WEDNESDAY 3ND MARCH 2022

President Insists Adamu is Preferred Candidate for APC Chair

South-east seeks national secretary, South-west divided Chairmanship aspirants disagree on convention date, write Buhari Governors agree on zoning list Iyobosa Uwugiaren, Deji Elumoye and Adedayo Akinwale President Muhammadu Buhari met with governors of the ruling

All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday at State House, Abuja, where he expressed his preference for former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu,

as consensus candidate for the office of APC national chairman.

The meeting with the state chief executives was called to discuss the forthcoming national convention

of the party scheduled for March 26, among other issues.

APC stakeholders from the South-east pushed for the office of National Secretary, while the

South-west, where the office was originally zoned, was still divided over the party position.

However, under the latest agreement reached by the

Governors yesterday at their meeting after the meeting with Buhari, all the previous positions Continued on page 64

Obaseki Faults Sharing Formula for FG’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Others… Page 66 Wednesday 2 March, 2022 Vol 27. No 9822. Price: N250

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2023: INEC Meets Parties, Presents New Voters’ Lists... Page 66

Buhari Seeks Fresh Amendment to Electoral Act, Wants Clause 84 Expunged Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday wrote to the National Assembly, seeking fresh amendments to the Electoral Act he signed into law last Friday. This confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive

report last week that Buhari was seeking assurances for the National Assembly leadership that they would amend Section 84 of the new law as a pre-condition for him to sign the bill into law. He eventually signed the reworked bill into law last week Friday, according

to reliable sources with knowledge of the conversation, was after he got the assurances of the leadership of the lawmakers.

Buhari's request was contained in a letter dated February 28, 2022.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan read the official communication on

the floor during plenary yesterday.

Lawan drew the attention of the chamber to the provisions of Section 84(12), which, according to him, constitutes a “defect” that is in conflict with extant constitutional provisions.

He said Section 84(12) of the Act

amounted to disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any election in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the election.

The letter read in part, “I write with reference to the recent assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) 2022, and to draw your kind attention to some salient issues contained in the Act and to seek your immediate Continued on page 64

Constitution Review: National Assembly Okays Autonomy for LGs, State Legislature, Judiciary Senate passes 49 out of 68 constitution bills Moves prisons, railways, power generation from exclusive to concurrent list Rejects pension for parliament presiding officers Says states free to collect VAT Empowers NASS, state assemblies to summon president, govs Turns down proposal for special seats for women in legislature Okays independent candidature for elections Approves separation of AGF, Justice Minister offices Sunday Aborisade, Udora Orizu and Juliet Akoje in Abuja Members of the National Assembly yesterday voted on the report of its Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bills, 2022, which consisted

of 68 bills.

The Senate passed a total of 49 bills out of the 68 considered during voting on the Constitution bills.

These included moving prisons, railways and power generation from Continued on page 64

SEMINAR ON NATIONAL SECURITY...

L-R: National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General (rtd) Babagana Monguno; Commandant, National Defence College, Real Admiral Muktar Bashir; President Muhammadu Buhari, and Minister of Defence, Bashir Salihi Magashi, at a seminar on national security held at the National Defence College, Abuja ...yesterday PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI

New Conditions of Service for University Lecturers to Be Ready in Six Weeks... Page 65

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322, 0807 401 0580

NEWS

AT THE NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL ENERGY SUMMIT...

L-R: Chairman, Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Chief Abdulrazaq Isa; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, at the plenary session of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja... yesterday

FG: Oil Will Continue to Be Relevant Despite Conversations around Energy Transition NNPC to disavow oil firms without gas flare stoppage plan, says Kyari Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government yesterday stated that despite global push for the stoppage of the exploration of fossil fuels, crude oil would continue to be relevant in the coming years.

Speaking on the third day of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) tagged: "Revitalising the Industry: Future Fuels and Energy Transition," the Minister of State, Petroleum said industry stakeholders must begin to drive a new narrative, using gas as a transition fuel.

Stating that the oil and gas industry would face more scrutiny in their operations and business

models in the coming days, Sylva noted that operators would have to explain more often the impact of their activities on the environment.

In addition, he stated that their contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and their efforts towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions, would be questioned more often.

“While we pursue the country's energy transition agenda, let us also recognise that fossil fuels will continue to play a critical role in our energy and economic systems.

“While the role may appear to be in contradiction with the energy transition agenda, fossil fuels will still remain important and will remain integral part of

the vision in our energy transition journey,” he explained.

Sylva stated that the federal ministry of petroleum resources, in discharge of its mandate, would continue to be an enabler to make a seamless energy transition in Nigeria happen.

He added that the federal government would continue to provide an enabling environment to improve the oil and gas value chain, driven by modern technology, industry, best practices, stakeholders' engagement and innovations in alternative energy.

He urged stakeholders to come up with an accelerated energy transition strategy for the country, look at the critical factors that could

Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea Sign Deal on Development of Stranded Gas Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to supply gas from Nigeria’s offshore fields to the neighbouring country’s gas processing facility in Punta Europa.

A statement by the Senior Special Adviser, Media, to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Horatius Egua, stressed that the MoU kicked off a strategic economic collaboration across the Gulf of Guinea where Nigeria’s abundant natural gas reserves compliment the country’s gas liquefaction infrastructure.

The Nigerian government stated that the recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) coupled with, “Nigeria’s Decade of Gas” initiative was creating an enabling environment which triggered the conception of the project.

According to the government, this has facilitated major investment inflow from Equatorial Guinea into Nigeria even as the project signals the joint effort of the two countries in working towards a greener energy environment.

“The execution of this MoU meets one of the imperatives of the decade of gas in Nigeria. Whilst

we are focused on the domestic gas agenda, we are keeping an eye on the global gas market as well.

“Nigeria has huge gas resources, a significant amount of which is offshore and will require unprecedented investment in infrastructure to bring them to market.

“This collaboration allows much of that stranded gas to access the global gas market within 18 to 24 months in what will be the fastest timeline to market for a Nigerian offshore gas asset.

“This is possible because Equatorial Guinea brings to the table a major portfolio of world class gas processing and liquefaction infrastructure already in place in Punta Europa, coupled with investment funds for development,” Sylva said.

Additionally, the government noted that the project which envisions an offshore gas pipeline development would create huge incountry local content opportunities for pipeline and other infrastructure service providers.

This, it stated was in addition to accelerated royalty revenues that come from producing many gas fields that would have otherwise remained stranded.

Minister of Mines and Hy-

drocarbons, Equatorial Guinea, Gabriel Nguema Obiang Lima, in his remarks, stated that the execution of this MoU was a great example of the South-south cooperation between neighbouring Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.

“As the global geopolitics of natural gas evolves and within the context of the world transitioning to a lower carbon footprint, it is imperative that we think differently on how to remain an important player in energy markets.

“New, fast, and competitive sources will be a major determinant of success. This strategic collaboration breaks down geographical boundaries and allows delivery of gas from Nigeria to Equatorial Guinea’s Punta Europa facilities, extending their life and providing access to the regional and global energy markets.

“The NNPC and its JV partners get a unique opportunity to monetise gas that would have otherwise been stranded offshore due to absence of infrastructure,” he stated.

According to the statement, as the world energy dynamics change, Nigeria aims to adapt rapidly to ensure that it remains at the forefront of world gas exporters.

make them happen and whether the factors relate to the government, society, policy makers, technology, investors or the industry itself.

Quoting Dr. Fatih Birol, who is the Executive Director of International Energy Agency, (IEA) Sylva noted that, "No energy company will be unaffected by this energy transition,” adding that “Every part of the industry needs to consider how to respond since doing nothing is simply not an option.’’

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, while speaking, stated that Nigeria must take advantage of today’s resources and then work towards the energy transition target of 2060.

Stressing that the NNPC and partners were working to increase domestic crude oil production, he added that in conjunction with the country’s security agencies, the unfavourable security situation was being sorted out.

He maintained that while energy transition remained real, the company was looking at how it can increase the resources of today by getting more investment and promote gas development.

Kyari maintained that the NNPC has a programme to take out the current flare levels, noting

that flaring of gas was going on in very many locations that they shouldn’t, “because we don’t know what to do.”

“Today, we are pulling resources together to take out these flares.

At the second level, any company which pegs flaring as part of its development plan, will be disallowed. This is very practical,” he noted.

According to the GMD, with the AKK project, the NNPC would deliver gas throughout the nation of about eight to 10 billion scf, admitting however that there were still pricing issues, which would be taken care by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

In his comments, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources and ExxonMobil Executive, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated that Nigeria must take full advantage of its fossil fuel resources while they last.

While stating that the country does not have up to 30 to 40 years to do that, he explained that Nigeria has a limited time to take advantage of its resources.

He further said it was important to fast-track oil production and value addition.

He pointed out that Nigeria needed to work very fast to rehabilitate the refineries and then take the issue of gas production

seriously, but mentioned that the issues of funding, tax regime, among others, have to be sorted out.

According to him, since developing gas has become more important than developing crude, Nigeria needs to pay attention to the transition product, gas, adding that in 10 to 15 years, the developed world will move away from gas.

According to him, while sale of assets is a fantastic opportunity, Nigeria still needed the funding for major projects, adding however that the country must not forget to celebrate the milestones it had made in the last couple of years.

He noted that while opening up the oil sector was important, a situation where one person has 10 to 15 blocks and refuse to develop them, while holding just a certificate of occupancy, must be reviewed.

Managing Director of Chevron, Nigeria, Rick Kennedy, in his intervention, stated that the country is endowed with everything to succeed in the energy industry, including a young population of talented people.

Also, Managing Director, Nigeria NLNG, Philip Mshelbila, in his remarks, explained that the company has reduced gas flaring from more than 65 per cent to currently less than 20 per cent due to its de-carbonisation programme.

MoneyReport Names Emefiele ‘Man of the Year’ 2021 The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been named as the ‘Man of the Year’ 2021 by the MONEYReport Magazine, a continental business and economy publication based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Announcing the award in Lagos, the Publisher and Executive Editor of the publication, Mr. Nik Ogbulie, in a statement explained that the award was a hotly contested bid between five top technocrats from both government and private sector institutions whose performances within the period in question have been quite outstanding and impressive.

He noted that the award was so challenging because the magazine started its ‘Man of the Year’ project in 2020 with high-flying nomina-

tions, all of which were seen as top economy motivators and achievers.

He said that the quality of the magazine’s nominees cannot afford to be less as it has come to stay as a major landmark of the publication.

According to Ogbulie, “Emefiele’s emergence was believed to have been so glaring considering the plethora of activities, innovations and interventions he has brought to bear to his challenging role of monetary policy stability.”

He noted that, “Emefiele’s successes were tied to his policy of continuity which offered him a great linkage to manage the monetary policy challenges and the various intervention principles which have been effective in achieving an unprecedented level of economic stability.”

He added: “MoneyReport believes that the consistency with which Emefiele’s policies focused on the Covid-19 Pandemic was responsible for the level of success the country has been able to record, otherwise the grave-yard for Covid-19 victims in the country would have been as big as 100 standard football fields put together.

“The magazine believes that every economic challenge in Nigeria has called Emefiele to a huge battle, and he made no fuss about it.

“The 40-page editorial on the Governor is all that was needed to celebrate this milestone which is devoid of the traditional Nigerian fanfare, a simplistic presentation of plaque will be made to the Governor in due course.”

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NEWS

INAUGURATION OF NEMBE UNITY BRIDGE...

L-R: Speaker, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere; Amanyanabo of Nembe, King Edmund Daukoru; Governor Douye Diri; former President, Goodluck Jonathan; Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, and Olua 1 of Oluasiri Clan, Chief Iyerite Awululu, during inauguration of the Nembe Unity Bridge in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State…recently

Insecurity: 70% of Nigeria’s Armed Forces Engage in Domestic Police Duties, Says FG CDS: Over 23,000 repentant boko haram members have surrendered Dike Onwuamaeze The federal government has disclosed that about 70 per cent of officers of the Nigerian Armed forces are currently engaged in domestic policing operations in the country.

This was revealed yesterday in Lagos, by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, when he presented the keynote speech during the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) 2022 Security Meet Business Dialogue Series.

Mustapha, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary for Political Economic Affairs, Office of the SGF, Mr. Andrew Adejoh, also stated that the federal government’s 2022 budget for all the security agencies, excluding its statutory contribution to the Police Trust Fund, was N2.41 trillion.

He said: “Close to 70 per cent of Nigerian armed forces personnel are engaged in policing duties across the 36 states of the federation. That is not what the army is supposed to do. But we have to do that to solve our security problems.

“The security vote for this year is actually N2.41 trillion. This does not include the statutory allocation to the Police Trust Fund.

“But money alone will not solve the problem. We need to look at the process and procedures to make sure that the money is put to useful purposes.”

He also said the federal government was highly disturbed by the escalating security challenges in the country, adding that, “it seemed a number of Nigerians have turned these security challenges into business. But the government is trying as much as it could not to let them

have a breathing space.”

Also, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, who was represented by Major General Adeyemi Yekini, said over 23,000 repentant Boko Haram combatants have so far surrendered their arms to the Nigerian military along with their families, and are now undergoing programme meant to reintegrate them to the society under the government’s Operation Safe Corridor.

Irabor said: “The popular one, which people do not want to hear about, is the rehabilitation of repentant Boko Haram that have surrendered their weapons.

And over 23,000 of them have surrendered to the Nigerian armed forces, thereby helping to mop up small arms in circulation.

“Operation Safe Corridor is about disarmament and reintegration. The aim is to give them (repentant Boko Haram members) skills so that they can go back to their local communities and engage themselves in useful purposes.”

He added that the military believed that some of the Boko Haram fighters were attracted to terrorism out of frustration caused by economic hardship.

He also maintained that the military was not interested in politics. “Let me tell you point blank: the military is not interested in politics. We are out to do our job as professional soldiers that defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria and while remaining obedient to civil authorities.”

The President of the LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, said in his opening remarks that Nigeria was ranked 146 among 163 countries in the 2021 Global Peace Index (GPI) of the Institute of Economics and Peace,

which stated that improvements in peace could lead to considerable economic improvement in GDP growth, inflation, and employment.

He said: “For the government to achieve better results in confronting insecurity, a key factor is to tackle the root causes and stem degeneration into social disorder

and instability. The high level of unemployment and poverty among Nigerians, especially the youths, has consistently attracted them to crimes. Failure to address challenges of poverty, unemployment, and business failures is one of the major factors fueling insecurity in the country.

communications campaigns, eyecatching creative branding and disruptive ad campaigns."

The prestigious award recognised Del-York's "stunning documentary campaigns across the sub-region, creative ads and design campaigns for federal, state governments, development agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.

Also mentioned was the well-executed PR and creative branding campaign, "which stole the world's attention for the coronation ceremony of the 21st Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, in August 2021," said a statement by the agency.

"Del-York International continues

contend with bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers across the country.

“There have been calls for open and frank dialogue as a critical factor in addressing the security challenges of the nation, using the media and stakeholders’ forums as a catalyst for cooperation among citizens to end the crises.”

Buhari Departs for Two Weeks Medical Check Up in London Rejoices with Adeboye at 80

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari departed Abuja yesterday for a three-day official visit to Nairobi, Kenya from where he would proceed to London for routine medical checks that may last two weeks.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement disclosed that President Buhari's medical check-up in UK would last maximum of two weeks.

He said: "From Kenya, President Buhari will proceed to London for routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks" The president will first honour an invitation extended to him by his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, to participate in the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP@50), scheduled for March 3rd and 4th, 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The theme of the special session is titled: "Strengthening UNEP for the Implementation of the Environmental Dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development.”

According to the organisers of the event, "for 50 years, UNEP has coordinated a worldwide effort with Member States to address the world’s biggest environmental challenges. Member States are vital partners in formulating UNEP’s policy, implementing UNEP's programme and championing solutions to our shared environmental challenges.

“UNEP@50 is a time to reflect on the past and envision the future.

It provides an opportunity to reinvigorate international cooperation and spur collective action to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

“No country or continent can solve these global crises alone. But each nation has a crucial role to play in protecting our people and planet."

Buhari is expected to deliver the National Statement of the country and participate in High Level Dialogue Sessions on the Environment at the event.

He would be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of

Del-York Named Best Media Agency in West Africa One of Africa's foremost international PR and strategic communications agencies, Del-York International, has been named the best media agency in West Africa.

Specifically, Del-York was declared the winner of the 'West Africa's Most Outstanding Media Agency of the year' at the 11th West Africa Brand Excellence Awards.

The 2021/22 awards ceremony was held on February 26 at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, where DelYork received the main creative industry trophy of the evening.

The number one spot in the regional award came due to the agency's reputation for creating "unconventional PR and strategic

“As we approach an election year, we recommend that the government separate politics from security and that the security agencies stay off politics. And there is a need to step up enlightenment campaigns against political violence as this could lay an extra burden on our security agencies as they

to be a strong advocate for Africa's creative economy and business. In 2022, the firm announced a global partnership with Huffine Global to widen its global impact and reach and with StoryLand Studios to build Africa's first ultra-modern film/ creative city- with Storyland Studios and LSG," said Del-York Group President/Founder, Linus Idahosa.

According to Idahosa, Del-York International is a one-stop shop for communication needs across industries.

"For us, it's about being intentional about driving excellence with the work we do," added Idahosa.

"We blend creative strategy and a core understanding of business

acumen, giving our agency a unique edge to all our Clients. We’d like to thank our clients for constantly trusting us with their briefs."

The event gave the avenue for brands and agencies to network.

In attendance were brands like Dangote Cement, Olam, Seplat, Vitafoam, Arla, Tesco, Baobab Microfinance Bank, Papyrus, Ibom Icon Hotel, Molfix, amongst others.

Some diplomatic observers at the event included United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Fulvio Rustico, and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.

State for the Environment, Sharon Ikeazor; National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd); Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, and the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

Meanwhile, Buhari has joined members of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), the Christian community, particularly clergymen in Nigeria and abroad, in celebrating with Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, as he celebrates his 80th birthday anniversary today.

Buhari in a statement by his Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, felicitated with the wife, Pastor Foluke Adenike Adeboye, family members, friends and relations as the general overseer turns an octogenarian, with clear evidences of walking the path of a righteous man by dedicating his life to the

service of God, and humanity.

The president recalled his private and public meetings with the renowned preacher and teacher of the Bible over many years, most remarkably the visit when he was recuperating in London in 2017, appreciating Adeboye’s warmth and friendliness, which he also extends to leaders and others from all walks of life.

According to the statement, Buhari believed Adeboye’s contributions to the betterment of Nigeria and other countries stand out clearly as testimonies of his divine calling, impacting greatly on education, health and infrastructural development, which include many urban and rural roads.

The president hailed the focus of the RCCG leader on works of the Kingdom and peace for the nation, praying that his path would be like a shining light, with grace for good health and strength.

...PFN also Celebrates RCCG Pastor Mary Nnah

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), has described Pastor Enoch Adeboye, as an exemplar to the Pentecostal community in many ways and a huge inspiration to the body of Christ around the world.

Media PFN, Simbo Olorunfemi, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, the National Advisory Council, the National Executive Council, and all the members of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, to Pastor Adeboye in commemoration of his 80th Birthday, the National President of the PFN, Bishop Dr. Francis Wale Oke, congratulated the General Overseer (Worldwide) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

He expressed gratitude to God Almighty for His grace and faithfulness in the life of Pastor Adeboye, who is one of the founding Fathers of the PFN and the second National

President, having led the fellowship from 1992 to 1995.

“Not only do you stand out for your humility, your unwavering commitment to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, almost 30 years after you left office as the National President, is worthy of commendation. We salute you for consistently supporting the PFN through the years, always ready to offer much-needed support and advice at all times.

“Your impact in the over 40 years of your leadership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is evident across all the continents and many generations, making you a global icon and one of the most influential people in the world, of whom we are proud.

“PFN prayed that God will continue to keep the RCCG GO strong and healthy to continue to serve as an inspiration to millions all over the world, within and outside the Christian fold.

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COMMENT

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

‘A SUSTAINABLE FEMINIST RECOVERY’

We need a sustainable, feminist recovery centred around — and driven by — women and girls, writes António Guterres

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s the world moves ahead to mark International Women’s Day, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards. All of us are paying the price.

The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women’s leadership is more crucial than ever.

Women have heroically confronted the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors, nurses, and public health and social care workers.

But at the same time, women and girls have been the first to lose out on jobs or schooling, taking on more unpaid care work, and facing skyrocketing levels of domestic and cyber abuse and child marriage.

The pandemic has highlighted even more starkly an age-old truth: the roots of patriarchy run deep. We still live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture.

As a result, in good times or bad, women are more likely to fall into poverty. Their healthcare is sacrificed and their education and opportunities are curtailed.

As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery — one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre.

We need economic progress through targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training and decent work. Women should be first in line for the 400 million jobs we are called to create by 2030.

We need social progress through investments in social protection systems and the care economy. Such investments yield huge dividends, creating green, sustainable jobs, while supporting members of our societies that need assistance, including children, older people and the sick.

We need financial progress, to reform a morally bankrupt global financial system, so all countries can invest in a woman-centred economic recovery. This includes debt relief and fairer tax systems that channel some of the massive pockets of wealth around the world to those who need it most.

We need urgent, transformative climate action, to reverse the reckless increase in emissions and gender inequalities that have left women and girls disproportionately vulnerable. Developed countries must urgently deliver on their commitments on finance and technical support for a just

WHEN THE WORLD INVESTS IN EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS, ALL OF HUMANITY WINS

transition from fossil fuels. The successful, stable economies of the future will be green, gender-inclusive and sustainable.

We need more women in leadership in government and business, including finance ministers and CEOs, developing and implementing green and socially progressive policies that benefit all their people.

We know, for example, that having more women in parliaments is linked with stronger climate commitments and higher levels of investment in healthcare and education.

We need political progress through targeted measures that ensure women’s equal leadership and representation at all levels of political decision-making, through bold gender quotas.

Gender inequality is essentially a question of power.

Uprooting centuries of patriarchy demands that power is equally shared across every institution, at every level.

At the United Nations, we have achieved — for the first time in the organization’s history — gender parity in senior management at headquarters and around the world. This has dramatically improved our ability to better reflect and represent the communities we serve.

Every step of the way, we can take inspiration from women and girls pushing for progress in every sphere and every corner of our globe.

Young women climate campaigners are leading global efforts to pressure governments to live up to their commitments.

Women’s rights activists are bravely demanding equality and justice, and building more peaceful societies as peacekeepers, peacemakers and humanitarians in some of the world’s trouble zones and beyond.

In societies where women’s rights movements are vibrant, democracies are stronger.

When the world invests in expanding opportunities for women and girls, all of humanity wins.

As a matter of justice, equality, morality and plain common sense, we need to turn the clock forward on women’s rights.

We need a sustainable, feminist recovery centred around — and driven by — women and girls.

António Guterres is Secretary-General of the United Nations

NIGCOMSAT PRIVATISATION AND ROAD NOT TAKEN Sonny Aragba-Akpore writes that the country’s communication satellite is simply another drainpipe

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ith what is likened to a white-elephant project, Nigeria’s Communications Satellite NIGCOMSAT IR launched in Xichang, China on December 19, 2011 expires in four years.

Launched with a funfair, and beamed on the NTA Network NIGCOMSAT IR is a replacement for NIGCOMSAT1 launched in May 2007 but failed a year later.

The cost of the satellite, put at $300m, was funded by China Exim bank under the auspices of China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC). Nigeria’s contribution was $50m as counterpart funding.

NIGCOMSAT IR was Nigeria’s response to join countries that venture into space to provide communications services to its citizens and neighbouring countries which do not have direct access to satellite communications.

But strangely, since the launch of the Satellite, nothing significant has happened.

NIGCOMSAT is like Mtel which paid $285m in 2001, and went on a misadventure in GSM business, buying equipment to deploy services. All of that collapsed despite its sale to a private investor.

To succeed in communications satellite business, Nigeria should take a cue from other climes. No operator runs with a single satellite and expects to succeed.

Telesat owns 298 Satellites while Intelsat has 50, Eutelsat, 36; Arabsat 6, among others.

The government has attempted to privatize NIGCOMSAT a few times but vested interests frustrated such moves and so the government has continued to fund the place year in, year out with little impact on the economy.

With nearly 325 staff on its payroll and

over N20billion yearly subvention, the company cannot boast of a yearly income of N300m.

With a restricted clientele which remains predominately some sympathetic Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), no serious business on NIGCOMSAT IR platform.

The reason is that in the case of downtime as a result of failure, the company does not have any backup to cushion any form of such downtime.

When NIGCOMSAT I failed in 2008, all the banks and corporations linked to it suffered severe losses before they were migrated to other satellites. Besides, the satellite has its ground station located in China thus making its well-trained engineers and experts redundant since its only local ground station packed up long ago.

With the fear of the unknown especially resulting in downtime, corporate organizations remain reluctant to join the satellite.

Even the Direct To Home (DTH) platform which is supposed to augment government drive to introduce Digital Switch Over (DSO) works in fits thereby rendering services inaccessible.

Although there are claims that the issue of set up boxes remain one bottleneck though the DTH with its very laudable capacity has not been able to pop up services to the applause of its subscribers There are also allegations that the top management is made up of round pegs in square holes which is another tragedy.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Pantami said the other day that NIGCOMSAT will launch two additional satellites in the next two years and that he has secured government approvals for the funds for that purpose. He also told the staff when he addressed them at the

Lugbe, Abuja headquarters that he had also secured government approval to stay action on the privatization exercise. Though the staff applauded this move, what we see on ground does not justify the huge investment on the company set up since April 6, 2006, from a mere project office at the National Space Research and Development Agency (NARSDA) Chief Executive of NIGCOMSAT Limited, Dr. Abimbola Alale clarified that the launch of the two additional satellites will boost the company’s profile and join the league of global satellite communications players.

She said Nigcomsat 2 and 3 which are expected to be launched by 2025 are still only at request for proposal (RFP) levels and will be funded by Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The space policy which was launched in the year 2000 created a 25-year space plan by which time manufacturing of spacecraft and other rocket testing facilities should be fully on the ground. But strangely all efforts have been channeled to launching Nigerian Satellites abroad.

That is why privatization of the NIGCOMSAT should interest the government if progress is to be recorded in this regard.

A privatized functional communications satellite will reduce the cost of bandwidth very significantly and bring services closer to the user. NIGCOMSAT IR expires in 2016 and only a properly privatized company could muster the courage and the funds to initiate a workable and functional satellite with adequate backup to avoid issues of downtime in the events of failure or other accidents.

NIGCOMSAT IR has 28 transponders made up of 14ku– band, eight Ka-band, four C – band, and two L – bands specially

designed for mobile communications. But most companies and other corporate organizations bypass NIGCOMSAT when it comes to Satellites leasing which comes in excess of $1b yearly.

The story of a failed NITEL and its mobile subsidiary, Mtel Limited should be a lesson on how the government has no business in business.

That is why launching two new satellites may not be the answer alone because it will be run like most government businesses which are plagued by red-tapism and nepotism.

The only successful government businesses are those regarded as Self-funding Organisations (SFO) which do not depend on subventions or envelop from the government.

NARSDA for instance frowns at the government’s move especially saying it is counterproductive despite what NARSDA has done to train Nigerian Engineers on the technology of building satellites.

Experts say the NIGCOMSAT IR is idle and the only way to put it into proper use is to privatize the company and allow the new owners to deploy it for commercial success.

A properly utilized NIGCOMSAT IR will ensure that cost of data drops very significantly, boost Digital Switchover (DSO), and create a formidable platform for telemedicine in Nigeria.

Although NIGCOMSAT IR was launched at no cost to Nigeria as a result of the failed safe insurance coverage, its life span which draws near will happen without any significant achievement in this regard, because of the absence of a functional satellite to boost bandwidth, even when broadband penetration remains low at 41%.

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EDITORIAL LOOTING THE ASSETS OF NATURE…11 The authorities must do more in stemming wildlife trafficking

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he federal government and other stakeholders should be concerned that there appears to be geographic consolidation of trafficking routes across several markets, with Nigeria emerging as a key source/transit country for many shipments of protected species and products. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Elephant Trade Information System to COP17 places Nigeria as the second most prominent ivory exporting country in West Africa, functioning as a major hub for ivory from Central Africa and, increasingly, from East Africa. This is another emblem of shame that we can do without.

To tackle wildlife crime, the federal government recently requested the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Some measures already taken include the DESPITE THAT THE LAWS conduct of a corrupAND REGULATIONS ON tion risk assessment THE PROTECTION OF THE (CRA) for the NATION’S ENVIRONMENT wildlife and forestry AND WILDLIFE HAVE AT sectors. Funded by the European Union DIFFERENT TIMES BEEN REVISED TO MEET MODERN through the International Consortium on REALITIES, THEY ARE Combating Wildlife HARDLY ENFORCED Crime (ICCWC), the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) are the two main agencies with a mandate to counter illegal wildlife trade in Nigeria. But for any meaningful success, the federal government needs to strengthen both NESREA and its environment ministry.

Meanwhile, finding a sustainable solution to the menace obviously requires a complete reform of the nation’s justice system and strengthening regulatory agencies, including the NESREA, National Parks Service, and CITES desk. It also requires a strong political will, sense of responsibility and total commitment of the government, at all levels. Besides, since the problem is long standing and persistently systemic, it can only be tackled by concerted

Letters to the Editor

multidimensional approaches tailored and fostered by an “independent task force” of committed professionals with an objective resolve to decimate the cartel and those at the bottom of the wildlife trafficking value chain.

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T H I S D AY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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

verall, despite that the laws and regulations on the protection of the nation’s environment and wildlife have at different times been revised to meet modern realities, they are hardly enforced. To compound the problem, the laws governing international wildlife trafficking at the federal level in Nigeria are relatively weak as compared to jurisdictions in East and Southern Africa, as reported in August last year by the Environmental Investigation Agency, Africa Nature Investigators. The draft law attached to Nigeria’s 2018 NIAP progress report (the National Wildlife Species Protection Act – Endangered Species (Control of International Trade and Traffic) Amendment Act 2015) represents an improvement and support to pass it should be a priority, they stated. It does need some review alongside the draft Forestry Law and the draft National Park Act to ensure harmonisation in terms of criminal offenses at the very least. Although it is an improvement on previous laws, it could be further extended to capture the full range of relevant offenses and vital investigative and ancillary powers, says the report.

As it stands, the best way for prosecuting cases involving large-scale seizures is to be found not in the wildlife-specific laws but customs and money laundering laws. Meanwhile, the disparity between states and their wildlife-specific laws is significant. However, the process of addressing the required changes would likely take years, if not decades, to push through across all 36 states.

The focus should therefore be on the federal laws. Given that the issue of obtaining a ‘fiat’ or permission from the Attorney General of the Federation for a state prosecutor to manage environment-related federal cases is relatively straightforward, it is quite possible for state-level prosecutors to navigate the existing federal laws (and new ones) to manage cases involving key species.

But the starting point is to raise awareness of those laws and why we must do more in tackling wildlife trafficking in Nigeria.

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.

CHRIS NGIGE’S SERMON ON LEADERSHIP

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ecently, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige set a bar for leaders and aspiring leaders in the country, with what he listed as the premium characteristics of quality leadership, that inspire hope and unpack failure. The minister stopped short of asking Nigerians to use the standard for a thorough scrutiny of governance recruitment process in 2023 general elections. The Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Governance of Nigeria (INSLEC) a leading global professional body of leaders, entrepreneurs in corporate governance had converged on Abuja, to induct the minister as a distinguished honorary fellow of the Institute. The event took place at the conference room of the minister and somehow provided an opportunity for a deep reflection on nation’s leadership. Among the leaders of INSLEC who graced the occasion were top academics and politicians including, Professor Gabriel Emecheta who is the leader and chairman of the body: Professor Ayandiji Aina, the Chairman of the Planning and Resource Committee and APC stalwart; O’tega Emerhor among others. Besides the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Peter Tarfa and other management staff, members of the management team of the agencies under the ministry were also in attendance.

The President of the Institute, Gabriel Emecheta set the tone when in his presentation, he summed up the minister recipient as a “bridge builder whose pristine and differentiated worth as leader and mentor” informed the institute’s decision to seek him out for induction. He said the minister who had served with merit in other tiers and branches of government as governor, senator and now minister, would bring to the institute, much honour as the induction would confer on him.

Describing leadership, entrepreneurship and corporate governance as the three major legs that sustain the growth and viability of the global

economy, Emecheta said the focus of the institute was at the base of the current global industrial revolution. Practitioners under the institute, he argued, were best equipped for poverty eradication through quality leadership. He added that as governor of Anambra State, the minister set a pattern of distinction in every material metric.

Reflecting on the underlining motif of the Institute and the day’s investiture, Ngige said leadership was critical for the survival of any nation and that the relevance of the institute as anchored on its tripodal theme cannot be underrated. “By definition of each of the tripod, one can discern the importance of leadership in realizing the two other components of entrepreneurship and corporate governance,” he said.

Further dissecting the theme, he said the number one quality of a good leader is vision. “A good leader must be visionary. He must see things, others cannot see. In fact, he is the third eye for the people. He is futuristic and thinks and projects ahead of the people. When he visions, he must also crystalize the vision, bringing it out for implementation.”

According to him, being a good leader goes beyond being visionary, to being adept in implementation for the benefit of the people.

“He must be an implementation person and cannot achieve this if he is not knowledgeable because after the vison, he must be able to crystalize them, meaning that he must be a generalist, who is versatile in so many areas. If you like, ‘a jack of all trade and master of all.’

He must not score distinction in all, but be able to score it in many.”

The next he said was that every good leader must be courageous to implement hard decisions. “If he doesn’t implement courageously, some of the visons will die or will not be implemented for the benefit of the people. Similarly, he must be compassionate, knowing when to temper justice with mercy. To show a human part of him, exude the milk of human kindness.” Ngige finally enthused that a good leader must be

pro-people so as to be able to bend backwards to ease their burden.

Taking an up-close and extrapolating this leadership thesis, Ngige acknowledged that all was not well with Nigeria, but exonerated the Buhari administration, while blaming it on the lack of vision on the part of preceding administrations. Said he, “I know that our country is passing through a very rough time now because we have not planned well.” He inferred that previous administrations, knowing that Nigeria was dependent on oil, did not plan for diversification, hence when disruptions arising from security and drop in oil prices came, the country was badly hit. “Later on, COVID-19 forced us to go into a second recession and we are not yet out of the woods,” he reasoned. He emphasized it was Buhari’s foresight in diversification of the economy, especially, into agriculture that saved Nigeria from the ugly Venezuela experience.

However, some observers are beginning to ask if Ngige who has been under pressure to take a shot at the presidency in 2023, indeed, has promised to make his decision known in April, during the Easter holidays, was not tacitly opening a window to his yet to be declared aspiration. However one looks at it, the qualities Ngige listed, form the critical minimum for any successful leader as time has proved. Ngige should know better, having demonstrated quintessential stewardship as Anambra governor about two decades ago. It was his vision and the ability to courageously implement them, that untethered the state from the backwaters where it stagnated for decades. It was this exceptional vison that broke the jinx of retardation, that vicious hands of godfathers that held the state by the jugular. Ngige made a massive sacrifice that can only be paid by a leader, whose resolve is firmly cast in the province of the people.

Isma’il Auta, Abuja

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MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

In North West, Tambuwal’s ConsultativeVisit Receives Rousing Welcome Muhammad Akibu Dalhatu, a Commissioner in Sokoto State chronicles the announcement of the presidential ambition of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State to his home region, the North-west

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ecently, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal was in a stakeholders’ meeting in the state capital surrounded by an august body of men and women, who sought to give him the moral imprimatur to vie for the presidency. The message was familiar. But the basis was genuinely uncommon.

The call on Tambuwal to aspire to the highest political office in the country was based on what most people in Sokoto State and, indeed, Nigeria knew and believed about the governor – his sterling records as Speaker of the House of Representatives, governor of Sokoto State and chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum. The exemplary leadership qualities displayed in these offices had lent momentum to a growing clamour for Tambuwal to vie for president.

The Sokoto PDP stakeholders endorsed him to run for president in the next general election, and urged him to begin nationwide consultations. The central message of the PDP stakeholders was that Sokoto State and, certainly, Nigeria could not afford to lose or ignore a winning player in the selection of contestants for a critical political game.

Tambuwal has accepted the message of the PDP leaders, and he has embarked on a nationwide consultation to try to figure out how to approach the issue.

“I have listened to our party leaders, women, and youths on the call that I should initiate and begin the process of consultation with a view to running and contesting for the president of Nigeria under the banner of our great party,” Tambuwal told the stakeholders during the meeting held at the PDP state secretariat in Sokoto.

In line with ancient truth that charity begins from home, Tambuwal began his consultations from his home region – the North-west. On the first leg of his nationwide consultation,, the lawyer and graduate of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, visited Jigawa State where he met with former Governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido at his home in Birnin Kudu Local Government Area of the state.

Tambuwal was accompanied on the visit by former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Mahdi Gusau; former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari; former Minister of Power, Engr. Bello Suleiman; and former chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bello Muhammad.

Tambuwal on tour of Noth-west states

Others were former Director, Counterterrorism, in the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Gen SarkinYaki Bello, and Hon. Aminu Koko.

Tambuwal and his entourage were welcomed at Dutse International Airport by a large and joyous crowd led

by Mustapha Sule Lamido, son of their host. The Governor’s motorcade rode at a snail speed for about two hours in a journey that should take less than 30

minutes to Bamaina, Lamido’s town.

In Bamaina, Lamido said Tambuwal possessed the track record and national outlook needed to overcome Nigeria’s current challenges, which had been worsened by a worrisome spate of ethnicity and religious division under President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC government.

“Our son here is like me,” the former Jigawa State governor stated regarding the Sokoto State governor. He added,

“We have similar and parallel position in government. I have even held more sensitive positions than him.”

Lamido said he looked forward to seeing Tambuwal on the country’s highest political seat, saying he is eminently qualified to run for the highest office in the land.

Describing Tambuwal as a “pan-Nigerian that will be just,” who was needed to put the country back on the path of peace, progress, and harmony, Lamido said, “We can reach out to all Nigerians across the geographic and other divides in our bid to support him.

“This does not suggest that we are beggars hungry for power. Instead, we are worthy stakeholders with friends in many parts of the country who we can persuade to see reason with us in the realisation of the Nigerian project.”

Thanking Lamido for receiving Tambuwal and his entourage, former Governor Bafarawa, said, “You are not just a former governor but a great political mobilizer whose people still respect and follow, despite the fact that you have been out of office for almost seven years now.”

Next stop, Tambuwal and his entourage were in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, in continuation of his consultations. He was received by Zamfara State Deputy Governor, Mahdi Aliyu Gasau, as well as the state PDP leader, including the state chairman.

While sympathizing with the people of the state over the insecurity that had claimed many lives, Tambuwal stressed that it was imperative for leaders of PDP in the state to close ranks so as to take over power in 2023.

He expressed optimism that PDP will reclaim Nigeria and Zamfara State in the 2023 general election, assuring that the rollback of the fortunes of the PDP in leading Nigeria and Zamfara State will soon be over.

“If we succeed in our bid, the country will witness a reversal of the current bad fortunes,” he said.

Deputy Governor Gusau, in his remarks, said he was solidly behind Governor Tambuwal’s Presidential ambition and urged Tambuwal to carry the entire Zamfara PDP along in his quest to become President of Nigeria.

“There’s no turning in our determination to back him all the way,” Gusau said, while listing the sterling political credentials of Tambuwal.

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

Libel: Court Restrains Community Newspaper, Publisher Perpetually Nseobong Okon-Ekong

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he High Court of Lagos State has granted a perpetual injunction against a community newspaper and its publisher for libelous publications against a former commissioner in the state.

The former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, had filed Suit No. IKD/ ADR/073/2020 at the High Court of Lagos State in the Ikorodu Judicial Division on August 4, 2020 against the Ikorodu-based Oriwu Sun Newspaper Limited and the Publisher Alhaji Monzor Olowosago for libelous publications in their various editions dating back to 2017.

Ogunleye who is the claimant in the suit filed a 49-paragragph Statement of Claim while the 1st Defendant (Alhaji Monzor Olowosago) and the 2nd Defendant (Oriwu Sun Newspaper Limited) did not file any Statement of Defence.

In a consent judgement delivered on February 11, 2022 by the Hon. Justice L.A.M. Folami sitting in the General and Civil Division of the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja, Olowosago (1st Defendant) and Oriwu Sun Newspaper Limited (2nd Defendant) admitted publishing the libelous statements against Ogunleye and consequently undertook to publish

Ogunleye

retractions and apologies on the front page of two consecutive editions of Oriwu Sun Newspaper.

According to the judgement by Justice Folami, the defendants are “perpetually restrained from further

writing, printing and publishing similar, identical or any libelous statements against the Claimant” Ogunleye as Claimant/Applicant had on the September 8, 2020 obtained an interlocutory injunction against Olowosago and the community newspaper as Defendants/ Respondents in a ruling delivered by the Hon. Justice O.O. Ogungbesan which restrained “the Defendants / Respondents jointly and severally either by themselves, agents, privies or whosoever or howsoever called from further writing, printing, publishing and circulating any defamatory statements against the Claimant/Applicant in the Oriwu Sun Newspaper or in any other medium overtly or covertly pending the determination of the substantive suit before this honourable court.”

The former commissioner who spoke after the court’s sitting expressed happiness at the judgement and observed that it had vindicated him against the unwarranted, reckless and malicious publications by the defendants.

He added that the judgement underscored the need for professionalism in the practice of journalism.

Ogunleye, a lawyer, journalist and former editor of the Business Times in the Daily Times stable advised journalists to adhere to the tenets of the profession by publishing truth based on verified facts.

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POLITICS

What if Emefiele Decides to Run?

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that speculations that Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele may enter the 2023 presidential race is generating more than a passing interest

From left- Chief of Staff to the Governor of Osun State, Dr. Charles Akinola; former deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi-Laoye Ponle; Governor Gboyega Oyetola; his deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi and others, during the opening of the newly constructed Iconic Olaiya flyover in Osogbo

Emefiele

Ayom

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Nigerians out of poverty may send the opposition political parties into an extended session of laughter, but this is one of the key pursuits that an Emefiele presidency would be expected to continue.

Under Emefiele, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the CBN has altered the perception of the bank in the mind of key players in different sectors of the economy. With a clear agenda to empower more Nigerian entrepreneurs to grow their investment, there is hardly any sector of the economy that the CBN has not touched. From oil and gas, hospitality, telecommunications, construction, agriculture, energy to real estate, Emefiele has pursued policies that have been favourable to many Nigerian businessmen.

One of the many thankful benefic i a r i e s o f t h e c u r re n t C B N l e a d e rship’s economic policies which seek to put control of sectors of business i n t h e h a n d s o f N i g e r i a n s i s M r.

Moses Ayom, a successful businessman who is emerging as the new face and voice for the Middle-belt. Ayom whose business interest is linked to China talks glowingly about Buhari and Emefiele for giving him the opportunity to join the Federal Government’s trade delegation t o C h i n a w h e re h i s c o m p a n y w a s guaranteed over USD100 million.

Ayom is also a Presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progress i v e s C o n g re s s ( A P C ) .

Another big achievement of the Buhari administration, if it succeeds, in holding what is generally agreed as a free and fair election in which Emefiele emerges as president, is that it would be considered to have finally brought a closure to the enduring hurt and distrust arising from the Nigerian Civil War. Emefiele is from the Igbo-speaking part of Delta State. Having him as President of Nigeria will address the long drawn agitation for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction.

However, opponents of Emefiele claim that he may have been given an undue advantage. They want him to resign immediately if indeed he wants to enter the 2023 presidential race.

Now that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced dates for the next cycle of national elections, it would be best to allow Emefiele the liberty to make up his mind within the time allowed by the relevant laws.

t would perfectly be within his constitutionally guaranteed right to aspire for the office of the President of Nigeria, should Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) so decide. But why is this particular ambition of his couched in phrases and wrapped in axioms? It is simple, his principal still has need of him.

Emefiele is not alone in this quagmire. Other members of the Buhari cabinet who are rumoured to harbour interest in succeeding the president are similarly encumbered by Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022, which is still in contention by many of the parties that may be affected. Section 84(12) states, “No political appointee at any level shall be voting delegates or be voted for at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

A couple of excellent players in the Buhari cabinet are known to be nursing presidential ambition. Out of respect, largely, for the president and the wait for an opportune time, they have, thus far, kept it to themselves.

Not less than five ministers may be angling for Buhari’s job at the head of the Federal Executive Council table.

Arguably, Emefiele is the most strategic and important link between the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and that of President Muhammadu Buhari, having assumed office in 2014, one year before Jonathan’s exit and remaining thus far with Buhari. He has not only provided the fiscal bulwarks, but the needed stability to bring governance back from the brink on a good number of times.

While Emefiele has not expressly said he will enter the 2023 presidential race, various groups have adopted the same tactics of endorsements and ‘call to service’ used to persuade the likes of Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. So, Emefiele too is “being drafted” into the contest for Nigeria’s highest public office.

One of the key players in the Buhari team, Emefiele may be considered for his ability to continue the economic consolidation project of this administration, while enduring the health and stability of the Nigerian economy. A key objective of the Buhari cabinet to lift 100 million

L-R Director General, Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry (CADAM), Dr. Dokun Adedeji; Group Executive Director, Sifax Group of Company, Mr. Bode Ojeniyi; Wife of Attorney General of Lagos State, Mrs. Olabisi Onigbanjo Deputy Commander General Investigation, NDLEA, Mr. Adeyemi Adeofe; Chairman, Board of Trustee of Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry (CADAM), Chief Anthony Aletor; and Former First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, at the Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry (CADAM) Set 50 Graduation Ceremony held in Lagos recently

Speaker, House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (right) at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by the Minister Geoffrey Onyeama (left) on the measures taken so far to help Nigerians caught in the Ukrainian/Russian conflict at the National Assembly

L-R: Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu; Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Keynote Speaker, Prof Adebayo Olukoshi; Ekiti State First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Minister of State for Labour and Employment,. Festus Kayamu (SAN); Author/ Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq; at the public presentation of “Unfinished Greatness Envisioning and New Nigeria” at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja

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FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 07010510430

Digitising Humanitarian and Social Protection Transfers in Nigeria To better understand the opportunities and barriers to digitising humanitarian and social protection transfers in Nigeria, Strategic Impact Advisors was commissioned by the UK-funded FSD Africa, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access and the GSMA. Chiemelie Ezeobi writes the report was tailored to highlight how digitisation will among other things, ensure increased access to digital payments for poor and vulnerable recipients of assistance, thus paving way for improved financial inclusion

Juliet Munro, Director - Digital Economy at FSD Africa

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n March 2021, Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA) was commissioned by the UK funded FSD Africa, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), and the GSMA to better understand the opportunities and barriers to digitising humanitarian and social protection transfers in Nigeria.

This was done through an analysis conducted via desk research, key informant interviews with mobile financial service (MFS) providers, humanitarian organisations and government stakeholders, as well as focus group discussions (FGDs) with both humanitarian and social protection unrestricted cash transfer payment recipients.

The reason is not far-fetched; digitisation of social protection and humanitarian payments will pave the way for improved financial inclusion in Nigeria.

According to Press & Public Affairs Officer | Comms Lead, Prosperity and Economic Development | Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Ndidiamaka Eze, new report charts pathways through which entities supporting the poor with cash transfers could work in partnership with the private sector to enable sustainable access to payments and steps towards financial inclusion.

She said: "Cash transfers are increasingly used by the Government of Nigeria, development and humanitarian agencies as a tool to support the poor and vulnerable and promote wellbeing.

"However, a large proportion of cash transfers delivered to the poor in Nigeria require recipients to “cash-out” immediately.

"The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been championing the government's efforts by designing policies that could enhance the transition from physical cash transfers to digital. The CBN is committed to achieving their 95 per cent financial inclusion target set for 2024."

Report Quoting a joint report from FSD Africa, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) and the GSMA, and conducted

by Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA), she said it revealed that a gradual transition from physical cash transfers to digital would improve the recipients’ usage.

"Although this transition will not be immediately possible everywhere due to limited network connectivity, low mobile phone ownership levels, and low literacy rates among other barriers, the report

Ashley Immanuel, CEO at EFInA

outlines different opportunities for social protection and humanitarian actors, and the private sector, to work together to support increased access to digital payments for poor and vulnerable recipients of assistance," she added.

The joint report, Opportunities and Barriers to Digitising Social Protection and Humanitarian Payments in Nigeria, highlighted the opportunities within digitisation of cash transfers and presented a roadmap for its actualisation.

The study reinforces the need to create an ecosystem in which recipients could eventually access cash transfers on a permanent digital wallet through their mobile phones, leading invariably to multi-choice usage, which they can then use to transact to meet all of their needs and help to reduce reliance on physical cash.

The report offers recommendations to improve Nigeria’s capacity to deliver digital payments to the poor. It points out the need for humanitarian and social protection organisations to work in partnership with the government and financial service providers to support an enabling environment to reach last mile recipients, the importance of coordination to promote a more cohesive use of cash transfers wherever appropriate, and efforts to better inform the development and extension of relevant services by payment providers wherever feasible.

The report recognises that there are pockets of digital transaction-ready recipients who could support the development

Chris Pycroft, Development Director at FCDO Nigeria

of digital payment ecosystems and help to advance financial inclusion.

Although digital payments will not be enough to bridge the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria, she noted that access to digital payments is an integral component and "this report charts out practical next steps".

Commenting on the report, Juliet Munro, Director - Digital Economy at FSD Africa said: “Cash transfers are a vital source of income for many underserved households.

"We are delighted about the ongoing conversations with our partners on the existing possibilities to digitise cash payments. Once the systems are in place, the targeted households will be able to access the much-needed aid faster and more efficiently.”

Ashley Immanuel, CEO at EFInA said: “Fintech Innovation is a key driver of financial inclusion and very useful in providing access to financial services, especially for the underserved. Digitising cash transfers will help reduce the burden for cash disbursement and support recipients’ application of healthy financial habits like saving.”

Chris Pycroft, Development Director at FCDO Nigeria said: “Really encouraged to see this report highlight principled and important opportunities for development actors to support increased access to payments among the poor, lay the foundations for financial inclusion, and harness Nigeria’s growing Fintech scene.”

FSD Africa FSD Africa is a specialist development agency working to reduce poverty by strengthening financial markets across sub-Saharan Africa.

Based in Nairobi, FSD Africa's team of financial sector experts work alongside governments, business leaders, regulators, and policymakers to design and build ambitious programs that make financial

"The report offers recommendations to improve Nigeria’s capacity to deliver digital payments to the poor. It points out the need for humanitarian and social protection organisations to work in partnership with the government and financial service providers to support an enabling environment to reach last mile recipients"

markets work better for everyone.

Established in 2012, FSD Africa is incorporated as a non-profit company limited by guarantee in Kenya. It is funded

by UK aid from the UK government.

EFInA Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) is a Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) organisation that promotes inclusive finance in Nigeria. Established in 2007, EFInA is renowned within Nigeria’s financial sector for providing thought leadership toward achieving financial inclusion and championing for the unbanked.

By funding and catalysing innovation, providing cutting-edge research, advocating for inclusive policies and building capacity, EFInA has gained a reputation as an honest broker among the private and public sectors in Nigeria.

Since its founding, EFInA has contributed to the increased focus of financial inclusion in Nigeria, convening and supporting stakeholders to develop and work toward the implementation of a National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS).

GSMA The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Their vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive.

Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Industry Services and Solutions, Connectivity for Good, and Outreach.

Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA) SIA provides insightful technical assistance to help people overcome barriers and improve their lives through technology and analysis.

A small, woman-owned business with a global footprint, SIA works with clients seeking strategic approaches, innovative business models, and deep insights for using digital technologies and cuttingedge data solutions to solve complex development challenges.

Its team members have provided boutique consulting services in emerging markets to donors, implementing partners, the private sector and governments in more than 25 countries over the past 25+ years.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022

FEATURES

Global Recruitment Drive for Nigerian Women In its first-of-its-kind recruitment drive for women professionals who are looking for job opportunities, Herconomy has announced its recruitment partnership with a giant online retailer, Amazon. Mary Nnah reports that the global partnership will open doors for Nigerian women to be recruited across Europe by Amazon

Gathering of Herconomy community celebrating the Amazon partnership

I

n today’s marketplace, growing companies are facing serious challenges in finding the right talent.

It's more important now than ever before for companies to understand the opportunity a recruitment strategy can provide.

In its first-of-its-kind recruitment drive for women professionals who are looking for job opportunities; Herconomy has announced its recruitment partnership with a giant online retailer, Amazon.

This is a global partnership that will open doors for Nigerian women to be recruited across Europe by Amazon. Herconomy showcased about 45 job opportunities open to Nigerians ( both men and women) and Africans to work within and outside the continent, Europe, and the Middle East.

Amazon global has partnered femalefocused Fintech platform Herconomy to provide an opportunity for talented professional Nigerian women to inspire, reinvent and challenge themselves to make a mark.

However, there has only been feedback from less than 10 people who made it to the interview stage and secured a job.

In light of this, the “Amazon Recruitment Week” was set up to shed more light, knowledge, and insight into the opportunities available at the global brand. The session started on February 28, 2022 and would last up to March 4, 2022.

Throughout this week, the Amazon team will speak with the Herconomy community and help them understand and appreciate that their skills, experience, and expertise are valuable. Useful insights will be shared on proper interview techniques in order to equip them to be able to clinch their dream jobs at Amazon or even with other big technology firms.

Founder Hercomy , Ife Durosinmi –Etti said, “It’s not a coincidence we’ve started this drive as we lead up to women’s month and indeed International Women’s day 2022.

I’m encouraging women to take up space and break the bias! If you have foundational skills which you are passionate about and wish to develop into specialized streams, we invite you to

apply and be part of the drive. The Herconomy team is here to guide you through the various steps."

Herconomy in partnership with Amazon is now hosting the Amazon Recruitment Week where professionals and recruiters from Amazon will be speaking to attendees on their individual ‘Amazon story’ and of course their interview process across the board.

“We entreat everyone who would like to know what it takes to be part of arguably the most consistently profitable company in the world of the last decade to join at any time this week”, Durosinmi – Etti added.

Sessions begin at 11:00 a.m (WAT) every day from the 28th of February to the 4th of March 2022 on Zoom.

This is a free event to join and is open to both men and women.

Registration is ongoing at www. herconmy.com, more info on Herconomy’s official Instagram page @ Herconomy.

Herconomy, formerly AGS Tribe, is

a Pan African community built to inspire, connect and build the capacity of young entrepreneurs and professionals.

The main purpose of Herconomy is to achieve economic empowerment for women, using tools such as our financial services which offer safe saving options, and providing opportunities such as jobs, scholarships/ fellowships/grants for dedicated women (Entrepreneurs or Professionals) who will, in turn, create more job opportunities that will ultimately reduce unemployment in Africa.

The Platform has five focus areas which are: Providing financial services and opportunities; easy accessibility to amazing job opportunities around the world; promoting youth entrepreneurship as a tool to reduce youth unemployment and promote economic growth; women empowerment through its Impact Fund and Enterprise Challenge as well as capacity building for entrepreneurs and career women.

Herconomy is social include, Instagram: @herconomy, Twitter: @herconomybyAGS Facebook: @herconomy and Website: www. herconomy.com.

Four Nigerians Emerge Winners at 8th UK Alumni Awards Vanessa Obioha

F

our Nigerian UK alumni emerged winners at the eighth edition of the UK Alumni Awards that was held recently at the Grand Ballroom of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.

The award celebrates UK higher education and the achievements of UK alumni all over the world. This year, the award received more than 1,500 applications from international UK alumni in more than 100 countries, representing more than 140 higher education institutions across the UK. In total, 12 UK alumni in four categories were recognised for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and for their contribution to strengthening ties between the UK and Nigeria.

Recipients were selected for the four award categories: Science and Sustainability Award, Culture and Creativity Award, Social Action Award, and Business and Innovation Award.

The Science and Sustainability award was received by a graduate student of the University of Leeds, Sikiru Mohammed.

Mohammed was rewarded for promoting engineering ethics in Nigeria and investing his time in STEM for youths to improve the high school education narrative.

Gift Chidera Peters, a graduate of the University of Portsmouth received the Culture and Creativity Award. She is the founder of the online platform CP Community — the outfit supports international students in

L-R: A representative of Mariam Momodu, Winner of Social Action Award; Winner Science and Sustainability Award, Sikiru Mohammed; a representative of Gift Chidera Peters, Winner Culture and Creativity Award; British Deputy High Commissioner, Ben LlewellynJones; Winner, Business and Innovation Award, Oluwafemi Adeola Adedipe and British Council Nigeria Country Director, Lucy Pearson at the British Council UK Alumni Awards that held at Eko Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria recently the UK with the right information, resources leveraging a network of vibrant student communities to help them navigate life in the UK better, settle and ace their studies.

Currently, her platform boasts of over 11,000 student members from over seven countries in Africa including

Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

The Social Action award was presented to Mariam Momodu, a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Momodu, a commercial lawyer, academic and social entrepreneur, is the founder of GetIn Education Consulting (GetIn), a

social enterprise that democratises access to education-related opportunities for African students. GetIn has a reach of over 20,000 students and has helped Africans access over $2.5 million in scholarships.

In the final category, The Business and Innovation Award, Oluwafemi Adeola Adedipe, a graduate of the University of Southampton emerged as the winner.

Oluwafemi is an entrepreneur focusing on financial access for underserved businesses across Nigeria’s informal sector.

He is the founder of StreetCred and Pistis Finserve, Pistis Sustainability Essay Competition as well as the Pistis Young Scholars Programme, a leadership development platform for high achieving students.

His companies have collectively provided more than N1 Billion (approx. $2.5 million) in loans to more than 10,000 women traders, artisans, and street vendors across Nigeria, serving customers from 34 business locations.

Commenting on the impact of UK alumni, Country Director at the British Council in Nigeria, Lucy Pearson said: “The remarkable individuals we celebrated today have all taken their UK education as a starting point to excel in their chosen careers and shape the world around them.

"This year’s awards ceremony is testimony not only to the diversity of UK alumni and their endeavours but also to the transformative impact of a UK education."

Nigeria is one of the many countries hosting the awards this year, with awarding ceremonies in 23 countries, including India, Armenia and Qatar.

32

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022

33

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

REPO

A T

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Email oriarehu.eromosele@thisdaylive.com

08056356325

M A R C H

S & P INDEX

1 , 2 0 2 2

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OBB

14.00%

CALL

4%

INDEX LEVEL

565.29%

1/4 TO DATE

6.06%

N412.08/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

14.50%

1-MONTH

6%

1-DAY

–0.11%

YEAR TO DATE

– 15.66%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.41%

Market Value of Airtel, BUA Foods, Stanbic, Others Depreciated by N135.42bn in February Airtel market capitalisation now N4.735trn

Kayode Tokede On the backdrop of aggressive profit-taking by investors’, the market capitalisation of 10 top losers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Limited (NGX) depreciated by N135.42billion in the month of February 2022, market data has revealed Among the top losers on the Exchange in February are; Airtel Africa Plc, Okomu Oil Palm Plc, BUA Foods Plc, Vitafoam Nig Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc Others included; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Nigerian Brew.

Plc, Ellah Lakes and Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nigeria Plc. THISDAY analysis of stock market data for the period under review showed that BUA Foods market value depreciated most, followed

by Airtel Africa and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

With 4.65 per cent or N3.00 decline in stock price in February, the market capitalisation of BUA Foods depreciated by about N54billion, while a drop of 0.87 per cent or N11.00 per share downsized Airtel Africa market capitalisation by N41.34billion in the month under review.

Despite dropping from N1,271.00 to N1,260.00 per share, Airtel Africa leads the market capitalisation of all listed companies on the bourse, covering 18.53 per cent or N4.735trillion of the entire N25.543 trillion of market capitalisation.

Analysts explained that price appreciation witnessed by BUA Foods and Airtel Africa since commencement of trading in 2022 led to investors’ profit-taking in February.

Commenting, the Vice president, Highcap Securities Limited, Mr. David Adnori said the price of Airtel Africa appreciated in January amid investors’ reaction to transactions the

Dangote Cement adds N219.8bn

telecommunication carried out in East Africa that enhance the profitability of the company.

According to him, “There was a lot of exorbitant that moved the price of Airtel Africa and BUA Foods upward. Along the line, profit-taking has corrected the price to the normal price of both companies. Both companies are excellent in corporate earnings.

“BUA Foods when it was listed in January took the stock market by storm. The market was already waiting for the company to be listed and when it was listed, it was well accepted by both foreign and local

investors. They priced the stock and it moved from N40 to N60 in a short period. Along the line, profit-taking has corrected the overvaluation and it has started to show its real value on the Exchange.

On his part, analyst at PAC Holdings, Mr. Wole Adeyeye also collaborated with Adnori, stressing that investors’ profit-taking down the stock price of Airtel Africa and BUA Foods.

According to him: “It is expected of BUA Foods and Airtel Africa to show their fair value following investors profit-taking.”

Meanwhile, Okomu Oil Palm

Plc and Vitafoam Nigeria Plc were among the top losers in market capitalisation during the period under consideration. While Okomu depreciated by N6.67billion, Vitafoam Nigeria went down by N2.62billion in market capitalisation in February.

Also, Stanbic IBTC Holdings was among the top losers in market capitalisation, dropping

by N9.7billion while Ecobank Transactional Incorporated depreciated by N10.09billion in market capitalisation last month.

On the contrary, Dangote Cement Continued on page 35

Ukraine Invasion: Expert Predicts Increased FDI in Natural Gas Ugo Aliogo The Co-Head of Africa, Practice, Hogan Lovells, Arun Velusami, has predicted that there would be increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in natural gas to the Nigeria economy due to the current invasion

of Ukraine by Russia.

Velusami, who stated this during a media briefing in Lagos, said with the current situation in Europe, EU countries are seeking to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, therefore, Nigeria stands a better opportunity to gain from this due to its enormous

gas resources and because countries in Europe are seeking to diversify from supply chain.

He also stated that part of Nigeria’s goal is to continue its expansion and industrialization as a major manufacturing hub for Africa, and working in line with that

is the drive to increase the power generation, and distribution capacity.

He remarked that the telecommunication industry has promoted digitalised service across many sectors in the economy thereby driving online, real time services and transactions such as online banking,

e-commerce, and others.

He expressed confidence that if government makes the economy attractive for investors to build and operate power plants, there is the likelihood that investments in the power sector would increase.

He further explained that when

building infrastructure often times, it involves either federal or state government, and what investors wants is the certainty that there would be consistent and supportive policy towards their investments, Continued on page 34

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T U E S D AY, M A R C H 1 , 2 0 2 2 FGN BONDS DESCRIPTION 12.75 27-APR2023 14.20 14-MAR2024 13.53 23-MAR2025 12.50 22-JAN2026 16.2884 17MAR-2027

Price

Yield

BILLS Change (%)

MATURITY

OTC FX F U T U R E S

Discount Yield Change (%)

106.80

6.53

-0.01

NTB 10-Mar-22

2.87

2.87 0.00

111.08

8.18

-0.01

NTB 28-Apr-22

3.07

3.08 0.00

113.86

8.30

-0.60

NTB 12-May-22 3.13

3.14 0.00

107.71

10.05 0.00

NTB 9-Jun-22

3.24

122.43

10.45 0.00

NTB 14-Jul-22

3.38

CONTRACT TENOR (MONTH) 1

Contract

Current Rate ($/₦)

NGUS MAR 30 2022 427.24

2

NGUS APR 27 2022 428.93

3

NGUS MAY 25 2022 430.63

3.27 0.00

4

NGUS JUN 29 2022 432.32

3.43 0.00

5

NGUS JUL 27 2022

434.02

C Ps MATURITY

Discount Yield

Change (%)

UNCP CP VI 2-MAY-22 NEVE CP I 24MAY-22 DANC CP II 25MAY-22 TRBH CP V 26JUL-22 FSDH CP VI 1-AUG-22

8.77

8.90

0.00

16.28

16.91 0.00

8.68

8.86

11.46

12.01 0.00

8.17

8.46

0.00

0.00

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

INDUCTION WEBINAR…

L-R: CEO/Managing Consulting, Translantic Development Limited, Bankole Allibay; Vice President, Association of Sustainability Professional of Nigeria (ASPN), Ini Abimbola; Legal Director/Secretary, ASPN, Mories Atoki and Director, Corporate Affairs and Legal, International Breweries Plc,Tope Oguntokun at the 2022 ASPN induction webinar in Lagos… recently

Elumelu Tasks Business, Political Leaders on Poverty Eradication, Economic Empowerment of Youths James Emejo in Abuja The Chairman, Heirs Holdings Group, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has said business and political leaders in the 21st century have a strong call and responsibility to play their part individually and collectively to help eradicate poverty, create jobs and economically empower the people.

Speaking at the 2022 Heirs Holdings Chairman’s Forum in Abuja, he said the group remained committed to improving lives and transforming society.

Specifically, he pointed out that the Tony Elumelu Foundation believed in the philosophy of Afri-capitalism, democratizing luck, as well as seeking to economically empower the African continent, especially the youths to whom the future Africa belongs to.

He said the annual forum provided an avenue for strategizing, sharing nuggets of knowledge and ideas as to lead better and become better leaders.

He said the meeting also afforded the group an opportunity to brainstorm on how to work together to actualise and make real its big audacious aspirations of improving lives and transforming the African society.

Essentially, Elumelu said the gathering was aimed at “sharpening our plans, making sure that the 21st century, all of us within and outside the group and our critical stakeholders play our part in helping to develop Africa in a truly sustainable manner.

“And of course, I see a table that reminds me of Heirs Insurance and Heirs Life Assurance, again trying to democratize access to insurance to the country in the first instance and the continent ultimately.”

He said, “At Heirs Holdings Group, we aim, we seek improve lives and transform our society and to do this we wear different

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Comms/e-Business Editor Emma Okonji Aviation Editor Chinedu Eze Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafo (Energy) Emmanuel Addeh (Energy) Reporters Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy) Ugo Aliogo (Development)

hats in our group. We have a hat of doing business and we wear the second hat trying to improve humanity.

“The business hat we have different aspects. We have Transcorp Group, Transcorp Power to generate

electricity for our country and the country that we supply electricity to – Benin Republic. We have hospitality arm, Trancorp Hotel Plc. We have Transcorp Energy, seeking to help Nigeria fastrack its energy transition.

“We wear the hat of integrated Energy Play – Heirs Holdings Oil and Gas – we invest in the energy sector, producing oil but more importantly we seek to integrate this and again use it to improve lives and transform our society:

gas to power, gas to home use, gas for industrialisation of our economy.

“We operate in other financial services space from banking to industrial banking to registrar services to brokerage services

and to trusteeship. We also invest in one of the most critical sectors of the economy, which is the healthcare sector. In the past two years, one thing the world has learnt is the need to prioritise healthcare delivery.”

PTAD: Robust Pension Arrangement is Solution to Corrupt Practices in Civil Service Ebere Nwoji The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), has said that robust pension arrangement is the solution to corrupt practices in the civil service.

PTAD Director Civil Service pension, Mr. Sulayman Shelleng stated these while speaking at the one-day capacity building training for pension journalists in Lagos.

The directorate, he added, did not operate any commercial account but operated the government recommended Treasury Single Account in payment of their monthly

pension benefits.

PTAD said this being the case; pensioners under the Defined Pension Benefit Scheme, which it manages should not entertain any fear of anybody delaying their pension benefit by paying such into any accounts for personal interest.

He said PTAD was doing everything within its reach to ensure good welfare package for every pensioner under its administration.

He said the Directorate was aware of the fact that sharp practices in the civil service in the past many years were encouraged by the terrible condition which retired civil servants

got into shortly after their active service mainly because of failure to arrange befitting pension package for them.

He said as a result, when those still in active service saw such poor condition of their predecessors shortly after active service, they were tempted to steal public fund to make personal arrangement for their retirement.

According to him, if there was adequate pension arrangement in place and old age poverty was eradicated through pension package and a retired civil servant looked healthy and well cared for, it would

give confidence to the workers still in active service that there would be great hope for them at retirement therefore no need stealing public fund.

He said, realising this, PTAD had been making every effort to ensure that pensioners under Define Benefit scheme have better package at retirement.

He said the Directorate started this by putting in place correct database of pensioners adding that correct database facilitated adequate planning for poverty eradication at old age.

Also speaking, Director, Parastatals

Pension Department of PTAD, Mr Kabiru Yusuf who represented the Executive Secretary, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, said in terms of credibility and sanity in pension system, PTAD had recorded a lot of achievements and still doing a lot. According to him, the Directorate through its verification exercise had successfully weeded out all ghost pensioners in government payroll and had ensured that all pensioners in government pay roll were genuine.

He said the Directorate inherited 129,999 pensioners and had so far verified 115,313 and now has 107,785 pensioners in its pay roll.

Contributory Pension Scheme Will Aid Infrastructural Development, Says PenOP CEO James Emejo in Abuja The Chief Executive of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOP), Mr. Oguche Agudah, has said the country must come to terms with the fact that pension assets the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) provides ample opportunity for the development of critical infrastructure.

He said the current advocacy is therefore, focused on educating Nigerians on the use of the collective wealth to improve national development.

He spoke against the backdrop of the recent clamour by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other stakeholders to exit the CPS as well as agitations for a provision to allow a pensioner

receive at least 75 per cent of his retirement benefits immediately upon retirement as opposed to the existing 25 per cent.

However, the PenOP boss insisted that the collective wealth should be used to help the system build better infrastructure adding that there should be a limit to wanton private consumption.

He lamented that the pension industry was being punished unduly for transparency, professionalism and consistency having operated for over 16 years.

He said the CPS remained the safest and most sustainable scheme currently adding that there had been in-built checks and balances by the PFAs, Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) as well as the National PenCom Commission (PenCOM) which is the industry

regulator and further vetted by the National Assembly.

Agudah told THISDAY in an interview also stressed that the police exclusion from the scheme was unsustainable adding that the move if allowed will cost the federal government about N2 trillion.

He said, “It is not sustainable.

You need to realize that we have moved from a Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) to a Defined Contribution Scheme and if you are going back to the DBS, meaning that the federal government would need to have at least N1.8 trillion today and invest that at 10 per cent per annum in order to be able to cater for the over 300,000 police serving and retired as available and that’s not sustainable.

“That is not the best use of the federal government’s money especially when there’s a scheme that already caters to that.”

“And as a nation, if we are truthful in fighting corruption, we should make all schemes to be transparent.”

He said, “With the police PFA currently, you can know how many people have been paid in the scheme, how much they have contributed and how much they’ve got. But it’s not the same thing with other schemes.

“So we think in the spirit of transparency, all pensions within the country should be managed under this framework.”

Moreover, on the calls for payment of 75 per cent of contribution at retirement, Agudah said, “I think the pension industry

is being punished unduly for transparency, for professionalism and consistency. This scheme has run for about 16 years consistently.

“And the reason why people are asking for 75 per cent is because they can see their balances they can how much is invested every month. The other deductions that are taken from salaries of workers like the National Housing Fund (NHF) – can I ask you how much is in your NHF? You pay taxes every month, how much taxes have you paid since you started working and where has that money gone?

“But the pension scheme is transparent, you can see where the money is going, you can see how much is contributed and because of that people are saying we want to take something.”

UKRAINE INVASION: EXPERT PREDICTS INCREASED FDI IN NATURAL GAS “for instance, if they are building a power plant, investors and lenders wants to be sure that government is standing behind the obligation of the utility.

He added that a lot of infrastructure projects are financed and they are long term in nature, therefore investors want to know that their investments in the long terms would be supported by the government.

Velusami remarked that government has a key role in attracting and maintaining

infrastructural investments, “if government decides that the investments are a priority and they are willing to stand behind the obligation of the utility, this would attract investments in the long-term.”

According to him, “Some countries have attracted more investments and installed more power plant generating capacity which will require less use of traditional power generating sets. If the Nigeria government makes the economy attractive for investors to invest

and build power plants, there is the likelihood that investments in the power sector would increase.

“When an international investor is looking to develop a power plant, they look for the most stable and attractive place to invest. To a certain extent, Nigeria is competing with other countries to access international funding, it is not a direct competition because some funds and lenders focus on Nigeria, because throughout Africa, there are a number of countries they can invest in and Nigeria needs to improve the

investment climate to make herself an attractive investment destination to build and operate power plants, then investments in the power sector will increase and also transition from smaller power sets to power plants.

It is not an issue of not using power generating sets, everyone needs power to survive.

“Government should focus on making the investment climate attractive to bring foreign investors to build these power plants. If you take a solar power plant, there are two opportunities, either you

sell directly to the Distribution Companies (Discos), utility, or industrial consumers. You need the government to stand behind the utility and support them in order to attract investment in that sector.

When it comes to selling at a local level to Discos, I understand that it is something that there have been through some regulatory reforms.

Nigeria needs to build domesticate capacity in healthcare delivery. There are foreign companies seeking to invest in the area of healthcare delivery.”

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022

35

BUSINESSWORLD

ECONOMY

Pruning Public Institutions for Efficiency, Fiscal Sustainability The federal government must take the bull by the horns to expunge redundancy in the public service to institute a culture of meritocracy as well as achieve fiscal sustainability amidst current economic reality, James Emejo writes

O

ver the years, one of the key disturbing features of the country’s annual budget had been the disproportionate allocation between the recurrent and capital expenditure.

There had been concerns that one of the reasons for the slow pace of national and economic development especially infrastructure is not unconnected with the huge recurrent component of the budget which often far outweighed the capital vote.

The nation’s civil service is considered over-bloated with workers who don’t really add value to their respective organizations but yet benefitted from juicy remunerations.

Some appointments are often influenced by politicians who in the process settle for mediocrity over merit.

Even in public agencies that claim to be poorly funded and thereby unable to execute capital projects, the staff salaries and other remunerations are paid as and when due amidst redundancy.

It is further argued that the huge recurrent vote

earmarked annually for public servants are sort of a jamboree because there is a major disparity in productivity.

Analysts are also of the view that at a period when the government is faced with fiscal challenges, it would not be wise to keep wasting money on staff salaries, some of whom do not add value to the economy.

As rightly attested to by several reports in the past and well as empirical evidence, some government agencies are manned by unskilled workforce, a condition attributed to the country’s tardiness towards meeting its developmental objectives.

There have been instances whereby some civil servants who rose to the rank of a directors are found wanting in their fields and directorate and yet fully remunerated till retirement.

Of particular concern is the enormous amount budgeted for payment of salaries and other benefits which do not translate to improved productivity.

Oftentimes, people report to offices where there

are no duties assigned to them year in, year out but get paid for doing nothing.

A staff in the Federal Ministry Agriculture and Rural Development once complained to this reporter that her talent was being wasted as she would normally report to office without having anything to do and her superiors never complained.

The inefficiencies in the public service abound in various shapes and forms.

HUGE RECURRENT VOTES

It is interesting to point out that of the N17.12 trillion budget for 2022, the sum of N6.91 trillion is earmarked for recurrent expenditure largely payment of salaries. While N5.47 trillion is for capital expenditure. Even though the gap between recurrent and capital had been closed compared to the past years, budget implementation had remained a challenge as more monies go into payment of salaries than the execution of capital projects.

For political and economic reasons, no

administration had been able to take drastic actions to sanitise the public workforce towards minimizing redundancy and establishing a culture of merit and key performance indicators. The KPIs established recently to gauge performance individuals had been more or less cosmetic and ineffectual.

Analysts believed that anyone who is paid a salary should be able to justify it through value addition to the organization.

A WATERSHED?

However, in a development that could redefine public service and value addition if scaled-up across the board, the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), the apex regulatory body for agricultural research institutions in the country, recently resolved to drastically slash the membership of boards of agricultural research institutes by about 89.41 per cent.

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

MARKET VALUE OF AIRTEL, BUA FOODS, STANBIC, OTHERS DEPRECIATE BY N135.42BN IN FEBRUARY gained N219.8billion in market capitalisation as its stock price appreciated by N12.90 or 4.95 per cent to close at N273.50 per share.

The cement producer yesterday released its 2021 financial results reporting a revenue of N1.38 trillion during the period from N1.03trillion reported in 2020, representing a 34 per cent increase Y-o-Y. The company’s result is on the back of an inflationary year, as most businesses and their consumers have had to deal with the rising cost of goods and services.

A result posted on the NGX website revealed that the company’s profit was driven by a significant rise in domestic and export sales

in Nigeria, compared to domestic and export sales in Pan Africa.

Dangote Cement’s reported 32 per cent increase in profit to N364.44billion in 2021 from N276.07billion reported in 2020 as the management proposed a dividend of N20.00 per ordinary 50 kobo share (2020: N16.00).

In the same vein, MTN Nigeria and Seplat Petroleum appreciated

by N71.24billion and N41.13billion in market capitalisation in the month under review respectively.

Analysts attributed gains in the stock price of Seplat petroleum to investors’ positive sentiment which was trigged by the jumping in global oil prices, following the

Ukraine Russia conflict.

They also noted that the acquisition of the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from Exxon Mobil Corporation, Delaware (ExxonMobil), surge demand for the company’s stocks on the bourse.

Further analysis revealed that Zenith Bank, among the listed banks appreciated most in February trading transactions.

The lender’s market capitalisation gained N32.97billion when it stock price added N1.05 or 4.03per cent to close at N27.10 per share.

Zenith Bank reported profit

before tax closed 2021 at N280.4billion, an increase of 10 per cent from N255.9billion reported in 2020.

According to the bank: “The increase in profit before tax was due to growth in the top-line and very strong management of our treasury portfolio that increased efficiency, resulting in a drop in interest expense by 12per cent from N121.1 billion in 2020 to N106.8 billion in the current year.

“This further led to a seven per cent increase in net interest income of N320.8 billion in 2021 from N299.7 billion in 2020.

“This was on the back of 23per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) growth

in non-interest income from N251.7billion to N309billion and a two per cent YoY growth in interest income from N420.8billion to N427.6billion.

The group also reported 6.01 per cent increase in profit after tax to N244.6billion from N230.57 billion reported in 2020.

The bank’s board had proposed a final dividend of N2.80 per share for 2021 financial year (2020FY: N2.70/s), which equates to a dividend yield of 10.3per cent based on the closing price of N27.10/s as of the 28th of February 2022.

Commenting on the bank’s result, analysts at Cordros Securities said, “We like that Zenith Bank

maintained the earnings growth momentum throughout the year, although at a slower pace (of 6.4 per cent vs 10.1per cent in 2020FY) as it continues to grapple with headwinds from the business and regulatory environment.

“In our opinion, the bank remains one of the premier banks in the country, with strong fundamentals that denote its strength. We remain positive regarding the long-term outlook for the bank and expect financial performances to remain strong, supported by strong underlying fundamentals and strong management. We are reviewing our estimates.”

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Malize: FITC Leading the Knowledge Industry Leveraging Technology, Innovation The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FITC, Chizor Malize, in this interview shares insights on how FITC continues to lead and impact the knowledge industry in a period of VUCA. She talks about Nigeria’s premier professional knowledge services institution, the 40-year brand heritage and how the organization is leading the knowledge industry leveraging technology & innovation strategies. Excerpts: FITC recently turned 40. As the Chief Executive Officer of FITC, Nigeria’s premier professional knowledge services institution, how would you describe the organization’s 4 decades journey of brand heritage, transformation and impact in the financial services and other sectors of the economy?

ITC is a world-class innovation-led knowledge organization established 40 years ago to provide innovative knowledge solutions and capacity building programmes that develop and strengthens resources for the Nigerian Financial Services Sector. Under the direct supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Nigerian Bankers Committee, we have since remained committed to leading the advancement in knowledge content that is creatively designed to strengthen the Nigerian financial system. For forty years, FITC has powered the Nigerian Financial service system. I am very honoured for the privilege of leading this great institution into this new transformational phase and I am delighted about what FITC has become.

Our 40th anniversary reiterates the milestone we have achieved as we celebrate our organization’s rich heritage. It is indeed a privilege to lead FITC through today’s digital transformation journey, bringing innovation into all we do. Through visionary leadership we have recorded great success in our journey, specifically in the past two years. Our success is in our innovative programmes, cutting edge learning platforms, smart processes, dynamic and high performing people and most importantly, our repositioned and reinvigorated New FITC Brand.

Resting on the shoulders of the transformational leaders before me, FITC has in the past 4 decades empowered and enabled hundreds of thousands of people and organizations to excel. With our expertise, we help individuals, and their organizations realize the power of their potentials through knowledge solutions that drive superior performance.

We work with our stakeholders predominantly in the Nigerian Financial Services sector to design and implement solutions for capacity development through learning, organizational structure design and business performance strategy development.

With these, we continue to transform and impact the financial services sector and the other sectors that we serve.

F

FITC has clearly demonstrated strong capabilities for leading change and innovation in crisis. As a future-focused Institution, what does the next decade look like?

As a future-focused organization, regardless of all our success stories, we are not resting on our oars. We had realized quite early, the need to significantly accelerate the pace of transformation in our organization to remain dynamic, forward thinking, contemporary and relevant because we recognize that organizations are successful at improving performance and sustaining impact through their change efforts.

To create the future we desire, guided by our 5-year strategic blueprint (2020 – 2024) which is line with our vision to build a world class innovationled and technology-driven organization, we have re-engineered our programmes, people, processes, platforms, performance and market positioning to better serve our clients, helping them build agile organisations and creating a pool of workforce equipped for today’s workplace.

We are deepening and extending our play and driving growth in our core business portfolios of Advisory, Learning & Development, and Insight & Policy Advocacy to achieve sustainability. We are extending our services to other sectors such as Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), oil and gas, maritime, consulting, manufacturing, and telecommunications, leveraging partnerships and collaborations.

Additionally, we are accelerating and accentuating our impact on all our stakeholders through our various policy advocacy and sustainability initiatives because we understand the critical role they play in the success and sustainability of our business.

We are also counting on our innovative offerings, leveraging technology to shape the future of our business. We are committed to investing in and expanding our variety of innovative and digitalenabled service offerings.

As a brand with a very strong heritage, we recognize that our people have been and will continue to be our greatest assets and competitive differentiator, hence, we are focusing extensively on attaining operational efficiency, and enhancing our

Malize internal capabilities right from the top, middle management and to our front-line employees, with the goal of building the best place to work for the best people who are well equipped to deliver superior performance and exceptional services to our clients.

We will continue to develop and drive employee engagement programmes that will foster leadership, personal growth, teamwork and enterprise mindset needed to accelerate our business performance, and keep our organization future ready and relevant. We believe that with these opportunities, coupled with adequate and strategic planning, the next decade will even be more glorious than the last!

How has FITC navigated the hurdles to growth, and to leading the knowledge Industry in the areas of Technology & Innovation in recent times?

Technology & innovation have loads of benefits. It increases productivity and results in new and better goods and services that in turn, improves the overall standard of living of people while positively impacting on the economy. Similarly, in the learning industry, technological innovations are significantly impacting and disrupting the traditional classroom environment.

With the renewed global embrace of digital, the rise of automation, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence, technology is fundamentally transforming our world and its social, cultural, and economic structures. As a future focused organization, we quickly began investing in and expanding our innovative and digital-enabled service offerings.

Beyond technology, we applied the principles of agility across our entire organization from process innovation, new programme development, customer relationship management, and consumer insight analytics. We responded swiftly to our stakeholders learning and knowledge needs, increased our speed of execution with remarkable improvement in our productivity and service delivery leveraging technology and innovative knowledge solutions.

For instance, under our re-engineered Insight & Policy Advocacy portfolio, we hosted some of Africa’s largest conferences; ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference, the Employee Experience & Engagement (E3) Conference, and the TechNovate FINTECH Conference, using our bespoke virtual conferencing platform called the Convena, a 5000-attendee capacity platform with fascinating features aimed at giving participants the ultimate virtual conferencing experience. The features include Log-in and

onboarding, virtual sessions, session screening and live Q&As, chat rooms, event newsfeeds, contests and marketing, advertising and sponsors booths among other innovative features.

The FITC Covena platform has continued to receive glowing reviews from our participants, partners, board members and other critical stakeholders, and has positioned FITC as the leader in virtual conferencing.

In the area of leveraging technology & innovation to improve customer engagement, we launched our live-chat customer engagement feature, “Patrick”. Patrick, equipped with key features such as a geo-IP tracking, unlimited agents, video & voice, file transfer, agent to agent messaging, track engagement, detailed reporting, screen sharing, notifications and lots more, has further helped our organization improve significantly in the areas of lead generation, client acquisition and retention. It has helped us to quickly identify in real time, some of our customers’ pain-points, making it easier to quickly develop and proffer innovative, tailormade solutions for them.

To continue to lead in the areas of technology & innovation, we instituted a dynamic advocacy and incubation team of digital mavens and digital natives known as “The Catalysts” consisting of mostly millennials and Gen Zs. Their role: to drive and coordinate FITC’s digital transformation across culture, technology investments and energised adoptions by casting and setting the objectives, continuously assessing the technology, innovation and other needs of the organization, identifying the key projects for execution and evaluating ongoing and completed projects.

We understand the importance of cutting-edge enterprise solutions as the foundation to drive innovation and agility in our processes and platforms to make our operations more efficient and so we have invested heavily in pioneering enterprise solutions to further simplify data collection, billing, analysis and reporting to improve decision making. This, we believe, has helped to streamline processes, reduce rework, reduce costs, and improve the overall quality of our operations.

The resulting effect on our organization is evident in the areas of financial management, purchasing, fixed assets management, budget and project management, enterprise intelligence in terms of financial reporting, consolidation, easy dashboard and KPIs review and tracking, sales report, inventory, increased inquiries, real time sales analysis and many others, all of which has made it easier to deliver excellently to our clients, keeping us ahead in the industry.

What has been FITC’s role in past years to ensure the Boards of Nigerian financial institutions have sound corporate governance The importance of corporate governance cannot be overemphasised. Good corporate governance creates a system of rules and practices that determine how a company operates and how these rules align with the interest of all its stakeholders. Corporate governance leads to ethical business practices, which leads to financial viability.

Our mandate and role over the years has been to continuously equip Boards and adequately prepare them for the emerging challenges of an increasingly complex global and unpredictable business environment. This we have been able to achieve successfully under our flagship Board Leadership and Executive Education programmes where we host and train aspiring and Board Chairmen and Directors, Non-Executive Directors, Board Members of financial and non-financial institutions, Director-Generals, Presidents, Managing Partners/CEOs, C-suite and senior executives from both public and private sector organizations across industries in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Our Board Leadership and Executive Education programmes are targeted at Managers, Senior Leadership and Directors. We create a curriculum that defines all the programmes that they should take over time and work collaboratively with institutions helping them strengthen their boards through knowledge, corporate governance structure, and consistent board evaluation to ensure they perform effectively and optimally because the board role is critical for every organization. These programmes cut across leadership, technology, talent management, risk management,

enterprise, cybersecurity, finance and accounting, all of which are very pertinent to their operations.

We are able to make more impact leveraging partnerships and collaborations with renowned local and international institutions, regulatory bodies and relevant associations to deliver very robust programmes. This way, we are constantly helping them to identify and maximize their potentials, equipping them to deliver more.

The place of staff training and retraining cannot be ignored while telling stories of successful financial institutions. How do you describe FITCs role in the past in making these companies and their employees globally competitive?

Training helps to acquire new skills while sharpening existing ones. It is central in optimal performance and increased productivity for employees and business owners alike. Our Learning solutions include hundreds of courses designed to assist organizations across different sectors to sharpen their skills and is accessible anywhere in the world even as we continue to invest in putting in place a state-of-the-art and efficient Learning Management System to aid the delivery of a world-class, top-notch learning experience for people and organizations looking to upskill and retool for personal development and improved organizational performance.

Through our FITC Advisory portfolio, we equip leaders and organizations with knowledge-based research and insights, developing cutting edge strategies that convert opportunities into value.

We have since expanded our offerings to include technology advisory, service strategy and organization resilience models. We combined stability and dynamism to build systems and teams that are radically efficient thereby driving increased speed, flexibility, and performance. We also help organizations to re-engineer their processes, products, or programmes, enabling them to become the best that they can be. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to develop potentials and motivate their workforce.

Consequently, we help professionals in the Nigerian financial services and other sectors, to navigate and advance their careers while building on our member firms’ successes through our clear vision, strong corporate values, and our culture of excellence.

With over 13 years’ experience in carrying out successful Staff Promotional Examinations across several Ministries, Departments and Agencies, FITC has remained in the forefront of developing and implementing technology driven staff promotion exercise that complements the performance management system in the public sector.

Our Insight & Policy Advocacy portfolio houses our innovative conferences such as the ThinkNovation, Cybersecurity Conference, the TechNovate FINTECH Conference as well as the Employee Engagement & Experience (E3) Conference among others. The portfolio also undertakes various research assignments and promotes knowledge through well-researched publications, surveys and reports, to infer insights for constructive improvements and policy advocacy in the financial and non-financial services sector.

As the leader of FITC, what will be your parting shot with regards to the organization and its mandate now and in the future?

No doubt, FITC has continued to demonstrate its commitment to setting standards in the learning industry for sustainable knowledge innovation, adopting innovative solutions to build a future that is both desirable and valuable to all its stakeholders, while making positive contributions to the development of people and organizations, and creating solutions that would contribute to knowledge and advancement of the Nigerian Financial Service Sector, other sectors of the economy and beyond.

We will continue to relentlessly bridge the knowledge gap in Nigeria and across Africa, impacting the individuals, organizations, and industry we serve, and transforming the continent with our knowledge solutions, leveraging our local and global partnerships and collaborations.

In the next decade and beyond, the financial services sector will remain very critical to us because we understand how important it is to the economy of every nation, and more so to Nigeria. So, we aim to unswervingly offer our services to ensure that the industry keeps ahead, and that the organizations within the sector keep thriving because this would amount to the long-term growth of both the economy and the stability of the nation.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022

EDUCATION Seeking Alternative Funding to Sustain FTS Beyond 2023 Despite the positive impact of the Federal Teachers’ Scheme on primary education in the country, the Universal Basic Education Commission has expressed uncertainty over its existence beyond 2023, following the withdrawal of funding by the National Assembly. The commission is currently in talks with stakeholders on new funding sources to sustain the initiative. Uchechukwu Nnaike reports

T

he Federal Teachers’ Scheme (FTS) is a two-year intervention programme established by the federal government in 2006 to assist states in addressing the shortage of teachers at the basic education level.

The scheme, implemented by the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC), provides employment opportunities for qualified and unemployed youths interested in teaching in public primary schools.

The participants may not possess any experience in teaching. The teachers currently receive N30,000 monthly.

According to UBEC, the government’s underfunding of the scheme led to reducing the number of teachers from 40,000 in 2006 to 5,000 in 2016.

It said 3,962 teachers enrolled in 2020.

During the second quarterly national monitoring of participants of the 2020/2021 FTS in Lagos, UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, stated that the budget for 2021 was N1.9 billion. But the National Assembly did not make any allocation for the scheme this year.

The event, held at the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), was also attended by some participants of the scheme and headteachers.

“Not that we don’t have the money to pay salaries up to the end of the year, but there is no additional funding provided by the National Assembly for the 2023 aspect of the programme,” he stated.

Bobboyi added that the withdrawal of funding was in line with the new policy of the legislators that any agency receiving statutory funds cannot receive any other money from another source. The FTS funding comes from SDG Funds, he said.

“The engagement of the next batch from January 2023 will be a bit problematic unless we can find another source of funding,” he further mentioned.

Thus he said UBEC is seeking to design another programme, hence the engagement with stakeholders to analyse the challenges and find new areas of focus, particularly on STEM teachers, that can facilitate national development.

On the shortage of teachers in public schools, Bobboyi stated that many teachers retired during the COVID-19

UBEC and SUBEB officials with some FTS participants and head teachers

period and were not replaced.

He disclosed that the number of teachers in public schools had reduced nationally, unlike private schools currently getting more teachers. For instance, he said there are schools in some parts of the country with one teacher.

Sharing their experiences and challenges on the job, the participants commended the federal government for the initiative and called for an upward review of the monthly allowance.

They also stated that the increasing enrolment rate in Lagos schools has further widened the student-teacher ratio, leading to overcrowded classrooms. So the schools urgently need more teachers, classrooms and other facilities.

They also expressed fears of returning to the labour market

at the end of the programme and appealed to the state government to absorb them into the teaching force.

The Chairman of Lagos SUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King, said in terms of absorbing the FTS participants, the state wants to ensure that every child’s potential is realised.

“We want teachers who are not only academically qualified but professionally qualified. That is why we have a special system of employment,” Alawiye-King explained.

In the last employment, he said the state reserved five per cent for those under the special category, and that is where N-Power, FTS and community teachers fall into. He said though the FTS participants are on the priority list for employment, they need to satisfy other criteria, including

professional teachers.

While commending UBEC for its intervention, he described education as a social good whose demand outweighs the supply.

“There must be intervention from time to time, and if those interventions are not properly coordinated, if they are not monitored, it can lead to further deterioration and chaos in the system,” he pointed out. “That is why we want to thank you for providing structured and coordinated intervention which has improved basic education in the country.”

He also stressed adequate monitoring for a successful, effective and efficient programme.

Some of the headteachers called on the government to absorb the FTS participants for their exceptional service. They also called for capacity building workshops and seminars for the FTS participants.

COEASU Lauds Ogun Governor’s TASCE Intervention, Seeks Audience James Sowole ÓØ ÌÏÙÕßÞË

The College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has commended Governor Dapo Abiodun for his intervention on lingering issues and state of affairs at the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Omu-Ijebu.

TASCE is the first state-owned tertiary institution established in Ogun State and produced many educationists and others in other fields of human endeavours.

At a news conference, the union lamented the lingering operational issues predating the governor’s tenure. Its National

Vice President, Olusegun Lana, said Abiodun was progressive in his intervention to restore the lost glory of the institution.

However, the union requested an audience with the governor to discuss the school’s critical matters.

“We have written several letters, and unfortunately, none of the letters was honoured. We will still keep the lines open for the government to attend to us. We want to believe that our letters might have been lost in transit,” stated the union leader.

“We are using this avenue to amplify an effort to meet with the governor for dialogue on the TASCE issue.”

Lana said the audience with the governor would afford the union to present “win-win ideas” that will help him consolidate his administration’s laudable efforts in revamping the college.

He admitted that the governor’s administration had eased the tension and brought hope to the institution with regular salaries.

“The governor had done a lot to restore the lost glory of the institution, and it can be better if he can grant the leadership of the union audience where we can also table some of the measures we have highlighted based on our researches on how

things can be better including funding,” he noted.

But the union stressed the need to fashion out “agreeable solutions to unfulfilled expectations” on festering issues.

“We have developed certain well-thought-out ideas to put on the table during dialogue with the governor towards addressing the liabilities inherited by his administration,” explained Lana.

He added, “We do not have only demands, but we also have specific propositions that are sensitive to the financial constraints of government which could provide a win-win solution to the age-long challenges.

We are earnestly calling for (an)

audience with the governor to present these.”

The union leader commended the “progressive actions” of the present management of TASCE led by the College Provost, Dr. Adeola Kiadese and Governing Council chaired by Prince Adeyemi Adefulu, especially in developing the college and expanding its IGR potentials.

“The leadership of the union do (sic) not believe in table banging unionism on the matter on the ground, but constructive union activities that will lead to the resolution of the matter for the general benefits of the college and the community,” he pointed out.

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EDUCATION

ASUU Strike Won’t Affect NUGA, Says ZODML Unveils Free Online Library for Self-driven UNILAG VC Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof.

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, says preparations to host the Nigerian University Games (NUGA) are in top gear and that the ongoing ASUU strike will not disrupt the event.

On the level of preparation for the games, Ogundipe said the local organising committee of the NUGA was leaving no stone unturned to ensure a successful event.

“At the moment, we want to beat set standards. We want to go beyond the level that

other universities that had hosted these games in the past showcased,” Ogundipe disclosed. “At present, we are having an Olympic-sized swimming pool with electronic timing, and the cricket field is one of the best.”

He assured that the ongoing ASUU strike would not affect the games since it would not be an academic affair.

One hundred and thirty-six universities with over 10,000 athletes are expected to participate in various sporting activities during the games this month.

Meanwhile, a philanthropist,

Chief Seni Adetu, has donated N1 million to the UNILAG to host NUGA. This is just as he fulfilled the promise he made about three months ago that his company, First Primus Ogilvy and Algorithm, will employ three top graduates of the Mass Communication Department every year for the next three years.

“We have an ongoing relationship with this institution, and today, we are here to confirm the fulfilment of the commitment that we made to the institution’s management under the leadership of Prof.

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe,” he said.

Adetu disclosed that the new employees started in February.

He added that he also came to demonstrate the organisation’s support for the management to host the forthcoming NUGA. He said the gesture was because of the organisation’s love for UNILAG and in appreciation of the satisfactory performance of the management.

Adetu also appealed to public-spirited Nigerians to support UNILAG’s bid to stage the best NUGA ever.

L-R: The Registrar, Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye; Provost, Meadow Hall College of Education and CEO, Meadow Hall Group, Dr. Kehinde Nwani; and Consultant Deputy Provost, Meadow Hall College of Education, Prof. Adebayo Oladipo, at the convocation ceremony/induction of the Professional Diploma in Education Class of 2021 of Meadow Hall College of Education, in Lagos... recently

Learning

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries (ZODML) has launched a free online library to encourage academic excellence and instil the value of self-driven learning in youths.

The event, held in Lagos, attracted students from public tertiary institutions, trustees and other stakeholders.

ZODML is a non-profit organisation based in Lagos with access to over 300,000 online resources and 2,455,498 resources at its community library.

According to the Cofounder and Chairperson, Mrs. Ifeoma Esiri, the library project is inspired by the life and legacy of Zacchaeus Onumba Dibiaezue, who, through self-learning and access to libraries, transformed his life and the lives of others.

She said the organisation runs a community library, 34 school libraries and 19 libraries in correctional centres across the country.

“ZODML’s leadership has taken stock of its impact over the years and recognised that there are limited opportunities for continued physical growth given the costs associated with building new libraries and maintaining existing ones,” explained Esiri.

She added that the online library would provide free access to digital resources, information and learning tools through which young Nigerians, particularly those attending public universities, can acquire knowledge and thrive in their studies and future careers.

Esiri also mentioned that ZODML planned to spread the love of books and the acquisition of literacy and technological skills, especially among Nigerian children and youths.

The highlight of the launch was a testimonial delivered

by Janet Abakpa, a law student at the University of Ibadan and a beneficiary of ZODML’s second local government primary school library.

“I discovered ZODML as a pupil in Ireti Nursery and Primary School, Ikoyi and received a library card after attending one of ZODML’s programmes,” stated Abakpa.

“Over the years, I have read almost all the books in the children’s section, and I’ve greatly benefitted from them.

I’ve gained so much and grown so much intellectually, I’ve joined the online library, and I am excited about the possibilities it offers for students who, like me, are eager to learn.”

Babcock Inducts 78 Lawmaker Recommends Funding, Qualified Graduates into Medical Teachers to Revamp Education Lab Science Council Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

A federal lawmaker from Imo in the National Assembly, Emeka Chinedu, has recommended adequate funding, good legislation, sports, and qualified teachers to revamp Nigeria’s ailing education sector.

“We need funding. We need good legislation. We need a lot of facilities. We need well trained and qualified teachers and lecturers to improve in the training of the improvement of students’

mental capability,” explained the legislator. “So, a lot has to be done in the sector because education is very key. It is one of the pivotal points that can shoot our country to a great level.”

He stated this during the sixth inter-house sports competition of Doveland International Schools.

According to him, there is a bill on the floor of the House of Representatives calling for the establishment of a football academy in Nigeria.

Bemoaning the state of

education, Chinedu said, “As a legislator, I have tried to bring up some bills to support sports in Nigeria today.

I believe if we have a football academy, the nation will do well in football. Sports is one vital thing that united the country. I am of the school of thought that sports should be comparative in the country.”

Proprietress and director of the school, Tina Johnny Chukwu, said apart from being an integral part of life, the importance of sports should be reflected in the nation’s

school curriculum.

“Sports is part of life and an integral part of academics because many learn through sports. No country can say it is where it wants to be.

Nigeria has a long way to go, and sports is one of the things I expect schools, both public and private, to take seriously,” she pointed out.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the school, Johnny Chukwu, said despite lean resources, public schools could be carried along in sporting activities.

Knowledge-based Skills Critical for Economic Growth, Says VC The Chancellor, Southwestern University, Okun Owa, Ogun State, Babatunde Odufuwa, has stated that knowledge-based skills are important to the development of the nation and education growth.

Speaking during the recent second convocation ceremony of the university, he said knowledge and advanced skills were critical determinants of a country’s economic growth and sustainability.

According to him, the capacity for countries to adopt, disseminate, and maximise rapid technological advances depends on adequate tertiary education systems.

Odufuwa called for more focused investment in educa-

tion, pointing out that Nigeria will remain dormant unless its human resources are adequately developed and utilised to exploit and fabricate the non-human resources into consumable articles.

While congratulating the graduands, the chancellor urged them to uphold ethical conduct in their business dealings in the labour market.

“Business ethics is a big issue in Nigeria’s environment. There is currently a deficit of ethics and integrity at several leadership levels in the country today.

Graduands must maintain a high sense of discipline and embrace qualitative education,” stressed Odufuwa.

He expressed the institution’s

commitment to excellence in teaching, learning, research and developing leaders in many disciplines to stand out globally.

The acting Vice-Chancellor Prof. Babatunde Odesanya, charged the graduands to be agents of impact to the society.

In his convocation lecture, the Head of Department of Accounting, University of Benin and Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Prof. Famous Izedonmi, said there was nothing a nation could do to spur growth and development without education.

Izedonmi said, “education is a weapon for meaningful change, revolution and orienta-

tion. The level of development in most developing nations and countries of the world is largely attributed to education; hence, educating the masses should be the paramount concern of those in leadership.”

At the convocation ceremony, 250 students were conferred with bachelor’s degrees from the Faculty of Social and Management Science and Faculty of Pure and Applied Science for the 2020/2021 academic session.

An eminent personality, Alhaji Balogun Idowu was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Science degree in Business Administration for his contributions to higher education in Nigeria.

Funmi Ogundare

As Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, recently inducted 78 graduates into the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, the Registrar of the council, Mr. Tosan Erhabor, has advised them to remain diligent and focused in the performance of their duties despite the prevailing challenging situations in the country.

He expressed the readiness of the council to continue to collaborate with Babcock University to further energise its department of Medical Laboratory Science with additional top-class faculty members.

He stated that the council would work with relevant stakeholders to improve the standards of medical laboratory science training in Nigeria in line with international best practices.

“The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria is delighted to associate with the university and its landmark achievement in galvanising 78 students for the induction ceremony and also for being one of the flagship universities in south-western Nigeria,” he stated.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ademola Tayo, advised the inductees to set the needs of their patients before that of the system, saying that they will

be rewarded someday if they do that.

“Always remember that people will look up to you, respect what you do and say.

People will trust you, confide in you, and appreciate your efforts.,” Tayo advised. “You can do exceptional things for people if you don’t let the system weigh you down.”

The VC urged them to collaborate with other professionals to be successful.

“Your job requires you to collaborate very closely with physicians and medical laboratory technicians in diagnosing and monitoring disease processes, as well as monitoring the effectiveness of therapy,” he explained.

In his remarks, the Head of the Department of Medical Laboratory Science of Babcock University, Prof. Ihongbe, encouraged the inductees to interact with people and adopt the university’s core values.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics, Prof. Philemon Amanze, urged the graduands to be passionate and believe in themselves.

“Believe in yourselves as Babcock believes in you. It is certain that you will become competent, diligent and trustworthy professionals,” he said.

The overall best graduating student, Miss Vivian Ochanya, thanked Babcock University for its conducive learning environment.

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WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022 • T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022

CITYSTRINGS

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 07010510430

Changing Outlook of Oyo's Food Basket Kemi Olaitan writes that the Oyo State government under Governor Seyi Makinde, is engaging in infrastructural development of cities outside the state capital

T

hat Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has continued to endear himself to the people of the pacesetter state due to the massive development that the state has witnessed since he assumed office in May 29, 2019, could only be an understatement.

The governor at his inauguration assured of moving the state from the level that it had found itself as a result of misrule of past administrations to one that will be respected among the comity of states in the country in terms of provisions of necessary infrastructure such as good roads and housing estates.

While to many skeptics this can only be realisable in the realm of dreams, but three years into the life of his administration, Governor Makinde has continued to fulfil his promises not only in Ibadan, the state capital, also in virtually all the major cities in the state such as Saki in Oke Ogun area of the state, which has been dubbed the second capital of the state.

For indigenes and residents of the ancient town, one thing that became a source of worry to them was the township road not touched by successive administrations. A sigh of relief was however to come their way when late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, in December 2016, flagged off the dualisation of the 9.7km road with a completion period of 18 months. The road awarded to Adold Engineering Development Company at a contract sum of N8,239,875,839.47, was not completed before the administration left office in 2019.

With the road practically abandoned leading to suffering of residents who alongside the traditional ruler of the historic town made representations to the governor for a redemption of the stagnated project, Governor Makinde, determined to change the face of the town, terminated the contract due to what he called inconsistencies and underperformance by the contractor.

The administration subsequently in September 2020 re-awarded the road project to Messrs Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Ltd, under the Alternative Project Funding Approach (APFA), at a cost of N4,796,000,000, with completion period of 12 months.

For a project that many believed would go the way like others in the past, it is already completed and commissioned with a spur of about 1.2km to the boundary of Kwara State also approved for dualisation by the governor.

The people of the community led by the Okere of Saki, Oba Khalid Olabisi, have since been showering encomiums on Governor Makinde for counting them worthy of having the dividends of democracy.

The monarch speaking through the National President, Saki Parapo, Chief Adedayo Adejumobi, said the people of the town would continue to be grateful to the governor for the tremendous development he has brought to the town, stating that with the completion of the road which is dear to the people not only of the town but the entire Oke Ogun area, commerce will greatly increase in the community.

According to him, “I want to appreciate the present government under the leadership of Engineer Makinde because we have never had it so good. Apart from the time of late Bola Ige and Lam Adesina, other previous governments neglected this area in terms of infrastructure, education, health and other social amenities.

“Before the governor came into power, there were so many abandoned projects. Look at the township stadium, which has been like that since the time of Lam Adesina. Look at the former OYSADEP, which is now OYSADA. Our school situation is also worst. But immediately Governor Makinde came to power, he has been fulfilling his promises in the aspect of education and other areas. On health, our former state hospital has been upgraded to a specialist hospital and well-staffed."

On his part, the Chairman, Saki West Local Government Area, Engineer Sarafadeen Omirinde, said the road project was a welcome development lauded by every sons and daughters of Saki. According to him, the completion of the dualisation of the township road will be a source of great relief to the people who had been subjected to harrowing experience on the

Saki Township road

Governor Makinde

Chief Adejumobi, National President, Saki Parapo

road neglected for donkey years while it will accelerate in bringing development to the town.

The council boss similarly lauded Governor Makinde on other projects that have changed the face of the town that include rehabilitation of primary health centres, installation of a new traditional ruler and moving the headquarters of Oyo State Agriculture Development Project (OYSADEP) now Oyo State Agricbusiness Development Agency ( OYSADA) back to Saki from Ibadan, assuring that the people have no choice but to pay the governor back with their votes during the 2023 gubernatorial elections.

“For a very long time, we have never come across a governor like this. The people of Saki West local government area give kudos to him and will always stand by him. And that is the reason why we are clamouring for hi second term. Yes, we want continuity for him as a matter of fact.

"To speak on the ongoing projects here, the past government spent eight years and what did our people benefit from those years? Instead, they were rather exposed to a lot of dangers on our roads.

Infrastructure-wise, nothing was done but we thank God that Governor Makinde, has completed a dual-carriageway in this township. Though a lot of structures have been pulled down because of this project, the people of Saki Parapo still appreciate it because there is no gain when you feel no pain and we need it.

‘’Saki West Local Government is no longer a village but a city. Apart from the road project, we have OYSADA which was in a terrible state before the coming of his administration, today it is wearing a new look. He also promised that the sporting activities in the town will be developed and the abandoned stadium fixed and upgraded to a modern one. " With what he is doing for us in the aspect of sports, we believe that very soon our youths here will have a team that will be able to compete with the 3Sc of Ibadan.

Indeed, Governor Makinde has taken us out of the bondage we were in before as he has done a lot for us in the four cardinal areas upon which his administration is resting on.

“The first thing he did for us after he came into office that we will never forget was the installation of the Okere of Saki land. Nobody believed it could happen. So, we are feeling the impact of the governor.

Makinde has changed the face of Saki West to the extent that our people in the diaspora are clamouring for his second term.

"Also, in Saki West today, five primary health centres in different wards are undergoing rehabilitation out of 11 wards that we have here while the abandoned state hospital was fixed four months into his administration. We can also talk about the YEAP initiative, which our youths just partook in. Some of the beneficiaries are here today and most of them now have much interest in agriculture.

"The governor at his inauguration assured of moving the state from the level that it had found itself as a result of misrule of past administrations to one that will be respected among the comity of states in the country in terms of provisions of necessary infrastructure, such as good roads and housing estates"

‘’All the projects that Governor Makinde are executing are really improving the economy of Saki West. For instance, my neighbour, an iron-pot maker for the eight years of Governor Ajimobi, never deemed it fit to go to Ibadan to get the raw materials to produce his products because of the condition of Iseyin-Moniya road.

"But immediately the road was fixed by the governor, himself and others in the business are now back and their business is moving. Also, transportation business has become viable because of the condition of the road", Omirinde said.

Speaking in the same vein, the Special Assistant, Federal Constituency Matters, Dr. Lukman Adisa, said the completion of the dualisation of the township road would engender a big boom in trade and commerce in the long run as the town is an agrarian community with the governor doing a lot to promote the agricultural sector.

While charging the federal government to emulate the state in judicious use of government resources, he lauded Governor Makinde for coming to the town to celebrate his birthday with his cabinet members, noting that such a novel idea makes the people to have a sense of belonging in the government that is running their affairs.

According to him, "I want to urge the government at the centre to imbibe the culture of maintenance which Governor Makinde is displaying in Oyo State. They need to look inwards and how to manage the little resources we have in this country. If the governor can manage the available resources in this state to better the lives of Oyo State residents, I don’t see why the federal government cannot do the same. That is why we need a good manager at the centre there. The governor is paying salaries of workers, gratuity as and when due without any magic.

“We have never had it good like this in the history of Oyo State where the governor will come to Saki to celebrate Christmas and his cabinet with us and took all his cabinet members along. Invariably, he has pronounced here as the second capital of Oyo State. We have where to host him as he has provided the Governor’s Lodge, he has also promised to give us a presidential lodge. So, we have everything to host government, either state or federal.”

The Deputy Director, Administration and Supply, OYSADA, Mr. Olaniyi Olajule, said the governor has touched every department in the agency and turned things around positively, stating that the agency is wearing new look with facilities such as Farmers' Hall, Library, Hospitality building, renovated Governor's Lodge and the entire landscape of the premises fenced with cement blocks.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Park Managers in Saki West local government, Comrade Dauda Ahmed (aka Destiny), said the transport workers in the town could not but be happy with the completion of the dualisation of the township road given the havoc that the deplorable condition of the road has wrecked on their vehicles, noting that their appeal to past administrations concerning the road always fell on deaf ears and that the Makinde-led administration has lifted a great burden on them.

He said, “For us transport workers in this town, we cannot but salute the state government for completing the road which has been deplorable. It is a great relief to us as it will bring an end to taking our vehicles to the mechanics for repair everyday. The road is so bad that even if one should put a new vehicle on it, it does not solve your problem of visiting the mechanics everyday.”

A resident, Mrs. Bolatito Akomolafe, who is a trader in the town's main market, while lamenting that the bad condition of the township road affected her business, said the completion of the road will bring economic development to the ancient town as more people will be coming to purchase goods from the market men and women in the town, saying, “ we are happy with the road project, this is because its deplorable condition in the past does not allow people from outside the town to come and buy our goods given the fact that we are the food basket of the state. Most times we always record losses as the goods perished with nobody to buy them".

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022

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CRIME&SECURITY

The Robbery Siege in Uromi Town Giving account of the coordinated attack by armed robbers on four commercial banks in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State Adibe Emenyonu, reports on efforts by the local vigilante that led to the abandonment of operational vehicles by the fleeing robbers and the subsequent recovery of the stolen cash, thus exposing the security lacuna created by the police command

One of the hospitalised victims of Uromi bank robbery

A

t about 5:45pm last week Thursday, a red colour Camry car with Reg. No. EZA 105 KJA, drove into the premises of Unity Bank; another ash colour Camry Car with Reg. No. KWL 19 DU, made its way into Zenith Bank. Similarly, a dark ash colour corolla car with Reg. No. UBJ 734 SZ, slowly parked close to the precinct of United Bank of Africa (UBA); while one Lexus 330 car with Reg. No. AAA 973 FL, got close to Union Bank.

At the same time, two motorcycles: a red Q. Link M/CYCLE With Reg. No. EZA 105 QN, and another Red Day Long M/Cycle With Reg. NO. ENU 204 QL rode very close to the police command in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State.

The mission of occupants of these vehicles and motorbikes remained unknown. Since they pretended to be customers waiting to use the Automated Machines (ATM) to withdraw money, nobody paid serious attention to them.

But in a simultaneous and coordinated manner they struck like a rattlesnake, wrecking havoc on the entire semi-urban town of Uromi, and people began to run helter skelter for dear lives.

By the time the dust raised by the unwanted intruders settled, seven persons including two policemen and five civilians lay dead while several others were hospitalised as a result of the injuries they sustained while millions of naira could not be accounted for. The stampede was worse because the four banks were located close to each other along the famous Market road, Uromi.

Besides, the banks were badly damaged due to the kind of arsenal the attackers deployed to make their way into the banking halls before carting away millions of naira notes.

A resident of Uromi who witnessed the attacks on the banks, described it as too coordinated like a commando operation According to him, the attack on the banks was coordinated because it was launched at the same time, adding that just as some of the robbers were busy attacking the banks, and stuffing money into their sacks, the ones who came on motorcycles attacked the police station just to prevent them from responding to the distress calls from bank staff and members of the public.

The source who pleaded anonymity also said: "The robbers came prepared. People were just running helter-skelter. Residents were making contract with security agencies to come to the rescue of the banks not knowing that those being called to come for their rescue were also under heavy fire."

At first when contacted, the Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kontongs Bello, confirmed the attacks, saying, " that's true sir", but did not provide further details when our correspondent probed further.

Besides, it was gathered that the Uromi

R-L: Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu; Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Marcus Onobun, with heads and representatives of security agencies in Edo State, during an on-the-spot assessment of the scene of the robbery incident in Uromi, Esan North East LGA bank robbery attack became possible because the attackers took advantage of police commanders meeting with the state Commissioner of Police, a security source disclosed.

The security source, who did not want his name mentioned, said the armed robbers decided to strike on Thursday, having studied that the police commanders in the Uromi axis usually joined their counterparts across the state in a critical weekly briefing with the state Commissioner of Police.

The source disclosed that as it had been the practice, the Thursday Commanders parley with the CP required the physical presence of all the police Area Commanders and the Divisional Police Officers in the state.

"The armed robbers numbering about 30, who came in a convoy of vehicles, carried out the well coordinated heist simultaneously at the four banks at the Uromi city centre.

"The robbers decision to carry out the commando-like attacks when the crucial security meeting was ongoing in Benin had thrown up serious questions among the top echelon of the Edo Police Command, with posers being raised as to the proprietary or otherwise of the physical meeting in the age of technology, where virtual communication strategy could have been employed", the source noted.

He further posited that absence of the Divisional Police Officers and the Area Commanders, who are the operational commanders, must have affected what could have been an immediate coordinated police response against the criminals, arguing further that the armed robbers, who carried out the attacks, during which seven persons (two police and five civilians) were killed, as confirmed

by Kontongs, and huge sums of money stolen, must have monitored the area and the possible security reaction and threat before embarking on the action.

Another twist of the Thursday attack on the four banks emerged in a viral video next day evening that the armed robbers took the advantage of the absence of police chain of command in Uromi to strike.

The viral video which recorded human casualties, also showed the armed robbers

loading unspecified amount of money in sacks into their getaway vehicles but for a late evening feelers from the neighbouring town of Ubiaja, headquarters of Esan South East Local Government Area.

The feelers indicated that the youths of Ubiaja community, on hearing about the robbery incidents, mobilised and blocked all the road to prevent the fleeing robbers from using the town as their exit thoroughfare.

It was later confirmed that the armed robbers abandoned one of the cars, red Toyota Camry car with registration number, MK 23 KJA, carrying the stolen cash from the banks and one of them arrested during a "breaking news", as posted on the Edo Police Command Press Interactive WhatsApp platform.

Officially, the Edo Police Command confirmed that the sum of N34, 510,000 was recovered but in its official statement, endorsed by its spokesman, while stating that the money was recovered from the abandoned operational vehicles used by the armed robbers at a bush in Ubiaja, Esan South-East LGA, a neighboring council to Uromi, he refused to acknowledge the role played by the vigilante group in Ubiaja who blocked the roads forcing the robbers to abandoned their vehicles and loot.

The statement added that "the Commissioner of Police Edo State police Command, CP Philip Aliyu Ogbadu, while sympathising with the families of those who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident, promised not to relent until all those behind the attack are bought to face the full wrath of the law".

In the aftermath of the shocking armed robbery attack, a prominent PDP Chieftain and son of the late party BOT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, Mr. Ose Anenih called for State Police.

Anenih who consoled with families of those that lost their lives in the incident, also condemned in the strongest terms the deadly assault on the Uromi community.

“It is heart-wrenching that the state, and Nigeria at large, have been crippled by rising insecurity. I believe that this is a result of not just an absence of morality and conscience in these criminals; but also

"The armed robbers decided to strike on Thursday, having studied that the police commanders in the Uromi axis usually joined their counterparts across the state in a critical weekly briefing with the state commissioner of police"

a failure of our current security architecture to curtail the excesses of these criminals.

“My position on the need to decentralise police operations in Nigeria with the creation of State Police is well documented. The only way we can successfully fight crime locally is to adopt the most effective strategy of local policing with local and community members in charge of securing their community through State Police.

"Nigeria today needs to restructure our security framework. State governors need to be able to control their own local state police forces.

Regional security networks like Amotekun need to be given legislative teeth to combat armed bandits successfully.

“As a matter of urgency, Nigerians must realise that we cannot continue to use ineffective tactics to address the rising crimes in our country. So while we mourn the innocent victims who lost their lives, I want to plead with the President and the National Assembly to accede to our demands for the creation of state police," he said.

Also, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has advocated increased surveillance by security operatives.

Obaseki stated this during an on-the-spot assessment of the scene of robbery attack.

Represented by his deputy, Mr. Philip Shaibu, who was accompanied by heads of security agencies in the state, he appealed to the people of Uromi to go about their normal businesses as the state government has beefed up security and surveillance to ensure peace is restored in the area.

According to him, "This attack is a wellorganised crime. We have increased surveillance in the area. We are here on behalf of the governor to find out what happened and know the extent of the damage. We are here on a fact-finding mission and have interacted with bank officials, eye witnesses, traders and people living in the area and seen the level of destruction and damage done.

“I am here with all the security chiefs and have seen the damage and beefed up security in the area. I urge all living in the area to go about their normal businesses. We reassure our people of improved security in the area and guarantee their safety. In the next week, people of this area will see government action on the matter."

The governor's entourage also visited the palace of the Ojuromi of Uromi, HRH Anslem Odaloighe Eidenojie Il, who described the situation like a war zone as it lasted for more than two hours as the robbers took control of the area, killing his people.

The governor's entourage also visited the Nigeria Police Force, Uromi Command, which was also attacked by the robbers to demobilise the officers before the robbery. Also visited was the hospital where the injured victims were being treated.

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T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱ˜ 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

FirstBank: Our FGT has Contributed Towards Boosting Intra African Trade Nume Ekeghe The Deputy Managing Director of First Bank Nigeria Limited, Mr Gbenga Shobo has said the bank’s First Global Transfer (FGT) has been contributed to the increase in Intra-African trade.

Shobo in an interview with THISDAY noted that the FGT, which was launched last year had played a major role in easing remittance among African countries. The FGT is a wholly owned platform of FirstBank designed to cater to its African subsidiaries, how has this product fostered intra-African transfers and trade.

According to Shobo, FGT has eased remittance amongst our customers in African countries where Firstbank has its presence. It has fostered intra-Africa transfers and trade through a very fast, reliable, and automated solution that gives immediate value to the beneficiaries.

“The customers can confidently leverage the platform to transfer funds within African corridors.

Interestingly, the unveiling of the FGT coincided with the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), which kicked off on 1 January 2021.

“On the timing in relation to easing and promoting the imple-

mentation of ACFTA, he said, “the timing was coincidental. However, FGT will be leveraging ACFTA to boost intra-regional transfers amongst her customers’ as more traders will be empowered to do borderless transactions, “he said.

On what can be done to encourage diaspora remittances, he added: “More awareness should be created amongst the populace on the existing CBN intervention measures, such as CBN Naira4dollar initiative, auto-creation of USD Domiciliary accounts for customers without dollar account, etc., with this, beneficiaries will continue to encourage their senders to send through official channels.”

FMARD Urges Stakeholders on OIE’s Standards for Animal Welfare Kayode Tokede The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has said that Nigeria needs to implement the World Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE) best practice for animal welfare to access the international market.

FMARD made the submission at a national workshop on animal welfare held in Lagos to sensitize relevant stakeholders on the aims to promote and advance animal welfare in the country.

Themed ‘Relevance of Animal Welfare in Nigeria’, the workshop was organized by the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in collaboration with the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE).

The Director, Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, Dr. Olaniran Alabi, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Dr.

Modupeola Ogunnoiki, said it is important to treat animals humanely “as we use them for food, work or as companions.”

His words: “The need to ensure that our farm animals are provided good animal welfare during husbandry, transportation and slaughter cannot be over emphasised.

“Good animal welfare practices which enhance the quality of animal products available for human consumption is a primary concern of the Department, and as such the Ministry is stepping up efforts towards introducing global best practices in implementing Nigeria’s Animal Welfare Strategy.”

Alabi noted that the Animal Welfare Strategy approved by the National Council of Agriculture in 2016 provides direction for the development of action plans to implement existing OIE guidelines and standards as well as a roadmap for development of

future animal welfare policies.

He added, “The Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services has taken initial steps in the implementation of the strategy and is organizing this awareness creation/sensitization workshop for relevant stakeholders on Good Animal Welfare practices.

“The National workshop today is a step in the right direction and is expected to go a long way in ensuring that safe, wholesome and affordable livestock and poultry products are available for our local market and possible export.”

On her part, the Honourable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs. Abisola Olusanya, said the sensitization programme comes at a time when the state government had signed two crucial bills into law - the Lagos State Animal Law 2022 and the Lagos State Anti-Grazing Law 2021.

‘MTN Customers Will Get Free Access to Davido’s 02 Arena Concert’ Leading technology company, MTN Nigeria, has secured exclusive global rights to stream Davido live at the O2 to its customers on Saturday, March 5, 2022. Through its partnership with the subscription-based music store and streaming service platform, uduX, MTN will be making history once again as the company with its pulse on technology and entertainment.

Following a brief hiatus, Davido has been gearing up to give his UK fans the ultimate Afrobeats experience. The concert comes as part of an elaborate prelude to the megastar’s upcoming album ‘We Rise By Lifting Others’ - a

celebration of a decade-long run in the music industry, from the early days of ‘Dami Duro’ in Lagos to the recent release of ‘Champion Sound’ globally.

With MTN facilitating Davido’s live-in concert experience to his global audience through UduX, fans can look forward to a seamless and immersive event. MTN Nigeria customers can tune into the action on Saturday, March 5, 2022 by subscribing to their favourite streaming data bundles, and logging on to wrblo2.udux. com to join the fun. Commenting on the partnership, the Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Adia Sowho, said, “We are proud

of this partnership with UduX and Davido, two stellar Nigerian brands that have become global ambassadors promoting Nigerian culture and music. In delivering this unparalleled experience to our customers across the country, we reiterate MTN Nigeria’s commitment to continue to lead the delivery of a bold, new digital world.” MTN had previously delivered a successful all-inclusive live experience in November 2021 to its customers in Nigeria. The experience featured Grammy Award winning Nigerian artiste, Ayodeji ‘Wizkid’ Balogun at the O2, sharing his monster hit album ‘Made in Lagos’, with the world.

BAT Recognised as Top Employer for Fifth Consecutive Year British American Tabaco (BAT) has been named top employer in Nigeria and Africa for the fifth year running by a Top Employers Institute.

The Global Top Employer certification is based on an extensive review of employer practices across six HR domains and 20 topics, including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being, Diversity and Inclusion and more.

Top Employer status recognises BAT’s commitment to attracting the best talent, investing in its people and being a great place to work. A statement by the Institute noted that “as a Top Employer, BAT has proved their unwavering

commitment to their employees on an international level that spans numerous countries.”

Reacting to the award, the Area Director, BAT West and Central Africa Yarub Al-Bahrani, said: “Being named as a Top Employer for the fifth year in a row is a recognition of BAT’s inclusive, engaging culture and innovative working environment. We are continually striving to maintain a workplace where employees feel empowered and well-supported and we are delighted this has been recognised.”

“Our people play a crucial role in our purpose to build A Better Tomorrow and we’re proud to be recognised for our commitment to build a purpose-driven

organisation.”

In a similar vein, Human Resources Director, at BAT West and Central Africa, Sergio Berlanga, while commenting on the recognition, said, “Our employees are our most important asset. This has never been more apparent than during the past two years as they have continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience, commitment and flexibility, despite the difficulties of the pandemic. They are powering our continued strong performance as we transform our business.”

BAT is committed to building A Better TomorrowTMby reducing the health impact of its business through providing a range of enjoyable and less risky products.

L-R Assistant Marketing Manager, Vitafoam Nigeria PLC, Falope Victor; Head, Special Business Unit, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank, Kikelomo Ojo; Product Group Manager, Vitafoam Nigeria PLC, Moses Mogbolu; Assistant Marketing Manager, Vitafoam Nigeria PLC, Timilehin Apena and Lead. Digital Media, Algorithm Media, Moses Ololo at presentation of Nigerian Brands and Excellence Leadership Awards 2022 to Vitafoam Nigeria Plc by African Brand Managers in Lagos...recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ 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 AS AT THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7

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).

55

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱ˜ ͰͮͰͰ

NGX to Implement New Strategy Centered on Digital Transformation, Customer-centric Solutions Kayode Tokede As part of ongoing activities aimed at improving business operations and processes at Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the Board of the Exchange yesterday has approved a new strategy centered on digital transformation, strategic partnerships, and customer-centric solutions.

The Exchange in statement obtained by THISDAY noted that the new strategy will en-

sure that the bourse becomes a “LEADING” organisation with a focus on deepening the capital market, diversifying our products and services, enhancing retail participation, and delighting our stakeholders across board.

This comes on the back of impressive performance recorded at the Exchange following the demutualisation.

In 2021, NGX experienced growth in trading figures with the NGX All Share Index returning

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

6.1per cent and turnover in the fixed income market increasing by 158.19 per cent. Equity capitalisation rose by 5.89 per cent, while fixed income figures rose by 12.81 per cent during the year.

The statement noted that several landmark transactions were also recorded including the first-ever end-to-end digital offer in the Nigerian capital market, the ground breaking listing of BUA Cement Plc’s N115 billion Bond, the largest corporate bond

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

QUANTITY TRADED

issuance, etc.

According to NGX: “To effectively consolidate these results, the Board of the Exchange has approved the restructuring of the bourse to efficiently implement its new strategy.

“As part of the restructuring, the Board has equally approved a change in the organisational structure with the attendant workforce restructuring to better position the bourse to deliver competitive value in today’s

T R A D E D

VALUE TRADED ( N )

MAIN BOARD

A S

dynamic technology-driven global capital market.

“The new structure, which will take effect from Tuesday, 1 March 2022, is designed to increase efficiency, enhance value, reduce cost, and maximise revenue generation.

“As such, the Exchange will transition from an operational structure of four Divisions, namely, Listings Business, Trading Business, Business Support Services, and Technology Services, to

O F

0 1

a refreshed operational structure of three Divisions namely: Capital Markets, Digital Technology, and Business Support Services. While there is a deep appreciation for the efforts of all employees in building the thriving Exchange that exists today, these actions are necessitated by the need to effectively position Nigerian Exchange Limited to lead the digitalisation and digital transformation of the Nigerian capital market.”

/ 0 3 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

56

WEDNESDAY, ͺ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

:HGQHVGD\ 0DUFK QG

dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ůŽƐĞĚ &ůĂƚ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĨĞůů ďLJ ϭϰďƉƐ dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ ϭϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ ǁĂƐ ƵŶĐŚĂŶŐĞĚ Ăƚ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

Ăƚ ϭ͕ϲϳϰ͘ϴϵ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϲйͿ͕ Ϯ͕ϬϰϮ͘ϳϭ ŝŶĚĞdž ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ t W K ;Ͳϭ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ h ;ͲϬ͘ϳйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂͲ

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘ dŚĞ ƵůůƐ ,ŽůĚ ^ǁĂLJ͘​͘​͘ ^/ ƵƉ Ϭ͘Ϯй

zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ DdEE ;нϭ͘ϬйͿ͕ ^/ ƵƉ ϭϭďƉƐ ĂƐ E' D 'ĂŝŶƐ ϯ͘ϯй ^ W> d ;нϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ^^ ;нϬ͘ϱйͿ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĚĂLJ͕ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ŝŶ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ,KEz&>KhZ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƐƚŽŬŝŶŐ Ă Ϭ͘Ϯй ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ & E, ;нϬ͘ϳйͿ ďŽůͲ

ŝŶ ƚŚĞ E'y ůůͲ^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ƚŽ ϰϳ͕ϰϴϮ͘ϳϯ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ƐƚĞƌĞĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůůͲ

^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝnjĂƟŽŶ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ േϰϳ͘ϱďŶ ƚŽ ^ŚĂƌĞ

ŝŶĚĞdž

ƌŽƐĞ

ďLJ

േϮϱ͘ϲƚŶ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ĮƌŵĞĚ ƵƉ ƚŽ ůŽƐƐ ϭϭ͘Ϯй ϭϭďƉƐ ƚŽ ǁŚŝůĞ ϯϵ͕ϱϱϬ͘ϯϲ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ zd ŝŵͲ ĨƌŽŵ ϭϭ͘Ϭй͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ŝŶƚĞŶƐŝĮĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ Ͳϭ͘ϴй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ Ϯϯ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϭϴϯ͘ϰй ƌĞƐƉĞĐͲ

Current Price

Ticker

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

5 Zenith Bank PLC 6 Dangote Cement PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC

15 Ecobank Transnational Inc 16 International Brew eries PLC

ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ K E K ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǁĂƐ ƵŶĚĞƌͲ E' D ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

ǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ Ϯ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͘ dŚĞ

/ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚĞdž ĨĞůů ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ďLJ ϭ͘ϯй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ // K ;Ͳϭ͘ϰйͿ ĂŶĚ >/E< ^^hZ ;Ͳ ϳ͘ϯйͿ͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ d/ ;Ͳϰ͘ϮйͿ͕ h ;Ͳ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ͕ ϭ ŝŶĚĞdž ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &ZͲ/ d

ϭ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ t W K ;Ͳϯ͘ϱйͿ ƐŚĂǀĞĚ Ϭ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϯй ŝŶĚĞdž ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ Ğƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ Žī ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚͲƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> ;Ͳ ŝŶĚŝĐŝĞƐ͘ ůƐŽ͕ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ /Ed Z t ;Ͳϭ͘ϳйͿ hE/> s Z

;Ͳϯ͘ϱйͿ͕

>/E< ^^hZ

;Ͳϲ͘ϰйͿ͕

ĂŶĚ E'^h' Z ;ͲϬ͘ϲйͿ ǁĞŝŐŚĞĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŽŶͲ ĂŶĚ D E^ Z ;ͲϮ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ

ƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁŚŝĐŚ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ Ϭ͘Ϯй͘ KŶ ƚŚĞ ŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĨĞůů ďLJ Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲ

ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƐŝĚĞ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ &ZͲ/ d ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K ;ͲϬ͘ϴйͿ͕ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͘

ƟŽŶ ŝŶ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͘

15.0%

3.5%

5.4x

31.9%

0.8x

5.7%

ot Applicable

1.5% 5.1%

7.2%

203.00

1.0%

7.9%

3.0%

3.0%

134.7%

14.1%

13.8x

21.3x

70.75

0.0%

6.7%

5.5%

5.5%

19.1%

11.2%

34.0x

6.4x

26.95

0.2%

6.3%

3.7%

3.7%

24.8%

3.9%

4.1x

1.0x

11.1%

24.5% 28.8%

2.9%

6.0%

7.4%

7.4%

20.9%

2.8%

3.5x

0.7x

11.4%

6.4%

6.4%

40.4%

16.7%

13.6x

5.3x

7.3%

7.4%

1,435.00

0.0%

3.0%

-7.8%

-7.8%

106.8%

15.6%

27.8x

32.8x

3.6%

3.6%

22 FCMB Group Plc 23 United Capital PLC 24 Guinness Nigeria PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

11.50

0.0%

3.2%

0.9%

0.9%

8.4%

0.8%

6.8x

0.6x

3.9%

14.7%

26.00

-3.5%

3.3%

8.6%

8.6%

11.6%

8.4%

9.7x

1.1x

7.5%

10.3%

10.40

0.5%

2.8%

11.8%

11.8%

17.0%

1.4%

2.9x

0.5x

8.2%

34.3%

8.55

-1.2%

2.2%

6.2%

6.2%

19.5%

1.8%

2.1x

0.4x

6.4%

46.5%

35.00

0.0%

1.5%

-2.8%

-2.8%

15.1%

2.1%

7.9x

1.2x

11.7%

12.7%

48.00

0.0%

1.4%

-4.0%

-4.0%

7.6%

2.7%

30.1x

2.2x

3.3%

3.3%

945.80

10.0%

2.2%

45.5%

45.5%

3.4%

1.9%

21.7x

0.8x

4.4%

11.45

-4.2%

1.7%

31.6%

31.6%

2.6x

5.65

-1.7%

1.2%

14.1%

14.1%

-10.3%

-3.9%

135.00

0.0%

1.0%

-4.9%

-4.9%

36.5%

23.3%

9.2x

3.0x

32.00

0.0%

1.0%

12.9%

12.9%

15.9%

4.5%

4.9x

0.7x

1.1x

-10.1% 10.9% 5.1%

3.00

0.0%

0.7%

17.6%

17.6%

13.3%

1.3%

2.3x

0.3x

7.3%

43.8%

-1.7%

0.5%

1.7%

1.7%

9.3%

3.0%

7.3x

0.7x

9.3%

13.8%

16.90

-0.6%

0.5%

-2.9%

-2.9%

15.3%

6.3%

11.1x

1.7x

8.9%

9.0%

3.20

3.2%

0.5%

7.0%

7.0%

10.3%

1.1%

0.3x

4.7%

3.0x

10.9%

13.60

-1.8%

0.5%

37.4%

37.4%

68.00

0.0%

0.6%

74.4%

74.4%

13.3%

6.0%

14.3x

1.8x

0.7%

7.0%

1.13

-8.1%

0.4%

17.7%

17.7%

11.1%

2.3%

6.0x

0.6x

0.9%

16.7%

3.82

0.5%

0.2%

-15.1%

-15.1%

35.6%

18.5%

6.0x

1.0x

4.7%

16.8%

104.00

0.0%

0.3%

18.5%

18.5%

2.2x

1.0% 2.9%

7.4%

14.40

0.0%

0.3%

9.1%

9.1%

21.3%

6.9%

13.5x

2.7x

0.69

-1.4%

0.2%

-1.4%

-1.4%

7.2%

1.1%

383.3x

0.7x

30 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance

264.90

0.0%

0.3%

19.4%

19.4%

48.0%

9.5%

5.4x

2.2x

1.5%

18.6%

0.3%

7.20

0.0%

0.2%

-8.9%

-8.9%

19.5%

5.5%

4.2x

0.8x

7.6%

23.6%

32 Vitafoam Nigeria PLC 33 Unilever Nigeria PLC

22.30

0.0%

0.2%

-0.9%

-0.9%

38.7%

16.0%

5.7x

2.0x

6.7%

17.5%

14.20

1.1%

0.2%

-2.1%

-2.1%

7.8%

4.9%

31.5x

1.2x

34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

26.50

0.0%

0.2%

18.6%

18.6%

18.9%

2.4%

4.0x

0.8x

1.5%

25.0%

4.0%

36 Oando PLC 37 Wema Bank PLC 38 Sterling Bank PLC 39 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

6.30

0.0%

0.1%

6.8%

6.8%

7.1%

0.8%

7.1x

0.7x

4.85

1.5%

0.0%

9.7%

9.7%

14.5%

2.6%

2.1x

0.3x

0.95

-1.0%

0.1%

31.9%

31.9%

14.1%

0.8%

4.1x

0.6x

4.2%

24.2%

-3.0%

0.1%

5.3%

5.3%

9.4%

0.9%

2.1x

0.3x

3.1%

48.1%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-28.3%

-6.1%

5.38

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2.4x

-13.8%

0.9x

13.0%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

10.0%

FCM B

57.6

3.2%

1.50

9.5%

T R A N SC OR P

45.2

-8.1%

C OUR T VILLE

0.60

9.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

23.1

-0.4%

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ KƵƚůŽŽŬ

VER IT A SKA P

0.23

4.5%

M TNN

22.3

1.0%

FCM B

3.20

3.2%

N IGER IN S

19.7

0.0%

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ

F T N C OC OA

0.37

2.8%

UB A

17.0

-1.2%

R EGA LIN S

0.43

2.4%

SOVR EN IN S

16.3

-4.2%

OA N D O

4.85

1.5%

R EGA LIN S

14.2

2.4%

UN ILEVER

14.20

1.1%

UC A P

11.9

-1.8%

N GXGR OUP

25.30

1.0%

J A P A ULGOLD

11.5

-7.7%

;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ Ăƚ ϭ͘ϲdž ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͕ ϯϯ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϲϲ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ tĞ ĞdžͲ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϭϱ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ͘ DZ^ ;нϵ͘ϵйͿ͕ D zͲ

ǁŚŝůĞ dZ E^ ;Ͳϴ͘ϯйͿ͕ > ^ K ;Ͳϲ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ >/s Ͳ ŵĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůƐ ŝŶ ƚŽĚĂLJΖƐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͘ ^dK < ;Ͳϰ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ĚĂLJ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ ŐƌĂĚƵĂůůLJ ǁŝŶĚƐ ƵƉ͘

T ic k er C UT IX

P ric e 2.43

P ric e C hg % -10.0%

LEA R N A F R C A

2.35

-10.0%

C A VER T ON

1.40

-9.7%

R T B R ISC OE

0.77

-9.4%

T R A N SC OR P

1.13

-8.1%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.36

-7.7%

LIN KA SSUR E

0.51

-7.3%

SUN UA SSUR

0.39

-7.1%

A F R IP R UD

6.50

-7.1%

C H IP LC

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

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

ƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ůĂƚĞƐƚ ĂŶĚ ƐůĞǁ ŽĨ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ < Z ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ ,KEz&>KhZ ůĞĚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌͲ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ

0.56

Brokerage

-5.1%

T ic k er

Value

M TNN

4557.4

1.0%

624.7

-0.4% 0.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

P ric e C hg %

P R ESC O

427.3

D A N GC EM

385.8

0.0%

GT C O

208.8

0.2%

WA P C O

208.1

-3.5%

FCM B

183.9

3.2%

UC A P

161.7

-1.8%

UB A

146.3

-1.2%

A C C ESS

101.9

0.5%

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

14.1% 47.9%

1.59

T o p 10 G a in e r s T ic k er

3.2%

945.80

ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ͕ ĚĂŵƉĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ͲϬ͘ϯdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϭdž ĂƐ ϭϱ

20.4%

2.36

R OYA LEX

4.6% 38.0%

28 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 29 AIICO Insurance PLC

SEP LA T

ĂŶĚ K E K ;нϭ͘ϱйͿ͘

16.7%

4.4%

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ϱ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϱй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ Ğƌ͕ ƵƉ ϭ͘ϴй ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂͲ ƚŽŽŬ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ŝŶ DdEE ;нϭ͘ϬйͿ͕ ^ W> d ;нϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕

31.9%

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

P/BV

0.0%

26 NEM Insurance PLC 27 Presco PLC

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ

10.1% 104.3% 37.9%

P/E

-0.4%

17 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 18 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ dZ E^ KZW ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ & E, ;ϭϭ͘ϭŵ

0.0%

ROA

27.00

11 United Bank for Africa PLC 12 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

0.00%

ROE

273.50

8 FBN Holdings Plc 9 Lafarge Africa PLC 10 Access Bank PLC

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǀĂůƵĞ

ϵ͘ϭйͿ͕

1,260.00

3 BUA Cement Plc 4 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC

13 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 14 SEPLAT Energy PLC

ƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ ϯϳϬ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϳ͘ϵďŶ͘

2042.71

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

Price Previous Price Change Current Price Change Index to Weighting Change YTD Date

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu| dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

57

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS 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

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 28Feb-2022, unless otherwise stated.

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 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 8.58% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.67 3.84 5.15% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com info@anchoriaam.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 21.12 21.76 4.12% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 476.53 490.90 5.62% ARM Ethical Fund 39.96 41.17 2.58% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.06 1.07 -1.67% ARM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.11% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 108.75 108.75 6.92% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,081.01 1,081.01 8.10% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.08 2.08 9.43% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.27 2.32 26.96% CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.43% Paramount Equity Fund 18.66 18.99 10.87% Women's Investment Fund 146.96 148.54 5.65% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.96% Cordros Milestone Fund 140.05 140.98 5.98% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 111.29 111.29 0.72% CORONATION ASSETS 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 EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.72% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.02 1.02 5.33% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.04 1.04 14.36% Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 101.44 101.44 3.39% FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED 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 1,419.28 1,419.28 10.88% FBN Balanced Fund 183.14 184.51 4.50% FBN Halal Fund 117.30 117.30 8.87% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.50% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Legacy Money Market Fund Legacy Debt Fund Legacy Equity Fund Legacy USD Bond Fund FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund FSDH Dollar Fund

122.85 155.40

122.85 3.90% 157.39 3.08% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com

Bid Price N/A N/A N/A N/A

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 4,015.75 3,503.55 100.00

Offer Price 4,076.90 3,503.55 100.00

1.09

1.09

Yield / T-Rtn 3.17% 1.01% 6.48%

3.41%

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 6.17% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.92 2.99 2.38% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 142.68 142.73 -8.31% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.28 1.33 1.87% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 4.12% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.57 1.59 3.94% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,159.52 1,159.52 1.98% 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 12.51 12.59 6.08% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 8.61% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 101.41 101.41 9.05% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 8.52% 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 1.63 1.66 1.46% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.61 11.60 3.74% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 7.17% PACAM Equity Fund 1.52 1.53 4.98% PACAM EuroBond Fund 114.38 116.84 -0.72% 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 131.30 133.48 8.35% 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 1.08 1.08 10.03% 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 Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 0.98 1.00 5.14% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.41 1.44 3.91% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.14 1.16 4.97% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.09 1.09 1.22% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.98 1.98 1.13% United Capital Eurobond Fund 123.39 123.39 0.86% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.39% 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 Balanced Strategy Fund 13.42 13.55 1.80% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 15.28 15.45 4.57% Zenith Income Fund 22.30 22.30 1.39% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.31%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 54.65

10.62% 8.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

14.13 136.05 107.11 20.01 23.06

14.23 139.46 109.47 20.11 23.16

1.19% 3.37% 3.37% 0.00% 0.00%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.49 5.83 18.66 1.00 21.25 166.62

4.59 5.93 18.86 1.00 21.45 168.62

19.04% 14.40% 8.57% 0.00% 9.54% 5.57%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.28

10.80%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

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FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

Heavy Shelling in Kharkiv on 6th Day of Russian Invasion Ukraine’s second-largest city faced increased Russian shelling Tuesday, while a column of Russian forces stretched out along a road north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on the sixth day of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry shared a video of one strike at the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building in the centre of the city that left a huge ball of fire and smoke as several cars were passing through.

“The strike against Kharkiv is a war crime,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video statement. “This is state terrorism on the part of Russia.”

An emergency services official said the strike killed at least six people and injured 20 others.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday that Russian shelling of civilian infrastructure that took place Monday in Kharkiv “violates the laws of war.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed allegations of war crimes and told reporters that “Russian troops don’t conduct any strikes against civilian infrastructure and residential areas.”

Ukraine also reported Tuesday that troops from Russian ally Belarus had entered Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.

In Poland, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO would hold both Russia and Belarus accountable for what is happening in Ukraine.

“President Putin has shattered peace in Europe. Allies condemn the unjust and brutal invasion of Ukraine. The Russian assault is totally unacceptable, and it is enabled by Belarus.”

Australia to Buy Missiles, Ammunition for Ukraine Australia says it plans to spend $50 million to buy missiles and ammunition to support Ukraine.

As the conflict in Ukraine intensifies, the Australian government has shifted its stance on sending military hardware to Ukrainian forces.

Last week, Canberra said it would provide only technical assistance. That has changed. Now, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country would buy military equipment and weapons for Ukraine as part of a coordinated effort with other western nations to help its armed forces resist Russia’s invasion. It is unclear how quickly the armaments would be delivered.

Morrison made the announcement at a media briefing on Tuesday.

“We are talking missiles, ammunition, we are talking supporting them in their defence of their own homeland in Ukraine and will be doing that in partnership with NATO,” said Morrison. “I’m not going to go into the specifics of that because I don’t plan to give the Russian government a heads up about what is coming their way, but I can assure them it is coming your way.”

Australia is also contributing $25 million toward humanitarian support for international organizations that are helping Ukrainians in an evacuation effort as they leave their country escaping the conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of people have left to seek asylum and refuge in neighbouring regions.

Morrison has ruled out sending Australian troops to fight in the war.

He has also urged Australian citizens to not travel and join Ukraine’s militia in the ongoing fighting against the Russian military. Morrison said the legal position of foreign combatants in the conflict was unclear.

Legal experts say Australian laws prohibit citizens from joining in other countries’ conflicts unless they are members of an official foreign army.

Morrison said Russia has “self-selected themselves as a pariah state” following its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Google, Twitter, Facebook Battle Russian Media, Propaganda As Russia’s war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are moving to restrict Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda

have been urged to get to higher ground.

New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet is urging residents to heed official advice.

and misinformation.

Google announced Tuesday that it’s blocking the YouTube channels of those outlets in Europe “effective immediately” but acknowledged “it’ll take time for our systems to fully ramp up.”

Other US-owned tech companies have offered more modest changes so far: limiting the Kremlin’s reach, labelling more of this content so that people know it originated with the Russian government, and cutting Russian state organs off from whatever ad revenue they were previously making.

The changes are a careful balancing act intended to slow the Kremlin from pumping propaganda into social media feeds without angering Russian officials to the point that they yank their citizens’ access to platforms during a crucial time of war, said Katie Harbath, a former public policy director for Facebook.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced Monday that it would restrict access to Russia’s RT and Sputnik services in Europe, following a statement by European Union President Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend that officials are working to bar the sites throughout the EU. Google followed Tuesday with a European ban of those two outlets on YouTube.

Ex-US Defence Officials in Taiwan to Signal Washington’s Support A delegation of former US defense officials is in Taiwan to meet with senior leaders and signal support for the self-governing island, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights threats to democracies around the world.

The group includes former US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen; former Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Meghan O’Sullivan; former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy; and former National Security Council senior directors for Asia Mike Green and Evan Medeiros.

The group collectively served under former US Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

“The selection of these five individuals sends an important signal about the bipartisan US commitment to Taiwan and its democracy and demonstrates that the Biden administration’s and the United States’ commitment to Taiwan remains rock solid,” a senior Biden administration official in Washington told VOA on background.

The trip coincides with a separate visit by former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who will arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday to speak at the government-affiliated Prospect Foundation. He will also meet with Vice

President Lai Ching-te and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. Michael Mazza, a non-resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, speculated that Mullen may have come with a message for Taiwan’s senior leadership and would return with a response for White House officials.

While Mullen is a former official, Mazza said someone of his stature carries more diplomatic weight than a normal diplomatic message.

“The selection of Admiral Mullen to lead this delegation may serve multiple purposes.

He is, first, well-poised to deliver important messages regarding defence and, second and related, to assess any defence-related issues or concerns that Taiwan’s leaders may raise,” Mazza told VOA by email.

Record-breaking Floods Kill Several Australians At least eight people have died, and others are missing as wild storms continue to batter parts of eastern Australia. In the state of New South Wales, residents have sought refuge from rising floodwaters on their roofs. Officials in the city of Ballina, north of Sydney, say they are bracing for a “life-threatening” one-in-500-year flood.

Janelle Saffin, a lawmaker in the New South Wales state parliament, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about her escape from a house swamped by record-breaking floods in Lismore, 725 kilometres north of Sydney.

In darkness, Saffin and two friends were forced to swim to safety.

“We went out to the veranda, hanging, sort of, on the rafters. There were three of us, and at some point, it was swim or we go under. We were scared. We were, of course.

When you are standing in a house and the water is rushing up, and you know no one is coming.”

Other residents have been forced to seek refuge on their roofs. Volunteers in boats answered their screams for help and have reportedly rescued dozens of people. The mayor of Lismore said the situation was “catastrophic.” A woman has told how rapidly rising floodwaters forced her to pass her children out of a bedroom window to her partner.

Officials in the nearby city of Ballina, north of Sydney, have said they were bracing for a “life-threatening” one-in-500-year flood as wild storms continued to batter parts of eastern Australia.

An evacuation order was issued, but emergency officials said for residents in parts of Ballina, it was too late to leave. They

Hong Kong Residents Brace for Citywide Lockdown Hong Kong residents braced for a citywide lockdown, emptying supermarkets and pharmacies on Tuesday, even as leader Carrie Lam called for calm and appealed for the public not to worry over a compulsory mass COVID-19 testing plan.

Mass testing for the city’s 7.4 million residents is set to take place over nine days starting in the second half of March, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing an unidentified source.

The news sparked concerns many people would be forced to isolate themselves, and families with members testing positive would be separated.

Officials are planning to test people three times over nine days, with the government still deliberating whether a lockdown would be done on a district basis or citywide, the SCMP said.

Exemptions would be made for those who buy food, seek medical treatment and maintain societal operations. Hong Kong’s stock market would continue to operate, Sing Tao newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.

Lam had previously said she was not considering a citywide lockdown.

On Tuesday, she appealed to the public “not to fall prey to rumours to avoid unnecessary fears being stirred,” saying the supply of food and goods remained normal.

“There is no need for members of the public to worry. They should stay vigilant and pay attention to the information disseminated by the government so as to avoid being misled by rumours,” Lam said in a statement.

Despite her comments, dozens of people queued to enter pharmacies and banks across the city, while many scoured empty shelves in grocery stores to stock up on whatever essentials they could.

The Chinese ruled city has seen coronavirus infections surge some 34 times to over 34,000 on Monday from just over 100 at the start of February. Deaths are also climbing, with facilities for storing dead bodies at hospitals and public mortuaries at maximum capacity.

India Rushes to Evacuate Thousands of Stranded Students from Ukraine As Indian students stranded in Ukrainian cities or at its borders issued desperate appeals to be evacuated, the Indian government said it is advancing efforts to rescue them. The government is sending senior ministers to neighbouring countries and increasing evacuation flights to help Indians and other citizens in developing countries.

The foreign ministry said Tuesday that four ministers are going to Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland to oversee the evacuation of students trying to make their way to the borders of these countries from Ukrainian towns.

According to official estimates, about 18,000 Indian students are studying mostly in medical colleges in Ukraine, according to official estimates. They make up about a quarter of foreign students in the war-torn country.

As tensions began to rise in the former Soviet republic, India mounted an evacuation plan, and in recent days it has brought back hundreds of students in special flights. But thousands remain stranded as fighting in the country intensifies.

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WEDNESDAY, ͺ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

ISRAEL AMBASSADOR'S VISIT...

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr. Edet Akpan; Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, and Israel Ambassador to PHOTO: ENOCK REUBEN Nigeria, Mr. Michael Freeman, during a courtesy visit by the Ambassador to the Minister in Abuja... yesterday

FG: Nigeria Ranks Low in Implementation of World Bank, Other Donor-funded Projects

Blames political interference, red-tape, others Nearly 2.4bn women globally lack same economic rights as men, global bank reveals Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government yesterday declared that compared to other nations of the World, Nigeria ranks low in terms of the level of implementation of World Bank-and other donor-funded projects.

This is just as the World Bank in a report released yesterday revealed that about 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity and 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent their full economic participation.

According to the federal government, an in-depth review of the level of implementation of the entire development projects revealed that delays in the execution of donor-funded projects stemmed from factors including bureaucratic bottlenecks, capacity challenges, political interference and chal-

lenges associated with obtaining varied and misaligned approval processes between local authorities and development partners.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab, who made the disclosure in Lagos, stated that notwithstanding efforts and resources committed in procuring development financing for critical sectors of the economy to boost human capital development, improve infrastructure and service delivery as well as strengthen governance and institutions, Nigeria appeared not to have made the desired progress in this direction.

She observed that one of the critical sources of funds for the execution of key projects in Nigeria was through donor-financing, especially from multilateral bodies such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

In a keynote address she pre-

sented at a retreat for members of the National Assembly on the, "process optimisation of donorfinanced projects in Nigeria," Ahmed said her ministry organised the retreated based on the desire and strong conviction as a ministry saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s financial inflows and outflows, to deliver planned projects for sustained growth and national development.

She said it was noteworthy that one of the critical sources of funds for the execution of key projects in Nigeria was through donor-financing, especially, from multilateral bodies such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

However, the minister regretted that notwithstanding the efforts and resources committed in procuring development financing for critical sectors of the economy to boost hu-

man capital development, improve infrastructure and service delivery as well as strengthen governance and institutions, the country appears not to have made the desired progress in this direction.

She pointed out that much still remained to be streamlined, noting that it was important to mention that when borrowed funds fail to be properly utilised, and to deliver on planned development objectives, growth is impaired and economic development distorted.

She explained that an in-depth review of the level of implementation of the entire development projects showed that delays in execution of donor-funded projects stemmed from factors such as red tape, capacity challenges, political interference and challenges associated with obtaining varied and misaligned approval processes between local authorities and

CSOs Query NIMC, NCC for Granting Security Agents Access to Database Emma Okonji Two civil society organisations (CSOs), the Paradigm Initiative (PIN) and Ikigai Innovation Initiative (Ikigai Nation), have sent a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC).

In the FoI request, the CSOs queried the NCC and the NIMC over the approval granted to security agents in Nigeria to have unfettered access to information of Nigerians, stored in a national database that is being managed by the NIMC. The letter was dated February 11, 2022.

The NCC and NIMC have statutory mandates to maintain the national identity and sim card database respectively.

Although both organisations acknowledged receipt of the request on February 15, 2022, they however disclosed that they were yet to respond to the questions asked PIN and Ikigai nation are demanding answers from the two government agencies on the basis

of the statement credited to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, that it was in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval granting some law enforcement agencies access to databases domiciled with the NIMC and NCC. While speaking on the development, Program Manager at Ikigai Nation, Oyindamola Banjoko, said: “It is my organisation’s considered opinion that a presidential approval for unfettered access to these data is not founded under existing law. Although the government advances the argument of combating insecurity as a legitimate aim, the existing legal framework for surveillance in Nigeria lacks sufficient safeguards.”

On the other hand, the Senior Program Manager at Paradigm Initiative, Adeboye Adegoke, said: "The authorisation of the access granted to security agencies is questionable because it violates the provisions of various human rights laws, by giving law enforcement agencies excessive discretion and failing to provide checks and balances to prevent

governmental excesses.”

According to Adegoke, the organisations demanded to know what legal provisions were relied on to give such access to security agencies, and what human rights safeguards exist to monitor the access to databases by law enforcement agents.”

They are also asking about the independent oversight mechanisms that exist to check accountability and transparency of the activities of law enforcement agents, as well as the legal and institutional

safeguards in place to ensure accountability on the part of the security agencies who have been given access.

According to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, a public institution is obliged to respond to such a request within seven days of receiving it. On next steps for the organisations, Banjoko hinted that the organisation may be compelled to explore judicial options to compel the two agencies to provide the information they sought.

development partners.

Accordingly, Ahmed pointed out that Nigeria ranks low compared to other nations of the world in terms of the level of implementation of World Bank-funded projects.

She stated: "It is public knowledge that there have been increased public agitations against rising foreign debts levels.

"This has put immense pressure on government to ensure prudent management of resources, and improve transparency and accountability in the utilisation of funds from donor agencies for maximum positive impact on the economy."

The minister said it was against this backdrop that she constituted a Taskforce on Disbursement in Donor-Funded Projects in Nigeria.

According to her, the term of reference (ToR) of the task force was to evaluate, review and chart a fresh course to significantly increase disbursement levels in donor-financed projects in the country.

She stressed that the task force was to also work with relevant stakeholders to facilitate various approval processes for donor-assisted projects before final approval from the National Assembly.

Ahmed added that the retreat organised by her ministry for the chairmen and members of the two relevant committees of the National Assembly was in furtherance of efforts towards unraveling the challenges associated with the implementation of donor-financed projects with a view to evolving ways to improve execution levels for national growth and development.

W'Bank: Nearly 2.4bn Women Globally Lack Same Economic Rights as Men

According to the just-released World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law (WBL) 2022 report, women in 186 countries face some form of job restriction and 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for equal work, the report stated.

The Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa regions showed the largest improvements in the WBL Index in 2021, though they continue to lag behind other parts of the world overall.

Gabon stood out with comprehensive reforms to its civil code and the enactment of a law on the elimination of violence against women as its score rose from 57.5 in 2020 to 82.5 in 2021.

The report noted that while Nigeria has made some progress in socio-economic terms in recent years, human capital development remained weak due to under-investment, and important challenges in terms of oil dependency, governance issues, weak infrastructure, and gender equality.

"Women in Nigeria face gaps in economic empowerment and challenges to the exercise of voice and agency. When women are given same opportunities as men, they enter and remain in the labour force, strengthening economies and enabling development.

"Gender equality is also associated with better development outcomes, such as lower rates of vulnerable employment and extreme poverty among female workers," the report stated.

Nigeria was scored 63.1 out of 100 on the Women, Business and the Law index, indicating that although progress had been made, there was more work to be done.

UTME: About 250,000 Candidates Registered in 8 Days Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that there was huge improvement in the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) registrations as 236,206 candidates registered in the last eight days.

The statistics of the 2021 UTME/ DE in the first eight days of its registration exercise in 2021,

compared with the first eight days of 2022 (19th February to 26th February 2022) showed that, “102, 221 registered in 2021 while 236, 206 candidates registered in 2022.”

In its weekly bulletin, the Board’s head of media and public relations, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, was quoted to have said, “The partnership between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Identity Management

Commission (NIMC) is yielding desired results as the process which, by all indications, was deemed impracticable in 2019 and had to be shelved, was re-introduced.

“In 2020 with little hitches, but has become seamless in all ramifications in 2021 and now improved in 2022.”

JAMB said it has provided below copious statistics detailing the first 10 days of the 2021 UTME/DE Registration.

Also JAMB revealed that the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) mock examination would now hold on April 9, and not April 16 as earlier scheduled.

The examination body explained that the change in date was due to the realisation that April 16, earlier scheduled, was Easter Saturday; a holy Saturday, celebrated by Christians to mark the end of the Lent period before Easter Sunday.

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SIXTY-FOUR CONSTITUTION REVIEW: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OKAYS AUTONOMY FOR LGS, STATE LEGISLATURE, JUDICIARY the Exclusive to Concurrent list.

Also, the federal lawmakers at the end of the exercise, approved financial autonomy for state legislatures, judiciary and local governments (LGs) in the country.

The eight National Assembly had during the amendment carried out on the 1999 Constitution, passed similar bills to empower the LGs, state legislature and the judiciary, but could not scale through when they were transmitted to the state assemblies for concurrence.

Probably disturbed by the development, President Muhammadu Buhari had on Friday, May 23, 2020, signed into law an Executive Order to grant financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the country. The order also mandated the AccountantGeneral of the federation to deduct from source amount due to state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state for states that refuse to grant such autonomy.

The Executive Order No. 10 of 2020, made it mandatory that all states of the federation should include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.

The Attorney-General for the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami had said a Presidential Implementation Committee had been constituted to fashion out strategies and modalities for the implementation of financial autonomy for the State Legislature and State Judiciary in compliance with section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended).

He had also said consideration was given to all other applicable laws, instruments, conventions and regulations that provided for financial autonomy at the states.

However, in a split decision of six Justices to one, the Supreme Court, had on February 12, 2022, nullified Executive Order 10 initiated by Buhari to grant financial autonomy to the State Judiciary and legislature.

The apex court had held that Executive Order 10 was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and of no effect However, civil society organisations led by the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, who monitored proceedings at the National Assembly yesterday, expressed mixed feelings over the development

Rafsanjani said, "We in the CSOs are really not excited over the issue.

We believe that the governors would once again influence the state legislature to reject the bills despite the fact that it would be in their favour."

Meanwhile, the lawmakers during the session witnessed by the wife of the President, Hajia Aishat Buhari and the wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo, rejected bills to empower women in politics.

They equally turned down attempt to empower presiding officers of the legislature to enjoy life pension.

The federal lawmakers equally rejected bills to provide for the removal of presiding officers of the legislature; and to change the name of Barikin Ladi Local Government Area in Plateau State to “Gwol” Local Government Area.

Both Senate and House of Representatives Special Ad Hoc Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, last week laid its report and recommended 68 amendments.

The recommendations were based on private members, executive bills and memoranda received from the public during its zonal public hearings. Out of the 360 members in the House, as at commencement of voting, 290 members were present in the chambers.

While one voted against, 286 voted in support of the bill to alter the provisions of the constitution to abrogate the state joint local government account and provide for a special account into which shall be paid all Allocations due to LGs from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State, surpassing 240, the two third majority needed for the passage.

Also, 258 members voted in support of the Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the to establish LG as a tier of Government and Guarantee their Democratic Existence and Tenure.

For the Financial Independence of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary, 296 members voted in favour of the proposal.

The lawmakers also voted in favour of establishing the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and of the State to separate it from the office of the Minister of Justice or Commissioner for Justice for State in order to make the offices of the Attorney General independent and insulated from partisanship. While 259 voted in support, 44 voted against.

Furthermore, 269 lawmakers

BUHARI SEEKS FRESH AMENDMENT TO ELECTORAL ACT, WANTS CLAUSE 84 EXPUNGED legislative action thereon.

“I have carefully studied the content of the recently assented Electoral Act (Amendment), 2022; I must admit that there are positive provisions that could revolutionise election process in Nigeria, particularly, through the introduction of new technological innovations that will in turn guarantee the constitutional rights of citizens to vote and to do so effectively.

“The recently assented Electoral Act has improved and engendered clarity, effectiveness and transparency of the election process, as well as reduced to the barest minimum incidences of acrimony arising from dissatisfied candidates and political parties.

“I, therefore, commend the legislative wisdom of the National Assembly, which is in line with our policy to bequeath Nigerians and posterity a landmark legal framework that paves the way for credible electoral process that we would all be proud of.

“Distinguished Senate President, I, however, will want to kindly draw your attention to the provisions of Section 84(12) of the Act, which I believe, constitutes a fundamental defect, as it is in direct conflict with extant constitutional provisions.

“Section 84 (12) of the Act constitutes a disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any election in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the Election. Section 84(12) of the Act provides as follows: ‘No political appointee at any level

shall be voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

The letter added: “This provision has introduced qualification and disqualification criteria that is ultra vires the constitution by way of importing blanket restriction and disqualification to serving political office holders of which they are constitutionally accorded protection.

“The practical application of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, (Amendment) 2022 is to subject serving political office holders to inhibitions and restrictions referred to under Sections 40 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“It is imperative to note that the only constitutional expectation placed on serving political office holders that qualify, by extension as public officers within the context of the Constitution is resignation, withdrawal, or retirement at least 30 days before the date of the election, as provided in Section 66(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), among others “Hence, it will be stretching matters beyond the constitutional limit to import extraneous restrictions into the constitution on account of practical application of Section 84(12) of the Act where political parties’ conventions and congresses were to hold earlier than 30 days to the election.

“Arising from the foregoing, I request the National Assembly to consider immediate amendments that will bring the Act in conformity with the constitution by way of deleting Section 84(12) accordingly.”

voted in support of independent candidacy in presidential, governorship, National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and local government council elections.

They also approved a bill to provide for the Office of Mayor for the Federal Capital Territory Administration Abuja. 245 lawmakers voted in support while 53 voted against.

In a similar vein, majority of members approved the Bills for Acts to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution to Change the names of Afikpo North and Afikpo South Local Government Areas; Kunchi Local Government Area; Egbado North and Egbado South Local Government Areas; Barikin Ladi Local Government Area; Atigbo Local government Area; Obia/ Akpor Local Government Area; and for Related Matters.

Other proposals the lawmakers voted in support of included, "a bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Move Airports from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, a Bill to Establish State Security Council; and for Related Matters, to Empower the National Assembly and State House of Assembly Powers to Summon the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Governors of States to answer Questions on issues on which the National and State Assembly have the Power to make Law, a Bill to reduce the period within which the President or the Governor of a State may authorize the withdrawal of Monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of an Appropriation Act from six

months to three months.

"To provide for the State of the Nation and State Address by the President and Governor; and for Related Matters. To include former Heads of the National Assembly in the council of state; and for Related Matters. To provide for the Termination of Tenure of certain Elected officials on Account of change of political party; and for Related Matters. To enhance existing provisions on the formation of political parties."

Rejected Bills

On the other hand, the National Assembly turned down the Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide Pension for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly. While 102 lawmakers voted in support, 103 voted against the recommendation which would have made the current Senate President, Lawan and Speaker, Gbajabiamila and their Deputies beneficiaries.

They also rejected the Bill for an Act to Alter Part I of the Second Schedule to the Constitution to include Value Added Tax (VAT) on the Exclusive Legislative list.

VAT issue has been in contention between the federal and state governments over who should be collecting it and how it should be shared. In all, 209 members voted against it, while only 91 voted in support, thereby taking it out of the purview of only the federal government.

The lawmakers, sadly killed three bills seeking more inclusion of women in elective positions. The bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions

of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Special Seat for Women in the National and State Houses of Assembly, had 208 members voting against the amendment with only 81 supporting.

Similarly, the second bill seeking for Affirmative Action for Women in Political Party Administration was equally rejected by majority of the lawmakers despite appeals by the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

During consideration of the bill, PDP lawmakers Bamidele Salam from Osun state and Dachung Bagos from Plateau state, suggested that the 35 per cent affirmative action should be reduced to 15 per cent.

While 195 lawmakers agreed with Salam's amendment, 107 voted against it. Gbajabiamila called for repetition of the process appealing to his colleagues to support the bill, saying women are the ones that come out en masse to vote during elections. However, his appeals were not heeded to and he thereafter vowed to expose those who voted against women bills.

He said, "Following existing statistics it is women that come out en masse to vote. It is the same women who come out in mass to vote for us. You are now here voting against their interest? I am going to publish those who voted against this particular bill."

The third bill seeking to provide for a Minimum Percentage for Women in Ministerial or Commissioner Nominees was also rejected by the Lawmakers, despite pleas from Gbajabiamila, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu and Chairman Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson

for them to support the Bill.

The Speaker, however amended that 20 per cent should be given to Women for ministerial, commissioner nominees regardless of Nays scream from the lawmakers.

The House further voted against itself on a bill to provide the procedure for overriding executive veto in respect of money bills. While 284 voted for, 10 voted against.

288 votes that is 4/5 was required to pass the Bill.

The lawmakers also rejected bill to provide for Diaspora Voting. 240 lawmakers voted against while 59 voted in support.

The bill to expand immunity to the legislative and Judicial Arms of Government was equally rejected.

Earlier, majority of the lawmakers kicked against move to usher in Dolapo Osinbajo to witness voting on the bills up for consideration in the Constitution Amendment.

Gbajabiamila who presided over the session had called on the House Leader, Hon. Ado Doguwa to suspend relevant rules of the House and moved that the VP's wife should be ushered in to witness the proceedings.

This generated screams of Nays from lawmakers across party lines.

However, the Speaker cautioned his colleagues particularly the PDP lawmakers for kicking against it.

Gbajabiamila said, "Hon. Chinda and co, the fact that I referred you guys as smaller parties doesn't mean you should scream no."

He, thereafter put the decision to usher in the Vice President's Wife to voice vote, despite the Nays having it, he gave it to the Ayes and the directed the House Leader, to usher in the Vice President's wife.

PRESIDENT INSISTS ADAMU IS PREFERRED CANDIDATE FOR APC CHAIR in the party held by members from the North-west would now go to those from the South-east; all positions that were held by those in the North-east would go to those in the South-west; and all positions previously held by those from the North-central would automatically go to those from the South-south. Therefore, the position of party secretary and chairman were dealt with.

It was agreed that Adamu would be National Chairman.

The president’s only preference was Adamu as National Chairman, and for the rest positions, he asked the stakeholders to go and decide.

Some of the APC governors at the meeting wanted the March 26 date proposed for the party’s national convention to remain as planned, but some aspirants for the party positions wrote to the president to halt plans for the convention.

Although it would have been Buni's preferred plan to hold the convention and presidential primary same time, that is no longer feasible given INEC's timetable and time constraint.

At the meeting attended by 11 of the 22 APC governors at the president's office, Buhari was said to have turned down the governors’ request for him to have a rethink on his support for Adamu as national chairman of the party.

The president, who met with the governors shortly before departing for Nairobi, Kenya, to attend a four-day international summit, said no to the attempt by the governors to get him to change his mind on the former Nasarawa State governor. He was said to have bluntly refused to shift ground, when the governors advanced their reasons against the ranking senator emerge as national chairman.

The governors were said to have expressed their desire to allow all those that have signified interest in the national chairmanship of the party to run, which the president rejected.

The engagement provided an avenue for South-east APC governors to complain about the zoning of the office of the national secretary to South-west rather than their region.

Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, who led the team to the meeting with Buhari, was said to

have told them that it was too late to amend the zoning formula.

In spite of the position of the chairman of PGF, the South-east governors resolved to take their agitation for the party scribe to a meeting of the APC governors that was scheduled to hold next Tuesday at Kebbi State Governor's Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.

The Tuesday evening's meeting, expected to be attended by the 22 APC governors, will take another look at the totality of the forthcoming national convention with regard to the zoning arrangement for the offices.

Apart from Bagudu, other APC governors at the meeting were Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Aminu Masari (Katsina), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Hope Uzodinma (Imo), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Sani Bello (Niger), Umar Ganduje (Kano), and outing deputy governor of Anambra State, Nkem Okeke.

Buni absent at meeting

At the end of the meeting with Buhari, the governors affirmed that there was no plan to move the national convention from the scheduled date of March 26, in Abuja. This was despite the tight timeframe provided by the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released for next year's general election.

There had been speculations that a section of the party was pushing for the postponement of the national convention so that both the election of the national executives and the primaries to select its candidates for the 2023 elections could be done simultaneously.

Speaking with newsmen after the meeting with the president, Bagudu assured that the party would maintain the March 26 date for the exercise. He said the governors met with the president to congratulate him for signing the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and also on the victory of APC in some of the by-elections conducted over the weekend.

On whether the idea of further postponement of the convention was discussed at the meeting, Bagudu stated, "Last week, we were in this hall (villa), about 20 APC governors, and this question came up and we clearly said we came to discuss the national convention, which is slated for

March 26, and are working hard to ensure that on March 26, we have our convention and elect our national officers and that remains the case."

He dismissed speculation that the APC state chief executives were still divided over the direction of the party especially, after what seemed to be an altercation among them as they emerged from the meeting with the president.

Bagudu stated, "There's no altercation, I'm not aware of any. Mallam Nasiru (Kaduna State governor), again last week, answered that. Look, if by altercation people are talking about differences of opinion before a decision is arrived at, then, maybe, that is what people can… but as a body, the 22 governors of APC are united behind the party and behind Mr. President."

On the essence of the meeting on Tuesday, Bagudu explained, "Today, Tuesday, 1st of March, a number of APC governors came to Mr. President to, among others, congratulate him on signing the Electoral Act. "This is something many Nigerians have expressed different views about, but Mr. President had once again taken the courageous step of, even while having observations, he signed and requested the National Assembly to look at it. So, we congratulate the National Assembly for passage of the amendments and equally congratulate Mr. President for signing the amendment.

"Secondly, our party, the All Progressives Congress, participated in a number of by-elections over the last weekend and equally, we congratulated Mr. President and in addition, we spoke about other issues that concern our party."

Bagudu dismissed insinuations that governors were still not comfortable with certain provisions of the Act, saying, "I've always had cause to address this. There was no time; legislation, everywhere in the world, is based on continuous improvement. Constitutions that are 200 years old are subject to reviews sometimes and those reviews are not cut and dry.

Even people, who truly believe in the need for legislation may have worries about the implications of it.

"Like I said, we're never against the principle of amending laws.

They (governors) are never against the National Assembly, but even among the National Assembly, there's debate. To imagine that

there is some legislation that is punitive to the governors or to the National Assembly, I think that will be tantamount to negation of the Oath of Office, whoever is participating in doing that."

According to a senior official of the APC caretaker committee, “As you know, our party is already fragmented along different interest groups. It is expected that there will be serious crisis within the party after the national convention fixed for March 26. And we don’t have enough time to resolve the crisis before the presidential primary that will start on April 4.

“So, our reasoning is that if we hold the national convention and presidential primary same day, we will have almost eight months to resolve the crises that will emanate from both the national convention and the presidential primary before the campaign starts – in line with INEC’s timetable.”

The APC chieftain added that almost all members of the interim committee and some governors had keyed into this news idea, saying it would be “suicidal for the party to go ahead” with the national convention fixed for March 26.

“The whole idea is to see how we can manage our crisis. We don’t want to have a sharply divided party that will be going into campaign and elections. And we hope to present this case to our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, for approval in the next few days.”

Another source also claimed that the fresh plot to hold the national convention and the presidential primary same day had always been the “agenda” of Buni-led caretaker committee.

The source said, “We are aware of the new move by some members of the caretaker committee. That has always been their agenda. They really want to conduct the presidential primary and the convention the same day, so that they can benefit from it.

Let’s see how it goes.”

Moreover, a group under the auspices of All Progressive Congress (APC) Action Group demanded that the presidential primary and the national convention of APC be held on the same date.

The group, in a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bisi Olanipekun, said there Continued on page 66

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NEWS

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS...

L-R: Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, at a meeting to kick start the process aimed at reconciling Aregbosola and Bola Tinubu, held at Ibadan…yesterday

New Conditions of Service for University Lecturers to Be Ready in Six Weeks Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The federal government has promised the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who are presently on strike that work on the review of their conditions of service would be concluded in the next six weeks.

The government also said it has set up a joint committee to carry out integrity test on ASUU's salary payment software platform, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and would submit its report within three weeks.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige who gave highlights of the discussions between the government's team and ASUU leadership yesterday in Abuja, said both sides agreed that ASUU would take the new proposals by government to its members with a view to getting them to resume work.

When asked about the outcome of the meeting, Ngige said: "We have agreed on many of the things and put timelines on them and we are supposed to get back to them and show them government's offers and

government's implementation of a lot of things in the 2020 MoU. A lot of them are work in progress.

"We just have one or two areas that are due and that is the condition of service negotiation which is contained in the 2009 agreement. It is an agreement that says condition of service is to be renegotiated every five years."

Ngige said the last time negotiations on condition of service was carried out was in 2014, adding that the process for the next one was initiated when the present administration came into office in 2015.

According to Ngige, a draft document has been produced by the committee charged with task.

He explained that the Federal Ministry of Education also set up an internal team to look into the committee's recommendations and try and get input from ASUU. He also said some allowances proposed in the document was not in line with what the Incomes, Salaries and Wages Commission had fixed, saying if it was forwarded to government, it would be rejected.

Ngige also said the committee set up by the Federal Ministry

Education was given a six weeks’ timeline to conclude its work and submit it report.

On the issue of the ASUU's salary payment software platform, UTAS, the minister said there was joint a committee of ASUU and the

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) that was set up to carry out an integrity test on the software.

He said government plans to get neutral experts on IT to join in the integrity test for UTAS. He

Former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on Monday inaugurated the Nembe, Elebelele bridge linking communities in both Ogbia and Nembe local government areas of Bayelsa State.

While inaugurating the bridge in Nembe, Jonathan applauded the state governor, Senator Douye Diri for completing the project, which he noted would help to consolidate the peace and unity between both communities.

He said Diri had performed exceptionally well in infrastructure development in just two years in office.

The former president described the bridge as symbolic and urged the people of Nembe to learn to resolve their differences amicably, especially during elections rather than play politics of brigandage and violence.

"You have done well to complete this bridge project. I had to come and identify with this unique ceremony. Today should mark the end of any inter-communal conflict.

"The importance of this bridge cannot be over-emphasised. From what I have seen, this bridge is expensive, well-built and solid.

And I hope it will solidify the unity between the people of the two communities.

"Politics should be a platform to bring development to our people and not to kill and chase them away from their communities.

With the commissioning of this bridge, we pray that that brand of politics would also come to an end," he added.

Diri said the Nembe bridge had been on the drawing board since the days of Eastern Nigeria, but that a former governor, who is now the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, started some construction work but the project was left till his administration took it over and completed it.

Describing the bridge as historic, the governor said the project was one that would heal wounds and engender peace and unity among the people of Nembe.

"My administration felt this is one historic and significant infrastructure that would help heal wounds. It is not only a physical bridge but a human bridge, especially between the brothers of Ogblomabiri and Bassambiri. Wherever there is war, development suffers and we lose not only infrastructure but human lives," the governor added.

should take what has been offered to its members for them to call off the strike.

He said that the proposal containing all the issues agreed on would be given to ASUU by Wednesday (today) to take to their members.

Buhari Wants Nigerians to Collaborate with Security Agencies for Peaceful Resolution of Nation's Challenges Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has made a clarion call to Nigerians to work out closer collaboration with security agencies with a view to tackling the myriad of challenges facing the country. He also extolled the courage and bravery displayed by security agencies and service chiefs in promoting peace and order nationwide.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja, at the opening of Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC), the president said more could be achieved in bringing law

and order to various parts of the country with full cooperation of citizens.

According to him: “Security is not just a military concern but a challenge for all Nigerians. No matter the amount of money invested in military operations, without the support of the people, display of patriotism and preparedness for everyone to be ready to take ownership of securing our environment, success will be limited.

“Consequently, we must look beyond the military and the security agencies for enduring solutions to the security challenges we are facing."

Jonathan Inaugurates Nembe, Elebele Bridges in Bayelsa

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

added that a timeline of March 8, was set for the conclusion of the integrity test.

Ngige said as far as he was concerned the government was on course in implementing the agreement, adding that ASUU

Earlier, the former president and the governor visited the Amanyanabo of Nembe, Mingi XII, King Edmund Daukoru, in Ogbolomabiri and Amanyanabo of Opu-Nembe, Ogbodo VIII, King Biobelemoye Josiah, in Bassambiri.

King Daukoru said the Nembe bridge was symbolic, noting that what it represented far outweighed the physical length of the project as there had been age-old differences between the two communities. He commended Diri for completing projects that he started as well as those inherited from his predecessors, describing the gesture as a mark of true leadership. He also appealed for the construction of the Nembe-Brass road among others.

King Josiah, on his part, commended the governor for the bridge project, noting that prior to its construction, there had been temporary bridges.

He solicited government's support for the provision of electricity and pipe-borne water.

Also, speaking to journalists, the immediate past deputy governor of the state, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd), who hails from Nembe, gave thumbs up to the Diri administration for constructing the unity bridge, saying it was the first time since 1971 that a proper

bridge had been built to connect both communities.

Jonah, who called on youths from both communities to sustain the existing bond of brotherhood, expressed the optimism that the project would foster more peace, unity and development.

"There had always been the desire that a bridge connects both communities. The first attempt to have a bridge was in 1971 during the administration of Alfred Diette-Spiff (in Rivers State).

Since then, two bridges have been constructed - one wooden and the other steel.

"This is the first time we are getting a bridge that we need.

There had been issues between the two communities. That is why it is called Unity Bridge to unite both sides.

"For Governor Diri to take this as one of the priority projects on assuming office, it is commendable.

We were there for a very long time but we could not summon the courage to do it. He did what we could not do for eight years."

While inaugurating the Elebele Bridge, Jonathan said its construction by the Diri administration was a message to the multinational oil companies that Niger Deltans states were capable of helping themselves.

Buhari said his administration had put in place measures to adequately support the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies in terms of modern equipment, boosting the manpower of all security agencies and financing their operations in Nigeria and other international assignments.

“We have equally, recently, put in place a National Development Plan (2021 - 2025) covering medium- and long-term plans, with a vision to make Nigeria a country that has unlocked its potentials in all sectors of the economy for sustainable, holistic, and inclusive national development.

“We will in this regard be building a thriving and sustainable economy while improving access to quality education, enhance social inclusion as well as expand infrastructure among several others. All of these desirables can only be achieved in a peaceful and secure environment,’’ he added.

The president said security outfits in the country deserved commendation for the efforts in tackling issues of banditry, kidnapping and

terrorism.

“I am proud of the achievements of the security agencies in dealing with issues of terrorism, insurgency, banditry and the so-called unknown gunmen in the North West and other parts of the country.

“These issues and challenges are being professionally handled by the Armed Forces and other security agencies with improved intelligence operations and effective collaboration in the Armed Forces and other agencies.

“For this, I commend the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police and all other agencies that have been toiling day and night to ensure the safety of lives and property," he added.

Buhari assured Nigerians the issue of kidnapping that had bedeviled the country in the recent past was being tackled with all seriousness.

“We have zero tolerance for kidnapping, especially of school children and we shall deal with such outrages decisively. The disruption of our educational system and economic activities will not be tolerated.

APC Governors Meet, Keep Mum Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), the umbrella body of the governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday met in Abuja to deliberate on the schedule of activities of the party ahead of their March 26 national convention.

However, after the meeting of the governors which started around 9p.m and ended around 11:30p.m, they refused to brief journalists that were waiting at the Kebbi Governor's lodge at Asokoro The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa state came out first when the meeting ended.

Unlike previous meetings when they had fruitful deliberations, all the governors would stand to brief

journalists on the outcome of the meeting.

But what transpired yesterday, with the governors leaving in twos and threes indicated that they were unable to reach a compromise on issues discussed The meeting was not unconnected to the election timetable recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the unusual duration between primaries and the general election.

The Governor of Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi told journalists that though the meeting has ended, they would not brief the press.

The chairman of the Forum, Atiku Bagudu sent one of his aides to apologise for their inability to brief journalists on the outcome of the meeting.

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CONSULTATIONS ON HIS AMBITION...

L-R: All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairmanship aspirant, Senator Sani Musa and Governor Kayode Fayemi during the lawmaker’s visit to Ekiti State… Monday

2023: INEC Meets Parties, Presents New Voters’ Lists Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, met and discussed with political parties on the timetable and guidelines for the 2023 general election released last week.

The commission also presented an updated soft copies of the Continuous Voter Registration to the political parties.

According to a statement by INEC national commissioner for Information and Chairman of Voter Education, Festus Okoye, this was in compliance with "Section 10(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which states that, "The Commission shall, within 60 days after each year, make available to every political party, the names and addresses of each person registered during that year.

"In compliance with the requirement of the law, the Commission has today made available the softcopies of the list of persons registered as voters in 2021 to each political party."

Aspirants Write Buhari, Want National Convention Halted

The Forum of All Progressive Congress (APC) Aspirants for National Convention wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari and urged him to halt the forthcoming national convention of the party slated for March 26.

The aspirants, in the letter jointly signed yesterday by the forum's President and Secretary, Mr. Tolulope Ashafa and Mr. Usman Adamu, respectively, alleged that four APC governors were planning to bring the convention forward by holding it earlier than planned.

The aspirants said the development would make the APC unable to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the 30-day notice required by law for it to hold the convention.

The forum said the prediction that the Electoral Act 2022 would cause the demise of APC was anchored not on the content of the legislation but the unholy manipulations going on in the party.

The forum stated, "We crave your patience to recall the near

three days ago on Saturday 26th February 2022.

He explained that the first activity was the publication of the Notice of Election on 28th February 2022.

"The second activity is the collection of Forms EC9 and EC9A - E by political parties for issuance to candidates, who emerge from their party primaries.

The Forms can be downloaded

from the Commission's website", he said, adding that the commission would continue to provide regular update to Nigerians on the implementation of all electoral activities.

62,271 Schools in Nigeria without Security, NSCDC Laments Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ahmed Audi has lamented that about 62,271 schools across the country have no form of security, opening up the institutions to kidnapping of students.

Speaking at the commemoration of the World Civil Defence Day in Abuja yesterday, Audi said: “In response to the Safe

BUHARI INSISTS ADAMU IS PREFERRED CANDIDATE FOR APC CHAIR was need to save money for the party and to shield party members from expending so much resources for the two events that could be held in a day.

On the Implementation of the 2023 General Election Timetable, Okoye said INEC, has now implemented the second activity on the Timetable for the 2023 General Election released

toxic wrangling over the timing of APC’s National Convention.

But for the wisdom of Mr. President, who sided with critical stakeholders on the need to hold the convention at a more auspicious time, a gang of state governors had arrogated the power of decision to themselves and were going to force the gathering through without minding the consequences on the party, the country’s democracy, and Your Excellency’s image.

"Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, and Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State are among the members of the cartel that has put its interest over that of our great party by trying to forcefully conduct the convention in a manner that would have sabotaged the APC but for your timely intervention."

The forum alleged that these governors were exploiting the names of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and the president to promote one candidate above the others in a manner that completely negated the neutrality that the president had embodied in the handling of political decisions in the country.

School Initiative of the federal government, the NSCDC did a vulnerability survey of schools in Nigeria and prepared a framework of proactive security measures to be taken towards addressing the dangerous trend of attack on schools in the country.”

He disclosed that the survey showed that there were 81,545 registered schools in the country, with about 44,297 of this number private schools while 37,248 were government owned/public schools across the 36 states and the FCT. He noted that out of this figure, 35,112 were located in urban areas while 47,115 were located in rural areas. He disclosed that the survey further showed that 22,398 schools have perimeter fencing and 58,967 schools were without perimeter fence.

Audi added that the survey also revealed that only about 17,164 schools have a form of physical

security presence whose personnel are largely untrained, and about 62,271 schools have no form of security presence.

He said something needed to be urgently done to address the situation in order to secure the nation’s schools and chase away the kidnappers.

He, however, said: “As a way of addressing this dangerous trend, the NSCDC recommended the kinetic and non-kinetic approach in finding lasting solution to cases of attacks and kidnapping in schools.”

Audi said the corps also noted the need for a robust partnership/ collaboration with stakeholders such as ministries, governors/state governments, traditional leaders, parents, students, the youths, the clergy (religious leaders), law enforcement agencies, private guard companies, among others to ensure safety in schools.

Audi, who incidentally was marking the first year anniversary of his appointment as CG, said as part of the ongoing reform process aimed at improving service delivery in the private security guards industry, disclosed that his agency was presently carrying out the process of digitalising its private guard companies department for improved operational efficiency and productivity.

He said the department was also coordinating biometric data capturing of all private guards, while impressing on the operators to make staff welfare and training its topmost priority.

He said that: “In less than a year, the Private Guard Company Department has renewed 752 licences, sealed 81 erring companies, trained about 4,653 guards and generated about N587,923,000.00 to the coffers of government.”

The Commandant General,

said as part of the achievements of the Corps since his appointment, “in the last six months, the Corps has arrested about 461 suspects for various offences bordering; vandalization and attacks on Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI), cattle rustling, banditry, attacks on farmers and farmlands, illegal mining, etc.”

He noted that all arrested suspects are presently undergoing prosecution in various High Courts across the Country while 43 convictions have equally been secured.

He said: “In addition, well over a hundred illegal refineries have been destroyed within this period under review. The exhibits recovered in the course of these arrests are in the various exhibit yards in each State Command for presentation in evidence during trials in courts.”

Obaseki Faults Sharing Formula for FG’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Others Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has faulted the sharing formula for the federal government’s conditional cash transfer programme and the distribution of other social amenities.

He said this when he received the Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, on a courtesy visit to the Government House, in Benin City, Edo State.

Obaseki said: "In terms of fair distribution of social services, the Commission has not done much. It should focus on that area. You are focusing on these social services and amenities at a time when the economy of the nation is depressed and not growing at all.

The governor was also quoted in a statement yesterday to have said: "Some of the things that happened in the recent past can't be spoken about publicly. I urge the

commission never to allow what happened during the sharing of conditional cash transfer from the Federal Government to happen again.

"Nigerians are not happy and are angry with the way the conditional cash transfer and sharing of social and economic amenities were handled. The commission needs to look at that and never allow it to happen again.”

Noting that the visit came at the right time as it was necessary to address the lingering issues troubling Nigerians, Obaseki said: "Our founding fathers thought it wise that, in order to preserve the unity of this country, they needed to create a commission that would complement the policy which ensured that every Nigerian will feel that they are part of the country.

“This was done so that whatever

belongs to the country would be equitably and fairly distributed to all parts of the country.

“Thank you for keeping the spirit of the constitution alive and trying to enforce the constitution as many people feel marginalised in spite of the effort of the commission.

Nigerians feel they are not getting what is due them.”

He continued: "The cake we are trying to share in this country is becoming too small as our focus is to build a bigger cake that will be equitably shared. Everybody should be made to contribute something to the national cake for it to be enough for us to share.

“You have done well as you go about to implement the first task of your mandate, which is ensuring equitable distribution of positions.

In fairness, you have done well in that regard.”

Earlier, Executive Chairman, Federal Character Commission, Dr. Muheeba Dankaka, said the visit was in continuation of her engagements with critical stakeholders in the country, adding: "Upon assumption of office, I made it a matter of policy to consult widely and drink from the wealth of experiences of our leaders of thought like you to guide my actions in the course of my assignment.

"The Federal Character Commission was established with a primary focus of ensuring a strong, virile and indivisible nation, based on fairness, equity and justice, to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and give every citizen of Nigeria a sense of belonging to the nation, notwithstanding the diversities of ethnic origin, culture, language or religion, which may exist."

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EMPOWERING 17,469 IN FIVE YEARS...

L-R: President, Poultry Association of Nigeria, Mr. Taofooek Sulaiman; Ikorodu zone, State Project Coordinator, Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo; Agro-Processing Specialist, Engr. Aliru Alade; Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr. Yinusa Babatunde and Women/Youth /Livelihood Specialist, Ms. Olawunmi Akinola, during an interaction with the Project Coordinating Office in Lagos ... recently

Oyo Govt Accuses EFCC of Intimidation over Alleged N9b Money Laundering Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The Oyo State government, yesterday, attributed the arrest and detention, last Friday, of the state Accountant-General, Alhaji Gafar Bello, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to alleged intimidation over security votes and other sundry funds accruable to the state.

It made the disclosure in reaction to the arrest, detention and subsequent release of Bello, by the EFCC, over an alleged N9 billion money laundering.

Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, made the disclosure yesterday, in an update on the arrest, questioning the detention of the AG and his subsequent release on Monday.

The commissioner in a statement issued in Ibadan, said, “The continued harassment and intimidation of the Accountant General and other officials of the state government by the EFCC is totally unconstitutional and unacceptable and is being contested in a court of competent

jurisdiction.”

According to him, the EFCC and its officials had since last year, been mounting pressure on Oyo State and its officials to provide documents regarding disbursements and expenditure of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, Contingencies Fund and Security Vote lawfully approved and passed into Appropriation Law of Oyo State by the state House of Assembly.

This, he said, was despite the fact that the Supreme Court has decided, in a long line of cases, that the EFCC lacks the powers to prosecute issues that are not corruption cases.

“We would like to put it on record that by virtue of Section 128 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, unless and until the Oyo State House of Assembly reports or exposes any corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it to the Executive Governor of

Oyo State and Commissioner for Finance, Section 6 (h) of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 (as amended), cannot be triggered.

“The Oyo State House of Assembly has not made any such reports and thus the actions so far by the EFCC and the EFCC Chairman are unconstitutional and ultra-vires,” he said.

Olatubosun said, in line with this conviction, the state government had approached the Federal High Court, in the Ibadan Judicial Division, on February 8, 2022, for declaratory reliefs and to among other things, issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the activities of any official of the state government.

He listed the defendants to include the Attorney General of the Federation, EFCC, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of EFCC, their functionaries or agencies or whosoever, noting that they have been restrained from exercising the powers purported to be conferred by or under the provisions of the EFCC Act, 2004 with relation to

the expenditure and or spending of the Oyo State government or security votes, as vested in the governor of Oyo State.

The statement read: “The EFCC had brazenly refused service of the processes at the Abuja Head Office for reasons unknown to the law. But ,as of today, March 1, 2022, at the hearing in Ibadan, Hon Justice N. Agomoh, directed the EFCC to accept service of the Oyo State government originating processes and pending applications in the full glare of the court.

“The trial judge also ordered

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), has lent its support to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, over his comment on some of the by-elections held in the country at the weekend, and warned the Department of State Services (DSS) to stop threatening him.

The DSS, on Monday, described as unjustified, unfair, speculative and preposterous, statements credited to Ayu, to the effect that the party would not use personnel of the agency to harass people, when it assumes power in 2023.

However, the CUPP in a statement by its spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere, said Ayu was right in his comment on the use of security agencies to manipulate electoral process, especially, in Imo State.

The opposition parties said, “The coalition of opposition political parties is not comfortable with the threat issued by the DSS to the national chairman of the PDP

on a matter that is clear to all that the chairman is right.

“We urge the DSS to stay with its constitutional role of protecting lives and property in conjunction with other security agencies instead of jumping into the political arena and threatening opposition leaders.

It is clear to all that the bye-election

held in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, was heavy compromised to the advantage of the ruling party, hence, the DSS did not have to grandstand on the issue.

“That by-election showed without any iota of doubt, that the DSS is an army of the ruling APC and we insist that, that election should

Segun James A group, League of South West Civil Societies (LSWCS), has waded into the face-off between Senator Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, saying reconciliation was imperative, because such intra-party wrangling

be cancelled. We are aware that truckloads of security agencies, police, DSS, Navy, Air Force and armed thugs were moved to Ngor Okpala LGA on the eve of the election to unleash violence on the people. We insist that the election in that local government should be cancelled.”

could adversely affect the region negatively.

The group, in a statement in Lagos yesterday and signed by Messrs Taiwo Adeleye, Samson Adekoya, Wale Arogundade, Samuel Ogunsona and David Ajetunmobi on behalf of 17 groups including the Agbekoya and the Oodua Hunters Union, stated that the two personalities were very important to the Southwest geo political zone and the country, hence,they could not afford to fold their hands while things go wrong.

According the group, such wrangling in 1964 between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy, Chief Ladoke Akintola and in old Ondo State between Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Akin Omoboriowo, led to riots, arson and killings, which had far-reaching impact on the region and Nigeria.

"We do not belong to the school

NANS Protests ASUU Strike, Block Anambra Roads David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), yesterday, protested on the streets of Awka, Anambra State, over the continued closure of universities all over the country.

The protesters, who wielded placards, gave the federal government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) one week to reopen universities, or risk having the country shut down.

Chairman of the Anambra State

chapter of NANS, Comrade Peter Onyemaefe, said ASUU and federal government were destroying the future of the youths and the country, noting that such must stop.

According to him, the federal government and ASUU were toying with the future of the country by keeping its productive youths idle for months.

He said it was a shame that for a four-year programme, most Nigerian students now spend six to seven years without hope of graduation, or any hope after

or distracted from its one goal of providing good governance.

“His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, remains committed to fidelity, accountability, integrity, transparency and honesty which has been the hallmark of this administration since its inception on May 29, 2019.

“He urges the good people of Oyo State to remain undeterred as this is just another in the series of hurdles that they and indeed all right-thinking Nigerians as a whole must cross in their determination to rescue Nigeria.”

Civil Society Group Wades Into Tinubu, Aregbesola Face-off, Seeks Reconciliation

CUPP Backs Ayu's Comments on Elections, Urges DSS to Desist from Threatening PDP Chairman Udora Orizu in Abuja

that all forms of arrest and intimidation by the EFCC should cease.

The case has been adjourned to the March 9, 2022 for the hearing of all applications.

“The arrest of the Oyo State Accountant General on Friday, February 25, 2022, was a desperate and malicious attempt at thwarting a constitutional process that had already been instituted at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, with a hearing date of Monday, March 1, 2022.

“The government of Oyo State refuses to be intimidated, cowed

graduation.

"Students are registering their grievances on continuous strike in the universities. Every six months or less, there must be strike in the universities. They are toying with our future. A programme that is supposed to last for four years will last six to seven years.

"We pay extra house rent, we pay extra school fee, extra feeding allowances, because of the incessant strike. Many students are now getting involved in armed robbery, prostitution, yahoo-yahoo and

many other criminal activities.

"We are giving government and ASUU one week to resolve their problems or face shutting down the country. We will continue to create crisis until they do the needful.

They are playing with us. We are saying no to manipulation. We are saying we want to go back to school," he said.

The students blocked major roads in the capital territory, including the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, causing a huge gridlock.

that thinks the crisis must linger.

It is an ill-wind that blows no one any good. It is a dispute that can set the entire Southwest on the path to internal combustion.

"We, the civil society, grassroots organisations and community based groups across Yoruba territories will set up a committee that will explore the potentials of reconciling the two personalities, bearing in mind that the disagreement is also on certain principles upheld for decades by Comrade Rauf Aregbesola. We shall be briefing the people and the press on the outcome," the group said.

While insisting that there was no dispute that could not be resolved, they said, "Our position is that the attacks on Aregbesola are unnecessary and must stop," even as they traced the crisis between them to problems with Governor Gboyega Oyetola, whom they said was reversing all decisions taken during the Aregbesola years in order to destroy the legacy of the former Osun State Governor.

It also noted that Aregbesola and Tinubu had come a long way, and it was wrong for some to be alluding to the fact that, one made the order, adding that the two of them had been proud of each other.

The group, therefore, warned those who believe they could benefit from the crisis by fuelling the dispute to desist from such act,,just as it condemned the attack on Aregbesola.

"Our position is that the attacks on Aregbesola are unnecessary and must stop," the group said.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

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Bandits Abduct Construction Workers, Burn Vehicles in Niger Communities Laleye Dipo in Minna Armed bandits went on rampage again in Niger State Communities abducting two construction workers and many others and burnt down vehicles.

The bandits also in the early hours of Tuesday blocked the ever-busy Suleja -Minna road causing confusion among motorists.

The two construction workers were abducted from their camp located along the Lambata- Izom road around 4.30pm on Monday when the gunmen raided the facility.

The nationalities of those kidnapped were not known before press time but it was said that the gunmen tied the hands of other construction workers at their backs before beating them mercilessly after which they escaped with the two.

It was gathered that there was shooting into the air by the bandits as they escaped from the area of operation thereby sending fears into motorists on the highway not far from the camp.

Also on Monday it was gathered that unknown gunmen stormed the Saho- rami market in

the Mashegu Local Government Area killing two traders and burning some vehicles.

The gunmen who were said to be over 50 rode on motorcycles

and carried sophisticated weapons with which they terrorised the marketers. Some of the traders were said to have been kidnapped.

The State Police Command Public Relations Officer DSP Wasiu Abiodun in a statement also confirmed the invasion of Dajigbe village in the Gurara

local government of the state where some villagers were abducted.

Abiodun said: “Upon the receipt of this information, the

Command mobilised a team of Police operatives, Military personnel from Zuma barracks, Suleja and vigilante members to the area.

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION...

L-R: Mother of the Day/Guest of Honour, Professor Celina Maduemezia; celebrant,The Obakpolo of Owa Kingdom, Delta State, Chief Anthony Uzum, and Mrs. Nancy Ogboi , during Uzum’s 70th birthday celebration in Lagos... recently DAN UKANA

APC Chair Aspirant, Musa, Lawmakers Kick as Osinbajo’s Wife Visits House Visits Fayemi, Unveils Plans to Observe Voting on Constitution Amendment One of the leading aspirants for the position of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Mohammed Sani Musa was in Ado-Ekiti to meet with Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), in furtherance of his consultation with party leaders and stakeholders on his aspiration to become the next National Chairman of the ruling APC. Senator Musa used the opportunity of their meeting to unveil his mission and blueprint for the party as a necessary step in sustaining President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy and ideology for the APC.

He disclosed further that President Muhammadu Buhari has committed so much efforts in making the APC a national party for all and a force to reckon with.

Senator Sani Musa also harps on the importance of making the APC a vibrant democratic institution that grooms leaders, formulate policy and ultimately, win elections.

“It is my view that when those elected in government are doing their job, political parties should be busy working — organizing retreats, exchange programs, party conferences and peer reviews which in my candid opinion more important than only waiting elections or congress period to surface alone.

Get Your PVCs and Sweep APC out of Ekiti, Oni Tells Voters VictorOgunje inAdoEkiti

Former Governor of Ekiti State , Segun Oni, yesterday formally flagged off his governorship campaign on the platform of the Social Democratic Party(SDP), pleading with Ekiti voters to get their Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) and sweep the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) out of Ekiti.

Oni said the SDP he brought represents progress, which he accused the APC and the dominant opposition People’s Democratic

Party(PDP) of vehemently failing to provide for the populace.

The former governor was welcomed into Ado Ekiti via Ikere road by mammoth of party admirers, who adorned in SDP vest carrying Oni’s portrait and a big horse, the logo of the party.

The large turnout of admirers and party supporters that welcomed Oni, who was accompanied by his running mate andAdo Ekiti indigene, Hon. Ladi Owolabi, caused serious traffic gridlock along Ado-Ikere-Akure road for over two hours.

Court Sacks Taraba APC Executive Wole Ayodele in Jalingo The Federal High Court in Jalingo presided over Justice Simon Amobeda has sacked the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Taraba State.

Delivering judgement in a suit filed by some aggrieved members of the party against the executive of the party, Justice Amobeda declared the Congress that produced the leadership as illegal and

a nullity.

The plaintiffs had asked the Court to nullify the Congress on the grounds that it was conducted in violation of the party’s Constitution and the amended Electoral Act. The defendants, who listed APC, INEC, Ibrahim El-Sudi, Rachael Akpabio and Others as.defendants in the suit argued that the conduct of the Congress was fraught with irregularities.

Udora Orizu in Abuja Some members of the House of Representatives yesterday kicked against move to usher in the Wife of the Vice President(VP), Dolapo Osinbajo to witness voting on the clauses up for consideration in the Constitution

Amendment Bills.

The Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who presided over the session had called on the House Leader, Hon. Ado Doguwa, to suspend relevant rules of the House and move that the VP’s wife should be ushered in to witness the

proceedings.

This generated screams of nays from lawmakers across party lines. However, the speaker cautioned his colleagues particularly the PDP lawmakers for kicking against it.

Gbajabiamila said, “Hon. Chinda and co the fact that I

referred you guys as smaller parties doesn’t mean you should scream no.”

He thereafter, put the decision to usher in the VP’s wife to voice vote, despite the nays having it, he gave it to the Ayes and the directed the House Leader, to usher in the VP wife.

Alaafin, Ooni, Aregbesola Meet over Reconciliation with Tinubu Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, yesterday met behind close door with the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the Jericho, Ibadan home of the Alaafin.

THISDAY learnt that the meeting, which was at the instance of the monarchs, is part of efforts to reconcile the minister and Asiwaju Bola

Tinubu. It was gather that the reconciliation efforts are going on well and as intended, and both parties having shown interest in putting their differences behind them, are moving ahead in the interest of all, Osun and Yorubaland.

It was gathered that the meeting, which started around 10am, was expected to resolve the crisis between Tinubu and Aregbesola.

The Media Adviser to Aregbesola, Mr. Sola

Fasure, while confirming the meeting, said the two prominent traditional rulers held a private meeting with Aregbesola.

According to him, “ It is true that Aregbesola held a meeting with the Ooni of Ife and Alaafin today in Ibadan.

It was a private meeting and I was not there so I don’t know what they discussed.

“But I can tell you that Ogbeni held a meeting with the two foremost traditional

rulers in Ibadan. It was a private meeting.”

Events of the last weeks have shown that the calls from all well-meaning persons of influence across political and religious circuits on Tinubu and Aregbesola to toe the path of peace and reconcile in the overall interest of all, appear to be yielding positive results with the meeting called by these high ranking monarchs and the attendance of the meeting by Aregbesola.

New Electoral Act ‘ll Address Voter Apathy, Says Accord Party Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Accord Party has said that reforms contained in the new Electoral Act will engender credibility of elections in Nigeria and help minimise voter apathy.

The party identified the conduct of primaries, campaign expenses, use of technological devices in elections, electronic transmission of results, review results declared by an electoral officer under duress as some of the reforms introduced

that will ensure the credibility of elections in Nigeria.

In a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja, the National Legal Adviser of Accord party, Maxwell Mgbudem, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing into law the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, saying it is a clear indication that the President is determined to advance the course of Democracy in Nigeria.

Mgbudem, who is also the National Vice Chairman of Inter

Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said a brand new Electoral Act less than one year to general election, can be adjudged as the best legacy the President can bequeath Nigerians.

He said the new Electoral Act will revolutionise the process of electing leaders at various levels of government, just as he observed that the Bill will herald an era of competent and credible leaders who will emerge through a transparent voting exercise, hence

the votes will begin to count.

While charging Nigerians who are of voting age to seize the opportunity to register and acquire their voters’ cards, Mgbudem said the goodwill of the President should be reciprocated, warning that if the voter apathy witnessed in the last Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is repeated in 2023 general election, the objective of initiating and having the new Electoral Act would be defeated.

Amnesty Programme Denies Owing Scholarship Students Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has denied owing any scholarship student as recently alleged by the President of the Ijaw Peoples Association (IPA) in Britain and Ireland,Francis Akpanari.

In a statement, the PAP

denied that the programme is not living up to its financial obligations to some scholarship students.

PAP said it is not owing any of its scholarship student insisting that it was up to date with all payments.

PAP regretted that Akpanari would make such statement without verifying the facts

on ground and appealed to members of the public to ignore him.

According to the statement, since the emergence of Col. Milland Dikio, as the Interim Administrator, there had not been any complaints from students and their schools about school fees and in-training allowances.

PAP challenged anyone with contrary opinion to come forward with facts of bonafide amnesty students owed by the amnesty office.

“The PAP unequivocally states that the school fees and in-training allowances of all bonafide beneficiaries of the PAP scholarship scheme are up to March 2022.

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NEWSXTRA

Insecurity: FCT Police Command Seeks 10 APCs, Drones, Arms, Ammunition Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command yesterday lamented inadequate personnel and equipment which it said hampered the command’s ability to fight crime in a five million population.

The command has battled bandits, kidnappers, terrorists, armed robbers and other criminalities with inadequate manpower and equipment in spite of the existence of the Nigerian Police Trust Fund which recently procured a controversial N11billion equipment for the police.

Speaking while receiving the Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Mr. Usman Baba, who was on tour of the command, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Babaji Sunday, called on the IG to provide it with 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), arms and ammunition, bullet proof jackets, ballistic helmets, 15 Toyota Hilux vehicles, 40 motorcycles and 1,500 walkie talkies.

Apart from inadequate personnel, Babaji said the command was in dire need of barrack accommodation for officers and men.

He also listed patrol vehicles, trackers, drones, APCs and tear gas smoke.

The police chief stated that in spite of the command’s inadequacies, it arrested 3,379 crime suspects.

He said the command which comprises six area commands, 44 divisional headquarters and 99 outstations/outposts arrested 32 armed bandits while 11 died during the raid of their camp, 22 armed robbery suspects popularly called “one chance”, who were all arraigned in court in addition to 162 other crime suspects.

He said 2,089 suspects were arrested from 1,638 reported cases of theft and stealing even as 53 victims of abduction were rescued.

“I wish to thank the Inspector-General of Police for finding time to visit the command despite your busy schedule and equally affirm the

unalloyed loyalty, dedication, commitment to reduce crime and criminality to the barest minimum within the territory”,

he said.

In his remarks, the IG said it was not possible to totally eradicate crime in the society

but noted that it could be reduced to the barest minimum.

“We must device means of punishing crime as a deterent”,

he said.

He assured the command of his determination to address their demands.

EMPOWERING TEACHERS...

L-R: Economist,PatUtomi;MinisterofState,Education,EmekaNwajuba,and OluwaseyiAnifowosheof1MillionTeachers,(IMT),atthepress briefing to unveil the Pat Utomi 60, 000Teachers Scholarship Scheme in Lagos…recently

By-Elections: C’River Remains NSCDC Wants Agencies’ Collaboration a PDP State, Says Imoke to Contain Insecurity in A’Ibom

Chuks Okocha inAbuja

Former Governor of Cross River State and leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Sen Liyel Imoke yesterday stated that last Saturday’s by-elections in are indicative of the fact that Cross River remains a PDP territory.

Imoke commended the efforts of the party members in Cross River State for what he called a ‘glorious outing’, stating that, the by-elections held in three local government areas of the state, had PDP winning in two local governments of Ogoja and Akpabuyo.

In a statement, the former governor said: “Our overwhelming victory in Akpabuyo and

performance in Ogoja/Yala federal constituency is a clear demonstration that the PDP is alive, in a good state of affairs and still the party of the people of Cross River State.”

“Therefore, I must commend all party men, women and youth for their courage and commitment to the party, and for their valiant efforts in defending our votes on Saturday.

“For an opposition party with little to no resources or power of the executive, but with the love of our state and our people in our hearts, it should now be obvious to the world that Cross River is PDP and PDP is Cross River,” he stated.

Erelu Kuti of Lagos Backs Okunnu-Lamidi’s Presidential Ambition

Sunday Okobi

The traditional Queen Mother, Erelu Kuti of Lagos, Omoba Abiola Dosunmu, has given her unflinching support for the 2023 presidential hopeful, Ms. Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi.

Dosunmu pronounced her support during a visit to her residence in Victoria Island, Lagos,

by Okunnu-Lamidi to begin her campaign tour across the country.

A direct descendant of Oba Dosunmu, Erelu Kuti, who is of the royal Yoruba and Bini

origins, during the visit, said: “Power comes only from the Almighty.”

She serves as the ceremonial queen mother and reigns supreme as regent of Lagos upon the death of an incumbent monarch until a successor is chosen by the kingmakers.

During the visit, the Erelu Kuti prayed and blessed OkunnuLamidi and her campaign team, expressed support and admiration for the aspirant’s courage and passion to alleviate the sufferings of the masses in the country.

British, Canadian High Commissions Partner Nigeria Info on Confab Nigeria’s talk station, 99.3 Nigeria Info, has said the the second edition of its Glass Ceiling Conference themed “Break the Boardroom: Nigerian Women Taking Business Leadership,” will hold on March 6, 2022.

This is in a bid to discuss peculiar issues that deal with female inclusion across the Nigerian socio-economic and political ecosystem while also proffering possible solutions to the already identified problems in order to promote gender inclusivity nationwide.

The Glass Ceiling Conference is a platform designed to x-tray the issues of female inclusion, particularly within the nation’s business and political landscape with support from the British High Commission, and the Canadian High Commission.

According to the radio station, the Founder of ImpactHER, Efe Ukala has been billed to serve as the keynote speaker of the conference due to her desire to support the businesses of women across the African continent.

Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Akwa Ibom State Command, has called on other security agencies and stakeholders in the country to collaborate with it in order to end security challenges bedeviling the country.

The Corps said the agency has devised and articulated a clear template of synergy with critical stakeholders to fashion

out appropriate response to societal challenges.

The state Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Abidemi Majekodunmi, made the call during the 2022 World Civil Defence Day celebration held in Uyo yesterday with the theme: ‘Uniting the World’s Leading Industry Specialists for the Safety and Security of Future Generations’.

He said: “We call on all stakeholders of the Nigerian

states, security agencies, professional bodies, inter and non-governmental organisation, civil society, public and private institutions to close ranks, and fashion out the most appropriate response to societal challenges.”

The commandant said the World Civil Defence Day 2022 is the reinforcement of a basic fundamental fact of development, and a call for unity of purpose between the government and industrial specialists in ensuring

the safety and security of future generations.

The agency, he said, had continued to curtail the activities of vandals, adding that it has made several arrests and arraigned suspects.

The commandant said the agency had been collaborating with the Nigerian Navy and Army where suspects of illegal bunkering were handed over to the NSCDC for further investigation and prosecution.

Enugu Gov Lifts Ban on Tricycle Operation, Others

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

The Enugu State Government, yesterday lifted the ban it had earlier placed on the operations of tricycles, motorcycles and tipper trucks across three local government areas in the state.

The state government had on February 25, after a consultative security meeting with traditional and political leaders, placed

a ban on commercial tricycle, motorcycle and tipper truck operations in some parts of the state.

The ban followed a resolution at the emergency security council meeting held at the State government house and executive order No. 1: 2022 dated 24/02/2022, which was intended to contain recent security challenges in parts of the state.

The affected LGs included

Nkanu East and West and some communities in Enugu South LG. However, after meeting with the leaders of the Association of Tricycle Riders Transport Union (ATRTU) Enugu State, Motorcycle Transport Union of Enugu State, Nkanu East/ West branches and the Enugu State Tipper Union of Nigeria on Tuesday, governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi lifted the ban.

The governor lifted the ban

after leaders of the associations admitted that hoodlums had infiltrated their associations to perpetrate criminal activities thereby tarnishing their image.

While pledging to fish out the bad eggs among them and support the efforts of the security agencies to curb crime in the state, the leaders apologised for the negative comments that had trailed the government’s earlier decision.

Culture Architect, Gaise Baba, Unveils Sophomore Album The full length project ‘A Decade After’ is the most anticipated project of Akinade Ibuoye popularly known as Gaise Baba, who beyond music circles is perceived as a culture influencer and young shaper who keeps hundreds of thousands of youths in Nigeria away from delinquency, drugs and school truancy.

He does this through urban Christian music communicated in his native Yoruba language and English as well as his social outreaches; LightOut High-School Movement and ARAMANDA Festival.

The album is acclaimed as Gaise Baba’s most anticipated project since Logo (The EP) was released in September 2020. The “Logo” crooner’s debut album “Gaise Baba” was released under Sanctified Records in 2011 and produced by Emmanuel Malaka (Manie X).

For many Gaise Baba’s fans and new audiences, this sophomore album is expected

to stimulate a new dimension of creativity and depth from the thought leader, showing his metamorphosis from a budding singer to a fully grown master of his art, utilising different art forms and sounds, creating an immersive youthful culture in the Nigerian Christian music space, a trail he has been blazing since his stint at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) as an Economics major.

Viral hits like “Awa O Tush Oh”, “Dobale”, “Little Drops’’ and the most recently, “Logo” are some of the songs which have placed Gaise Baba as a distinct artist, since his official entry into the music industry in 2010.

With excellent production from ID Cabasa, DJ Klem, Tbabz and Password, Gaise Baba takes us once again on a musical journey of ecclesiastical proportions.

The 13-track album which comprises varying sounds ranging from Afrobeats,

Afropop, rap and vintage African soulful sounds, starts off on a gentle vibe with “Surely”, a hopeful track where Gaise Baba expresses his appreciation to God even as he looks ahead with assurance to greatness that will surely manifest. Eje (Blood) is a reminder that none of life’s challenges or perils withstand the power in the blood of Jesus Christ. On “Ready” featuring Nosa, Gaise Baba reiterates his commitment to following the way of the Lord, as he has done, penultimate.

“Questions” featuring Tobi Toun is a rap song where the artist touches on major issues of faith and devotion. “Olulana”, explains the plight of a husband acknowledging his need for God’s help in leading his home right. “Everything”, featuring Angeloh, ushers a youthful Indy - soul vibe as they both admit that with God’s help, they can overcome all things!

Enter track 7, “Emergency”, Gaise Baba activates his

storytelling prowess as he shares the dilemma of infidelity, a viral trend on our time line. “Titilai” (Forever) is a remake of his previously released single; love song, a fresh live performance of the track. “Elijah Level “featuring Izee Smith brings that consciousness that everyone in life has their time and one’s time will surely come. “Gbagbe Oshi” is a live version of one of his epic songs from Lounge 464 the ultimate Gaise Baba live music experience hosted monthly in Lagos and Abuja.

“Ojonlo” (Translated in English as Time slipping away) is a song rendered in Yoruba where Gaise Baba extends a call to salvation for listeners living without Christ.

The last track on the album “Wonbiliki Wobia”, captures Gaise Baba’s storytelling skills yet again as he speaks truth to power and opens up on macro social-economic issues under developing the nation state of Nigeria.

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WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

NPFL ....NPFL...NPFL....

Shooting Stars, Rangers Rekindle the Old Rivalry of Nigerian Club Football Duro Ikhazuagbe

In the good old days of the Nigerian topflight league, tonight’s clash between hosts Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) and traditional rivals Rangers International FC of Enugu would have shutdown Ibadan with fans of both teams engaging in ‘verbal war’ before kick off at the Lekan Salami Stadium.

Take your mind back to 1977 when both teams shutdown Kaduna during second leg of the semi-final of CAF Cup Winners Cup encounter with the likes of Segun Odegbami, Muda Lawal, Felix Owolabi, Best Ogedengbe leading the blue side against Chairman Christian Chukwu, Alloysius Atuegbu, Christian Madu, Emmanuel Okala and several other great stars in the the sparkling white jerseys of the Enugu team. Those were the glory days of Nigerian club football.

Shooting and Rangers represent the best of Nigerian club football and have history behind them.

But not anymore. Poor administration of both clubs and the league body riddled in crisis before the coming of the League Management Committee (LMC), conspired to ensure that Nigerian ball fans take consolation in foreign European league. Even the lofty plans of the LMC to grow the league to enviable level in Africa is being hampered by poor sponsorship.

Even some Corporate Nigerians that ought to help the Nigerian Professional Football League to grow, would rather take their millions of dollars to support some of these foreign leagues that do not know the products of these “sponsors and partners” exists.

It is against this backdrop that tonight’s NPFL Match-day 16 fixture is going to bring back

Sapele Club Set for Orodje Okpe Golf Tourney

Shooting Stars versus Enugu Rangers: Rekindle of the old foes memories of both top Nigerian club sides.

Interestingly, the LMC has approved this encounter to be the first fixture to be played under the floodlight.

Head Coach of Rangers however insisted during the week that he’s not bothered the time the game is played.

All he’s after in Ibadan is to return to Enugu with all three points to enhance the Flying Antelopes’ chances of ending the season on a high.

Rangers are currently fourth on the log with 24 points from 15 games while hosts 3SC are 12th with 19 points from the same number of matches.

Coach Abdul Maikaba and the current squad understand what is at stake is beyond the three points, have promised not to disappoint ardent followers of the Flying Antelopes.

“This is a top of the bill encounter that is laced with a lot of tradition and we are going to Ibadan to give out our

best and ensure we come back with something to cheer. I am aware that encounter between both teams is always a derby dating back to many years and we expect the crowd to come out and see quality football on display,” observed Maikaba.

He is relying on his formidable squad of Kenechukwu Agu, Julius Ikechukwu, Shedrack Asiegbu, Christian Nnaji, Elijah Ani, Tope Olusesi and others to cause Sootingfans sorrow.

Similarly, Edith Agoye, 3SC Head Coach who himself is a product of the later years of Shooting Stars wants to give Ibadan fans something to cheer.

He will be relying on such star performers as Sunday Faleye, Daniel Kolawole, Okeowo Oluwaseyi, Abbey Benson, Sunday Akleche, and a host of others to make his dream come true.

The last time they met in 2017 before Shooting Stars went on relegation to the low division, it was 1-0 in Ibadan and 1-1 in Enugu.

Ndidi, Lookman End Leicester’s Iyere wins Captain’s Day competition Winless Run at Burnley

Olawale Ajimotokanin Abuja

Nigeria’s oldest golf club, Sapele Athletic Club 1897 will come to life from March 4-5for the 4th Orodje of Okpe Golf Tournament.

The annual tournament is organised in honour of the traditional ruler of Okpe kingdom, His Royal Majesty Major General Felix Mujaperuo (rtd) in commemoration of his 15th coronation anniversary on the throne.

Incidentally, the Orodje, who doubles as Chairman, Traditional Rulers Council of Delta State is an avid golfer.

The tournament, which is a major on the calendar of Sapele Athletic Club, Golf Section has as its major sponsor, Seplat Energy.

There will be two separate tee-off times of 7.30 amand 12 noon to accommodate the anticipated large turn-out of golfers from across the country.

Meanwhile, the Captain’s Day Tournament held over the Sapele golf course at the

weekend served as a dress rehearsal for the Orodje of Okpe tournament.

The tournament was a valedictory for Okakuro Peter Asagba, who served out his two terms as the captain of the golf session.

Oscar Iyere shot 66 net to win the men’s competition by four shots, while Rex Ikede finished second with 70 net, beating Dr Edward Carpe on count back.

Lucky Akpieye emerged the winner of the ladies competition after carding 65 net.

The veteran event was won by Monday Ikhureigbe, who played 72 net to edge O. Okome on count back.

J. Aluede was two shots off the pace to place third.

The oldest member of the club, Amos Edoriagba shot 74 net to emerge winner in the super veteran category.

John Okojie won the Best Gross prize with 75 while Austin Ojomo aced the 17th after his 7-iron rolled into the cup for a hole-in-one.

Copa del Rey S’finals Live on StarTimes Subscribers of StarTimes will have the opportunity of watching the semi-finals of the Copa dey Rey matches taking place today and Thursday.

Valencia who are eight on the La Liga league table will welcome ninth- placed Athletico Club today at 9:30 pm Thursday will witness Real Betis who are in a strong stead to book a Champions League ticket will face Rayo Vallecano

on Thursday at 9 pm.

Both matches will be aired live and in HD on StarTimes.

The pay channel broadcaster said in a statement that football fans can pay-per-day to enjoy the thrills at N200 for classic bouquet (antenna users) and N400 for super bouquet (dish users). “Fans can also watch online via the StarTimes-ON mobile app which costs just N400 weekly for sport VIP subscription.”

PREMIER LEAGUE Two Nigerian internationals, Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman were in action as Leicester City defeated Burnley 2-0 away last night to end a winless run in the Premier League.

Leicester’s last win in the EPL was on 28 December, 2021, when they beat Liverpool 1-0 courtesy Lookman’s goal.

Before Tuesday night victory, Leicester had failed to win their last five Premier League games with three defeats and two draws record.

But that run of misfortunes for Leicester, appears to have evaporated with the two late strikes from James Maddison and Jamie Vardy with less than 10 minutes left to play.

Against Burnley, Ndidi saw action for 90 minutes, Lookman came on in 46 minutes while Kelechi Iheanacho was unused substitute.

With eight minutes remaining in the game, Leicester broke the deadlock after Maddison received the ball from Jamie Vardy outside the box and bend it past Nick Pope in goal for Burnley.

And on the 90th minute dot, Vardy sealed the victory.

He got the assist from Harvey Barnes The win took the Foxes to 12th position on 30 points in the league standing while Burnley remain in the drop zone on 18th spot with 21 points from 25 games.

Wilfred Ndidi (left) was in action for all 90 minutes as Leicester City scored two late goals to beat Burnley away in a Premier League game...last night

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Will Buhari's 'Rope-a-Dope' Style Work for Him?

I

started writing this piece on the 18th September last year which in essence is some six months ago when our President, Muhammadu Buhari, in the midst of all we are facing in the country left for the United Kingdom to see his doctors. I added the concluding paragraphs just yesterday.

President Muhammadu Buhari actually kept to his self approved schedule and came back home after a self indulging medical tourism to the UK . He, as expected, returned to meet the myriad of problems he left unattended to before he escaped our shores for a conference holding some four days after he left. His political party is still in crisis despite strident denials.

Resident Doctors are no longer locked in an'I no go gree war' of attrition with his administration . Their elder brothers, ASSU, have taken over. It is important to note that our President ignored their strike action to embark on his medical tour. Boko Haram, reportedly beaten into a retreat have morphed into individual bandit gangs raiding not only the poor people of Zamfara , Kaduna and Katsina but also the rich and not so powerful people who ply Kaduna, Kogi, Akure, Niger roads.

As I write we are experiencing petrol scarcity compounded by

Legendary Muhammad Ali (right) adopted the rope-a-dope to nail George Foreman incessant outages in power supply.

Add the sorry state of the country's economy and you would understand why our President needs the frequent hibernation he seeks at every opportunity. The latest being the blitz to France, Scotland, UAE etc. The feeling of most people in the country is that we really can't afford the drift into extreme poverty the Buhari

administration is foisting on us .

From almost every home comes the groan of deprivation . While the President and his men supervise all the wealth we have for themselves, the people won't even be obliged with the crumbs from Pharaoh's table. He gets annoyed easily with those who do not see him as God-sent to our country and would not mind what he destroys

to show his 'limitless' power. In a fit of unjustifiable anger, he banned Twitter, not minding the negative economic and political implications of his action. That several thousands of jobs would be lost does not bother him. It is of no significance to him that our comatose economy would bleed further.

The President came back

from London to see that the separatist movements he birthed by his union with nepotism and divisiveness are growing. True, Sunday Igboho is in some form of captivity, Nnamdi Kanu is restricted and Omoyele Sowore faces treasonable felony charges but the fire they started is not about to be quenched. Rather it has gained a life of its own fueled by the angry hunger of the people. The President has made our country much more divided than when he came to power.

Since our President went to and returned from the UK there has been some sort of disquiet. The type that reminds you of a heavy cloud before a storm. The type of silence that is loud in what it signifies.

Those who can read the signs would tell you that the citizenry are ready for a fight . A big one.

Who will win is difficult to predict. This is mainly because we don't have enough information to work on. There are also too many intervening variables to be taken into consideration.

With the signing of the Electoral Bill, the stage seems set for the epic clash: Muhammadu Buhari Vs The Nigerian Masses which is billed to be held on the 25th of February next year. Will our President succeed in winning a fight he is only qualified to lose?

Or would we at last be able to secure a well-deserved win over him and his misgoverning band?

The anticipated fight creates the sort of awe associated with the epic Mohammed Alli Vs George Foreman 'Rumble in the Jungle' boxing bout of 1974.

So who will win? A friend of mine who discussed this with me said whoever will win must adopt the 'Rope-a-Dope ' style to get a knock down.

...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DURO

Last Sunday, one of those I have some profound respect for marked a milestone. Please join me in wishing Duro Ikhazuagbe a very happy birthday as he joins the ‘Elders Club’. May our LORD continues to bless you.

STL Wins Low Cup, Elektron Picks Silver Cup in Dramatic Sudden Death Caverton wins Chief of Naval Staff Cup to cap month-long polo fiesta 2022 GTCO LAGOS POLO The prestigious 2022 GTCO Lagos International Polo Tournament came to an exciting climax on Sunday with three home teams sweeping all the four prizes at stake on the final weekend.

STL defeated Lagos Caverton 10-6 in a double decker to emerge winners of the Low Cup and the Governor’s Cup respectively.

STL parading Omoregie Osagie, Ibrahim Dantala, Ahdulrahaman Mohammed and their patron, Seyi Tinubu jumped to the front from the starting bell and held on for a comfortable victory despite late rally from their local rivals.

The Silver Cup final pitching Lagos Elektron against the debuting Nigerian Navy team was another big highlight of the month-long tournament with the Lagosians needing a golden goal to secure victory.

The brave Naval Sailors who shoot down Ibadan Durante Food in the semifinal clash, scored a late 6-6 equaliser in the final chukka of the tense Silver Cup final to force a sudden death Chukka. The sailors were on high, before Abdulrahaman Mohammed’s golden goal helped Elektron to escape with the glittering prize.

Before the nervy wrecking Silver Cup final, the quartet of Bode Makanjuola, Rotimi Makanjuola, Muyiwa Oni and Diego White were the toast of the Polo fans as they rolled over BobTrack Tractor team from Port Harcourt 7-2, to emerge the first ever champions of the Chief of Naval Staff Cup. An overflow dignitaries in the gallery led by Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal

Gambo, were thrilled with highclass polo as Argentine Diego White was on fire opening up a four-goal lead for Caverton in the early stages, before Bode Rotimi and Muyiwa completed the carnage for a sweet victory.

“That final match was quite intensive, our Port Harcourt opponents pushed us all the way, but we wanted the cup more and our determination paid off with a deserving victory”, Rotimi Makanjuola declared shortly after receiving the Chief of Naval Cup at a colourful presentation ceremony.

Lagos Polo Club President, Ayo Olashoju who described the tournament as one of the most successful in years, declared that the campaign for the Majekodunmi Cup, Open Cup, Low Cup and Silver Cup prizes, were the most competitive and the most exciting in years.

Tournament Manager, Seyi Oyinlola promised that next year would be better as it has always been over the last couple of years, adding that: “The 2022 tournament was a three weeks of thrilling polo experience for the lovers of the game both on and off the pitch.”

The Naval Chief congratulated both the winners and the runners-up for their display of skills and the spirit of sportsmanship throughout the international polo fiesta and pledged the commitment of the Nigerian Navy to the Lagos polo tournament.

He later led other dignitaries to give out awards and prizes to winners at a colourful closing ceremony that brought down the curtain on the glamorous 2022 Lagos polo extravaganza.

Lagos Caverton polo team captain, Rotimi Makanjuola lifts high the Chief of Naval Staff Cup during the Prize Presentation ceremony of the just concluded 2022 GTCO Lagos international polo tournament in Ikoyi...last weekend

Ukraine Crisis: Shakhtar Donetsk Evacuate Brazilian Players to Romania Shakhtar Donetsk have evacuated their Brazilian players to Romania following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Premier League club worked with UEFA to move 12 players away from the conflict, which continues to escalate across the country.

Shakhtar said Dynamo Kyiv and SK Dnipro-1 have also managed to move foreign players from Ukraine.

"We want to thank for the assistance everyone who took part in this process," Shakhtar said in a statement.

"The evacuation of the players

was made possible thanks to the personal assistance of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, the Ukrainian Football Association President Andrii Pavelko and the Moldovan Football Federation President Leonid Oleinichenko."

Shakhtar lead the Ukraine Premier League but have not

played a fixture since 11 December as a result of a winter break and the subsequent suspension of football because of the Russian invasion.

On Monday, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia's national and club teamsfrom all competitions until further notice.

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

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Price: N250

MISSILE Gov Ganduje to Fulani Herders

“We have succeeded in stamping out cattle rustling as I cannot recall when we experienced it because we entered into dialogue with herdsmen who confessed and became born-again. So don’t indulge in cattle rustling because we have a law; if you commit cattle rustling, it is life imprisonment. Similarly, if you indulge in banditry, it is death sentence”--Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, warning Fulani herders to desist from criminality.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974

So Ukraine is Near

A

s Nigeria is expected to begin today the evacuation of her citizens fleeing war-ravaged Ukraine, the two countries appear close to each other in humanitarian terms despite the physical distance.

The troubled Nigerians are among the more than half a million refugees crossing the borders of Ukraine to other countries since the invasion of the country

by Russia. Two Nigerian airlines - Airpeace and Max Air – are expected to carry out the airlifting of these Nigerians back home.

Indeed, another humanitarian disaster is looming in that corner of the globe. It is, at least, a relief that Nigeria is taking steps (albeit belated) to save its nationals from the crisis. It is officially estimated that there are over 8, 000 Nigerians (mostly students) in Ukraine.

Yet only a couple of months ago, one could be accused of slipping into Afghanistanism (focussing on foreign topics while there are urgent issues at home for discussion) if the situation in Ukraine was made the subject of reflection. Ukraine is the news globally now. The 4, 840 kilometre-air travel distance between Nigeria and Ukraine has been virtually shortened because of the consequences of the war in that country on Nigeria. Somehow, Ukraine appears to be nearby in terms of the impact of what’s happening to the country that up till 1991 was a part of the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The first reason why the war in Ukraine may seem not so distant from Nigeria anymore is the rise in the international price of crude oil. Ordinarily that should have been good news for the Nigerian economy that’s direly in need of a boost. The rise in the price of crude is one of the consequences of the battery of sanctions imposed on Russia (a major oil exporter) by member-countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). But experts appear to agree that the rise in the international oil price might not mean much fortune for Nigeria that is also importing fuel.

At a more human and moral level is the condition of Nigerians desirous of evacuation from the war zone.

The footages of black people (including Nigerians) being turned back by some European neighbours of Ukraine brings Ukraine mentally closer to Nigeria.

Onyeama The human gap between the two countries is by far shorter than the physical distance. As black people Nigerians are, of course, not immune to the upsurge of racism at the Ukrainian borders. From the rhetoric on the war, the condition of the black people escaping from Ukraine doesn’t seem to be a priority. It is, however, a good thing that Poland refuted yesterday some reports in the cyberspace alleging that the country shut its doors against some black people including Nigerians.

An official Polish statement described the reports as “fake news” while the head of the border guard said that all “those who need help will find it” in Poland. Other neighbours of Ukraine should give similar assurances and ensure the adequate protection of those seeking refuge in their countries according to international laws and conventions. This is because the images coming out of Ukraine show that the figures

of civilian casualties are mounting the despite the claims of Russia that only military installations are targeted in Ukraine. The festering humanitarian crisis in Ukraine should, of course, be put in the context of the bloody conflict which has been on since the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. Emigration of citizens has been a continual trend in Ukraine, which is the second-poorest country in Europe. The attacks

by Russia have exacerbated this trend. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) put at 677, 000 yesterday the number of people who have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in less than a week. In 24 hours 150, 000 crossed the borders. About 12 million people who are still Ukraine are said to be in need of urgent relief and protection from the attacks. Refugee agencies are already planning for humanitarian aid that would cost millions of dollars.

In the light of this global alert about the looming humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the federal government should ensure the utmost efficiency of the evacuation of Nigerians escaping from the crisis.

Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama has assured that with Romania as the hub, it would be possible to evacuate Nigerians at the borders. The urgency of the operations cannot be over-emphasised especially because Nigeria has lost more than week to act expeditiously. Nigerian diplomats in Ukraine were allegedly busy reading the mind President Vladimir Putin of Russia instead of putting in place the operations to evacuate Nigerians. However, the lost ground could still be recovered.

Nigeria should save her citizens caught up in the conflict while the world continues to hope that the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine would bring about a speedy ceasefire. That seems to be the logic of the global response to the crisis. Even NATO member-countries that are heavily implicated in the war as partisans ensured that their citizens left Ukraine before the rain of bombs from Russia. Those countries were not content with merely speculating about the Putin’s intention.

The inexorable impacts of the war in Ukraine constitute another sober reminder that Nigeria should be ever conscious of its place in the world. This

would determine how Nigeria sees the world with its independent perspective as a leader in Africa.

In this respect, Nigeria’s unequivocal condemnation of Africans feeling Ukraine two days ago was quite apt in the circumstance. President Muhammadu Buhari said: “All who flee a conflict situation have same right to safe passage under UN convention and the colour of their passports or their skin should make no difference.” It would be difficult for any country to fault that assertion.

Beyond that it is important for Nigeria and other African countries to take a clearly independent view of things in the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.

The reality of the impacts of the war has shown that Nigeria is not as distant from the point at issue in the conflict as some pundits might think. The killings and destruction in Ukraine should be roundly condemned. The callous attacks by Russia should stop. No principle can justify the heartless killings of children and other defenceless people in Ukraine.

Nigeria and other African could raise their voices as loudly as possible in opposition to the war without lining up behind western countries in their sickening hypocrisy on the war in Ukraine. African countries should learn from Nelson Mandela, who in 2003 condemned categorically the lawless invasion of Iraq based on pure lies by the same western countries now moralising about invasion in Ukraine. Mandela was a lone moral voice at the time.

The invasion of Iraq was as criminal as the present invasion of Ukraine.

So the world should also call on NATO to stop its misadventure in the eastward expansion of the membership of their military alliance, a cold war creation. The West provoked this war by insisting on the Ukraine membership of NATO while demonising Putin. Countries that would not permit their neighbours to strike a military pact with Russia on the ground of sovereignty are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear war by insisting that NATO membership should extend to the Russian border.

All told, given the fact that the countries involved in the reckless geo-political contest embedded in this war are nuclear powers, Ukraine may not be as far away as one might think.

Making Chapter II of the Constitution Justiciable

By Femi Falana

N

otwithstanding the several decisions of domestic and regional courts which have upheld the socioeconomic rights of the people, lawyers and judges have continued to give the misleading impression that only civil and political aspects of fundamental rights are enforceable in Nigeria.

Thus, the victims of violations of socio-economic rights have been left without access to the remedies provided by law. To compound the crisis, some judges in the High Courts have continued to invoke the anachronistic doctrine of locus standi to dismiss or strike out public interest cases filed by public interest litigators to secure the enforcement of socioeconomic rights of disadvantaged citizens or groups. This paper challenges the notion that socio-economic rights are not justiciable or enforceable by Nigerian courts, and sets out the trends in the justiciability of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy enshrined in Chapter II of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. In our contribution to the debate we intend to question the ‘marginalization’ of socio-economic rights by drawing attention to the gradual evolution of relevant laws and progressive judicial decisions on socio-economic rights in Nigeria.

Justiciability of Socio-Economic Rights

In 1966, the Human Rights Commission drafted two important international documents: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to have legal binding effect on States that ratified the documents. Nigeria has ratified both covenants but has not domesticated them. However, many countries have denied the existence of social and economic rights and refuse to give them any legal character.

Some jurists argue that socioeconomic rights do not constitute legal norms but only guiding principles. At the regional level, the member states of the African Union adopted the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1986. Apart from ratifying the African Charter the Federal Government domesticated it.

The African Charter contains political and civil rights as well as socioeconomic rights and solidarity rights. The socioeconomic rights include the right to work, freedom of association, right to representation in public office, right to education, right to health, right of equal access to public property, right of women and children recognized in all international conventions and treaties. Civil and political rights as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, are regarded as first generation rights, while economic, social and cultural rights, as laid out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are regarded as second generation rights. Unlike the first generation rights which may

be enforced by individuals the second generation rights require institutional support from the state.

Socio economic rights are enshrined in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They are part of the fundamental objectives and directive principle of state policy. As far as members of the ruling class are concerned, they are the ideals towards which the nation is expected to strive in order to meet socio-economic rights for the citizenry.

It has been said that “… the pull for the Chapter II of the 1979 Constitution, which is also incorporated in the 1999 Constitution, was actually the Minority Report of Osoba and Usman that we are celebrating today.

Although the undeniably progressive provisions of the Chapter II have been cynically made non-justiciable, the whole chapter itself was a backhanded response to the ideological and political pressures generated

by Osoba and Usman’s report and draft in their own categorically radical draft. It was a concession the majority members of the CDC were forced to make to Osoba and Usman. But the majority members of the CDC gave the people socio-economic rights in Chapter II of the 1979 Constitution with one hand and took away the rights with the other hand by the non-justiciable Clause. Since then the struggle has been shifted to the courts and the push for enactment of laws to back up policies tailored securing socioeconomic rights for the people. Hence we have had the emergence of legislations backing funding of basic

education and primary healthcare and policies on social housing, social insurance and financial inclusion. It must be admitted that all these are at best palliatives and they are never a substitute to the constitutionally enshrined provisions for social- economic rights.”

It is submitted that social and economic rights are interconnected to a broad range of political and civil rights. For example, the right to life is negated when there is absence of the right to food.

Furthermore, the right of dignity is defeated if there is no right to affordable housing. Most crucially, it ought to be pointed out that the individual needs socio-economic rights for the realization and enjoyment of the right to exist. In other words, the right to health is connected to political, economic and social welfare and safety for all citizens of Nigeria. Its enforceability is crucial for the sustenance of Nigeria.

The lack of which may result in human insecurity, widespread diseases and endemic infections lack of access to health care, all resulting in deprivation, as well as a retarded economic development and poor standards of living. The preamble of the Charter affirms that “Convinced that it is henceforth essential to pay particular attention to the right to development and that civil and political rights cannot be dissociated from economic, social and cultural rights in their conception as well as universality and that the satisfaction of economic, social and cultural rights is a guarantee for the enjoyment of civil and political rights…”

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