

edifice he has literally painted black and red all over.

It is even more perplexing to think that such a democracy infidel is hoping to return in 2024. Deus avertat!

That he is leaving White House with great ignominy is no longer in doubt. Those bent on removing him even before his five days window, fear that he yet could do more damage to the temple of democracy in America, given his penchant for off-beat conducts, if left alone. Perhaps what should worry most of his supporters is what will become of him after January 20, when he would, once again, return to his ordinary man status. It would be far more a status of wretch, if the impeachment process pulls through. There will be no tears for Trump.

Those given to much prayer should beseech God to never again, allow anyone like Trump access to the White House.

You see yourself? Kings are crowned, not elected. So if Obiozor was elected, it clearly shows he is not a King. He is merely heading the socio-political body of the Igbo people, an umbrella body for the advancement and projection of the pains and aims of the Igbo people.

Hmmmmm….. the pains and aims….. what do you mean by that?

Need you ask? Is it still news that the Igbos have been crying for over fifty years since the Nigerian Civil war ended?

Have you not heard them say the war has long ended but that the Nigerian state is still in the trenches against the Igbos?

Have you not been hearing either their groaning or their wailing? Isn’t that why they have been clamouring for the handshake across the Niger?

Isn’t that why they have been clamouring for an inclusive government? Isn’t that why they have been clamouring for equitable distribution of national rights and privileges?

But the present government has demonstrated enormous goodwill to the Igbo nation. Or are you not aware that the long talked about 2nd Niger bridge is almost completed? Are you not aware that several kilometers of roads have been tarred, dualised and upgraded in the South east? Are you not aware of the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International airport in Enugu? Are you not aware that….. (cuts in) Enough of your jaded project sprinkles.

Why has the fundamental demands of the Igbos not been met? Why is it that it is only the South East geo-political zone that has five states, instead of six states or more like other geo-political zones?

Why is it that it is only the South east that has been deliberately denied the presidency of this country despite all the supportive indices like demography and economic prowess?

Or don’t you know the Igbos are the economic live-wire of the country?

You see why they have been crying about marginalization?

You claim that this administration has done even what Napoleon could not do. Tell me, from Number one citizen to the number six citizen in this country, where do you find an Igbo man? Are they not fellow Nigerians?

Do not ask opaque questions bleeding with ignorance. This is a democracy.

If the Igbos take the right

George Obiozor

political decisions, they will reap the fruits thereof.

If they, conversely, take the wrong political decisions, they will contend with the consequences thereof. It is as simple as that.

What do you mean by ‘right political decision’?

As said, it is a democracy. It follows the biblical principle of “if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly”. But if you decide to sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully. Check your history, so many Igbo sons have held the number three position of this country in the past, almost like it was a birthright. And that was a function of their political decision at the time. I am sure you can fill in the gap in this matter.

And that exactly is the issue: why is the Igbo man good only for number three position of the land? Are some people more Nigerian than others? Are they allergic to the Number one position? What do they lack as a requirement to so be?

Hmmmmmm, torrents of questions. But let me attempt to answer the one on what they lack. … (pause).. My brother the Igbos lack unity.

That is why they have never been able to form a cohesive front to advance their course.

They have Big Man Complex.

Everybody is a big man.They have the crabology spirit!

Whaaaat? Cra-what?

Calm down. They have crabology spirit.They behave like crabs. Put a hundred crabs in an uncovered basket.

Go to Mbaise and come back , you will meet all hundred crabs waiting for you, Nobody wants to let the other go.You see it in the way they also drive in city traffic. They would rather the junction blocks than allow somebody else to go before them.

Did you know that if not for crabology, late Dr Alex Ekwueme would have emerged the PDP presidential candidate in 2003 and possibly won the 2003 presidential election? Do you know all the governors from the South East at the time, refused to support their kinsman and pitched tent with then President Olusegun Obasanjo? Do you remember those ballot papers at the PDP convention were numbered?

I ask you: what did the then south east governors stand

to lose if they supported their kinsman? Nothing!, I dare say. Just the crabology infection that was bent on scattering them. Do you also remember that even on the senate presidency seat, the Igbo men in the senate were plotting against one other resulting in having about three senate presidents in four years? Ever since that office was zoned away from the South East, have we experienced the notorious banana peel syndrome and the turmoil and huge turnover in that office? Or didn’t you also see the kicks and complaints against the election that just produced Prof Obiozor? The intraethnic contention is huge and inhibitive.

That is why I say that one of the major tasks of the new President General of Ohaneze Nd’igbo, George Obiozor, is to quickly develop and inject the anti-crabology vaccine on all Igbo sons and daughters, home and abroad, so they can defeat their Goliath in 2023. They do and should have all it takes to overcome, after that metaphoric inoculation.

But democracy is all about contests. Why are you condemning the competitive spirit among the Igbos?

Don’t miss the point.

The competition has to be healthy, otherwise it will be destructive.

When they unite they can do much more. Isn’t it why they talk about Iguebuike?

Already, with Obiozor, an erudite professor with enormous local and foreign goodwill, the Igbo nation is already moving forward. Didn’t you hear they are already forming their own security outfit like the Amotekun of the South West, Sege Kafasa of the north etc.?

He has to position the Igbo nationality strategically such that 2023 will mark a political watershed for them. They are part of Nigeria. They are not forbidden from the presidency.

They have lots of illustrious sons and even daughters, within and outside the south-east geo=political zone, that can become the President of Nigeria. All they need do is shine their eyes and calculate accurately in the larger political space.

I can admit that your submission is prescriptive. I pray they embrace it.

34

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯͳ˜ 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

CFOs Urged to Redefine Roles to Match COVID-19 Bennett Oghifo As organisations enter recovery phase in the wake of COVID-19, experts have said new challenges and realities would need to be approached with technology at the center.

According to Chief Finance Officer (CFO) for Middle East Africa Emerging Markets at Microsoft, the setbacks experienced as a result of the pandemic have been unlike any seen before, adding that the impact seen on the financials of industries and organisations across the globe has been unprecedented, with many not surviving to this point.

Bouarfa said in a statement that CFOs and finance teams, globally, have been hard at work - leading their organisations through the immediate crisis, ensuring the safety and protection of employees, suppliers and key stakeholders; collaborating across functions; assessing liquidity and conserving cash - reaching out early and often to investors to reset performance expectations.

He said, “For those who have managed to transcend the global lockdowns into recovery phase, a new reality has very quickly come to the fore. One that particularly for the CFO, requires a new, agile way of thinking.

“Drawing lessons from these unsettled months, the CFO must now permanently build speed and flexibility into functions that encompass forecasting, planning and resource-allocation processes and incorporate new tools and rapid decision-making protocols into the finance team’s day-to-day work.

“At Microsoft, we’ve always been on a journey to help our customers digitally transform.

Whether the challenge has been rooted in growing revenue or allocating resources, technology has proven to be the shortest path to better, more confident action.

But to bring technology to life, we believe invest in our people.

“Taking on the notion of ‘Tech Intensity’ – which is an organisations rate of technology adoption

along with its ability to build its own digital capacity, as we enter recovery and reestablishment, we encourage CFO’s to take risks, learn, educate and as a result, feel comfortable enough to embrace change beyond COVID-19.”

On rebuilding business operations, Bouarfa said as organisations start to discuss the return to the physical office space, remote working and hybrid working environments would remain at the center of operations.

He stated that employees across all functions would continue to work remotely using modern workplace collaboration tools and organisations will therefore need to invest significantly in workforce engagement and training in new skills.

“CFO’s will also need to consider making a significant shift from fixed capital costs to variable costs by leveraging as a service models like Microsofts Azure SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, employing technology driven methodologies to foster cost transparency,” he added.

Sigma Pensions Advises Youths on Retirement Goals Nume Ekeghe Sigma Pensions has urged youths to start setting their retirement goals early in life.

The Head Risk Management, Sigma Pensions Ms. Paula Benedict said this yesterday, during a collaborative webinar organised

by Sigma Pensions and Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) youth webinar which had over 100 youths in attendance. The webinar, a financial literacy initiative for youths with the theme: ‘Break Free,’ also featured the Founder of Twelve Vest Mrs. Tomie Balogun and the Head, Business Development, Piggyvest, Mr. Ayo Akinola, who spoke on the opportunities in the country, goal setting, savings and adopting technology to aid savings.

Benedict said: “This is the time

to actually save as much as much as possible. For those who don’t have a pension account, know what to look out for, you need to set your retirement goals and look at your pension to see how your pension manager is handling your funds and if there is need to change your manager because this is the right time to do that.

“At Sigma Pensions we have an edge which start from its owners, a private equity firm with extensive knowledge in investments, with excellent ethical standards not only at the board level, but at individual basis. And you want someone that would put your interest before theirs. We take decisions that are collectively beneficial and have a blend of experience and young dynamic workforce.

“We are an innovative com-

pany, technologically driven and have a highly graded investment team. The crop in our investment department, dedicated relationship managers and of course competitive returns which are import to pension.”

Also, the Unit Head Brand and Marketing Communications, Sigma Pensions, Mrs. Yetunde Adebiyi, while speaking on what prompted the webinar said: “Last year, was an unprecedented year were a lot happened such as the Covid-19 pandemic, #ENDSARS, an economic downturn everyone felt as well as high inflation.

“This event is aimed at pointing out how we can take charge of our lives, circle of influence, finances and money matters. We also want to help guide people on their finances and savings for a prosperous retirement.”

Stanbic IBTC Bureau De Change Discontinues Operations Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced that its Bureau De Change subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bureau De Change Limited has discontinued business since January 1, 2021, by relinquishing its operating licence. The company disclosed this in a statement signed by its secretary, Chidi Okezie.

It explained that the discontinuation of operations

of the BDC business was primarily driven by changes in regulations, “which now afford customers with the opportunity of purchasing foreign exchange (PTA and BTA) directly from Stanbic IBTC Bank at any of its branches nationwide.”

It added: “The intention is to repurpose this subsidiary for other business venture in the near future, and stakeholders

would be duly notified when all engagements have been concluded in this regard.”

Stanbic IBTC Holdings, a member of Standard Bank Group, is a full-service financial services group with a clear focus on three main business pillars - Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management.

Mobile Money Operator Unveils N50m Reward Scheme Kasim Sumaina ÓØ ÌßÔË A mobile money operator, PalmPay is set to reward thousands of Nigerians who transact on its payments app

by January 18th with a N50 million reward scheme.

PalmPay noted that the New Year festival promo was designed to encourage and reward transactions such as bank transfers, airtime recharge

and bill payments carried out on the platform. According to the Chief Marketing Officer of PalmPay, Sofia Zab, “The PalmPay New Year Festival is our biggest giveaway yet. We are known as ‘The Payment App That Rewards You’ and we are living up to our tagline with every transaction made.”

Zab, while speaking in Abuja yesterday, stated that any Nigerian adult could qualify for

the scheme. She said as part of the promotion, every completed transaction would give users a chance of winning either a discount coupon valued up to N50 or a “Festival Badge”.

“All customers who collect at least one of each of the five badge designs by the January 18th deadline will automatically qualify for a share of the prize pool and take home between N400-N6000 each,” she said.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JULY 2020 Money Supply (M3)

36,822,751.47

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

3,476,121.25

Money Supply (M2)

33,346,630.22

-- Quasi Money

120,764,479.02

-- Narrow Money (M1)

12,582,151.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,002,026.89

---- Demand Deposits

10,580,124.31

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,637,137.23

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

29,185,614.24

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

39,711,115.95

---- Credit to Government (Net)

19,521,851.08

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-130,189,264.87

--Other Assets Net

3,472,017.70

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,421,827.07

--Currency in Circulation

2,395,917.03

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

11,025,910.04 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

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

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ ͯͱ ͰͮͰͯ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $55.81 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $55.41 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (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

35

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯͳ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Equities Market Rises Further as Bulls Consolidate Hold Goddy Egene The bulls consolidated their hold on the market yesterday as buying interests in Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Plc and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc lifted the benchmark index further.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 1.54 per cent to close at 40,963.14, while market

capitalisation rose by N325.3 billion to close at N21.4 trillion.

Also, volume and value of trading rose 72.9 per cent and 27.9 per cent respectively to 809.4 million shares and N8.9 billion.

Year-to-date, the NSE ASI has gained 1.7 per cent.

The bulls clearly dominated the market as 49 stocks gaineds compared with seven price losers.

Champion Breweries Plc led the price gainers with 9.8 per

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R

DEALS

cent, trailed by NASCON Allied Industries Plc with 9.7 per cent.

Japaul Gold Ventures Plc and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc chalked up 9.4 per cent apiece.

Ardova Plc (AP) rose further with a gain of 9.2 per cent as investors reacted to the news of its moves to acquire Enyo Retail and Supply Limited.

Enyo is one of the newest and fastest growing retail and supply companies in the downstream

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

sector. Enyo is a technologically driven player and currently operates over 90 stations across Nigeria attending to over 100,000 retail customers daily across 15 states of the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of AP, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, had explained that immediately following completion, AP will look to retain the Enyo branded stations which will operate side by side with the AP brand whilst

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

leveraging the strengths of AP and its group companies.

According to him, the parties are committed to concluding the deal by the end of first quarter (Q1) 2021, noting that AP and Enyo Retail & Supply Limited will provide further information on progress made on the proposed acquisition.

Livestock Feeds Plc, Academy Press Plc, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Tripple Gee &

O F

Company Plc and Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc garnered 9.0 per cent each.

Conversely, Courtville Business Solutions Plc led the price losers with 8.3 per cent, trailed

by Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc with 6.3 per cent.

Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc shed 3.1 per cent.

Jaiz Bank Plc and John Holt Plc went down by 2.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.

1 4 / 0 1 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

36

˾ FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021

Friday, January 15, 2021 Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index Rose 1.2% dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ϭϮϬďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

1,811.97 points. This was on the back of buying interest in GUARANTY (+1.9%), ZENITH (+1.9%), and DANGCEM (+3.0%). These ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ Ϯϭ͘ϵй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞdž͘

The Bulls Remain Resolute... ASI up 1.5% Ɛ Ă ƌĞƐƵůƚ ŽĨ ƐƚƌŽŶŐ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ DANGCEM (+3.0%), MTNN (+1.8%) and SEPLAT ;нϴ͘ϴйͿ͕ ƚŚĞ ůů-Share index appreciated ϭϱϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ϰϬ͕ϵϲϯ͘ϭϰƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ŝŵͲ ƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘ϳй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ďLJ േϯϮϱ͘ϯďŶ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ േϮϭ͘ϰƚŶ͘ ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ƌĞďŽƵŶĚĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůͲ

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

Price Previous Current Change Price Weightin YTD Change g

Price Change Index to Date

1,811.97

1.20%

1 Airtel Africa PLC

851.80

0.0%

30.5%

2 BUA Cement Plc

79.90

0.0%

11.3%

3.3%

3.3%

3 Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

33.00

1.9%

9.2%

2.0%

2.0%

4 Zenith Bank PLC

ROE

ROA

23.5%

81.2%

19.0%

3.4%

0.0%

0.0%

7.7%

2.8%

27.9%

4.7%

P/E

5.5x

P/BV

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

0.6x

5.0%

6.9%

1.3% 44.6x

7.4x

2.2%

2.2%

4.8x

1.3x

8.6%

20.9% 26.2%

26.40

1.9%

7.0%

6.5%

6.5%

22.8%

3.1%

3.8x

0.8x

10.7%

5 Dangote Cement PLC

237.00

3.0%

5.7%

-3.2%

-3.2%

30.8%

14.6%

15.9x

5.0x

6.8%

6.3%

6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

168.00

1.8%

4.7%

-1.1%

-1.1%

189.4%

11.9%

17.4x

29.1x

4.2%

5.8%

1,505.00

0.0%

3.8%

0.0%

0.0%

83.0%

20.5%

29.3x

28.5x

4.7%

3.4%

23.50

4.0%

3.6%

11.6%

11.6%

6.5%

4.6%

16.3x

1.1x

4.3%

6.1%

7 Nestle Nigeria PLC 8 Lafarge Africa PLC

ƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϳϮ͘ϵй ĂŶĚ Ϯϳ͘ϵй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ

9 Access Bank PLC

9.50

3.8%

3.1%

12.4%

12.4%

16.8%

1.5%

3.1x

0.5x

7.0%

32.5%

809.4m units and േϴ͘ϵďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ

10 United Bank for Africa PLC

9.05

2.8%

2.7%

4.6%

4.6%

13.9%

1.3%

3.8x

0.5x

10.8%

26.0%

7.50

2.0%

were TRANSCORP (136.6m units), MBENEFIT (70.6m units) and

2.5%

4.9%

4.9%

13.5%

1.3%

3.7x

0.4x

5.1%

27.3%

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC

58.05

0.1%

2.1%

3.7%

3.7%

6.6%

2.5%

43.1x

2.9x

3.0%

2.3%

GUARANTY ;ϲϵ͘Ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ 'h Z NTY (േ2.3bn), WAPCO

13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

44.00

0.0%

1.9%

-0.1%

-0.1%

25.8%

3.8%

5.6x

1.4x

5.5%

17.7%

(േ1.4bn) and ZENITH (േϭ͘ϭďŶͿ ƚŽƉƉĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

11 FBN Holdings Plc

14 International Brew eries PLC

Impressive Sector Performance WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ǁĂƐ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĂƐ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ coverage gained. The Insurance index maintained dominance, ĂĚǀĂŶĐŝŶŐ ϱ͘ϯй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ŝŶ MANSARD (+9.4%), WAPIC (+8.7%) and AIICO ;нϭ͘ϳйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞĚ ϱ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ Ϯ͘ϰй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďƵLJŝŶŐ interest in SEPLAT (+8.8%), ARDOVA (+9.3%), GUARANTY (+1.9%), and ZENITH ;нϭ͘ϵйͿ͘ dŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů ĂŶĚ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂůƐŽ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϳй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĂƐ DANGCEM (+3.0%), WAPCO (+4.0%), DANGSUGAR (+3.6%), and NASCON ;нϵ͘ϳйͿ ƟĐŬĞĚ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ͘ >ĂƐƚůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ &Z-/ d ŝŶĚĞdž ŝŶͲ ĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ϳϮďƉƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ MTNN (+1.8%).

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ

1.7%

14.3%

14.3%

1.2x

1.2%

15.4%

15.4%

0.8x

540.00

8.8%

1.3%

34.2%

34.2%

-0.3%

-0.2%

0.5x

7.2%

249.50

0.0%

0.9%

9.4%

9.4%

16.4%

7.6%

13.6x

2.1x

3.6%

7.4%

93.00

0.0%

0.8%

2.2%

2.2%

20.6%

13.4%

13.9x

2.7x

2.2%

7.2%

7.5%

33.3%

5.4%

13.9%

18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC

2.70

0.7%

0.7%

7.1%

7.1%

10.7%

1.1%

3.0x

0.3x

20 Ecobank Transnational Inc

6.50

1.6%

0.7%

8.3%

8.3%

0.5%

0.0%

64.9x

0.3x

20.35

3.6%

0.7%

15.6%

15.6%

30.8%

15.6%

7.2x

2.0x

21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

-2.5%

1.5%

22 FCMB Group Plc

3.22

0.6%

0.5%

-3.3%

-3.3%

10.3%

1.2%

3.1x

0.1x

4.3%

32.7%

23 Sterling Bank PLC

2.04

2.5%

0.4%

0.0%

0.0%

8.8%

0.8%

5.7x

0.5x

1.5%

17.6%

11.4x

24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC

17.50

9.7%

0.4%

20.7%

20.7%

18.4%

5.8%

25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

0.95

0.0%

0.4%

5.6%

5.6%

-3.5%

-0.8%

26 Presco PLC

72.00

0.0%

0.3%

1.5%

1.5%

18.5%

7.7%

27 Unilever Nigeria PLC

13.50

0.0%

0.2%

-2.9%

-2.9%

-9.8%

-6.5%

28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

5.20

0.0%

0.2%

-1.9%

-1.9%

-12.2%

-5.6%

29 United Capital PLC

5.19

2.2%

0.2%

10.2%

10.2%

85.7%

8.7%

18.85

-0.3%

0.2%

-0.8%

-0.8%

-16.2%

-8.4%

30 Guinness Nigeria PLC

13.7x

3.8x

2.3%

8.8%

0.6x

1.1%

-6.1%

2.3x

2.8%

1.2x

2.0x

0.6x

1.9% 9.8%

0.6x

6.00

0.0%

0.2%

2.6%

2.6%

13.9%

4.8%

5.6x

0.8x

32 AIICO Insurance PLC

1.20

1.7%

0.2%

6.2%

6.2%

25.0%

3.3%

2.6x

0.5x

33 Total Nigeria PLC 34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Wema Bank PLC

0.2%

10.0%

10.0%

10.7%

2.1%

17.3x

1.8x

4.7%

5.8%

4.2%

4.2%

10.8%

1.2%

20.1x

0.8x

9.0%

5.0%

7.1%

0.1% 0.1%

8.7%

6.8%

0.5%

4.4x

0.5x

0.1x

22.9%

4.7%

0.0%

0.0x

15.2%

8.7%

-100.0%

6.6x

3.50

0.0%

0.1%

-5.4%

-5.4%

14.5%

2.6%

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-21.3%

-6.4%

39 Beta Glass PLC

55.40

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

10.3%

7.2%

3.60

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

-10.4%

-5.0%

M A N SA R D

ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƟĐŬĞƌƐ ǁŚŝůĞ COURTVILLE (-8.3%), NEIMETH (-6.4%)

A R D OVA

and UNIONDAC (-ϯ͘ϭйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ tĞ ĂƌĞ ŽƉƟŵŝƐƟĐ ƚŚĂƚ

LIVEST OC K

1.5x

7.8x

0.2x

66.4%

1.8x

-13.3%

0.8x

0.0x

12.8%

0.5x

0.0x

-20.8%

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

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

N A SC ON

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

1.23

9.8%

T ic k er T R A N SC OR P

136.6

0.0%

17.50

9.7%

M B EN EF IT

70.6

8.3%

1.51

9.4%

GUA R A N T Y

69.0

1.9%

21.85

9.3%

WA P C O

61.9

4.0%

1.92

9.1%

FB NH

44.5

2.0%

42.8

1.9%

SOVR EN IN S

0.24

9.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

A C A D EM Y

0.36

9.1%

M A N SA R D

32.3

9.4%

T R IP P LEG

0.72

9.1%

A C C ESS

27.7

3.8%

VER IT A SKA P

0.24

9.1%

UB A

26.9

2.8%

540.00

8.8%

LA SA C O

25.8

7.1%

SEP LA T

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

T o p 10 L o s e r s T ic k er

17.9% 38.9%

0.0%

62.50

ϰϴ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϳ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ CHAMPION (+9.8%),

7.5%

4.8%

38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd

C H A M P ION

50.5% -31.6%

18.55 0.75

40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

-169.9%

143.00

36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC

7.3% -8.8%

1.6x

31 Custodian and Allied Insurance

T ic k er

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

-25.5% 4.7%

16 SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ ƐƵƌŐĞĚ ƚŽ ϲ͘ϵdž ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ϭ͘ϵdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ ĂƐ

ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ǁŝůů ĐůŽƐĞ ŽŶ Ă ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ŶŽƚĞ ƚŚŝƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘

0.0% 2.4%

17 11 PLC

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬ

NASCON (+9.7%) and MANSARD (+9.4%) were the best-

6.80 30.00

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

2251.7

1.9%

1423.9

4.0%

C OUR T VILLE

0.22

-8.3%

GUA R A N T Y

N EIM ET H

2.06

-6.4%

WA P C O

UN ION D A C

0.31

-3.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

1126.1

1.9%

J A IZ B A N K

0.70

-2.8%

D A N GC EM

917.3

3.0%

J OH N H OLT

0.50

-2.0%

N EST LE

687.0

0.0%

NA HCO

2.25

-1.7%

FB NH

329.5

2.0%

GUIN N ESS

18.85

-0.3%

A C C ESS

258.6

3.8%

UB A

242.3

2.8%

F LOUR M ILL

238.8

2.4%

UA C N

187.3

0.0%

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Adedayo Bakare | abakare@afrinvest.com

37

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Zenith Bank Board Meets to Discuss Results, Final Dividend Goddy Egene

The Board of Directors of

United Bank for Africa Plc will meet on Thursday 28, 2021, to discuss the audited

A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

financial statements (AFS) for the year ended December 31, 2020.

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 13Jan-2021, unless otherwise stated.

It is also expected that board will consider a final dividend for the year, having paid an

interim dividend of 30 kobo per share last year. According to the financial institution,

audited results would only be published after relevant regulatory approval.

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

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

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

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.40% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.55 3.70 -0.20% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 0.75% Anchoria Equity Fund 134.40 134.88 0.49% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.33 1.33 0.00% 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 18.40 18.95 20.12% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 409.16 421.49 18.45% ARM Ethical Fund 34.22 35.25 17.65% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.22 1.23 22.44% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.11 1.11 10.85% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 0.43% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 0.02 0.00 2.02% Paramount Equity Fund 16.27 16.59 1.80% Women's Investment Fund 134.37 135.91 0.96% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.82% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 132.07 132.95 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 108.96 108.96 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,391.33 1,392.99 -0.58% FBN Balanced Fund 187.96 189.37 0.15% FBN Halal Fund 111.52 111.55 -0.01% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.02% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 122.62 123.02 0.85% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 122.75 123.15 0.83% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 154.97 157.32 2.51% 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 N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 3,810.27 3,858.21 1.43% Coral Income Fund 3,316.75 3,316.75 1.55% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 1.96% 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 1.06% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 128.81 128.85 18.85%

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 1.08% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.90 2.96 32.49% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 157.02 157.98 9.61% 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 1.62 1.65 5.26% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.21 12.33 8.82% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.50% PACAM Equity Fund 1.58 1.59 PACAM EuroBond Fund 108.52 110.99 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 132.31 134.60 8.40% 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 1.00 1.00 0.26% 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 N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 1.39 1.42 1.91% United Capital Bond Fund 1.89 1.89 0.15% United Capital Equity Fund 0.89 0.91 2.32% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.48% United Capital Eurobond Fund 117.33 117.33 0.21% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.09 1.10 0.28% 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 12.38 12.51 4.44% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.76 13.88 12.61% Zenith Income Fund 24.09 24.09 -2.91% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.94%

REITS NAV Per Share

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund

Yield / T-Rtn

120.87

0.11%

52.46

0.11%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.00 123.81 97.61

13.10 123.81 99.73

-1.65% 1.70% -1.63%

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

4.16

4.20

9.69%

Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund

5.90

5.98

3.61%

Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund

17.68 1.00 20.17

17.78 1.00 20.37

8.01% 0.88% -1.72%

196.35

198.35

-11.87%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.71

13.11%

Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund

Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

Yield / T-Rtn

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.

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

38

WORLD OF ISLAM

24 HOURS...

Nigerian Hospital Deceived Us on Kanu’s Islam on Extraterrestrial Life - 2 Recovery, Says Wife

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

Spahic Omer/IslamiCity from last week)

NADECO pays tribute to ex-military gov The wife of the late former Lagos military Administrator, Mrs. Gladys Ndubuisi Kanu yesterday blamed the death of her husband on deceit by the Nigerian hospital that the NADECO chieftain was responding to treatment.

Fielding questions from jounalists in her Lagos resident, Mrs. Kanu said: “My husband is

one in a billion. He was highly principled, very honest and always out to help people. Since I met him, he had never been sick; this is the first time.

“Within 11 days, I took him to three different hospitals. I was about to fly him out for treatment but the hospital where he was deceived us that he was

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS MBAGWU FRANCES AKUDO AJOKE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NEBEDUM FRANCES AKUDO AJOKE. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ADISA RACHEAL IDAYAT, now wish to be known and addressed as OBASA RACHEAL IDAYAT. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as NAPOLEON TAMGBEIN FYNEMANKALIO now wish to be known and addressed as NAPOLEON NANA TAMGBEIN TAMS FYNEMANKALIO. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OKITA MARTIN C. with Date of birth 18 january 1972, now wish to be known and addressed as OKITA MARTINS CHUKWUMA with Date of birth 0101-1973. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS DAMILOLA FLORENCE FANIYI, now wish to be known and addressed as AS MRS DAMILOLA FLORENCE STEPHEN-ADEBOLA. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OJAKOVO ESEGBUYOTA FAITH now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AKO ESEGBUYOTA FAITH. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formally known and addressed as EBUZOEME CHINAEMEREM VICTORIA, now wish to be known and addressed as ONUA CHINAEMEREM VICTORIA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS JESSICA AMARACHI AJONUMAH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS JESSICA AMARACHI ANDREWJAJA. All documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS EGILE LAWSON, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EGILE ENYINNA ANYANAYA-LAWSON. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note

I, formerly known and addressed as MELIZA KING, now wish to be known and addressed as MELIZA ALABI. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as AKAH BINTA CHIWETA, now wish to be known and addressed as AKAH ZURFATU SYLVIA. All documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ONANIYI IBUKUNOLUWA AJIBOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as ODESOLA IBUKUNOLUWA AJIBOLA. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OJO KUNLE, now wish to be known and addressed as OJO BAYO KUNLE. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as BELLO ABIEWENSE KATE and KATE ABIEWENSE STAN-VEROAUGSTA now wish to be known and address as MRS VEROAUGSTAN ABIEWENSE KATE. All former documents remain valid, Zenith Bank, various institution and the general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ONYERISA CHIDINMA BLESSING, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS TOCHUKWU CHIDINMA BLESSING. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as JONAH UCHECHUKWU CHUKWUNONYE, now wish to be known and addressed as WEALTON ICHEZIRIKNE AMADI, All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note

I, formerly known and addressed as ENO UDO ANDEM, now wish to be known and addressed as ENO EDET IBOK. All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, ABADI RHODA JAMES wish to notify the public that my WASSCE of May/June 2006 my Date of Birth was erroneously written 20th February 1989 instead of 20th February 1991. My correct Date of Birth is 20th February 1991. All former documents remain valid, the general public please take note

I, formerly known and addressed as IWELOMEN MARY NWAYEME, now wish to be known and addressed as MARY NWAYEME OFUAFOR, All documents remain valid. The general public should please take note This is to notify the the general public that the bearer of these names; HUGH CHRISTOPHER EMEKA ABULOKWE AND EMEKA CHRISTOPHER ABULOKWE, refers to one and the same person. Henceforth, i wish to be known and addressed as “EMEKA CHRISTOPHER ABULOKWE”. All documents bearing these names belong to me and remain valid. The general public should please take note.

recovering. We intend using Air-ambulance to fly him out.

His death came as a shock. It has not done on us that he has passed on.

“With all the governors that emerged in Lagos, my husband was very close to them contributing on state matters, advising them - from the days of Bola Tinubu to this current administration.

He was a very intelligent man; I don’t know how I am going to leave without him”. In the same vein, chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Dr. Ayo Opadokun, described Kanu’s death as extremely painful and unexpected, saying he was consistently nationalistic, energetic, courageous, and genuinely patriotic.

“In his 78 years’ sojourn on this terrestrial divide, Admiral Kanu has been military Governor of Lagos and the old Imo State respectively. He was once a member of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) apart from his holding several command postings in the Nigerian Navy. Admiral Kanu was a distinguished leader of the Council for Unity and Understanding (CUU) ,which was the most formidable platform created by the credible leaders of the entire former Eastern, Western, and Middle Belt Zones. The CUU was the main pillar which supplied the largest credible core of officers at the formation of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in 1994.

The NADECO chieftain added that NADECO was a nationwide national platform created to ensure that Nigeria convoked a Sovereign National Conference to resolve the National Question once and for all for the progress, development, stability and peace of Nigeria and finally for the de-annulment of the credible victory of Chief MKO Abiola at the Presidential Election of June 12, 1993 which was insensitively and contemptuously annulled by the military jackboot led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

Ooni Hails Alaafin on ‘50 Years of Exemplary Leadership’ Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, yesterday congratulated the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, on his 50th coronation anniversary.

In a statement issued by the Director of Media and Public Affairs at the Ooni’s Palace, Moses Olafare, Ooni described Alaafin as a unique descendant of Oduduwa and great Nigerian who lives a life of service to humanity.

Ooni Ogunwusi, described Oba Adeyemi as a revered Nigerian monarch, who has always dignified the cultural values of the Yoruba people with great passion, thanking God for blessing him with a gift of long reign on the throne of his forefathers, as he added that the monarch has seen it all for the country.

(Continued

(Summary: This article analyses the possibility of extraterrestrial life according to the Islamic worldview, against the backdrop of modernity’s obsession with the subject. It describes the meaning and significance of life in Islam and how knowledge about extraterrestrials, is not essential. The article then focuses on Allah as the Lord of the worlds; Allah creates what people do not know; the worlds of the jinn and angels; the question of seven earths; and the question of dispersing creatures throughout the heavens and earth.)

Fourth: Seven Earths Allah says that He created seven heavens. He created seven earths as well (al-Talaq, 12). This is supported by several authentic hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh).

Most commentators of the Qur’an believe that there are seven earths in layers, one above the other, and between every two earths there is a distance like that between heaven and earth.

A weaker opinion is that the seven earths are in layers, one above the other, with no gap.

The weakest view is that seven earths mean seven continents (regions or zones) (Ibn Kathir).

Commenting on a hadith Ibn Kathir says: “Those who explained this hadith to mean the seven continents have brought an implausible explanation that contradicts the letter of the Qur’an and the hadith without having proof.”

However, all scholars advise against dwelling extensively on the issue of seven earths, because it has been mentioned only once in the Qur’an and somewhat indirectly in a few authentic hadiths.

The only reliable source for this particular knowledge is the revelation. Unquestionably, there must be profound wisdom behind not revealing more. If there were any significant benefits for humanity in disclosing more knowledge about this, Allah would certainly have given more.

An example of excessive interpretation is this account, which is sometimes ascribed to Abdullah b. ‘Abbas: “Seven earths: in every earth is a prophet like your Prophet, an Adam like your Adam, a Nuh like your Nuh, an Ibrahim like your Ibrahim, and an ‘Isa like your ‘Isa.” Fifth: Dispersing creatures throughout the heavens and earth Allah says: “And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures. And He, for gathering them when He wills, is competent” (al-Shura, 29).

The key word in the verse is “creatures” (dabbah).

To some commentators of the Qur’an, dabbah exclusively means physical living and crawling creatures (animals). They then interpret that although the heavens and earth are mentioned, only the earth, as a way of linguistic particularization, is intended for dabbah. It is common in many languages to relate a thing to a group, although that thing applies only to a member or group members.

We can understand the verse to the effect solely through the earth – including its atmosphere – Allah dispersed creatures (physical living forms).

However, many scholars reckon that dabbah implies all living and moving beings - physical or otherwise - including mankind, angels, and jinn. This understanding does not confine any particular living form to any of the earth or the seven heavens. Tentatively, they can be found anywhere.

As al-Razi concluded: “It is not far-fetched to say that Allah might have created in the heavens such types of creatures (animals) as move or walk (live and behave) like mankind on the earth.”

Man as an honorable being and the climax of Allah’s creation The Qur’an is explicit that man was created as Allah’s vicegerent (viceroy) on earth. He represented the climax of Allah’s act of creation.

That’s why man was created last after each of the seven heavens, and the earth had been fashioned.

Moreover, Allah created man (Adam) in His own image, as taught by the Prophet (pbuh) (Muslim).

Man’s physical and spiritual being embodies the meaning, purpose, and creativity of the entire universe. He is a microcosm, reflecting the macrocosm. Allah also made all created in the heavens and on the earth subservient and serviceable to man.

The Qur’an says: “Do you not see that Allah has made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and amply bestowed upon you His favors, (both) apparent and unapparent? But of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge

or guidance or an enlightening Book (from Him)” (Luqman, 20).

The verse emphatically ends that the essence of these things can be obtained only through the revealed knowledge. Man can’t take hold of it on his own. Such is not within the purview of reason.

The Qur’an furthermore reveals that man was greatly honored and favored over most of the creation: “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with (definite) preference” (al-Isra’, 70).

As a sign of that honor, angels were asked to bow down and prostrate to Adam, the father of mankind (al-Baqarah, 34). Similarly, Satan admitted to Allah that He had favored man (Adam) over himself. That was the main reason why Satan rebelled and vowed to destroy Adam and his progeny. Hence, dishonoring and debasing man became Satan’s raison d’etre. In Satan’s book, there is no manner of destruction of man that is more rewarding than that.

All these factors show that it is improbable that there are intelligent alien beings and alien civilizations out there, which could rival the purpose and legacy of mankind.

To have human-like creatures other than on the earth is implausible in equal measure. Allah clearly stated that He would create (His) vicegerent on the earth (al-Baqarah, 30).

The definite article “the” before “earth” denoted the current planet earth, about which all listeners – then and now - were familiar with (and Almighty Allah knows best).

In general, the creation of the heavens and earth has been associated with the creation of mankind, and their existence has been rendered subservient to the existence of humans. The breakdown and eventual destruction of the heavens and earth will be connected with the end of mankind and its earthly charge.

And finally, the heavens and earth will be re-created on the Day of Judgment to accommodate people’s resurrection, their judgment, and their eternal abode.

The Qur’an informs: “On the day when the earth shall be changed into a different earth, and the heavens (as well), and they shall come forth before Allah, the One, the Supreme” (Ibrahim, 48).

Respect, confusion, and scientific arrogance As expansive and complex as the heavens and earth are, they are the context of mankind’s existence. They are replete with signs that man is invited to explore, and with which - together with the signs of the revelation - he is to direct and enrich his life.

Unlike non-believers, believers do not explore the universe to look for the truth. As truth-holders, they do so to widen their understanding of the existential reality and enhance their performances and experiences as the servants of Allah.

In the believers’ case, the more and deeper they venture, the more signs they discover and read. Consequently, the more affluent and better people they become, the heavens and earth become an inexhaustible repository of meaning, import, and beauty.

Their mantra is: “Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly (in vain); exalted are You (above such a thing); then protect us from the punishment of the Fire” (Al-’Imran, 191).

On the other hand, the more and deeper the non-believers venture, the more perplexed and more confused they become. The more they discover and learn, the less they know. Consequently, the hollower and more pessimistic they turn out to be.

The heavens and earth become an inexhaustible repository of worthlessness and curse. It starts breeding nothing but arrogance, which quickly spirals out of control. No thing or idea is held intrinsically sacred or pure in the process.

The condition causes science and education to function as if they are two dreadful whips in the hands of Satan – and his associates. They become the main sources of misguidance and falsehood.

There is no other way to comprehend the rationale behind all those insulting dogmas relating to humanity, earth, and life, which have been engendered in the name of science, progress, and civilization. Otherwise, how else can someone claim that life is an accident, that people are a breed of monkeys, that life is purposeless, that pleasure-seeking is the highest good, that the earth is trivial in terms of consequence, etc.?

Non-scientific forms of ignorance – and arrogance - do not produce these affronts.

People generally tend to respect the advances of inborn human nature and values. Only when extraordinary scientific strides are made, that people lose their way at once.

Concluded

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

39

FRIDAYSPORTS

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

WA F U B U - 1 7 TO U R N A M E N T

Golden Eaglets Battle Burkina Faso for Final Ticket Duro Ikhazuagbe

After getting an unusual lifeline from Côte d’Ivoire to qualify for the semi final of the WAFU B Under-17 Tournament, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will attempt to build on that by ensuring they overcome Burkina Faso today.

Five-time world champions Eaglets will play the Burkinabes with the sole aim of reaching the final to stand the chance of qualifying for the Under-17 AFCON scheduled to hold March in Morocco.

Eaglets were already at the exit doors of the tournament after they were beaten in opening Group B game by the Baby Elephants and drew with the Black Starlets of Ghana.

But Côte d’Ivoire’s 3-1 victory over Ghana. brought the Eaglets back to life to book a place in today’s semi final with Burkina Faso at the Stade Kegue in Lomé.

With Togo’s results in the tournament annulled due to the hosts disqualification for fielding three ineligible players, Burkina Faso soared to the top

of Group A to face Nigeria that finished as runners up.

The regional tournament serves as qualifiers for the 2021 Africa U17 Cup of Nations billed for Morocco. There, Africa’s four representatives for the FIFA U17 World Cup in Peruwould be determined.

Although the world body has since cancelled the cadet World Cup due to the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.

The Golden Eaglets finished fourth at the 2019 U17 AFCON hosted by Tanzania.

At the global fiesta held in Brazil, the team led by

Manu Garba crashed out after the Round of 16 following their 3-1 defeat to the Netherlandswith, Misjonne Hansen finding the net on three occasions inside Estadio Olimpico, Goiania.

Eaglets are the most successful team in the world

at this level of competition having won the U17 World Cup for a record five times.

Their last triumph was achieved at the 2015 edition when they silenced Mali 2-0 in the final thanks to second-half strikes from Victor Osimhen and Funsho Bamgboye.

CA F C O N F E D E R AT I O N C U P

Rivers Utd, Bloemfontein Celtic Confirmed to Play in Port Novo Rivers United FC have confirmed their rescheduled CAF Confederation Cup tie against South Africa’s Bloemfontein Celtic will be played in Benin Republic’s capital Porto Novo on January 23.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) ordered the second leg of the last 32 tie to be moved to a neighbouring country to Nigeria, which has more lenient Covid-19 protocols for travellers arriving from South Africa.

Originally the match should have been played on January6 in Port Harcourt but the South African side were not able to travel to Nigeria due to the strict coronavirus regulations put in place by the Presidential Task Force

on Covid-19.

The regulations meant that Bloemfontein Celtic would have had to quarantine for seven days upon arrival, because South Africa is designated as a high risk country.

According to the South African Football Federation (SAFA) “the decision to reschedule the match comes after SAFA reached out to CAF to seek guidance on the matter after Celtic’s initial appeal to the Nigerian FA and Nigerian government was turned down.

Rivers United lead the tie 2-0 after the first leg with the overall winners progressingto play Champions League losers in the play-offs to qualify for the group stage of the Confederation Cup.

NPFL: Abia Warriors Hand Three-match Ultimatum to Imama The Management of Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia has given the Technical Crew of the team the mandate to win their next three matches in the Nigerian topflight NPFL or get fired.

Spokesman of the Abia State owned club, Nwosu Chigozie, the ultimatum came after Management held an emergency meeting with the coaches at the Club’s Secretariat in Umuahia following the dismal performance of the team in the on-going Nigeria Professional Football League where Abia Warriors have lost their first four league games.

“The Management reiterated that the team has no reason not to do well considering the

Golden Eaglets

Sportsville Award Excites Edo Deputy Gov Deputy Governor of Edo State, Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu, has accepted the Sportsville award to be bestowed on him and other sports personalities in Lagos on January 30.

Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor, Ebomhiana Musa, said the award which is coming from a very credible outfit like Sportsville is one which the state’s number two citizen cherishes and would be in Lagos to personally receive.

“My boss, Rt Hon Philip

calibre of players in the squad,” pointing out that the “technical crew, led by Imama Amapakabo has enjoyed the greatest support and cooperation ever given to any crew in the Club’s history.”

The deputy governor, a consummate athlete himself is a registered player for Bendel Insurance FC, thus making him the first sitting deputy governor in the country to play in the Nigerian premier league.

He has personally ensured with the support of his boss, Gov Godwin Obaseki, to see the revival of sports in Edo State.

Edo with world-class sporting facilities is set to host the National Sports Festival next month.

Other awardees include; President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, NBBF boss, Musa Kida, NOC President, Habu Gumel, NWFL chairperson, Aisha Falode, Enyimba Chairman, Felix Anyansi Agwu, and the CEO of Monimichelle Group, Mr Ebi Egbe, veteran sports journalist cum media entrepreneur, Dr Larry Izamoje of Bria FM and Super Eagles number one supporter, Dr Rafiu Ladipo.

Ighalo Considers Super Eagles’ Return Femi Solaja

Imama Amapakabo...gets three-match ultimatum

Shaibu has accepted the Sportsville award and he would be in Lagos by the grace of God to personally receive it.

This is an award he cherishes because it is coming from a very credible body. Sportsville is run by the best brains in the sports media industry,” Musa said.

The Edo Deputy Governor is being honored for his immense contribution to sports development not just in Edo state but the country at large.

AFCON 2019 highest goals scorer and Manchester United on loan striker, Odion Ighalo, is considering a return to the Super Eagles if the coaching crew led by Gernot Rohr deems it necessary to extend invite to him.

The former Watford striker told ESPN that he still maintains good communication with Rohr who wanted him to return to the team shortly after his big 2019 winter deadline day transfer move from China’s Shanghai Shenhua to Manchester United on loan.

“I have good relationship with Rohr and at a time he wanted me to return to the team because he finds it difficult to see me play for Manchester United and not in his Super Eagles squad.

“Although I retired from the team very early due to injury before the AFCON

and unfortunately, I left the tournament with another injury.

Considering that travels between China Nigeria weren’t too good for me, I had to to look at other options to save my club career and give younger players the chance to also show their stuffs.

“I miss everyone in the team and if the need arises, I will want to play at another World Cup finals or the Africa Cup of Nations. But for now, I want the young lads in the team to enjoy themselves,” observed Ighalo.

Meanwhile, with Ighalo’s loan spell at Old Trafford coming to an end this January ending, the Nigerian star told ESPN that he is yet to make a decision on his future although speculations are rife he’s considering moving to US’s MLS. “Today, I’m in Manchester but at the end of the month I don’t know where I’m going to be,” Ighalo told ESPN. “If it’s

Odion Ighalo...Considering return to Super Eagles

possible I’d like to stay here but if not I have to go.

“I have options. I wait for my agent. He is doing his job and I’m doing mine. At the end of the month, we have to decide what is best and we’ll take it.

If it’s possible I’d like to play in

MLS but I have to wait to see if it’s possible.

“The league is doing well and if the opportunity arises then I’d grab it with two hands,” he said.

In the finals days of his loan spell at Manchester United, things have not been rosy for the Nigerian following the arrival of Uruguay star, Edinson Cavani last summer.

But if Ighalo leaves at the end of the month, the 31-year-old said he will do so having fulfilled his dream of playing for the team he supported as a kid in Lagos.

“I never believed I’d play for United,” he said. “Where I come from, we fight because of United games.

“We quarrel. We argue. When my team hasn’t done well, I cried.

I grew my love for United since I was young and I’m the happiest man on earth for my dream to come true. I’ve fulfilled my dream to play for Man United.”

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Idiocy of Underage Married Girls’ Suffrage

J

ust when you think that you’ve heard or seen the worst of government’s bizarre pronouncements, you are suddenly faced with the rude awakening that this government is eager to break its own worst record. Have you heard that the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Matters has proposed that INEC should allow underage girls forced or lured into early marriage to vote in elections?

The Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Kabiru Gaya, was quoted to have said: “The joint committee has proposed that if a lady who is not up to 18 years is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote.” They have proposed a review of the provision in the Electoral Act that pegs the eligibility of voters at 18 years. The proposal is nefarious and the motive behind it is clearly the next election.

The promoters of this silly legislation want to swell the voters’ register with married juvenile girls to give the Northern part of the country where the practice is rampant greater numerical voting advantage over the rest of the country.

The Northern political elite is forever scheming for political advantage in order to maintain political power for their group/ ethnic interest. The poor ordinary peasants are mere pawns in a vicious lust for power by a corrupt elite that has maintained a crushing chokehold on them.

The question that immediately jumps out is why is this so important to its proponents when other matters such as ensuring the credibility and integrity of the electoral process are yet to be given attention?

The joint committee is not interested in the transmission of results real time to reduce the incidence of rigging and the attendant endless litigations which have gulped a lot of taxpayers’ money as attested by INEC before and after elections. Who are the likely beneficiaries of the bizarre and atrocious proposal? Certainly not the married underage girls, and certainly not the system or the democratic process or its evolution, but the Northern political elite who are not looking at educating and developing the next generation but have their eyes firmly primed on winning the next election.

Who originated this latest despicable brainwave? And why was it unanimous? Are you telling me there was no good member of conscience, courageous enough to oppose this crazy and retrogressive idea? Do you mean to tell me none of the members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC Matters saw the implications of this recommendation? I am genuinely disturbed by the cavalier manner of the recommendation and the quality of thought that goes into the legislative process by the lawmakers.

That every single senator and House member of the joint committee supported the recommendation to lower the voting age for married juveniles is a telling clue to the tomfoolery going on in the National Assembly and the quality of representation we the people are getting. These are lawmakers from hell.

Did Kabiru Gaya and his co-travellers on this foolish path not know that the very “phrase underage marriage” connotes a negative tradition the world is eagerly moving

Gaya away from? How do they now think it is right to confer benefits on the practitioners?

I am really scandalised by this senseless recommendation.

Sometimes, I feel like just giving up on this country. How can a country ever progress when almost every policy idea is driven by the desire of one part to scam the rest of the country in order to hold onto power?

But how can I give up? You just can’t give up the fight against clowns who make laws for us or the officials who formulate crazy policies and give us two weeks to comply or block our phone lines in clear defiance of government’s own Covid-19 safety protocols.

It’s a shame that such a perfidious recommendation was a “unanimous decision” of members of the committee. The political motivation behind it is not so hidden.

Beyond the politics, however, is the very clear discriminatory nature of the recommendation.

It is an evil political proposal to legitimise and milk the child-marriage scourge for political advantage in one part of the country against the other. It is an affront to the constitution which pegs the eligible voting age at 18 and the Child Rights Act of 2003 which has been domesticated by 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This Act prohibits child marriage and places the minimum legal age for marriage at 18 years.

Clearly, the proposal of our lawmakers is a direct encouragement of the same practice that the Child Rights Act was enacted to discourage. It encourages juvenile girls who are not yet physically, mentally or psychologically ready to deal with the complexities of marital life and childbirth to embrace marriage. Of course this practice is common in poor rural or remote communities with limited access to sexual and reproductive health education, where modern health practices are still seen as a taboo.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death in girls aged 15-19 globally, and 90% of adolescent pregnancies in the developing world are girls in that age bracket already married. Also, girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than girls in their 20s. Child brides are also more vulnerable to other pregnancy-related injuries such as obstetric fistula, which can have devastating long-term consequences, especially if left untreated. In fact, 65% of all obstetric fistula cases occur in girls under 18.”

Nigeria has 14 million out-of-school children, the majority of whom are in the North; an even more disproportionate percentage of that figure is the girl-child. These grim statistics should bother any right-thinking, well-meaning lawmaker or official of any responsible government. But instead of seeking measures to discourage this age-old practice of child-marriage, our lawmakers are seeking political advantage from it by incentivizing a practice that is clearly detrimental to the health of the girl-child and the society at large.

In their warped thinking, “If a lady, who is not up to 18 years, is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote.” While those who are still in school of similar age or even older than the married ones cannot vote because they are not married! So for following what is supposedly the right path, they can’t vote. More graphically, an unmarried 17-year-old girl that is pursuing an education can’t vote, while an 11-year-old that is married and uneducated can vote. Is this not discriminatory against other girls and even the boy-child?

In the first place, members of the joint committee which made that useless recommendation forgot that underage girls

The recommendation that married underage girls be allowed to vote is really not of any benefit to the victims. It will neither put food on the table, nor change their life of servitude. It will not make them more enlightened, knowledgeable or get an education. Rather, it will increase the number of ignorant but vulnerable people that politicians use to rig elections and this affects everyone.

were not considered mature in taking the life-altering decision to marry in the first place, and in most cases to complete strangers.

Such decisions were taken and imposed on them by their parents or guardians. Anyway, how does marriage confer maturity – even maturity to discern the political environment on the girl-child? The joint committee should tell us how it arrived at the insane proposal.

You see, the National Assembly is clearly hamstrung by the background of its members.

It is largely populated by certificate forgers and people with a criminal past. Their oversight functions are means of coercion, extortion and bribe-taking. Many of them lack the basic understanding of their duties. They are more concerned with preserving the benefits they derive from the corruption that makes Nigeria a big-for-nothing country.

I completely agree with the women bodies that have condemned this proposal from a totally corrupt and incompetent legislature.

The Nigerian Feminist Forum had strong words for them on the issue, accusing the lawmakers of taking part in a deliberate act of misconduct by legitimising the sufferings of underage girls forced into marriage rather than be in school. Speaking on behalf of the forum, Ihuoma Obibi reminded the lawmakers (or lawbreakers) that the Child Rights Act recognises children as those below 18 years and therefore called on the legislature not to use the bodies of Nigerian women to play the politics of who would rule Nigeria.

Addressing the issue too, President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin said the amendment, if pushed through, would encourage child marriage. She consequently called on members of the National Assembly to throw “this horrible proposal into the trash can, as it does not in any way present us as a serious nation, committed to the advancement of the future of the girl child.”

According to her, it was worrisome that at a time the world was improving upon every known framework and advocacies towards advancing girl-child education and of course an end to underage marriage, some politicians were making moves to further worsen the menace of child marriage by advancing such a terrible practice, as a basis for selfish political gains. “The implication of allowing such an amendment in our electoral law simply means that more of our underage girls will be pushed into early marriages by politicians capitalising on pervasive poverty, particularly in the Northern part of the country, just for selfish political advantages,” she noted.

The recommendation that married underage girls be allowed to vote is really not of any benefit to the victims. It will neither put food on the table, nor change their life of servitude.

It will not make them more enlightened, knowledgeable or get an education. Rather, it will increase the number of ignorant but vulnerable people that politicians use to rig elections and this affects everyone.

John F Kennedy, the late President of the United States, aptly captured the dangers of one ignorant person to the security of all. According to him, knowledge is power more so today than ever before. An educated person knows that only educated and informed people will be a free people. “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”

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