WEDNESDAY 23TH MARCH 2022

NUPRC Sets Up Investigative Panel to Tackle Rising Oil Theft Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja As the economy continues to bleed from the negative impact of crude oil theft, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) yesterday disclosed that it had set up a team of experts to carry out a thorough audit of the

activities of operators in the sector in the upstream petroleum industry in the last two years.

The commission stated that the move was to ascertain the actual volume of crude oil stolen by vandals and saboteurs, against recent allegations by some industry operators regarding the volume of

crude theft on a daily basis.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had on Monday lamented the unprecedented rate of oil theft recorded in recent times and its debilitating effect on government revenue and accretion to reserves.

The governor’s comment came

a day after THISDAY reported similar concerns expressed by the Co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Energy Plc, Mr. Austin Avuru, who called for a state of emergency in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

He had revealed that up to 80 per cent of oil pumped in the country,

particularly in the east, were stolen.

Avuru spoke a few days after a businessman and Chairman Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, also bemoaned the worsening state of the industry, stressing that about 95 per cent of oil production does not get to the terminal.

Earlier, Aiteo Eastern Explora-

tion and Production Company (AEEPCO), operators of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) pipeline, had threatened to exit the facility due to incessant vandalism, perennial sabotage and outright theft.

Nigeria has not been able to Continued on page 40

Grid Collapse: Lawmakers Lambast Power Minister, Demand Improved Electricity Supply…Page 8 Wednesday 23 March, 2022 Vol 27. No 9843. Price: N250

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2023: Nigeria’s President Must Come from South, South West PDP Insists... Page 43

Soludo: We'll Get Water Out of Stone, With Anambra People Behind Us Reveals state has about N109bn debt, N300m cash Says altercation between Bianca, Obiano’s wife comic relief Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The new governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday said although

the problems confronting the state remained daunting, with the backing of the people, the new government was poised to record huge successes.

The governor, who spoke on

ARISE Television, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, stated that he had in possession a blueprint and that with the various documents at his disposal, he fully understands where

the state is headed in the coming years.

However, asked about the state of the state’s finances and where the funding for his numerous projects

will come from, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), noted that although the resources were paltry and “almost zero”, he knew about the problems before

applying for the job.

Soludo explained that from the records at his disposal, Anambra Continued on page 40

Buhari: Nigeria's Huge Dependence on Imported Agricultural Products to End Soon Inaugurates $2.5bn Dangote fertiliser plant, new airport terminal, inspects Lekki Deep Seaport Assures Nigerians of self-sufficiency in food production, increased forex Directs timely completion of seaport Emefiele: Investments glaring testament to the president’s foresight, drive for domestic production Directs Zainab Ahmed to source special funding for Abuja airport second runway Deji Elumoye in Abuja, Chinedu Eze, Nume Ekeghe, Ugo Aliogo and Gilbert Ekugbe in Lagos President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the $2.5 billion Dangote fertiliser plant yesterday in Lagos, with an assurance that the country was poised to end its massive dependence on imported agricultural products soon.

The fertiliser plant, with installed capacity of three million metric tonnes of urea per annum, is located in Ibeju-Lekki, within the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

Buhari, who was on a one-day visit to Lagos State, also inspected the Lekki Deep Seaport in the same axis.

He directed the timely completion of the seaport.

The president, then, proceeded to Ikeja to inaugurate the newly built international terminal at the Continued on page 40

NIGERIA'S ECONOMY GETS A BOOST...

L-R: Ambassador Lawal Kazaure; President Dangote Industries, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila; President Muhammadu Buhari; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Borno Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum; President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti; Kebbi Governor, Sen, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu and Jigawa State Governor, Badaru Abubakar, during the inauguration of Dangote Fertiliser in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State... yesterday.

PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE.

Fearing Legal Challenge, APC Clears All Aspirants for National Convention... Page 42

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

NEWS

A NEW ERA BEGINS...

L-R: Director, Dangote Industries Limited, Mariya Aliko Dangote; Deputy Secretary-General, The United Nations, Amina Mohammed; President/CE, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote; President Muhammadu Buhari, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Group Executive Director, Dangote Industries Limited, Halima Aliko Dangote, during the inauguration of Dangote Fertiliser 3.0 Metric Tonnes Urea Plant, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos ...yesterday

Deep Structural Reforms Urgently Needed to Lift Millions of Nigerians Out of Poverty, W’Bank Insists Obinna Chima The World Bank has identified sluggish growth, low human capital, labor market weaknesses and exposure to shocks as factors holding Nigeria’s poverty reduction back.

The Washington-based institution stated this in its latest report titled: “A Better Future for All Nigerians: Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022,” obtained yesterday.

The report represented the culmination of the World Bank’s engagement on poverty- and inequality-relevant data and analytics in Nigeria in the past two years.

It drew primarily on the 2018/19

Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS), which provided Nigeria’s first official poverty numbers in almost a decade, as well as the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS).

The surveys were implemented

by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the World Bank.

According to the report, which brought together the latest evidence on the profile and drivers of poverty in Nigeria, as many as four in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line.

It noted that many Nigerians – especially in the country’s north – also lacked education and access to basic infrastructure, such

as electricity, safe drinking water, and improved sanitation.

The report further noted that jobs do not translate Nigerians’ hard work into an exit from poverty, “as most workers are engaged in small-scale household farm and non-farm enterprises; just 17 per cent of Nigerian workers hold the wage jobs best able to lift people out of poverty.”

The report added that climate and conflict shocks – which disproportionately affect Nigeria’s poor – were multiplying, and their effects had been compounded by COVID-19; “yet government support for households was scant.”

It added: “Households have adopted dangerous coping

strategies, including reducing education and scaling back food consumption, which could have negative long-run consequences for their human capital.

“These issues affect some parts of Nigeria more than others; the report captures this spatial inequality by providing statistics at the state level, which is crucial given Nigeria’s federal structure.

“It is clear that much needs to be done to help lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty, including boosting health and education, bolstering productive jobs, and expanding social protection,” World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri said.

He added: “Yet implementing

Nigeria Can Adopt Solutions from Edo Government’s Interventions, Says Obaseki State attracts $500m investment into agric sector Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said Nigeria can adopt the interventions and radical changes implemented in his state in tackling the myriad of challenges and stem the country's current slide to economic and socio-political crisis.

The governor said this while delivering the 2022 Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Distinguished Lecture Series titled: “Making Politics Work for Citizens, Governance and Development: The Edo State Experience,” in Lagos.

According to the governor, “We should also reflect on why we the political actors particularly those of us who are the political elite who have the responsibility not only to institutionalise the democratic process, but also to develop a political culture which should foster and enhance development have so far failed to do so.”

The governor noted that although politics and democracy have not dealt favourably with Nigeria, this does not deny the existence of the potential for democracy to be the vehicle for delivery of development to the people.

The governor said some of his achievements included attracting $500 million into the state’s agriculture sector; creation of 300,000 jobs; the 95MW Ossiomo power project; improved basic education for over 400,000 pupils; the 6000bpd capacity Edo modular refinery,

among others.

“In Edo, we had to take deliberate and intentional steps to retool our politics to engender development.

This has led to the introduction of people-centric policies and programmes which have won our administration significant public trust,” a statement quoted the governor to have said.

Decrying the failure of the political class, he said, “As we commence another political transition in our democratic journey, we must reflect on the challenges faced in this Republic, so that we can better understand why our democratic experience to date has not provided good governance and why our economic and socio-political development have remained stunted.”

Some of the defects of Nigeria’s political system, according to him, included entry barriers to the political system such as age restriction and high cost of nomination and expression of interest; negative perception of politics and the attendant skirmishes including mudslinging, deliberate character assignation, blackmail which make it unattractive to accomplished professionals to participate in; prohibitive cost of the electioneering process; proliferation of political parties with no clear ideology; and electoral malpractices which have instigated voter apathy.

On the reforms implemented in

Edo State, he said his administration inherited a state that was essentially under the control of various nonstate actors who served as enforcers for the old political order in the state, noting that in exchange for their loyalty and service, the payoff was the collection of revenue that should have accrued to the public purse.

According to him, “Following this, we were able to open up the political space to a broad range of players to the chagrin of the godfathers. These patrons of the old order thrived in the exclusion of the majority from participating in the political process. For them, the fewer the actors in the system, the more relevant they were and the more they were able to take the process hostage.

“With the opening up of the political system, we embarked on institutional reforms to enhance the capacity of the government to deliver public services. This was done by enhancing the work environment, ensuring regular payment of salaries and pensions, improving compensation packages, and creating better conditions of service for workers.

“We also revamped the public service to cut back on waste and with this, we were able to deliver more projects with less resources than would have been required.

“Having built public trust, we had

to open up the business environment which led to robust partnership with the private sector and international development organisations.

“With their support, we have been able to substantially curb the menace of human trafficking and irregular migration, which once pillaged our most valuable resources – our young people.”

He added: “We rolled out infrastructure projects in a fair and equitable manner that engenders a sense of inclusion among the people across the various sections of the state.

“We were able to win the trust of the electorate in Edo State because we had focused on ideals that have come to define our politics and through which we have made the most impact in their lives.

“We placed the people at the center of our politics, which led to huge investment in human capital development, particularly across all tiers of the state’s education system, starting with the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme, which has transformed the lives of over 400,000 pupils across the state and improved learning outcomes.

On the Edo example, the governor said Edo presents a very striking example of how Nigeria can fix its intractable electricity problem, which has plagued the country since independence.

pro-poor initiatives requires unlocking fiscal space; reforming expensive subsidies – including fuel subsidies – will be essential, alongside countervailing measures to protect the poor as reforms are effected.”

The report suggested at least three types of deep, long-term reforms to foster and sustain pro-poor growth and raise Nigerians out of poverty.

These included: Macroeconomic reforms (including fiscal, trade, and exchange rate policy); policies to boost the productivity of farm and non-farm household enterprises; and improving access to electricity, water, and sanitation while bolstering information and communication technologies.

“These reforms together could help diversify the economy, invigorate structural transformation, create good, productive jobs, and support social protection programs as well as other redistributive government policies.

“The report emphasises that these reforms are urgent as Nigeria’s population continues to grow; now is the time to ensure that the country seizes the promise of its young people for economic prosperity.

“It adds that shaping the specifics of Nigeria’s poverty-reducing policies will depend strongly on redoubling efforts to gather and analyse data regularly.”

In his contribution, World Bank Lead Economist and co-author of the report, Tara Vishwanath said: “Conflict is spreading and intensifying across Nigeria, so it is important to implement programs to support poor and vulnerable Nigerians that are simple and flexible while also limiting the risk of exacerbating fragility and conflict.”

“Data can provide vital guidance on how to design, monitor, and evaluate pro-poor projects and programs, giving a voice to poor and vulnerable Nigerians,” World Bank Economist and co-author of the report, Jonathan Lain added.

The report disclosed that new official household survey data, due to be collected later in 2022, would provide far more detailed insights into the dynamics of and the key constraints on poverty reduction, as well as new pro-poor policies.

By investing in data, Nigeria could build trust, accountability, and transparency, taking substantial strides on its pathway to poverty reduction.

Court Orders AGF to Remove NDDC from Niger Delta Ministry The Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has directed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice to stop placing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under any ministry including the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

The court also granted a perpetual injunction restraining the AGF from further constituting an interim or sole administratorship board to run the affairs of the commission. Mute The orders were made following a motion ex parte dated December 10th, 2021 and filed by Odighonin Adienbo on behalf of the Wailing Women of Niger Delta (WWND) and the Integrity Friends for Truth and Peace Initiative (IFTPI).

Other applicants are Peace Ossy, Utibe Benedict, Beatrice Young, Juliana Alagoa, Lovett Timothy, Loveth Kekghe, Osaruchi Idumesaro, Modimu Beauty and Nkechi Umeozor.

The judge also asked the parties to return to the court on April 5th for report of service, compliance and hearing.

The court further said: “That leave is hereby granted to the applicant to seek an order of this Honourable Court directing the respondent to dissolve the current sole administrator-ship structure used to run the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“That the applicant is granted leave to seek an order of mandamus directing or compelling the respondent to immediately publish the outcome of the report of the forensic audit of NDDC. “That leave is granted to the applicant to seek an order of mandamus directing and compelling the respondent to account for all monies that have accrued to the NDDC from the inception of the Interim or acting management beginning from. Prof. Nelson Brambaifa till date”.

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MICROSOFT AFRICA DEVELOPMENT CENTER, WEST AFRICA NEW FACILITY LAUNCH...

L-R: DG, NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi; Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria and Ghana, Ola Williams; Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mallam Isa Ali Pantami; Corporate Vice President of Identity, Microsoft ADC West Africa, Joy Chik; Managing Director, Photo: Abiodun Ajala Microsoft Africa Development Center, Nigeria, West Africa, Gafar Lawal and US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, during the Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC) West Africa new facility launch in Lagos... recently

Grid Collapse: Lawmakers Lambast Power Minister, Demand Improved Electricity Supply Say Nigerians want actions not theories Mull return of NBET to power ministry Udora Orizu in Abuja Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Power yesterday criticised the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu mandating him to take concrete actions aimed at solving the current nationwide blackout rather than always presenting theories that do not translate into power supply to Nigerians.

The Committee, led by Hon. Magaji Da'u Aliyu at a meeting with the minister, expressed disappointment over the lackadaisical attitude of the ministry towards

power issues whenever there was national emergency, saying there was nothing in his presentation to show that the ministry was solving the challenge of increased power outages being experienced by the country.

The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Nebolisa Anoka, had enumerated the challenges facing the sector, ranging from low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, as well as disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution. This, he said had

led to the collapse of the national grid and as well what the ministry was doing to salvage the situation.

He explained that in response to the challenges facing power generation, the ministry recently hosted an emergency meeting with key stakeholders in the gas-to-power value chain, during which far-reaching resolutions were arrived at on key measures needed to ameliorate the situation.

Reacting to the presentation, Aliyu, who earlier explained that the special interactive session was necessitated by the fact that

ThriveAgric to Empower over 200,000 Farmers with $56.4m Debt Funding Gilbert Ekugbe

ThriveAgric, a fast-growing technology-driven agricultural company, has announced plans to raise $56.4 million debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors to empower over 200,000 farmers with its $56.4 million According to a statement posted on its Twitter account, the company explained that the investment would also enable it expand into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.

The company noted that the fresh funding also included a coinvestment grant of $1.75 million from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment.

Commenting on the impact the funds will have, Chief Executive Officer, ThriveAgric, Uka Eje said: “The new investment takes us one step closer to fulfilling our mission of building the largest network of profitable African farmers using technology to ensure food security.

“We look ahead with renewed confidence knowing that our smallholder farmers will benefit financially even more from this new investment. Despite a volatile backdrop over the past few years, brought about by the global pandemic, ThriveAgric witnessed temporary payment disruptions to our retail crowd funders.

“However, we overcame those challenges within a year and maintained company profitability.

Our solid financial performance underscores investors' faith in ThriveAgric.

“It is great to see that the market has overwhelmingly backed our farmers, and they are confident in the strategic decisions we have taken. ThriveAgric has increased its footprint to 20 states in Nigeria, and we look forward to a lengthy

period of growth as we continue to link African farmers to capital, data-driven best practices and access to local and global markets for their commodities," he added.

The latest funding followed the $9 million the company raised in 2020.

Over the past 12 months, ThriveAgric’s revenues have increased five-fold, with a yearon-year increase of 277 per cent in farmer numbers. The strong margin performance was boosted by farmers using the company’s AOS proprietary product.

The company supports Africa’s

agriculture sector by assisting smallholder farmers in producing high-quality grains.

Harvests, including maise, rice and soybeans, are stored in many of the company’s 450+ warehouses in Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina states in Nigeria, before being commoditised and offered to local and global trade markets at a premium price.

Farmers assisted by ThriveAgric can charge premium rates for their commodities, allowing them to increase their incomes up to 25 per cent.

Nigerians were facing the worst energy crisis in recent times, lamented that the situation had affected businesses, both small and large, which according to him had been attracting huge public outcry.

He called for the return of the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), under the supervision of the Power Ministry, saying that there was not much both the Ministry and the Committee could do if the agency remained elsewhere.

According to him, these were part of the sectoral problems affecting the country in terms of power, as the agency which was tasked with the responsibility of evacuating unused electricity and bridging the gap debit gap between Gencos and Discos is not properly supervised.

He said, "There is nothing on ground to show that there will be light or generation of up to 5000 megawatts, but we keep hearing about 30,000 megawatts of installed capacity across the power stations.

“It may be recalled that Nigerians whom we represent experience one of the worst moment of electricity supply across the country. This development has caused variety of problems affecting peoples’ welfare which makes social living condition very uncomfortable.

“It has caused collapse of small businesses whose operations depend

on stable electricity supply. The situation has also aggravated increased process in commodities and services especially those that require electricity supply.

"The overheated socio-economic environment due to very poor electricity supply attracted huge public outcry for immediate solutions, especially given the contractual nature of provision of power and energy services in the post privatization era by the Nigerian Power Supply Industry.

“Against this background and acting as peoples’ representatives, this interactive session is organised to request the Minister to among others: Explain the remote and immediate causes of the current deplorable power supply across the country; explain the technical, operational and administrative measures taken by the ministry to address the challenges and its devastating consequences against life, welfare and economy; and suggest in your highlight the areas which the House of Representatives or indeed the National Assembly can provide legislative support to overcome the challenges apparently disturbing all Nigerians."

Corroborating Aliyu statement, members of the Committee, took turns to lament the unending projections by the Ministry that have never come to fruition.

In his contribution, Hon. Sada

Soli (APC, Katsina), noted that the concern raised by Gencos as the major reason for the blackout, was the N1.4 trillion debt NBET was owing them as cost of generated but unused electricity.

He also noted three major concerns ranging from the quantity, quality and cost of gas delivered to them for their operations. Also, Hon. Aisha Dukku wondered if the ministry won't be able to resolve the problem till end of next year She said: "Mr. Chairman, what the Permanent Secretary is telling us is end of next year. So, that means we will continue to be in darkness until end of 2023? Haba! No, no!"

On his part, Hon. Muraino Ajibola, said, "These problems are not starting now. For instance, we know, every year, there will be shortage of water. We also know that most of time during the period of January to March, there is always this shutdown.

“We have abundance of gas but we are not making use of it. What we do is fire brigade approach. Mr. Chairman, the summary of it is that we are not prepared to give our power and I think it's very sad.

They also bring light when they want to send estimated bills to us."

Thereafter, the Chairman of the Committee ruled that the Permanent Secretary should return on Friday with more practical evidences of intended interventions.

Leaders Urge Nigerians to Vote Without Ethnic, Religious Sentiments Segun James With the 2023 elections less than a year away, political leaders, yesterday, came together and urged Nigerians to do away with sentiments, when voting people into public office next year.

Speaking at the fourth annual lecture of freedom online publication held in Ikeja, Lagos on the topic: "Nigeria's political indices: Bright or bleak future," leaders like former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, former governor Peter Obi, Senator Ahmed Markafi and former Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, submitted that Nigeria requireda leader that could unite the country and move it forward as past leaders had contributed to the challenges facing the country.

In his submission, Senator Markafi, who was the chairman of the occasion , said the country had challenges that needed to be

addressed, and if not addressed, could have consequences on the country.

He urged the people that by 2023 general election, they should vote wisely and usher in good leadership that would take care of the problems facing the country.

Makarfi noted that because the division in the country was glaring, any government that emerged in 2023, should be ready to form government of national unity with a national agenda.

"We must bring unity. l want unity in addressing the problems.

Political colouration should not take the centre stage," he said, adding that the private sector, which has a lot of role to play in determining, who leads the country, should play it well.

Obi, in his submission, said Nigerians should be wary of the situation of things in the country, and failure to have good leadership to rule the country

could destroy every potential the country has.

"What we are experiencing today is cummulative of leadership failure. We are assesing our future, a future, which everybody is worried of. We lack leadership, everything can be destroyed by poor leadership. That is the problem of Nigeria," he said.

Daniel noted that Nigeria’s future was bright if Nigerians were ready to take the right decision, adding that the narrative could be changed.

He added that despite the economic challenges facing the country, the international community still believed in Nigeria and the country has a bright future.

He, therefore, urged the leaders to do away with ethnic sentiments, because it was one of the issues drawing the nation backwards.

"Every leader should forego any bitterness they nurse. Some policies are made with parochial

interest," Daniel said.

Peterside, on his part, said most of Nigeria leaders had mismanaged the nation’s resources and as such, urged Nigerians to learn from history and should focus less on event of yesterday but the future.

"We often focus on yesterday and pay little emphasis on the future. Nigeria needs unity of vision and purpose. Nigeria doesn't have a vision that unified it as a nation, but we have individual visions. We should elect leaders, who are not realistic but idealistic," he said.

A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, who was represented by his personal assistant, Prince Uthman Shodipe, said there was hope for Nigeria so far right thinking Nigerians do not keep quiet in saying the truth.

He said Nigeria was not yet a nation, because “we don't

have common destiny and it is a country struggling to survive, because things are not yet the way they supposed to be.”

Contributing too, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Chief Gani Adams, said restructuring of the country was the only solution to the problems facing Nigeria as a nation, and maintained that the problem of the country needed to be solved before we talk of another general election.

Earlier in his welcome address, publisher of Freedom online, Mr. Gabriel Akin-Adewo, said politicians needed to draw a line between governance and politics and that could be achieved by paying attention to the development of the country.

He noted that the failure to pay attention to development was responsible for high rate of insecurity and poor state of the economy, adding that over centralisation of governance has further compounded the problems.

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PDP SOUTH-WEST ZONAL CAUCUS MEETING...

L-R: Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George; former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, during the PDP South-west zonal caucus meeting held at Ibadan... yesterday

FAAC Shares N695bn February Revenue to FG, States, LGs Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday shared a total sum of N695.033 billion to the three tiers of government, as allocation for the month of February, 2022.

A communique issued after a virtual meeting of the Committee revealed that from the amount, inclusive of Gross Statutory Revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), Non Mineral Revenues and Excess Bank Charges, the federal government received N236.177 billion, the states received N190.007 billion, while the local government councils got N140.612 billion.

On the other hand, the oil producing states received N23.750 billion as 13 per cent derivation (mineral revenue) while cost of collection and transfer refunds received N23.989 billion and N80.498 billion respectively.

The communiqué indicated that the gross revenue available from the VAT for February, 2022 was N177.873 billion as against N191.222 billion distributed in the preceding month of January 2022, resulting in a decrease of N13.349 billion. The distribution was as follows: The federal government got N24.845 billion, the states received N82.818 billion, local government councils got N57.972 billion, while cost of

collection to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) got N7.115 billion.

The Allocation to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NEDC) project received N5.123 billion.

The distributed Statutory Revenue

of N429.681 billion, received for the month was higher than the sum of N396.432 billion in the previous month by N33.249 billion, from which the federal government was allocated the sum of N165.248 billion, states got N83.816 billion, local councils got N64.618 billion

The Niger Delta Peace Initiative (NDPI) has called for the transition of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) into the Niger Delta Stabilisation Programme (NDSP) and the appointment of the current Interim Administrator of PAP, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd) to head the NDSP. The group said transiting the programme to NDSP would remove the militancy tag in the Niger Delta associated with PAP and lead to influx of investors to the region.

The NDPI in a statement by its Secretary-General, Moses Kolomo and Publicity Secretary, Jacob Aduna, described Dikio as an asset in the stabilisation of the region to avert possible fresh unrest in the future.

The stakeholders said the new programme if established by the government would enable the retention of the services of Dikio, whose capacity in managing PAP, according to them, would ensure

gas royalties increased marginally.

However, Import and Excise Duties, Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) recorded considerable decreases.

It was further disclosed that total revenue distributable for the current month was drawn from Statutory

Revenue of N429.641billion, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N177.873 billion, Excess Bank Charges Recovered of N7.479 and Non Mineral Revenues of N80 billion.

The balance in the Excess Crude Account as at March 22, 2022 stood at $35.371million.

EFCC Boss Elected Regional Anti-corruption Coalition President Anti-graft agency arrests 33 suspected internet fraudsters Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The newly-elected President of the Network of National AntiCorruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) and Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, yesterday promised to strengthen international cooperation and coordination among West African Countries in combating corruption and illicit financial flow.

Bawa said this while giving his closing remarks at the just concluded NACIWA General Assembly held in Abuja.

Bawa's pledge came as the commission arrested 33 internet

fraudsters in Lagos and Enugu.

While thanking the outgone NACIWA President, Francis Ben Kaifala and his executives for exemplary leadership in the last three years, Bawa stated that his task in NACIWA would be to strengthen and harmonise administrative and legal frameworks in combating corrupt practices in the sub- region, enhancing cooperation within NACIMA member-states for borderless investigation to stem the tide of illicit financial flows, developing a strategic and operational plan for the network, among others.

He also sought closer rapport among member-states for informal relationship that would boost inter-

Niger Delta: Group Calls for Transition of PAP to NDSP Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

while 13 per cent derivation got N23.750 billion.

The cost of collection received N16.874, while transfers and refund accounted for N75.375 billion.

The communiqué also revealed that Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) increased significantly, while oil and

the realisation of NDSP and total transformation of the Niger Delta youths.

They explained that the NDSP should be designed to focus on the young ones between the ages of 12 and 18 years to stop the rising influx of youths within the age brackets into cultism.

The stakeholders said if the rising trend were not curtailed, a new generation of youths would be deceived to begin a fresh arms struggle against the federal government.

"We don’t want to lose Dikio because this is the first time someone has shown selflessness, capacity and genuine motive in the management of the affairs of any Niger Delta programme.

"Since the amnesty programme is not sustainable, we are calling for the transition of PAP into the Niger Delta Stabilisation Programme (NDSP) with the appointment of Dikio to manage it.

"We know that Dikio has

perfect understanding of NDSP. We overheard him mention it in different fora and we think it is the best for the Niger Delta region. So, he is the best person that will handle such intervention. We understood that the NDSP will focus on young ones between the ages of 12 and 18.

"This age bracket will determine the future of the Niger Delta. But with the rate people at this age bracket are joining cultism, we are afraid that if no deliberate intervention like NDSP is rolled out by the federal government, the region may witness another round of violent agitation in the nearest future".

The group explained to Buhari that Dikio had been a bride to the people of the Niger Delta in the management of PAP and should be allowed a longer time to stabilise the region. They further called on all critical stakeholders to give Dikio the maximum support saying that the PAP boss had a better vision and plans for Niger Delta people.

agency investigative relationships.

Bawa was elected President of NACIWA on Monday, March 21, 2022, in Abuja.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Lagos and Enugu Zonal Commands of the commission yesterday arrested 33 internet fraud suspects in separate sting operations.

A statement by the commission said 17 of the suspects were arrested in Lagos, while 16 others were nabbed at Enugu.

The 17 suspects arrested in Lagos were Adefila Ayobami Ezekiel, Anamene Somtochukwu, Nzeako Kosisochukwu Anthony, Afolabi Ayomide Henry, Olatona Ayodeji Ebenezer, Obioho Ikenna Raphael, Famolayo Femi Hammed, Mintah-Joshua Oluwafemi, Martins Victor Onuoha, Babatunde Haruna Oluwaseyi, Taiwo Bolaji Kehinde,

Ibeakolam Goodluck, Onaolapo Iyanu Samuel, Jamiu Damilola Lawal, Adeyanju Fawaz, Adejide Samuel and Obioho Obinna.

They were arrested in an Estate around the Okota axis of Lagos following credible intelligence received by the commission on the illegal activities of some individuals allegedly involved in computer fraud.

It said upon their arrest, six exotic vehicles, laptops and mobile devices were recovered from them.

The 16 suspected fraudsters arrested in Enugu were apprehended at Premier Layout axis of Enugu.

They were Ovu Chimezie, Junior Gentle Pepple, Nwoye Paul, Ezeoke Chimelue, Innocent Kenechukwu, Tochukwu Igbonekwu, Chigozie Oguanya, Nwachukwu Daniel and Charles Duru Chibuzor.

Others were Anderson D. Ugochukwu, Chinedu Nwasu, Obiora Martin Ugonna, Nwabueze Chidindu, Nwabueze Samuel Nnaemeka, Okechukwu Collins.D and Nwabueze Benjamin Ikenna.

Preliminary investigation linked them with suspected impersonation, possession of fraudulent documents and defrauding unsuspecting foreign nationals. Items recovered from the suspects included one Lexus ES350 with registration number EPE113 HB, a Mercedes Benz E350 with registration number RSH 201 BP, another Mercedes Benz with registration number UWN 338 MP and one Toyota Camry with registration number JRV 944 KL; and several phones and laptops. The suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

Traders Warn of Looming Global Diesel Shortage The global markets face a squeeze on diesel because of sanctions on Russia, with Europe most at risk of a “systemic” shortage that could lead to fuel rationing, the world’s top trading groups have warned.

The heads of three of the largest commodity traders – Vitol, Gunvor and Trafigura – estimated that as much as three million barrels of oil and its products a day could be lost from Russia as a result of sanctions, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. said Russell Hardy The corporate leaders were speaking at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“Europe imports about half of its diesel from Russia and about half of its diesel from the Middle East,” the chief of Switzerland-based oil trader Vitol, Russell Hardy said.

“That systemic shortfall of diesel is there.”

These Russian imports account for roughly 15 per cent of Europe’s diesel consumption, while crude oil from Russia is also processed by refineries on the continent.

Hardy said the shift to more diesel consumption over petrol in Europe had created shortages of the fuel. He added that refineries could boost their diesel output in response to higher prices at the expense of other oil-derived products to shore up supply, but acknowledged that rationing was a possibility.

The co-founder and chair of Geneva-headquartered Gunvor Group, Torbjorn Tornqvist said: “Diesel is not just a European problem, this is a global problem.

It really is.”

Also, the chief executive of Singapore-based Trafigura, Jeremy Weir said two million-2.5 million barrels of Russian oil production would go missing from the global

market, split between crude and refined products.

“The diesel market is extremely tight. It’s going to get tighter,” he added.

Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, said “diesel is by far the worst affected” of the oil products because Europe imports close to 1mn barrels a day of Russian diesel and the world entered the conflict with near record low stocks of oil.”

French oil major TotalEnergies said, unless it received instructions to the contrary from European governments, it would terminate its Russian diesel purchase contracts “as soon as possible and by the end of 2022 at the latest”.

“TotalEnergies will import petroleum products from other continents, notably its share of gasoil produced by the Satorp refinery in Saudi Arabia,” the company said in a statement.

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MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

Ayu Scores High Marks for ‘Friendly’ Cost of Nomination Forms Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has been commended by various stakeholders for the comparative ‘friendly’ prices of nomination forms for aspirants into various offices who wish to contest on the party’s platform

Ayu

Saraki

The PDP’s NEC approved a 50 per cent reduction in nomination fees for youths aged 25 to 30 years for various elective positions.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, announced the party’s decision on the costs of its nomination forms to elective positions at its National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

According to Ologunagba, the fees for expression of interest and nomination forms are as follows: “State House of Assembly: Expression of Interest, N100,000; Nomination Form, N500,000. House of Representatives: Expression of Interest, N500,000; Nomination Form, N2,000,000.

“Senate: Expression of Interest, N500,000; Nomination Form, N3,000,000. Governorship: Expression of Interest, N1,000,000; Nomination Form, 20,000,000.

President: Expression of Interest,

Many stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are applauding the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu for the relative ‘friendly’ prices of nomination forms for aspirants into various offices who wish to contest on the platform of the PDP. Ayu, an original member of the G34 group, led by the late former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, that fought the military to a standstill to herald this enduring season of democracy is being given a standing ovation, particularly in the states, where the bulk of contestants for National Assembly and state houses of assembly will come from.

Commending the Founding Fathers of party, which includes Ayu, Prince Muhammed Kadade Suleiman, PDP, National Youth Leader, said they, “Envisioned a Nigeria with clear roadmap to development and sustainability. The bulk of that vision reflected in the array of individuals voted and appointed into office 23 years ago.

Most of our leaders today were young first timers (23 years ago), who were given opportunity to serve in public office and thrived in their respective portfolios.”

Kadade

N5,000,000; Nomination Form, N35,000,000.”

While the fees for presidential and governorship nomination forms are apparently high, the leadership of the PDP was commended for slashing by 50 per cent the cost of expression of interest and nomination forms for young people. One of those who saw the good in the decision of the PDP is the immediate past Senate President, Bukola Saraki. He was in a joyous mood to know that the recommendation of the party’s National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, chaired by him was accepted.

Saraki said, “Following the recommendation of the #OfficialPDPNig National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee early last year, I applaud the moves by our party to sustain further youth inclusion by slashing the cost of nomination and expression of interest forms for youths by 50 percent. Once again, #OfficialPDP Nigeria has shown that we are working to sustain a collaborative atmosphere between the older and younger generation, as we look forward to rescuing Nigeria in 2023.”

In 2019, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP fixed the sale of Expression

of Interests and Nomination forms for the 2019 general elections, as follows: office of president on the PDP platform, N12million (N2million for Expression of Interest form and N10million for Nomination form). Governorship aspirants on the PDP platform coughed out N6million (N1million as Expression of Interest form and N5million for the Nomination form). It cost a senatorial aspirant N3.5million on the PDP platform, House of Reps aspirant N1.5million and House of Assembly N600,000. The PDP excluded all female aspirants any form of payment to vie for political office on its platform.

The Ayu leadership of the PDP appears to have decided to keep the fees for presidential hopefuls on the platform of the party high, in order to avoid a crowded space so that better cohesion and little quarrel can be experienced.

Campaigning with the slogan, ‘rescue Nigeria,’ the PDP has set for itself the big task of returning NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

The Task Before the Abdulrazaq’s APC Zoning Committee Going by his track record, Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State will make a good job of his latest assignment as head of the All Progressives Congress’ Zoning Committee

O

ne of the knotty issues that may remain contentious no matter in whose favour it is resolved is how the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will zone its offices at the party’s national convention coming up on Saturday, March 26.

For a long time, zoning of political offices has become acceptable to address the touchy topic of satisfying every segment of Nigeria’s pluralistic society.

Although, it is not in the constitution, it is the soothing balm that heals bruised personal and communal psyche, while providing hope that equity will prevail in filling of national, regional and state offices.

For this reason, more than a passing interest will paid to the APC Zoning Committee headed by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State.

Every section of the country is making a bold claim to one office or the other at the APC national convention. The North-central began the agitation for the party’s national chairmanship. That section of the country, which is also known as the Middle-belt believes the presidential ticket of the party should come to it. This notion is championed

by Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a chieftain of the APC, who has made the Federal Capital Territory his home. In recent times, Mr. Moses Ayom, a successful businessman from Benue State, has emerged as a strong voice contending for all the rights and privileges that should accrue to the Middle-belt. Both Olawepo-Hashim and Ayom want the presidential ticket of the APC. However, they are not the only ones in contention; Governor Yahaya Bello is also making a strong bid for the prized slot on the platform

Buhari

Abdulrazaq of the APC. Before going for its presidential primaries, the APC is faced with the challenge of constituting its national leadership. Again, the Middle-belt has thrown in some of its best in the bid to head the party’s national secretariat. There are Saliu Mustapha from Kwara State and Senator Sani Musa from Niger State. Nasarawa State has two contenders in the race for national chairmanship of the APC. Incidentally, both of them are former governors of the state and serving senators; Tanko Al-Makura and Abdullahi Adamu. There is former governor of Benue State and Minister

of Special Duties, Senator George Akume.

Incidentally, Abdulrazaq governs a state in the North-central of Nigeria. If this was a consideration for his choice to head a committee that will give the APC an acceptable zoning formula, it is not clear. What is not in doubt, however, is that the choices before the committee are not easy. But they will have to take a decision, have cogent reasons for their choices and be ready to defend them. While the arrowhead of the national secretariat and the one who calls the shots is undoubtedly the national chairman, every office in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is strategic and will be keenly contested.

Will the South-west take the APC’s presidential slot? Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are leading the

struggle. The South-south is not taking no for answer as the likes of Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and the Minster of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio are warming up for the APC presidential race. A lot of sympathizers are drawn to the persuasive arguments by South-easterners that one of their own, not any other region in Nigeria, should serve as Nigerian president in 2023. The South-east APC presidential campaign is championed by Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Senator Rochas Okorocha.

Working with Abdulrazaq in the APC Zoning Committee are Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, who will serve as deputy chairman. Professor Etim Nyong, Dr. M.B Shehu, Mustapha Salihu, Senator Teslim Folarin, and Mr. Sadeeq Sule-Iko Sami. The former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Nkem Okeke, would serve as Secretary.

While the APC has been careful in selecting members of the committee from every region of the country, the integrity of the Chairman, Governor Abdulrazaq is not in doubt. Over time, he has demonstrated that he is the champion of equity, justice and inclusion in Nigerian politics, having successfully ensured a place of honour for women and youths in Kwara State and guaranteeing that every segment of that state is represented in his team; while infrastructure and other index of development are evenly spread throughout the state.

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

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POLITICS

Imo and the Second Coming of Omenkeahuruanya

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

Paul Obi looks at the Rebuild Imo Project and the Omenkeahuruanya Movement spearheaded by Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha to herald his anticipated second coming

Ihedioha

I

mo occupies a central place in the Igbooriental cultural milieu, and mostly tagged along as the state of timber and caliber - like the late sage, Chief Sam Mbakwe. In Imo, Nigeria is bestowed with the rigour of Igbo culture and vibes of human capital development comparable anywhere in the world.

Yet since 2007, when the Achike Udenwa administration handed over the baton, it has been political harakiri on a free fall. From flogging of the men in cassock to Akpòlagi, and then ushered in constitutional vandals, the state of Sam Mbakee has become a mockery in democratic governance. Still, the episodes of January, 14, 2020 where jurists in Nigeria’s capital, far removed from the polling booth arenas in Imo thump printed for a contestant who came fourth in the real polls, Imo has regrettably lost the democratic appeal that makes her great. The sixty-four (64) thousand dollar question on the lips of many now is, is Imo politics stupid?

Imo is a great state with potentials; but as experiences have shown, it must first fix its wobble politics before economic growth would take stead. Thus, the problem of Imo is yielding so much of its political and democratic space to ‘yahoo yahoo governors,’ as Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu would say. Imo and her people, must therefore learn to keep their gubernatorial poll clean; keeping at bay political undertakers from participation.

Imo might not be the only Nigerian state, confronting a democratic nadir. The plaque of mis-governance cuts across; particularly with the present collegiate club of state chief executives is alarming and runs deep. In Imo, the orgy of digression and distraction have been excruciating and outrageous. The stool and crown inside Douglas House is odious; and even smacks of perfidy - an amalgam of a stolen mandate.

Among the gubernatorial club and progressives, the heir of Douglas is not recognized nor accorded gubernatorial dues, and the emergence through the Supreme Court is seen as a heist. Among Imolites and the larger Nigerian population, the distrust is huge and damning. To many Nigerians, a forceful occupier does not have a place in a democracy, and as such lacks the constitutional mandate of Imo voters. In Imo, the wait to shift away that innocuous mandate chauffeured by the Supreme Court has been appealing and gladdening, just as kids wait for candy.

It is in that wait that the construct of the second coming of Omenkeahuruanya beckons. The definitive puzzle embedded in the name, Omenkeahuruanya is strong, potent and reliable. It symbolizes a performer, doer, a pragmatic character that delivers and perform that which is evident, and seen with beaming eyes. Not propaganda, nor a court of jesters, naysayers and poet-sychophants.

Omenkeahuruanya, is not just a pet name or an axiom for Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.

Within the six months of his stay in Douglas, Ihedioha lived to the billing of the name, and Imo had a semblance of what good governance should look like. It was evidently clear and seen that Imo was being railroaded back to the jubilant and ebullient years of

Mbakwe, where infrastructural development and human capital development were at the forefront. Then, Ihedioha had multi-sectoral think-tanks to harness economic potentials that bestrode the Imo landscape for common good. Before occupying Douglas, Ihedioha had a good name - not perfect. Imperfection makes us human; perfection is reserved only for the divine creator. Rather, his dexterity and political sagacity remain tall and vast.

Conversely, some accused him of detachment and distance. Ironically, some insiders opined that Ihedioha takes care of outsiders and strangers far more than his inner circle and foot soldiers. Where and how then do we balance the equation? Still, very few Nigerian politicians can keep political group intact after or without power, the way and manner Ihedioha had sustained the Rebuild Imo Project group. Only Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, James Ibori (Ogidigbodigbo of Africa) and Liyel Imoke and few others share that feat.

It takes expertise, political savvy, calmness and understanding of the political culture to thrive. Hate him or like him, no one can say Ihedioha is not a good politician. At least, he cares; not loud nor bombastic. He is well measured, collected and urbane with eyes fixated on rescuing Imo people from torrents of undemocratic rein, and decay of social life. In all, the Supreme Court somersault was a bitter pill and lesson to the ideals of Omenkeahuruanya.

Further, Omenkeahuruanya has learned his lessons. Next time, more attention will be paid to whoever occupies the Office of the Attorney General of the State (OAGS) even Chief of Staff (CoS). Before their eyes then, they allowed constitutional vandals to abruptly upturn the people’s mandate that was given at the ballot box, sweeping away the Rebuild Imo Project. Therefore, no such intellectual laziness should be allowed near the Omenkeahuruanya Movement and the Rebuild Imo Project. Rather, there is an urgency to open more; to be more receptive and embracing. There should be no need for commonpence, vendetta or payback. Instead, it should be governance, governance and governance, with Imo people front and centre.

In doing so, lessons must be learned. And if there is anything Omenkeahuruanya has to learn is from the current 2023 presidential run.

Looking at the pool of presidential hopefuls, it is dominated by former governors. But only those who governed their states well in time past like Peter Obi; Bukola Saraki and Aminu Tambuwal are being taken seriously.

The rest who pillaged, ravaged and manacled their states, running casino economies and atrocious governance in their infectious and incestuous wonderland have been declared non-starters by Nigerians. Thus, when politicians work and govern well to elevate and better the lives of citizens, people are aware, and are always on the verge to honour such politicians with a more higher and lofty elevation. What would the second coming of Omenkeahuruanya portend for Imo people?

Politically, the Rebuild Imo Project is presently facing an in-house tussle in Ihedioha’s main enclave over who takes over the Owerri Senatorial District in a zero-sum battle between the incumbent Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi and Hon. Uche Onyeagocha. What would Ihedioha do now? Some are of the view that Sen. Onyewuchi has garnered so much experience that he should be allowed to go for a second term; others feel Onyeagocha connects well and he is likewise capable. From feelers on the field, attempts by Ihedioha to pacify the situation has not yielded positive outcomes. Onyeagocha is pressing on and he is being lend a space by supporters discontent with the status quo to wrestle Onyewuchi.

How does Ihedioha intends to navigate this murky political waters?

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

From left- Special Adviser to Osun State Governor on Commerce, Industry and Cooperative, Hon. Christy Ogunfolaju, Governor State of Osun, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, his wife, Kafayat Oyetola, Commissioner for commerce industry and Cooperative, Hon. Bode Olanipekun and Mrs. Hamsat Jelilat the presentation of cheque on SME Empowerment Programme, tagged GBOWOGA (Improve Your Business), at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park Osogbo

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Archbishop, Metropolitan & Primate of All Nigeria, The Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba; during a courtesy visit to the Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti

From left, Osun State Governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola; his wife, Kafayat and Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye, during the foundation laying of the Mass Housing for Public Servants by Governor Oyetola, at the Back of Zone 11 Police Command, Abere, Osogbo

L-R: Friend of the celebrant, Mr Babatunde Aiku (SAN); Former Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development in Osun State, Mr Muyiwa Ige; Celebrant, Mr Wale Ojo; Friends of the Celebrant, Omoba Olusegun Adenekan; and Dr Tunde Awosanmi, During the Reception in honour of Late Pa Joseph Adeleye Ojo, Held at Alumni Hall, University of Ibadan...recently PHOTO;ETOP UKUTT

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T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022 Wednesday 23 March, 2022 Vol 27. No 9843 TR

See page 24 THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET Who controls the Internet after the Russo-Ukrainian war? asks SONNY ARAGBA-AKPORE See page 24 KOKO-BELLO AS THE JOKER CARD The helmsman at the NPA has justified the confidence reposed in him, writes JACKSON OLALI See page 25 WOMEN, MERIT AND CORPORATE POLITICS KATHLEEN E. OKAFOR contends that boards must have women’s promotion and participation in corporate governance to guide them See page 25

EDITORIAL EFCC AND THE LYNCHING OF OBIANO See page 26

& RE A S O

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opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

OSINBAJO AND THE NEW TRIBES REMI ADEBAYO writes that Nigerians of different faiths and backgrounds converged in Uyo to urge the Vice President to run

UT H

CHUKS ILOEGBUNAM does a content analysis of the Anambra Governor’s inaugural address

SOLUDO’S SOLEMN SUBMISSION The Governor’s promise to Ndi Anambra came in the 14th of his 50-paragraph inaugural address of March 17, 2022: “I feel your pulse,” he intoned. “For your sake I keep awake at night, sometimes having palpitations about not letting you down. Well, since God is the Miracle Worker, I will look up to Him in prayer and faith as we all start the work ahead of us. I see and feel all the humungous challenges… But here’s my promise: I will give it my all. I will work very hard every day, with you, to make Anambra proud. Every kobo of your tax money will be deployed to provide you maximum value.”

A cynical listener, whether via the electronic/ social media or physically present at the Government House concourse in Awka, would have been forgiven for responding thus: “There’s nothing new in the sight of a bow and arrow carrying Hausa man.” That’s an Igbo way of saying that Nigeria’s politics is like a raft tossed DERXW LQ DQ RFHDQ RI ÁRZHU\ SURPLVHV But I believe Governor Soludo. For a number of good reasons, Ndi Anambra have also placed WKHLU FRQÀGHQFH LQ KLP )RUHPRVW LV WUXVW something he dwelt on while thanking those that aided his journey to the governorship.

“Let me particularly thank my friend and outgoing governor of Anambra, HE (Sir) Willie Maduabrochukwu Obiano, for being an honourable gentleman and leader. On Sunday, 20th November 2016, I accepted your proposal for gentlemen’s understanding and partnership. , NHSW P\ SDUW LQ DQG HYHQ DIWHU ÀYH \HDUV you still kept yours in 2021. I always emphasize WKLV SRLQW EHFDXVH LW LV UDUH WKHVH GD\V WR ÀQG people who keep their word in politics, and we will never take your support for granted. You are indeed a great leader. Thanks for believing in me. We will work hard to make you and Ndi Anambra proud.”

What had November 20, 2016, 2017 and 2021 to do with March 17, 2022? Everything! In 2016, Chief Obiano proposed Professor Soludo as his successor. They entered into a gentleman’s agreement. The unwritten pact meant that Soludo worked for Obiano’s re-election. Every Anambra observer cannot but remember that during the 2017 gubernatorial campaigns, Obiano and Soludo were like conjoined twins at every stage and every stop of the hustings. Re-elected, Obiano, the gentleman, remembered that a hen never forgets the hand that pulled its feathers during the rainy season. His unwavering support for Soludo ensured that the man won both the APGA primary ballot and the governorship poll.

A man who makes public capital out of a private question of trust is unlikely to betray the trust already reposed in him by his people.

Personal experience lends credence to this proposition. Said Soludo: “For me, this issue is personal and emotional. My mother died during the civil war; our last born, Chukwuemeka died during the war; my father bore a bullet inside him for years; my elder brother – at 16, was in the ‘Boys Company’. At 8, I became the “man of the house”, with all the men at the war front. My uncles, cousins, etc., died during the war. This is 2022, and there are certainly far better ways to protest than shedding the blood of the innocent or resorting to criminality. That is why I call on

all of us today to join hands with me to execute the real agenda—a liveable and prosperous homeland of opportunities and jobs for our \RXWK ZKLOH PD[LPL]LQJ WKH EHQHÀWV RI D XQLWHG Nigeria/Africa.”

Soludo’s solemn promise to faithfully serve Anambra State appears with phrasal distinctions in eight other paragraphs of the 4,700-word essay.

It appears in paragraph seven as an apostrophe to his immediate family: “As I repeatedly promised, I will work hard every day never to disappoint you. My 90-year-old father is watching this live, while my beloved mother, Mgbafor, is smiling in her grave.” In paragraph 22, it takes a more generalized form: “Ndi be anyi, what we propose is that we collectively build a new social and economic order that guarantees and defends economic freedom and reward of private enterprise to secure our future such that any child born in Anambra will have little incentive to rush elsewhere in search of opportunities and anyone persecuted anywhere in the world can return to a happy and prosperous homeland.”

Governor Soludo’s cerebral disposition is taken for granted. Yet, he does not claim to know all the answers. He does not exhibit superhuman

Of the many gems in the address, one of the most uplifting is the promise that every Anambra citizen, inside and outside the State, is to be issued with an ID card. It is an antidote to deviant behaviour

airs. He does not assume that the job of mending a fractured people, of reawakening a collective consciousness thoroughly battered and bartered by calculated and systematic injustices indexed in the impunity of the superstructure and the tyranny in the substructure, is a task accomplishable by the waving of a magic wand.

Therefore, he appeals for every hand to be on deck for the salvage operation just begun.

In adorning his mandate with collective raiment, he employs personal and collective pronouns to clinch his arguments: “I have done some homework,” he says. “Our detailed Plan UHVWV RQ ÀYH NH\ SLOODUV ODZ DQG RUGHU KRPHODQG peace and security); economic transformation as Nigeria’s next axis of industrial-tech and leisure; competitive and progressive social agenda (education, health, youth, women and vulnerable groups); Governance, rule of law and a rebirth of our value system; and aggressively tackling our existential threat posed by the environment— towards a clean, green, planned and sustainable cities, communities, and markets. For me, this agenda is also personal: I am here to build a society where I would be proud to live in after OHDYLQJ R΀FH µ These key pillars are tied to the brainwork that produced three seminal documents that posit a social contract with Ndi Anambra: “(a) ‘Anambra Vision 2070—a 50-Year Development Plan’ which I chaired the drafting; (b) ‘The Soludo Solution: A People’s Manifesto for a Greater Anambra’; and (c) ‘The Transition Committee (Combined) 5HSRUW·³ZKLFK EXLOW XSRQ WKH ÀUVW WZR µ 7KHVH are a schedule in the gubernatorial tenure. There are, however, problems in need of prompt for redemptive action.

Foremost among them is the deleterious impact of the Monday-Monday sit-at-home regimen trending in the Igbo country. The others include a revenue collection schema that since converted Anambra into a vast cantonment of touts. How does Governor Soludo intend to grapple with these challenges? First on IPOB, his position is perceptive: “I endorse the recent statement (March 7, 2022) by the Joint Body of South East Council of Traditional Rulers and %LVKRSV $UFKELVKRSV RQ 3HDFH DQG &RQÁLFW Resolution, requesting for a tripartite discussion between them, The Presidency, and South East JRYHUQRUV WR GHDO ZLWK WKH FRQÁLFWV LQ WKH 6RXWK East especially in relation to Nnamdi Kanu and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN). There is QR FRQÁLFW WKDW GLDORJXH LQ JRRG IDLWK FDQQRW resolve. Our government is determined to urgently restore peace and security in Anambra, and we will seek the active cooperation and collaboration of all stakeholders.”

The logic is straightforward. Once there is jaw jawing, war warring gets sentenced to the backburner. It is hoped that with both hands those called upon to staunch a haemorrhaging entity will immediately grab his challenge.

Iloegbunam is the author of The Case For An Igbo President Of Nigeria

2 24

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

REMI ADEBAYO writes that Nigerians of different faiths and backgrounds converged in Uyo to urge the Vice President to run

Who controls the Internet after the Russo-Ukrainian war? asks SONNY ARAGBA-AKPORE

OSINBAJO AND THE NEW TRIBES 6HWWLQJ RXW WR D VWUDQJH ODQG IRU WKH ÀUVW time and armed with nothing other than the conviction to join other compatriots to clamour for a greater nation could appear unreasonable to some, but not for these 1LJHULDQV ZLWK H\HV À[HG RQ D GLͿHUHQW DQG better turn for the future of Nigeria.

1R VDFULÀFH ZDV WRR PXFK IRU WKHP WR make in the interest of that future. Their decision to ignore any real or imaginary hazards with travelling on the Nigerian roads stood them out, as that paled into LQVLJQLÀFDQFH LQ WKHLU GHWHUPLQDWLRQ WR grace the one-day event, tagged, ‘Uyo Declaration’ in Akwa Ibom State.

The Uyo event was organized by lovers and supporters of the Nigerian Vice 3UHVLGHQW 3URI <HPL 2VLQEDMR &RQYLQFHG by his distinctive leadership qualities, they have taken it upon themselves to impress it upon the Senior Advocate of Nigeria that Nigerians are yearning for him to take over

WKH PDQDJHPHQW RI WKH DͿDLUV RI WKH ODUJHVW Black African nation after the expiration of the constitutionally-prescribed tenure of his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari.

To them, the remarkable seven years of stewardship to the nation and rancour-free working relationship with the president KDYH IXUWKHU GHHSHQHG 3URI 2VLQEDMR·V understanding of the main challenges confronting the nation, as well as equipping KLP ZLWK ÀUVW KDQG NQRZOHGJH RI ZKDW LW will take to tackle them. Added to that is the advantage that comes with him being a younger czar whose competence, erudition, intellect and sense of loyalty places him in a prime position.

The Emerald Event Centre in Uyo, the venue of the gathering was already the beehive of activities for participants from across the country earlier in the day, with people freely mingling across the divides of ethnicity, class and faith, limited only E\ WKH REVHUYDQFH RI WKH &RYLG VDIHW\ protocols. Irrespective of the uniqueness of the cultural identities by delegates from GLͿHUHQW SDUWV RI WKH FRXQWU\ \HW WKHUH ZDV that feeling of camaraderie as diversity blended to forge celebration of a unity ZKLFK WUDQVFHQGHG GLͿHUHQFHV LQ WULEHV and tongues. The commonality of purpose ZDV HYLGHQW WKDW HYHU\RQH SUHVHQW LV ÀUVW and foremost, a Nigerian united to make FDVH IRU WKH 1LJHULDQ IXWXUH LQ DQ 2VLQEDMR presidency.

The objective of the gathering in Uyo was clear - to deepen and broaden the drive by the New Tribe to breed a new identity of WULEHOHVV SDWULRWV WR ZKRP GLͿHUHQFHV DFURVV tribes and religion that have continued to trigger mutual suspicion are eliminated. The goal is to reposition the nation alongside the bests in the world with just one cord that recognises only equity, fairness serving as

the driver for accelerated development, while enhancing national cohesion. That is what the new tribe is all about!

(DUOLHU RQ -DQXDU\ LQ WKH expansive city of Kano, the eminent Nigerian lawmaker and erudite scholar, Prof. Sola Adeyeye had left no one in doubt about the direction of the New Tribe and its thinking. “Nigeria has been calling for a new tribe for over six decades. Nigeria summons us to rise over and above our GLͿHUHQFHV WR HPEUDFH WKH WKLQJV WKDW ZH have in common. Nigeria enjoins us to rise beyond localised tongues and tribes to become a New Tribe – The Nigerian. “ The New Tribe, the biological scientist IXUWKHU FODULÀHG LV RQH LQ ZKLFK QR RQH LV SXOOHG GRZQ RQ DFFRXQW RI GLͿHUHQFHV LQ ethnicity or religion. “The new tribe that cares for the man at the top, just as it cares for the talakawa. This new tribe that embraces each and every one, irrespective of tongue, because we are all one tribe, a people bound E\ RQH GHVWLQ\ XQGHU *RG µ Adeyeye equally recognised that it would take a lot of work and a change of direction anchored around a visionary leader for the objective of the New Tribe to be realised. ´<HPL 2VLQEDMR LV WKH PDQ ZKR ZLOO lead us in the right direction, with the help of God and millions of Nigerians, the New Tribe, that have been yearning for an opportunity to side-step all the forces that have been pulling us apart, so that Nigeria can truly emerge as the giant it long should KDYH EHHQ µ VDLG $GH\H\H A few weeks after the declaration in Kano, these Nigerians from diverse backgrounds again stormed the oil-rich region and the beautiful city of Uyo to restate the case for a fresh start, using the new tribe narrative as WDONLQJ SRLQW DQG 2VLQEDMR DV V\PERO Some said the group’s clamour was to lure the Vice President to vie for the presidential post, but the message appears deeper and weightier than a mere overture towards the VP, but a call to strike a fresh deal in the heart of the nation itself and a pact for consolidating the values being laid and courageous bargaining for a tribeless Nigeria.

Having built bridges, not only among the SROLWLFDO HOLWH EXW ZLWK D ÀUP FRQQHFWLRQ with the ordinary people, the youths and the elderly, and a pan-Nigerian friendship that accommodates all tribes and tongues, 2VLQEDMR LV WUXVWHG WR OHDG D QHZ 1LJHULD as one big, happy, inspired and motivated constituency.

A former Minister of Tourism, High Chief Edem Duke, succinctly captured this; “I NQRZ WKDW 3URIHVVRU <HPL 2VLEDQMR LV D PDQ whose academic competence pose political sophistry, pose humility, pose diligence, somebody who is passionate about Nigeria, a man who can represent Nigeria sitting with any other president in the world with little or no prompting. I know and I believe that this is the gentleman who can represent us anywhere.

Continuing, he said: “This is a man who is technologically savvy, he can deal with technology, he can decipher, he is also able to engage with the young people. There is no gap, therefore, it is better for him to also carry the burden of the youth. This is a man whose religious persuasion has taught him to respect the holistic beliefs of all and sundry. He can operate in the horizon, he can operate in the platoon and this I think recommends him amply for the emergence and participation in the presidential race on WKH SODWIRUP RI WKH $3& µ

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET When the war in Ukraine ends, a bigger war is expected to be fought. That war will determine who controls the information superhighway, the Internet.

It will determine the extent of the Cold War between Russia and the United States of America (USA).The victory either way will determine how people could deploy the Internet for their purposes.

Russia wants state-controlled Internet while the 86$ WKLQNV GLͿHUHQWO\ 2SHQ FRPPXQLFDWLRQ LV

for the Russian government and Huawei, as well as Nokia and Ericsson. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is campaigning for Bogdan-Martin during a trip to Europe recently at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in Geneva.

Rosenworcel met with delegations from Asia, Latin America and Europe to push the 8 6 FDQGLGDWH DFFRUGLQJ WR )&& R΀FLDOV

Bogdan-Martin

Ismailov

the inalienable rights of the individuals, America UHDVRQV 2SHQ FRPPXQLFDWLRQ LV WKH UHDVRQ ZK\ we see what is going on in the Ukraine, so the Internet should be left open.

This battle will be determined in September 2022 at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania.

7KH ,78 LV WKH 812 VSHFLDOL]HG ERG\ IRU WKH Internet, telecommunication and broadcasting.

The elections for new leadership for the ITU hold every four years for the Secretary *HQHUDO &(2 DPRQJ RWKHUV 7KH PHPEHUV representing various regions will determine the fate of the leaders.

The current Secretary General, Houlin Zhao IURP &KLQD ZDV HOHFWHG LQ DQG VHUYHV RXW KLV two term of four years each by September.

The two major contestants for the Secretary General position are Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin from the USA running against Mr.Rashid Ismailov of Russia. Bogdan-Martin has worked at the ITU for over 30 years and this is why U.S. R΀FLDOV DUH VWHSSLQJ XS D FDPSDLJQ WR GHIHDW D Russian candidate for this UN agency that could determine how much control governments have over the internet.

Russia’s designs on the little-known agency raise the stakes for what the Russian government’s vision of the internet could mean for the rest of the world, especially following its invasion of Ukraine.

“You don’t have to look very far to understand, in this current day and age of geopolitics, how important it is to have the right kinds of open FRPPXQLFDWLRQV QHWZRUNV µ $ODQ 'DYLGVRQ head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, explained in agency reports.

“Part of why we’re able to see what we’re seeing on the ground [in Ukraine] is because we KDYH RSHQ FRPPXQLFDWLRQV µ The U.S. is running a candidate to lead the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the telecommunications agency of the UN. If elected, Doreen Bogdan-Martin would be the ÀUVW IHPDOH VHFUHWDU\ JHQHUDO RI WKH ,78 DQG WKH ÀUVW 8 6 OHDGHU VLQFH WKH V 6KH LV FRPSHWLQJ against Rashid Ismailov, who previously worked

There’s a battle brewing over how much of a role the ITU and governments should have over internet standards and protocols, with China and Russia advocating for the ITU to have more control over how the internet operates.

China and Russia’s vision would “encourage governments to have greater control over who’s allowed to use the internet, how it’s allowed to be used and whether or QRW WKHUH VKRXOG EH IUHH ÁRZ RI LQIRUPDWLRQ µ David Gross, a former ambassador for international communications policy, said.

That’s in contrast with the Western ´ERWWRP XS DSSURDFKµ RI WHFKQRORJLVWV civil society groups and others determining internet standards and protocols.

7KH QRQSURÀW RUJDQL]DWLRQ ,QWHUQHW Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) coordinates the internet’s address system and other technical operations.

But Russia and China leaders have said the ITU should be the place for negotiations over the way the internet would operate.

7KDW ´PXOWLODWHUDO DSSURDFKµ ZRXOG PHDQ that “the government should be the ones PDNLQJ WKHVH GHFLVLRQV µ *URVV VDLG The vote will be held by secret ballot this fall at the ITU’s Conference in Bucharest.

Each country gets one vote.

Bogdan-Martin has worked for the ITU for nearly 30 years, lives in Europe and is seen as a global citizen — a boon for an American candidate taking on an international role.

“Things are largely done on consensus at the ITU, so she knows how to bring around WKDW FRQVHQVXV µ 6XVDQ 1HVV D IRUPHU )&& commissioner and a visiting distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund, further explained. “But make no mistake, control of WKH LQWHUQHW LV D FULWLFDO TXHVWLRQ µ The Russian and Chinese vision of greater government control and insight into internet operations could appeal to other member countries as well.

ARAGBA-AKPORE is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board

325

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

The helmsman at the NPA has justified the confidence reposed in him, writes JACKSON OLALI

KOKO-BELLO AS THE JOKER CARD Give it to President Muhammadu Buhari, KLV SDVVLRQ IRU D GLYHUVLÀHG 1LJHULDQ HFRQRP\ is peerless. His imprints in agriculture are both telling and compelling. Now, he has an ally in Mohammed Bello-Koko, the helmsman at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Bello-Koko was on May 6, 2021 appointed the acting managing director of NPA when Hadiza Bala Usman was directed to handover to the most senior Executive Director after she was “suspended for insubordination.”

Prior to his appointment as acting MD, Bello-Koko was the Executive Director, Finance & Administration of the Authority.

And barely eight months in acting capacity, Buhari approved his appointment as the substantive top man of the NPA, Nigeria’s ports regulator.

As an industry technocrat, Bello-Koko understands the weak points, the dialectics of ports administration and the imperativeness of the NPA as one of the strong pillars for HͿHFWLYH GLYHUVLÀFDWLRQ RI WKH HFRQRP\ WKH

dream of President Buhari.

So far, he has carried on with transformational zeal and clinical empiricism RI D QLIW\ VXUJHRQ )LUVW KH HͿHFWHG D VKLIW LQ WKH SV\FKH RI WKH VWDͿ WKURXJK D UHWUHDW ,I anything, the retreat achieved a fundamental SXUSRVH ,W ZHDQHG PDQ\ RI WKH VWDͿ RI WKH ‘government workers’ mentality, which is XVXDOO\ D VRSRULÀF GRVH IRU OHWKDUJ\ DQG indolence in the public sector workplace. He demanded more from his team to position WKH $XWKRULW\ WRZDUGV JUHDWHU H΀FLHQF\ safety and accountability. He outlined several strategies that would help him and his team place the NPA on a solid pedestal that would help them do more and build capacity for greater market share.

Bello-Koko made no pretence in serving the intent that he was the proverbial man on a mission. He simply put the marker down. +H ZDQWV WR UXQ DQ H΀FLHQW QLPEOH IRRWHG ports administration that would be lean on operational cost but buoyant in revenue JHQHUDWLRQ WR WKH JRYHUQPHQW FRͿHU He set out on a regime of reforms which saw a progressive decline in incidences of corruption buoyed by his deliberate institution of a culture of zero corruption enhanced by infusion of technology into the operations of the Authority. Hitherto, ports operations especially revenue collection and speed of documentation had been shrouded in opacity and riddled with human intrusion which bred avenues for sharp practices. The new NPA leadership is dealing with this ugly WUHQG XVLQJ DXWRPDWLRQ XSVNLOOLQJ RI VWDͿ and value orientation.

Bello-Koko himself summed up the

UHVXOWDQW HͿHFW RI WKLV UHFHQWO\ ´:H KDYH VHHQ the progress recorded in port operations and WKH UHYHQXH LQWR JRYHUQPHQW FRͿHUV LW VKRZV that sooner than later, the port industry in Nigeria would become the most attractive maritime cluster in the region, going by our market share and capacity.”

In a presentation to the House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Habours recently, he gave a breakdown and roadmap which inspired both hope and optimism of Nigeria becoming the port of choice on the continent. With the creation DQG WDNH RͿ RI WKH $IULFDQ &RQWLQHQWDO )UHH Trade Area (AfCFTA), port activities around the continent are expected to nose up. Nigeria is expected to take a clear lead in this regard.

And with Bello-Koko’s transformational leadership, she looks primed to dominate the continental port operations.

The balance sheet tells the story. A breakdown showed that from January to September 2021, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) performance of NPA rose by 120%, while operating expenses was cut by about 20%.

In his presentation, Bello-Koko noted that NPA’s IGR rose to N256.28 billion as against the sum of N214.65 billion which was projected by the Authority during the period.

7KH ÀJXUH UHSUHVHQWV D UHYHQXH SHUIRUPDQFH of 120% for the nine-month period or 95% of its total annual budget for 2021.

Within same period, operating expenses (as at the end of September 2021), stood at 1 ELOOLRQ DV DJDLQVW WKH EXGJHWHG ÀJXUH of N65.49 billion. The expenditure comprised HPSOR\HHV· EHQHÀWV SHQVLRQ FRVWV WRZDJH services, supplies, repairs and maintenance and sundry administrative overheads. This indicates a savings of N10.39 billion or 85% performance of the approved budget of N87.32 billion.

And in compliance with the quarterly remittance of its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and provisions of the Finance Act 2020, the Authority remitted the sum of N62.66 billion to CRF for the year 2021 (as at October 31, 2021).

Further breakdown showed that a cumulative sum of N89.9 billion was transferred to the CRF in six months, making it the highest remittance into the CRF by NPA in a one-year period.

What has resonated the most with industry stakeholders was that all this was achieved ZLWKLQ WKH GL΀FXOW SHULRG RI &RYLG pandemic with its attendant restrictions in trade, movement of goods and general global economic lull.

One of the major planks of President Buhari’s economic engineering is to achieve VXVWDLQDEOH GLYHUVLÀFDWLRQ RI WKH QDWLRQ·V economy, making it less dependent on crude oil export earnings. To achieve this, according to the advisory of the National Economic Council, leakages must be plugged, and IGR through duties, taxes and levies must be enhanced.

Bello-Koko seemed to have been propelled by the President’s desire. He has emplaced a functional, tech-driven system to further enhance revenue collection and operational H΀FLHQF\ 7KH $XWKRULW\ KDV EHJXQ WKH process of consolidating its various electronic SODWIRUPV XQGHU D XQLÀHG SRUW FRPPXQLW\ system. This is also in line with global best practices.

· Olali writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

KATHLEEN E. OKAFOR contends that boards must have women’s promotion and participation in corporate governance to guide them

WOMEN, MERIT AND CORPORATE POLITICS I have seen many highly esteemed women of great knowledge, value and candor successfully navigate the travails of the corridors of corporate power; some of these corporate amazons include: Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. (Mrs.) Ajoritsedere Awosika (MFR), Benny Molokwu, Mrs. Miriam Chidiebele Olusanya, Yemisi Edun, Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, Tomi Somefun, Nneka OnyealiIkpe, Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, Bola Kuforiji-Olubi, Osaretin Demuren, Mosunmola Belo-Olusoga, Mrs. Abike Oluwatoyin Dabiri-Erewa, among several others. However, many other senior career women still have not fully grasped the importance of organizational politics for success, believing that politicking contravenes ideals of meritocracy. Generally, both the senior and junior women believe that meritocracy should be based on ability and experience and not just their authenticity or political correctness.

Presently, women’s behavior at the top of organizations assume that women need masculine traits of toughness, very long work hours and no-nonsense disposition, iron lady syndrome, conservative suits, no jewelry, low cut hair styles with very little time for God and family. Some other women even value identity more than social capital and refuse to compromise or canvass, like most men, to get the next promotion.

Women believe that their competence should speak for them asking that the merit of their work should judge them and not their political skills. However, some women do engage in some level of political activity in order to achieve their level of success. The political maturation process includes working against the norms of culture while simultaneously being sensitive to it.

For some women, the personal accomplishment of further promotion is a crucial factor of their D΀UPDWLRQ RI VHOI (YHQ DW WKHLU YHU\ VHQLRU OHYHO with an impressive list of achievements behind them, some successful women are uncomfortable that “they were only being promoted for their sex, as some kind of company policy, rather than for their genuinely being truly deserving of the upgrade. Some are promoted due to quotas or VRPH $΀UPDWLYH $FWLRQ $$ ZKLFK YLRODWHV merit. The policies of federal character, religion are FRQVLGHUHG DV DQ LQVXOW RU DͿURQW VR SODFLQJ WKH responsibility for the lack of women at the top on the women, which consider such considerations as disingenuous. Although there is abundant evidence of some women being promoted outside of meritocratic ideals, women still need to clearly prove their worthiness. More than the men. In fact, about a quarter of women who discussed their plight in corporate hierarchies reconsidered their opposition to quotas, in order to reduce the discrimination occurring within unmeritocratic systems.

One major factor in corporations is that there are obvious contradictions on WKH GHÀQLWLRQ RI meritocracy within an organizational context from the literature and then from the analysis of the actions of institutions. Nevertheless, it is clear that meritocracy is often associated with the equality or inequalities of opportunities open especially to women and the ethnic groups in Nigeria.

A good number of women adopt the behaviours and characteristics of their male counterparts on the belief that women would be judged on the same parameters of achievement as their male peers. Nonetheless, many women become aware of the adaptations they or others have made, and how this demonstrated a lack of meritocracy in their organizations as well as favoritism against the dominant (male) group.

This adaptation by women challenges women’s integrity and core values and the consequences of

adapting their identities in this way. Indeed, the evidence in the trend of meritocracy in promotions and this impacted on women’s attitude towards their own careers and beliefs in the future of their career progression.

Emphasis on improving human capital had certainly assisted these women in being successful and to believe in the meritocracy of the organization. This rather seems to have been replaced at the very senior levels with a greater emphasis on social capital- which the women subsequently viewed as too political and disingenuous.

When women look at their organizations, the presence or absence of senior women has tremendous symbolic value in illustrating the concepts of meritocracy and the probable support for their own career progression. It remains clear at their current career point that women felt the organization needed to “prove” that women can succeed. As such, there was no clear succession line. With few or no women in the leadership teams, women have questioned the meritocratic process of organization. In other words, organizations do send messages about the viability of women’s careers. These messages have an impact on the individual’s belief about potential career DFKLHYHPHQWV DͿHFWLQJ WKHLU JHQHUDO VHOI H΀FDF\ ZKLFK GHÀQLWHO\ DͿHFW ZRPHQ·V choices to critical decisions on career options.

Women’s career progression show the unclear criteria of merit and the subjective evaluations of performance are perpetuating the dominant male majority at the top.

Intuitively, many women are still not in favour of any kind of AA, but they understand the need to give preferential assistance to their fellow female colleagues. :RPHQ ZKR DWWHPSW WR GHÀQH VXFFHVV LQ their own terms, emphasising their values and authenticity need to adjust to the realities of socio-political factors needed to operate in modern corporate environment. Companies should be aware that half of their most senior women may have serious reservations about what they see above them in the organization at Board levels and what they believe is possible for their remaining careers.

Women need to understand their emotional responses to their (possible lack of) career SURJUHVVLRQ 2UJDQL]DWLRQV PD\ DOVR EHQHÀW from a better understanding of employee’s reactions to the organizations “meritocratic systems” and any preferential treatment systems, and the perception of possible injustices.

Many women who have survived or not survived the apparent injustices of the meritocratic system strongly need to mentor those still within the organizations on how to build presence and the role of morality as a compass for spiritual power beyond social connections.

The role of meritocracy, within the context of women owns career is key to our national development. Thus, some women’s rightly adhere to the formula of meritocracy being networking + good looks + healthy living + social/political capital, + knowledge + high spirituality (integrity) =Success. This formula of merit, appear more realistic because top H[HFXWLYH SRVLWLRQV UHÁHFW WKH VWDQGDUGs and norms of their companies.

Prof. (Mrs.) Okafor, Law Lecturer at Baze University, writes from Abuja

4 26

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

EDITORIAL

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

EFCC AND THE LYNCHING OF OBIANO Obiano’s leaked video in custody is in bad taste

H

ardly a week passes without the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announcing with fanfare that it has ‘arrested’ and detained one notable Nigerian or the other. While the frequency of these parades may indicate the prevalence RI ÀQDQFLDO FULPHV LQ RXU VRFLHW\ WKHUH LV DOVR D VXVSLFLRQ WKDW IRU WKH ()&& DSSHDUDQFH DQG drama have overtaken substance and earnestness.

7KH VHQVLWLYH SXEOLF LV QRZ ÀQGLQJ LW LQFUHDVLQJO\ GL΀FXOW WR GUDZ WKH line between when the commission is putting up a dramatic show of its authority and when it is engaged in the nitty JULWW\ RI WKH ÀJKW DJDLQVW corruption for which it was established.

0HDQZKLOH WKH RͿHQFHV IRU ZKLFK citizens are subjected to public embarrassment most often end up being either unfounded allegations or OHJDOO\ XQWHQDEOH DFFXVDWLRQV ,Q VRPH FDVHV WKH EFCC has ended up dropping the accusations and TXLHWO\ FORVLQJ WKH ÀOH 7KH PDWWHU VLPSO\ À]]OHV out as the EFCC probably discovers that it may not have any case worthy of prosecution in the ÀUVW SODFH %XW ZKLOH WKH FRPHG\ ODVWV RWKHUZLVH innocent people are defamed and branded with the tar brush of corruption. Those falsely accused and ZLGHO\ GHIDPHG ZLOO KDYH EHHQ SXEOLFO\ FUXFLÀHG and lynched through the EFCC’s institutional authoritarianism with its media attack dogs. We are yet to hear of cases where the EFCC has come out openly to apologise to the public for parading the wrong persons for crimes they did not commit.

Those falsely arrested or paraded have ended up carrying the opprobrium for the rest of their lives.

2Q )ULGD\ WK 0DUFK LW ZDV WKH WXUQ RI WKH LPPHGLDWH SDVW *RYHUQRU RI $QDPEUD 6WDWH :LOOLH 2ELDQR WR IDFH WKH ()&&·V IDPLOLDU GLVSOD\

of authorised infamy. Obiano was a governor up to that morning when he duly performed his last GXW\ WKH VZHDULQJ LQ RI KLV VXFFHVVRU &KXNZXPD 6ROXGR ,Q WKH HYHQLQJ 2ELDQR QRZ D SULYDWH FLWL]HQ WULHG WR FDWFK D ÁLJKW WR WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV He was intercepted and stopped from travelling. As XVXDO 2ELDQR ZDV VXEMHFWHG WR PHGLD WULDO IROORZLQJ reports that he had been transferred to Abuja. While EHLQJ KHOG LQFRPPXQLFDGR WKH ()&& OHW LW ÀOWHU RXW WKDW 2ELDQR ZDV EHLQJ KHOG IRU ÀGGOLQJ ZLWK WKH ubiquitous ‘security vote’ and was yet to account for some N47 billion. This is a charge that has been routinely levelled against literally all persons that KDYH KHOG WKH R΀FH RI state governor in Nigeria VLQFH What has irked the Nigerian public even further is that while in ()&& FXVWRG\ LQ $EXMD a degrading video of Obiano was caused to be leaked to the social media.

The leaking of the video could only have been aimed at diminishing the reputation of the accused and parading him to the public via the social media for a crime that he has neither been charged with nor been formally accused of. It would also be recalled WKDW D FRXSOH RI ZHHNV EHIRUH WKH HQG RI KLV WHQXUH the EFCC had openly boasted that it had completed plans to arrest Obiano once he completes his tenure.

7KLV WKUHDW ZDV D FUXGH GHÀDQFH RI 2ELDQR·V VWLOO subsisting immunity from prosecution up to that point in time.

We subscribe to the notion that the law should EH QR UHVSHFWHU RI SHUVRQV %XW HOHPHQWDU\ GHFHQF\ and justice requires that even villains be accorded WKH GXH UHVSHFW RI WKHLU SHUVRQV HVSHFLDOO\ WKHLU privacy even in custody. To parade Obiano publicly as a criminal detainee through a deliberately leaked YLGHR LV QRW RQO\ EDUEDULF EXW LW DOVR UHGXFHV WKH EFCC to no better than an organisation where the rights of individuals count for little.

Elementary decency and justice requires that even villains be accorded the due respect of their persons, especially their privacy even in custody

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

Letters to the Editor Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-300 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 (750- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with photograph, email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LETTERS CHIDINMA: BEHIND BARS, BEYOND DREAMS Visceral emotions erupted across the country like a volcano sometime last year when news broke that ELOOLRQDLUH &KLHI ([HFXWLYH 2΀FHU RI 6XSHU 79 0U 8VLIR $WDJD ZDV PXUGHUHG XQGHU P\VWHULRXV FLUFXPVWDQFHV LQ DQ DSDUWPHQW LQ WKH /HNNL 3KDVH DUHD RI Lagos State.

7KH DLU ZDV LQVWDQWO\ ULSH ZLWK DOOHJDWLRQV %XW LW soon became clear that he visited the apartment in the company of a young lady who became the prime suspect in the murder. The Lagos State police command launched an extensive manhunt and only then was the suspect who turned out to be Miss Chidinma 2MXNZX D OHYHO 0DVV &RPPXQLFDWLRQ VWXGHQW RI WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI /DJRV WUDFHG WR KHU IDPLO\ KRXVH LQ /DJRV DUUHVWHG DQG WDNHQ LQ IRU TXHVWLRQLQJ LQ VSLWH of the spirited resistance of her father who was also arrested.

0DQ\ 1LJHULDQV ZHUH KRUULÀHG WKDW WKH OLIH RI 0U Ataga had been ended in such a brutal fashion. Mr. Ataga has since been buried with his heartbroken family having to pick up the pieces of their lives. )RU 0LVV &KLGLQPD OLIH KDV FRQWLQXHG EH\RQG

EDUV DW WKH .LULNLUL IHPDOH SULVRQ ZKLOH KHU WULDO UXPbles on at the Lagos State High Court where the prosecutors hope to nick her the death sentence. Recently KRZHYHU LQ WKH PLGVW RI HYHU\WKLQJ WKURZQ DW WKHP Nigerians were painfully reminded of the Ataga saga by an event that happened at the Kirikiri female prison.

7R PDUN WKH ,QWHUQDWLRQDO :RPHQCV 'D\ WKHUH ZDV D EHDXW\ FRQWHVW WDJJHG ´0LVV &HOO µ ZKLFK Miss. Chidinma Ojukwu won to the chagrin of many. ,W GLG QRW PDWWHU KRZ LQFRQVHTXHQWLDO WKH FURZQ ZDV or how inconsequential it would prove to be when judgment day comes in the ongoing murder trial.

1LJHULDCV GHVFHQW LQWR D VRFLHW\ RI YHU\ OLWWOH KXmanity has been alarmingly swift. As life in the counWU\ KDV EHFRPH DOPRVW XQEHDUDEOH 1LJHULDQV KDYH been pushed to the wall by a combination of inequalLW\ DQG EDG JRYHUQDQFH ZLWK WKH ODWWHU DFWLYHO\ IDQQLQJ WKH ÁDPHV RI WKH IRUPHU With life in Nigeria virtually becoming a survivDO RI WKH ÀWWHVW PDQ\ KDYH ORVW WKH FRPSDVVLRQ WKDW D IHHOLQJ RI FRPPRQ KXPDQLW\ HQJHQGHUV EHFDXVH

WKH\ IHHO WKDW WR OLYH DQG OLYH FRPIRUWDEO\ WKH\ KDYH to cut down others who are in the same rat race with WKHP 7KLV FXW WKURDW PHQWDOLW\ KDV DͿHFWHG WKH ZD\ 1LJHULDQV OLYH ZLWK HDFK RWKHU DQG DFURVV WKH FRXQWU\ compassion is dangerously in short supply.

Nigerian prisons have not been spared. Even GXULQJ WKH JRRG GD\V 1LJHULDQ SULVRQV ZHUH SODFHV of horror. This system of incarceration fed by the belief that whoever was sent there did not deserve to live was itself inspired by poor national planning and the aversion to giving people a second chance or at least the chance to make a peaceful exit no matter what they had done.

7KXV GHWHQWLRQ LQ 1LJHULD KDV DOZD\V FRPH ZLWK unspeakable horrors of sticky squalor. As a country crushed for many years by colonialism and its corroVLYHO\ FRORVVDO FRQWUDGLFWLRQV 1LJHULD LV XVHG WR DSLQJ the West.

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LQJ LW )RU DOO WKDW LV FRSLHG IURP WKH :HVW VRPH KDYH EHHQ PLOG VXFFHVVHV ZKLOH RWKHUV KDYH EHHQ FDWDFO\Vmic failures.

Many countries of the world have moved towards justice systems that blend both restorative and rehabilitative justice as a way of building more humane societies. This is because corporal punishments which have the death penalty as the granddaddy of them all KDYH EHHQ VKRZQ XS DV ODUJHO\ LQHͿHFWLYH LQ DFKLHYing the twin goals of deterring criminals and achieving very little results in terms of dissuading criminals and ridding the society of crime.

6R ZKLOH PDQ\ PD\ KDYH EHHQ VKRFNHG DQG ULJKWly so at the sight of a murder suspect wearing a crown DQG IXOO RI VPLOHV WKHUH DUH WZR FKLHI FDYHDWV IRU DOO VKH ZDV DOOHJHG WR KDYH FRPPLWWHG DQG DOOHJHGO\ FRQIHVVHG WR VKH UHPDLQV LQQRFHQW XQWLO SURYHQ JXLOW\ VHFRQGO\ JRLQJ EHKLQG EDUV LQ 1LJHULD VKRXOG not necessarily translate to going to the great beyond.

Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

T H I S D AY ˾WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

27

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

2 2 , 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%

Emefiele Replies IMF, Says CBN Credit Expansion Programme in Order James Emejo in Abuja The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has said its credit intervention programme has helped to stimulate consumption and growth as well as boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said the bank’s credit expansion drive had also stimulated the manufacturing sector and shielded businesses and households

from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other external vulnerabilities.

Emefiele was reacting to the recent call by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through its 2021 Article IV Consultation Report, that the CBN should consider scaling down its credit expansion programme as this was likely to cause market distortions in the long run.

But, the CBN governor

argued that the central bank as a development finance institution has a responsibility to support the economy especially in difficult times.

Emefiele at the just concluded Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, had also announced that the committee had further urged the central bank to redouble its developmental finance initiatives aimed at boosting domestic food output which would help in

moderating food inflation going forward, thereby moderating headline inflation.

He said, “The truth is that the IMF I have to admit has being a great supporter and adviser to the CBN and to Nigeria. In terms of advise, I think it is important that we reiterate the fact that CBN remain development finance oriented central bank and it is very normal for a developing economy to deploy development finance tools

through interventions to support the growth of the economy. Let’s not forget that about two years ago, monetary policy said that our new thrust would be price and monetary stability that is conducive to growth.

“If we are to adopt price and monetary stability that is conducive to growth in an environment where there is a tight fiscal space, where revenue shortfalls abound and even government has to borrow,

then I think it is just reasonable that central bank should step in to support the fiscal to fill that space and not through grants but through loans to our smallholder farmers, to our small and medium enterprises, through loans to our households, to wake up our manufacturing industries that are dead.”

Contiuing, Emefiele said, “And I can say that in the last Continued on page 29

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TRIANGLE…

L–R: Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL),Mr. Ayuli Jemide; F.IoD, President, Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria,Dr. (Mrs.) Ije Jidenma; Divisional Head, Capital Markets, Nigerian Exchange Limited,Mr. Jude Chiemeka; Partner, George Etomi & Partners and Pioneer Chairman, NBA-SBL,George Etomi; Managing Partner, Copley Partners and former Chair, NBA-SBL, Dr. Seni Adio and Chief Executive Officer, NGX Regulation Limited, Tinuade Awe, during the launched of Corporate Governance Triangle held in Lagos… yesterday

FG Eyes $2.6trn Global Halal Market, Seeks Framework for Certification James Emejo in Abuja The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Maryam Katagum, has inaugurated a 14-member technical committee on the development of a roadmap and operational framework for Halal certification in Nigeria.

The minister noted that there is huge potential in the Halal sub-sector, with the global market valued at about $2.6 trillion.

She said Nigeria had not been able to take advantage of huge market to boost foreign earnings, increase investment and adopt the concept to contribute to the growth

and development of the economy.

According to her, countries including Morocco and Malaysia are already benefiting from the Halal economy, with Morocco exporting to over 23 countries and Malaysia earning about $7 billion in exports.

Katagum, at the ceremony,

however, pointed out that the Halal concept is currently at its embryonic stage in Nigeria adding that it is largely been uncoordinated, with lack of synergy between relevant institutions, leading to absence of uniformity in instituting Halal standards in the country, thus, unable to tap into the global market.

She said the development informed the decision of the ministry to proactively establish a committee to address the issue, by studying the various models being used by other successful countries and developing a tailor-made Strategic Plan and Operational Framework for Nigeria.

She said the success of the committee will no doubt, stimulate investment across the country’s agricultural sector which would lead to increased productivity and chart a sustainable course towards food security, generate employment; Continued on page 28

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T U E S D AY, M A R C H 2 2 , 2 0 2 2 BILLS

BONDS DESCRIPTION 12.75 27-APR2023 14.20 14-MAR2024 13.53 23-MAR2025 12.50 22-JAN2026 16.2884 17MAR-2027

Price

Yield

108.82 4.51 112.69 7.23 112.30 8.79 107.44 10.11 123.58 10.16

Change Updated Time (%) 18, -0.02 March 2022 18, -0.01 March 2022 March 18, 0.00 2022 March 18, 0.00 2022 March 18, 0.00 2022

OTC F X F U T U R E S

C Ps

MATURITY

Discount

Yield Change Updated Time (%)

NTB 28-Apr22 NTB 12May-22 NTB 9-Jun22 NTB 14-Jul22

3.07

3.08

0.00

March 18, 2022

3.13

3.14

0.00

March 18, 2022

1.88

1.88

0.00

March 18, 2022

2.54

2.56

0.00

March 18, 2022

NTB 11Aug-22

3.03

3.06

-0.49

March 18, 2022

MATURITY

Discount Yield

Change Updated Time (%)

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

8.76

8.86

-0.01

March 18, 2022

15.80

16.27 -0.01

March 18, 2022

8.06

8.18

-0.01

March 18, 2022

10.61

11.03 -0.22

March 18, 2022

7.31

7.51

March 18, 2022

-0.24

CONTRACT TENOR Contract (MONTH) NGUS MAR 30 1 2022 NGUS APR 27 2 2022 NGUS MAY 25 3 2022 NGUS JUN 29 4 2022 NGUS JUL 27 5 2022

Current Rate ($/₦)

Updated Time

427.24

March 18, 2022

428.93

March 18, 2022

430.63

March 18, 2022

432.32

March 18, 2022

434.02

March 18, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

L-R: Second Vice President, Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON), Mr. Ademuyiwa Oluwole; President, Mr. Olugbemi Malomo; Representative of Government Printers, Mr. Ittu Tommy Ittu; and 1st Vice President, CIPPON, Mr. Babajide Salako, at the 4th annual general meeting and elections of the Chartered Institute PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT of Professional Printers of Nigeria in Lagos… recently

Obaseki: Edo Deepening Investment in Tech, Infrastructure, Culture, People to Withstand Future Pandemics Eromosele Abiodun The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the state is deepening investment in technology, healthcare, infrastructure, culture and the people to withstand the shocks of future pandemics.

Obaseki said this during a virtual session at the 2022 Smart Cities Mayor’s Summit held in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.

The summit was attended by global leaders from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, France and Malaysia, among others, with Obaseki being the only African leader to speak at the summit.

According to the governor, “COVID didn’t impact us from a healthcare perspective but a livelihood perspective. Most of our strategy in terms of thinking of our future has been drastically changed as a result of the pandemic.

“For us, our focus is on our culture; how to engage the world to preserve our ecosystem, which includes our forestry, and utilize technology to drive development, particularly in the area of education, skill development and security.

“Our aspiration is to plan our cities and take the opportunity of the post-COVID-19 era to build infrastructure. We have a 30-year project to develop our state and invest in our people. We are taking the opportunity of job creation to

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)

impact young people.

“COVID 19 taught us that we are on our own and must begin to build our people and infrastructure with the instrumentality of technology.

The redefinition of our city, postCOVID-19, is to focus on culture.

We want to connect our past to our cities. We have designed a cultural

district and would build a pavilion to hold the artefacts being returned to our state.

“We have a technology park that would train young people to take advantage of the boom in the technology sector. We have designed a medical district and we expect more investments and partnerships to help

in growing the sector,” Obaseki noted.

On his part, Mayor of Rzeszow, Poland, Mr. Konrad Fijolek, showcased the government’s efforts on the Urban Lab of Rzeszow, a space for developing innovative solutions and ideas for the city, where testing and implementation of those ideas help improve the quality of lives of

city residents.

Also, Deputy Leader of City of Edinburgh Council, United Kingdom, Cammy Day, who spoke on the city’s waste management efforts towards realizing a smart city, said the government is deploying litter bin sensors across the city to provide accurate bin

usage and align with collection activities.

The Summit, which is the world’s largest networking platform among smart city governments, provides a high-level dialogue platform for global mayors and city leaders to exchange innovative strategies and visions on future city developments.

FG to Lottery Operators: Pay Outstanding Liabilities or Risk Licence Revocation Segun James Following the boom in the lottery and gaming industry, the federal government has warned operators in the industry to pay all their outstanding liabilities or risk revocation of their operating licenses.

Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Dr. George Akume who said this at the back to school jump start project

initiated by the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in collaboration with the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) with the theme: “No school Left Behind,” held at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, said the lottery and gaming industry has generated a lot of jobs for Nigerians and has increased the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

Akume who was represented by

the Executive Secretary, National Lottery Trust Fund, Dr. Bello Maigari said the federal government would continue to work with the National Assembly to improve and regulate the industry.

The minister praised Gbajabiamila for initiating the project in line with the federal government’s commitment to boost the learning capacity of students through the use of technology.

“Today’s event underscores the

commitment and determination and promise of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to improve the capacity of students to learn and excellnin their studies,” he added.

Maigari, whose speech was read

by Mr. Sule Tegina, said the project would boost the capacity of schools in the area of digital teaching, learning and sanitation.

Also speaking, Gbajabiamila regretted the negative impact of the

COVID-19 on the nation’s education sector, saying the consequence was devastating.

Gbajabiamila put the global statistics of the number of deaths from COVID-19 worldwide at 6,089,484 with school aged adult being a substantial number of the victims, adding that while the health implications of the pandemic are all too obvious, its consequences for education are subtle but nonetheless devastating.

FG Declares Nigeria Destination for Mining Investments, Insists Fossil Fuel Will Remain Relevant for 30yrs Gilbert Ekugbe The federal government has declared that Nigeria is becoming a fast destination for mining investments courtesy of the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP).

This was announced by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, at the Nigeria Mining Summit, which was organised yesterday by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Adegbite said that the country is attracting attention from both local and foreign investors while the financial sector has also begun to support activities in the mining sector.

He, therefore, called for corporate companies to join the sector to reduce the activities of artisanal and small scale miners.

He said: “NIMEP is a government programme to show the way, but the money is still very small and the $50 million we had, we were only be able to do four minerals out of the 44 minerals discovered.

Exploration is a very huge capital intensive project so the $50 million could only target four minerals.

“What we want to do is that the results from this NIMEP initiative would be sold through auction to have a revolving fund, so that the money that comes back from this would be used for further exploration.”

He explained that the summit was to explore ways of funding the mining sector, and asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to do more to support the sector in terms of funding.

Speaking on the relevance of fossil fuel, the minister said that fossil fuels would remain relevant to the Nigerian economy over the next 30 years since solid minerals that would serve as its replacement have not received the kind of investment that would give the country the quantum of minerals needed to replace fossil fuels.

“We have not even discovered those deposits.

We are talking lithium, copper and the rest. We have not even

discovered where they are and not to talk of morning them.

So in the interim, fossil fuel would linger.

“We have built demonstration plants all over the country and we have six of such in our six geopolitical zones,” Adegbite said.

Earlier, the President, LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, who was represented by the Vice president of LCCI, Mr. Leye Kupoluyi, said the theme of the summit tagged “Solid Minerals: The Foreign Exchange Game,” sought to facilitate stakeholders’ dialogue among federal regulatory agencies, financial institutions, and industry practitioners form the mining and solid minerals sector to discuss the untapped opportunities in the sector.

Olawale-Cole stated that the conference would also highlight the inherent benefits of the sector to all stakeholders, with special emphasis on the financial institutions.

He noted that solid minerals exports in Q4, 2021 stood at N13.56 billion, a decrease of 25.95 per cent compared to Q3, 2021 but increased by 201.41

per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020.

“These are confirmations about the potentials in the solid minerals sector yet untapped,” he bemoaned.

He recommended that the need for the federal government to establish a robust fiscal framework, saying that the existing fiscal framework for investors in the mining sector is not friendly enough and does not consider the peculiar nature of the sector, particularly, its long gestation period.

“Therefore, Nigeria will need to revisit the entire fiscal framework for the taxation of mining operations, to attract mining majors and foreign investors,” he said.

The president of the LCCI also emphasised the need for Nigeria to address its worsening insecurity across mineral-rich communities in the Northern region and other mining communities, lamenting that insecurity has continued to undermine production and investment in the sector.

“The LCCI will continue to support the efforts of the government in the

implementation of marketoriented reforms and also promote enterprises in the sector to continue to innovate and increase productivity given the liberalisation of the African market through the operationalization of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” he said.

The Chairman, Mining and Solid Mineral Group, LCCI, Mr. Seun Olatunji, advised Nigeria to take advantage of the surging global metal prices as a result of the new energy markets and global uncertainties.

Olatunji said considering the new CBN’s policy, RT 200 FX programme that is aimed to achieve $200 billion foreign exchange repatriation in five years, the key factor for the success of the policy will be to focus attention, resources and aggressively support solid minerals value addition.

“We must acknowledge and commend the current leadership of the Minister for all they are pushing at the Federal Economic Council (FEC) to make sure value addition is ensured in the mineral sector,” he said.

29

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Ekechukwu: We Talk Diversification M o r e T h a n We Ta k e A c t i o n s The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, in this interview with James Emejo, said the government had been paying more of lip service to the quest for economic diversification, expressing worry that despite contributing significantly to GDP, government is still unable to derive enough revenues from the non-oil sector. He also spoke about the failure of leadership in the country’s energy sector and the need for Nigerians to embrace agricultural exports and entrepreneurship among others.

Let’s start with the implication of the Russian - Ukrainian conflict, what impact does it have on the Nigerian economy? e are in a global village and anything that happens to a particular continent affects economic activities of countries in other continents. And that’s how we have all been in one loop. Having said this, the impact of the war between Ukraine and Russia has affected the economic activities of the entire world. Russia is a major oil supplier- of course, when you hear OPEC+ (OPEC Plus), it is Russia and other countries – and because Russia is major oil and gas producing country and Ukraine is also major producer of gas, iron and steel and many other mineral resources that they have - the conflict has actually affected the supply of oil and gas in the whole world and it has affected the price. Of course, today we have seen a jump in oil price from when it was around $70 per barrel to what it is right now just because of the armed conflict between both countries.

The implication of this to us as a country is the fact that, as you already know, we are not benefitting from this. If we were not subsidizing oil price, we will obviously have benefitted because as the price of oil increased, yes, we will get a lot of revenue from it but that revenue is also going to be paid out as subsidy payment to other importers of oil.

The implication again is the fact that because we are not refining our oil within the country, it is difficult for us to have any benefits arising from this. If we were refining our own oil, the country would have been getting a lot of revenue from this increase in the price of oil. Of course, revenue is coming but we are also using it to pay the importers of these petroleum products.

That is just the implications for us, which is not a good one.

Every other oil-producing country is smiling to the bank right now, smiling when it comes to their revenue base, and foreign reserves but Nigeria is not because we are paying exactly what we are getting to the importers of oil. We cannot emphasize the importance of making our refineries work and I have always asked questions: how come we have had this problem of refineries for about two decades now and nobody has said any single thing, nobody has said anything that can improve our situation – not until recently we have had a refinery coming from a private sector player; what has happened to our refineries and what were the problems that cannot be resolved?

Have we had anybody punished in the past for not having these refineries work? The fact that we have been pumping so much money into turn-around maintenance and the turn-around maintenance would just come and go without results.

Nigerians actually deserve to know what has happened and why it that our refineries are not working? But if it is an individual or a refinery belonging to the private sector it will work. What is the problem and how have we been voting

gas we have today to turn -around the revenue base of this country but we are not doing that.

And that is one area any serious leadership should be looking at to see that we have all the potential we have to convert all these potential to actual productivity in order to build our revenue base. We have opportunities to build our revenue base but we don’t utilise them, unfortunately.

We also have opportunities in the solid minerals sector yet we are not utilising them to build our revenue base. It is not as if we are not mining these solid minerals - but they are being mined by individuals and private sector parties who are not bringing the proceeds to the government.

So each time we hear our system talk about revenue shortfall, I wonder whether we are actually optimising all the revenue potential that we have had in this country.

The ball is also in the court of the government to throw these opportunities open either to the private sector or harmonise them in order to derive potentials in these areas.

W

Ekechukwu monies into these refineries, year in, year out and no outcome without positive outcome and no one has been arrested, nobody has been made to pay back the amounts collected and no contractor has been questioned on why his turn-around maintenance didn’t work.

Should we continue like this as a country and how come people are not asking questions?

Those are the questions we need to ask and those are the answers we expect from the players in this area.

Nigeria is said to have enormous gas resources, which are yet to be fully explored.

Don’t you think this is long overdue?

It is really unfortunate that the potential we have had...if today you call something potential, we expect that in the next five to 10 years that potential would be converted into actual production or opportunity. Gas production has remained a potential in the last 50 years. We call it potential. We have been flaring gas for many years and I know I listened to the managing director of one of the leading oil-producing companies that said any day the leadership of this country considered it necessary for gas flaring to reduce, it will happen. The fact is that we have not had any commitment from the leadership of the country to actually stop flaring gas or pipe the gas to other countries that would buy them. Of course, we know LNG is doing something in that regard now but we could just have relied on the

Post-COVID, the Nigerian economy has continued to show resilience as demonstrated in the latest GDP numbers.

Can we comfortably expect smooth sailing going forward?

Well, it’s not yet uhuru because the growth you have seen in the Nigerian economy is what we have also seen in other parts of the world. Post COVID-19 global growth was a surprise to even the World Bank and IMF to say they did not expect this kind of growth after the pandemic. Having said that, you know when you are performing and you think you are performing well - but you could actually have done far better than you think you are doing if you could include all the possibilities that exist within your strength.

So I do not think it is uhuru yet but if we sustain what we are doing right now: don’t forget that this growth is also because the oil price has gone up. If we continue this way, yes, it is expected that we are going to do well but the good news is that the government said only 35 per cent of revenue base is expected from oil, the other 65 per cent they expect to get from the non-oil sector. That’s good news because it is the first time we are hearing that. Before now, 90 per cent revenue will come from the oil sector and just 10 per cent from the non-oil sector.

And it is also a thing for us to ponder because the non-oil sector has been contributing 70 per cent to GDP yet we are not getting the revenue from that sector.

The true picture is the fact that we are making efforts towards diversification but we have not started getting the results of that diversification. Of course, the revenue base we are expecting to grow is actually

going to be coming from the tax net that we have increased and not that sectors are beginning to bring in revenue for the government. So you see that the non-oil sector is contributing a lot to the GDP of the country but the government on its own is not getting enough revenue from that area. So some of the things that need to be done are that the efficiency of tax collection must be increase and the government would also need revenues coming from revenue generating MDAs and ensure that they are accounted for.

The government should ensure that the various MDAs are accountable – because nobody is monitoring them. MDAs should be more accountable for the revenues they generate.

Also, we are not getting enough revenues from tourism compared to other countries like the United Arab Emirates, which have so much money coming from tourism - and even in many other countries that we know in Africa. Let us also see that we have a lot of potential coming from that area even if it means the government building certain tourism destinations and then privatising or provide a level playing ground for the private sector to develop tourism.

You also know we used to generate a lot of revenues from our shipping lines which do no longer exist today, from our airlines which do no longer exist today. Kenya and Ethiopia are making a lot of revenue from aviation - which we have also lost because we didn’t develop those sectors.

We need to look at sectors of our economy that can actually generate revenue and take them seriously, one at a time, and make sure that government can generate more revenue from the non-oil sector. Until we get to that point, we can then say we are fully diversified. We are talking about diversification far more than we are taking the actions.

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched an incentive scheme to encourage foreign exchange repatriation, especially for export activities. How well do you think this would support the economy?

Yes, such incentives have been seen to be working.

But I have often mentioned that I have not seen enough incentives for export business. The incentives should come in various dimensions to the extent that while exporters should be able to get these kinds of incentives for sending their products out, the major incentive for exporters right now is the exchange rate. The higher the exchange rate, the higher the incentive for an exporter.

So, I encourage all Nigerians to stop importation.

Right now with the exchange rate we have, every importer should actually become an exporter.

So the question they should ask themselves is what is that thing to export? Let us all become exporters; by the time we all became exporters and the exchange rate is an incentive for them: when you export something and you get foreign exchange, you exchange for very high value for your Naira money.

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

FG EYES $2.6TRN GLOBAL HALAL MARKET, SEEKS FRAMEWORK FOR CERTIFICATION and create wealth for Nigerians.

The committee is chaired by Nour Sani Hanga, Chairman Technical Committee on Halal from Halal Standard Development Trust (HASDAT) and member of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Its terms of reference is to develop a work-plan for the technical committee; develop the operational and strategic framework for Nigeria’s Halal certification

process; identify all existing Halal certification bodies and ensure uniformity in their modus operandi; identify international linkages and partnerships for the development of the Nigerian Halal industry; and develop advocacy and sensitization strategies for the Halal industry in Nigeria among others.

The minister said, “There is clearly an increasing demand for Halal certified products

globally, especially, amongst the large Muslim population in the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, South Asia, the former Soviet Union and China, which presents a lucrative chain for the food market.

“As at today, the global consumer base of Halal products is estimated to be about 1.9 billion Muslims across 112 countries, and the Halal market is estimated to be worth trillions of US Dollars.

“Nigeria’s Muslim population is estimated at about 52 per cent of the nation’s population and adherents of Islam are usually selective in making Halal choices when it comes to lifestyle and product consumptions.

“Aside from the Islamic population, there is a huge number of people around the world that also prefer to consume Halal products based on healthy lifestyle choices.”

Katagum said countries around the world have made it easier for such consumers to make easy selections at supermarkets; shops adding thay Nigeria should not be left out.

She added that the Halal market remained a huge and profitable segment of the economy, stressing that “We cannot ignore the importance of assuring our local and international consumers that our food and beverage products

are Halal certified and comply with Islamic Law.” She added that such certifications would give products a boost in local and international markets.

However, Hanga while responding on behalf of other members of the committee, expressed appreciation for the opportunity to serve and sought the relevant support from the government to enable it deliver on the task.

“Our annual consumption is one million metric tons. What does that mean? They would export.

We would earn foreign exchange that would create liquidity in our I&E window and lead to less reliance on central bank for FX. Yes, it is an advise from IMF

which we would take but at this time we are in a development finance mode where we must grow our economy while at the same time, we are doing everything possible to make sure our mandate of monetary and price stability still remains sacrosanct.”

EMEFIELE REPLIES IMF, SAYS CBN CREDIT EXPANSION PROGRAMME IN ORDER two and a half years, we have done certainly more than N3 trillion. Whether we like it or not, and IMF themselves agree that whereas over N300 billion that we have disbursed to almost one million households helped to catalyse consumption expenditure

that has helped Nigeria to turn positive in its GDP even though GDP is still fragile and we still face vulnerabilities.

“IMF knows that even our interventions to the manufacturing sector are helping and we have facts to show so. Aside from the

Anchor Borrowers Programme in agriculture, last month we went to Sokoto to launch a three million tons cement factory to increase manufacturing output in cement. And Mr. president would be going to lagos to commission $2.5 billon fertilizer plant.

“What would that do for us?

The $2.5 billion fertilizer plant will result in additional three million tons of urea in the country.

Indorama produces three million metric tons, Notore produces 500,000 and that is 6.5 million metric tons per annum.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

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FEATURES

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

Sustaining a Culture of Female Empowerment To commemorate the 2022 International Women's Day, Access Bank recently hosted females to deliberate how to continuously 'Break the Bias'. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that given its knack for empowering women of all cadre, it's imperative they sustain this culture

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO , Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe; International Nigerian Songwriter and Singer, Bukola Elemide (Asa); Chairperson, Access Bank Plc, Dr. (Mrs.) Ajoritsedere Awosika; and former Access Bank Chairman, Mosun Belo Olusoga, at the Access Bank International Women's Day celebration held at Eko Hotels, recently

T

he International Women’s Day (IWD), a global day commemorated every March 8 to celebrate social, economic, political and cultural achievements made by women, might have come and gone, but its memory and impact linger, at least for women who were beneficiaries of Access Bank's consistent uplifting of women.

On a certain Thursday, the bank gathered women at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos to have a conversation on how to up the ante on what they have been consistently doing already.

The need for the conversation was all reaching- this is because female entrepreneurs are not only contributing to households but to the national economies. However, despite this, they face several challenges- human, physical, and even social stigmatisation, which tends to limit their ability to grow their businesses.

Therefore, for the bank, it was quite expedient to have such conversations, because the IWD is a time to reflect on growth towards gender equality, call for action while celebrating acts of courage and determination by women who break the glass ceiling at different endeavours.

International Women's Day The International Women's Day is also a time to reflect on growth towards gender equality, call for action while celebrating acts of courage and determination by women who break the glass ceiling at different endeavours.

This year, to commemorate the 2022 International Women's Day, the theme was centred on "Breaking the Bias".

According to to the IWD, "Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough, action is needed to level the playing field.

'Are you in? Will you actively call out gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping each time you see it? Will you help break the bias?"

"Breaking the Bias" The Access Bank Way Highlighting the need for all biases against women to be broken, Access Bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Herbert Wigwe said the bank has consistently kicked against the discrimination against women and has

ensured that the female gender is well represented in its top management.

He said: "For us in Access Bank, it is about 50-50, we have senior level staffs, more than 40 per cent of them are women. Our W Initiative goes all the way to the grassroots.

It is for the professional women, business woman, female youth corps member university women and all the way down to the grassroots.

"We also have a programme to help complete the family. A lot of time women who do not have a child are stigmatised, and at times the problem might sometimes be from the man."

Assisting Women Entrepreneurs Ticking off all answers in this checklist, the bank revealed that to assist more women entrepreneurs improve their businesses, they had earmarked N100 billion for females, with N11 billion of the sum already given to women through its "W Initiative" this year.

Head, W Initiative, Abiodun Olubitan, who made this disclosure, noted that the bank had over the years supported women through soft loans including IVF loan because it was against the various hindrances women faced in accessing loans.

Throwing light on the loan structures, Olubitan over N100 billion had been given out to women since it unveiled the W Initiative in 2014, for better financial inclusion for the woman, adding that the target, adding that the target of N100 billion loan for women was at 15 per cent interest rate, 10 per cent lower than the standard interest.

She said: "It is not a single interest, but it is 15 per cent, knowing the interest rate in the market. When men are borrowing at 22 - 24 per cent, the women are borrowing at 15 per cent, so it's highly discounted.

"There are different structures to them, we have females that are in business and we have specific product for them which is the W-power loan. The W-Power loan is available for women to support their working capital, to support their business expansion, and also to get fixed assets in place for their business.

"On W-power loan, we have a hybrid version of it that we make available for them to soften their logistics problem, Which is to buy a vehicle, to move their goods around or to make deliveries, or to support their school business, depending on what type of business they do."

Boost for Maternal Health Going beyond the norm, the bank also put up health loan structures for women tagged the Maternal Health Support Scheme (MHSS) loan.

Access Bank supports local and international treatments for fertility antenatal and postnatal treatment, and other specialist procedures such as hysterectomy (uterus removal), myomectomy (fibroid removal), dental, bariatric and orthopaedic treatments.

The MHS Scheme can be availed to women within 48 hours.

On this Olubitan said: "There are different types of loans that we give out. Part of it is also the Maternal Health Scheme (MHSS) loans which is the maternity health service support. The loan is available for women to fulfill their family dreams.

"We know the challenges that women face; the bias, the discrimination of not being able to complete their family of having a child easily, and probably need to go through IVF procedures which costs a lot. So that facility is available for them to be able to finance that.

"Counting till date, I can tell you that

"The bank has consistently kicked against the discrimination against women and has ensured that the female gender is well represented in its top management"

two weeks ago that we had a set of twins through the MHSS, and till date, we have up to 78 - 80 children through the MHSS program."

Call for End to Stigmatisation of Women Before the series of conversation took place, that of popular Nigerian music export, Bukola Elemide alias Asa, took place with CNN's Asher Zain, which set the tone for the gathering.

While sharing her experience on the job, she also canvassed for more women in leadership positions. Calling for an end to all forms of stigmatisation against women, she opined that she hoped to see more ladies occupying top managerial position.

Lamenting that Nigerian career women, are stigmatised when they excel in their profession and even at home when they are struggling with child birth, she again hoped to see more ladies occupying top managerial position.

The “W” Initiative What is the "W" initiative one might ask?

In July 2014, Access Bank unveiled the “W” initiative to accelerate a new and stronger wave of hitherto scanty female entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

In addition to financial inclusion, the “W” initiative is a one-stop center of all of Access Bank’s women empowerment offerings. Some of these include capacity building programs exclusive to women, mentoring programmes, and maternal health services, all aimed at helping to build a bigger, stronger and more sustainable society.

Under the “W” initiative, participating women and their families have access to a wide range of opportunities. Part of these privileges includes access to loans and credit facilities; access to the ‘W’ community in which they can get insights concerning family matters and finance matters.

In addition, ‘W’ community also provides women with access to information about several value-adding special offers for the home, including specially discounted offers as well as freebies on health, beauty and fitness.

Indeed, “W” is all about raising and grooming and sustaining –in communities around us – a continuing generation of women that are inspired, healthy, connected and empowered.

It is Access Bank’s commitment to banking women.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

FEATURES

Trends in African Fintech: What does 2022 Have in Store?

Fayomi Carr

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t Flourish Ventures, we have been investing in financial services for well over 10 years now. Over that time, we've seen the landscape change dramatically.

We have just over 60 investments across the world in every type of area from big data and analytics, challenger banks, consumer and SME lending, digitising money, insurtech, personal finance, infrastructure, payments as well as embedded finance.

From this colloquial front row seat that we occupy as a player in the fintech, we have seen some trends and ideas that are starting to see emerge in the market.

Over the course of the last few years, we have seen that finance is becoming second nature. When one thinks about the trajectory of financial services; traditionally it was something that was done at a bank.

However, we have seen a much more reduced pool of financial transactions happening in banking halls due to the emergence of super apps that are guiding the way in where and how consumers can access financial services.

One such example is a company like Tencent, which ties in the age-old Chinese custom of sending red envelopes of money on special occasions by embedding financial payments into a social messaging app, which is WeChat.

This is one of the earliest examples of how financial services have been taken from the analogue world and have become digitised and embedded within other types of programmes.

If one looks at where financial services are today, one will see that big platforms are becoming influential distributors in select segments. Five of the biggest companies in the world: Amazon, Facebook, WeChat, Google and Alipay, can steer demand to any supplier and allow a lot of new product providers to proliferate.

This has the potential to lower costs for customer acquisition for start-ups. Amazon for instance started out delivering books and is now the largest eCommerce player in the world.

Efayomi They are quite embedded in financial services to the extent that they have found a way to unbundle the bank through applications like Amazon Pay and Amazon Cash-In, Amazon Lending, Amazon Protect and Amazon Allowance.

All of these services have been embedded within the platform to become a super app for financial services as much as it is not their core business.

Older fintechs did the trailblazing work of unbundling the banks. At a time during which banks offered up a full array of services to customers, the initial fintech startups targeted a single financial service and deliver a standalone offering that they thought was often superior to an equivalent offering given by a traditional universal bank.

These fintechs would access different pools of information and would interact with the customer where they were clearly able to develop deliver loans more efficiently

than a typical bank would. This has pushed players within the industry to rebundle to enhance customer viability.

The first generation of apps struggled to monetise as stand-alone hook offerings and what we've seen is that the emerging winners are beginning to diversify their product lines and revenue streams.

Many are actually introducing bank accounts as a means to go with the customer across multiple segments. Startups that will start with lending will also start to offer a bank account, a debit card and additional services.

This is the next generation of what the fintech giants of the continent will look like.

They will no longer be specialists in doing one service particularly well but they'll actually be able to aggregate more services and own the customer.

The majority of people now have access to a variety of financial products not only through their bank but also through other applications that help them send money and access financial services. We've also seen that the dominant tech platforms are now the dominant distributors.

Before, one would access financial services through their bank or through an agent but today that is happening through mobile devices and computers. Fintech startups are starting to bundle together banking services and this competition is making banks up their game. They are having to refine their own services in order to keep up with the rapid pace of fintech.

We are entering the digitally native era in which tokens will become a native asset class. Transactions will increasingly occur in Web 3.0 spaces as well as blockchain spaces in the metaverse where the currencies in use will be tokens.

This is a relatively new space in the continent but it is one that is seeing startups migrate to this network native area where crypto and blockchain technology start to define the way that consumers access financial services.

-Carr is the Principal, Flourish Ventures and the talk was adapted from his presentation at the 2021 OuiTalkTech Africa Forum in Lagos.

The Bulb Africa Calls for Application for Tech Fellowship Programme

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eading tech talent accelerator and tech hub, the Bulb Africa has announced that it is set to train Nigerian tech enthusiasts in its fourth cohort of the Fellowship at the Bulb.

The Fellowship is targeted at individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 that are interested in gaining skills in Data Analysis, Quality Assurance, Product Design or Product Management. The company is calling for youths to apply for this once in a lifetime four-month training opportunity on or before April 1, 2022.

Fellows will be paid as they learn and have the option to sign up for the Bulb Institute Internship Programme attached to the Fellowship where they will gain hands-on experience and begin building their careers as product designers, product managers, and software engineers.

The full application criteria, which includes a university degree certificate as well as how to apply can be found on the Bulb Africa’s website: https://www.fellowship.thebulb. africa/ Speaking on the essence of the Fellowship, Co-Founder and CEO of The Bulb Africa, Wande Adams said: “Africa can take advantage of the global high demand for technology talents as unemployment in Nigeria has reached 33 per cent according to the International Labor Organisation (ILO).

"Through technology, the fellowship program helps to bridge the talent gap on our continent. The World Bank says that 60 per cent of the unemployed in the country are between the ages of 15 and 35.

"We set out with the fellowship at the Bulb to equip that unemployed population with

Wande Adams relevant tech skills and ensure that both startups and established organisations have quality human

resources that make their businesses viable and sustainable."

“The fellowship programme was carefully

designed, and all our tracks confer skills that are in-demand in the workplace.

"For this new cohort, we introduced tracks that do not require coding skills for individuals that are interested in non-technical roles in the ecosystem.

"Our graduates have gone on to secure well-paying jobs at local and international organisations and in this economy with lots of low paying jobs, this is an opportunity to change the earning power of young Africans”, added Modupe Durosinmi-Etti, Program Director at The Bulb Africa.

Graduate of the Fellowship and now DevOps Engineer, Valentine Madu, commented on the impact of the Fellowship on his career: “the fellowship program was the perfect launchpad for my career into DevOps Engineering. " In the space of six months, I got useful knowledge that has launched me into my present career path which I am currently excelling at. I’m firmly of the opinion that the fellowship offers its fellows a well-rounded education”.

The Bulb Africa has received over 5500 applications since its first cohort in 2020. The successful applicants got paid as they learnt their desired skills and received immediate internship placements. These benefits are also available to applicants of the fourth cohort.

The Bulb Africa is a talent incubator and tech hub that connects innovation from Africa to global opportunities. It creates training and employment opportunities for tech talents, supports entrepreneurs with incubator programmes which allows them turn ideas into business realities as well as help start-ups scale up with accelerator programmes.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

EDUCATION Tambuwal’s Roadmap And Success Story for Revamping Quality Education in Sokoto As states continue to review their policy framework on education, the Sokoto government appears to be expanding the frontiers of the sector with evidence-based quality and standardised education. Uchechukwu Nnaike reports

F

ollowing the needs assessment recently carried out in Sokoto, a major part of the outcome centred on the policy framework in revamping the state’s education system and how that is linked to human development initiatives. This seems to offer hope for change.

Considering how policy framework in the education sector feeds into human development, particularly in a Sokoto, stakeholders believe Sokoto has the potential to bridge the gender gap in access to quality education and strengthen the framework for improved education.

A major stake and objective of the state’s new education system are built around policy with viable outcomes, including one that matches quality response to the development crisis in northern Nigeria. This can also transcend the national development indices of Nigeria. This objective sees education in a multidisciplinary approach, one that not only improves human capital but will add to indices of development in a broader context.

Since Governor Aminu Tambuwal assumed office in 2015, remarkable achievements have been recorded, as witnessed in the state in recent times. These improvements are direct consequences of his policy choices, matched with diligent implementation. The policy framework for education in Sokoto State under Tambuwal connects education not just to grooming and capacity building, but that which intersects with the state economy and its aspirations for infrastructural development.

The governor said there is a nexus between Nigeria’s current crisis and the poor quality of education received or even its lack.

In a recent media briefing, he explained that “quality education is needed to address challenges of insecurity, poverty and even raising the standard of living of people.” Tambuwal maintained that the gulf in lack of education both in the western and religious sense is responsible for the current conflict and could be linked to the rise of terrorism in the region.

Due to the deplorable education indices in Sokoto in 2015, he promptly declared a state of emergency in the state’s education sector in December of that year.

While outlining the import of Sokoto’s educational policy, Tambuwal harped on funding as a key component in revamping the sector. He stated that in “pursuant to our policy of a state of emergency on education since 2015, when we first came on board, and in the current dispensation from 2019 to date, our budgetary allocation to education has never fallen below 25 per cent. “In 2026, we had a whopping 29 per cent allocation to education, about the UNESCO benchmark, and ever since, we have maintained the tempo by ensuring sustained funding for the education sector,” the governor stated.

He further stressed that the idea of resetting the state’s educational policy was not just hinged on introducing new policies but programmes that will have a ripple effect across the state and to a larger population.

Tambuwal argued that the unprecedented expansion is meant to provide access to education, particularly in the rural areas and disadvantaged groups. The governor’s first step to bringing more innovation and standardization into the state’s education system was to work on up-to-date legislation that would enable improvements in the sector.

To that end, in 2016, the Right to Education Bill, 2016 was signed into law, where the bill made education a justiciable right and made it illegal for children to be out of school by the actions of their parents. Thus, the idea was not just about legislation. There was also the need to provide an enabling environment for education to thrive in Sokoto State.

This compelled the Sokoto government to embark on massive school renovation and building of special schools to effect the Right to Education law. The new policy also requires

Sokoto State University

Tambuwal the handing over of the renovated schools to the local government councils to manage while the state provides the funding, making the local governments accountable for the success or failure of the law.

Also, between 2016 and 2019, two junior secondary schools were built per LGA in all 23 local government areas in the state. Also, four junior secondary schools were built in the state capital.

In furtherance of the new government policy, this was followed by the renovation of 1,500 primary schools across the state and 180 junior secondary schools, which are over 70 per cent completed.

The Tambuwal administration also ensured that the annual budgetary allocation to education is not below

26 per cent, above the UNESCO benchmark of 15- 20 per cent. This has led to over 600,000 children enrolled in school since 2016, with a consistent rise in the number of children getting back to school. Most importantly, Tambuwal’s administration has also focused on getting more girls into school, improving the lives and chances of women within the state.

Strategically, between 2016 and 2017, there was a 4.4 per cent increase in the enrolment of girls into primary schools. This has also made the state government set up an Agency for Girl Child Education that focuses on getting more girls into school by engaging with their parents and communities on the importance of educating the girl-child.

In line with the combination of the state government and community enlightenment and cash-backed incentives, there has been a corresponding massive rise in the enrolment of girls into schools across the state.

The remarkable enrolment of girls into schools has seen the government take matching actions by constructing more girls-only schools across the 23 local government areas and a government science senior secondary school built in grand style across the three senatorial districts. This policy will allow direct entry for girls who graduate from junior secondary schools within the state and properly prepare to pursue science and technology-oriented courses in tertiary education. This informs the establishment of the Government Girls Science Secondary School.

Many gaps have been closed, and more will be celebrated in due course, the government assured. But a look from 2012 indicated that the number of girls enrolled in junior secondary schools within the state stood at 22,021, and by 2016, the number moved significantly to 71,132.

Enrolment into senior secondary schools also witnessed an increase from the numbers in 2014, which stood at 22,755 and moved to 27,004

Pursuant to our policy of a state of emergency on education since 2015, when we first came on board, and in the current dispensation from 2019 to date, our budgetary allocation to education has never fallen below 25 per cent

in 2017. Recognising that early marriage is a setback to girls’ school enrolment, in November 2021, 18 years after the passage of the Child Rights Act 2003, the Sokoto State Government joined the rest of Nigeria in domesticating the Child Rights Act. Tambuwal achieved this feat after nearly six years of painstaking and strategic engagement with stakeholders. These remarkable indicators remain a testimony in the most conservative part of northern Nigeria, the seat of the Caliphate.

In addition, Tambuwal is constructing one of the best state universities in Nigeria that will change the face of university education in northern Nigeria. The new university located in Sokoto metropolis, when completed, will cater for several multidisciplinary courses from sciences, digital technology, humanities, arts and social sciences, and will reset tertiary education to a more advanced level beyond the obsolete system currently in place.

Going by its architectural design, the new structure will redefine the state’s educational system in various ways.

It is safe to say that there is a sense in which Sokoto’s collective effort in revamping the education sector fits into the new narrative and multisectoral policy of changing the dynamics of the state for the better.

From enacting legislation that will create a conducive atmosphere that can breach the gender gap in school enrolment to funding, policy implementation, and the practical approach to advance quality, Tambuwal’s governance template remains effective in addressing challenges of education in the north and even across the country.

This supportive evidence that signposts Tambuwal’s hard work on education will in the future define his legacy in Sokoto State.

The fact that the policies in place are not just meant to railroad disadvantaged children to schools but to foster a strong bond in human capital development appears to make the difference. In his ability to change the narrative in Sokoto with regards to education, Tambuwal has proven his capacity to lead. And his understanding of the challenges of the 21st century and how to resolve them is indicative of his leadership acumen in contemporary Nigeria.

With education, Tambuwal understands leading a nation to greatness. In essence, education is the key.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

EDUCATION

Seplat JV, Empowering Teachers for Nigeria’s Socio-economic Devt

L-R: Independent Non-Executive Director, Seplat Energy Plc, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu SAN; Deputy Governor, Edo State, Philip Shaibu; Director, External Affairs and Sustainability, Seplat Energy, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku; and a teacher/beneficiary of the Seplat JV Teachers Empowerment Programme (STEP), at the 2022 Seplat JV Education Roundtable and STEP Award Ceremony, in Benin … recently Uchechukwu Nnaike

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mong the many factors plaguing the education system in Nigeria, poor teacher quality is of utmost importance because these educators have primary contact with the students. Some schools lack teachers with adequate knowledge about the subject they are required to teach. Apart from these, some teachers are deprived of consistent training to keep them updated with modern educational standards.

In realising this, the Nigerian government has been making instructive policies to bring about a robust reform in the sector, especially in the teaching profession, which it plans to make implicitly dynamic, nationally relevant, and globally competitive. The federal government disclosed this during the Seplat Teachers Empowerment Programme (STEP) certificate award ceremony and education roundtable in Benin City, Edo State. While commending the management of Seplat Energy Plc for the committed resources towards nation-building, especially in the area of technological development and promotion of quality education, it stated that the STEP programme fulfils the goal of the federal government and the private sector partnership on education, which is to work together to produce teachers with the requisite knowledge, skills, and desirable attitude.

The STEP has been described as a well-needed solution to increase teachers’ qualifications in Edo and Delta. This is the second edition of the programme to improve education standards in Nigeria especially Seplat Energy’s host states and communities.

Seplat Energy Plc, one of the indigenous energy companies and its partners, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), awarded certificates to 220 participants, comprising 214 teachers and six chief inspectors of education in Edo and Delta States under the STEP. Over the years, the company has made significant impacts with critical initiatives focused on providing quality education for states of its operations and the country.

To consolidate its achievements on Sustainability Development Goal 4 for inclusive and equitable quality education, the company introduced STEP, a customized training programme for secondary school teachers. STEP is a three-month intensive training programme that equips teachers with tools to teach STEAM (Science, Technology,

Engineering, Arts and Mathematics).

The company introduced the STEAM learning model to secondary schools in Delta and Edo to promote creative thinking, higher student engagement, and well-rounded education where STEAM are equal contributors to the learning process.

In September 2021, the 220 certificate awardees from Delta and Edo States began their training with an initial fiveday residential retreat. After that, they continued training via the e-Learning platform developed for the programme.

To commemorate the certificate presentation ceremony, Seplat Energy hosted The Seplat JV Education Roundtable, themed ‘Harnessing the Role of Technology In Nigeria’s Education Sector’.

The STEP certificate awards ceremony held in Benin City, alongside the Seplat Education Roundtable, had educational experts and professionals in a highly engaging panel session.

The keynote speaker for the day was Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, was represented by Mrs. Muna OnuzoAdetona, a Special Adviser to the minister. He highlighted some of the federal government’s plans towards the education sector, stating that “the government has developed strategies to attract the best brains to the teaching profession. This development is aimed at motivating teachers to continue to strive for excellence.”

He described Seplat as a socially responsible organisation and commended the company for putting in tireless effort in nurturing these beneficiaries.

The minister also noted that the STEP programme fulfils the federal government’s goal and the private sector partnership, which is to work together to produce teachers with the requisite knowledge, skills, and desirable attitude.

To the teachers, he said, “you have been bequeathed with a solid foundation.

“A foundation that enables you to be emotionally, psychologically, socially and technologically prepared to handle the delicate art of teaching across all levels of education.

“You represent what is great about this programme. Remember that cultivating a positive emotional disposition, as well as the acquisition of knowledge and pedagogical skill will make you succeed in this profession.

“From today, you will not only be transferring knowledge, but you will also be shaping the minds and hearts of these precious children. To quote Aristotle, “educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

The panelists comprised Mr. Yinka Akibu of the United Nations Development Programme; Mr. Kehinde Osinaike of the Federal Ministry of Education; Hon. Sijuade Idowu Tiamiyu of the State Universal Basic Education Board Lagos State; and Ini Abimbola of the Association of Sustainability Professionals of Nigeria. The session was moderated

by Dr. (Hon) Mories Atoki.

Edo’s Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, said, “Education via technology will promote children to be global competitors, and this can only happen through adequate knowledge of technology. I congratulate Seplat Energy on this initiative, and Edo State will continue to partner with the company on education.”

While congratulating the beneficiaries, he urged the beneficiaries to use the knowledge acquired from the STEP programme to retrain the students in the state to be global competitors.

In his address, Prof. Ajogwu said: “Education is a collective responsibility.

What Seplat Energy is doing is noble and commendable. It is supported by both Edo and Delta state governments.

These states should be model states that

The testimonies of recipients of the second edition of STEP highlighted the numerous benefits they gained from the programme, including enhancing their creative thinking, allowing for higher student engagement, and offering a well-rounded education

should be emulated. Other corporates should also be invited to do the same. Spending on education gives us future returns than subsiding consumption.”

In her remarks, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku, noted that the STEP programme “is important because it plays a key role in the socio-economic growth of the country,” supporting the attainment of quality education.

According to her, the objective is to take STEAM education to teachers.

In her remarks, the Edo Commissioner for Education, Dr. Joan Oviawe, said, “We are excited by what Seplat Energy is doing for teachers and thank the company for its CSR impact in the educational sector and other sectors.”

The objectives of STEP are to: To train secondary school teachers on skills, innovations, and technologies for deploying STEAM to deliver tutelage better to the students; provide and connect teachers to a collection of STEAM resources to enable them to understand, apply and innovate; and provide schools with resources to enable them to provide the right environment for STEAM implementation to enable students engage in the interdisciplinary nature of STEAM. STEP, an annual programme, starts with a five-day residential workshop that provides leadership and self-improvement training, training on STEAM modules and its application to teaching. The teachers were also provided with STEAM gadgets and apps to support their delivery of quality teaching in our host states. Of the teachers empowered, 75 per cent are from public schools while 25 per cent are from private schools.

The Delta and Edo education ministries and the Edo Ministry of Science and Technology said they are excited about the programme because of the multiplier effect it will have in secondary education.

They expressed their unwavering support for the programme.

The testimonies of recipients of the second edition of STEP highlighted the numerous benefits they gained from the programme, including enhancing their creative thinking, allowing for higher student engagement, and offering a well-rounded education.

Abioal Stella from Edo College, and Akpoghelie Samson Oghale from mixed Secondary Dchool Ukala-Okpunor Delta State expressed delight, describing the programme as exceptional and mind blowing. They thanked Seplat for the training over the last six months which they said will enable them to make a positive impact in the classroom.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

34

EDUCATION

Addressing Dilemma of Dropouts in Lagos Schools In this report, Omolabake Fasogbon writes about how the newly introduced Comprehensive Schools Programme by the Lagos government will help tackle the challenge of secondary school drop out in the state

T

he declining standard of education in Nigeria has continued to raise concerns from stakeholders in the country and international communities. More problematic is the rising number of out of school students that further threatens the country’s stability.

This is despite the constitution’s requirement that every child should be educated. Section 15 of the Child Rights Act provides that every child has the right to free, compulsory and universal basic education, which shall be the duty of the government in Nigeria to provide such education.

Education is the bedrock of growth and development for any nation and the only way to guarantee a child’s rights. This is why stakeholders have pushed for incentives and enabling environment that would encourage more Nigerians to embrace education.

In recent times, the federal government has come up with incentives such as Federal Government Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and free tuition fee, amongst others , to sustain children ‘s interest in education and increase school enrolment in the country.

Sadly, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has maintained an upward trend, with Nigeria currently topping the chart globally.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has the highest rate of out-of-school children globally, with an alarming figure that now stretches to about 10.5 million.

Breaking down the figure further, UNICEF declared that one-third of Nigerian children are not in school, while one in five out-of-school children in the world is Nigerian.

During a function in Katsina, the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, recently attributed the situation to high illiteracy level, infrastructural decay, and deficits.

In another instance, an academic scholar, Abdullahi Mustapha, in a study conducted among public Senior Secondary Schools in Bauchi, identified factors such as poor comprehension of the subject, lack of interest in learning, poor achievement and fear of repetition to have contributed immensely to secondary school students’ dropout in Nigeria.

More factors, according to him, are motivation from peers, drug abuse, bullying, early marriage, chronic absenteeism, illness and truancy.

A recent report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) identifies Kano as the state with the highest number of out-of-school children, close to one million.

A much more recent report put Lagos in the spotlight, where the state is reported

Students having their class activities in one of the Lagos Comprehensive Schools to be housing more than two million out-of-school children.

The situation is particularly worrying considering Lagos’s strength as Nigeria’s economic capital and the nation’s pride in the global market.

Acknowledging this as a challenge, the state government , through relevant bodies and agencies, is raising measures to stem the tide.

One of such measures is the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL. According to the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), Hon Wahab Alawiye, the programme which aimed to provide quality education to both the rich and the poor as well as upskill teachers leveraging technology, has achieved its main purpose of taking more children away from the street.

Taking the intervention to another level, Lagos state recently introduced its Comprehensive Schools Programme to absorb every child into its formal educational system.

Speaking further on the programme, the

Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo, affirmed that the programme was in response to the high number of students dropping out of the public secondary school system in Lagos.

She noted that the Lagos Comprehensive Schools Programme is a model that recognises that all children are not equally adept at academic stuff, thus considering all children as capable of learning.

According to her, the state had recorded a low turnout of students returning to senior secondary school after completing their junior secondary school. She expressed that the trend was worrisome, maintaining that education is the only avenue that provides credible and multiple pathways to life success.

She said, “The statistics bear out this worrisome situation: of every 10 students enrolled in JS1, only 3 make it to SS3, with just one graduating with the suitable result.”

She revealed that the state had observed that many school dropouts usually settle for informal vocational training, which to her could only yield sub-par skill levels and weak economic empowerment.

While Lagos has five technical colleges in Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos Island and Epe, Adefisayo said these are not within reach and may not be easily accessible to would-be students.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mr. Abayomi Abolaji, further explained that the programme is incorporated into the formal academic structure and offers students training like technical colleges.

Abolaji revealed that the programme’s pilot phase had already commenced in 12 schools , with plans to extend it to all public secondary schools in Lagos.

The programme covers five categories: agriculture, tech and digital skills, beauty and events, building and construction, and media and entertainment.

He added that the programme was a public and private sector arrangement, adding that it was a deliberate move to make the programme outlive successive governments in the state.

Abolaji said, “Governor Sanwo-Olu administration trusts the participation of the private sector in all levels of the programme and the involvement of host communities would ensure sustainability and long-term success of the programme.”

Land Dispute: Methodist Boys High School Alumni ChrislandVarsity Gets Caution Church NUC Accreditation for Funmi Ogundare survey plan in the name of the ting on 5.77 hectares extending the matter to court of arbitra- Law Programme church on the same land from to Kuramo waters. There is tion (ADR), while expressing Following the controversy over the sale of a parcel of land belonging to Methodist Boys High School, Lagos, for commercial purpose by the Methodist Church, the alumni President of the school, Mr. Kolapo Sogbetun, has appealed to the church to partner the association in putting up projects that will benefit the students and enable the school regain its lost glory.

According to report, sometime in 2012, the church, under the leadership of Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde had attempted to plunder part of the property (measuring about two acres) of the school for commercial purposes, which is non- educational. He maintained that the church had obtained a new Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and

educational to commercial purpose without any proof of assertion.

In July 2021, an old boy noticed that the church had affixed to the external fence of the school, a sign advertising the stretch of the land and calling on developers for a joint venture to construct luxurious flat under a project called, ‘The Wesley’, for sale to interested buyers/subscribers for commercial purpose.

The move by the church didn’t go down well with the alumni of the school as the president told journalists during the 144th Founder’s Day celebration that it is in blatant violation of the purpose of educational use stated in the C of O. “There’s a dispute between us and the Methodist Church.

As a matter of fact, we are sit-

a portion of land which they have said they want to use to construct luxurious flats and we are saying no, that we will not take such other than for educational purposes.

We objected to the erection of the luxury flats and they stopped.”

He said the C of O number 25/25/1983N is in the name of Methodist Boys High School which statutory right was granted by the Lagos State government, adding that the parcel of land which measured 5.771 hectares within the Maroko Scheme phase one, gives the school the exclusive right of alienation, ownership and possession without disturbance from any other separate entity.

Sogbetun noted that the alumni have been advised by the Attorney General to refer

concern that the church had also obtained a C of O during Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration in 2012, with a different title which does not reflect the name of the school.

“So we are trying to approach the ADR for a resolution so that they can revoke the one in the name of Methodist Church. In law, there is a priority rule which says the first in time prevails.

“So the name will continue to be in Methodist Boys High School, Lagos, and we do not want our property or the assets of the school to be used for commercial purposes, which might eventually be turned into brothel. It’s going to be an eyesore. We have a piece of land left and we don’t want any encroachment by the church,” the president stressed.

Funmi Ogundare

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has granted approval to Chrisland University, Abeokuta, to commence its Law programme.

The commission’s approval was conveyed to the ViceChancellor, Prof. Chinedum Peace Babalola, who disclosed it to the management team during a meeting.

According to the VC, the approval was based on adequate resources provided by the university.

“The approval came after the authorities of the NUC undertook diligent assessment of facilities and lecturers for the College of Law.’ She noted that in pursuit of the expansion of the number of academic programmes currently being run in the institution, it

becomes imperative to contribute its quota to qualitative training of lawyers in Nigeria.

The professor described the NUC approval as an icing saying that it has crowned the painstaking efforts of the university over the past four years to actualise its dreams.

Babalola commended the Chancellor of the university, High Chief Winifred Awosika, Board of Trustees (BoT) and the governing council for their collective efforts in enhancing qualitative education in Nigeria.

The university which started with just two colleges during its inception in 2015/2016 academic session with College of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, and the College of Natural and Applied Sciences) has grown into three colleges, which is Basic Medical Sciences, while the College of Law is the fourth

35

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022

CITYSTRINGS

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

Improving Access to Clean Water, One Community at a Time As nations mark World Water Day, Chiamaka Ozulumba reports that MTN Foundation has been improving access to water one community at a time

Beneficiaries of the numerous water projects carried out by MTN Foundation

F

ela Kuti captured the full essence and importance of water in his 1975 song ‘Water no get enemy’. Everyone needs water, no matter how rich or poor, water is an everyday necessity. It is no wonder that the sixth sustainable development goal is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, focuses on the importance of freshwater. The day is set aside to celebrate water and raise awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.

A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.

According to the latest Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report, 771 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to safe water, and the water crisis is the 5th global risk in terms of impact on society. 144 million people depend on surface water, like a river, to meet their basic needs, and millions of people take multiple trips each day to collect water.

Based on reports from UNICEF in 2021, 26.5 million Nigerian children, or 29 per cent of Nigerian children experience high or extremely high water vulnerability, with over 86 per cent of Nigerians lacking access to a safely managed drinking water source.

The good news, however, is that despite the prevalent lack of clean water in Nigeria, the Government

through the Ministry of Water Resources, International and private organisations are all working together, to improve the lives of Nigerians by providing water in rural areas of the country.

In recent times, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provided a solar borehole at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, in Benue state. The International Water Association; Young Water Professionals (IWA-YWP) Nigeria, donated a 5000-litre water reservoir and solar-powered borehole facility with a charging kiosk to residents of Orisada Eyo community in Ogun state.

The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), donated a Solar Powered Borehole to the Gaba community, in the Bwari Area Council, Abuja.

Similarly, MTN Foundation has continued to make giant strides in ensuring that communities across Nigeria have access to clean water. Through its What Can We Do Together project, a

community based “give-back” initiative, MTN Foundation has successfully rolled out various interventions in 510 communities under 454 LGAs in Nigeria since 2015.

Over the past seven years, MTN Foundation has ensured the availability of potable water in 50 communities.

After the installation of a 650ft borehole in Damaturu Local Government Area under the What Can We Do Together initiative, one of the residents in the community mentioned that prior to the donation, residents of that community had never had access to potable water.

He said, “We have never had access to potable water and we feel this more with the presence of a community school with a population of about 3,975 students.

These students during the break period move from one compound to another requesting for water to drink from people who have sunk private boreholes.”

“Thank God for MTN Founda-

"Connectivity for us is beyond the services we offer, but for people to live with basic standards of life and have access to the basic things of life....

MTN Foundation has continued to make giant strides in ensuring that communities across Nigeria have access to clean water"

tion. Today, with this borehole, we can now fetch and drink water without begging.” No organisation has carried out a project of this magnitude in this community.” He concluded.

Recently, the MTN Foundation successfully installed solar-powered boreholes in Dawanu Janguru Community, Dawaki Tofa Local Government Area, Kano state and Gudugi community, Pategi Local Government area, Kwara State to improve their access to clean drinking water.

Speaking on the Foundation’s contributions in this space, Odunayo Sanya, the Executive Secretary of the MTN Foundation, said “MTN is a company that believes that its success as a business is tied to the wellbeing of the people in the communities in which they operate.

"Connectivity for us is beyond the services we offer, but for people to live with basic standards of life and have access to the basic things of life. This is why we have tailored our interventions to align with national priorities and the SDGs.” MTN Foundation is the social investment vehicle of MTN Nigeria.

The Foundation was founded in 2004 and commissioned in May 2005 with MTN Nigeria Communication PLC committing up to one per cent of its Profit after Tax (PAT) as its main source of funding for projects. MTN Foundation has invested over NGN 23.7 Billion in the 36 states of the federation and FCT. MTN Foundation has over 924 project sites across Nigeria with 48 unique projects which spans 2,604 communities and reached over 30,741,005 people.

36

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͱ˜ 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Multiple Port Levies Killing Exports, Lament Women Agro Processors Olawale Ajimotokan ÓØ ÌßÔË Women Agro Processors, Agricgen and Exporters Initiative (WAPAGEIN) has decried multiple port levies, high tariffs and double taxation at the ports, saying they are militating against export business in Nigeria.

The president of the association, Mrs Esther Adebayo, made the outcry yesterday in Abuja at the launching of WAPAGEIN and the flag off of the National Export Centre.

She said that rather than decongesting the ports, the federal government should modernise the ports and end the plain extortion from illegal taxes, which do not go in to the coffers of the federal authority.

She also said ports should

be for facilitating business and exports and stimulating industrial manufacturing and competitiveness of local business and exports and not for equipment revenue generation.

Adebayo said the cost of exporting 100 tons of cargo in the country is $35,000 compared to $4000 in Ghana.

“Today the leading ports for West Africa are in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic.

All these countries have modernised their port management systems, leaving Nigeria far behind. The federal government should increase the training and employment of extension workers and other supportive services to boost increase in agricultural production,” she said.

In his remarks, the FCT Minister, Muhammed Musa

Bello, said it was heartwarming and worthy of emulation that women considered it necessary and timely to network and engage themselves in such a gainful and transformational stride.

The minister, who was represented by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola said agriculture is critical to human existence and a reliable means of livelihood.

He also lauded WAPAGIEN for aligning their agro vision with the economic and agrobusiness policies of the federal government.

He expressed belief that the project will provide and enhance a veritable platform for mutual interactions and partnership between the women business group and various agencies of government.

Leadway Health Pays Over N800m Bills for Customers In a deliberate bid to prove the efficacy of its health insurance scheme and demonstrate the critical financial benefit of enrolling on its quality healthcare management services, Health Management Organisation, Leadway Health Limited, said it footed the medical bills of its over 62,000 enrollees to the tune of almost One Billion Naira in one year.

Managers of the firm stated this while highlighting the organisation’s achievement during its one year in business anniversary.

Speaking on the achievements, Chief Executive Officer, Leadway Health Limited, Dr Tokunbo Alli stated that the milestones achieved align with the firm’s vision to deliver access to unmatched quality healthcare management services and solutions to Nigerians without financial exposure or the burden of out-of-pocket payments.

“As of 2018, there were

about 57 Health Management Organisations (HMOs) in Nigeria, according to Statista, yet nearly 97 per cent of people surveyed in Nigeria did not have any health insurance. Only about three per cent of individuals had health insurance, mainly on employerbased coverage.

“We are here to reverse that narrative and disrupt the market.

I believe this goal we set for ourselves is achievable. In the last 365 days, despite challenges in the economy, we have enrolled over 62,000 individuals and 120 corporate clients into our service.

We have also set out to build a robust healthcare management network with capable service partnerships and have thus engaged about 2,500 healthcare providers and signed over 1,600 pharmacies nationwide, “Alli said.

He said within the same period, the firm and its managers have demonstrated the value that

enrollees on Leadway Healthcare management service would consistently enjoy having picked up over 800 million Naira worth of medical bills for them.

“This amount paid in claims is indicative of the critical role health management services play in accessing healthcare without an additional burden of financial exposure. It is crucial to note that these Nigerians would foot these bills out-of-pocket to access healthcare in this critical COVID19 recovery era, “he stated.

He said more than 190 million Nigerians, according to the country’s National Health Insurance Scheme, were still paying out-of-pocket to access medical services, adding that the ordinary Nigerian, small businesses, and households are constrained by unplanned and enormous cash payment to get good healthcare.

AIICO Clinches Certification for Information Security Management AIICO Insurance Plc has announced that it has received Information Security Management System certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI) under ISO 27001:2013 standard.

AIICO, said it clinched the certificate after a thorough assessment of its Information Security Management System, which is the highest international standard for information security management and a globally recognised information security standard developed and maintained by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

AIICO Managing Director Babatunde Fajemirokun said the Company broke the record as the first in the industry in Nigeria to receive this certification, which

represents high information security standards that provided a wide range of requirements for information security management systems He said Information Security Management is a system that defines and manages controls that an organisation needs to implement to ensure that it is protecting the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of its assets. He said It has become an absolute necessity for corporate entities to protect their assets in view of the ever-increasing cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities that are ravaging the world today, resulting in significant losses.

Also speaking, AIICO Chief Risk Officer, Mr. Abiodun Adebanjo stated, “We consider

the certification as a reward for the collective efforts that has gone into embedding the information security risk management culture within the entire organisation, and a reflection of the premium we place on protecting our customers and business data.

He said with this certification, AIICO has taken the necessary and needed steps to protect its priority information from data breaches, unauthorised access, and other disruptive data security threats to our stakeholders’ data.

He assured that all hands were on deck, and that the company continue to improve and adapt to changing circumstances with the goal of providing adequate and sustainable protection to our information assets.”

ITF Equipped 3,905 Nigerians with Skills, Says DG Igbawase Ukumba ÓØ ËʨË The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) yesterday said it has equipped at least 3,905 Nigerians with skills in two trade areas of catering/event management and plumbing in the past one year.

The Director General of the ITF, Joseph Ari, disclosed this at the closing ceremony graduation of 2021 National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) and Federal Government

Skills Empowerment Programmes (FEGOSEP) in Lafia.

Ari, who was represented by the Lafia ITF Area Manager, Garba Hassan, continued that about 100 youths were also trained in Nasarawa State in the area of catering/event management, plumbing and pipe fitting.

According to the ITF DG, ‘given the intensity and the very practical nature of the training, the trainees were equipped with the necessary skills and attitudes

for them to strive as employees or as entrepreneurs.

He said, “Since the inception of the NISDP/FEGOSEP, it has equipped thousands of Nigerians nationwide with skills for employability and entrepreneurship. This phase of the Programme, which the closing ceremony is taking place today, commenced in the third quarter of 2021.”

Highpoint of the event was the presentation of Start-up Pacts to the trainees by the management of the ITF.

From left: Executive Secretary, Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency, Mr. Khalil Nur Khalil; Relationship Manager, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mr. Franklin Iyebutemeh; Founder/Managing Director, Tomato Jos Farming and Processing Limited, Mira Mehta and General Manager, Processing of the company, Mr. Victor Garuba, during the launch of Tomato Jos paste variant recently in Kaduna on March 17, 2022

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).

37

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͰ

Neimth Shareholders Approve N0.70 Dividend for 2021 Kayode Tokede The shareholders of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc yesterday approved N0.07 dividend of every 50 kobo share held in 2021 financial year, an eight per cent increase over the figure of N0.65 kobo paid to shareholders in 2020.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals had declared an after tax profit of N271million for the 2021 business, represent-

ing a 27 per cent rise over 2020 figure of N212.47 million.

The pre- tax profit of the company rose by 23 per cent at N365.25 million over the 2020 figure of N297.38 million.

This result was achieved on a modest turnover rise of seven per cent from N2.84 billion in 2020 to N3.05 billion in 2021.

Speaking at the company’s 63rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Managing Director/ CEO, Matthew

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

Azoji, said the 2021vimoressive performance was achieved through prudent management of resources. ‘”We were able to rein in costs, eliminate waste and eke out income to increase the margin of profit,” Azoji explained.

The fortunes of Neimeth has taken an upward turn since 2018 when it returned to profitablity after nearly a decade of predominantly losses.

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

QUANTITY TRADED

From a loss of N404.9 million in 2017 the company made profit of N166.4 million in 2018, N304.4 million in 2019, N297.3 million in 2020 at the upsurge of COVID pandemic and N365.2 million in 2021.

Chairman of the Board of Neimeth, Dr. Ambrosie Orjiako, told shareholders at the AGM that the board is working with Management to ensure that the growth trajectory is sustained In the past three years the

T R A D E D

VALUE TRADED ( N )

MAIN BOARD

A S

company has built a regime of growth in revenue and profits after ten years of lull. Azoji said the Company is taking a quantum leap in the 2022 business as it plans to increase capacity by 300 per cent.

This will be the outcome of an ongoing facility upgrade at it’s Oregun, Lagos factory, he said. Speaking to shareholders at the AGM , Azoji said the capacity upgrade would increase the turnover and

O F

2 2

profits of Neimeth.

Last year the company announced a two-pronged expansion programme - to build a new manufacturing plant at Amawbia in Anambra State and a facility upgrade of its Oregun plant.

The facility upgrade is now nearing completion while work at the new plant is expected to get to an advanced stage by the end of this year, according to Azoji.

/ 0 3 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

38

WEDNESDAY, ͺͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

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THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

Ăƚ ϭ͕ϲϳϰ͘ϴϵ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϲйͿ͕ ĚĞdž ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŽŶ 'd K ;Ͳ t W K ;Ͳϭ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ h ;ͲϬ͘ϳйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂͲ

Ϭ͘ϲйͿ͕ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ E ^d> ;ͲϮ͘ϴйͿ͘ ƵͲ

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘

ŵƵůĂƟǀĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϱ͘ϲй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ

Current Price

Ticker

ŝŶĚĞdž͘ ^/ ƵƉ ϭϭďƉƐ ĂƐ E' D 'ĂŝŶƐ ϯ͘ϯй

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ĚĂLJ͕ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ŝŶ ,KEz&>KhZ dŚĞ ĞĂƌƐ DĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ 'ƌŝƉ͘​͘​͘ ^/ ĚŽǁŶ Ϭ͘Ϯй ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ & E, ;нϬ͘ϳйͿ ďŽůͲ

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

ƐƚĞƌĞĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůůͲ

ŬĞƚ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ůŽƐƐĞƐ ŝŶ E ^d> ;ͲϮ͘ϴйͿ͕ d/ ;Ͳϯ͘ϰйͿ͕ ŝŶĚĞdž

ƌŽƐĞ

1,260.00

3 BUA Cement Plc 4 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC

zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ďĞĂƌƐ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŐƌŝƉ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌͲ ^ŚĂƌĞ

2016.94

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

ďLJ

ĂŶĚ h ;Ͳϭ͘ϵйͿ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ E'yͲ ^/ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ ϭϭďƉƐ ƚŽ ϯϵ͕ϱϱϬ͘ϯϲ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ ŝŵͲ

8 FBN Holdings Plc 9 Lafarge Africa PLC

Ϭ͘Ϯй ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ ϰϳ͕Ϯϭϱϲ͘ϱϲ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ Ͳϭ͘ϴй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ

10 Access Bank PLC 11 United Bank for Africa PLC 12 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ ϭϬ͘ϰй ;ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ ϭϬ͘ϲйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ

13 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 14 SEPLAT Energy PLC

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǀĂůƵĞ

ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ʬϱϭ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ

ʬϮϱ͘ϰƚŶ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĂĚͲ

15 Ecobank Transnational Inc 16 International Brew eries PLC 17 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

ǀĂŶĐĞĚ ϰϮ͘ϭй ĂŶĚ ϰϱ͘ϲй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ ϯϬϯ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ K E K ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕

18 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC

ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ ʬϯ͘ϵďŶ͘ E' D ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

20 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

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

22 FCMB Group Plc 23 United Capital PLC

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

-0.26% 0.0%

ROE

8.8% 101.7% 38.3%

31.9%

15.0%

ROA

P/E

3.5%

5.2x

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

P/BV

0.8x

5.7%

31.9%

17.3%

1.5%

205.50

0.0%

8.1%

4.3%

4.3%

134.7%

14.1%

14.0x

21.6x

70.75

0.0%

6.8%

5.5%

5.5%

19.1%

11.2%

34.0x

6.4x

26.00

-0.6%

6.2%

0.0%

0.0%

20.7%

3.3%

4.2x

5.1%

7.1%

0.9x

11.5%

23.7% 28.9%

2.9%

26.95

-0.2%

6.0%

7.2%

7.2%

20.4%

2.7%

3.5x

0.7x

11.5%

273.50

0.0%

4.4%

6.4%

6.4%

39.2%

16.3%

12.9x

4.8x

7.3%

7.8%

1,395.00

-2.8%

3.0%

-10.4%

-10.4%

106.8%

15.6%

27.1x

31.8x

3.6%

3.7%

12.00

0.8%

3.4%

5.3%

5.3%

8.4%

0.8%

7.1x

0.6x

3.7%

14.1%

23.65

-1.3%

3.1%

-1.3%

-1.3%

11.6%

8.4%

8.8x

1.0x

8.5%

11.3%

9.85

0.5%

2.7%

5.9%

5.9%

17.9%

1.6%

2.2x

0.3x

10.2%

46.5%

7.60

-1.9%

2.0%

-5.6%

-5.6%

15.8%

1.4%

2.2x

0.3x

13.0%

44.6% 12.8%

34.80

0.0%

1.5%

-3.3%

-3.3%

15.1%

2.1%

7.8x

1.2x

11.7%

44.50

0.0%

1.3%

-11.0%

-11.0%

7.6%

2.7%

27.9x

2.1x

3.7%

3.6%

930.00

0.0%

2.2%

43.1%

43.1%

8.7%

4.1%

8.5x

0.7x

4.4%

11.8%

11.50

-3.4%

1.7%

32.2%

32.2%

5.00

0.0%

1.1%

1.0%

1.0%

-10.3%

-3.9%

143.50

0.0%

1.0%

1.1%

1.1%

36.5%

23.3%

9.7x

3.2x

32.00

0.0%

1.1%

12.9%

12.9%

15.9%

4.5%

4.9x

0.7x

2.6x

37.9% 0.9x

-11.4% 10.3% 5.2%

20.4%

3.18

3.6%

0.7%

24.7%

24.7%

13.3%

1.3%

2.4x

0.3x

7.2%

41.4%

2.15

-6.5%

0.5%

-7.3%

-7.3%

9.3%

3.0%

6.6x

0.6x

10.2%

15.1%

8.8x

1.5x

6.3%

11.4%

0.3x

4.4%

2.4x

12.2%

15.90

0.3%

0.4%

-8.6%

-8.6%

17.4%

6.9%

3.67

7.9%

0.5%

22.7%

22.7%

10.3%

1.1%

12.25

-1.2%

0.4%

23.7%

23.7%

24 Guinness Nigeria PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

70.00

-2.1%

0.6%

79.5%

79.5%

13.3%

6.0%

14.7x

1.8x

0.7%

6.8%

1.12

0.0%

0.4%

16.7%

16.7%

11.1%

2.3%

5.9x

0.6x

0.9%

16.8%

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ

26 Presco PLC 27 NASCON Allied Industries PLC

133.00

0.0%

0.4%

51.5%

51.5%

2.8x

0.8%

13.10

0.0%

0.3%

-0.8%

-0.8%

21.3%

6.9%

12.3x

2.5x

3.1%

8.1%

ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ͕ ϭ ŝŶĚĞdž ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &ZͲ/ d

28 AIICO Insurance PLC 29 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri

0.66

-2.9%

0.2%

-5.7%

-5.7%

7.2%

1.1%

366.7x

0.7x

264.90

0.0%

0.3%

19.4%

19.4%

48.0%

9.5%

5.4x

2.2x

1.6%

18.6%

ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

ĐƌŽƐƐ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ

ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ Ăůů ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ ƐĂǀĞ ƚŚĞ &ZͲ/ d ŝŶĚĞdž

ǁŚŝĐŚ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ůĞĚ ŝŶĚĞdž ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ Ğƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͛ ĐŚĂƌƚ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϭ͘ϲй ŽŶ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ ƐĞůů

30 Custodian and Allied Insurance 31 Vitafoam Nigeria PLC 32 Unilever Nigeria PLC

ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚͲƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> ;Ͳ ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ E ^d> ;ͲϮ͘ϴйͿ ĂŶĚ 'h/EE ^^ ;Ͳ

33 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 34 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

ϵ͘ϭйͿ͕

hE/> s Z

;Ͳϯ͘ϱйͿ͕

>/E< ^^hZ

Ϯ͘ϭйͿ͘ dƌĂŝůŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ Kŝů Θ

;Ͳϲ͘ϰйͿ͕

35 Oando PLC 36 Wema Bank PLC

ĂŶĚ D E^ Z ;ͲϮ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ

'ĂƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϭ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ ϭ͘Ϭй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ

37 NEM Insurance PLC 38 Sterling Bank PLC

ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ůŽƐƐĞƐ ŝŶ D E^ Z ;Ͳϲ͘ϱйͿ͕ // K ;ͲϮ͘ϵйͿ͕ ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K ;ͲϬ͘ϴйͿ͕ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͘

39 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

ŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĨĞůů ďLJ Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲ

ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ K E K ;Ͳϲ͘ϴйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ d ZE ;ͲϮ͘ϬйͿ͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ T ic k er

ƟŽŶ ŝŶ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͘

ĂŶĚ t W K ;Ͳϭ͘ϯйͿ ĚƌĂŐŐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ /ŶͲ

ĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽǁĞƌ ďLJ Ϭ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϭй /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ

ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ

KƵƚůŽŽŬ

ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ

ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϭϱ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ͘ DZ^ ;нϵ͘ϵйͿ͕ D zͲ

ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ

ƐŝŽŶ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ƚŚŝƐ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ƉĞƌͲ ŐƌĂĚƵĂůůLJ ǁŝŶĚƐ ƵƉ͘

ƐŝƐƚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂďƐĞŶĐĞ ŽĨ ĂŶLJ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ĐĂƚĂůLJƐƚ͘

-11.4%

-11.4%

19.5%

5.5%

4.1x

0.8x

7.9%

24.3%

0.2%

-0.9%

-0.9%

38.7%

16.0%

5.7x

2.0x

6.8%

17.5%

13.30

-1.5%

0.1%

-8.3%

-8.3%

7.8%

4.9%

29.5x

1.2x

26.50

0.0%

0.2%

18.6%

18.6%

18.9%

2.4%

4.0x

0.8x

1.5%

25.0%

4.0%

6.15

0.8%

0.1%

4.2%

4.2%

7.1%

0.8%

6.9x

0.7x

4.70

-6.7%

0.1%

6.3%

6.3%

14.5%

2.6%

2.0x

0.3x

3.4%

0.92

0.0%

0.0%

27.8%

27.8%

14.1%

0.8%

4.0x

0.5x

4.3%

4.07

0.0%

0.1%

-9.6%

-9.6%

35.6%

18.5%

6.3x

1.0x

4.6%

15.8%

1.52

2.0%

0.1%

0.7%

0.7%

9.4%

0.9%

2.0x

0.3x

3.3%

50.4%

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 1.4%

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

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

8.60

9.6%

ET R A N Z A C T

331.1

1.07

8.1%

F ID ELIT YB K

47.8

0.7%

R OYA LEX

1.20

7.1%

FB NH

36.8

-0.4%

N IGER IN S

0.21

5.0%

A C C ESS

29.5

-5.8%

A IIC O

0.72

4.3%

UB A

28.2

1.8%

UP D C

1.00

3.1%

T R A N SC OR P

17.8

1.8%

0.0%

1.14

1.8%

A IIC O

14.8

4.3%

UB A

8.65

1.8%

GT C O

11.7

0.0%

UC A P

12.55

1.2%

Z EN IT H B A N K

8.7

0.8%

UA C N

12.20

0.8%

UN ILEVER

6.1

0.0%

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

M RS

P ric e 12.20

P ric e C hg % -10.0%

IKEJ A H OT EL

1.37

-9.9%

WA P IC

0.48

-9.4%

M B EN EF IT

0.25

-7.4%

A C C ESS

9.80

-5.8%

N EIM ET H

1.65

-5.7%

GLA XOSM IT H

5.75

-5.0%

1.00

-3.8%

B UA F OOD S

59.50

-3.1%

F T N C OC OA

0.32

-3.0%

Brokerage

T ic k er

Value

ET R A N Z A C T

880.8

P ric e C hg % 0.0%

FB NH

435.5

-0.4%

GT C O

307.7

0.0%

A C C ESS

289.4

-5.8%

UB A

241.9

1.8%

A IR T ELA F R I

233.2

0.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

230.9

0.8%

M TNN

209.5

0.2%

F ID ELIT YB K

143.1

0.7%

N GXGR OUP

119.8

-1.5%

Asset Management

Investment Research

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

25.0%

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14.4% 49.4%

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Afrinvest West Africa Limited

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0.3%

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu | dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

39

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 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 21Mar-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 8.32% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.51 3.57 -0.83% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 6.84% Anchoria Equity Fund 144.11 145.86 2.86% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.23 1.23 5.37% 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 21.07 21.70 3.85% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 479.69 494.16 6.32% ARM Ethical Fund 39.81 41.01 2.18% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.05 1.06 -2.28% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.03 1.03 1.58% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.06% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 109 109 7.17% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,087.41 1,087.41 8.74% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.11 2.11 13.34% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.28 2.33 22.47% CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.03 1.03 1.95% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.55% Paramount Equity Fund 18.66 18.99 10.87% Women's Investment Fund 145.54 147.30 4.70% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.72% Cordros Milestone Fund 139.43 140.35 5.48% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 111.61 111.61 4.77% 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 assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED 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 8.57% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.02 1.02 5.83% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.04 1.04 14.03% Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 101.64 101.64 3.58% 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 1,428.47 1,428.47 10.48% FBN Balanced Fund 185.91 187.33 6.08% FBN Halal Fund 117.77 117.77 8.35% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.88% 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

123.12 157.15

123.12 4.03% 159.30 4.10% 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 4,022.85 3,515.19 100.00

Offer Price 4,085.22 3,515.19 100.00

Yield / T-Rtn 3.36% 1.35% 6.16%

1.09

1.09

0.76%

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 N/A N/A N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A 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 1.49 1.51 3.30% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,164.30 1,164.30 2.40% 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 12.52 12.61 6.18% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 8.28% 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) 103.48 103.48 9.81% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 8.86% 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 1.64 1.67 2.17% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.67 11.67 4.27% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 7.15% PACAM Equity Fund 1.48 1.49 2.31% PACAM EuroBond Fund 113.88 116.43 -1.11% 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 129.91 132.16 7.43% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.02 9.49% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,556.77 3,597.49 3.33% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 237.24 237.24 0.64% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.37 1.39 6.15% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 317.12 317.12 1.21% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 251.39 255.24 3.86% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.75% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 11,483.54 11,646.94 3.38% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.31 1.31 0.99% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 117.82 117.82 0.73% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 108.22 108.22 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 0.99 1.01 6.13% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.43 1.46 5.31% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.15 1.17 6.06% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.09 1.09 1.65% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.99 1.99 1.62% United Capital Eurobond Fund 123.76 123.76 1.17% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.11% 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 13.53 13.66 2.61% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 15.54 15.72 6.41% Zenith Income Fund 22.36 22.36 1.66% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.74%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

122.07 53.16

1.55% 0.82%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

14.23 135.40 106.99 20.41 22.65

14.33 138.79 109.35 20.51 22.75

1.86% 2.88% 3.26% 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

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND

Fund Name NAV Per Share Yield / T-Rtn Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund 107.28 10.80% 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.

FSDH Dollar Fund

40

WEDNESDAY, ͺͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

FORTY BUHARI: NIGERIA'S HUGE DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS TO END SOON Murtala Muhammed Airport.

Earlier, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in his goodwill message, stressed that the fertiliser plant was well-timed considering recent developments on the global scene, where the prices of wheat, fertiliser, and crude oil had spiked by over 20 per cent, following the Russia-Ukraine war.

At the Dangote fertiliser plant, the president declared that the plant would further advance his administration’s drive towards self-sufficiency in food production in the country.

According to the president, the country also stands to gain extensively in foreign exchange earnings from the fertiliser factory.

“I am informed that we have already started exporting to USA, Brazil, and India,” an elated Buhari said.

He noted that the operation of the plant had created huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport and logistics. “This would drastically create wealth, reduce poverty, and secure the future of our nation,” the president stated.

Buhari commended the management of the company for their courage in conceptualising and building the new plant to support his government’s poverty alleviation drive, increase the inflow of foreign exchange, and reduce the country’s dependence on importation of fertiliser.

He said, “In particular, I would like to commend the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Development Finance Institutions, and the local and foreign commercial banks that have supported the investor to make these projects a reality.

“Dangote Cement holds the enviable record as our continent’s largest cement producer, with footprints in 15 countries. Its integrated cement plants (quarry to bagging) have effectively ended Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement products. “Along with the several other subsidiaries, Dangote Industries has created thousands of jobs across Nigeria. It is the second biggest employer of labour in this country, after the federal government.

“Job creation by private sector operators is vital to security, as it takes thousands of youths off the street. Dangote Group has been at the forefront of driving the nation’s industrialisation efforts with huge investments in diverse sectors, such as sugarcane plantation and refining, rice, salt, and other allied products, vehicle assembly and logistics.”

The president noted that in

the agricultural sector, another focal point of his administration’s economic policy was to ensure a boom in fertiliser production, saying fertiliser is now readily available.

He revealed that many Nigerians who hitherto practised subsistence farming because of non-availability of necessary inputs now have the opportunity to take up agriculture as a business.

Buhari said his administration expected the rise of a new breed of agropreneurs, who would add value to farming and make the country self-sufficient in food production. He said the government was focused on providing an enabling environment for private sector investors to thrive.

The president pointed out that his administration would continue to deliver on infrastructure, power, and security, and enact relevant laws and regulations that would drive investment in the economy.

According to him, “This new plant is a testament to the widely acknowledged patriotism of Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the leadership of Dangote Industries Limited. It also demonstrates their commitment to the socio-economic development of our country and the well-being of our people.

“We are partnering with the private sector, via a tax credit scheme, in the rehabilitation of roads across Nigeria under the Presidential Order No. 7. As we all know, good roads contribute to easy movement of goods and services across the nation, thus, reducing cost of doing business and improving productivity.

“We are also rehabilitating our railway lines and building new ones to lessen the burden on our roads and create more effective multimodel transportation networks.

“It will be my pleasure to inspect the impressive 650,000 barrels per day refinery and 900,000 tons per annum petrochemical complex, which I look forward to coming back to inaugurate by the end of the year.

“On a personal note, I commend Alhaji Aliko Dangote for helping to rebrand Nigeria through his mega investments across Africa.

He has fuelled job-led growth and transformation of several African economies. I am proud of his contribution to affirming Nigeria’s leadership status in the continent.”

Earlier in his remarks, Emefiele stated that out that with lessons learnt from the protectionist actions of countries during the early days of COVID-19, the investment was also a glaring testament to the foresight and passion of the president for encouraging domestic production

NUPRC SETS UP INVESTIGATIVE PANEL TO TACKLE RISING OIL THEFT meet its quota allocated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), losing close to 400,000 barrels of oil per day to lack of capacity.

Owing to these concerns in the past few days, a statement signed by the Chief Executive of the Commission, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed the latest move to unravel the facts behind the theft, stating that the panel would carry out a forensic investigation to cover the technical and commercial operations of oil companies involved in drilling and selling of crude oil.

Komolafe stated that commission was not unaware of the, “tragedy of oil theft” which he noted has been a plague on the industry and had last year triggered an industry-wide initiative aimed at curbing it.

This, he said, was to help increase crude production levels; a development which he said followed an express presidential directive.

“Worried by incessant acts of sabotage by criminals and some unscrupulous persons within the industry, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that all necessary mechanisms should be activated to curb oil theft in particular and immediately end other forms of economic sabotage in the oil and gas industry.

“Action on the directive commenced immediately and is on-going,” he stated.

The commission, he affirmed, thus considers worrisome, the crude loss figures recently being quoted in the media by some operators, given

actions taken so far on the issue.

To ascertain the veracity of the claims, the commission, Komolafe explained, has activated all the necessary mechanisms to get to the root of the matter and establish the actual volume of crude stolen as against the volumes claimed.

While stepping up efforts to deal with the issue of oil theft in collaboration with the military and other relevant agencies, the commission, he added, has mandated the newly constituted panel to investigate the claims regarding the volume of theft from the various oils fields.

Furthermore, part of the points of reference was for the committee to establish the actual operational capacities of the operators; to find out if the volumes being touted are actual; and if so, what additional measures need to be put in place to effectively address the issue.

“While a stakeholders’ meeting has been called to discuss the matter with a view to jointly address the situation, the commission, at a meeting of its management meeting on Monday 21, activated its technical and commercial mandate to demand for the statement of financial accounts of the operators and reservoir accounts of productive oil wells for the last two years.

“This will entail both sales audit and reservoir audit to establish correlations between their technical and commercial activities vis-a-vis the monitoring and evaluation records available to regulatory agencies,” Komolafe stated.

of goods that could be produced in Nigeria, especially agriculture.

He said this would not only stimulate greater productivity in the agricultural sector but also help in insulating Nigerian farmers from dependence on imported fertiliser.

Emefiele added, “I am delighted, extremely elated indeed, that a Nigerian in the person of Alhaji Aliko Dangote has taken not just this great initiative of helping to solve a perennial petrochemical imports problem, but has taken advantage of the emerging huge market opportunity presented by recent developments."

Emefiele further described the event as a "stellar" realisation of Buhari's vision, saying it is timely in the light of the war in Europe.

The CBN governor applauded Buhari for his determination to support growth in the real sector, which according to him prompted the apex bank and private sector investors to invest in projects targeted at inclusive growth.

He said, “I am delighted that a Nigerian has taken not just this great initiative of helping to solve our perennial problem of importing petrochemical products, including fertiliser, but has taken advantage of the emerging huge market opportunity presented by recent global developments.

“This Dangote fertiliser plant with an installed capacity of over three million metric tons per annum is a very significant feat in the diversification agenda of Mr. President. This is because it will help to increase the value chain in the petrol-chemical and allied sector, create jobs for our youths and boost our agricultural productivity.”

Emefiele added, “Mr. President, in the early days of my stewardship under you, you made your vision for our country clear to me. This vision was wrapped around the broad theme of self-introspection for local resources and self-sufficiency in local consumption.

“In summary, you told me that you would like to see urgent support for our farmers, small businesses, and large manufacturers.

You wanted to see a Nigeria that produced what it consumed and reduce forex expenditure on agricultural imports.

“Given our unflinching believe in you, we immediately set out to work at the CBN. We thoroughly studied, deeply assimilated, and enthusiastically implemented this vision from day one of your administration. It is based on the many nights and days of painstaking work in pursuit of this vision that today’s ceremony is emotional for us at the CBN. “Indeed, the completion of

this plant is a stellar example of the realisation of your vision. It is only fitting, therefore, that this plant is being commissioned by Mr. President himself, the original owner and protector of this vision.

“For your unparalleled leadership and timely vision, and on behalf of my grateful colleagues at the CBN, I say a heartfelt thank you. To avoid losing momentum and backtracking on these gains, we will work hard, every day to protect your legacy and ensure that posterity remembers you for all you have done for our country.”

Emefiele disclosed that prior to Buhari’s assumption of office in 2015, Nigeria imported virtually all its fertiliser products to support the agricultural sector. To address the problem, Emefiele said the president inaugurated the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, chaired by Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar and “charged us with resolving this perennial fertiliser shortage problem in Nigeria.

“I am delighted to note that their work and the continued support of Mr. President has resulted in a significant increase in our nation’s blending capacity, from seven plants in 2015 to over 48 active fertiliser blending plants today.

“Indeed, during the past five years, over 35 million bags of blended fertiliser has been produced in Nigeria. Consequently, our import bill on fertiliser has not only declined significantly but we are also witnessing rising investment in the fertiliser industry, such as the one being commissioned today by the Dangote Group.

“Today, Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of urea, and we are also the leading producer of urea in the African continent. There is no doubt that improving access to fertiliser will contribute to significant improvements in the productivity of our local farmers.

“But probably more importantly, it will enhance our nation’s drive to improve food security and ensure we consume what we produce in Nigeria, thereby fulfilling another key promise and vision of this administration.”

He added, “With sustained efforts, other indigenous companies like Indorama and Notore with a combined capacity of over 2.5 million tons per annum have tried to match the market demand, yet the country still faced a huge shortfall of fertiliser supply.”

In his remarks, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the Lekki Free Trade Zone was conceived by former governor of the state, Senator Bola Tinubu, in 2003, to attract investments to the state.

On his part, Minister of Trade,

Industry and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, said although the fertiliser complex was just one part of the Dangote Refinery project, "this part alone offers unquantifiable value" to the economy.”

Adebayo added, "I am aware that this facility has the potential to produce three million metric jobs per annum of urea fertiliser in phase one alone. This will go a long way in bridging the current fertiliser gap and improving soil and farm yields.

“One of the federal government's key ambitions is for Nigeria to be both self-sufficient in food production, and also to be a net exporter of food and value added products.

The Dangote Fertiliser Plant goes a long way in realising this vision not just for Nigeria, but for the entire continent.

"Dangote fertiliser has the potential to meet not just Nigeria's needs, but at its current capacity, it will earn the country millions of dollars from exports. It will also help with the unemployment problem our current country is currently faced with."

The president of Dangote Group expressed delight over the success of the fertiliser plant. Dangote said the plant was the largest in Africa and the second-largest urea plant in the world.

He said products from plants have reached the African market, and across Brazil, India, and Mexico.

According to Dangote, “It is an ambitious project that will reduce unemployment in Nigeria. Low fertiliser usages have been the reason for low yield of agriculture products in the sector.

“Our goal is to make fertiliser available in quantity for our farmers.

We are rolling out initiatives that will transform the agric sector for all. This will boost productivity and enhance output across the nation.

“We believe that many new farmers will emerge in the nation, providing millions of jobs and ushering us into the era of agricultural entrepreneurs, (agroprenuers). These breed of agroprenuers will take to farming on large scales, providing food and raw materials for our industries.

“We are rolling out innovations that will transform the agricultural sector in the form of extension services for small and medium scale farmers. We have acquired a well-equipped fertiliser soiltesting laboratory to enable us to analyse and identify a particular soil deficiency and the appropriate fertiliser blend. Applying the right fertiliser to the soil will boost productivity. This service is to cover all the geopolitical zones and has the capacity to transform farming

into a lucrative profession.

“Dangote Fertiliser works with farmer associations, corporate farms, NPK blenders, NGO/development partners and state governments all over Nigeria, and governments across Africa and beyond who are looking for sustainable approach to improve soil quality and farm yields.”

He appreciated the CBN and other agencies of government for their support.

Buhari Tours Lekki Deep Seaport

Buhari also praised the efforts of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, towards making the Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos a reality.

He directed him to consult and bring up a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to link the facility with the railway network and also to ensure its timely completion.

As part of his engagements in Lagos, the president inspected the pace of work at the first Deep Seaport in Nigeria located in Lagos Free Zone, 65Km east of Lagos.

In the course of the inspection, Buhari received firm assurances that the port, which has a concession period of 45 years and sits in a land area of 90 hectares, would be completed on schedule by September.

Amaechi while speaking during the tour, revealed that the Ibom Deep Seaport had gotten the federal government's approval to begin operations in the country.

Besides, the minister stated that the federal government was also fast pursuing the Badagry seaport in its bid to decongest the Apapa and Tin Can ports.

He stated, "By the time we leave office, all those people who would have been granted approval are all private seaports. The only one that the government will participate in its ownership is the Bonny Seaport because the minster is from Rivers State."

Amaechi said the president's inspection would publicise the seaport and put pressure on the owners to complete the port project in earnest The minister said, "The port is almost ready, if not for the equipment, they can actually get this place ready before June, but they said the equipment are arriving

by June and installation will take them till September and then it can be commissioned in September."

He added, “The miracle of bringing the president here, that is why it is important for a president Continued on page 43

SOLUDO: WE'LL GET WATER OUT OF STONE, WITH ANAMBRA PEOPLE BEHIND US had a debt of about N109 billion and between N300 million to N400 million in cash.

He stated, “But we are undaunted, as I said in my inaugural speech. We'll get water out of the stone, with the people working with us, mobilising with us, we will be able to get water out of stone. Anambra has all the potential, but also equally matched with the challenges.”

Within the context of what he described as Nigeria’s “unitary federalism”, the governor promised to govern creatively and collaborate with the federal government as well as development partners to maximise the limited resources available..

“And given the available resources that we have, we're going to explore all kinds of creative means of revenues beyond the usual, so to speak, to be able to collect revenues to do these things,” he stressed.

Soludo pledged that with on-going the discussions with all stakeholders, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the weekly forced stay-at-home will be a thing of the past soon.

While acknowledging that there will be resistance to the change the state was about to experience, the governor promised to meet those who will try to stop the job of “liberating” the Anambra people “in the streets.”

Soludo said, “We're prepared to meet them in the streets and liberate the common man in the streets. This government is about the common man. Law and order are going to

be the very first essence; it is at the foundation of everything, of every society. We must restore law and order,” he stressed.

Pressured to disclose what he met in terms of the state’s finances, Soludo said there was already an audited account, which he said was a public document at the end of December 1, 2021, but added that a lot of reconciliations will still need to be done.

The former CBN governor said, “But everybody knows that the state finances are not quite robust, to put it mildly. Debt is probably in the range of a hundred and something billion. Then cash a few hundred million. That’s what I saw. That’s the base.

“But we are still going to have reconciliations and have all the accounts from January to the date that we took over. And I think it's best practise actually, when you ask this question. We intend to have a very transparent public finance management system where we will publish everything.

“Everybody will know what is there and what is not there, what penny comes in what and what it is used for, and that is the aspiration.

That's part of what we promised in our manifesto. Very transparent public finance management.

“If I remember correctly, the cash in various banks is about N300 million or N400 and then the audited accountants as at December would be debt of about N109 billion. That’s what I saw.

“But we will take it from there.

For me, that's the baseline. When we do the other contingent liabilities, contractor debts and the other issues. It's not what happened, but it’s where we draw the line and then move on, but that's the baseline.”

He described his predecessor, Mr Willy Obiano, as a good man and honourable man, adding that he wasn’t envisaging any friction with him and his (Soludo’s) deputy in the future.

Playing down on the altercation between Bianca, the wife of the late Igbo leader, Odimegwu Ojukwu, during his inauguration, Soludo noted that it was some form of comic relief, explaining that to him, it never detracted from the event.

Soludo said, “When you were talking about the cat fight, I was just laughing and because of all the funny videos that have emerged from this, for me it’s just a comic relief.

“It’s the comedy that has emerged from it all that I have enjoyed. There is no distraction whatsoever. I think it was meant to be. Sometime to come, there will even be some movies or comedies and even a song out of that.

"As you saw, I didn't even notice much of what happened. I think it happened while I was going to sign the oath of allegiance. It was just like a one-second thing. I turned again and continued signing my thing and I have not had one minute discussing it, other than the comic relief you see posted.

We are intensely focused on what

we must deliver to our people.”

He promised to hit the ground running, Soludo said that he has roughly four years to make good his plans, noting that there’s no time to waste on frivolities.

“We have four years to do this.

And actually, it’s three years and eight months, that's why we are not going to miss any one minute.

“But for me, I'm just waiting on the list of commissioners which will get to the Assembly and hopefully in the next two days will read the list and then we'll get to work. And once they give me an approval for the commissioners, we hit the road, but even in-between that, things will happen.”

He promised to give priority to made in Anambra goods and Nigerian made products,” because it is the way the world works.”

On security, Soludo said, “The discussions are on-going. As I announced on my inaugural speech, my first meeting was on security. So I am fully briefed, the conversations are going on and I believe strongly that we'll get it cracked, probably not going to be done in one day, but we're going to crack it.

“The sit-at-home thing will definitely end and we are having conversations with all the stakeholders, IPOB and everybody else, trying to engage everybody. It is the people's power that will prevail at the end of the day.

“And I know that that will definitely stop and we're working on that. Like I said, we are determined to restore law and order,” he stated.

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NEWS

CONFERMENT OF THE GRAND PATRON AWARD ON ABIODUN...

L-R: Past president, Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture Chief Mrs. Oluyinka Adebutu; Chairman, Board of Directors, OGUNCCIMA, Alaba Lawson; Governor Dapo Abiodun; President, OGUNCCIMA, Alhaji Wasiu Olaleye and member OGUNCCIMA Board of Directors, Prince Bayo Ikujenyo during the conferment of the Grand Patron Award on the Governor, held at Abeokuta…recently

NBA Urges Restraints, Decorum in Criticism of Court Judgments To probe ruling nullifying Section 84 (12) of Electoral Act Alex Enumah in Abuja In what seems to be a defense of the nation's judiciary, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on Nigerians including politicians and legal practitioners to exercise cautious and apply decorum in their reactions to judgments of courts.

The President of the NBA, Mr. Olumide Akpata, in a statement yesterday, lamented what he described as, "unsavoury remarks made about the judgment and the person of Justice Evelyn Anyadike, by some Nigerians, including members of the bar."

While warning against the use of, "intemperate language to characterise judgments and/or judges of courts", Akpata reminded that the Rules of Professional Conduct and the ethics that regulate the legal profession enjoin them to treat courts and judges with the utmost respect.

"We must reiterate that there are legal and constitutional avenues to challenge unfavourable judgments and lawyers and indeed the generality of Nigerians are therefore enjoined to explore these avenues rather than resorting to unwarranted and counterproductive attacks on

judges and the judiciary.

"In this regard, I have already spoken to one such senior Lawyer who, in the wake of the Judgment, issued and published certain deprecatory statements that cast aspersions on the person of Honourable Justice Evelyn Anyadike and he has since retracted the said statements", he said.

The NBA, however, stressed that all courts in Nigeria must act in accordance with the dictates of the law and having regard to justice in order to forestall a situation of breakdown of law and order which is certain to occur when the generality of Nigerians ultimately lose confidence in the court system.

The NBA said it noted that some of the complaints about the judgment included not just the substance, "which critics accuse of conflating that cadre of government officials referred to as political appointees - and the subject of the vexed Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act - with public officers within the meaning of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), but also the somewhat usual circumstances surrounding the case especially the blistering speed with which the case, filed

on 8th March 2022, was heard and determined on 18th March 2022."

Akpata added that, "while it is a truism that justice delayed is justice denied, and that we have long complained about the delays that ordinary litigants face in the determination of their rights and obligations before our courts, it is also correct that justice rushed is also justice crushed, especially in cases of public interest such as the case at issue.

“The utopian balance between these twin constraints continues to occupy the attention of stakeholders in the administration of justice.

"Consequently, the NBA will immediately apply for the certified copies of the judgment, the process filed, and the record of proceedings in the case, from the Federal High Court, Umuahia and thereafter decide on the next appropriate steps.

“In the meantime, we once again call on Nigerians in general, and lawyers in particular, to exercise restraint and decorum in commenting on these significant legal developments.

"If we must fulfil the arduous task of nation building, we must continue to protect the sanctity of the Judiciary and defend the integrity of

our judicial officers, especially when it is seemingly difficult to do so."

Recall that Justice Anyadike of the Umuahia Division of the Federal High Court, had in a judgment delivered on March 18, 2022, nullified Section 84(12) of the recently passed Electoral Act 2022 and ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, the sole defendant in the case, to delete the said Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act with immediate effect.

The judge held that the said portion of the Electoral Act was illegal, null and unconstitutional and of no ffect whatsoever, adding that the section ought to be struck down because it violates the clear provisions of the constitution.

Justice Anyadike in the Suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 held that Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1) (f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 constitution already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections were only to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election and that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the

Defection: Plateau Speaker Declares Predecessor’s Seat Vacant Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon Yakubu Sanda, has declared the seat of his predecessor, Hon Auba Abok, vacant for defecting from the All

Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former Speaker, representing Jos East constituency in the state Assembly, after the travail of his impeachment in which he

was ousted by six out of the 24 members of the Assembly, had continued to have frosty relationship with the APC in the state, leading to his eventual defection to the PDP on March 18, 2022.

Abok’s media assistant, Mr.

Policemen Barricade Cross River House of Assembly Bassey Inyang in Calabar Scores of well-armed, combat-ready policemen yesterday in Calabar cordoned off all roads leading to the Cross River State House of Assembly located close to the UJ. Esuene Stadium and the Headquarters of the Naval base, NSS Victory.

The policemen, it appeared were drafted to stop any movement in and out of the Assembly complex to forestall possible breakdown of law and order following the

judgment delivered on Monday by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which sacked 20 lawmakers from the state, with 18 of them being the State House of Assembly members from the stable of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The remaining two also members of the APC are federal lawmakers.

The Abuja court presided by Justice Taiwo Taiwo sent the lawmakers packing following their defection from the PDP to the APC based on a petition

brought before the court by their former political party.

However, staff of the Assembly, and visitors were kept at bay from its entrance gate which is directly opposite the UJ. Esuene stadium.

Aside from the policemen, staff and visitors who may have had some transactions to carryout, some youths suspected to be loyalists to politicians that were affected, were seen in battle ready mode.

At the time of the filing the report there was no official statement from the police on the matter.

Samuel Kaze, had announced in a statement that his principal had officially tendered his resignation letter to the APC and defected to the PDP. Consequently, the state chapter of APC wrote to the Assembly, urging the Speaker to declare Abok’s seat vacant, having defected contrary to section 109(1) of the Nigeria Constitution.

Taking the decision yesterday (Tuesday) during a plenary at a temporary chamber at old Government House, Jos, Sanda said the decision was predicated on a letter from the APC,seeking the declaration of Abok’s seat as vacant, having abandoned the political party that sponsored him to power, “I, therefore, declare the seat of Rt. Hon. Abok vacant.”

Similarly, the assembly also declared the seat of the member representing Rukuba/Irigwe constituency, Musa Agah, of the PDP vacant following his victory at the Jos North/Bassa Federal constituency bye election held in February, 2022.

clear provisions of the constitution.

The judge accordingly struck down Section 84(12) of the newly amended Electoral Act with an order on the Attorney General of the Federation to delete the said provision immediately.

Recall also that the AGF within

hours the judgment was delivered assured that the federal government would comply immediately comply with the order by gazetting it and directing the government's printing press not to include the said section in the printing of the amended Electoral Act.

House Passes Tech Start-up Bill for Second Reading Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives at plenary yesterday passed for second reading, a bill seeking to establish a regulatory framework for tech startups in Nigeria.

The executive bill titled, "a Bill for an Act to Provide for the Creation and Development of an Enabling Environment for Technology- Enabled Startup in Nigeria; and for Related Matters," was presented for second reading by the Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno).

The bill specifically seeks to create National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship with the mandate to provide the policy direction for the council, which include the creation of the Startup Support and Engagement Portal.

According to the Bill's draft, section 31(1) proposes 35 per cent tax holiday for eligible employees of start-ups in Nigeria for a period of two years from the day of engagement.

The bill also seeks to create a startup investment seed fund to be managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. The fund is to provide a labelled startup with finance, provide early-stage finance for a labelled startup and provide relief to technology laboratories, accelerators, incubators and hubs.

Leading the debate on its general principles, Monguno said the bill seeks to give legal framework to the sector so that people that are going to invest will have certainty and security of their investments.

His words, "Technology innovation as well as startups to give them enabling environment for them to protect and also to protect huge investments that comes both from the public and private sectors to that sector.

“About $1.4 billion has been

invested in the startup sector. And such huge amount of investment needs an environment well regulated by law. An environment that is not at the wimps and caprice of the executive arm of government.

Whereby one person can wake up one day and issue directives.

It brings about instability and therefore discourage investment."

Shortly after his debate, some lawmakers faulted some of the highlights of the bill.

In his contribution, Hon. Nkem Abonta (PDP, Abia) while agreeing that the country needs an enabling environment for technological advancement, however expressed concerns over cost of governance.

He said, "Yes we need to have enabling environment, no country can grow without technology. We need to have technological growth, which includes good schools, centers.

“But on general note, my fear is the cost of governance, cost of running the place. Enabling environment is the business of the government, the bill seeks a commission that will steer this process, enabling environment appears somehow vague, not certain.

“There are lots of science institutions, if we start one, there will be multiplicity, it will be so much we become confused."

On his part, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) was of the view that this current government should resolve ASUU strike action and power grid collapse to provide enabling environment for people, rather than creating bills.

Okechukwu said, "My understanding of the bill is that it is talking about a process. It is describing what is to be done. I believe that the mandate of government at any level is to create an enabling environment for business for technology.

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SDP NEC MEETING...

L-R: National legal Adviser, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Barr. Abu Joseph; National Secretary SDP, Alhaji Shehu Gaban; Chairman of the party, Dr. Olu Agunloye and National Women Leader, SDP, Hajiya Photo: ENOCK REUBEN Maggie Batobo, during the SDP National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja ...yesterday

Fearing Legal Challenge, APC Clears All Aspirants for National Convention Legacy parties’ members block PDP elements from holding positions Ruling party generates over N700m from sales of forms Yari: Buhari won’t repeat past mistakes anointing candidate Buni’s CECPC briefs party’s senators Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja Worried about likely legal backlash from disqualifying any aspirant, three days to the national convention, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has instructed its screening committee to clear all party office seekers ahead of the exercise this weekend.

A reputable party source, who pleaded anonymity, said the directive from the party leadership, was conceived to avoid legal consequences for disqualifying any of the aspirants.

In another development, it appears the leadership crisis plaguing the APC may not be over yet as members of the legacy parties that fused into the APC merger in 2013, have kicked against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elements vying for any party position.

This is as the party has generated over N700 million from the sales of forms to aspirants ahead of the March 26 national convention.

But a former governor of Zamfara State and national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdul-aziz Yari, has vowed that President Muhammadu Buhari, would not endorse or anoint any candidate for the position, because he would not want to make the mistakes of the past.

Yari, who alluded to the president’s mistake, when he allegedly singlehandedly handpicked former governor Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman, however, said the zoning done by the party was to the north and not to any particular zone.

At the same time, the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee (CECPC) of the APC, yesterday, briefed Senators of the ruling party on the situation report.

Also, ahead of the national convention of APC this weekend, some critical stakeholders of the party in Bauchi State, had written to President Buhari, Buni and the Chairman, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, over alleged exclusion from power sharing arrangement in the party.

However, speaking on the directive to clear all aspirants for the convention, the party source hinted that, "The directive is to ensure that this national conven-

tion holds without any last minute hiccups that may arise from legal proceedings."

Another source, which subtly confirmed the instruction, also told THISDAY that the screening committee, was indeed instructed not to disqualify any aspirant.

"I doubt if anyone will be disqualified. All the aspirants will be cleared. They won't disqualify anybody. Why would they be disqualified? An aspirant can only be disqualified if the aspirants is an ex-convict," he said.

Nonetheless, the leadership tussle has continued unabated as members of the legacy parties have refused for the PDP elements stand for any party position.

The legacy parties that formed the APC were Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party and New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP).

But the source said, "The members of the legacy parties are kicking against PDP elements vying for various positions. They are knocking off those PDP elements. Even in the North East, they are against former Speaker of the House of

Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

"Borno will now produce the Deputy chairman (North). Senator Abu Kyari will be the one to replace Dogara. The PDP elements have been knocked off. Even, Ken Nnamani is facing stiff opposition."

However, on how the APC made money from the sales of forms, a document sighted by THISDAY showed that as of yesterday evening, the North Central, where the office of the national chairman is zoned, generated about N165 million for the party, with six chairmanship aspirants alone turning out N120 million.

A former governor of Zamfaa State, Abdulaziz Yari, also obtained the chairmanship form, although from North West, meaning the party generated N140 million alone from the sales of chairmanship forms.

From the North-west, the party generated about N116 million and some N98.5 million from sale of forms to South-east aspirants.

The party also generated N69.5 million from South-south and over N120 million was generated from the Southwest.

Also, North East, which has the Deputy National Chairman (North), generated about N143 million.

Yari Vows Buhari Won’t Repeat Past Mistakes Anointing Candidate for APC Chair

A former governor of Zamfara State and national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdul-aziz Yari, has vowed that President Muhammadu Buhari, would not endorse or anoint any candidate for the position, because he would not want to make the mistakes of the past.

Yari, who alluded to the president’s mistake, when he allegedly singlehandedly handpicked former governor Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman, however, said the zoning done by the party was to the north and not to any particular zone.

The former governor, who spoke on Tuesday when he paid a visit to the National Assembly to confer with the APC caucuses in both chambers of the federal Parliament, said there had been rumours in the media that President Buhari had endorsed Senator Abdullahi Adamu as his preferred choice.

Yari told journalists after meeting with the Senate APC caucus that he also heard of the rumours on the social media, but that the President

had through his media office, denied stories about his anointed candidate.

Yari said, "You have also been reading in the newspapers that President Muhammadu Buhari did not anoint anybody. The special adviser on media, Garba Shehu, has since clarified that. We are trying to break those jinx; we must come through the ballot box so that we can respect the votes of the people, not by picking.

"Let me remind them those that think they can just be pushed forth – come and do it – that it will not be business as usual. The President made mistake in the past by anointing Adam's Oshiomhole singlehandedly. Nobody voted for him. He was anointed as the national chairman and you can see the result today. Do you want to remain like that?"

On the party's arrangement, which zoned the national chairmanship position to the North-central, Yari said he was not aware of such things.

He said, "I am not aware that, the party zoned the national chairmanship position to North-central.

What we were briefed was that the positions of the North should go to the South and that of the South to the North. That is what the caucus sat down to agree.

"I am one of them and many others are not, therefore, as you see in the social media that is the same way I saw it in the social media and as a senior person in this party, I cannot rely on information from the Social media; they deserved to be verified.

"In any case, one thing we should be determined to do is to bring about true democracy. For instance, this particular office is always being marred by all sorts of arrangement that did not deliver the right choice of the people.

"For instance, should the chairmanship be zoned to northern Nigeria and Presidency to the South, are we going to dictate to the zone, who should be chosen? No! "We are trying to break that jinx and embrace the real democracy.

I did not know any issue about zoning, because it was not communicated to me. I only saw it on social media "I have already purchased my form and you know what it is the National Assembly that makes laws for everyone. Whether reconciliation or any other process, I have already picked form. We are ready to meet in the ballot box.”

Continued Online

Electoral Act: Senate to Debate Court Judgment on Section 84 Today Deji Elumoye and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja The Senate will today, Wednesday, consider a motion to discuss the recent judgment by a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, on Section 84(12) of the newly amended Electoral Act 2022, passed by the National Assembly.

The Court had in its verdict, ruled against the provisions.

Justice Evelyn Anyadike, in the judgment, held that the Section of the Act was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.

The Judge said it ought to be struck down as it could not stand, because it was in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.

Consequently, the court ordered the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to “forthwith delete the said sub-section 12 of Section 84 from the body of the

Electoral Act.” Justice Anyadike in the Suit FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 held that sections 66(1), 107(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution, already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections were only to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.

According to her, any other law that mandates such appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.

However, coming under order 42 of the Senate Standing Orders on Personal Explanation, Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East) during plenary, challenged the judgment of the court on Section 84(12).

Citing Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Sekibo stated that the National Assembly was empowered by virtue of its

provisions to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of Nigeria.

He added that Section 228 lists such functions to include making laws to ensure internal democracy within political parties.

The section provided in part that, the National Assembly may by law provide guidelines and rules to ensure internal democracy within political parties, including making laws for the conduct of party primaries, party congresses and party conventions.

It also included the conferment on the Independent National Electoral Commission of powers as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or desirable for the purpose of enabling the Commission more effectively to ensure that political parties observe the practices of internal democracy.

This, he noted, would guarantee the fair and transparent conduct of party primaries, party congresses

and party conventions.

He argued further that the provisions of Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution clearly defined who a public servant was, without including political appointees.

“I don’t have anything against the Judge, but Mr. President, what is relied on in the judgment is not in tandem with the interpretation of the Constitution. The Constitution defines for us who is a civil servant and who is a public servant. It does not include political appointees.

“More so, Section 4 gives us the power to make good laws, and in our mind, any law we make here is good law. Section 228 gives us also the power to make certain laws to guard the Independent National Electoral Commission to effectively discharge its functions.

“We felt that Section 84(12) as enshrined in the Electoral Act assented to, is for the interest of the people and country. I don’t think that somebody should go to court

without joining the Senate or the House of Representatives, where this law emanated from, because we are the origin of the law before the President assented to it.

“If you think it is faulty, you either take us to court and make us part of that case. We did not know, we were not told and they just went there and got a judgment, destroying our work for over one year as if no one here has the head to do any good thing,” Sekibo said.

The Deputy Senate President, thereafter, put the question for a motion to be brought to the floor during plenary on Wednesday.

The voice vote received the overwhelming support of lawmakers for the motion to be considered.

Omo-Agege explained that his decision for the motion to be considered today, was to allow Senators absent during yesterday’s plenary to make their contributions, when the matter is taken up by the chamber.

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NEWS

MAKING POLITICS WORK FOR CITIZENS...

L-R: Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Eghosa Osaghae; Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and the Chairman, 2022 NIIA Distinguished Lecture Series, Prof.

Bola Akinteriwa, during the lecture series held at Victoria Island, Lagos... yesterday

2023: Nigeria’s President Must Come from South, South West PDP Insists Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Southwest wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, insisted that Nigeria’s next president must come from the Southern part of the country.

The party, at an extended zonal caucus meeting held at the Oyo State Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State, said it was in support of the position of the Southern Governors' Forum that Southern Nigeria should produce the next president.

This was as the party reaffirmed its call for the restructuring of Nigeria, stating that it would support all efforts geared towards national cohesion through equitable distribution of federal positions and appointments among the geopolitical zones of the country.

The party, in a communique read by the National Vice Chairman, South-West, Hon. Olasoji Adagunodo, resolved that the unity of its members in the zone was nonnegotiable and that all mechanisms for dispute resolutions must be on the front burner.

It equally resolved to do everything within its power lawfully to win the forthcoming elections in Osun and Ekiti States.

Host Governor, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who is the leader of the party in the zone, was also commended by the caucus for his infrastructure development and efforts in repositioning the PDP across states of the zone.

Makinde, in his keynote speech, called on all members of the party to de-emphasise whatever issues they had with individuals and unite in the interest of the party, both at the zonal and national levels, as according to him, the Southwest zone remained critical to the success of the PDP in the country.

He said, "We are in the election season already. The timetable is out and candidates for various positions will emerge within the next eight to nine weeks. And as PDP South West zone, what position are we presenting?

"We know that if South West and Yorubaland is not peaceful, things would not also be settled nationally. That is just the fact. We have also gone through the path that, because of disunity, we were left out in the scheme of things.

"When the founding fathers of this party came together, they spoke about fairness, equity, justice and they decided that the six major positions nationally must be shared among the six zones of Nigeria.

That has always been the case until 2011, because of the in-fighting, disunity, the South West did not have a single position out of the six national positions.

"For the avoidance of doubt, I can list those six positions. In 2011, the president did not come from the South West but South South. The vice-president did not come from the South-east but North-West.

"The Senate President came from the North Central. The Speaker of the House of Representatives went to the North West, while the Secretary to the Government of the Federation slot also went to the South East. The Chairman of

the party went to the North-east.

"That was how we lost all completely and we don't want to walk through that path again.

It has happened to us before and we don't want it to happen again.

"But the only way it won't happen again is for us to unite and de-emphasise whatever issues we have with ourselves individually.

We must come together to tell ourselves what we are going to demand nationally."

Makinde maintained that though the South-West PDP had three opportunities through the off-season elections in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun for the governorship seats, in-fighting has already made it lose

in Ondo State.

"Ondo State governorship election is coming back in another two years.

But before then, we have the Ekiti governorship election coming up.

We thank God that we have been able to get everybody together but there is still a lot of work to be done, if Ekiti will not go the way of Ondo.

"I do pray because I know we have another opportunity to support our candidate in Ekiti State, so that in two months plus, we will have a governor-elect in the state. We also have Osun State, which practically is in a difficult situation. They have issues from the governorship primary, which

is not supposed to be. South West is known as the zone to provide leadership for this country.

"Truth is, we are going to be the ultimate losers and what happened in the past will happen again if we don't get our acts together. I make bold to say that those aspiring for the presidency and are using our people against us, there are only two and a half months left. You can force yourself to win the party's primary but can you force yourself on the populace?

"This is an opportunity for us to recalibrate and have a common position, moving forward in the national engagement with the unfolding scenario nationally,"

he said.

Adagunodo, while reading the communique at the end of the meeting, said, "The unity of the PDP South-West Zone is a non-negotiable issue, to this end, we demand that all dispute resolution mechanisms should be on the front burner.

"The PDP South West Zone is in support of the Southern Governors' Forum that the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should come from the south.

"The Zone commends the only PDP Governor in the zone, Engr.

Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, for his infrastructure and development strides in the zone.

BUHARI: NIGERIA'S HUGE DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS TO END SOON to inspect projects, this will hasten the process of completion if there is money."

Reacting to a question over possible traffic congestion if the seaport begins operation, the minister stated that the country was broke and unable to build a rail network.

Dangote "We don't have money, if you give us money we will build railway here. As the Minister of Transport I do not do roads. These are private investment so they can get private investors. “This seaport is not our business; it is private investment. You should be asking for money for Bonny seaport and others where Government may be interested in putting their money," he added.

“This is a private port, not a government port, so no agency will run here. The agencies will be present but they will not run here because it is a private port and here is heavily automated so we won't have too many staff working here.

“You won't see it the way you see Apapa Port and all goods won't come to Lagos, goods will go to Warri, Port Harcourt and what the government needs to do is to either rehabilitate those ports or build new ones. I am convinced that we should commence work in Bonny deep seaport before we leave office," he added.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, said the Lekki Deep Seaport would be ready for test run in September this year after which the first commercial visit would be received at the port.

Bello-Koko, who noted that the commencement of Lekki Port would reduce the rate of traffic at

Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports, said there would be Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes that will enable faster processing of goods.

"Some of the businesses we have lost to other neighbouring West African countries due to draught limitation would be regained. There will be employment creation and increase revenue for government.

“It will create competition and compel other terminal operators to up their games to reduce cargo dwell time at their terminals. Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports have been operating far beyond their capacity which means that the excess cargoes that have been going there would be diverted to Lekki Port."

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC), Emmanuel Jime had lamented the method of evacuating cargoes in the country, saying that Nigeria is yet to put in place the necessary infrastructure that would allow for quick evacuation from the Lekki Deep Seaport.

Buhari Pledges More Support in Infrastructure Development

Buhari also said his administration had prioritised infrastructure development to spur the creation of jobs and boost the nation’s economy.

He directed the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning to make funds available for the building of a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Buhari stated these when he unveiled the new terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos yesterday.

The president said despite the lean resources at the disposal of the administration, especially in

its first tenure, he sustained the infrastructural projects he inherited and initiated new ones.

He pointed out that because of the importance of having modern airport facilities, his administration had completed the four new terminals at the four major airports in the country.

With the inauguration of the new international terminal in Lagos, the completed terminal at the Mallam Aminu would International Airport, Kano, the four airport facilities started in 2013 by the Chinese and Nigerian government, collaboration would have come on stream.

“Our continuous investment in the building of long lasting infrastructure in the aviation, road and rail transportation, agriculture, telecommunications and other critical sectors is yielding massive results, and the people of Nigeria are now increasingly attesting to benefiting from the associated dividends.

“Starting from the year 2015 when we commenced our first tenure in office as a government, we have been deliberate and consistent in identifying and investing in critical projects that would improve the standard of living of our people, as well as contribute immensely to our growth and development as a nation,” the president said.

He noted that despite obvious limitations in terms of availability of resources, “our investments in inter-state rail connectivity, road networks, agriculture, power and telecommunications, just to mention a few, have been unprecedented.”

Buhari said taking into cognisance the importance of airport infrastructure as a catalyst for economic growth, enhancement of foreign direct investment and development globally, his administration decided to prioritise the completion

and delivery of five brand new international terminals, which were at 11 per cent completion level when we came into power in 2015.

“Government is responding by further investments and partnerships in the sector to tend to this challenge. Consequently, the Minister of Aviation has been directed to fast track the airport concession programme.

“Similarly, the Abuja second runway is being fast tracked.

The Minister of FB&NP has been directed to source special funding for the project while the MFCT is directed to conclude the titling of the approved 12,000 hectares of land to accommodate the runway and other developmental projects.”

In his speech, Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, called on the CBN to release the $283 million blocked funds for foreign airlines and subsequently pay them as they earn their revenue so that there would no more be blocked funds in Nigeria.

Sirika also urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to import aviation fuel (Jet A-1) in large qualities to overcome the current scarcity and urged CBN to make forex available to major marketers to import the product.

Sirika also called for the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions to enhance seamless air travel, which is a catalyst to the development of any country. he said Bello-Koko, “Mr. President is aware of the recent chaos in the sector caused by lack of Jet-A. Flights are unduly delayed and/or cancelled unpleasantly. While apologizing to our teaming passengers, I wish to use this medium to humbly request Mr. President to direct NNPC to import Jet-Al in good quantities and

devise means to sustain supply as well as directing CBN to allocate Forex for the major marketers to sustain supply.”

The minister assured that the airport concession project (including the newly commissioned terminals) had reached advanced stage and promised that his ministry would be issuing Request for Proposal (RFP) to the shortlisted firms before the end of March.

“We expect to announce a partner in 2nd Quarter 2022 and handover by 4th Quarter 2022,” he said.

On the new terminal he said, “This terminal you are about to commission has the capacity to process 14 million passengers per annum.

There are 66Nos. check-in counters, 5Nos. baggage collection carousels, 16Nos. Immigration Desks at Arrival, 28 Nos. Desks at Departure, 8Nos. Security Screening Points, 6Nos. passenger boarding bridges with remote boarding and arrival. Other facilities include 2Nos. food courts, 4Nos. premium lounges, 22Nos. guest rooms and Spars, 16Nos, airline ticketing offices, visa on arrival and port health facility, praying areas, more than 3,000sqm duty free spaces and over 5,000sqm let-table utility spaces.”

The highlight of the event was the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Lagos State government for the construction of access roads linking the airport from Ikotun, Sasha and Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, signed on behalf of the state government, while FAAN Managing Director, Captain Hamisu Yadudu signed on behalf of the agency.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Kaduna Confirms Killing of 34, Razing of 200 Houses by Bandits John Shiklam inKaduna The Kaduna State Government has confirmed that 34 people, including two military personnel were killed in last Sunday’s attacks on communities in Kaura Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement yesterday in Kaduna, the government also confirmed that over 200 houses and 32 shops were burnt in the attacks while vehicles and 17 motorcycles were vandalised.

On Sunday, terrorists, in their numbers, were said to have invaded three villages in Kaura LGA, unleashing mayhem on the villagers.

The number of deaths were initially put at 23 as at Monday, while 70 houses were said to have been burnt.

However, the statement signed by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said more corpses were recovered after search operations by security agencies.

The statement which listed names of those killed by the terrorists, said the attacks took place in four communities -Tsonje, Agban, Katanga and Kadarko, all in Kagoro Chiefdom, Kaura LGA. Aruwan said: “Security agencies

have reported to the Kaduna State Governmen that after search operations and detailed checks, 34 people have been confirmed dead following Sunday’s attack in Kaura local government area.

“According to the report,

four locations were attacked by unidentified assailants: Tsonje, Agban, Katanga and Kadarko, all within Kagoro Chiefdom of Kaura LGA. “Two military personnel were among the 34 killed, with local residents making

up 32 casualties.

Aruwan said the 32 people killed are as follows:Angelina Aboi, Godiya Iliya, Peace Iliya, Stephen Emmanuel Patrick Pius, Gwamna Ishaya, Philip Joseph, Godwin Latong, Aba Chawai

and Nancy Luka”.

Others, according to the commissioner, include: “Sophia Luka, Hosea James, Daniel Sofa, Geoffrey Ado, Bala James Henry Dauda, Augustine Iliya Irmiya Michael, Murna Luka,

Monday Buki, Reuben Kumai Zilien Gudak, Anita Dauda Kawai, Rifkatu Dauda Kawai, Titi Bawa, Jacob Yayock, Samuel Ufui, Silas Bulus, Victor Ayuka , Jummai Yunana, Sunday Tachio and Hope Luka”.

FREEDOM ONLINE LECTURE…

L-R: Former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Freedom Online, Mr. Gabriel Akinadewo; former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; and former Director-General, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, at the 4th Annual Lecture of Freedom Online in Lagos...yesterday

Musa Promises to Strengthen APC, Kogi NLC Denies Confirming Payment of Gets Yoruba Group’s Support N30,000 Minimum Wage by Government

Sunday Aborisade and Udora in Abuja

Ahead of the National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for Saturday, one of the aspirants for the Chairmanship position, Senator Sani Musa (Niger East) yesterday said he would ensure the party is strengthened as an institution if he emerges chairman.

Musa, who met with the APC Caucus of the House of Representatives, said that instead of creating strong individuals the party needs to be strengthened so leaders can be groomed and the welfare of Nigerians taken care of.

He said: “The kind of leadership

I would bring is that which those that run the affairs of the party should be seen to been to be very useful to everyone. They will be busy 24/7, 365 days and not only when we have convention or congresses. It would even reduce the burden of leadership because if majority are well educated and enlightened with the programmes and activities of the governing party, I don’t see how any other party would have a space.”

The ranking Senator lamented that the APC is not taking advantage of the numerous constituency projects or infrastructural development, saying that all that will change if he emerges victorious.

Defence SpokesmanVisits THISDAY, Seeks Support to Contain Security Challenges Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

New Director, Directorate of Defence Information (DDI), Maj Gen Jimmy Akpor, yesterday sought the support of THISDAY Group in the drive by the Armed Forces of Nigeria to contain security challenges confronting the nation.

Speaking at THISDAY Abuja Office as part of his familiarisation visit to media houses in Abuja, the defence

spokesman said he came to seek the support of the news organisation to promote and highlight the counterinsurgency operations in the North-east, banditry in the North-west and other security engagements in South-east as well as securing oil infrastructure in the Southsouth.

“We are here to identify with you to seek your continued support to secure our physical space.

FG Parleys Saudi Arabia on Compensation for Nigerian Crane Victims Olawale AjimotokaninAbuja The federal government has resumed discussions with Saudi Arabia on compensation package for the relatives of the Nigerians who died in the Mecca crane crash in 2015.

The Chairman National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan led a delegation to the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Nigeria to finalise on the crash compensation matters.

A statement issued yesterday by the spokesperson of NAHCON, Fatima Sanda Usara, said the delegation consisted of representatives of States Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards, lawyers representing relatives of the crane crash victims and representatives of beneficiaries.

The Director Consular and Legal Services in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi, was also present representing his ministry.

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja The organised Labour in Kogi State has urged the workers of the state to ignore the publication that the state Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Onuh Edoka, has confirmed the payment of N30,000 minimum wage in the state contrary to what transpired, as it was done by mischief makers to cause disaffection between the

workforce and the leadership of the organised Labour in the state.

The organised labour was reacting to the purported claim that the state government had recently commenced the payment of N30,000 national minimum wage as approved by the state Governor, Yahaya Bello.

This was contained in a statement signed by the state NLC Secretary, Paul Omale,

a copy of which was made available to journalists in Lokoja, the state capital, yesterday, stating that contrary to the author of the claim, the government has not fulfilled its promise to the workers, rather, it was a shock when the workers received alert of 70 per cent payment.

The statement read: “The attention of the leadership of the organised labour in Kogi

State has been drawn to a story published in many national dailies of March 6, 2022, alleging that the state NLC Chairman, Onuh Edoka, confirmed that no percentage salary was paid to Kogi State workers.

The labour union also lamented that author of the story was clearly on a mission to set the workers of the state against the leadership of the organised labour.

Senate Asks IG to Probe Maltreatment of Nigerians by Foreigners Deji Elumoye and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja The Senate has urged the Inspector General (IG)of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to investigate the maltreatment and torture of Nigerians by foreign nationals living in Nigeria.

The red chamber made the resolutions following a motion entitled, “Urgent need to check the alarming trend of inhuman treatment and torture of Nigerian

citizens by foreign nationals in the country.”

The motion was sponsored

by Senator Biobarakuma DegiEremienyo (Bayelsa East).

The Senator noted that in a bid to get a confession from victims alleged to have stolen iron rods, a Lebanese ordered some of his Nigerian subordinates to gag the mouths of one Mr. Anayo Friday Ndubuisi and the late Chadian with rags to stifle any noise from them.

According to him, they were beaten mercilessly with iron rods, tied to a car and driven round their premises.

“The Lebanese also set his dog upon the victims and the said dog attacked them,” Biobarakuma said.

He said:“The second Nigerian (a security personnel), on trying to defend and absolve Anayo Friday Ndubuisi from any allegation whatsoever was shot with an arrow, thereby leading to grievous bodily harm.

“Aware that some suspects have been arrested and paraded by officers of the Nigeria Police Force in connection with this nauseating crime against humanity but without the Lebanese being equally apprehended or paraded.

“Surprised that certain insinuations have been made by some concerned security authorities involved in the matter that since the late Chadian was an illegal migrant, little or nothing can be done about the case.

Ekiti 2022: Former Aspirants Won’t Betray APC, Says Ex-deputy Speaker VictorOgunjeinAdoEkiti

Contrary to insinuation that the All Progressives Congress aggrieved governorship aspirants are still bitter and would betray the party’s candidate, Biodun Oyebanji, in the June 18 poll, former Deputy Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun, has declared that the former contenders are committed to working for the

party’s victory.

Olatunbosun said strong contenders like the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Opeyemi Bamidele and a member of the House of Representatives , Hon. Femi Bamisile and five others, who vied for the governorship primary and lost will work for Oyebanji in the election.

The Chairman of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Commission,

warned that opposition party hoping to harvest from the crisis emanated from the January 27 governorship primary would be disappointed on grounds that the aggrieved members have resolved to unite for APC. Olatunbosun who spoke, in Ado Ekiti, yesterday said the Post-Primary Reconciliation Committee has reached out to the party bigwigs with many of

them openly campaigning for APC and said they won’t betray the party that launched them to prominence.

He said:”The APC is getting stronger every day and it is in a pole position to win the forthcoming governorship election.

Those parties wishing to harvest members from the APC will be disappointed at the end because of the internal reconciliation going on.

APC Has Inflicted Hardship on Nigerians for Seven Years, Says Saraki Campaign Team SegunAwofadejiinBauchi The Director General of Abubakar Bukola Saraki for PresidentAdvocacy Team, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher, has described the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as a government of deceit that has inflicted hardship on the people of the country

for seven years.

He also lambasted the All Progressive Congress (APC) for plunging Nigeria into serious and immeasurable problems in the last seven years, stressing that “this party, APC has ruined Nigeria”.

Professor Hagher ,who was addressing journalists in Bauchi

shortly after meeting with leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in State yesterday declared that Nigeria doesn’t want a nepotic President in 2023.

He said: “We don’t want a nepotic President, we want a broad-minded Nigeria President, a person who will unite Nigeria, who will wipe away

our tears, who will make Nigeria a great country again. This is our vision and that was what brought us to Bauchi. For seven years now, the APC has been playing the blame game, blaming the PDP for its inability to deliver, failure to fulfill all the campaign promises to Nigerians.

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NEWSXTRA

Osinbajo: Real Leadership is About Service to Citizenry Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that real leadership is not just about holding public office but in the dedication and service of the official to the citizenry.

Osinbajo stated this in Abuja, at the fifth anniversary celebration of the North East Children’s Trust (NECT) Learning Centre, a charity educational centre, he established in 2016 in Maiduguri, for children orphaned by the insurgency in the

North-east.

The vice president described the children and teachers of the North East Children’s Trust Learning Centre as real heroes, especially the children – orphans, who had overcome the trauma of the insurgency in Borno State and some parts of the North East.

He said he was very impressed when he met with the outstanding young men and women who passed through the centre.

Commending the immediate past and current Governors of

Borno state: Kashim Shettima and Babagana Zulum, for their roles in the development of the centre, Osinbajo said: “If you are not able to serve the people with everything that you have and with all your heart, then it would be irrelevant and perhaps even unjustified. So, I want to really commend Governor Zulum and his predecessor Governor Shettima for the great work they have done.”

He specifically praised them for their dedication to ensuring the best for the children. According to him, since “Governor Zulum took over from the former governor, he has also done incredible work, not just promoting the work of the centre,

but also in advancing it.”

On the impact of teachers on the children’s education and well-being at the learning centre, the VP said: “These teachers are a special bunch of people, very special, and I explained to them what we are trying to achieve.

This is not any ordinary school. We are trying to achieve and develop a school that would be a world-class learning centre.

“I said to them, that what we want from you (teachers) is a generous spirit; we want you to love and care for these children. And the teachers have been incredible and absolutely wonderful; they have done such a great job with everything you see

today.

“These ladies and gentlemen are the real heroes of the story of the learning centre. And in the past five years, they have contributed in every way by just being there night and day, ensuring that they love and care for the children.

“We now have a situation where the learning centre has become a model, a centre where young boys and girls who have been traumatised in one way or the other, are now accommodated in a loving and caring environment and they are given the very best facilities in terms of education and care. And, of course, vocational education and

digital literacy.”

While thanking the NECT board, led by Mr. Jim Ovia, the management, and all who have contributed to the centre’s development, Osinbajo again, commended the Borno State government for also generally doing a lot of work in the area of education and building schools.

“I believe Borno State is possibly one of the luckiest States in this country, just going by the leadership that the State has had. Immediately after Governor Shettima, comes Governor Zulum. No State can ask for better than Governor Zulum, who had taken over from his dynamic predecessor, Governor Shettima.”

An All Progressive Party (APC) chieftain and Convener of BAT Vanguard from Ekiti State Hon. Sola Olofin has given reasons why Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi should throw their weights behind the presidential ambition of Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu.

Olofin, a telecom expert, politician and founder of Reclaim Nigeria as

well as Ekiti Youth Ambassadors Forum initiated “BAT Vanguard” three years ago with the purpose of promoting the positive implications of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential aspiration to the people.

According to Olofin, the eight-year governor of Lagos State has the vision to turn around the socio-economic and political existence of the country.

He analysed the various economic interventions that were initiated by the Tinubu across in the country, emphasising that the industrial revolution carried out in the former federal capital would be replicated in the nooks and crannies of the most populous black nation.

The APC chieftain who hails from Ekiti State made reference to the inputs of Tinubu in the realisation of the

various projects being witnessed in Lagos State, including the fertilizer factory inaugurated yesterday by President Mohammadu Buhari.

He posited that the project and many others that have sustained and improved on the status of Lagos State a reference point in terms of industrial revolution and job creation should also be a dream for youths in other parts of the country.

UNICEF/WHO: 208m People Still Openly Defecate in Africa 2023: ‘Why Osinbajo, Fayemi Should Support Tinubu’

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

About 208 million people still openly defecate in Africa with 839 million deprived of basic hygiene services, according to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organisation (WHO) special report focused on Africa.

The report also revealed that 418 million people still lack even a basic level of drinking water service, and 779 million lack basic sanitation services on the continent.

A statement by UNICEF yesterday said achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets on water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa will require a dramatic acceleration in the current rates of progress.

According to the report launched yesterday at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal, this special report calls for urgent action to be taken on a continent where

water scarcity and weak sanitation and hygiene services can threaten peace and development.

The report said between 2000 and 2020, Africa’s population increased from 800million to 1.3 billion people. About 500 million people gained access to basic drinking water and 290 million to basic sanitation services, according to a report of the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), launched during a session of the World Water Forum hosted by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) with UNICEF. The report said achieving the SDG targets in Africa will require a 12-fold increase in current rates of progress on safely managed drinking water, a 20-fold increase for safely managed sanitation and a 42-fold increase for basic hygiene services, according to the report.

Amaechi: Badagry Seaport to Commence Construction Before May 2023 Kasim Sumaina in Lagos The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday hinted that efforts are currently ongoing to ensure that Badagry seaport in Lagos gets approval to commence construction before May, 2023.

Amaechi, speaking to the press shortly after the inspection of Lekki

Deep seaport and before the arrival of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, disclosed that it was necessary for government to utilise other ports in the country in order to avoid congestion in one port.

He stated that ports like, “Ibaka and Badagry are private seaports. I think Ibaka has gotten approval. We are fast-tracking that of Badagry so that they can also

get their approval. By the time we leave office, all those ports will be approved,” he said.

He maintain that the “only port that government may participate in its ownership is the Bonny seaport”.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari visited Lekki seaport after inaurating Dangote fertilizer plant that is

also located in Lekki, Lagos State.

Though the President did not stay long at the port, Amaechi said the news of Buhari’s visit increased the speed of work at the port.

He said: “When I was making the case to the president on why he needed to come to the seaport, most people did not understand why.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWSEXTRA

Presidency Accuses PDP of Plotting to Use Fuel Scarcity to Destabilise Nation

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Presidency Tuesday accused the main opposition political party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), of hatching plans to cause mayhem and destabilize the country.

It also accused some individuals within the opposition party of masterminding the current energy crisis facing the country, making particular reference to the party’s verdict that Nigeria could be faced with a worse uproar than the#EndSARS experience if the fuel crisis persists.

PDP in a statement issued recently by its spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP had lamented the current general situation of things in the country, paying particular attention to the lingering fuel scarcity nationwide, blaming the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government for the situation and warning it could lead to grave reactions from the citizens.

The Presidency, in a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, stressed that the PDP’s warning had exposed its

real intention of using the current situation to cause mayhem, hoping to use same situation to get back to power.

According to the release: “The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has

given itself away as being interested only in the destabilization of the country, peradventure it could then sneak its way back to power.

“Less than 24 hours after the Department of State Services

(DSS) raised alarm about sinister plots by some elements to cause disorder in the land, using the energy crisis as a smokescreen, the PDP issued a statement, saying; ‘Our party fears that the situation is

getting to a boiling point and can trigger a nationwide agitation that might be worse than the October 2020 EndSARS if not addressed immediately’.

“Which patriotic political party

or organization ever threatens its country with anarchy, social upheaval and disorderliness, except one still smarting from its snout being yanked from the honeypot, as happened to PDP in 2015?

IMPROVING HUMANITARIAN SERVICES…

L-R:Director,Humanitarian,FederalMinistryofHumanitarianAffairs,DisasterManagementandSocialDevelopment,(FMHADMSD),GremaAli;HumanitarianCoordinator, United Nations, Matthias Schmale; Minister, FMHADMSD, Sadiya Umar Farouq; Commissioner for Refugees, Imaan Ibrahim, and National Coordinator, NSIP, FMHADMSD, Umar Bindir, during the ministry’s open house meeting in Abuja… yesterday ENOCK REUBEN

Pick Me, Get Power, Before Rivers Community Seeks Court’s Order to Imprison Sharing it, Tambuwal Shell’s MD, Others over N800bn Judgment Debt Admonishes PDP Alex Enumah in Abuja

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been advised to gun for and clinch the position of president of the country in the forthcoming election in 2023.

And once the presidency is in its kitty the party can then decide on how to allocate important positions to deserving members.

This was the advice of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who has been consulting stakeholders across the country in his bid get the party’s ticket for president, when former presiding officers of states and the House of Representatives converged on

Abuja yesterday to deliberate on his aspiration.

Referring to the calls for zoning of the presidential nomination to a the Southern part of the country by some members of the party, Gov. Tambuwal reminded the PDP of how the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 ignored zoning and decided on retaining the presidential slot in Katsina state, from where late President Yar’adua hailed.

“You can share tickets because you can tear it up, but you must plan to win. PDP must accept this reality.”

APC National Women Leader Aspirant Pledges Loyalty to Party National Women Leader Aspirant of the All Progressives Congress(APC) ahead the Saturday National Convention, Hon Betta Edu has reiterated and affirmed her total loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, the party and all members of the party.

In an emotional statement released yesterday, in Abuja titled, Let’s Move Forward and Unite Round Our Shared Objectives as Progressives”, Edu expressed confidence in her ability to rally women’s votes and mobilise their support across the country.

She said: “My loyalty to

the APC and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is complete and total.

“I am one of you, and I seek to lead our women because I believe in my ability to rally women’s votes and mobilise their support across the country based on well-developed policies and strategies to facilitate their membership of the party, and to spur and guide our leadership across all levels on impactful ways to prioritize women-focused issues that will hasten the growth of the country and significantly improve our chances at the polls.

Members of the Ejalawa Community in Oken Ogosu Swamp farmlands in Egbalor, Ebubu/Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, have approached the Owerri Division of the Court of Appeal for an Order of committal to prison of the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and country Chairman,

Shell Companies in Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Developing Company of Nigeria; Mr. Osagie Okunbor over alleged disobedience of the orders of the Court.

Shell and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had approached the Court of Appeal to reverse the judgment of a trial court that ordered them to pay the sum of over N800 billion as compensation to the communities for devastation

caused the community as a result of oil spillage.

But the appellate court, however, in its judgment delivered on March 11, 2022, ordered Shell to deposit the said judgment sum into the interest yielding account of the Court of Appeal within 48 hours of the judgment.

The order expired on Tuesday March 15, 2022, without the appellants complying with the order of the appellate court.

Miffed by the refusal of Shell to obey the orders of court, the community has approached the court for an order seeking the committal of the MD and three others to prison.

They are: Shell’s Country Legal Counsel, Mrs. Keibi Atemie; Shell Africa/ Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Head of Corporate Litigation, Ikechukwu Ekwueme and Shell’s Finance Director, Mr. Jan Van Bunnik.

Lagos Arraigns BRT Driver, Ominnikoron, over Alleged Rape, Murder Wale Igbintade The Lagos State Government, yesterday arraigned the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Nice Ominnikoron, before the state High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), over the alleged rape and murder of his passenger, Oluwabamise Ayanwole.

Ominnikoron was arraigned before Justice Sherifat Sonaike on a four-count charge

bordering on rape, conspiracy and murder preferred against him by the state government.

When the matter came up yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecution DPP, Dr Jide Martins, informed the court that the matter was for the arraignment of the defendant.

The defendant’s counsel, Mr. Isaac Ezeawem, did not object to the arraignment of the defendant.

Martins told the court that

the defendant, on November 25, 2021, allegedly raped a 29 year-old lady, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, without her consent.

He said the incident took place at about 7pm, at LekkiAjah Conservation Centre, Lekki Ajah expressway Lagos.

The Prosecutor also told the court that Ominnikoron conspired with others now at large and forcefully had sexual intercourse with 22 years old Miss Ayanwole, a fashion designer without her

consent and murdered her.

Martins said the incident happened on February 25, 2022, at about 8pm, at LekkiAjah Conservation expressway and Carter Bridge.

He told the court that the defendant and others still at large on February 26, 2022, unlawfully killed one Oluwabamise Ayanwole by throwing her out of a moving bus at Carter Bridge after having canal knowledge of her without her consent.

OAU VC: Oyetola Calls for Peace as Akeredolu Condemns Traditionalists’ Invasion Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo and Fidelis David in Akure Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun has appealed to citizens of Ile-Ife, who are protesting the choice of the new Vice Chancellor(VC) for the Obafemi Awolowo University to give peace a chance and stop the protest forthwith.

In a statement yesterday,

Oyetola noted that Ivory Towers anywhere in the world are sacred institutions and everything must be done to accord them that dignity.

He noted that though the state has no role in the choice of who becomes the VC of Obafemi Awolowo University, being a federal institution, he has responsibility for the safety and security of the institution and its workers as the host governor.

To this end, he urged all protesting citizens to exercise restraint and allow peace to reign.

He said : “It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of concern that I call on the good people of Ile-Ife, especially those protesting over the choice of a new Vice Chancellor for Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, to stop further protest and give peace a chance.

“By their nature and

functionality, universities are rules- and convention-based conservative institutions premised on academic and governance autonomy.

“If we have any reason to believe that these rules are circumvented, there are laid-down procedures to remedy such situations rather than resorting to self-help. We are known for peace in Osun. “

The Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial district, Sen Chuka Utazi has said that if the watchword in the selection of who becomes the governor of Enugu State in 2023 is equity and fairness, Nsukka geo-political zone should be supported to continue to hold the office of Governor for another eight years.

The issue of the zone where the next governor of Enugu State

should come from has been a contentious one in the build up to the 2023 elections with some people suggesting that since the three Senatorial zones have tasted the Governorship position it should now be thrown open.

However, Sen. Utazi in a statement made available to newsmen, said the Nsukka zone has been marginalised in Enugu

State not only in the distribution of infrastructure, but also in political positions.

He said the old Anambra State from which Enugu State was carved out had five zones delineated according to their population and considerations of constituency delineation.

“The five zones were Onitsha, Awka, Nsukka, Enugu and Abakaliki. This was the

constituency configuration upon which the general elections of 1979 and 1983 were conducted. In 1991, Anambra State was splintered in a militarygovernment state creation exercise, whereby Onitsha and Awka Zones became the new Anambra State and Nsukka, Enugu and Abakaliki Zones became the new Enugu State,” he said.

Kogi PDP Group Supports Adoji’s Senatorial Ambition The Kogi State Peoeples Democratic some of its members to raise the For Equity, Let Nsukka Produce Next Governor of Enugu, Lawmaker Pleads Party (PDP) Ambasssdors under the umbrella of its Kogi East chapter has purchased the Senatorial intent and nominations forms for its adopted candidate, Dr. Victor Alewo Adoji.

Kogi East PDP Ambasssdors, which is an organisation of a retinue of PDP associations and has cells in all the 98 wards and all units of the constituency with members in their thousands, tasked

money used to purchase the form.

Presenting the forms to representatives of Adoji, the state chairman of the organisation, Comrade Abubakar Kamar, acknowledged the qualities of some others vying for the position, noting, however, that this time of their electoral and democratic journey, they cannot be involved with experimenting.

47

WEDNESDAY, ͺͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Okoye Out, Noble In as Eagles Begin Training in Abuja for Black Stars Osimhen, Ighalo, 20 others in camp for the trip to Kumasi on Thursday Duro Ikhazuagbe Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Tuesday kicked off their 2022 World Cup playoffs preparations with first training session in Abuja with almost all the invited players present at the team’s The Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments.

Apart from Enyimba’s goalkeeper, John Noble, Leicester City’s Ademola Lookman and

W O R L D C U P P L AYO F F S Sadiq Umar of UD Almeria in the Spanish second tier league, all invited players honoured Augustine Eguavoen’s call up for the double headed fixture against Ghana’s Black Stars on Friday and Tuesday next week.

Maduka Okoye is going to be missing from the line up as he was reported to be ill. It was this

development that informed the call up of Enyimba’s Noble as replacement.

With midfield enforcer, Wilfred Ndidi not available due to injury, Coach Augustine Eguavoen is going to be full of smiles as Lookman is due to arrive camp today.

The Leicester man is in line to make his Super Eagles debut after

he was recently cleared by FIFA to change international allegiance after he previously represented England, where he was born.

At press time last night, there were 22 players in camp with only Sadiq Umar expected to swell the figure to 23. Akinkunmi Amoo of FC Copenhagen in Denmark was the last player to reach the camp at past 10pm.

Napoli’s Victor Osimhen who arrived the team’s base in the

afternoon spent quality time in the gym ahead of the first training session at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.

The 23-year-old forward is expected to Spearhead Super Eagles attack in the first leg clash with the Black Stars at the 40,000-capacity Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Friday evening.

The return leg on Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja is expected to be equally

pulsating and fiery given what is at stake in the playoffs.

The last time both teams were involved in a FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture was in 2001, with both seeking a spot at the Korea/Japan 2002 finals.

The opening leg at the Accra Sports Stadium was stalemated 0-0, before Super Eagles won the return leg 3-0 inside the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt on 29th July 2001.

Their last meeting, in a friendly staged in London on 11th October 2011, ended 0-0.

EAGLES IN CAMP

Super Eagles had their first training session yesterday in Abuja ahead of their departure for Ghana to play the Black Stars on Friday evening

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (AC Omonia, Cyprus); Daniel Akpeyi (Kaizer Chiefs, South Africa); Defenders: Semi Ajayi (West Brom, England); Kenneth Omeruo (CD Leganes, Spain); Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); William Troost-Ekong (Watford FC, England); Ola Aina (Torino FC, Italy); Calvin Bassey (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Abdullahi Shehu (AC Omonia, Cyprus); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal); Midfielders: Frank Onyeka (Brentford FC, England); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Innocent Bonke (FC Lorient, France); Oghenekaro Etebo (Watford FC, England); Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Fatih Karagumruk, Turkey); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Odion Ighalo (Al-Hilal FC, Saudi Arabia); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Emmanuel Dennis (Watford FC, England); Victor Osimhen (Napoli FC, Italy)

*Expected John Noble (Enyimba FC, Nigeria), Ademola Lookman (Leicester City, England); Sadiq Umar (UD Almeria, Spain)

...Ghana Unveil 27-man Squad against Nigeria Ghana’s Black Stars are hoping for a miracle against Nigeria on Friday in Kumasi

Nigeria v Ghana: Runsewe to Give out 500 Free Tickets to Fans As a part of incentives to motivate Nigerian football fans to support the Super Eagles in the 2022 World Cup playoff against Ghana next Tuesday, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has promised to give out 500 free tickets to the first 500 football fans to show up at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.

Runsewe who made this announcement in Abuja added that the wearing of national

colour of green white green will be a condition for the issuance of the tickets to potential beneficiaries.

In a chat with journalists in Abuja, the NCAC boss stressed that sports as a unifying factor in the country, adding that along with culture they are a veritable ingredients for the development of any nation.

Otunba Runsewe who doubles as the President of the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF) also said that apart from mobilizing three million

online culture friendly fan base to support the Super Eagles during the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018, the NCAC also engendered the mobilization of 10 million virtual supporters for the Eagles during the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.

He urged Nigerians to put the early exit of the Super Eagles from the AFCON 2021 behind them and back the squad to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.

“It is time we put the behind early exit of the Super Eagles from

the AFCON and stay focused on Nigeria qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,” he said.

“We cannot continue to talk about Eagles not going far in the tournament after showing so much promise at the group stage,” he further emphasized.

The NCAC boss said there was the need for Nigerians to give maximum support to national team so that they could qualify for the World Cup which will serve as a good platform to once

again market Nigeria’s rich and diverse culture, arts and crafts to global audience.

This, according to him, will translate to massive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the country even after the fiesta.

The opening leg of the fixture will take place on Friday March 25 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi while the return leg match will hold at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday, March 29.

After playing hide and seek with their team list for several days, Ghana’s Head Coach, Otto Addo, yesterday named a 27-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

Crystal Palace forward Jordan Ayew who is down with Covid-19 was listed in the squad even as he’s going to seat out the first leg fixture.

Belgium-based duo of Denis Odoi and Elisha Owusu, Montari Kamahene of Ashdod FC in Israel and Dennis Korsah of Hearts of Oak were handed debut call-ups

by Addo.

Roma youngster Felix AfenaGyan is also included in the squad after he failed to make the cut to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Captain, Andre Ayew, is conspicuously missing due to his suspension.

Ghana will host the first leg at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Friday before travelling to Abuja for the second leg next week Tuesday.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

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Price: N250

MISSILE PDP to President Buhari

“There is a limit to what the people can bear under an administration that remains insensitive to their plights. President Buhari needs to in the least, show some empathy, competence and concern as our country rapidly drifts towards a looming precipice. The frustration in the country is already degenerating into a nationwide restiveness…” ---PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, blaming the President for the people’s unprecedented sufferings and woes.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974

The Awka Declaration

J

ournalism scholars may find a useful material for their reflection on the sociology of news in the unfortunate incident involving two prominent ladies last Saturday at the otherwise exemplary inauguration of Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the governor of Anambra state.

It should interest media theorists that the negative news of the incident has virtually eclipsed the positive news of the significant thing that happened in Awka, the state capital. The trend of news is so bad that if you ask some people feasting on the bad news in the social media what the event was in Awka last Saturday, they may not even remember a word of what Soludo said at his inauguration.

However, the real thing that happened at the Government House in Awka was the unusual inauguration speech of the new governor. The speech was imbued with a noteworthy declaration on governance and politics.

The political resonance of the Soludo declaration will, perhaps, still be felt four years from now when the promise implicit in his statement would be remembered.

That is when people would ask questions about the realisation of the vision of Anambra which Soludo optimistically spoke about in the conclusion of the speech.

There were important symbolic gestures at the ceremony: the clothes and shoes Soludo put on were made in Anambra; the car in which he was driven to the occasion was assembled in Anambra; the food and drinks were produced in Anambra and Soludo paid for the refreshment himself; the ceremony was deliberately programmed to be business-like as the governor said it would be truly his first day at work and so there were no inaugural balls.

Besides, contrary to the views of his critics that he is a haughty professor of economics, Soludo was humbled enough to know that the history of governance in Anambra state did not begin with his becoming

Soludo governor. He acknowledged the respective places of his “elected” predecessors in history : Nnamdi Azikiwe (the Great Zik of Africa), Michael Okpara, Jim Nwobodo, Christian Onoh, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Chris Ngige, Peter Obi and Willie Obiano. He said of these gentlemen: “You all did your best for our people.”

It is a noteworthy expression of humanism and compassion that Soludo also mentioned the three policemen killed during an attack on his campaigns – Inspector Murtala Saudi, Sgt Mudassir Ahmed and

Sgt Samuel Ishaya. Remarkably, he pledged to continue take care of their families. Some “unknown gunmen” killed these policemen when a youth meeting being addressed by Soludo was invaded.

Soludo also put on display the courage of his conviction on the state of insecurity in the Anambra like other states in the southeast zone and the agitation of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and their Eastern Security Network (ECN). Not many members of the Igbo elite would speak clearly on the problem in that tone because of the rising populism of IPOB in the southeast. Indeed, the governor walked a tight rope in the matter. He denounced criminality unequivocally.

Without delegitimising the agitation of IPOB, Soludo said in clear terms that the weekly sit-at-home order issued by some agitators had proved to be unhelpful to the socio-economic lives of the people in whose name IPOB is fighting. After all, Soludo was among some elements of the Igbo elite who once visited the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, in detention.

Significantly in the speech, he underscored the crucial role of community and individual efforts in the development of infrastructure which is a commendable culture in the southeast including Anambra state. He gave examples of individuals constructing kilometres of roads in their respective communities. It is wise for the governor to have factored such efforts into the development agenda of the state.

In concrete terms, he asserted what he described as “our agenda with Anambra people.” The agenda is embodied three vital documents - Anambra Vision 2070 (a 50-Year Development Plan); The Soludo Solution: A Peoole’s Manifesto for a Greater Anambra and The Transition Committee (Combined Report) which is based on the other two documents. He expectedly stressed the role of the private sector as well as public-private partnership in this agenda.

Soludo said that “our goal is to build Anambra into a prosperous smart megacity.” Prosperity and

Political Full Moon Magnus Onyibe

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) has kicked off the 2023 general elections season by releasing its timetable for the conduct of elections commencing from February which is just last month.

The first balloting exercise which will be carried out for the purpose of electing our next president would be according to INEC timetable held on 18 February 2023 and that is less than one year away from now.

As to be expected in a season of politics ,all the gladiators are coming out with their long knives , reminiscent of the Night of Long Knives -a vicious event that took place in German political space to consolidate political power between April to June in 1934.

Wikipedia describes the event that drastically altered the course of history in Germany and indeed the world, this way: “The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government.It established Hitler as the supreme administrator of justice of the German people, as he put it in his July 13 speech to the Reichstag.”

With respect to the allusion to the metaphor of werewolf which Nigerian politicians have been currently transformed into as they have literally started prosecuting their political wars , Encyclopedia Britannica holds the light to it this way: “werewolf, in European folklore, is a man who turns into a wolf at night and devours animals, people, or corpses but returns to human form by day.”

Dear readers, guided by the forgoing enlightenment about the Night of Long Knives in Germany and the description of the mythology of werewolf in Europe

Buhari , you would agree with me that both experiences are being carbon copied or cloned in our clime in this peak period of politics .

The assertion above is underscored and validated by the intrinsic characteristics of the events now pervading the political atmosphere in Nigeria where stakeholders in politics are deploying their lethal arsenal in order to dominate the environment. One needs not be a rocket scientist to decipher the tendencies of the political actors bestriding the political space of our beloved country which are simply in tandem with the typical tendencies of werewolves as defined by encyclopedia Britannica.

Against the foregoing backdrop,in the next one year, political blood letting (literally speaking) is expected to, from this point in time to the next one year become the rule rather than the exception in our country.

By extension and in that regard ,Nigerians should standby to be regaled via hearing on television and reading in the newspapers, the most vile and crude attacks by politicians against each other with no holds barred.

And we have already had a foretaste of the salacious and vicious political games ahead via the crisis within the ruling party at the center , APC whereby the governors have literally ripped their party and each other apart; just as the verbal tirades traded between governors on the platform of the main opposition political party, the PDP is equally giving politics and politicians a bad name.

My essay last week titled “Is APC Made Up Of Yahoo-Yahoo Governors and Drug Dealing Gangs?” which was published widely in both traditional and online mass media platforms, dwelt elaborately on the abhorrent behavior of the governors from both the ruling and main opposition parties , stressing that they need to call themselves to order .

Although President Muhammadu Buhari has tried to quell the internecine war within the APC via what can best be described as a ‘riot act’ conveyed through a caustic statement released by his media aid,Garba Shehu, after which the gladiators seem to have sheathed their swords , l am willing to wager a bet that the seeming calm in the party can be equated to the peace of the graveyard that gets disturbed every time a new corpse needs to be buried or exhumed -as the case may be.

Continued online

smart development, yes. But there may be something problematic about hoping to turn Anambra state into to a megacity. The economic structures of the two geo-poltical entities - a state and a city - are vastly different. Maybe, the governor meant Onitsha or Nnewi.

Certainly, the whole state cannot be another megacity in Nigeria. To imagine otherwise may amount to a mechanical transposition of concepts of development.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about the speech for a Nigerian politician was that Soludo delved into the ideological arena. Now, that is not expected from the archetypal Nigerian politician who talks glibly about the alleged death of ideology. Soludo seemed to prove that he is not one such politicians when even in his inaugural speech he spoke about “a Pan Africanist ideology that integrates the social democratic values with the principles of competitive markets.”

Soludo demonstrated that it is not for nothing that his political party is named All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He correctly situated progressivism in Nigerian nay African poltical political history. He mentioned the following leading lights of progressive politics among others: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah (of Ghana) Obafemi Awolowo, Julius Nyerere ( of Tanzania), Aminu Kano, Joseph Tarka and Michael Okpara. As a matter of fact, there was coalition of progressive parties in the First Republic called the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), of which APGA seemed a resurrection. Soludo said that “ our ideology is a combination of the “Zik’s neo-welfarism, Awolowo’s scientific socialism and Aminu Kano’s democratic humanism.” Here is a reasoned declaration that is eminently suitable for political debates. By this proposition, the debate would be advanced beyond ethnic and religious balancing in the nomination of candidates for elections.

This is very important because politics cannot be played productively in an ideological vacuum.

Ideology provides the compass for a president or governor in power. In fact, the ideas could provide a proper understanding of the conduct of public officers in office. It is because of the lack of ideological politics that governors cannot approach development as a structured process to advance the common good. This process certainly goes beyond random execution of projects based on whimsical and selfish proposals from their contractor-friends.

There are universal features of progressive parties from the Democratic Party in the United States to the Japan Progressive Party. Bernie Sanders won the hearts of American youths when he presented a clearly social democratic programme while seeking the ticket of the Democratic Party. To be progressive, a party must have at a least the commitment to advance human progress to some extent.

So the policies of the APGA government in Anambra state on education, healthcare, infrastructural revamp, job creation, social protection, gender inclusion, environment etc. would now be subjected to the social democratic standards.

There is certainly a content to progressive politics.

Soludo would also be watched with some curiosity especially from the Left to see how he governs along the lines of a progressive ideology. As a student, he was in the youth wing of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the most conservative party in the Second Republic. He was inspired by colourful and intellectual politicians such as the former Senate president, Senator Chuba Okadigbo. But then a number of progressive, even radical, elements were leading members of NPN for some reasons. He was a consultant to the World Bank and other development institutions. Even some former officials of the World Bank such as Nobelist Joseph Stiglitz have made progressive criticisms of the Bretton Woods Institutions.

All told, Soludo’s ideological trajectory in life will play out now that he has a historic opportunity to put to test the APGA’s ideology with a focus on “people-centred“ development at the level of a sub-national government. He has provided a good sketch of the party’s development agenda in the inaugural speech.

Soludo, therefore, deserves best wishes across the ideological spectrum in this experiment.

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