FRIDAY 16TH APRIL 2021

States Stopped Insecurity from Worsening, Say Govs Tambuwal, others to meet judicial workers today IG to reorganise police to check promoters of separatist agenda Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Olawale Ajimotokan and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja But

for

the

various

interventions of the 36 state governments, the security crisis currently bedeviling Nigeria would have worsened, governors have said.

The governors, rising from

a meeting, which began late Wednesday in Abuja, and ended in the wee hours of yesterday, expressed concerns about the growing insecurity in the country.

Also, the Acting Inspector General of Police (IG), Usman Baba, has promised to reorganise the police to check those promoting separatist agenda.

However, Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, urged the federal government to enforce the ban on open grazing, one of the major factors for the

pervasive farmer-herders clashes, and immediately implement the National Livestock Transformation Continued on page 10

Concerns as Inflation Hits Four-year High at 18.17%... Page 6 Friday 16 April, 2021 Vol 26. No 9504. Price: N250

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Lagos Begins Work on Rail Mass Transit to Move 1m Daily...Page 44

Emefiele: It’s Inappropriate to Give Colouration to Currency Printing Apex bank to place sugar, wheat on FX restriction To make states begin repayment of budget support facility in May Dangote targets 150,000 jobs via $500m sugar plant Obinna Chima in Lagos and James Emejo in Abuja The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday weighed in on the raging controversy over whether or not the apex bank printed money to augment funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC)

distributed to states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in March.

Emefiele told reporters yesterday in Awe, Nasarawa State, that the controversy was unnecessary as the CBN acted in national interest.

He also unfolded plans by the CBN to place sugar, wheat Continued on page 10

FG Lifts Ban on New SIM Cards’ Issuance Emma Okonji

The federal government yesterday reversed its policy banning the sale of new Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, in agreement with industry stakeholders, also yesterday revised the National Digital Identity Policy for SIM card registration.

According to him, the activation of new SIM card, banned in December last year,

will begin on April.

Pantami directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure the provisions of the National Digital Identity Policy for SIM card registration are strictly followed by all operators and subscribers.

He said the implementation of the policy and issuance of new SIMs and other suspended activities would resume on the same date, Continued on page 10

BACK, HALE AND HEARTY...

L-R: Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Mohammed Bello; Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and President Muhammadu Buhari, on his arrival from London, in Abuja ...yesterday godwin omoigui

Buhari Returns from Medical Trip, Expresses Confidence in Service Chiefs...Page 5

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

Buhari Returns from Medical Trip, Expresses Confidence in Service Chiefs

Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday returned to Nigeria after a 17-day medical trip to London, the United Kingdom.

Buhari has also expressed the hope that the service chiefs would be able to surmount the security challenges facing the nation.

He was received on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja by his Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari; the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Awwal Zubairu; the Chief of Air Staff, Air-Marshal Ishiaka Oladayo Amoo, Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Bello and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mohammed Musa Bello, among other top government officials.

The presidency had on Wednesday refused to be specific about when Buhari would return to Nigeria from his routine medical trip to London, late last month.

Asked after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting when exactly the president would be back, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, was not categorical while speaking with newsmen

at the State House, Abuja.

He said: "Today is Wednesday, this week finishes on Saturday.

So, what's the big issue in that one?"

According to him, the federal government was currently more concerned with the issue of myriad of security challenges facing the nation.

Buhari had on March 30, left Abuja for London for a routine medical check-up.

The president, before embarking on the medical trip, had met earlier in the day with Irabor and the service chiefs to appraise the security situation in the country.

The media adviser to the president, Mr. Femi Adesina, had said in a statement on March 29 that Buhari was expected back in the country in the second week of April.

"The president meets with security chiefs first in the morning, after which he embarks on the journey.

"He is due back in the country during the second week of April, 2021," the statement had said.

Meanwhile, Buhari has expressed the hope that the service chiefs would be able to surmount the security challenges facing the nation.

He also stated that he expected a better performance from the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba, who was appointed in acting capacity

while he was in the UK. Speaking to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) after disembarking from the Nigeria Air Force One, on his arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the president, when asked about the performance of the service chiefs, said: "They have been

in the system all the way; they know what is wrong; they know what is right and I think they are doing their best; I hope their best will be good enough for Nigeria."

Buhari, while commenting on his expectation from Baba, said much was expected from the IG after emerging the best

among the officers screened for the top police job.

"Well, we went through the system, there was a committee by the Minister of Police Affairs, they gave me some names and he happened to be the one chosen. He knows his job, he has been in it for a long time, he went through all the

trainings, he has the necessary experience. So, we have a high expectation from him."

The president, who said his medical check-up in London "went very well" as scheduled, told Nigerians to expect continuity in his six-year-old administration as he resumed duties.

A NEW LAGOS MASS TRANSIT UNFOLDS...

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde; Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mrs Abimbola Akinajo; one of the recipients of compensation, Mrs. Blessing Okhawere and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during the presentation of cheques to affected property owners of the Lagos Red Line Rail and the launch of construction work on the project, in Lagos...yesterday

FG: Unpatriotic Citizens Made Twitter Snub Nigeria for Ghana APC, PDP bicker over investment destination claim

Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday blamed those he described as "unpatriotic Nigerians" for the decision

by Twitter to make Ghana its African headquarters.

Mohammed, during an interaction with reporters in Abuja, blamed Nigerians for projecting the image of the country negatively on the social media platforms, including Twitter, especially during the #EndSARS protests last October. The nationwide protest started on Twitter before physical mobilisation on the streets.

Both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also bickered over Twitter’s decision.

Mohammed said: “Natural expectation would have been for Nigeria to be the hub for

Twitter, especially in this part of Africa even with the fact that we have 25.4 million Twitter users in Nigeria, against eight million users in Accra.

“So, clearly the decision was not a commercial and business one.

“But I think Twitter has the prerogative and the exclusive right as to where to site its headquarters. But I hope that this will serve as a lesson to Nigerians.

“The reason cited by Twitter for citing the headquarters in Accra, Ghana, is that Accra is a champion of democracy and there is rule of law in Accra, among other reasons.

“This is what you get when you demarket your own country. This will teach a lot of us a lesson that we have no country than Nigeria.

“We are not saying that you should not criticise the country but be fair and patriotic. When you destroy your own house, where are you going to live?

“You can imagine the kind of job opportunities that siting that headquarters in Nigeria would have created, the kind of visibility it would have given Nigeria but we destroyed it. It is what the insiders say about their country that the outsider will use to judge and condemn the country.”

The APC also took on the PDP on the decision by Twitter to locate its Africa headquarters in Ghana, stating that Nigeria remains the biggest economy on the continent and an investment destination of choice.

The Caretaker/ExtraOrdinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said there was no issue in Twitter ignoring Nigeria.

It stated that the company is a private concern that maintains an exclusive right to locate its business anywhere.

The statement, by the National Secretary of the APC CECPC, Senator John

Akpanudoedehe, was titled ‘APC: Nigeria as Africa’s biggest economy, remains a top investment destination.’

It said: “Flowing from a statement by the Peoples Democratic Party, our response to Twitter’s decision to cite its African operations in Ghana is simple. The decision or rationale of private concerns, particularly businesses on where to cite their operations are their exclusive preserve. It is a no issue!

“However, for the PDP that mocks the country and its citizens over what it celebrates as missed ‘business prospects’, such political party does not mean well for the country and should definitely not be considered as a governance option. It is exhausting and depressing highlighting PDP’s ignominious past. The APC will rather consolidate and focus on how Nigeria is finally getting it right under President Muhammadu Buhari.

“How come what the PDP

terms the present ‘misrule’ did not stop multinational technology companies, Facebook and Google, from opening offices in Nigeria?

Neither did it stop the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and multinational food manufacturing giants, Kellogg’s, from establishing their multi-billion naira brewery and factory (respectively) in Nigeria.”

But in a swift reaction, the PDP said the APC's comment showed that the APC and the Buhari administration had poor understanding of governance.

The PDP said the statement by the APC showed that the ruling party and the Buhari administration were not ready to end their policy inconsistency and the fettering of the youths through suppression of free speech, stifling of online freedom and open internet, for which made Twitter to shun Nigeria for Ghana.

The PDP, in a statement by

its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that the disposition by the APC has strengthened the widespread view among Nigerians that the ruling party and its administration suppressed every vocation in which the youth demography has shown interest.

"Their statement also validates apprehensions in the public space that the APC deliberately worked against the citing of Twitter headquarters in Nigeria because of their plot to forcefully regulate the use of internet in our country," he said.

According to him, a more responsive government and political party, which has the interest of the people at heart, ought to device all means possible to attract the Africa headquarters of Twitter to the country given the huge benefits such would have served in the face of grinding unemployment which the APC administration has imposed on Nigerians.

Ganduje Resolves Dispute Between Dangote, BUA Groups Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, has resolved the dispute between the Dangote Group and BUA Group, owned by two prominent indigenes of the state, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, respectively.

In a statement yesterday,

the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Abba Anwar, said the reconciliation meeting took place on Wednesday in Abuja.

Anwar said the meeting was held to end claims that the duo was at loggerheads over the control of sugar business in the country.

He stated that after the meeting, the leaders of the

two companies agreed to work together to supply enough sugar to the country.

“They all dismissed allegations that Dangote was planning to see the increase of sugar price, thereby pressurising BUA to succumb to the increment. They described the allegation as baseless and lacking any iota of truth.

“The meeting was seen as the

zenith of other similar efforts to reconcile the two giants by the governor. Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata played the role of a father during the meeting,” the statement added.

The meeting was also attended by some prominent Kano indigenes, including Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata; a representative of the Emir of Kano and Sarkin Dawaki

Babba, Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Agundi; Chairman of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Mr. Adamu Fanda; Chairman Kano State Council of Jumaat Mosque Imams and the Imam of Ahmadu Tijjani Mosque, Kofar Mata, Sheikh Nasir Adam, and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo.

In their separate remarks, Ganduje and Dantata admonished the two businessmen on the danger the economy may face if they allow the misunderstanding between them to grow.

In their response, the two business moguls promised to avoid anything capable of creating misunderstanding between them.

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Concerns as Inflation Hits Four-year High at 18.17% OPS advocates emergency strategies to protect economy, businesses James Emejo in Abuja and Dike Onwuamaeze in Lagos Members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) have expressed worries over the growing inflationary trend as evidenced by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising in March to 18.17 per cent, the highest since 2017. This is compared to 17.33 per cent the CPI was in previous month.

Reacting to the latest inflation figures released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the OPS members said time had come for the federal government to institute emergency strategies to reverse the trend to protect the economy, businesses and individuals from inflationary deleterious effects.

The OPS members, in separate interviews with THISDAY, attributed the high inflationary trend to insecurity, transportation cost, increased energy tariffs and structural bottlenecks that constrained production in the Nigerian economy.

According to the CPI Report for March, which NBS released yesterday, food inflation increased to 22.95 per cent from 21.79 per cent in February.

Core inflation also rose to 12.67 per cent in March from 12.38 per cent in February.

NBS attributed the rise in the food index to increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, vegetable, fish, oils, fats and fruits.

Similarly, core inflation was further fuelled by the highest increases recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, medical services, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, passenger transport by road, hospital services, passenger transport by road and pharmaceutical products.

Others are uptick in costs of paramedical services, vehicle spare parts, dental services, motor cars, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishment.

The urban inflation rate increased to 18.76 per cent (year-on-year) in March from 17.92 per cent recorded in February while the rural inflation increased to 17.60 per cent from 16.77 per cent in the preceding month.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.60 per cent in March, up by 0.02 per cent compared to the rate recorded in February. The rural index also rose by 1.52 per cent in March 2021, up by 0.02, compared to the 1.50 per cent recorded in February.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Timothy Olawale, urged the federal government to step up efforts at combating insecurity.

He said: “It is high time the presidency declared a state of emergency on security in the country in order to reverse the trend before it escalated beyond the reach of managers of the economy.

“The security challenges have disrupted the intervention programmes of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as farmers in the northern region were prevented from engaging in any agricultural ventures in most part of last year.

“However, the security trend is still ongoing during the start of another planting season as well as degenerating downward to the southern part of the country. It is imperative for the federal and state governments, in collaboration with other security apparatus in the country, to address the growing menace and save the Nigerian economy from going the ways of Zimbabwe and

Venezuela.

“The current situation suffices to contest the positive GDP growth recorded in the Q4, 2020 report, as most macroeconomic variables are all in the negatives.”

He added that the ripple effect of the skyrocketing inflationary rate on the economy, businesses and individuals are enormous, especially the rising food price inflation.

According to him, the rising food inflation will decrease individual and household’s disposable incomes and force a reduced consumption and saving patterns in the economy.

He said: “With less

consumption trend, enterprise goods and services patronage will be dwindled and same goes to taxes and levies remittances, which form the bulk of government revenues apart from oil rents.”

Olawale also called for the provision of balancing fiscal measures that could reduce the burden of inflation on Nigerian consumers.

Olawale's counterpart in the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, described the current inflationary trend as a troubling phenomenon, especially the food inflation that accelerated to 23 per cent.

Yusuf identified currency depreciation, acute illiquidity

in the foreign exchange market, rising transportation costs, agricultural output disruptions caused by growing insecurity, logistics challenges, hike in energy prices, climate change and structural bottlenecks to production as the key drivers of inflation.

He said: “The solution, therefore, would have to be situated in the context of these causal factors.

Rising inflationary pressure weakens purchasing power of citizens as real incomes collapse; it accentuates pressure on production costs, negatively impacts profitability and undermines investors’ confidence.

“It is not in all cases that

high production and operating costs can be passed on to the consumers. The implication is that producers are also taking a hit. This is more severe where a product or service is faced with high demand elasticity. These are products that consumers can readily do without.”

Yusuf also advised the government to introduce interventions to address the challenges bedeviling the supply side of the economy.

“There is also a need to worry about the growing fiscal deficit, especially the CBN financing of the deficit.

It is characterised as inflation tax by a school of thought in economic literature,” he said.

BRAINSTORMING ON NATIONAL MATTERS...

L-R: Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Taraba State Governor, Mr. Darius Ishaku and Governor of Sokoto State who is also NGF Vice Chairman, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, during a meeting of the governors, in Abuja….Wednesday

Okonjo-Iweala Rallies Global Action for Increased Access to Vaccines Wants waiver for intellectual property on jabs Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, has recommended actions for countries and drug makers to increase production of COVID-19 vaccines and share them more widely and fairly.

Okonjo-Iweala spoke during a closed-door meeting of producers, governments and others over inequitable access, with low-income countries administering just 0.2 per cent of 700 million global doses.

She said concerns over cross-border supply chains, including export curbs and shortages of skilled personnel, had reinforced her view that the WTO must play a central role in the response to the

pandemic.

"In the coming weeks and months, we expect concrete follow-up action. These issues are not easy, but the political will and engagement from the private sector displayed today, suggests it is possible," she said.

Speaking on the topic: “COVID-19 and Vaccine Equity: What Can the WTO Contribute?” she stated that members should reduce export restrictions and work to ease logistics and customs procedures.

She urged them to advance negotiations on a proposal

by India and South Africa and backed by over 80 WTO members, to temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) rights of pharmaceutical companies.

The director-general

said statements from government ministers, vaccine manufacturers, civil society advocates and leaders of international organisations had identified problems and pointed to potential solutions.

“This is a problem of the global commons, and we have to solve it together,” she added.

She expressed hope that the meeting, which included about 50 speakers, would serve as the basis for continued dialogue aimed at delivering results in terms of increased vaccine production volumes in the short-term as well as longerterm investments in vaccine production.

Okonjo-Iweala stated that the large number of traderelated concerns expressed during the meeting, from

the importance of open cross-border trade for access to vaccine raw materials and inputs to differences over the role of intellectual property protections, indicated that the WTO must play a central part in the response to this crisis.

She highlighted the importance of increased contract transparency, emphasising that international organisations and financial institutions, in addition to providing financial support for existing and new capacity, could provide capacity support on regulatory issues for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

“I hope that part of what we get from today is not only concrete action to increase capacity, but also the elements of a framework on trade

and health that we can pull together at the WTO, and put before ministers at the 12th Ministerial Conference in December,” she said.

While WTO members have discussed the issue eight times, without a breakthrough, Western nations said protecting IP rights would encourage research and that suspending those rights would not yield a sudden surge of vaccine supply.

Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped a common goal would bring parties to the middle and find a solution acceptable to all.

She urged vaccine makers to increase technology transfer to bring in new manufacturing capacity and to be transparent on contracts and pricing.

Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are among those producing the shots for now.

U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, told attendees the gaping divide between developed and developing countries' access to medicines, seen previously during the AIDS crisis, was "completely unacceptable" and could not be repeated.

"As governments and leaders of international institutions, the highest standards of courage and sacrifice are demanded of us in times of crisis. The same needs to be demanded of industry," she said, adding that the "market has once again failed in meeting the health needs of developing countries."

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PAGE TEN EMEFIELE: IT'S INAPPROPRIATE TO GIVE COLOURATION TO CURRENCY PRINTING on foreign exchange restriction as part of measures to preserve the foreign reserves.

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, had last Saturday triggered the controversy as he accused the federal government of printing between N50 billion and N60 billion to augment funds shared to states and the FCT last month.

However, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja on Wednesday, described the claim as not only untrue but unfortunate.

But Obaseki in a statement to counter the minister, doubled down on his position, asking the federal government to stop playing the ostrich and take urgent steps to end the prevailing fiscal slide.

Emefiele, who spoke during a facility tour of the Dangote Integrated Sugar complex in Tunga, Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, expressed dismay over attempts to distort the concept of printing of money.

He said: "It's very inappropriate for people to just give colouration to printing of money as if it's some foreign word coming from the sky."

He said since the state governments had resorted to indicting the federal government and by extension the CBN for assisting them with bailout loans to meet their financial obligations during the 2015/2016 fiscal crisis, they must repay the debts.

In July 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a N1.5 trillion

intervention package to assist bankrupt states pay salaries.

Although Emefiele did not elaborate on states repaying the budget support facility, a source confided in THISDAY yesterday that the CBN was targeting May for the takeoff of the repayment plan.

He justified the CBN's interventions in the economy, noting that these are also some of the measures currently being adopted by developed countries to reflate their economies.

He stated that it would have been irresponsible of the CBN or any central bank to stand idle and refuse to support its government at this critical point in time.

Emefiele said: "If you understand the concept of printing of money. The concept printing of money; it's about lending money.

"That's our job - to print.

It's about lending money and so there's no need putting the controversy about printing of money as if we are going into the factory printing the naira and start distributing on the streets.

"I think it's important for me to put it this way - that in 2015/2016, the kind of situation we found ourselves now, which is even worse than 2015/2016, we did provide budget support facility to all the states of this country.

"That loan remains unpaid till now. And we are going to insist on the states paying back those monies since they're accusing us of giving them loans.

"Most countries in the world today are confronted by not only health challenges coming from the COVID-19 pandemic, causing economic crisis and

the rest of them.

"What I keep saying is that it'll be irresponsible for the CBN or any central bank or any FED to stand idle and then refuse to support its government at this time.

"What is being done is being done in any clime. And at the last MPC meeting, I gave data on what is being done in developed economies to shore up their economy and take them out of recession.

"Nigeria is unfortunately in a very bad situation. I am not going to pretend about it, in the sense that we are facing problems about productivity output, which is GDP. Luckily we managed to come out by a hair's breadth."

Emefiele also said the CBN would soon place wheat and sugar on its list of items that are not valid for foreign exchange (FX).

He stated that the apex bank was interested in the project, adding that between $600 million and $1 billion is spent annually on the importation of sugar.

Emefiele, who was accompanied by the state Governor, Mr. Abdullahi Sule; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, and the President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, pledged support for the $500 million project, which is expected to commence production by 2023.

He said in line with the pronouncement of the president on local food production and selfsufficiency, the sugar complex deserved government's support.

Emefiele assured Dangote that CBN would provide

forex for the importation of equipment for the project.

On the planned import restrictions, he said: "And let me say this; we are looking at sugar and we are looking at wheat. We started a programme on milk about two years ago and eventually these products will come onto our FX restriction list.

"We just want to see to what extent we see the traction that is coming from those currently importing those items. We are putting their feet on fire to say we must all work together to produce these goods in Nigeria rather than import them".

On how much the CBN could commit to the sugar project, Emefiele said: "We have not made up our mind but as you heard from Dangote, it’s a project of about $500 million.

"And if you convert that in naira, you know what that is.

I know he's going to commit some equities to it. From there we will determine the shortfall and we will come in through intervention through the banks.

"Of course, foreign currency will be provided as long as it is for importation of equipment for the project through the banks for whatever loans required.

"And we will gradually begin to restrict allocation of FX to those who want to import sugar until we achive these results."

Emefiele thanked Dangote for supporting the government's backward integration programme.

He described the 60,000-hectare sugar complex as a big project that is unprecedented.

He said: "This is four to five times bigger than the sugar project Buhari commission in Niger State two years ago."

He stated that the factory would create jobs and increase revenue for the state as well as boost its economic viability.

Dangote, however, said the project had the prospects of providing about one third of the country's sugar consumption, adding that the initial investment will be about $500 million.

He said the target was to achieve about 250 million tonnes.

"That's why you see everybody here," he added.

According to him, the project will generate 150,000 jobs within and outside the state to help solve employment challenges.

He said the project would also help solve the challenges of power in the state, as it will generate an excess of about 90 megawatts of electricity to power the state, using ethanol.

He said: "To the state, it means the place will be up and running. I don't think there will be shortages of power in Nasarawa State."

Dangote also thanked the federal government for introducing the National Sugar Master Plan, describing it as a good policy which encouraged players in the sector to embark on backward integration, "not just for us to make money from sugar refinery."

He described Emefiele as "not just governor of the CBN but a development governor because he's just not looking at monetary policy but also what he can do to support the naira because he has a problem today meeting up

with the demands of imports."

Dangote expressed optimism that the federal government's continued support for projects like his will strenghthen the naira in the long run.

He said: "The CBN not only want to support the naira but also to see that jobs are created.

"You can only create 100 million jobs of the federal government through these kinds of projects."

as a secondary NIN. "For IoT/M2M activations, SIM security protocols would be implemented on the SIM profile to ensure that SIMs can only be used for pointto-point data services specific to the URL they are working with. All other services will be barred."

Pantami stated that progress had been made in the NIN registration process.

“Nonetheless, the

federal government is committed to supporting all Nigerians and legal residents to obtain a NIN. The biometric verification process has been slower than anticipated, owing largely to the non-adherence of many previous SIM biometric capture processes to the NIMC standards.

“The revised policy will ensure that operators conform to the required standards for biometric

capture. The guidelines in the policy have been painstakingly developed and while they are thorough, it should be noted that they have been developed that way in national interest since the SIM is essentially a national resource. Citizens and legal residents are encouraged to bear with the government as the process has been developed in the best interest of the country," the statement added.

while the governors support the idea, they would want its implementation to conform to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (ss smended).

According to him, the governors will meet on Monday to consider the final report of the technical committee with a view to resolving the contentious issues.

He said: "We're here with the chairman and leadership of the Speakers’ Conference.

The Solicitor-General of the Federation and SSA to Mr. President on Niger Delta who has been a member of the Technical Committee on the Implementation of the Autonomy of State Legislature and the Judiciary, together with the Chief of Staff to Mr. President.

"We have just finished a meeting on how to put finishing touches and dotting the i's and crossing the t's, on the final implementation of the financial autonomy for a state legislature and the judiciary. We have made reasonable progress and we have agreed, after

receiving the final report of the technical committee, to meet on Monday because of the urgency of the matter, and finally, resolve whatever issues are there."

Asked the position of the governors on the matter, Tambuwal said: "From the very beginning, during the Eighth Assembly, under the leadership of Bukola Saraki and Speaker Dogara, the governors' forum under Abdulaziz Yari then, met with them and supported the financial autonomy for the state legislatures and the judiciaries. And that is why with that support, we were able to achieve the passage of this amendment by the National Assembly and the state legislatures across the country. So the governors are unequivocally in support of the autonomy of these institutions."

On why President Muhammadu Buhari had to set up the implementation committee when the governors were not opposed to the financial autonomy for legislature and judiciary,

Tambuwal said he was not in any position to query the wisdom of the president on

CBN Moves to Recover N1.5tn Budget Support to States Barring any unforeseen circumstance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will from next month commence the deduction of about N1.5 trillion budget support facility given to states.

The deductions would be done directly from the respective states’ Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) fund because it was based on an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO).

A top central bank official told THISDAY yesterday that the CBN’s Committee of Governor took the decision at its recent meeting and the directorate in charge at the central bank had already been notified.

“We are going to start taking the money out of their FAAC from May. The Committee of Governors of the CBN has given us the directive that the facility should be recovered.

The loans to the states are almost N1.5 trillion and they need to be paid,” the source stated.

FG LIFTS BAN ON NEW SIM CARDS' ISSUANCE provided that verification had been completed and the guidelines fully adhered to.

According to a statement by the Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the Minister, Dr. Femi Adeluyi, an earlier policy was approved on February 4, 2020, while the revised policy was developed in early March 2021. The policy was further improved and endorsed for implementation

by President Muhammadu

Buhari on March 26, 2021.

According to the statement, the final amendments to the revised policy, based on the directives of Buhari to make the use of National Identification Number (NIN) mandatory for all SIM registration, were completed on April, 14, 2021.

The policy includes guidelines on new SIM acquisition and activation, SIM replacement, new SIM activation for corporates

and Internet-of-Things/ Machine-to-Machine (IoT/ M2M), among others.

The statement said: "For the corporate registration, institutions will be required to appoint a telecoms master (at the minimum of an executive management level) to provide the operational primary NIN representation.

The telecoms master will also be responsible to ensuring that the users provide their NINs to serve

STATES STOPPED INSECURITY FROM WORSENING, SAY GOVS Plan (NLTP) in line with the recommendation of the National Economic Council.

Besides, Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, will today lead a committee set up by the governors to engage the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) whose members are on a strike to protest the nonimplementation of the financial autonomy granted state judiciaries.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF), and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said the meeting reviewed the issues of security, economy, Executive Order 10 on financial autonomy for state judiciaries and legislatures and associated matters.

On security, he said the governors were worried following the attack on the custodial centre and the Imo State Police Command headquarters, all in Owerri, and the subsequent release of prisoners.

They also expressed concerns about violence

and insecurity nationwide, including the killings of soldiers in Benue State.

He stated: "The forum has expressed its worry that it’s time for us to revisit comprehensively, the nature and depth of this security crisis, which would have gotten worse if states had not been taking the actions they’ve been taking individually and collectively.

"It is the steps taken at the state level that have managed to reduce the depth and the enormity of the security challenges.

"Nonetheless, it’s still a worrisome development for us and we feel we will need a special review of the entire gamut of the security issues that we’re dealing with and further engage the federal authorities both at the political level and federal authorities at the security level, in order to deal with this multifaceted challenges of security that we’re faced."

On the delay in the implementation of the Executive Order 10, he said

the forum had resolved some issues to take forward with the committee responsible for legislative and judicial autonomy, of which they have members that have been representing them.

"I have just told you that the committee responsible for engaging with the representatives of the legislature and the representatives of the judiciary will meet them tomorrow (today) to convey the position of the governors to them," he added.

But Tambuwal warned that the quest for financial autonomy for the legislative and judicial arms in the states, which has the backing of the governors, must follow due constitutional process.

The governor who spoke with journalists yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after leading members of the Technical Committee on the Implementation of the Autonomy of State Legislature and the Judiciary to a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof.

Ibrahim Gambari, stated that

Continued on page 42

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COMMENT

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

THE BIG WAR AGAINST CANCER

Abia Nzelu pays tribute to Innocent Chukwuma, a civil rights activist

“Where you live should not determine whether you live or whether you die” – Bono

I

was so devastated and am yet to recover from the shock of the news of the sudden transition of Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, the immediate past Director of Ford Foundation’s West Africa office. I am indeed saddened at the loss of Innocent, one of the most devoted civil right activists in sub-Saharan Africa. I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved family, especially Mrs. Chukwuma and their daughters. May God keep them in His warm embrace.

Mr. Chukwuma’s pedigree as an advocate of civil rights has left an enduring seal on the national and global arena. One aspect of Innocent’s career that made him stand out was the compassion and creativity that he brought to the grant-making process. Our project benefitted from this compassionate creativity. We first met Mr. Chukwuma in 2014, at a period we were advocating for the acquisition and deployment of Mobile Cancer Centres (MCCs), in order to take free wholistic preventive Cancer care to the grassroots of Nigeria, as part of ‘the BIG WAR Against Cancer’.

Before meeting Chukwuma, we had met other grant-making CEOs, some of whom gave us the convenient excuse that Cancer fell outside their thematic area(s); Innocent Chukwuma was radically different. After listening to our presentation and asking some hard questions, Innocent told us that while Cancer was outside Ford’s thematic areas, he would think of a way for the Foundation to support the basic idea of concerted and catalytic philanthropy, which is our cornerstone. This led to months of research and the eventual publication of our seminal book titled “Giving in Nigeria – an Environmental Scan of Corporate Philanthropy”, solely funded by the Ford Foundation.

The thoughtfulness of Chukwuma in supporting this publication helped to open other doors, so that a fleet of Mobile Cancer Centres was eventually acquired and has been deployed to great effect by the National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP); a nonprofit initiative of mass medical mission. Moreover, the project is now at the phase of establishing the first Comprehensive Cancer Centre (CCC) in Nigeria. Innocent’s compassionate approach reminds one of the Edward Hale quote: “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.” Innocent Chukwuma did not refuse to do what he could do, just because he could not do everything we proposed.

We mourn and lament the fact that Innocent’s life of compassion has now been cut short by Cancer.

Mr. Innocent Chukwuma would be greatly missed by the entire civic society, including the grantees whom he partnered

WE MUST REDEDICATE OURSELVES TO THE VALUES TO WHICH CHUKWUMA DEVOTED HIS EXTRAORDINARY LIFE, ESPECIALLY THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY AND INJUSTICE. A CRUCIAL WAY OF DOING SO IS FOR ALL HIS FRIENDS TO GO ALL OUT IN WAGING THE BIG WAR AGAINST CANCER

in numberless noble projects. However, even as we grieve his irreplaceable loss and celebrate his cherished memory, we must rededicate ourselves to the values to which he devoted his extraordinary life, especially the fight against inequality and injustice. A crucial way of doing so is for all his friends, associates and admirers to go all out in waging the BIG War Against Cancer in Nigeria.

Cancer remains a major cause of geographic, racial, social and gender inequality. According to WHO, Cancer is the single most important barrier to increasing life expectancy in every country of the world in the 21st century. Therefore, Nigeria’s low life expectancy (currently the global seventh lowest) will not improve, unless we tackle Cancer. Worldwide, there were 19.3 million new cancer cases in 2020, with over 120,000 new cases in Nigeria alone. There were 10 million global Cancer deaths in 2020, with 70% of deaths occurring in developing nations like Nigeria. The higher Cancer death in developing nations is a result of inequality in access to Cancer care and poor infrastructure.

In memory of Innocent Chukwuma, we call on all to support the drive to establish Nigeria’s first Comprehensive Cancer Centre (CCC). A CCC is NOT merely a hospital which has a radiotherapy machine. Rather, a CCC is a world-class, standalone tertiary health institution, with all its departments focused exclusively on cancer care. The CCC houses first-class Cancer research, preventive, curative and palliative care in one place, thereby leading to better outcomes across a range of measures – including, most importantly, Cancer survival.

We lament the fact that whilst India has over 200 CCC (mostly non-governmental/nonprofit), Nigeria has none.

Consequently, Nigerians spend over one billion dollars on foreign treatment annually, an amount sufficient to establish 20 CCC in Nigeria every year! Tragically, those who seek care abroad often die from late intervention. Moreover, the COVIDrelated global lockdown has shown that medical tourism may not always be available, even if one could afford it. The worst affected are poor Cancer victims who can afford neither local nor foreign treatment. ĻĹGivingTide is an initiative to promote concerted and catalytic philanthropy. The ĻĹGivingTide Global Trust is managed by FBNQuest Trustees. Together, we can establish Nigeria’s first CCC in record time, which would help to stem the carnage caused by preventable and treatable Cancers. This would truly honour the legacy of our beloved Mr. Chukwuma.

May his illustrious soul rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.

Dr. Nzelu (Executive Secretary, GivingTide international); can be reached via info@givingtide.org

50YEARS WITHOUT PARTY POLITICS Nigeria should adopt a committee-type, non-party government and mobilise all for learning, urges Francis E. Ogbimi

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his article is an open letter to all Nigerians and especially for the attention of Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd), Nigerian youths, The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria(CBCN) and CAN officials. It is also for the attention of the Sultan of Sokoto and the leader of Muslims in Nigeria, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III; Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II; and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Akinyemi III. It is also for the special attention of Chief E. K. Clark, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and others who have expressed their concerns about the worrisome state of our nation, Nigeria, openly.

I am Emeritus Professor of Technology Management. Early in the 1980s I had reasons to ask myself whether the Blackman is the same modern man like the Caucasian and Asian. I commenced a curiosity-driven research in 1986 to establish the scientific basis of the present global distribution of wealth and power and how nations develop. The research has been blessed abundantly. I have summarized the highlights of the results in a seven-book series.

I believe that the results of my research constitute a special God’s gift-package to mankind.

There are basically two types of nations in the world today. They are the industrialized and rich nations on the one hand and the non-industrialized and poor nations on the other hand. Nigeria belongs to the poor nations’ category. History shows that all the industrialized nations in the world today had agricultural-handcraft economies and were

poor for many centuries before they were transformed into industrialized nations.

Our research revealed that learning (education, training, employment and research) is the primary source of industrialization. The history of the economic, social and political statuses of mankind is that of his learning.

ALL human beings are born as crying-babies.

The baby soon begins to babble ( learns how to talk) and later talks. The baby who could not babble grows up to be a dumb adult.

Just like the baby acquires the capabilities to talk through learning, so s/he acquires every other capability through learning. God made all humans as crying babies to learn all their life-time. If a society possesses the capabilities to manufacture many scientific products, the citizens must have acquired the relevant knowledge, skills and capabilities(KSCs). The learning-people appreciate in intrinsic values with learning-time and learning-intensity.

Learning increases the capabilities do things and create wealth.

Industrialization is achieved when a nation has learnt for a period and accumulated a critical quantity of KSCs and experts. The scientific knowledge possessed by the citizens of a nation and the extent to which the citizens apply it in solving problems are the most important factors that determine the economic and political statuses of nations in the world today.

The rate of transformation of a society is determined by the learning rate. European and Asian nations neglected learning for thousands of years. They acquired science through learning-on-the-job. Britain had no public educational systems when it achieved the first modern industrial revolution. Hence,

the transformation of European and Asian economies from the agricultural status into the industrialized status took 2000-3000 years.

We developed a theory of employment which demonstrated that Employment (in quantity and quality) is the blood of the economy. The theory showed that increase in employment in an economy improves productivity and decreases inflation; improvement in productivity is the true antidote to inflation.

To speak a language, an individual must acquire certain minimum quantity of vocabulary and syntax of the language. The more the effort put into learning a language the sooner a person speaks it. We can say that nations which are industrialized speak the science and technology (S & T) language. Hence the more the citizens of a nation mobilize to learn and acquire KSCs and develop experts the sooner the nation achieves industrialization or speaks the S & T language.

Japan mobilized all the citizens for learning in the period 1886-1905, 20 years and achieved industrialization. China, after wallowing in poverty under kings for about 3000 years mobilized over one billion people for learning and industrialization in 1949.

China achieved industrialization in early 1980s. Unemployment, poverty, high crime wave disappeared readily. That was how China, after being called a sleeping giant for about 3000 years accelerated its transformation to become a world power.

Nigeria will also become industrialized in a few decades, if it mobilizes all Nigerians for learning. Nigeria is at an advanced stage of failing. Nigeria is not just facing insecurity problem that soldiers and mercenaries can

solve. Nigerians need to be built the nation.

In my book, “Understanding the theory and Practice of Federalism and Democracy,” written in 2008, one of the nine recommendations and two observations I made for transforming Nigeria, the British intention, into a Nation, was, No Party politics and Elections for 50 years. Under that subheading I wrote, “International Political Transfer(IPT) and the associated national politics practiced since 1960 have not promoted national development in Nigeria, rather they have been promoting retrogression, decadence and decay. The wrong thing indoctrinated… know is that national political parties develop overnight and they are the most important features of democracy. Let national party politics evolve and develop in Nigeria from non-party based activities/elections. Let Nigeria conduct non-party based election for about 50 years. During the administration of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), Aust 1998May 29, 1999, Nigeria conducted non-party based local government elections.

The social, economic and political situations in Nigeria today are much worse than in 2008. Nigeria needs “blood transfusion” to survive. Nigeria needs an encompassing economic/social/political proramme to make Nigeria a great nation.

I suggest that there should be no party politics/elections in 2023, 50 years thereafter, otherwise Nigeria will fail. Nigeria should adopt a committee-type, non-party governments, to mobilize all Nigerians for learning and industrialization. Nigeria will achieve industrialization in a few decades like Japan and China did. fogbimi@yahoo.com

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EDITORIAL THE OWERRI CORRECTIONAL FACILITY ATTACK The authorities could do more to make the prisons truly correctional

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ast September, the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS) confirmed that six prisoners who attempted to escape from the Abakaliki Prisons were shot dead by security operatives while 10 others were injured. Six NCS officers were also injured in the tragic incident, which came after earlier jailbreaks in Kuje, Nsukka and Koton Karfe prisons. But the attack last April 5 where almost 2000 inmates escaped from the Owerri prisons in Imo State depicts the level of laxity in the system. Therefore, beyond investigating the jailbreaks, it is also important to review the conditions in our prisons that encourage such morbid desperation.

Indeed, the series of jail breaks reflect the lack of attention to the prison system in general and its infrastructure in particular. Nearly all our prisons were built by either the colonialists or First Republic politicians and they were designed for smaller populations of inmates and a different type of criminals. These were originally prisons for petty thieves of livestock, minor infractions and light felonies. Their populations were also meant to be small and more manageable. That perhaps explains why in the 60s, unarmed NIGERIA IS WASTING prison wardens would SCARCE RESOURCES ON escort prisoners out THE MAINTENANCE OF for community service A PRISON SYSTEM THAT and watch them sing HAS COLLAPSED UNDER A as they cut the grass in DISTORTED FEDERALISM hospital premises. The wardens then carried only batons!

However, the sociology of crime and punishment has been altered by the realities of the times. Criminals are now many, varied and generally hardened. The nature of crime has also changed from stealing goats and chickens to robbing banks, emptying state treasuries and kidnapping for ransom, etc. With that, our notion of punishment has migrated from correction to something more punitive while most of the prisons are now overcrowded and ill-maintained. It is therefore no surprise that inmates who should have served their term, content

Letters to the Editor

that the state would at least cater for them while it lasts, are forced to revolt and seek escape to the uncertainty of the outside world.

Tackling such a challenge requires fresh thinking. As things stand today, Nigeria is wasting scarce resources on the maintenance of a prison system that has collapsed under a distorted federalism. Whereas no fewer than 95 per cent of inmates are alleged to have breached state laws, the prisons housing them are owned and maintained by the federal government without any contribution whatsoever from the state governments. Out of thousands of inmates currently within the Nigerian prison system, only few have been convicted. Even at that, some of those who have been condemned to death have been waiting for the hangman for over 20 years!

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

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

n Nigeria today, a detainee who carries the toga of Awaiting Trial (AT) may well spend a decade waiting for a prison term that could have lasted for less than 12 months. This is due to a combination of poor investigation by police, delays by counsel, lack of firmness on the part of the magistrates and judges, as well as the dysfunction that hampers the prison efficiency in transporting the inmates to and from the courts for their trials. More importantly, the physical structure of most of these colonial era prisons has become so dilapidated that all that a group of determined prisoners and detainees need do is give the flimsy wall a little nudge and it would collapse.

To compound these challenges, the corruption within the correctional system is mind-boggling. As there are no rich people among prison inmates, the few who are usually brought in for a few days to await rulings on bail applications are kept in special apartments upon payment of fat bribes. Meanwhile, poor inmates pay to be taken to hospitals when they are sick, and they are denied access to families, friends and lawyers.

What this ugly scenario therefore presents is the need for the relevant authorities within the judiciary, the legislature, the police, the bar and other critical stakeholders to come together and find a better framework for reforming our prison system.

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

THE QUEEN OF EFIK AND POST-COVID DEMOCRACY

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s the leader of a campaign to modernise democracy in Nigerian, you might expect me not to agree too much with one of our nation’s countless local monarchs – institutions many Nigerians believe to be an archaic and outdated relic of a bygone era.

But a recent interview with the Queen of Efik contained some interesting thoughts about how our democratic processes should adapt to the post-Covid world which really struck a chord with me.

In an interview with the BBC, the Queen argues that democratic bodies should continue to hold meetings remotely – even after the end of social distancing and restrictions on movement necessitated by the coronavirus crisis.

The Queen combines her role with a day job in Lagos, returning to Calabar for council meetings which have always required members to be physically present. Covid-19 has made this requirement impossible, and meetings have been convened online for much of the past year.

The queen argues that council members should be able attend meetings remotely even after the end of the current crisis.

One of the few positives of the past 12 months has been the rapid uptake of digital technology from people who used to say they “didn’t do computers”. This can be very positive for our democracy and here are five reasons why I believe the Queen is right.

Remote meetings can make political bodies look more like Nigeria Our political class is overwhelmingly made up of men over 50, which can make it seem out of touch and irrelevant to the huge swathes of our population who are not. And I say that as a man over

50!

A significant reason for this is that working age Nigerians and those with caring commitments – the majority of whom are woman – are unable to take on the additional commitments of political office. Not requiring them to travel, take time off from work or make alternative childcare commitments every time they need to attend a meeting, when they could just as easily attend from home or work, is a simple step we can take to bring about a more representative political class.

Remote meetings mean that politics will just be done, but be seen to be done.

Many Nigerians do not see that the majority of their local leaders are motivated by public service and a love of their communities, because they do not see them at all. Making more public meetings digital makes them much easier for members of the public to attend, using their mobile phones – or at a time that suits them if these meetings are recorded and streamed.

Remote meetings improve transparency. Likewise, there can be no claims of shady backroom deals and stitch-ups if a recording of the political process is recorded for posterity and made available permanently. Remote meeting technology makes this process incredibly simple.

Remote meetings are good for recognition. Like it or not, may Nigerians simply have no idea who their local leaders are. Remote meetings make it a lot easier for electors to identify their elected representatives, and to see them in action.

Remote meetings enhance accountability. Many local councils have a public question time, allowing local people to put their questions

directly to decision makers. But the need to take time off from work and other commitments to travel to meetings to take advantage of this system renders is practically useless for many Nigerians. Again, being able to take advantage of this system from their comfort of their home or workplace strengthens accountability.

Another interesting argument made by the Queen of Efik is that traditional kings and queens are simply closer to the people than elected representatives due to their longstanding personal networks.

This is certainly an area local politicians need to work on, and at the digital democracy campaign I lead we have set out to provide them with the technology that enables the rapid development of those networks and relationships.

We created a free smartphone app called Rate Your Leader to allow elected officials to interact directly with confirmed voters in the divisions they serve.

Rate Your Leader allows politicians and people can engage person-toperson, understanding each other’s needs and positions, communicating as peers, and collaborating as equals to make their communities better.

Our abuse-proof technology ensures that conversations are always courteous and civil.

And Rate Your Leader even lets voters rate their politicians for their transparency and accessibility.

As the Queen points out Nigerians are “very happy when people send them money online or by phone” – so why don’t we use that same technology to revitalise our democracy?

Joel Popoola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, digital democracy campaigner and creator of the Rate Your Leader app

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POLITICS

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

Lekki Toll Plaza Episode and the US Report The recent United States Department report on the 2020 EndSARS protests in Nigeria, particularly the alleged killings at Lekki Tollgate engages the attention of Samuel Omojoye

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ith the United States (U.S.) Department of States report stating that there is no verifiable evidence on the reported killings of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, last year, many questions arise on the actions that followed what was unjustifiably described as a massacre.

In its “2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria,” the State Department stated that accurate information on fatalities resulting from the shooting was not available.

According to the report, the #EndSARS protesters were allowed to proceed unimpeded in most places. Those charged with “conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace” were released within days of their arrest.

Though a few human rights activists, as usual, have come out to condemn the said report, claiming it did not represent what actually transpired during the Lekki protest, they have failed to give any evidence to support their wild assertion of a massacre.

Was the massacre claim made to ensure the destruction of Lagos, with its prime assets as targets? What were the purveyors of the fake news targeting? Who are their sponsors and enablers? Why would they want to destroy the unity that Lagosians so much cherish?

This writer has always been of the view that the so-called Lekki ‘massacre’ was carefully hatched by enemies of the government just to give it a bad name and unduly overheat the polity. A massacre?

Could there have been a massacre without blood and bodies? Would morgues not have been filled with bodies? Would parents and relations of supposedly massacred victims not come have out to give their identities?

Now that the United States, which can be considered as an impartial actor in the episode, has come out with a report refuting any claim of a massacre, one would have expected those with contrary views to actually come out with empirical facts to buttress their claim.

Sadly, in their characteristic fashion, they have failed to apologize publicly for their indiscretion or deliberate mischief.

If the United States’ report had come out with findings that endorse their unproven claim, they would have termed it as credible. But now that it disagrees with their spurious stance, it is nothing but a concoction. Such has always been the stock-in-trade of our so-called human rights activists, many of who are mere creations of the media. Every contrary view to theirs is always wrong because they erroneously believe that they have the monopoly of knowledge. Besides, playing to the gallery is part of their tactics.

The role of misinformation in the Lekki Toll plaza incident cannot be overemphasized. After the incident, in the dead of the night, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, visited some medical facilities around the area to see things for himself.

Earlier, the army had tweeted “fake news” when the social media was awash with videos of soldiers in an armoured tank, shooting sporadically in a direction and scores of videos of bodies with body parts littering the ground had been spread as victims of the fake “massacre.”

A certain DJ Switch released several videos, on LIVE, in which she claimed that soldiers were killing protesters and that many people had died and they were trying to remove a bullet from a victim’s leg. She was relaying these events, but not showing any footage of the most impor-

tant videos (of dead bodies), soldiers shooting at people, blood on the ground, the process/procedure when the bullet was removed and when soldiers were carrying the bodies among others.

Her second video showed her talking to a friend and, all of a sudden, she started running and asking imaginary people to bend down and hold their flags. Her friend then said “daaaamn”, after which

Facts and Fallacies of the Just Ended Doctors’ Strike Nwachukwu Obidiwe, an Abuja-based journalist attempts to show the sincerity of the Federal Government in dealing with trade disputes, using the recent strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors, as example

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ow that the National Association of Resident Doctors(NARD) has called off the devastating 10-day old strike, what a time to interrogate the facts, fallacies and myths that precipitated the action, roamed the polity and occupied national discourse. It is not the best of times for Nigeria, sure. Uncertainty rankles. COVID-19 is still ravaging though Nigerians have already declared victory. In the midst of scaring indices is the plague of hunger and destitution . A festering rural-urban poverty, worsted by pervasive insecurity, is blowing sky-high, a once palpable national confidence. Therefore, for doctors in what is a national theatre of emergency, to down tools would make Hippocrates turn in the grave.

The doctors have genuine demands though but the premise of the latest strike was impeachable. There is a mishmash of facts, lies, fallacies and even myths that enveloped it. This situation emitted a billow of smoke, confusing a genuine case against sheer subterfuge.

NARD in its notice of trade dispute had raised the non-payment of house officers as well as non-recruitment of new ones.

It also called for the abolition of bench fees, payment of the new National Minimum Wage, hazard allowance and the Residency Training Allowance. There is also an ancillary issue of non-payment of insurance death benefits to 17 doctors who lost their lives in battle against COVID-19.

However, the Federal Government contended it had substantially met the demands of NARD as contained in the Memorandum of Action signed on March 1, 2021, a position NARD would later admit while calling off the strike on Saturday, April 10. The contentious issue of training and recruitment of house officers, it said, was already resolved as all officers including those who fell outside the quota and those

‘illegally” recruited by the chief medical directors in teaching hospitals were already receiving payments while an online portal for the central recruitment of officers by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria came live, effective April 1, 2021, thus bringing to an end, the whimsical selective recruitment of house doctors. Benching in training as well as the monthly deduction of N15,000 from the salaries of house doctors for accommodation were abolished. Refund of earlier deductions was also directed as doctors who are now paid in full, are at liberty to negotiate with local authorities in their place of service for individual accommodation. Undoubtedly, the decision of NARD to call off the strike, came on the strength of dismissal of fallacies and suspicions it earlier brought to negotiation. How? While NARD had built emotion and drew the sympathy of Nigerians over the non-payment of death benefits to the 17 doctors who lost their lives in battle against COVID-19, stark reality dawned as government drew attention to the N9.3b insurance premium instituted for health workers and all civil servants in 2020. It confronted the doctors over failure to stake claims on behalf of the next of kins of the fallen doctors, even as forms for claims were circulated in all the institutions for NARD to liaise with the Chief Medical Directors in that regard, knowing that the insurance companies will only pay valid claims. Besides, the hue and cry over the review of the N5000 hazard allowance also got deflated as NARD discovered to its dismay, that the Ministry of Labour had already initiated a review meeting with the Remuneration Committee of the Nigerian Medical Association and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

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

he covered his face as if he had just witnessed something gruesome. That, no doubt, was mere acting and a bad one at that. DJ Switch gave an impression that the army or police were still shooting protesters at Lekki even in the morning.

Then she did another video where she apologized for not being online for some time. She then proceeded to reminisce about the night and, at that point, she started to address the issue of numbers. It was then the death toll of over 80 suddenly reduced to 12. She also claimed that the DJ Switch account which posted over 80 deaths was a fake account and not hers.

Experts have analysed that her behaviour was not commensurate with that of a victim of trauma and her description of how she carried and deposited bodies at the feet of soldiers defies logic. Soldiers opening fire and you taking bodies to them seem a drama taken too far; it is highly unlikely.

Pictures that were touted as victims of the Lekki massacre turned out to be those of people who had died in separate circumstances - one from a bike accident and the other a stab wound victim. Those found in the hospitals who got injured from Lekki were as a result of stampede, and the injuries ranged from broken bones, cuts, bruises and slash wounds.

No record of death as a result of gunshot wounds, but the social media was awash with people in hospital, who claimed that they were shot by soldiers at the toll plaza.

The judicial panel of inquiry instituted by the Lagos State Government to investigate the episode has continued to encourage those with concrete evidence on the Lekki incident to come up with such. Among all such judicial inquiries put in place by state governments across the federation over the #EndSARS protest, the Lagos panel, in particular, had proved promising. In all honesty, the set-up inspires confidence and proceedings have never lacked transparency. In fact, the sittings are televised live.

As for those bent on spreading lies to further pollute the polity, they must realize that our nation has just endured a very tough 2020; one whose uncertainties still cloud our socio-economic structure. The strain and heavy burden that the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the avoidable destruction that climaxed the #ENDSARS protest have inflicted on our society will take years to lighten. For instance, in Lagos alone, analysts put the estimated economic loss during the 12 days dissent at N700 billion, connoting a loss of N58 billion daily. This loss was also accompanied by looting, vandalism and arson at several shopping malls, public facilities, police stations and private facilities.

As Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote, “No man consciously chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for the happiness that he seeks’’. Such temptation to devour the society and interrupt the process of healing is destructive. We will only be spinning on a wheel that just goes around and around, eventually leading to the same problems over and over again.

Let it be acknowledged that there is no magic formula that will resolve our grievances. But to tame the storm of our reality and reduce the intensity of conflict, a social contract must be forged between citizens and the government. It is to recognize that there are no differences that cannot be solved through dialogue, negotiation and conflict resolution or that are worth the damage created by the assumption of injustice. It is to engage in open, honest, collaborative effort and elicit heartfelt communications that invite truth and reconciliation.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021

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PERSPECTIVE

Senate’s ‘Questionable’ Confirmation of EFCC Chair and Ex-Service Chiefs as Ambassadors Mon-Charles Egbo, Print Media Aide to the Senate President explains that many decisions

by Nigerian senators which are perceived by the Chido Nwangwu, Publisher, USAfricaonline.com public as controversial are guided by provisions lamentsoverNigeria’slossoftheAfricanheadquarters of the constitution

Why Twitter chose Ghana over Nigeria

of technology giant, Twitter to Ghana

O

n Monday, April 12, 2021, Nigerians and the rest of the African continent read the important tweet that the owners of Twitter decided a few hours earlier to make Ghana its African headquarters.

Why? What happened to the giant of Africa, Nigeria - which has more Twitter users than the entire population of Ghana?

Nigeria, who did this to you?

The tweet came from the CEO Jack Dorsey, who commended the forwardlooking people of Ghana: “Twitter is now present on the continent. Thank you Ghana and President Nana Akufo-Addo.”

Ghana’s well-spoken President, an intellectual and politician, fittingly responded with brevity, focus and value.

In Nigeria, since 1999, the adjectives “intellectual” and “politician” are two words that rarely, very rarely go in the same sentence in my assessment of the dominant political discourses and visionless, social cannibalism masquerading as politics and struggle for power.

Akufo-Addo said: “The choice of Ghana as HQ for Twitter’s Africa operations is excellent news. The government and Ghanaians welcome very much this announcement and the confidence reposed in our country. As I indicated in our virtual meeting of April 7, 2021, this is the start of a beautiful partnership between Twitter and Ghana, which is critical for the development of Ghana’s hugely important tech sector. These are exciting times to be in, and to do business in Ghana.”

In a bizarre, twisted spin of Nigeria’s loss of a leading technology innovator and multibillion corporation Twitter to a very small but relatively stable economy of Ghana, a technophobe and member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) political party, Adamu Garba, started spitting into the wind of progress. The same Garba who sued Twitter for supporting the #EndSARS protests (but later withdrew the nuisance case) proclaimed “I pray Ghana would not allow their country (Ghana) to be used as a platform for the orchestration of nuisance on the African internet space. Nigeria is safer with the hypocrisy of Twitter. We shall have to improve on our methods for elimination of fake news on the information space.”

In the mannerism of a zealot drunken by the intoxications of political power and partisanship, Adamu Garba, an

apologist for the incapable, incompetent and unfortunately failing presidency of retired General Buhari, still had the chutzpah to attack Twitter for the woeful prevailing realities, daily existential combustion which Nigerians face daily, under Buhari and his APC party; for the inhospitable investment environment, kidnapping and beheadings, bombings and bigotries, mediocrity and medievalism, nepotism on steroids and infrastructural inadequacies of Buhari’s Nigeria; and so on and so forth. In Garba’s fictional Nigeria, Twitter and democratic rights platforms all around the world “just hate Nigeria because they know that the only country that can be the next African super power, fully democratic…”

Contrary to what the Garbas say or claim, the social media push for democratic rights, freedom of expression (albeit imperfect) and against bomb throwers of all kinds.

Twitter has become the world’s most influential and global organic news network. It’s as important as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Twitter was created in March 2006 and launched in July of that year — by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams.

According to digital consultant, David Sayce, “as of May 2020, every second, on average, around 6,000 tweets are sent; that’s 350,000 tweets sent per minute; or, 500 million tweets sent each day; or, 200 billion tweets per year.”

The ultimate power or preferably the influence of Twitter lies especially in the aggregation and highlighting of heavily referenced item in the news, persons, tech or idea. I believe and know Twitter is at the epicenter of the social media revolution.

In a bizarre, twisted spin of Nigeria’s loss of a leading technology innovator and multibillion corporation Twitter to a very small but relatively stable economy of Ghana, a technophobe and member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) political party, Adamu Garba, started spitting into the wind of progress. The same Garba who sued Twitter for supporting the #EndSARS protests (but later withdrew the nuisance case) proclaimed “I pray Ghana would not allow their country (Ghana) to be used as a platform for the orchestration of nuisance on the African internet space. Nigeria is safer with the hypocrisy of Twitter. We shall have to improve on our methods for elimination of fake news on the information space

C

riticism is as critical as it is strategic to result-oriented leadership and progressive governance.

But when wrongly-deployed, it produces in its wake among others, prejudice, which is antithetical to organizational progress, societal harmony and national development.

For instance, preconception is one major reason the larger proportion of Nigerian masses are today in utter state of disconnect, as far as the National Assembly is concerned. Sequel to certain actions and inaction of past assemblies, poor knowledge and understanding of the workings of the legislature as well as political expediency inspired largely by elitist tendencies, there is a communication breakdown between the legislators and majority of the people.

In lieu of cooperation and support towards excellence, the National Assembly rather harvests apathy, subjective criticisms and unwarranted attacks from the public, which are even mostly instigated. And until this perennial burden and consequences of prejudice are addressed, Nigeria will have to grapple with under-development for a long time to come.

Firstly, Nigerians should strive always for well-informed perspectives for fair judgements, if ultimately good governance is the expectation from those in authority.

Adequate information about the roles and responsibilities of the various arms and tiers of government are essential in this regard. Blames, if necessary, should be located appropriately.

As an instance, it is the prerogative of the President of the country to make certain categories of appointments, such as ministers and heads of federal departments and parastatals, including security agencies.

But constitutionally, he should forward the nominees to the Senate (and House of Representatives when involving military service chiefs), for screening and confirmation prior to appointments. However, the laws did not provide for the templates for screening, aside certain basic qualifications for eligibility to hold offices.

For example to be appointment a minister, a nominee must be “qualified for election into the House of Representatives”, which implies that such a nominee must be educated up to at least School Certificate level or equivalent and, is a member of a political party sponsoring him or her.

That is just all!

Then to become the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the nominee must have been in public service for a minimum of 15 years and must not be below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent. Again, non-career ambassadors can be appointed from among Nigerians in the wisdom and conviction of the President. No other proviso is attached.

But in all these once again, the Senate is to screen and confirm. And also because the constitution is inexplicit as to the scope of inquiry, the legislators are open to whatever mode that is in substantial compliance with national interest, high moral standards and public expectations, in discharging these functions.

Nonetheless, there were concerns raised by cross-sections of the Nigerian public on the recent confirmation of the immediatepast service chiefs, as non-career ambassadors. There was a dominating question as to the eligibility of these retired top military brasses who had been widelyadjudged as having failed relative to

addressing national insecurity which was their core mandate for over five years in the saddle. This position was strengthened particularly given that the very Senate that confirmed them as ambassadors had rated them very low and severally called for their removal as service chiefs. As such, most Nigerians were understandably taken aback when the same Senate strangely gave these men a clean bill of health with respect to their nominations as ambassadors.

Instructively and despite how popular these reservations are, we are in a democratic dispensation where the constitution is supreme, thus prompting subjection of every socio-political argument to constitutional examination. It is on this premise that the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, argued that those resolutions calling for the sack of the then service chiefs, when placed side-by-side their latest nominations in the eyes of the law, was justifiably ineffective. He stressed that the “understanding is that they have not been appointed to serve as service chiefs, which is a plus for the Senate. If they are nominated for a different position, our resolution will not apply. What we have to do is to advise the executive to use the past experience of the ex-service chiefs in their new positions. The nomination cannot be nullified because we said they should be changed.” And of course, they were changed, even though reluctantly!

Besides, the constitution empowers the president of the country limitlessly to appoint whoever he deems fit to complement him in exercising his mandate. And similarly, the citizenry is empowered to challenge whatever nomination of the president though without clear-cut pathways and standards. And herein lies the challenge.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs that conducted the screening, through its Chairman, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa, had reported that it received two petitions from the public against the nominations, but were reviewed and dismissed, apparently discretionary. According to the committee, “the police report received showed that the nominees have been cleared by the DSS. They presented their slip from the Code of Conduct Bureau and possess the requisite skills for the position.

Their experience as service chiefs makes them eminently capable for the position and they were knowledgeable and articulate in their response to questions posed by members of the panel.” Consequently, the nominees were confirmed as there were no constitutional impediments.

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

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FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021 •T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A S

A T

REPO 12.25 % 12.50 %

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

12 % 13 % 13.50 %

A P R I L S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

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

9 , 2 0 2 1 ͳͲ͵˛Ͳʹ ϱ -1.21 % -2.03 %

S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE -2.03 % YEAR TO DATE -18.32 %

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

Quick Takes

Kwara, Navy Sign New MoU

MEDIA BRIEFING

L-R: Director of Admin, United Nigeria Airlines, Mr. Linus Awute; Chairman, Chief Obiorah Okonkwo and Chief Operating Officer, Engr. Osita Okonkwo, at a press briefing on the operations of the airlines in Lagos...recently PHOTO: KOLAW0OLE ALLI

Report Shows Improved Transparency in States’ Budget, Procurement Processes James Emejo and Folalumi Alaran in Abuja State governments have significantly improved budget transparency and participation as well as improved the robustness of their respective procurement process, a report has stated.

According to the Subnational Budget Transparency Survey 2020, which was released by the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) Nigeria, 42 per cent of the states provided some information on their budget and procurement processes though with limited spaces for public participation.

It stated that 12 states significantly increased their scores by 20 points or higher while 18 states had improved their

ECONOMY scores by at least one point.

The report, however, noted that, “These improvements were mainly due to the timely online publication of budget documents and the enactment of procurement laws meant to better guide the procurement process”.

It said only a few states regressed since 2018, with Delta and Lagos states’ scores decreasing by 21 and 22 points, respectively, adding that these states did not publish budget documents online and closed spaces for public participation.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Abuja, the Executive Director, CIRDDOC, Mrs. Ral Nwankwo Obioha, said, transparency remained an important

first step to holding governments accountable on how they use the people’s resources.

According to her, budget transparency entails that all citizens should access information on how much is allocated to different types of spending, what revenues are collected, and how international donor assistance and other public resources are used.

She said: “It is against this background that CIRDDOC developed the States Budget Transparency Survey (SNBTS) project with the objectives to compare the degree of budget transparency across states; promote international best practices with regards to budgeting and budget process in the states; and to inspire and encourage the spirit of competitiveness amidst

states towards promoting budget transparency and government accountability”.

Jigawa State, which retained its top position continued to provide citizens with extensive budget information, and had mechanisms for public consultation throughout the budget process, as well as an open and robust procurement process.

CIRDDOC noted that Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Kaduna, and Ondo states provided significant budget information, spaces for public participation throughout the budget process, and information on procurement.

The majority of states, however, provided minimal to some information on the budget, few spaces for public participation, Continued on page 24

NSML to Establish Multi-million Dollar Dry-docking Facility Eromosele Abiodun In a bid to halt capital flight occasioned by dry docking of vessels outside Nigeria, the vessel management company of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), thNLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML), is working with its foreign partners to set up a standard dry-docking facility in the country.

The Managing Director, NMSL, Abdul-Kadir Ahmed, disclosed this.

Ahmed said the planned facility, when fully operational will put an end to capital flight and conserve the much-needed foreign exchange for Nigeria.

He stressed that none of the dockyards available in Nigeria could dry-dock any of her LNG vessels.

Speaking during an interactive session with selected news men

MARITIME in Lagos, Ahmed said NSML would have wanted to dry-dock its 11 LNG vessels and one LPG vessel in Nigeria due to the huge revenue such would generate for the country.

However, he said the company was unable to do so due to the lack of dry-docking facility that can handle an LNG vessel in the country.

As a result, he said the company was forced to dry-dock her vessels outside the country, stressing that he would have loved that dry-docking of its vessels happen in Nigeria.

In line with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations, every vessel must undergo dry-docking once every three years in order to retain their safety classification and insurance cover. It costs between

$300,000 and $500,000 to drydock a vessel, according to prevailing international rates.

Regrettably, due to the inability of existing docking facilities in the country to dry dock vessels of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company, the Nigerian economy is losing several billions of naira to capital flight.

As at today, Dockyards in Nigeria include: Niger Dock, Dormanlong, Kaztec Engineering, Naval Dock, among others. They were established to conserve foreign exchange, building indigenous capacity as well as promoting technological advancement in the nation.

According to Ahmed, “Capital flight is an issue when it comes to dry docking of our LNG vessels. However, underpinning that issue of capital flight is the capacity and ability to do it here

in Nigeria.

“As a Nigerian ship management company, it’s so much easier for me to dry-dock our vessels here in Nigeria and that is if there is anywhere, I can do it but, at the moment, there is no facility in Nigeria that can dry-dock vessels of the sizes that we manage.

“I don’t want to sound critical but realistic. There is currently no facility in Nigeria that can handle any of our LNG vessels.

I am not saying there are no dry-docking facilities in Nigeria but, if you understand the nature and size of an LNG vessel, then, we will all know that there is nowhere in Nigeria that such vessels can be dry-docked as at today.”

Also, he said NSML’s “Clean Water Initiative” campaign was Continued on page 24

KwaraStateGovernor,AlhajiAbdulRahmanAbdulRazaqsaidhisgovernment would sign a new Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Nigerian Navy to renew the partnership between the military institution and the International Aviation College Ilorin.

SpeakinginIlorinonWednesday,whilereceivingtheFlagOfficerCommanding theNavalTrainingCommand,RearAdmiralKamaldeenAdefemiLawal,who wasonacourtesyvisittoGovernmentHouse,Ilorin,thegovernorregretted thattheMoUtheNavysignedbeforehisassumptionofofficewas“abused”.

He said the present administration was ready to right the wrongs and prevent a reoccurrence while various corrective measures had already been taken on the violations.

“ThisdidnotaffecttheNavyalone.ItalsoaffectedtheAirForce.Wehave sincere-engagedwiththeAirForce.Unfortunately,wehavenotsucceeded with the Navy yet.We look forward to a new engagement,” he added.

AbdulRazaqaddedthat,theadministrationhassincebeensupportingthe aviationschooltodeliveronitsmandate,includingbringingonboardanew managementandaregimeofaccountabilityaspartofanongoingreform.

AbdulRazaqsaidtheadministrationwouldcontinuetosupportallthesecurity agencies in the state, and commended the Navy for its commitment to security of life and properties especially in Offa/Oyun axis of the state.

“IwanttothanktheNigerianNavyforitssupportiveroleintheareaofsecurity and community services.The Nigeria Navy has done well in Kwara State.

“Imustcommendyouforyourrolesandcontributionsinaddressinginternal issues, especially in the Offa/Oyun axis down to Kwara/Osun boundary,” he said.

Lawal, the Flag Officer Commanding said he was in Kwara as part of his nationwide tour of Naval training establishments, and commended the state government for its supports for the institution.

Arik Supports Orphanage Homes, Others

InthespiritoftheEastercelebrations,ArikAirhasdonatedsundryitems toOldPeople’sHomes,OrphanagesandInternallyDisplacedPeople(IDP) camps across the country.

Thedonations,whichwasinlinewiththeairline’sCorporateSocialResponsibility(CSR),includedfooditemslikerice,beans,noodles,spaghetti,beverages, detergents and bed sheets.

ThebeneficiariesoftheitemswereHolyFamilyHomefortheElderly(Regina MundiCatholicChurch,MushinLagos);TheAmazingGraceFoundationOld People’sHome,Kado,Abuja;JesusOrphanage&Widow’sHome,Elelenwo, PortHarcourt;HopeMotherlessBabiesHome,Idofian,KwaraState;Malkohi IDP camp Yola; and Uhogua IDP camp, Benin City.

The Head of Corporate Communications of Arik Air, Adebanji Ola, who ledtheairline’steamonthevisitsstatedthatthegesturewasthecarrier’s little way of showing love to the less privileged at a time when the world was celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, recently marked by Christians.

HenotedthatithasbecomeatraditionforArikAirtorenderassistanceto theneedyespeciallyduringfestiveperiodswhilealsocallingonthegovernment and other well-meaning Nigerians to extend hands of fellowship to the less privileged in the society.

At the Amazing Grace Foundation Old People’s Home, the founder Dr. Mrs. Ifeyinwa Obegolu thanked Arik Air for sowing into the lives of the elderly people, widows and traumatized victims of family violence who live in the facility.

The children at the Jesus Orphanage Home, Port Harcourt were full of excitement and prayed ceaselessly for the well-being of both the staff and management of Arik Air.

United Airlines Promotes Sustainability

UnitedAirlinesisleadingtheindustrytowardsamoresustainablefuturewith thelaunchofthefirst-of-its-kindEco-SkiesAlliance program.Workingwith theairline,morethanadozenleadingglobalcorporationswillcollectively contribute towards the purchase of approximately 3.4 million gallons of sustainableaviationfuel(SAF)thisyear.Withitsnearly80percentemissions reductions on a lifecycle basis compared to conventional jet fuel, this is enoughSAFtoeliminateapproximately31,000metrictonsofgreenhouse gas emissions, or enough to fly passengers over 220 million miles.

“Whilewe’vepartneredwithcompaniesforyearstohelpthemoffsettheir flightemissions,weapplaudthoseparticipatingintheEco-SkiesAlliance for recognizing the need to go beyond carbon offsets and support SAFpowered flying, which will lead to more affordable supply and ultimately, lower emissions,” said United CEO Scott Kirby.

“Considering cost of operations, I might say that there may not be any amount paid for airline ticket that would be too much” Chairman, CEO United Nigeria Airlines,

Dr Obiora Okonkwo

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BUSINESSWORLD REPORT SHOWS IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY IN STATES’ BUDGET, PROCUREMENT PROCESSES and limited information on the procurement process.

“Only Oyo and Zamfara states provided almost no budget information, had non-existent spaces for public consultation, and opaque procurement processes.

“Budgets are very technical by nature. Budget debates are often relegated to economists and other experts, limiting the broader public’s input on the sources of public resources, how these resources are spent, and who benefits from public expenditure,” the report statedid.

It added: “Budget debates, however, shouldn’t be limited to experts. All citizens have the right to participate in the budget process and to know where public resources come from, how they are spent, and how expenditure is linked to achieving development goals.”

It further stated that all 36 states were evaluated to see how much budget information is provided, spaces and mechanisms for public participation throughout the budget process, and how robust and transparent the procurement process is in the states.

NSML TO ESTABLISH MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DRYDOCKING FACILITY part of its Corporate Social Responsibility to highlight the effects of plastics, debris and other maritime litters on the waterways in Nigeria.

The initiative, he added, centres/focuses on actions, advocacy and public awareness campaign to tackle the devastating effects of plastics, debris, litters on the aquatic ecosystem; and their overall impact on the global maritime environment.

“It is also an integral part of NSML’s corporate Brand Management Plan activities. The initial areas/scope of coverage will be NSML’s primary areas of operation (AOP)– The NLNG Terminal in Bonny, as well as the ISB/OSB Jetty in Port-Harcourt.

The plan is to ensure the proper clean-up and maintenance of the waterways at these AOPs; whilst extending the initiative in subsequent years to the inland waterways in Rivers State; and subsequently the national space, “he said.

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Ogene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Asst. Editor, Money Market

Nume Ekeghe

Senior Correspondent

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Chinedu Eze (Aviation) ÜÙ×ÙÝÏÖÏ ÌÓÙÎßØ (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor (Energy) ××ËØßÏÖ ÎÎÏÒ (Energy) Reporters

ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) ÏÞÏÜ äÙÒÙ (Energy)

NEWS

United Nigeria to Build MRO in Enugu Chinedu Eze New Nigerian Carrier, the United Nigeria Airlines has completed plan to build Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Enugu.

The aim is to slash the cost of maintenance by about 40 per cent.

This was disclosed by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Obiora Okonkwo, when he led the management team of the airline to an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, on Wednesday.

When completed the facility would serve airlines in West and Central Africa and would save a projected $500 million for Nigerian airlines, which is the cost of ferrying aircraft overseas, payment for allowances for flight crew and rented space for aircraft, as maintenance schedule could delay aircraft due for checks for months.

Okonkwo said plans were already at an advanced stage, saying the airline was also in touch with some technical partners on the project, initially estimated to be completed in 24 months.

He said what is holding the project from taking off is the finalisation of the allocation of land by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to the company.

While waiting to have its own maintenance facility, he said United Nigeria could conduct A and B checks on its own because it has a formidable and well-experienced in-house maintenance team.

“On our maintenance, we have our own maintenance system, we have quite expe-

rienced engineers and all the necessary tools to maintain our aircraft from One-A to Three-A in-house, that is our starting point. But in a very short time, we have started a process of acquiring land space from FAAN to set up our MRO; we thought we should have gone far in that at our operational base in Enugu and we felt it is more appropriate to locate our MRO in our base.

“FAAN is currently having some issues with space identification and clearing with all the interested parties involved.

We are still in touch with them and hoping that very soon, they will be able to allocate to us the necessary place we need to be able to start our own plan.

“But on a takeoff plan, we

gave ourselves 24 months to be able to do our full C-check in our own facility and also offer that service to other stakeholders in the industry, with that we are already two months behind the schedule but we hope that very soon, FAAN will clear that road for us and we will be able to embark on that project. That is our medium and long-term maintenance plan. So, we think that when that is done, we will be able saving ourselves some foreign exchange and other operators in the sector. We are in touch with some technical partners and that is at advanced stage”, he said.

He said the airline was planning to expand its operations in the long-run and would take delivery of more aircraft to serve

more routes.

“We are going to increase our fleet, we have four aircraft already, we are negotiating and finalising with the next two Embraer, by then, we would have consolidated on certain routes, we would have consolidated on certain passenger loads and we have plan thereafter to probably consider a larger body aircraft. Granted ERJ-145 might have its advantages but it has its disadvantages in terms of luggage because a typical Nigerian will want to travel with a lot of things, so the challenges are there, we will want to do something that will accommodate that shortly, but so far, we are coming around those challenges and dealing with it,” he said.

He gave kudos to the NCAA, saying so far the agency is happy with what the airline is doing with its internal maintenance.

“Like the COO has said, we are very strict and thorough in terms of observing our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and also the rules and regulations as applied”, he added.

The major problem Nigerian airlines have is having major MRO in Nigeria.

Currently most aircraft are maintained overseas because Aero Contractors facility maintains Boeing 737 Classic and the facility is beset with many aircraft from Nigeria, Ghana, Congo that it is busy throughout the year.

SEEKING SUPPORT

L-R: Gambia Minister of Transport, Bai Lamin Jobe; Nigeria’s Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki and Nigeria’s candidate for Secretary General of Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) ,Dr. Paul Adalikwu during a visit by the federal government’s delegation to Gambia to solicit support for Adalikwu...recently

MOWCA: Gambia, Ghana, Others Pledge Support for Nigeria’s Candidate Stories by Eromosele Abiodun The Republics of Gambia, Ghana and other countries have pledged their support for Nigeria’s candidate for Secretary General of Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu.

Gambia Minister of Transport, Hon Bai Lamin Jobe, who reiterated his country’s endorsement of Nigerian candidate in Banjul, recently, said MOWCA was in need of a vibrant leadership with ideas, which Nigeria has to offer.

Jobe, who played host to the Nigerian government delega-

tion to solicit support from his country, told Nigerian Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, that her mission to his country was successful as Gambia would fully support Nigeria.

He said MOWCA has failed in the last 10 years to meet the yearnings and expectations of member states with regards to its objectives of promoting maritime trade, safer and environmentally efficient shipping among its member countries.

He disclosed further that his office contacted the maritime administration and ports authority of Gambia for advice ahead of the Nigerian delegation visit and got posi-

tive responses advising him to support the country.

He said: “My country is in support of your candidate.

When we received your message about this visit and the purpose for which you are coming, I consulted our maritime administration and ports authority for advice.

Their advice about you and your mission is very positive.

“I have also done some research on your candidate and I find him eminently qualified and fit for the job.

He is young and we are looking up to people like him to come to MOWCA and change things for the better.I can tell you that in the last ten years

, MOWCA has not lived up to expectations. I really don’t understand why they chose to operate like that.”

“As a member of the Governing Council of the Regional Maritime University in Ghana, I keep hearing them mention MOWCA as a critical stakeholder organisation to the institution but it has never showed up for once or participated in anything being done there.This move

by Nigeria to us is a welcome development and I am pleased to inform you that your visit to us is very successful” Jobe said.

Last week, Ghanaian Transport Minister, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, urged stakeholders

of the 25-member countries organisation to rally round the Nigerian candidate.

Asiamah expressed optimism in a more vibrant MOWCA if Adalikwu emerges describing his candidacy as very timely.

The Ghanaian minister also commended Nigerian government on its sustained investment and drive towards maritime security particularly in the Gulf of Guinea where piracy and other maritime crimes are being tackled.

Earlier in her address, Senator Saraki said it is the first time Nigeria is seeking to produce a Secretary General for MOWCA in the 46-year history of the multilateral body.

HMPSN, NIMR Partner on Underwater Divers’ Safety The Hyperbaric Medical Practitioners Society of Nigeria (HMPSN) has disclosed plans to partner with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in a study that will determine the ability of the lung of underwater divers who had survived COVID-19 to function.

President of HMPSN, Dr Kayode Ogunleye, stated this when the Society paid a courtesy call to the premier medical research agency in Lagos.

Addressing the management of the Institute, he said the visit was to seek collaborations on medical research as it bordered the health status of divers who have survived COVID-19 since the lungs, which is a critical organ for diving is also attacked when people are contract the virus.

He said the group was also willing to push forward other studies that will show usefulness of hyperbaric medicine in the treatment of ailments

like stroke, bone injuries, sickle cell anaemia amongst others.

Ogunleye said the Society sort for the health sector to embrace hyperbaric medicine and see the possibility of establishing a hyperbaric centre as other countries like South Africa have gone far in such operations.

He said: “The purpose of our visit is to see how we can seek partnership and collaboration with your organisation in conducting studies and

medical research. We want to also want a hyperbaric treatment centre because aside from diving related ailments there are other issues that it can help the country with- the area of bone injury, treatment of sickle-cell anaemia and even stroke.

“One of the biggest challenges for divers is their fitness to work capacity under challenging conditions. Many that undertake in diving activities are expats, not even Nigerians,

and we cannot say that we have an industry that can cater for them. One of our goals is to draw government’s attention to what is happening offshore so that we can begin to advance the industry in that area. Our focus is to further develop of the subsector.”

Ogunleye also commended the management of the Institute for the readiness and capacity they have shown in tackling COVID-19 since it arrived Nigeria.

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Call for AMCON’s Accountability on Arik Air Senator Anietie Okon

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MCON’s Jude Nwauzor – Head, Corporate Communications made direct reference to my earlier interview published in THIS DAY on April 6, 2021 and made claims of alleged massive mismanagement in Arik under our management and lack of corporate governance and fear of collapse.

Firstly, Nwauzor is an employee of AMCON, who is serving his masters in AMCON. He obviously is not an aviation expert and I don’t think he is a financial expert.

Putting that aside, the language used betrays a sense of anger and frustration.

We raised an issue of accountability and AMCON is angry. Angry about what? That we said they should account for the N375 billion they claim they spent into the airline since takeover.

Let me explain something, Arik is a privately owned company operating within local and international commercial laws before the forceful takeover by AMCON. AMCON by law is supposed to provide statement of affairs to shareholders annually, explaining their actions and the accountability of their performance. Did they do that?

The answer is impunity.

AMCON feels they do not need to account to the shareholders for their revenue, expenditure, operations, and financial obligations. These annual reports keep the shareholders abreast with the progress, if any, and interested stake holders informed.

It is important to note that after four years of so-called intervention on behalf of God knows who, as claimed by AMCON, we only hear allegations and bad news in the papers, without any formal correspondence.

The communications man said the airline was running without capital from the shareholders, again a serious falsehood.

How did Arik come into existence, who invested the initial money, how was the airline operated for 10 and half years without capital injection, and how did we pay off the foreign loans for the aircrafts?

Furthermore, the objectives for take-over by AMCON, have they been met. I keep saying, this is wrong and unfair. It is a conspiracy to scam a private businessman, using tools of government in order to achieve a conspired goal. If we go by the statement of Nwauzor, I think that AMCON does not understand that Arik as an operational airline would have regular bills to pay, which on suddenly moving in they found in the books.

On the other hand, Arik owed local banks and agencies in a revolving capital scheme, which was being offset by ticket sales administered by those local banks. The international agencies that he refers to in his overzealous statement as creditors, also fall into the same category.

Don’t forget, in my previous interview, we explained the forex issue, and this may have affected some of the agencies, but we had deposits with the local banks covering a large chunk of these funds for onward transmission if forex was received from CBN. This was all taken over by AMCON. We had accumulated revenues internationally e.g., Angola, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroun, and other countries which was also taken over by AMCON. These are supposed to be used to pay off outstanding’s in these countries and the balance remitted to Arik in Nigeria. These funds were more than sufficient to pay off most of the outstandings of the foreign agencies. This is normal in the aviation industry.

But AMCON being the intelligent finance managers that they claim to be suffocated the airline of all funds by not using funds for the purpose of satisfying these payments, thereby slowly killing the operations. Today they have the audacity to claim an injection of N375 billion.

This amount is exclusive of revenue generated in four years of operation, which they constantly refuse to disclose. Going by Nwauzor’s statement in which he indicated that the airlines revenue was N7 billion

monthly amounting to N 84 billion annually, we can figure out the total revenue in the last four years to be N336 billion. If we add the injected money with this revenue as claimed by AMCON the total amount that AMCON should account for is N 711 billion.

This is quite an outstanding amount that AMCON refuses to account for. Another case of impunity!

Q: What of the issue raised on corporate governance and accusations of the airline being in a mess when they got there?

He also raised issues on corporate governance. It is good. Let’s start with corporate governance. Firstly, do you know how many foreign financial institutions funded aircraft at different times in Arik? I will name them for you: US EXIM bank for Boeing Aircraft, Export Development of Canada (EDC) for Bombardier aircraft, Afriexim Bank and European Credit Agency for Airbus Industries.

On the operational side Credit lines for maintenance by Lufthansa, Boeing, Bombardier, Airbus and Rolls Royce engines.

These institutions do not provide these facilities without proper due diligence and yearly evaluation of the airline’s corporate governance and safety audits.

To achieve this level of compliance we engaged the services of SH&E of USA, a world-renowned aviation consultancy firm over a period of seven years. Furthermore, Price Waterhouse Coopers have been the financial and management auditors of the company from inception till AMCON took over. We knew why we needed to do this, and that is why we achieved so many milestones.

Do you think these foreign financial institutions would lend Arik or fund aircraft without proper corporate governance? Words come easy to AMCON when they want to create a negative narrative but let us ask the same question from AMCON. What level of corporate governance did they exhibit from the time they took over?

Let me start with the takeover procedure, in more sane climes AMCON should have taken an inventory with Arik owners present and recorded that for the courts. Did they do that, no! Instead, they came with two or three lorry loads of Policemen to arrest the chairman in full gestapo style tactics and took him away. No notice, no verifiable inventory, and no handover. Impunity!

This explains their meaning of corporate governance.

I have only one comment that I would want AMCON to answer to the satisfaction of the Nigerian people. Was the airline in shambles when they took it over or is it in shambles now?

Let me put it in perspective, in 2017 this was a functional airline with maybe, like every other airline, some financial issues and an exposure as alleged by AMCON in the courts of N136 billion, but today we have an airline in shambles with a so-called alleged exposure of N375 billion. Well-done AMCON! In early 2015 Deloittes of London valued the airline at $3.2 billion. These reports were submitted and defended by Deloitte of London themselves at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

You see, it is hurtful for all the stakeholders to see how AMCON has ravaged this airline. We as the promoters of this carrier feel that there were better ways to address these issues had AMCON’s management acted with maturity and with intention to address the issues fairly. We also feel that AMCON has been high handed and in the process affected the airline negatively. Like I said earlier, AMCON looks like an organisation with the preconceived intention by some individuals to take-over the assets of the airline under the pretext that the airline was having financial difficulties. Obviously AMCON has bitten off more than they can chew.

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

Airfares Rise on High Cost of Aviation Fuel

Fueling at lagos airport Chinedu Eze Air travellers have been lamenting the outrageous airfares recently exacerbated by the high cost of aviation such that a one-way ticket last Sunday on a 55 minutes domestic flight went for about N120, 000.

This was higher than the peak fares during the Easter season, which cost was about N80, 000 for the same flight time.

The Chairman and CEO of United Nigeria Airlines, Obiora Okonkwo said on Wednesday that when his airline started operation on February 12, 2021, the price of aviation fuel was about N160 per litre but it has risen to over N250.

He noted that the airlines do not have alternative than to pass the cost to the passengers, which explained the spiral increase in airfares.

He regretted that the prices of the product could rise suddenly without opportunity for airlines to make projections and noted that aviation fuel constitutes 30 to 40 per cent of the total cost of production.

“Fuel price is of great concern to airline operators. When we started operations it was N160 per litre but now it is over N200 per litre. The product constitutes 30-40 per cent of the cost of operation. With this increase it is expected that ticket rate will also increase by 50 per cent. Airlines must have to recover the cost through tickets, cargo or courier.

“The rise was sudden and it is going to be severe for the industry. So the media should help to educate the public that for the aviation industry to be viable they must make adjustment to reflect the high prices of aviation fuel.

For passenger to have relatively cheaper fares, they must have to book their flights early,” Okonkwo said.

He also said due to the critical role air transport plays in the economy and security of the country, the airlines expect that there should be an intervention, so that the high cost of aviation fuel could be reviewed.

Former CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, reiterated that cost of fuel constitutes 30-40 per cent of operational cost of airlines, saying that airlines would lose immensely from the increase in fuel cost because passengers had paid for tickets at the cost of old price of fuel but now they would be airlifted when airlines have paid higher for fuel.

“Airlines have sold tickets one month, two months ago at the cost of ticket reflecting the old price of aviation but they are now airlifting passengers at the new cost of aviation fuel, which means that they are incurring losses.

This is because the increase is sudden so they

do not have the time to adjust the prices.

“In Nigeria we do not do fuel hedging whereby airlines would buy fuel for six months at a particular price so by the time the increase of the price of aviation fuel will come they would have locked their prices.

“I hope that with the problems facing Nigerian airlines they will begin to hedge, as Dangote refinery comes on stream soon. So that regardless of the price fluctuations an airline can buy a million litres of fuel at a particular prices,” Sanusi said.

Another challenge faced by airlines is that the price of the product fluctuates from airport to airport.

THISDAY learnt that the price of the product is cheaper in Lagos and most southern states, but relatively higher in most airports in the north.

A source that operates helicopter services in Lagos explained that the product is imported into Nigeria without any form of subsidy from the federal government because the product is fully deregulated and that is why airlines pay more for it.

“A litre is now N275 per litre and I can tell you there is a lot of fake fuel out there now.

Any fuel you find is sold for N210 or N220 per litre is fake and this is dangerous for aviation.

This is accident waiting to happen.

“The airlines are gradually increasing the air tickets. I just bought a return ticket on Enugu at N103, 000. The Abuja one-way ticket I bought last week was N76, 000. So, it is affecting air travel immensely. The airlines are already charging higher prices and the federal government is not doing anything about it,” he said.

The source therefore suggested that the federal government should peg the price of aviation fuel, stressing that the airlines could only be helped through subsidy and not cash grant.

According to the source, the government could expunge the Value Added Tax (VAT) for operators, remarking that airlines in the country enjoyed nothing from the government unlike their counterparts in Europe, Middle East and Americas.

Also the Director of Research, Zenith Travels, Olumide Ohunayo explained that the sub-sector was deregulated, but noted that in order to cushion the effect of the high price, the federal government should repair the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) underground pipe between Ejigbo and the Lagos airport.

He explained that for the airlines to benefit from the product’s pricing, they either buy in bulk or edge, which he said required lump sum of money, adding that obviously the airlines would pass the cost to air passengers.

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ANALYSIS

Protecting Airports against Terrorists’ Attack There have been information about plans by terrorists and bandits to extend the insecurity which has pervaded the country to the airports, but they have so far failed to access the facilities.

Chinedu Eze writes that more efforts should be made to further secure the airports

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n Monday airport security report was made public, which indicated that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) security operatives, AVSEC received alert from the Ministry of Aviation of planned attack on some airports in the country by criminal elements.

These included the airports located in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Kano, Abuja and Lagos.

The security alert signed by AVSEC official stated, “I am directed to convey an alert from the Ministry of Aviation regarding security threats by criminal elements against airports in Nigeria and to request for the immediate enumeration of necessary countermeasures for the protection of airports/facilities under your purview.

“Specifically, the airports top on the list for which criminals are considering carrying out attacks include those in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Kano, Abuja, and Lagos amongst others.

However, all airports are hereby alerted and requested to operate at a heightened threat level.”

The airport chiefs have been directed to “submit a list of existing and additional countermeasures to address the threats, along with their cost implications where applicable.

“Also, they are expected to urgently convene an emergency meeting of airport security committees “to review the status of airport security, jointly recommend appropriate measures and share responsibility for effective implementation”, the report disclosed.

Industry insiders said maybe the criminal elements were emboldened by their successful kidnap of some aviation workers in the airport living quarters located a distance away from the airports.

In early March the living quarters at the Kaduna airport was attacked by gunmen who abducted some families and also in late March similar incident happened in Jos airport quarters. Further efforts were made again in Kaduna but security operatives forestalled it.

Reinforcing Security THISDAY learnt that in response to these two incidents, the federal government reinforced security at the two airports; that when the criminals came again in Kaduna for similar attacks and kidnap, they were not only stopped but the military which now took charge to protect the airports forced them to flee. Since then, there have been multilayered security approach to protect all the airports in the country, as the federal government and FAAN authorities deploy more security operatives to the airports.

FAAN said it is poised to prevent any action that could compromise security at any of the nation’s airports, including insider threat as it collaborates with the Nigerian police, Air Force and the Army.

Security Measures Security experts have over the years spoken about how to fortify the airports, from security fencing to perimeter fencing and how to monitor every part of the airport through the installation of CCTV. THISDAY learnt that in Lagos FAAN had installed CCTV even along the taxiway to monitor possible movement during that time reports became rife that aircraft on holding point at the runway was being robbed. Since them there have not been any of such reports.

FAAN also deployed patrol vans at the Lagos airport, which escort both aircraft that are taking off and those that have landed through the taxiway. There is also 24 hours patrol of the airside by security operatives at the Lagos airport. But informed sources told THISDAY that this security protocol is not efficiently deployed at other airports, so with the current threats, the agency must have to fortify security at every airport in the country.

The security expert and CEO of Centurion Securities Limited, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd) said FAAN should review its security apparatus in the face of homegrown terrorism.

“Let me make recommendations to what could become threats to the airport security in the midst of homegrown terrorism. FAAN should

create or provide three levels of parking areas around the local and international terminals.

“One for government and diplomatic corps and give it to the government airport protocols oversight by your AVSEC. All vehicles parking at the allocated point must carry government recognised numbers.

“No other vehicle, no matter the official, if not with government recognised or identified number should be allowed to park at the allocated point,” he said.

Ojikutu also recommended that only government or diplomatic registered vehicles should be allowed in the parking area to ensure their security and congestion.

“Secondly, the very important personalities and corporate organisations like banks, oil companies, multinational and international companies; a located area should attract parking fees of N500/ per hour.

“These must register with the FAAN Commercial, pay approved rates monthly, quarterly, annually or pay the hourly rate. The corporate vehicles must be registered with FAAN and any change of the registered vehicle must be brought to the knowledge of the appropriate FAAN authority,” he said.

Ojikutu also recommended that a national security or intelligence estimates should be sent to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to circulate to all operators both public and private.

“Airports are not the only targets for terrorists to attack; parking aircraft, fuel depots, etc. They require similar directives from the responsible aviation security authority. My take; first, since all operators have approved security programmes by the NCAA, all that is required is for the NCAA to use the security intelligence estimates which should be sent to it by the appropriate national authority to update the National Civil Aviation Security Programmes (NCASP) and send it down to all the operators under its oversight as directives not advisory,” the security expert said.

He said there should be closer monitoring and restriction of movement in such areas as the car parks, fuel depots and airport service roads at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

These include the roads connecting the terminals. There should also be improvement in surveillance on all access into the airport security controlled areas, increased patrols on both sides of the airport perimeter fence, which is about 23 kilometers, reduction in the number of visitors, those who use the eateries and sight seers and VIP escorts must be monitored.

In addition to all these, FAAN must close the Beesam Access and exit route road into MMIA transit access,” Ojikutu recommended.

New Technologies Security expert and Chairman of Scope

Centre Limited, Bayo Babatunde once told THISDAY that there are new security threats in air transport that could be combated with advanced technology system and urged the federal government to ensure that airports are protected with these modern security system.

“The threats to international aviation continue to evolve as the perpetrators devise methods to contravene procedures and improved counter measure technologies. It is a case of both parties not resting on their oars.

“While the global governing body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) continues its global oversights and regulations through the ICAO Annex 17, which details the standards and recommended procedures for members contracting bodies, the local regulatory Civil Aviation Authority is responsible for domesticating the international rules in line with the National Security Program through the National Aviation Security Program / standards which must adopt the ICAO Standards as minimum standards.

“In all of these, the safety and continued security of international aviation is the sole objective. It is also important to note here that International Aviation is global and the same standards are applicable all over the world.”

Babatunde warned that there are no local standards, so in Nigeria, the Nigerian NCAA has over the years responded to the global security threats, working with the ICAO and the National Security Office to develop procedures for enhancing the security procedures and technological requirements.

He noted that as a critical element of the NCAA, post 911 is the creation of the AVSEC department that is specifically designated for the direct oversights and monitoring/ regulations.

This, he said, has enhanced the professional practice of AVSEC at the various Nigerian airports, adding that over the last decades, the evolution of threats has been rapid and the authorities have worked very hard to ensure unbroken traveling experience.

“Steps have been taken to improve access controls without sacrificing quality of facilitations and security. A critical element is the continued advancement of science and technology in airport scanners. Now, there are proficient technologies to detect all levels of threats, from drugs and explosives concealed on the body, improved scanners for detecting metals, IEDs and narcotics in hand held and checked in luggage,” Babatunde said.

Insider Threat Many industry analysts have pointed out that the most dangerous security breach is the one caused by insider threat, which is a malicious threat to an organisation that comes from people within the organisation, such as employees, former employees, contractors

or business associates.

In the aviation industry, this could come from agencies, airlines, handling companies whose personnel access the restricted and sensitive areas of the airport.

They noted that the reason why it is recommended that that there should be regular profiling of staff, especially the personnel of AVSEC is to ensure that one or two of the workers have not compromised the security protocol and aligned with terrorists and other criminal elects to breach safety at the airports.

The Chief Operating Officer of TAL Helicopters, Femi Adeniji in his contribution said that security breach starts from stopping the issuance of ODC (On duty Cards) to touts and rental car drivers and so-called “Chairman.”

“Our airports are the only airports where rental cars organize themselves and takeover premium parking lots instead of FAAN charging for parking if close to the terminal at premium.

“You drive to the airport with the mind of picking up your passengers to find out that you can only park a distant of the airport (Lagos, Abuja) but rental car park at the terminals.

“Where is the security if the parking lot is manned and controlled by rental cars, while the FAAN security walks around embarrassing and calling for tow trucks for citizens picking up passengers,” he queried.

In other words, touts and others could constitute insider threat because they have access to the sensitive areas of the airport but at the same time they do not have the training, the commitment and the discipline needed to stir in them the desire to protect national assets and protect human lives.

Porous Airports Industry observers have also excoriated what has become a culture at the airport whereby security operatives; Immigration and Customs officials solicit for money from the passengers. Recently the General Overseer, Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG).

Enoch Adeboye reported to have condemned that attitude when airport officials solicited money from him when he passed through the airport.

FAAN had recently issued a circular directed at passengers to expose any FAAN official who solicit for money from them but critics have said that such circulars have been there before but there is lack of enforcement, which indicated that the agency might not be seriously committed to eradicating such obnoxious behaviour, which tend to tarnish the image of the country abroad.

The industry security expert also reiterated the need to regularly profile the AVSEC personnel in FAAN and other security operatives that collaborate with the agency to provide security at the airports. He said that this was very necessary because insider threat weakens the security infrastructure of the airport.

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MARITIME

Derision of Tariff Reduction Eromosele Abiodun writes that the reduction of duties on imported vehicles by the federal government has become a charade as officers of the Nigeria Customs Service now use various charges to extort importers and victimise clearing agents at the ports

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n November 2013, the federal government announced the introduction of a new automotive policy, which was geared towards discouraging the importation of wholly assembled automobiles and encouraging local manufacturing.

Specifically, the policy allows local assembly plants to import completelyknocked-down vehicles at zero per cent duty, and semi-knocked-down vehicles at five per cent duty, while importers pay a 70 per cent duty on new and previouslyowned vehicles.

The policy’s main thrust was to encourage local car production/assembly plants while cutting importation through raising import duties.

However, eight years after, the policies have failed to achieve the desired outcomes, as Nigeria’s domestic vehicle production capacity remains under-utilised.

The economic slump that the country suffered shortly after the automotive policy was introduced hindered resuscitation of the industry.

At about N160 to the dollar in 2013, and presently almost N500, stakeholders note that the auto sector’s woes have been complicated by the slow backward integration exercise.

Following the failure of the policy and pressure from car dealers, customs agents and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), who were fed up with the constant battle with car smugglers, the federal government decided to rethink the policy.

On December 31, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Finance Bill 2020, into law stipulating downward review of Excise Duty on tractors and motor vehicles. The NCS was then directed to commence implementation of tariff reduction on vehicles before the end of January this year.

In the draft 2020 Finance Bill, the federal government proposed reduction in duties on tractors from 35 to 10 per cent; from 35 to 10 per cent on vehicles for transportation of goods; and 35 to five per cent on vehicles for transportation of persons (cars).

The NCS Comptroller-General, Hameed Ali, made the announcement, who made the announcement, said the commencement of the policy followed the transmission of the directive to the NCS by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

The customs’ boss had at a different forum said the NCS was awaiting directives from the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the implementation of the Act. Ali said: “The Act has been transmitted to us. We received the minister’s mandate this week, to start working on it, although we have to develop certain regulations and measures on how we intend to implement the law. We have to change our codes to fit into the new law. You know that commercial vehicles levy is the only levy that has been reduced from 35 per cent to five per cent.

“So we have to change the codes to fit into the new law and we hope we will finish that in two days and the minister will have to look at it and agree that yes that is what we should do. I hope not too long from now, by next week or next two weeks, this law will come into effect. We will circulate it to our own commands to begin to operate.”

The customs boss noted that the new law would help the country have vehicles meant for transportation with reduced duty for the benefit of Nigerians.”

He stated that the high duty paid had also resulted to increased smuggling of vehicles into the country.

Ali disclosed that statistics available to the service showed that about 300,000 to 400,000 vehicles coming into Nigeria first stop in Benin Republic before being

Hameed Ali

smuggled into Nigeria.

Promise of enforcement In its circular dated February 8, 2021, the NCS directed immediate compliance to the policy.

It said the reduction followed the decision to prune applicable levies and duties on vehicles in order to mitigate the rising transport costs and boost the mass transit industry.

The Deputy Comptroller-General (T&T), T.M. Isa, signed the circular on behalf of the Comptroller General of the NCS. The essence of the assent, according to the document, was to support implementation of the 2021 budget of economic recovery, which culminated in the changes of the fiscal framework in terms of importation of automotive vehicles into the country.

It reads in part: “Pursuant to the assent

by Mr. President to the Finance Act. 2020 to support the implementation of the 2021 Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience, certain changes to the fiscal framework regarding the importation of specific automotive vehicles into Nigeria have been introduced.

“These reforms are designed to reduce the applicable levies and duties on vehicles, mitigate rising transport costs, and boost road transportation and mass transit industry.

“Arising from the afore stated, Section 38 of the Finance A chief, 2020 modified the First Schedule to the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET), Etc (Consolidation) Act by amending applicable duties and levies as follows: reduction of Import Duty on Fully Built (FBU) of Agricultural Tractors (HSHS Headings 8701from 35 per cent to 5 per cent as applicable; reduction of Import Duty of Fully Built Unit of Motor Vehicles for the Transport of persons (cars) (HS Headings 8703 from 35 per cent to five per cent as applicable; reduction of Import Duty of Fully Built Unit (FBU) of Motor Vehicles for the Transport of Goods (HSHS Headings (HSBC Headings 8704) from 35 per cent to 10 per cent as applicable.”

It added: “Furthermore, the Act also introduces fiscal incentives for the Aviation Sector. For the avoidance of doubts airlines registered in Nigeria, which provide commercial air transport services by owning or leasing aircraft are to enjoy free importation of aircraft, engines, spare parts and other components. Ensure wide circulation for immediate compliance, please.”

Double standard Meanwhile, contrary to its own directive, the NCS have failed to apply a uniform tariff for imported vehicles.

Customs agents and Nigerians have been at the receiving end of the double standard that recently led to a fracas between officials of the NCS and clearing agents at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos. THISDAY learnt that customs officials apply tariff depending on who imports a particular vehicle.

Speaking to newsmen on the development, the Vice-President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Kayode Farinto, accused the officers of the NCS for using various tariffs on imported vehicles to extort importers and victimised clearing agents at the ports.

Farinto, while reflecting on the need to get justice for a young Customs agent, recently shot by an officer of the NCS, said that absence of implementing uniform tariff on imported vehicles fuelling criminal acts and corruption among the officers of Customs at the port.

He alleged that the officers are deliberately frustrating the process of having uniform tariff because of their selfish interests even when the Ali (Rtd), had approved it in a recent meeting with stakeholders.

He added that Customs are sabotaging Ease of Doing Business of the federal government for imposing arbitrary charges on importers and clearing agents.

According to him, all efforts to make NCS to key into Ghana’s Customs uniform tariff on imported vehicles have always hit the rock.

“I have on several occasions begged the management of NCS to give us uniform

These reforms are designed to reduce the applicable levies and duties on vehicles, mitigate rising transport costs, and boost road transportation and mass transit industry

tariff on vehicles. Nigerians need to know for instance, we have 2009 Camry, one at PTML, one at Tin Can Island and one at Apapa Port. These vehicles despite the fact that they have the same year of manufacture, we never pay the same value just because we have arbitrariness of duty,” he said.

“We have received many complaints from our members over the arbitrariness of tariff on vehicles and we met with the management of Customs to give us uniform value. Ghana is an example, we even told them this that we are ready to sponsor Customs officers to Ghana and study their uniform tariff.

“In Ghana, what they do is that if you have any vehicles, what you have to do is to input your VIN into the system because with your VIN number, you cannot lie as par year of manufacture. Once you input you VIN number it brings out the history of the vehicle, and then you can now apply for appropriate rate,” Farinto said.

He lamented that present management of NCS is paying lips service to the issue of uniform tariff and they didn’t want to come out with a uniform value.

“I have it on good authority that the CGC has directed that there should be uniformity of value but this has not been implemented. We are tired of an arbitrary value, we are tired of giving bribes,” he said.

However, he chided the National Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Deputy Controller, Joseph Attah, for describing the agents shot by officer of the Service as miscreant, saying that the national PRO goofed for making such statement.

In the beginning The Federal Executive Council had in 2013 approved a new national automotive policy aimed at encouraging local production and assembling of new vehicles with an imposition of a high import tariff on fully built vehicles. But the new rate was not given then.

A two-page document dated November 14, 2013 and signed by the then Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, gave the new import tariff on cars as 70 per cent.

The document, with reference number BD/FP/DO/09/189, also stated that fully built commercial vehicles would attract 35 per cent duty but no levy imposed.

Specifically, it stated: “Local assembly plants shall import completely knocked down (vehicles) at zero per cent duty; and semi-knocked down (vehicles) at five per cent duty.

“Local assembly plants shall import fully built unit cars at 35 per cent duty and 20 per cent for commercial vehicles without levy, respectively in numbers equal to twice their CKD/SKD kits.Imported tyres would also cost more as from next year as 20 per cent duty and five per cent value added tax have been placed on tyres of cars, buses and lorries.

“Local tyre manufacturing plants are to import tyres at five per cent duty in numbers equal to twice their production for two years from the date of commencement of production,” it stated.

The document also stated that a fully built car would attract a duty of 35 per cent and a levy of another 35 per cent of the cost of the vehicle.

Before the announcement in 2013, importers/dealers paid 20 per cent and two per cent as duty and levy, respectively on new cars. Ten per cent flat rate was also imposed on commercial vehicles.

“The Nigeria Customs Service shall use the value of a new vehicle depreciated by 10 per cent per annum, implying 10 years period of cars and by seven per cent per annum implying 15 year period for commercial vehicles. In either case, depreciation should never be below 30 per cent of the value of the new vehicle equivalent,” it said.

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INTERVIEW

Ethiopian to Resume Enugu, Okejimi: Nigeria’s Kano Flights Remittance Business Undergoing Transformation Stories by Chinedu Eze

As the activities of digital money transfers operators is expected to grow in the country in line with the CBN’s Naira 4 Dollar Scheme, the Country Manager, Nigeria, and Ghana of WorldRemit, Gbenga Okejimi, in this interview speaks about how his organisation is protecting clients and ensuring safety of their funds.

Oluchi Chibuzor brings the excerpts: billion) and further decline by 7.5 per cent to ($470 billion) in 2021. What do you think could be responsible for this?

This is not unexpected considering the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic globally. A downturn in economic activities across the globe has led to the loss of employment for many. Having said this, we are optimistic that there will be an improvement in economic activities as the roll-out of the vaccines across the globe continues and governments implement several palliatives to improve the economic fortunes of their countries.

Okejimi

B

anks in Nigeria are now mandated to open USD bank accounts for those receiving international money transfers. What is your take on this CBN policy?

It’s a step in the right direction. By way of context, digital International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) like WorldRemit are known to encourage financial inclusion by driving volumes to banks and mobile money accounts.

This prevents the risks associated with travelling long hours to city centres to cash funds sent via IMTOs. With the discontinuation of naira payouts and the introduction of only dollar payments, most Nigerians who do not have dollar accounts were left with no option but to resort to cash pick up, which at this time has its own risks and associated issues. The CBN has evaluated this challenge, so in the bid to drive more volumes; has encouraged banks to open dollar accounts for their customers strictly for money transfers. If a sender provides a naira recipient account to an IMTO, rather than allow the transfer to fail because of a naira account, the bank will automatically create a dollar account in the name of the intended recipient. This encourages more flows and reduces transaction failures on the part of the IMTO. What positives does this regulation bring to Nigerians and how does it affect the economy at large?

The regulation will assist to drive more inflows to the country. It will also increase the number of domiciliary accounts owned by banks which encourages more trade and FX related transactions.

In the past, fund transfers used to be hectic in Nigeria, where are we now and what is WorldRemit bringing on-board as a major player?

In the past recipients had to travel long hours to cash funds sent via legacy players who provide brick and mortar systems.

Aside from the risk associated with travelling long distances, there was also the risk of non-transparency with foreign currency and carrying cash which could lead to the recipients being vulnerable to robbery of their funds. At the formation of WorldRemit, our value proposition was to create value along with a good customer experience. This informed the full digitisation of the service on the send side, with transfers to mainly bank and mobile money accounts. We have therefore encouraged financial inclusion and brought down the costs and speed of sending remittances. This benefits both senders and receivers.

Remittances to low and middle income countries (LMICs) in 2020 were put at a projected rate of 7.2 per cent ($508

Tell us more about the recently expanded WorldRemit US Dollar payout option with your partners.

At WorldRemit, we understand the importance of making remittances available to recipients as these funds are majorly used for basic needs like education, medical and household fees etc. Many of our recipients were unable to receive funds with the sudden introduction of the USD payout, coupled with the low uptake of USD Bank accounts. To this end, we have quickly expanded our payout network covering both Bank and Cash to nine partnering banks. We are not relenting and in a few weeks, will add additional new partners to further expand the network.

As a pipeline for funds flow into Nigeria, what have been the challenges and what areas would you want the government of the day to strengthen policy-wise?

The Nigerian remittance space is currently undergoing a transformation. This is not unexpected considering the economic importance of remittances to the country. We have seen a lot of policy interventions by the Central Bank in the last three months, with the aim to increase inflows. These interventions came without consultation with the IMTOs and Banks so, therefore, created the challenge to implement quickly. It would be helpful if the CBN would consult widely and provide enough time before policy implementation. It is also important that the CBN implements and ensures compliance with their guidelines by all licensees to avert the diversion of proceeds of Money Transfers by operators.

Also, what are the key trends attracting WorldRemit to Nigeria?

Nigeria is a big market for all IMTO’s, not just WorldRemit. with a Diaspora population of between 15-17 million, comprising of some of the smartest people in the World, a thriving entertainment industry, Nollywood, the latest fashion trends, exquisite cuisine, tech capabilities comparable to the best in the World and 200 million people with a growth rate of two percent, Nigeria is a fast-growing market that is up for the taking. It is estimated that there is a Nigerian in every country of the world unless there is no activity in that country.

Nigerians are well travelled and seek to help those back home even from their Diaspora abode.

Stabilising the FX rate has been a major challenge, what do you think the apex bank can do to at least regulate this fluctuation.

The issue of FX rate is not a one cap fits all. We need to have a convergence between the fiscal and monetary policies to achieve the kind of economic growth/stability we desire. Paying out remittances in foreign currency is just one of the many things that could encourage stabilisation of the FX rate.

We need to reduce our penchant for foreign/ luxurious goods which puts a lot of pressure on our foreign reserves. We are an oil-producing economy but we still depend on imported gasoline to fuel our vehicles and power our economy - that is a huge drain on the FX reserves. We need to invest massively in infrastructure and agriculture to attain food sufficiency.

The management of Ethiopian Airlines has assured passengers in the north and southern part of Nigeria that it would return to Enugu and Kano Airports once the new terminals are officially declared open for operations, just as the airline marks 75 years of operation.

Ethiopian Airlines on April 6, operated a Special Flight to Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) as part of the gradual process of reopening the Airport.

This was made known in a statement signed by the General Manager, Ethiopian Airlines, Nigeria, Shimeles Arage.

Ethiopian Airlines is the only international airline that operates to Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu since it was gazetted as an international airport. It is also one of the Airlines that operate into MAKIA in Kano.

With the completion of the new airport terminals and further improvements in COVID-19 situation in Nigeria the federal government has announced a

phased reopening of Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt airports for international flights .

With this, Ethiopian Airlines will soon announce Schedules for Flight Operations to Enugu and Kano.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Airline Group, the largest PanAfrican aviation group, celebrated its 75th anniversary on April 8, 2021.

Ethiopian made its maiden international flight on April 8, 1946 to Cairo. Since then, the Airline overcame the ups and downs of the aviation industry and the challenges unique to Africa to become Africa’s largest, most profitable and award-winning Aviation Group. Ethiopian kicks off a yearlong celebration under the theme “Celebrating 75 Years of Excellence”.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam said, “As we celebrate 75 years of excellence, we take stock of our accomplishments over three quarters of a century. Among the many firsts introduced

by Ethiopian are the first Jet aircraft in Africa, the first East Africa to West Africa scheduled

flight, the first airline from the Western Hemisphere to fly to China, the first scheduled service between the capitals of the most populous nations in the world (from New Delhi to Beijing), the first airline in Africa to introduce the B767, B777-200LR, B787 (the Dreamliner) and later on the A350 to Africa.

“Today, our industry faces a serious challenge posed by COVID-19. The route we chose to overcome this challenge is to tighten our belt, change the way we do business and be agile.

“We remain the only commercial airline that hasn’t sought government bailout and didn’t lay off a single employee. I would like to take this opportunity to cement our commitment to sustainable aviation and continue to work with all stakeholders to enhance Africa’s air connectivity.

“While congratulating all Ethiopian families, I would like to thank our esteemed customers for their strong vote of confidence, their loyalty and support. Ethiopian attributed its success to the four pillars of its growth strategy.”

AIB-N Promises to Lift Agency The newly reappointed Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N), Akin Olateru, has pledged to Nigerians and especially stakeholders in the air transport industry that he would move forward the global rating of the bureau from its current fourth position to becoming the very first.

“I plan to improve our infrastructure and equipment, strengthen our human capital, further simplify our processes, and eliminate bottlenecks in our procedures, making AIB-N a highly reputable institution,” he said.

Olateru made these commitments while engaging the staff nationwide at a webinar forum from the Abuja head office of the Bureau.

He acknowledged the cooperation of the entire members of staff he enjoyed during his initial tenure and solicited for similar and better cooperation

to be able to attain the enviable heights envisaged in the second term as he kept his eyes on the very best, and not the minimum global standard.

Olateru expressed immense gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for approval of the recommendation by the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who reposed so much confidence in him and had variously expressed satisfaction for his accomplishments during his initial tenure.

On the numerous recognitions accorded him by various organizations and the media, he said he was humbled and narrated that he was equally humbled by the progress achieved at AIB-N since he assumed office in 2017.

The Commissioner disclosed that within the period of four years, the Bureau’s infrastructural facilities, such as the Bureau’s Flight Safety Laboratory in Abuja and Lagos,

Wreckage Hangar, Metallurgical Science Laboratory, Regional offices in Enugu and Kano states, and the Command and Control Center, were developed and rehabilitated to enhance efficiency.

He also added that his administration also initiated collaborations and cooperation agreements with several countries and institutions such as the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Singapore Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB), Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile (BEA- France), the Instituto Nacional De Aviaco Civil (National Civil Aviation Authority) of Sao Tome & Principe, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) and University of Lagos (UNILAG), while the cooperation agreements between Saudi Arabia, Republic of Benin and Niger Republic are in the process.

SkyCargo Delivers 50m Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines Emirates’ SkyCargo has become the first airline cargo carrier in the world to transport more than 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on its flights.

The carrier has also transported more than 100 tonnes of syringes across the world to support the delivery of vaccines.

Since the start of international distribution late last year, Emirates SkyCargo has transported over 220 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines, equivalent to more than 50 million doses, on more than 150 flights from manufacturing locations to 50 destinations on its network through Dubai. Overall, the carrier has transported six different kinds of COVD-19

vaccines.

Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo, Nabil Sultan said: “Emirates SkyCargo is proud to have reached the 50 million COVID-19 vaccine delivery milestone just ahead of World Health Day. “As a socially responsible global air cargo carrier, our actions over the last year have always been directed at helping communities across the world, and especially those in developing nations, recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.

“We have been leading the global air cargo industry’s efforts and working with our partner organisations in Dubai

to rapidly distribute COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai to the rest of the world.”

Emirates SkyCargo has remained agile and dynamic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, responding quickly to maintain international connectivity for essential goods across the world.

The carrier was one of the first in the world to deploy passenger aircraft for cargo only flights in order to transport PPE, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and food. Over one year, Emirates SkyCargo had operated more than 27,800 flights and transported over 100,000 tonnes of essential commodities.

THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 07010510430

Dora Kayode: From Law to Career Move as a Football Agent, Real Estate Developer

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Dora Kayode: From Law to Career Move as a Football Agent, Real Estate Developer Mrs. Dora-Kayode wears multiple hats, first as a lawyer, then as the first female FA Licensed Football Agent in Nigeria and also a real estate developer. All these she juggles as the wife of Nigeria international and Shaktar Donetsk striker who is currently on loan at Sivaspor of Turkish Super League Olarenwaju Ayobami Kayode.

Rebecca Ejifoma reports on the burgeoning career of the mother of three

B

ecoming a lawyer had always been a dream for Mary Kayode.

Although this eventually came true, surprisingly, she didn’t end up practicing even though law is one of the most respected courses in Nigeria and the world in general, a profession most parents in Africa would want at least one of their children to study.

A firm believer in the cliche “one can only propose while God disposes”, she affirmed that “while growing up I have always had the dream career in mind which was to study law, a dream that finally came true”. But despite the tough journey of becoming a lawyer, the law graduate from the reputable Madonna University of Okija in Anambra State, afterwards chose another path for herself by becoming the first female FA Licensed football Agent in Nigeria.

In her kitty already is Nigerian international player, Olarenwaju Kayode, who is a Shaktar Donetsk striker but is currently on loan at Sivaspor of Turkish Super League. Although he happens to be her husband, that hasn’t deterred her from working assiduously as her job demands.

Pull as a Football Agent Behind every sportsman, there is an agent pulling the string at the background for a better professional life off the field. Just like other influential footballers like Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Salah, Mane, Kante are being managed by agents such as Jorge Mendes, Paul Stretford, Pere Guadiola, Jonathan Barnett, Mino Riola, Pini Zahavi, Tim Hager, Jerome Anderson, Diomansy Kamara, Ojo Paul, Raph Nkomo, Mike Makaab and Karabo MathangTshabuse, to ensure the success of the footballers they manage, so is Dora Kayode also actively working hard for the success of her husband too.

It is pertinent to state that she did not stumble into the job as she has always been an avid football lover. According to her, “I love football and everything was just perfect for us because he is a football player. I just love the game and I have my favourite teams in Europe. In the English Premier League, my team is Manchester United, in La Liga, Real Madrid, In Serie A, Juventus because C-Ronaldo is there and in France, PSG. In Bundesliga I love Bayern Munich; and by the way, I like Dortmund too. I have come to love it more because my husband is a fantastic player. I love watching him play on TV and scoring goals. It gives me so much joy”.

When the picture became clearer that she is going to play huge part in the success of her husband’s football career, was when the agents managing the husband allegedly began to frustrate him and she tried getting things back to track. She had no choice than to become the husband’s manager/agent and since then it has been a different story all the way.

According to her, “at the beginning when I met him, he was really rough and he was going through a lot. He had a lot of agents and some of the contracts he entered were slavery agreement. I understood what he was going through because I studied law and can interpret the contracts. So, I decided to come in. I told him that he has to start all over by terminating all his contracts and agents. It was the only way to move on. He was in a difficult situation that made him sad which is not good for his career.

“Thereafter I gave a couple of people the opportunity to manage him, but most of them did not come through. They were just interested in the money aspect of any contract. They were not thinking of the player’s needs. At a point I felt that I needed to do things myself because

Kayode and family

if I allow this to go on, it is going to affect him psychologically. So I took over and told him, nobody is going to manage you but I will do it myself. Even if we are going to have people helping us I would be there to oversee things.

“Then, I took it further by going for training to become an FA licensed agent. I want to understand his own point of view as his manager. I am his wife and it’s going to be a lot easier to get his feeling out. He is more open to me and I understood everything about him on the pitch, with the club and every other thing that would make him feel at ease and for both parties- player and club to be happy at the end.

“First, you have to know your rights. The bitter truth is that most of the players are not enlightened. They need people that can tell them the truth and educate them about their rights.

At times, agents and clubs like to overshadow and confuse them to do things they don’t want to do. As a lawyer, I decided to study the rule of football and combine it with fundamental human rights to ensure that my client gets the better of any contract. That kept my husband on track and happy.”

Testimonial The Super Eagles forward Kayode believes that the best that happened to him was handing over the management of his football career to his wife. Today, Kayode is listed among the successful Nigerian footballers. Kayode can boost of playing for clubs such as Manchester City, Shaktar Donetsk, Austria Wien, Girona, Gaziantep FK, Luzern and Maccabi Netanya.

In the Beginning On how they met she said: “We met in Lagos and it started from there. We became friends and by 2015 we were married. He is a passionate and very loving person. I’m from Abia State. I am an easy going Igbo woman who got married to a Yoruba man. Most of my friends and cousins married Yoruba men. So the question is what do Yoruba men see in Igbo women? And the

thing is Yoruba men like Igbo women.

“The family may not like it because of difference in culture and ethic group, but I feel that there is a connection between Yoruba men and Igbo women. We are compatible because what he loves, I love too. I love football and everything was just perfect for us because he is a football player. I just love the game and I have my favourite teams.”

Venture into Real Estate Meanwhile, Dora is not just a lawyer and Kayode’s agent, but also a real estate developer who has developed and owns a lot of properties scattered in Lagos and beyond. Her husband of course, won’t play football forever, so it’s essential that appropriate investments are made to secure the future.

For her, real estate plays a crucial role in organising society. “It influences where and how we live, work, and recreate. Historically, almost all wealth was in the form of land and real property. Today, real estate continues to be the largest asset class in the world”.

Acknowledging that her job as her husband’s agent/manager doesn’t give her the needed time to attend to her real estate business fully, she expressed hope that she would go full-time after her husband retires from football. “After football, there is something you should fall back on and I think this is the safest thing one should fall back on and that that’s property business since we are into it already “The real estate market includes everything from residential properties (homes, apartments, condos) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to commercial real estate (office buildings, hotels, shopping centers) and conservation lands.

“Lawyers also serve important roles in all aspects of real estate development, finance, investment, and transactions. Lawyers also play critical roles in drafting, interpreting, and reforming the legal rules and institutions that facilitate and regulate real estate markets and various uses of property, from federal statutes like the

Fair Housing Act to local zoning ordinances. In doing so, lawyers can use their skills to promote the common good in a way that is conducive to the long-term growth and sustainability of our country and our communities.”

On the why she ventured into real estate, she disclosed that it was to give the real estate industry another look and create more jobs for Nigerians directly and indirectly in order to augment all they have been doing in the past few years. “My husband and I contribute immensely to the less privileged but we don’t make it a headline. I love good things and go for the best. If you visit most of my finished properties, you will be marveled. We give the best and foreign standard”.

Ethos Her success today might be attributed to the values she imbibed while growing up under a principled and disciplined mother who wants nothing less than the best for her or anybody around her. “I grew up with my mum and she is a no-nonsense woman but also very loving.

She made sure I got the best. My growing up was an interesting. I learnt a lot from her and my grandmother because they made me to understand that life isn’t a bed of roses”.

According to her, “they also taught me how to stay calm during storm because after rain comes the sun. I went to one of the best primary schools in Aba, Constitution Crescent Primary School also known as Santa Maria. After, I went to Federal Government Girls’ College, Umuahia and then proceeded to Madonna University Okija in Anambra State.

“My mum shaped my life because she is a believer of good education and she is a very hard working mother so I decided to follow her footsteps. I am a focused woman and I always go for the best. Hardwork, discipline and honesty were what kept me in the right track. One must be hardworking and also apply discipline in everything they do in life and they must also be truthful in dealing with others.”

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YPP Provides Girls with Sexual Reproductive Health Information Stories by Mary Nnah Young people, especially girls and young women faced significant barriers in accessing sexual reproductive health information and services before the COVID-19 crisis.

Now, due to the pandemic, there is a risk that young people accessing this life-saving information will move even further from their reach.

To address this risk, a one-day Community Forum for adolescent girls and young women was organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Youth Participatory Platform (YPP) in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth in Abesan Youth Center, Alimosho, Lagos.

At the event, the CDC Secretary, Mosan Okunola LCDA, Mr. Olufemo Ojo, said “We must continue to provide young girls with information that empowers them to make informed decisions regarding their health and wellbeing.

“We need to ensure the rate of teenage pregnancy drops in the community. This program helps do that and we welcome more of such programs in the community.”

The UNFPA Youth Participatory Platform Coordinator, Elizabeth Williams said that “Young people have the abil-

YPP beneficiaries

ity to contribute to society only when they are able to fulfil their true potential.

“When girls and young women have information on their sexual reproductive health, they would be able to protect themselves from unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections including HIV. “It is our responsibility as a country to continue to provide this knowledge to girls wherever they are even in marginalised communities”.

At the event, she explained that 100 adolescent girls and young women were reached from different wards in Alimosho Local Government Area, adding that the programme was divided into two sessions.

The first session focused on preventive messaging on COVID19 where the girls

were taught ways to prevent the spread and contracting of the COVID-19.

The second session was an interactive session where the girls were given a talk on prevention of pregnancy. They were taught the different contraceptive options available including abstinence while dispelling the myths and misconceptions on contraceptive use.

Also, dignity kits consisting of sanitary items such as menstrual pads and hand sanitsers were distributed to all the girls.

Also speaking, Dr. Amaka Haruna explained that the choice of Alimosho for the programme was because it is the largest local government in Lagos with not many interventions implemented.

Dr. Amaka said the programme aims to empower

every participant with lifesaving information in order to enable them achieve their full potential in line with the UNFPA mandate.

The UNFPA Youth ParticipatoryPlatformistheUNFPAyouth groupofyoungperson’spromotingtheorganisation’smandatein South-Western Nigeria.

Itservesasaninterfacebetween UNFPAand young people. The Youth Platform was established in 2015 to liaise with the State Programme Office to develop programmes that tackle the identified concerns of communities as well as to support the UNFPA Office with consultations and drafting implementation reports.

Over the years, UNFPAYPP has continuously advocated and educated local youth about the UNFPA mandate.

Burger King Announces Grand Entry into Nigerian Market Allied Food and Confectionary Services Limited had announced exciting plans to launch and grow the Burger King® brand in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa.

“We are proud to bring this iconic brand to Nigeria, and believe that our Nigerian guests will love Burger King flamegrilled sandwiches and other famous Burger King® menu items, that guests can have their way,” saidAntoine Zammarieh, Managing Director from Allied Food and Confectionary Services Limited.

“I am pleased that with the new agreement we cannot only offer our guests great-tasting Burger King® food, but also contribute significantly to the economy of Nigeria by creating hundreds of new jobs.

“This launch will be a big step towards serving budding food lovers and consumers of

L-R: Executive Vice Chairman, Funds and Electronic Transfer Limited, Prof.

Mustapha Akinkunmi; Group Managing Director, Allied Food and Confectionary Services Limited (franchisee of Burger King), Mr Antoine Zammarieh; Marketing Coordinator, Burger King, Ms. Ibukun Aiyemo; and Operation Coordinator, Burger King, Ricardo Minaise at the event

quick service restaurants in Nigeria with more exciting flame-grilled and specialty meals.

“Nigerian guests can soon

look forward to enjoying world-famous Burger King® products, such as the brand’s signature Whopper® Sandwich.”

“We’re excited to share big news from Nigeria, where we have announced ambitious plans for one of our iconic brands – Burger King®,” said David Shear, President International Restaurant Brands International Inc., the parent company of Burger King®.

“Nigeria has a thriving quick service restaurant industry, and our partner has a deep understanding of the infrastructure and supply chain strategy needed in the market, which we believe will position the Burger King®brand well for success in the country.”

The first Burger King® restaurant in Nigeria is expected to open in autumn this year and the announcement reflects the global appeal of Burger King®, contributing to the brand’s expansion strategy in Africa.

Viva Emerges Official Sponsor as Kano Pillars Sign MoU Former Nigeria Professional Football League champions, Kano Pillars FC, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with one of the private companies in Kano state, Aspira Nigeria Limited till the end of the 2020/2021 Football season.

This was disclosed by the chairman of the club, Alhaji Surajo Shaaibu Yahaya Jambul shortly after signing the agreement on Thursday evening in his office.

The chairman said the signing of the MoU is part of the club’s determination to bring private organisations in the running of the club affairs to reduce depending on the state

L-R: Head, Marketing, Santhosh Kumar Nair; and Chairman, Aspira Limited, Alhaji Ahmad Haruna Zago, presenting Viva Jerseys to Chairman of Kano Pillars FC, Alhaji Surajo Shaaibu Yahaya Jambul

government.

He thanked the management of the company for accepting the club’s demand which he said they requested many companies within and outside

the state to partner them, but only Aspira Nigeria Limited responded and hoped the rest would follow suit.

Viva, the company’s flagship brand, and one of the leading

detergent and multipurpose soap brands in Nigeria, will be the official sponsor of Kano Pillars FC for the season.

Jambul assured that the company would not regret partnering the club, adding that it will be a great avenue to the company to sell its products more.

Chairman of Aspira Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmad Haruna Zago said they agreed to partner Kano Pillars FC considering the significance of football now in the society.

Zago commended the chairman of the club for making efforts to convince the company and agreed to the partnership which came to reality recently.

Dubai’sEducationTourismInitiative toBoostGrowthOpportunitiesfor NigerianStudents The Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) under its Education Tourism Initiative, CLR education consulting, and in partnership with Princewills Trust, has officially announced the commencement of the 2021 Vision and Success Opportunity Challenge.

The Vision and Success Opportunity Challenge is a forum created by Princewills Trust, where ambitious young leaders pitch ideas and strategies for furthering their vision and success in life.

The challenge is designed to help current Nigerian university undergraduates and postgraduates imagine realistic career models and investigate how to shift from concept to reality while still pursuing their studies.

Backed by an incentive of an all-expenses-paid experiential tour of the city of Dubai for the best ten submissions, the objective of the challenge is to enable Nigerian university undergraduates and postgraduates to envision viable career models and explore how from ideation to practice, while still pursuing their studies.

To participate, contestants are required to develop and submit a business model pitch in the area of their expertise.

Such business models may be novel or the offshoot of current research plans. In either case, it needs to be the original work of the contestant and each contestant is required to work solo for this challenge.

The challenge will have two rounds which include a reading Pitch Deck round and a presentation Pitch Deck round,The application is open from April 16 to 23, 2021 and 10 winners will be selected.

Director for Africa (DCTCM), Stella Ibiene Obinwa noted that, “The city of Dubai was chosen for this challenge to gain first-hand knowledge of a global business hub known for its great vision, hospitality, and commerce.

“The tour also intends to introduce participants to the next step in their vision and success journey, including learning resources and post-graduation opportunities in Dubai.”

Prince Tonye Princewill, founder and initiator of Princewills Trust, emphasised further: “I’m excited to be involved in a project like this, but I’m particularly motivated with this one because it’s Dubai.

“Not only because it is a wonderful tourist destination, which it is, but also because of the amazing educational opportunities it has with campuses of all the top universities in the world having a presence there.

“What motivates me is how Dubai moved from a vision to become reality. It is a modern template for development, governance and nation building and I see lessons there, which no books can teach you.

FaceofNaijaSoccerStarsRealityTV ShowsStartsFriday In order to promote budding talents in the game of soccer, an NGO, Kindness Guild of Nigeria, (KGN) in conjunction with the Kanu Heart Foundation has concluded plans to “unveil the face of Naija soccer stars” a TV reality show, on football talent hunt scheduled for August 9, 2021.

The organisers of the reality show, during a press briefing, said the football talent hunt is open to everyone interested in the game of football, as they have discovered that a lot of young football stars in Nigeria are in the streets looking for means to build their skills.

These set of persons are what they have decided to develop by creating a platform for them to showcase their talent and equally market them.

Project coordinator of the event, Mr Rupert Ojenua explained that the show is a way to contribute to the development of the game in Nigeria.

He explained further that the face of the Naija soccer stars reality TV show is the legendary Kanu Nwankwo, adding that he was chosen after some research and considerations especially with his humanitarian gesture of giving back to society. Ojenua added that, “the registration process involves a third party application, where interested people download the app and register after which they would be prepared and screened.After registration, an email would be sent to individuals stating scheduled screening, time and date.”

Ojenua who said the registration kicks off on Friday, April 16, 2021 emphasised that the organisers of the event have been able to put in place on COVID-19 protocols, as everyone that qualified for the soccer housemate, would be screened on COVID-19 pandemic test, and they will ensure everyone place is free, if they had not gotten the vaccine, the expenses would be carried out by the organisers.

Moreso, he said that the contestants would be educated as Segun Odegbami and many football Icons would be involved in equipping the raw talents.

He said the programme will be open to players of all ages and at the end of the show, winners will emerge and exposed to the world and opportunity to make them as big as Kanu Nwankwo and others. Ojenua highlighted some of the benefits for the two winners, as the first and second team would get a huge cash amount of N1m each and the second winner teams would go home with half a million naira each and endorsement deals.

The football legend, Nwankwo said the challenge is showcasing this raw talent to the world and efforts have been made to project football talent in the streets.

He added that as he has become a source of inspiration to many young talents in Nigeria and across the world, he only wants to collaborate in providing more opportunities for a new crop of football personalities in Nigeria to aspire and achieve seemingly unreachable goals.

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E-TRENDS

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

Reliving the Music, Fashion at Wrestlemania 37 The Nigerian Drum Fight between Apollo Crews of Nigerian descent and American Big E was among the spectacles that captivated fans at Wrestlemania 37, Vanessa Obioha reports The WWE universe was starved of Wrestlemania splendour last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, they were served a double dose. Held on two nights, the show returned with all the showbiz elements that made it arguably the grandest live audience event. From fashion, music, impressive stunts to dazzling fireworks, the over 25,000 WWE denizens that converged at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida, for the two nights had a memorable experience.

Fashion and music have long been elements of the wrestling event and this year was no different.

The WWE creative team with the guidance of the Chairman, Vince McMahon, knitted a script that exceeded expectations and grabbed headlines.

The fashion statements were first glimpsed on the first night, Saturday, April 10, when McMahon impeccably suited in a navy blue suit t— and in the company of wrestlers and other executives — welcomed the WWE fans. Since last year when the pandemic induced lockdown and limited social gatherings, the wrestlers have been performing without a live audience. Screens replaced the audience as the company adjusted to the ‘new normal.’ Therefore, having finally a crowd before them after a year, certainly required them to look their best.

Roman Reigns, still the undefeated Universal Champion, donned a dark navy blue striped suit.

He would later pay homage to his Samoan tribe on Sunday night during his title match by wearing a red garland around his neck. The garland was also an acknowledgement of his ‘Tribal Chief’ character.

His former shield partner Seth Rollins gave fans a hint of what to expect on Twitter. Embracing his new vision of becoming the leader of the Smackdown brand, Rollins posted a photo of him in a black-and-gold suit with matching spiked glasses that is reminiscent of ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage’s outlandish outfits.

The Bellas who were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame sparkled in their red outfits. While Brie kept it short and simple, Nikki’s outfit had the emblem of her former wrestling gear.

For the first time in WWE history, two black female athletes headlined the main event at Wrestlemania. The former Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and her successor Bianca Belair made history on Saturday night as the first black female wrestlers to achieve that feat. Hence, their looks got a makeover to mark the historic event. Sasha’s blue hair got a green glow which

Apollo Crews

Seth Rollins

Bebe Rexha performing at Wrestlemania 37

was also incorporated in her ring gear. Not to be outdone, the EST’s multicoloured glittering attire was embellished with her nickname and draped with glittering silver fringes, another nod to Savage’s outfits.

Shane McMahon who bullied Braun Strowman

into a Wrestlemania fight sported his usual baseball jersey that had a red and black WrestleMania colour scheme to the detailing while a “Brains > Braun” slogan in mockery of his opponent spread across the back of the jersey.

The hosts of the event Titus O’Neil and WWE

The Voice Nigeria: The Spots are Filling Up

legend Hulk Hogan opted for a pirate look on the second night.

Nigeria fashion also got a spotlight, courtesy of Apollo Crews, the American wrestler of Nigerian descent. Ever since Crews turned heel and his character modelled after his Nigerian heritage, he’s been showcasing the culture of Benue State, his ancestral home. From his matching green and white ‘a’nger’ scarf and gear to the spear, Crews carries his Nigerian royalty with pride. His Nigeria Drum Fight with the Intercontinental Champion Big E caused a frenzy as many looked up the meaning.

The match was a modem replication of an ancient duel created by his ancestors. At Wrestlemania, the ringside was surrounded by Nigerian drums covered in green fabrics, gong and other musical instruments. Crews waltzed into the stadium like a warrior, with a menacing war weapon while his theme song ‘To the Top’ characterised by drums boomed all over the stadium.

His opponent Big E was among the few wrestlers who had a musical act performing their theme song. The Grammy-nominated American rapper Wale ushered in the athlete with his performance while Ash Costello of the American rock band New Years Day sang the Gothic goddess Rhea Ripley’s theme song ‘Brutality’. American singer Bebe Rexha opened the first night with her rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’ while Ashland Craft performed on the second night.

Though he is a musician, the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny didn’t attend the event in that capacity.

Bunny was scripted into the Wrestlemania event since his feud with tag team partners Miz and John Morrison at the Royal Rumble in January.

Their rivalry culminated in Wrestlemania where Bunny displayed in-ring stunts like never seen at the event by a celebrity. Celebrity cameos are a staple in Wrestlemania and some of them hardly entertain. But last Saturday, Bunny mesmerized fans. His in-ring debut display was exceptional and raised the bar of celebrity participation at the event. Bunny flew, kicked and even performed a few stunts that sent jaws to the floor. One could have mistaken him to be a professional wrestler. Even though he had Damian Priest as a partner in the match, Bunny earned every accolade.

With Wrestlemania 37, WWE makes a bold statement about the brand and fans can only anticipate more action as the year rolls by.

New SeriesBaby Drama Premiereson Africa Magic

Vanessa Obioha With Waje taking most of the contestants on episode three, the coaches are racing to complete their teams. So far, Waje has four contestants. Yemi Alade also has four contestants on her team while Darey and Falz have only two contestants each. A total of 12 contestants have now sealed their fates and will be heading to the Knockouts. The coaches have to pick 12 contestants for their teams before they can proceed to the Knockouts stage.

The third episode saw Waje and Falz competing for contestants, but unfortunately for Falz, Waje was the preferred coach. The first contestant for the night for Waje was 24-year-old Elizabeth Osesiameh who performed ‘Love on the Brain’ by Rihanna. Her performance was followed by

The Voice Nigeria S3 coaches

Clifford Enobun, a medical doctor from Ibadan who took a break from work to participate in the singing competition. His rendition of James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s World’, however, yielded no chair turn.

The star of episode three was

Esther Benyeogo who sang ‘Rise Up’ by Andra Day. Her emotional performance brought tears to Waje’s eyes and made Darey turn from the moment she belted her first note. She joins Rachel Ogonodi on Darey’s team.

Tomorrow night will see the

contestants giving their vocal best to get a chair turn from the coach while the coaches pitch fiercely to be selected by the contestants. The Voice Nigeria airs every Saturday at 8pm on Africa Magic Channels on DStv.

A new drama series ‘Baby Drama’ that mirrors the lives of five women will be premiering on Africa Magic this April. The drama will focus on five women — Iye, Kese, Amara, Esosa and Oni — from different walks of life as they deal with the reality of how a baby or lack of one will alter their futures forever.

“Baby Drama will take viewers on an emotional rollercoaster as they get immersed in the lives of the characters, their relationships and their journeys to parenthood,” said Channel Director, Africa Magic, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu.

She added that the drama will

explore “the myths and cultural nuances associated with pregnancy, assisted reproduction and how individuals deal with the changes a baby or no baby brings. We’re excited about this new series and we are sure our viewers will be entertained by the stellar cast and excellent storytelling we are known for”.

The 13-episode series which will air at 9pm on Africa Magic Showcase (DStv channel 151) on April 21 stars Nollywood acts like Bimbo Akintola, Joseph Benjamin, Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Wole Ojo and Uru Eke.

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CASTours Lagos Command, Pledges Sustained Operations To assess the condition of the facilities in the Logistics Command of the Nigerian Airforce (NAF) and determine which ones needed to be improved upon or totally overhauled, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, recently embarked on a tour in Lagos.

Facilities assessed at the Logistics Command include the medical wing comprising the Reference Hospital, laboratory, eye and dental clinic; staff quarters, Aircraft Maintenance Depot, Engineering Facility, Logistics Facility and Helicopter Simulation Wing.

The familiarisation tour was a continuation of his previous inspection tour to NAF Training Command in Kaduna and the NAF Tactical Air Command, Markudi.

Corroborating, NAF Director

of Public Relations (DOPRI), Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said the tour was to assess existing facilities and continue from where the previous administration stopped before a change in command.

He said: “The military is all about continuation in governance, whereby when one head of service comes in, he continues in the path of his predecessor.

“We will ensure to continue to improve on facilities on ground so that insecurity can quickly become a thing of the past. The facilities are all commendable but there is always room for improvement.”

Reiterating the commitment of NAF towards fighting insurgency, he said this is being done by ensuring unity with other arms of the military; army

Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao with AOC Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Sunday Makinde and other senior officers at the Aircraft Maintenance Depot in Lagos

and the navy.

“The current problem of insecurity in the country will require the joint effort of all service branches of the military

working together to achieve a common goal.

“The airforce providing air cover and closed air support, the army with troops on ground

and the navy providing the needed might to guide our water and coastal regions.

“It is all about ensuring that sustained operations

and power is been delivered on point and also putting the right people in place to take charge of these responsibilities,” he said.

”UK Remains Committed to Supporting Nigeria’s Culture, Creative Industries” Chiamaka Ozulumba The Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones has restated the country’s commitment to Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and her creative industries, in further enhancing the NigerianBritish relationship.

He made this remarks recently at a private performance by the Lagos Theatre Festival organised by the Nigeria-Britain Association (N-BA) in conjunction with the Lagos Theatre Festival, at the residence of the British Deputy High Commissioner In his remarks, the commissioner said he was particularly happy about the partnership between the Nigeria-Britain Association and the Lagos Theatre Festival.

“It’s good to see that the work British Council started by establishing the Lagos Theatre Festival and handed over to the

L/R: N-BA President, Sola Tinubu; Veteran Actor, Joke Silva; British Deputy High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones; Executive Director Lagos Theatre Festival, Bikiya Graham-Douglas; Vice Patron N-BA, Chief Bintan Famutimi and Vice President N-BA, Mr. Stephen Forbes

independent board has made commendable progress.

“Nigeria has a large economy across Africa, and is home to rich cultural heritage and offers great opportunities in the areas of dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts.

“The Nigerian cultural and creative industry has grown over the years and stood the

test of time. This is evident in its contribution to the Nigerian economy through its increased job creation and export earnings.

“The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) estimates that the movie industry generates between $500 million and $800 million annually, and

accounts for about 2 per cent of the GDP. “However, there is still a lot to be done, as there are specific challenges faced by the industry. Unfortunately, over the past year, the pandemic has also had its negative effects on the industry as stage plays and live concerts were put on hold.

“Regardless, even in these challenging times, we have seen a shift in the music industry as two Nigerian artistes – Burna Boy and Wizkid won the Grammy Awards this year, hence there is no doubt that other sectors in the creative industry will excel more with the right levels of exposure and partnerships.

“The UK remains committed to supporting the Nigerian cultural and creative industries and I hope discussions from today’s event helps to strengthen the UK-Nigeria relationship,” he said.

Also speaking, the President,

Nigeria-Britain Association (NBA), Mr. Shola Tinubu noted that N-BA has a rich heritage that dates back over 51 years.

“The N-BAwas incorporated as a non- profit trust, with the primary objective to develop relationships between individuals and organisations in Nigeria, Britain and the Commonwealth resident in Nigeria through the exchange of culture and encouragement of sponsorship for the common good.

“This evening, we proudly present a drama presentation by the Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF). LTF is the largest performing arts festival in West Africa. It grew from the need to promote theatre in a unique way.

“Practitioners (producers and content makers) are encouraged to create art works that can adapt to unconventional spaces beyond mere traditional theatre stage spaces.

“The Festival was founded

by the British Council in 2013 and sought to strengthen relationships between Britain and Nigeria through theatre. It has continued to grow and is now being managed by a Board of Directors comprising actors, arts entrepreneurs, producers/ directors and arts enthusiasts.

“The N-BA is proud to be involved with the 2021 edition of the Festival, tagged ‘Reckless Art’ as it presents an opportunity for creators to be innovative in driving creativity and performances without any limits.”

Tinubu concluded that, in the associations drive towards encouraging arts, creativity, culture and youth development, the association partnered with the LTF “in an exclusive/ private drama presentation to drive N-BA objectives in the area of arts, culture and youth development in collaboration with the British Deputy High Commission.”

LaraAdemolaWinsAgainasChairmanof1004Estate New Samsung Galaxy A Series Make Innovation Accessible to Gen Z The recent general election by tion of the current term of the of HORA Constitution which

1004 Estate House Owners and Residents Association (HORA) Lagos, has thrown up Barrister Omolara Ademola as the new chairman.

Ademola, who held forte as acting chairman of HORA in the last one year, won despite past attacks by opposition that saw a diatribe of allegations pelted against her.

The opposition were part of a group of residents that reportedly indulged in illegal connection of electricity and non payment of service charge who alleged that Ademola misappropriated about N9billion.

The story went viral in most major online platforms, social, print and electronic media and it took the effort of some residents who were in the majority to debunk the allegation as unfounded.

Thus, the recent general election followed the expira-

exco as the HORA Constitution stipulates that executive officers of the association shall hold office for two years, at the expiration of which, another election would take place.

Determined to continue offering her services irrespective of distraction from her traducers, she vied for the full chairmanship position.

Another aspirant in the person of Edith Onigbe formerly of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and homeowner in the estate, also put herself forward for the chairmanship position.

However, at about 7am on the election day, Onigbe reportedly put a public notice in the estate announcing her formal withdrawal from the race.

This scenario invariably madeAdemola a sole candidate to the position. However; in order to fulfill the requirements

stipulates that in the event of a sole candidacy, there must be a majority win or the position will be re-contested; votes were cast for her.

At the end of the exercise, she got 76.4 per cent vote, which by the constitution was a majority vote. She was thereby declared the winner.

Other positions were contested for, and the following persons emerged winners: Deji Kolawole as Vice Chairman 1; JoshuaAnemeje Vice Chairman 2; and Chike Egbuji as General Secretary.

They have all since been sworn in on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.

Voting during the election was done virtually in compliance with COVID-19 protocols and it was coordinated by Chams Plc; a renowned information technology firm in Nigeria.

Vanessa Obioha As part of its commitment to making its products available to all, particularly the trendsetting Gen Z, Samsung recently launched a new Galaxy A series. The phones A32, A52 and A72 come with a higher quality camera that allows users to immerse themselves in a clear viewing experience with a smooth scrolling display and enjoy greater peace of mind with innovative Galaxy foundation features including water resistance and a long-lasting battery. This new powerful innovation makes communication seamless.

“Samsung strives to give consumers what they want and need most. That’s why we set out with a vision for the Galaxy A series to democratise

Galaxy innovations for everyone,” said Iretiogo Oke, Head of Marketing at Samsung Nigeria. “The Galaxy A32, A52and A72 encapsulate the Galaxy brand philosophy with cutting-edge innovations, services and features at an accessible price.”

The latest A series stands out with its unique camera features. The A52 and A72 allow users to turn 4k videos into 8MP resolution images with 4K video snap; create sharp and steady images day or night and add style and unique flair to content using AR Emoji, My Filter and AR lenses from Snapchat with Fun Mode. To enable users to enjoy their phones without the fear of running low on battery, the new A series provides a long-lasting battery

for users. For instance, the Galaxy A32 and A72 come with a 5,000mAh battery while the A52, a 4,500mAh battery.

The A52 and A72 are equipped with the Galaxy essentials including stereo speakers and external memory up to 1TB. Also, the redesigned One UI 3 helps enable more intuitive experiences and consistent interactions by increasing speed, reducing distractions and highlighting important information. The Galaxy A52 and A72 will support software upgrades for three generations, and regular security updates for a minimum of four years.

With a sleek design, the new A series van be found in Awesome Violet, Awesome Blue, Awesome Black, and Awesome White.

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ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

DMX Factor: Between Music and Master Recording Ownership The death of hip-hop’s most vicious voice, Earl Simmons otherwise known as DMX on April9raisesthequestionofanartist’spassionoverrights.Yinka Olatunbosun writes

D

MXmaynot have been one of the richest or mostdecorated hip-hop artists of his time but he has some of the most iconic hip-hop anthems, with significant contributions to the evolution of gangsta rap of the late 90s and early 2000s. “Party Up (Up in Here),’’ “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” “X Gon Give it to Ya,’’ “Slippin’’ “We Right Here’’ are some of his hit songs that changed the sound of hip-hop after the genre lost Tupac and Notorious B.I.G in less than two years following a long and heated battle that went from studio to the streets or the reverse.

DMX, fondly called ‘X’ was all about the hard-core hip-hop, unwilling to dance to the tunes of the industry that dictates how an artist should look or even sound. Despite the bad boy appeal, he won the hearts of many with his openly displayed spirituality. X’s skit titled “Prayer’’ defines what gangsta prayer is and he kept his game tight even with his frequent races against the law. His troubled life was easily traced to his childhood trauma- having his weed laced with crack at age 14 by a mentor. Growing up in one of Yonker’s school street projects, abandoned by his mother, robbery became his means of survival. X would rather rob drug dealers instead of staying on the streets to sell drugs. In spite of his battle with drug addiction, X found an escapism in rap. His voice, a gritty-growl, is phenomenal, attention-grabbing and noisy.

During an interview on BET documentary movie titled ‘Ruff Ryders Chronicles,’ his first wife, Tashera, revealed much about his multiple personalities. She thought DMX is the best of his characters. According to her, DMX is a brilliant writer, the entertainer with warm personality, funny and very generous. Though he fathered children about the size of a football team with players in reserve, DMX struggled to provide for his children and his community. While his Ruff Ryders members were buying

DMX

exotic cars, homes and jewelries, he was privately donating his earnings to charities including churches.

This is how some of his associates and fans have chosen to remember him. For instance, the record producer, Swiss Beats in an emotional video said that DMX “lived his life for everyone else.’’ It is not a surprise that even the master recordings of his songs may now belong to him.

It has been assumed that DMX’s former record label, Def Jam Recordings are the owners of his masters but that is yet to be confirmed officially.

Meanwhile, when Jay-Z became the President of Def Jam in 2004, a whole lot happened. In a documentary interview, DMX revealed that his album then which was due for release was never released even though he had shot the video to one of this songs in it.

And when he asked the label about it, he was given the run around. So he just assumed that, may be, he was seen as a rival to Jay-Z. Some of X’s associates argued that his frequent arrests and detention alongside drug addiction may have informed the decision to not release his album.

DMX’s bankruptcy indicates that he probably isn’t getting enough royalties upon having several number one billboard rap albums. For many artists, owning the master recording is smart business. Many artists forfeit or share their legal rights to the master recording when they need financial

support, marketing and promotion of their work. The implication is that the recording label can use the masters without consent or approval of the artist.

Some recording companies insist on the claiming the masters on the premise that they own the music equipment and expertise that made the body of work.

With a catalog like DMX’s, millions of dollars can be realized annually on royalties. Fortunately, many younger generation of artists are very become more conscious of the business side of music than their predecessors who placed passion over rights. A case in point is Davido, NigerianAmerican singer and record producer. When he signed a recording deal with Sony’s RCA records in 2016 worth of $1million, he retained his rights to his music and performances.

“Before signing the deal in January, I consulted widely especially with the renowned entertainment lawyer, Joel Katz who had represented many global stars such as Michael Jackson, Ludacris, Justin Timberlake and more.

Katz explained to me that I should look at the bigger picture. And I am happy that I own my licenses and masters 100 per cent,’’ Davido once said in an interview.

From the example of DMX, and others like Tupac, it is obvious that talent is not enough to make an artist thrive; it must be matched by a sense of purpose and rewards for artistry.

Lagos International Jazz Festival 2021 Set for Virtual Shows Yinka Olatunbosun In compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings, the 2021 edition of the Lagos International Jazz Festival (LIJF) will be streamed live to jazz lovers.

This was disclosed during a radio show which featured the Founder and Artistic Director, LIJF, Ayoola Shadare who turns 50 next month.

The festival which takes place on May 14 and 15 will also honour the Founder of The Cape Town Jazz Festival, Rashid Lombard who turned 70 recently.

Lombard had been instrumental to the birth of the Lagos International Jazz Festival in 2008. The first edition featured some of the best names in contemporary

jazz including Freshlyground, a South African Afro-fusion band with members drawn from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Other later editions of LIJF had featured an eclectic collection of artists such as the two-time Grammy winner and percussionist, Lekan Babalola. LIJF was fashioned after Cape Town Jazz Festival to be a massive tourist attraction and a cultural staple.

Over the years, the survival of LIJF has been threatened by illtimed fuel scarcity and paucity of funds. But it never stopped being the most audacious show with three stages in its traditional venue, Freedom Park, named after some fore bearers of Jazz music in Nigeria. Improvisation and pure talent had always been the

factors for enlisting artists for the shows. It was no surprise to see the Fuji music legend, Abass Akande Obesere performing on the LIJF show with his band as a major headliner.

Shadare had childhood influences in jazz from listening to his father’s rich music collection that boasts of the likes of Ambrose Campbell, Baba Gani Agba, Victor Olaiya and more. While reflecting on the impact that the jazz festival can have on Nigeria’s economy, Shadare acknowledged the support of the former Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode is celebrating Lagos at 50 with fifty jazz artists.

“It will take a visionary government to see the impact that LIJF can have on tourism,’’ he said during the interview.

Heroine of Our Generation: Book on Akunyili Gets Archbishop’s Support Yinka Olatunbosun The Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan has extolled ongoing plans to document the legacies of late Prof Dora Akunyili, former Minister of Information and erstwhile ex-Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC. Onaiyekan expressed his support while receiving some committee members of the Dora Akunyuli Commemorative Project, led by Dr. Ejike Oji, National Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning at his home in Abuja.

According to the Catholic cleric, Dora Akunyili lived an exemplary life and deserved every honour possible as a way of teaching people the need to leave positive footprints on earth.

“I knew her when she was the Director General of the NAFDAC, before she was made a Minister. In both positions, she showed great leadership qualities that are worthy of emulation.

As the DG of NAFDAC, she put in everything to fight the menace of fake drugs against all odds, even at the risk of her own life. Such sacrifice to the nation is worthy of being celebrated. I commend every effort to immortalise her, and pray that this effort is supported by all relevant stakeholders in our country,” he said.

In his remarks, Dr. Ejike Oji,

revealed that part of the plans to immortalise the late Dora Akunyuli, includes the public presentation of a book, ‘Heroine of Our Generation’, authored by Ikechukwu Emedolibe, which is being done in collaboration with the National Centre for Women Development.

“This is a sensitisation visit to inform you of the plans to immortalise Prof DoraAkunyuli, which is at an advanced stage in collaboration with the National Centre for Women Development. Part of the process includes the public presentation of the book, ‘Heroine of Our Generation’, which was written to entrench the culture of service, honesty, transparency and courage in government as exemplified by DoraAkunyili, withthehopethatotherswouldemulate her. This committee recognises the fact that you were very supportive of Dora’s ideals while she was alive, which is why we are here to let you know of the arrangements. We will also take the sensitisation visit to other important members of the public who share in the values Dora represented in her lifetime”.

Other members of the committee include Moji Makanjuola, Mohammad Idris Umar, Obumneme Akunyili, Kelly Elisha, Ikechukwu Emedolibe and Martin Obiora Iloh; with advisory support by Dr. Chike Akunyili and Otunba Segun Runsewe, DirectorGeneral, National Council for Arts and Culture.

Book cover

Goethe Institut Reopens Office atVictoria Island, Presents Book Yinka Olatunbosun The German Cultural Centre, Goethe Institut Lagos has opened a new office in Victoria Island Lagos following the attack on the former office in the aftermath of the EndSARS protest in October 2020. The former office which was situated at the Lagos City Mall was one of the damaged properties in Lagos. Prior to relocating to another facility, Goethe Institut had enjoyed the French hospitality at Alliance Francaise in Ikoyi where they had temporarily been in operation.

The new office in Victoria Island is now open daily for enquiries at office hours as well as consultation at fixed time. At the moment, all language courses are being registered online as exams now take place online.

Meanwhile, Goethe Institut Nigeria had also announced the release of the book, “Who’s Who in the Yoruba Pantheon.’’ Written by Peju Akande, Toni Kan, Jahman Anikulapo with illustrations by the visual artist, Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, the book is full of facts and fun, revealing details about Yemoja, Sango, Osun and Esu. Every chapter provides information about the origin, characteristics, the symbols and the devotees of each individual orisa and tells a story from their diverse lives about love jealousy, fights and shape-shifting. Using the book, the writers dispel colonial preconceptions about local spirituality. Published by Iwalewa Boks and Goethe Institut Lagos, the book is now available in leading bookstores and on the publishing house’s website.

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Foluke AbdulRazaq: The Many Stripes of the Amazon at 65 Jumoke Damilola Olakunle

O

neofthemostmemorable subnational administrations in Nigeria was the military regime of retired Gen. Buba Marwa in Lagos State. Not only was it known for its tough crackdowns on violent crimes, the regime is reputed to have kickstarted what is today regarded as the country’s most efficient revenue generation template. At the heart of that success story was a young, brilliant financial expert from the famed Abibu Oki family of Lagos State and the Labisi Olugbesan clan of Ibadan: Alhaja Foluke Kafayat AbdulRazaq (FKA) who turns 65 today, April 16, 2021.

FKA, an acronym of her names by which friends and families fondly call her, was Lagos’s first and only female commissioner of Finance to date. The famed Lagos State Accelerated Revenue Generation Programme (ARGP) was formulated during her stint as the Finance Commissioner. She served between 1997 and 1999 when Nigeria reverted to civilian rule. A part of her tenure was spent as Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development. FKA’s great exploits in these key roles earned her the trophy as Lagos State Woman of Excellence Award in 1999.

Her appointment was preceded by a successful career in the banking sector, having worked at the defunct IBWA which metamorphosed into Afribank. She later worked at Credite Bank Nigeria Limited from which she was appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC) as the executive chairman of the Interim Management Board of the bank.

The ARGP success, now impressively built upon by successive Lagos administrations, is a product of strategic thinking, hard work, grit, and discipline with which friends and associates have credited the amazon.

FKA is a product of good education and mentorship — apart from being a chip off some remarkably great Lagos and Ibadan ancestries. Mrs Foluke Kafayat AbdulRazaq is an alumnus of the University of Ibadan from which she bagged a Master of Science (MSc) in Banking and Finance. Mrs. AbdulRazaq is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, among other executive courses she has attended.

A non-executive Director of the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) from 2008 to 2020, she was the chairman of the Bank’s Board Credit Committee as well as member of the Statutory Audit, Nominations and Governance committees till November 2019.

With a distinctive record of service in finance, banking, stockbroking, business and public office, FKA was in June 2020 appointed as Vice Chairman of Transcorp PLC, one of Nigeria’s largest diversified conglomerates.

AbdulRazaq

Shortly after her stint in the Lagos cabinet, she took up an appointment with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited, where she headed several departments, including Administration Management Services, Commercial and Corporate Development. She was also Executive Director, ML Securities Limited (1999 -2001), a stock brokerage firm.

She served on the board of Nigeria’s largest construction company, Julius Berger plc (1997-2000), as a Non-Executive Director and Vice-President, Bank Directors’ Association of Nigeria (BDAN), amongst others.

She is currently a member of the Governing Board of Lagos State University (LASU); a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD); Women Corporate Directors, Olave Baden-

Powell Society; (OBPS) and Sarah-Adebisi Sosan Foundation.

FKA’s passion for children and education led to her founding the prestigious Bridge House College in Ikoyi, Lagos, in 2004. The Bridge House is an household upscale independent private sixth-form co-educational institution with the aim of bridging the gap for High School leavers to cross to universities of their choices all over the world. This role of moulding the next generation aligns with her childhood dream of ‘making impact in the lives of people around me and playing a vital role in raising the next generation.’

At 65, Alhaja is deeply involved in humanitarian and religious activities.

She currently serves on the National Council of Executives of NASFAT and Board of Trustees of the Fountain University Oshogbo, among others, as her contributions to the Islamic faith community.

Fondly called FKA by her friends and admirers, Mrs. AbdulRazaq is happily married to Dr. Alimi AbdulRazaq, a distinguished lawyer and arbitrator, prominent politician and accomplished businessman from Ilorin.

He is the first son of the revered Alhaji AGF AbdulRazaq, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Their near four-decade marriage is blessed with children and grandchildren. Here is to life more abundant to the amazon who continues to inspire the girlchild to greatness! t+VNPLF XSJUFT GSPN -BHPT

Betsy Obaseki Calls for More Women Participation in Governance Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The wife of Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki; Mrs Betsy Obaseki, has called for more women participation in governance.

This is just as she called for collective effort among men and women in Nigeria to change the narrative and take Nigeria to its desired height in the comity of

nations.

Mrs. Obaseki made the declaration while delivering the opening address, during a summit organised by the Office of the First Lady of Nigeria, Hajia Aisha Buhari, in collaboration with Women and National Development with the theme: Emerging Trends in the Role of the First Lady in National Developmenti”.

The Edo State First Lady

who reviewed statistics that placed Nigeria at 5.9 per cent in the participation of women in politics, in contrast to other African Countries such as Rwanda with 61 per cent, Senegal and Namibia with over 41 per cent, expressed shock and disappointment at Nigeria’s abysmally low performance among African countries in this regard.

The Edo First Lady urged other first ladies across Nigeria to go beyond their traditional roles and take on the role of facilitators to support and encourage capable women in their various states to pursue careers in politics and governance and also encourage their husbands to support these women for the advancement of their states and the nation at

large.

Mrs. Obaseki, however commended the contributions and impact made by the First Lady of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari, describing her as a mother and mentor who has in a most unusual fashion taken the office of the First Lady to higher dimensions, encouraging and influencing state First Ladies in gaining deserved relevance through impact-

ful projects and programs.

The wife of Edo governor, also took the opportunity to celebrate the character of Aisha Buhari, who she described as an enigma, amazon, and a voice for the voiceless, the defender of truth, justice and equity, who speaks truth to power and how these virtues have endeared her to most Nigerians.

36

T H I S D AY ˾

ͯʹ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

POLSCOPE

F

áÓÞÒ ÎÎã ÎÓàáÜÓ ÏÎÎã˛ÙÎÓàáÜÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט ͸΀͸ͽ ͻ͸; ΁ͻͽ;

Why Insecurity Won’t Go Away Soon

or over three full years, the menace of insecurity has literally seized the front pages of the nation’s newspapers, just as it has formed the fulcrum of many discourses. The more “technically defeated” we claim that the plague has been subjected to, the more we are hounded and pounded by the affliction. And for a while, it is almost appearing like an enigma. Not even the loud clamour for the eventual change in security architecture (over three months ago) has yet proved to be the elixir we need, neither does the appointment of a new Acting Inspector General of Police raise hope of a better policed Nigeria.

Indeed, the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai had declared that we shall remain in the cesspool of insecurity for another 20 years. Maybe, he is right.

Those who think that the problem will go away as soon as President Buhari leaves office, in 2023, are in deep delusion. The problem will verily outlast the Buhari administration.

Yes, he inherited the problem, but it is clear that he has not been able to sufficiently and decisively deal with it. As a result, we have witnessed a mutation of the problem by way of other variants like Banditry, Kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of violence.

It was seven clear years by last Wednesday that the Chibok Girls’ abduction took place.

112 girls have remained in captivity, even though the Buhari administration negotiated the release of a few, some years ago. But 112 girls remain unreleased, ditto Leah Shaibu of the Dapchi school abduction. Many times, we think, the Government has forgotten about the girls and simply moved on. The #BBOG campaigners have even gone wearied. They no longer talk about it.

Aside the usual public speeches by Mr President and other top government functionaries to give us hope, there is nothing before us to reinforce our faith in the current situation.

I foresee a long night in this wilderness.

I am no prophet of doom. It will be a major campaign issue when the race for 2023 begins.

Yet, it will be hogwash.

It will be so because of some of the understated reasons and more. t4NBMM VOEFS FRVJQQFE JMM NPUJWBUFE 1PMJDF 'PSDF Perhaps, the foundation of the nation’s insecurity issue lies in the fact that Nigeria is completely under-policed. For a nation that has an estimated population of over 200 million to be policed by less than 50,000 policemen shows that we are indeed under-policed. That explains why in critical times of attack, too often, the police gets overwhelmed by the avalanche of the attackers. We saw vivid examples during the #EndSARS protests, the attack on Imo Police Command, and sundry other instances where the police, rather than being the bulwark rampart of defence, they become easy preys and vulnerable folks, leading to fatal ends, most times.

But beyond the sheer numerical insufficiency lies the poor treatment of the police force.

It is a wonder they are even able to do the much they achieve. A visit to either a regular police station or a police barracks will leave anyone wondering how people who work or live in such environments are expected to function with maximum impact. They are patently dirty and unhealthy environments.

Some policemen practically live and work in the small cubicles, (sometime of wooden construct), as they neither have official quarters nor can they afford to rent apartments outside the barracks. Policemen are hardly taken care of. They enjoy no motivation from anybody. No wonder the new IGP, Usman Baba, has started off with trying to see how the welfare and wellbeing of the Nigerian Police can be improved. The policemen virtually buy everything they need to do their work. Except the guns, perhaps. But even the guns and other arsenals in their armoury are mostly out-dated and weak and that is why the more sophisticated weaponry of their assailants often ram them into cowardice and acquiescence.

They buy their own uniforms, they buy their own boots and shoes, they even buy their own hand-cuffs with which they hand-cuff suspects. What’s more, they buy their own “statement sheets” with which suspects or complainants write their statements. They fuel and even repair the bedraggled patrol vans themselves. Yet, in all of these basics, nobody is even talking about regular training.

Is it any wonder that policemen are often tempted to either compromise the course of justice or outrightly connive with suspects

Gen Lucky Irabor

and criminals to undo the state?

But for the modus operandi of the Nigeria Police Force, policemen and women would have been going through strike actions as often as Nigerian doctors. They actually did a few years ago, and the leaders got sacked.

In the prevailing circumstance, how do we expect to get the best from such depraved and disoriented police force? How can they knowingly lay down their lives in the defence of the citizenry, when they are not Jesus Christ, knowing that when they die, that is the end of the story. Not even their tiny entitlements would be given to their families without having to surrender more than half the value of the entitlement, as bribe, to even fellow policemen working in the offices! How can such policemen actually do the work?

Few years ago, when the Buhari administration talked about recruiting 10,000 policemen, it became an exercise nearly marred by politicians who recommended over 75 per cent of those who were hired, without strict adherence to cognate qualifications.

It is trite to say we need far more personnel in the police force. I think one sure way of boosting this is by allowing the state police agitation to be actualized. With State Police, the various states will have more personnel, and the ratio of Policemen to the citizenry, will surely improve. t1PPS BOE JSSFHVMBS SFDSVJUNFOU JOUP UIF 4FDVSJUZ "HFODJFT Closely related to the above is the issue of irregular and poor recruitment of personnel into the various security organisations in Nigeria. Put together, the entire armada of the security agencies in Nigeria is less than 500,000. For a country battling insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and all kinds of violence in virtually all parts of the country, how does the paltry figure of 500,000 combat the platoons of criminals in every corner of the country?

How often are the various services recruit new personnel? How many do they recruit?

Aside wages and salaries, what other major item takes the budget of the security agencies?

Imagine the controversies that have dogged the $1 billion arms deal to combat terrorists. Is it not feared to have got missing or mismanaged? How can funds provided for arms to combat crime and criminals end up in people’s bank accounts, soak-away pits or used to buy properties in Dubai? And we want insecurity to end?

6OFNQMPZNFOU Some people have argued that the state of unemployment in Nigeria has further fueled the malaise of insecurity. With the army of uneducated Alamajiri who are immediate raw materials to the Boko Haram/terrorism industry plus the array of unemployed graduates milling around the country, it is no surprise that there is a growing swathe of criminals in the land. Is it not said that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop? Those so skewed in the path of crime argue that it is better they die committing a crime that will grant them some livelihood than hunger killing them, adding, as they say in pidgin, “all die na die”!

The sophistication of the various shades of crime in the society today bespeaks of an industry of educated but unemployed people.

Is it not the IT knowledge, for instance, that is boosting the growth in cyber crimes? It

Buhari

is sad that educated youths who could put their IT skills to good and productive use are deploying same skills in causing a ruckus in the cyber space, in what is infamously described as Yahoo-Yahoo business.

The more jobs the government helps to make available to the teeming youths, the faster there will be a drop in crime index in Nigeria.

Yes, government may not have the capacity to employ everyone, but it has the responsibility to create the enabling environment that will provide jobs and other ancillary businesses that can engage quite a number of people. One of such basic enabling environment is stable electricity. It is a crying shame that right from the time of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term, in Year 2000, Nigeria has been struggling with unstable electricity supply. Despite the unbundling of NEPA, privatisation of the industry, we are still in the woods as far as electricity supply is concerned, in spite of the humongous funds that have been expended by government on the matter. Are we jinxed? t/P *OWFTUNFOUT One of the reasons why unemployment is growing and worsening is because there are no foreign investments. Many foreign companies that used to invest in Nigeria have literally turned their back on Nigeria. No thanks to the twin challenge of Insecurity and irregular electricity supply. In the President Obasanjo years, there used to be the Foreign Direct Investment Council whose duty it was to attract investors into Nigeria. I do not know what has become of the Council and what it has been able to do after Obasanjo left.

Apart from the challenge of insecurity and electricity, the trouble of doing business in Nigeria is another huge disincentive. The Federal Government had made much noise on the so-called Ease of Doing Business. It has remained mere radio slogan as the stress and aches associated with doing business in Nigeria has simply grown from bad to worse.

When goods cannot be cleared from the ports for two or more weeks, there is no need for a prophet to announce that the situation is bad. t.PSUJGJDBUJPO PG 4.&T The Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) should be the nucleus of every economy, even in the developed countries.

Apart from being a big boost to the GDP of the country, SMEs are major employers of labour. But when deliberately or inadvertently, government policies and their agents help to snuff life out of the SMEs through various harsh conditions like multiple taxation, harassment etc., the result is that the SMEs either perform below capacity or summarily just die. In more ways than one, the non-viability of SMEs help to populate the crime world and promote state of insecurity. t4FFNJOH 1SPGJUBCJMJUZ PG $SJNF If engaging in the crime of kidnapping, for instance, can yield in one week, what a Director in the civil service cannot garner in ten years of service, then crime can be said to be profitable. When persons are kidnapped, huge sums are demanded as ransom. And that was how we had a Billionaire kidnapping kingpin, Evans, few years ago. They live large in the society, just as they are venerated and respected. They thus become “satanic

mentors” to younger persons who see them as models, without reckoning that the end of such persons are usually bitter and dire.

This is one of the reasons the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has bluntly refused to negotiate with bandits who have been killing and kidnapping people in parts of the North west, including Kaduna State. t NJMMJPO *MMFHBM BSNT GMPBUJOH JO UIF TPDJFUZ Two weeks ago, the former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalam Abubakar, shocked the nation when he announced that there are about six million illegal arms floating in the country.

As a former Head of State, the claim cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. It is believed that he has his facts, Six Million illegal arms in the hands of illegal arms-bearing persons. That’s great danger!

It is not surprising how the proliferation of arms have helped to raise the bar of insecurity in the country. Everywhere you turn, there are guns and guns. Matters are not helped by the fact that there are also local manufacturers of guns across the country.

But what appears a near mystery is how all these cache of arms manage to swim into the country even as security agencies like the immigration, Customs Service and Civil Defence units claim to be manning our evidently porous borders.

The Libyan crisis, plus the Sudan upheaval and the unrest in parts of DR Congo have helped to cause a free floatation of arms in the sub-region.

How will government successfully mop up these arms from the society? The fewer the illegal arms in circulation, the more secured society would be.

-BDL PG PS 1PPS *5 BTTJTUFE 5FDIOPMPHZ The things that trouble developing nations are a legion. The absence of modern technological gadgets or equipment that have helped to keep crime at bay in advanced countries are yet haranguing us as a nation. The absence of CCTV, for instance, have helped to mystify many crime scenarios. More than ten years after, we do not know what has happened to the Abuja CCTV project, which was meant to keep track of crime in the FCT. Even if we have videographic evidences, we do not have a single forensic laboratory in the country to process such evidences.

Not even in Lagos do we have CCTV in major public places, let alone on the streets.

How will criminals not strike and eternally vanish?

Imagine how we have been struggling with basic national data from the time of late Sunday Afolabi as Internal Affairs minister, under former President Obasanjo!. Till today, we are still nibbling with our National Identification Number (NIN). Is that not why kidnappers can have over 200 SIM cards with which they call families of their captives for ransom?

And nobody can trace or track them.

All said, the nation is heading to the precipice with this insecurity menace. With Shege kafasa, in the north, Amotekun in the South West, Ebube-Agu in the South East and Egbesu or MEND in the Niger Delta, all is clearly not well with the Nigerian state. That is why President Buhari should , beyond jaded rhetoric, rise up and pull back Nigeria from the brinks. The time to recover Nigeria is now.

37

FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021 • T H I S D AY

RE: OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR BABAJIDE SANWOOLU ON OSBORNE FORESHORE RESIDENTIAL ESTATE SCHEME II We remain amused at the antics of the Osborne Foreshore Residents’ Association (OSFRA) in playing up emotions and muddling up the issues.

On our part, we remain undauntedly focused on sacrosanct and relevant issues which are addressed by the following questions: 1. DOES LEKKI GARDENS ESTATES LIMITED (LEKKI GARDENS) HAVE APPROVALS FOR IT PROJECTS IN THE ESTATE? Yes, it does. And the evidence is available at the Lagos State Ministry of Town Planning and Urban Development (the Ministry).

2. HAS LEKKI GARDENS BEEN GOING BEYOND ITS APPROVALS? No, it has not. Which is why the Lagos State Government (LASG) and the Ministry have allowed it to carry on with its projects after and despite several reviews based on the baseless petitions by OSFRA. 3. DOES OSFRA HAVE THE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO DEMAND THE SUBMISSION AND FURTHER REVIEW OF APPROVALS GIVEN BY LASG? No, it does not. Only the LASG and it designated agencies are thus empowered by law which is why we challenged OSFRA’S illegal demands in a competent court of law.

4. DOES OSFRA HAVE THE RIGHT TO UNILATERALLY IMPOSE PUNITIVE FEES AND CHARGES ON DEVELOPERS WITHIN THE ESTATE? No, it does not. And we have peacefully challenged same in a competent court of law.

5. DOES OSFRA HAVE THE RIGHT TO DENY A DEVELOPER ACCESS TO ITS PROJECTS WITHIN THE ESTATE AFTER DUE APPROVALS FROM THE AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND IN BLATANT AND BRAZEN DISREGARD TO THE INTERIM DECISION IN AN ON-GOING LEGAL ACTION? No, it does not. Which is why we resorted to petitioning the security agencies and the law courts, who have all agreed with and upheld our position.

6. SHOULD OSFRA CONTINUE TO DISREGARD THE LEGAL AUTHORITY OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT, THE ADVICE OF THE SECURITY AGENCIES AS WELL AS THE POSITION OF A COMPETENT COURT OF LAW? No, it should not. And its persistence just shows the desperation of the association to achieve its selfish agenda without a care for constitutionality or due process.

CONCLUSION We would expect OSFRA to desist from playing to the gallery in the media and rather test the authenticity of its positions in a competent court of law while resisting the urge to resort habitually to aggressive self-help tactics.

We say this fully aware that the various interventions and reviews of the State government and its agencies, based on OSFRA’s earlier emotional petitions appear not to have assuaged the agenda of the association’s current executives. As in its jaundiced opinion, only a government action supporting its unreasonable demands can be fair.

Apparently, the current executive of OSFRA believe that by daily bombarding the State Governor with emotional SOS messages in the media, he would unilaterally disregard and overrule the professional opinion of his Honorable Commissioner and the array of competent professionals including Engineers, Architects, Town Planners, etc. who have previously reviewed our projects based on same spurious petitions and allowed us to continue work on our projects.

We are confident that our State is not run that flippantly.

SIGNED

MANAGEMENT OF LEKKI GARDENS ESTATES LIMITED

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ APRIL 16, 2021

38

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Standard Bank Appoints Sanni Chief Executive for Africa Oluchi Chibuzor The Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets has appointed Yinka Sanni as its new Chief Executive for Africa Regions and a member of the Group Leadership Council.

Sanni, the group’s Regional Chief Executive for West Africa, takes over from Sola David-Borha, who is retiring after 31 years of service to the banking group.

This was disclosed in a statement yesterday.

Sanni holds a B. Agric. (Hons) degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nigeria and an MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University. He attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in 2009, and the Global CEO Programme at the Wharton School in 2017. He has over 30

years of experience in the financial sector across wholesale, retail and asset management, and joined Standard Bank Group’s Nigerian subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, in December 1990.

In a note to employees, Standard Bank Group CEO, Sim Tshabalala, congratulated Sanni on his appointment and thanked David-Borha for her extraordinary contributions to the group.

“Sola was appointed as the Chief Executive of Africa Regions in January 2017 and is one of the group’s most deeply expert and experienced bankers,” Tshabalala said.

“Under her leadership, the Africa Regions portfolio has grown remarkably in capacity, market share and contribution to the group’s headline earnings.”

David-Borha has been a passionate advocate of culture

change and executive leadership development, having sponsored the ‘Last Mile’ programme, which has resulted in the successful promotion of talented people into both Regional Chief Executive and Country Chief Executive positions, including the appointment of two female Chief Executives in the Africa Regions business.

“It has been a great honour and privilege to serve and contribute to the growth of the Standard Bank Group,” David-Borha said.

“I am delighted to be handing over to Yinka Sanni, an exceptional, authentic and experienced leader who will take the baton forward in driving Africa’s growth.”

David-Borha will remain with the group until the end of June to ensure a successful leadership transition and handover process.

Sanni’s appointment is effective from today, 15 April.

Sanni

MARKET INDICATORS

VFD Group Gets SEC Approval for Proposed N4.13bn Rights Issue Lagos-based proprietary investment company, VFD Group, has received clearance from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed rights issue of 7,452,054 Ordinary Shares of 50 Kobo each at N556 per share. The offer is based on one share for every 16 shares held. The proposed rights issue was approved by the Board of Directors of the company at its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which held last November.

The capital raise is part of the long-term strategic plan of VFD Group to harness the opportunities in selected companies that

meet VFD Group’s Investment criteria. A statement yesterday quoted its Group Managing Director/CEO, Nonso Okpala, to have expressed gratitude to the regulatory body over the approval, while hinting on the next phase of the business.

“Our expansion drive has been a long time coming and with this clearance, one of our immediate first steps is the enhancement of our systems, and the integration of all our subsidiary offerings under a very effective and technological platform. We are focused on expanding further within the local financial services industry as well as on the African

continent,” he disclosed.

VFD Group is a proprietary investment company that focuses on building positive and socially conscious ecosystems by aggregating potentially viable business with the objective of creating innovative products and solutions that are accessible to the everyday Nigerian citizen and entrepreneur.

VFD Group Plc was founded on the values of integrity and good governance, and built on the strength of innovation and network, the goal of VFD Group is to establish a firm foothold in various ecosystems on the continent through their subsidiary companies.

FAO, AU Launch Initiative to Boost Intra-African Trade Oluchi Chibuzor The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Union Commission’s Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development (AUC-DARBE) have launched a guide towards boosting intra-African agricultural trade under the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

This is coming on the expectation that increased agricultural trade between African countries could drive sustainable development and play a pivotal role in

the transformation of its food systems.

The AfCFTA which began trading on January 1, 2021, is the largest free trade area in the world in terms of the number of countries covered, as it represents a market of 1.2 billion consumers.

The ‘Framework for Boosting Intra-African Trade in Agricultural Commodities and Services,’ is a blueprint for expanding agricultural trade between African countries and aims to unlock the potential of the agricultural sector to contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth for Africa.

In a joint statement from FAO’s Assistant Director-General and

Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel; African Union Commissioner Josefa Sacko, and AfCFTA SecretaryGeneral Wamkele Mene, the Framework provides a timely catalyst for the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, sustainable development and prosperity in Africa.

“A key priority is the pursuit of industrial transformation policies and programmes that support the private sector to add value to African exports, compete with imports from outside Africa and expand opportunities for job creation,” it added.

GapXSeeks to Empower African Women GapX, a recruitment and training startup which disclosed that it is on a mission to improve diversity in the workplace has commenced operations.

According to a statement, the firm recognises that lots of women take time off work at a point in their lives to focus on family, thereby stalling their career advancement and in many cases, stopping it altogether.

This, it noted limits the number of highly qualified women in the workplace.

“Positioning itself firmly as the authority on gender inclusion and diversity across Africa, the company fosters inclusive workplace policies and initiatives that

support the career advancement of working women in Africa, with the goal of increasing the number of women in leadership positions,” it added.

A Gender Equality Index Report from the African Development Bank reports that African women are held back from fulfilling their potential by many constraints, whether as leaders in public life, in the boardroom, or in growing their businesses, thereby holding back the potential of the continent’s economy.

According to the report, women work 50 per cent longer hours than men in Africa. Despite this, a greater number of women do not

have commensurate experience as their male counterpart due to cultural and other issues, which translates to a lower pay band and inability to fill the same roles their male counterparts can fill.

Owing to this, GapX stated that it seeks to bridge this gap through a practical approach to gender diversity and inclusion.

“Firstly, its recruitment arm receives applications from working women, forming a pool of highly qualified professional women across the continent. This pool is matched to companies seeking to fill full time, short term or freelance vacancies, from junior to senior management and even board levels.

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 WEDNESDAY, 14 APRIL 2021

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $63.39 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $61.85 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

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

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

39

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯʹ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

SEC Boss Accuses Operators of Frustrating e-Dividend Mandate Process Goddy Egene The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, has said some capital market operators (CMO) are frustrating the electronicdividend(e-dividend) mandate process and has vowed to sanction such operators.

The e-dividend is the conversion of physical dividend warrants to electronic form through direct payment into

a shareholder’s bank account.

It was introduced to check the rising unclaimed dividends in the market and encourage more patronage by investors. But the rate of investors’ registration the e-dividend mandate has been very slow.

Speaking during a post Capital Market Committee (CMC) press briefing held via an online platform yesterday, Yuguda said:“The commission has observed that certain Capital Market Operators (CMOs) frustrate the e-dividend

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

mandate process. We have observed that the growth in the number of mandated accounts has been on the decline for some time. The capital market community has directed its eDividend Committee to engage with the Committee of Heads of Banking Operations to encourage better cooperation from banks as we tackle the challenges of unclaimed dividends.”

According to him, as the commission works towards resolving legacy issues with unclaimed

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

dividends, all stakeholders should comply with all directives of the commission as defaulters would be sanctioned appropriately.

“There is no reason why there will be unclaimed dividends for new investors or newly-listed companies adding every investor should be promptly paid his/ her dividends upon declaration and payment,” he said.

The SEC boss said the commission would continue to engage players in the fintech space and support them to operate lawfully

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

so as to ensure the delivery of safe products and services without stifling innovation.

“The commission recognises the impact of fintechs on capital market activities, and wishes to assure the public that we remain accommodative of this development. We shall continue to engage players and support them to operate lawfully. Our aim is to ensure the delivery of safe products and services without stifling innovation, I therefore encourage fintech firms

O F

to approach the Commission for due registration and desist from operating illegally,” he said.

The DG disclosed that the Commission is also mindful of developments in the crypto asset space, disclosing that they were in discussions with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on how to better understand and regulate the market given the need to take advantage of the emerging innovations while protecting investors and the financial system.

1 4 / 0 4 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

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40

˾ FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

ʬ

ʬ

ʬ

ʬ

ʬ

ʬ

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 R O X P H

7 R S * D L Q H U V T ic k er

T ic k er

P ric e C hg %

P ric e C hg %

GUIN N ESS

29.15

10.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

46.7

0.0%

M OR ISON

0.94

9.3%

A C C ESS

36.9

0.0%

F T N C OC OA

0.47

9.3%

M B EN EF IT

27.7

-5.1%

1.19

9.2%

FB NH

26.1

0.7%

LIVEST OC K

1.90

6.7%

M A N SA R D

18.7

-7.4%

J A IZ B A N K

0.64

6.7%

UB A

12.9

-2.2%

NA HCO

2.15

6.4%

UA C N

12.8

0.5%

3.9%

CHA M S

12.8

-9.1%

16.80

1.8%

GUA R A N T Y

12.2

-0.2%

8.10

1.3%

WA P IC

11.6

-4.3%

H ON YF LOUR

FCM B

2.92

D A N GSUGA R C A D B UR Y

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 D O X H

7 R S / R V H U V T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

GUA R A N T Y

352.4

-0.2%

-9.8%

A C C ESS

297.7

0.0%

1.62

-9.5%

FB NH

197.7

0.7%

NNFM

4.90

-9.3%

Z EN IT H B A N K

124.8

-0.9%

CHA M S

0.20

-9.1%

UA C N

123.0

0.5%

SOVR EN IN S

0.23

-8.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

113.5

0.0%

R EGA LIN S

0.24

-7.7%

UB A

89.2

-2.2%

M A N SA R D

0.87

-7.4%

ST A N B IC

72.7

0.0%

UB N

4.55

-7.1%

D A N GSUGA R

53.7

1.8%

-6.7%

WA P C O

36.6

-3.1%

T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

UA C -P R OP

0.72

-10.0%

PZ

4.15

ST UD P R ESS

WEM A B A N K

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

Vo lum e

P ric e

Brokerage

0.56

Asset Management

Investment Research

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

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

41

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

NGX Group Plans to Formally Launch New Subsidiaries, Identity Goddy Egene

Nigerian Stock Exchange) will formally launch the new group at the end of April. The

The NGX Group, (formerly 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

Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, disclosed

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 14Apr-2021, unless otherwise stated.

yesterday. The demutualisation of the NSE led to the new identity.

“While NGX informed us

that a formal launch of the group would be made at the end of April, we used the CMC

meeting to congratulate the new management of the group,” Yuguda said.

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 152.20 153.68 -5.93% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.95% Nigeria International Debt Fund 311.72 311.72 -16.62% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 109.45 109.45 -2.33% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 1.05 1.07 17.49% ACAP Income Funds 0.65 0.65 -10.38% 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 4.11% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.35 3.51 -5.50% 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 1.66% Anchoria Equity Fund 126.13 127.59 -5.17% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.09 1.09 -18.05% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 18.33 18.88 1.06% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 404.64 416.84 1.07% ARM Ethical Fund 35.75 36.82 6.04% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.19 1.20 -2.21% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.03 1.03 -8.27% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.35% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 103.59 103.59 1.85% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.28% Paramount Equity Fund 15.26 15.55 -4.55% Women's Investment Fund 129.94 131.30 -2.41% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.07% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 126.82 127.69 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.80 110.80 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.20% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.14 1.15 -5.06% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.35 1.35 -14.79% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 2.46% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.33% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,171.56 1,176.66 -2.28% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,355.97 1,355.97 5.97% FBN Balanced Fund 182.80 184.02 -2.60% FBN Halal Fund 110.67 110.67 4.23% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.39% N/A N/A N/A FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 124.01 124.01 3.01% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 147.02 148.98 -2.75% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.77% Legacy Debt Fund 3.92 3.92 1.24% Legacy Equity Fund 1.54 1.57 0.99% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.15 1.15 1.40% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH Treasury Bills Fund N/A N/A N/A

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.50% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.69 2.75 17.42% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 146.18 146.55 -5.96% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 5.39% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.58 1.61 7.54% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.16 12.29 -0.59% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.60% PACAM Equity Fund 1.56 1.58 -1.21% PACAM EuroBond Fund 110.20 113.05 0.79% 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 128.35 130.40 6.99% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 2.08% 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 3,087.20 3,110.74 -4.02% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 228.13 228.13 1.46% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.14 1.15 -2.97% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 298.89 298.90 1.44% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 209.76 212.29 -4.02% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.48% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,762.94 9,885.81 -7.04% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.25 1.25 1.61% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 113.10 113.10 1.82% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.30 1.33 -4.62% United Capital Bond Fund 1.92 1.92 1.74% United Capital Equity Fund 0.87 0.89 0.55% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.55% United Capital Eurobond Fund 119.37 119.37 1.96% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.06 1.08 -2.40% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.03 1.03 2.82% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 11.94 12.04 0.63% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.26 13.34 8.38% Zenith Income Fund 24.28 24.28 1.24% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.61%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

122.37 53.06

1.35% 1.26%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.37 118.14 92.69

12.47 118.14 94.42

-6.39% -2.96% -6.72%

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.60 5.46 16.55 1.00 18.64 166.07

3.64 5.54 16.65 1.00 18.84 168.07

-4.52% -4.09% 1.30% 2.38% -9.10% -24.34%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.30

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

FRIDAY, ͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

42

NEWS

SUPPORT FOR DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY...

L-R: Emir of Awe, Alhaji Isa Abubakar Umar; Nasarawa State Governor, Mr. Abdullahi Sule; Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo and Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, during a facility tour of Dangote Sugar Refinery and sugarcane farm in Awe, Nasarawa State...yesterday

Worsening Insecurity, Threat to Nigeria’s Unity, Says Ohanaeze Christopher Isiguzo and Gideon Arinze in Enugu The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday lamented the increasing spate of attacks on South-east residents and urged the federal government to devise fresh strategies to arrest the worsening insecurity in the country.

The organisation said the situation, if not quickly checked, could threaten the nation’s unity, peace and

security.

President-General of the organisation, Ambassador George Obiozor, at a news conference in Enugu, following recent attacks on Ebonyi and other states, said the dream of Nigerian unity was fast fading with violence, crisis and conflicts.

He stated that Nigerians have no place to hide following the rise in activities of ethnic militias, agitation for secession, self-determination, insurgency and banditry.

He said: "The government must not get to the point where the citizens will feel uncomfortable about its decisions on matters of national interest and destiny.

"The federal government must reconsider the use of force in resolving the present national crisis as history has shown that military and violence means to solve national questions is bound to fail."

Obiozor warned those encroaching on land in the

regions to thread with caution as land is a sensitive issue in Igboland.

"There is no man's land in Igbo land. Those encroaching are provoking our people and our deities," he added.

Reacting to comments on why governors of the region established a joint security outfit instead of supporting the Eastern Security Network (ESN), set up by the proscribed secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Obiozor said

governors had the mandate to secure the South-east, stressing that their decision should be respected.

He, however, said if the ESN had plans to protect lives in the region, it must cooperate with Ebube Agu, the codename for the regional security outfit, and not cross boundaries.

"We have common goals and different methods. The governors had thought well before coming up with the security outfit and as such,

they should be backed up," he said.

He also praised the decision by the governors to form a joint security outfit after a meeting between them and stakeholders in the region.

He said the formation of the joint outfit would help to deal with the recent attacks on residents of the region.

"Ohanaeze Ndigbo assures the governors of Ndigbo anywhere and everywhere of their support towards the security of Alaigbo," he said.

deadliest terrorist group in the world.

He also said other extremist groups should be proscribed.

In addition, he proposed that the federal government should license Nigerians to bear automatic weapons for self-defence.

Inspector-General of Police (IG) Monitoring Units in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

The IG said the police high command would soon begin a comprehensive reorganisation to enable the force to deal with internal security threats.

According to him, it is the duty of the police to deal with the increasing threat to internal security.

He said the trend was compounded by "growing separatist agenda, which has assumed an armed dimension in which personnel and assets of the Nigeria Police Force, military and other security agencies are being constantly targeted in clearly well-coordinated, premeditated violent attacks in the South-east geo-political zone.

"As the lead agency in internal security, the tasks of rolling back this unacceptable security tide rest primarily with us."

In line with the determination to reorganise the force for more efficiency and effectiveness, the police chief ordered the

disbandment of IG police monitoring units.

"In furtherance to our force reorganisation plans as well as commitment to return to the basics in policing, I have directed the immediate reform of the IG Monitoring Unit.

"This involves the disbandment of the satellite offices of the unit in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the streamlining of personnel profile of the unit at Force Headquarters to not more than 50 operatives and the banning of the unit from undertaking criminal investigations, including taking over cases from state commands", he said.

He said the unit would only operate within the original mandate which entailed investigation of complaints of professional infractions "that may be alleged against any serving officer as may be referred to them by my office.

"Similar repositioning initiatives are being worked out in relation to other ad hoc investigative units in the force."

STATES STOPPED INSECURITY FROM WORSENING, SAY GOVS the matter.

The governor stated that the implementation committee had already spoken with speakers of state assemblies and the judiciary as part of its engagement with them, adding that progress has been made on the matter.

He, therefore, urged the striking judicial workers to call off their industrial action.

Enforce Ban on Open Grazing, Ortom Tells FG Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, has urged the federal government to enforce the ban on open grazing and immediately implement the NLTP in line with the recommendation of the National Economic Council.

Ortom, in his speech yesterday as the guest speaker at the 2021 Press Week/Lecture organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Correspondents Chapel, FCT Council, Abuja, stated that all funds released

by the federal government for the implementation of the RUGA policy should be recovered and rechannelled towards the NLTP implementation.

In his paper titled: "Insecurity in Nigeria: Restoring Peace, Unity and Progress", Ortom decried the continuation of open grazing and support for grazing reserves, stock routes and cattle colony despite nationwide acknowledgement that the practice is unviable and that ranching is the global best practice for livestock production.

The governor urged the federal government to prevail on the police and other security agencies to enforce the prohibition of open grazing laws passed by states.

He also asked the federal government to abolish the open visa policy as well as direct security agencies to ensure full compliance with the ECOWAS Protocol on Transhumance.

Ortom, who lamented that Benue people have suffered

genocidal and repeated acts of terrorism from armed Fulani herdsmen, urged the federal government to compensate families of persons killed and those whose property have been destroyed by armed Fulani herdsmen in various communities across the country.

The governor also urged the federal government to publicly condemn the atrocities perpetrated by armed herdsmen, arrest and prosecute the leaderships of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Fulani socio-cultural groups who have consistently admitted to killings and destruction of communities.

He said the leaders and sponsors of criminal gangs, militia groups and cultists must also be identified, arrested and prosecuted.

Ortom called for the proscription of all militant Fulani groups as was done in the case of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), given that the Global Terrorism Index ranks the Fulani militia as the fourth

IG to Reorganise Police to Tackle Promoters of Separatist Agenda The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, yesterday said the police were poised to roll back growing separatist agenda that triggered violence in the South-east and other parts of the country.

He said the police under his command were determined to address secession, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes.

Baba, at a meeting with Commissioners of Police and other strategic commanders of the force in Abuja, ordered the disbandment of the

FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

43

NEWS

Gunmen kill Three Policemen in Ebonyi, Attack Bank in Anambra Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka Gunmen yesterday killed three policemen at Nwezenyi along Ogoja/Abakaliki Expressway in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.

They also yesterday attacked a branch of an old generation bank in Abagana, Dunukofia LGA, Anambra State, shooting sporadically into the air, dispersing bank customers and passersby Ebonyi State Police Spokesman, DSP Loveth Odah said the attackers drove in a Sienna bus and killed operatives of the Safer Highway Patrol team at the expressway, close to the Central Police Station.

According to a statement signed by Command’s PPRO: “At about 2040 hrs of April 14, 2021, unknown gunmen driving in a sienna bus attacked the Safer Highway Patrol team stationed at Nwezenyi along Ogoja/Abakaliki Expressway in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

“Regrettably three Policemen

paid the supreme price and one other injured.

“Frantic effort is on to apprehend the culprits, who are suspected to be linked to the Quary armed robbery/ murder incident of 08/04/2021 where two of the robbers were killed and two AK-47 riffles recovered from them.”

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command, CP Aliyu Garba has ordered a full-scale investigation into the incident with a view to fishing out the culprits.

He had equally dispatched the Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations for an on-the- spot assessment of the unfortunate incident.

In a related development, gunmen yesterday attacked a branch of an old generation bank in Abagana, Dunukofia LGA, Anambra State, shooting sporadically into the air, dispersing bank customers and passersby.

A source said the gunmen, numbering about 10, drove a black Honda Pilot Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) to the bank, and shot in all directions, causing

panic, while also hoisting Biafra Flags at the bank’s gate when all had fled.

A source said, “They also set fire on a Nissan Pathfinder SUV with registration number UR

640 KJA, and smashed glasses of a Honda car with registration number FST 456 AC, which were parked in front of the bank.”

As at the time of filling this report, it was not clear if anyone

sustained gunshot injury, just as normal human and vehicular movements continued after the gunmen left.

The state police spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga

confirmed the attack to journalists, but said he was working on a formal reaction about the attack.

As at the time of filling this report, he was yet to state the official position of the command.

A BOOST TO COMBAT READINESS…

L-R: Representative of the French Navy, Vice Admiral Oliver Lebas (left), being presented with a souvenir by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, at the Flag Transfer Ceremony of Nigerian Navy’s newest hydrographic survey vessel, NNS LANA, in Saint Nazaire, France...yesterday

Death Toll from Kano ‘Killer Drinks’ Rises to 10 FG to Shame, Publish Names of Defaulting Contractors Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano At least 10 persons have lost their lives while 50 others were undergoing kidney-related treatments after consumption of suspected killer drinks in Kano.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, who confirmed the number of deaths while giving updates on the recent incident yesterday, said no fewer than 400 persons were on admissions at government hospitals.

The commissioner warned residents against consumption of juices during this period of Ramadan to avoid catastrophic consequences.

Tsanyawa explained that over 50 persons were currently undergoing kidney-related treatment in government hospitals.

The health commissioner said: “As you are aware, the Ministry of Health had in the recent past announced the outbreak of a strange disease traceable to the consumption of substandard

juices.

“The consumption of this fake and substandard product has telling effects on the kidney, and other vital organs of the body.

“Due to excessive heat that coincides with Ramadan, there is a possibility for high patronage of juices; I want to use this opportunity to caution residents to be on the watch-out”.

Kano had over the past couple of weeks been battling with an outbreak of a strange disease that has further stretched the health challenges of the state.

The update by the Health commissioner came after a major breakthrough by the NAFDAC’s arrest of the suspects behind sale of the Kano killer drinks.

Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Hadiza Namadi said the update on the incident by the commissioner was meant to further warn residents against taking the killer drinks as traders were still selling the product to residents despite what had happened.

NPA Suspends Ticket Issuance, Protesting Workers Shut APM Terminal The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has disclosed that the Electronic Call-up for trucks (ETO) ticket for cargoes bound for the AP Moller Terminal in Apapa has been suspended.

This followed yesterday’s protest by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) against non-compliance of international oil companies to the Stevedoring regulations issued by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Stevedoring refers to the act of loading or offloading cargo to and/or from a ship.

During the protest at the APM Terminals, Apapa, Lagos, the placard-carrying workers

shut disrupted operations at the terminal by shutting down the entry and exit gates.

The workers had earlier issued a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and NIMASA starting last Friday to get the IOCs to comply with the statutory regulations.

The union warned that failure of the federal government and its agencies to caution the IOCs on or before the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum would lead to mass strike actions at the ports, terminals, jetties, and other cargo handling locations in the country.

Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja

The federal government yesterday said it was planning to shame and publish the names of contractors who won contracts but failed to execute the projects across the country.

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who made this known said his ministry would soon publish “a black list” of defaulting contractors who failed to meet their own end of the bargain with the federal government.

The minister stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition to testify in a petition written against his Ministry and Cartil Construction Limited by the

Redeem Christian Church of God Christian Church (RCCG), adding that apart from making public the contractors’ names, the ministry would also be making claims of time value for money.

RCCG had in the petition dated February 9, 2021 signed

by Pastor Niyi Adebanjo on behalf of the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye accused the ministry of making payment to the tune of N151million to Cartil Construction Limited for the rehabilitation of the Ife- Ifewara Road in Osun State, which the Church said road was constructed by it as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The RCCG therefore requested that Cartil Construction Limited should be made to refund the money

and return it to the government coffer.

The Church said “if anyone is to be reimbursed for the rehabilitation of the road it should be us and not the contractor”.

In his testimony, Fashola punctured all the claims contained in petition saying “this is a petition, on the basis of what has been shown, that could have been resolved by a simple letter written on the Freedom of Information Act but in spite of the fact that you gave this out to Nigerians, the petitioner chose to come here, go to the pages of newspapers and essentially put our collective integrity as a ministry and as a government under needless scrutiny.

“The facts have shown that

there is no basis for this. The allegations as reported are essentially false. They border on defamatory and I hope that the petitioner after listening to this will do the right thing and tender an apology. I think he got his facts all mixed up.”

He stated that it was false that payments were made between 2016 to 2018 for the construction of the road; adding that part of why the road was abandoned between 2013 and 2017 was because there was no budgetary allocation for the project.

According to him, the contract for the road was awarded to Cartil Construction in December 2010 for N600 million as one of the several Constituency projects executed under the Ministry of Works; five years before the Buhari’s administration.

Police Grill Anti-graft Activist, Suraju Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, was on Wednesday arrested, detained and later released on bail after interrogation by police.

THISDAY learnt that the anticorruption crusader was picked up in Abuja and detained by the IG Monitoring Unit, Asokoro, over a forgery allegation sent to the Inspector-General of Police by a former AttorneyGeneral of the Federation

(AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

The former AGF had sent the petition to the IG’s office demanding the investigation of an email evidence presented against him by prosecutors in Malabu trial in Milan, Italy.

In his petition dated February 5, 2021, Adoke claimed that an email presented at the Italian court and purported to have originated from him, was forged and presented in court to interfere with the course of justice.

Adoke reportedly told the police in his petition that those

behind the alleged forgery were unknown to him, but urged the IG’s office to expose them.

THISDAY gathered that Suraju who was arrested on Wednesday, spent the night in detention, but was released yesterday after meeting his bail conditions.

He was however, asked to report next week.

The former chief law officer of the federation told the police that he suspected that some people, including Suraju, circulated a fake tape recording, alleging that it was an interview he (Adoke)

had with an Italian journalist where he posited that the Malabu transaction was a ruse.

Suraju reportedly said the matter was a case of corruption fighting back.

“This is a case of corruption fighting back with Mr. Adoke using the police to harass, not just the civil society, but at the same time using illegal means to accuse myself and my organisation of forging a document that was admitted in court as evidence in Milan, of which we had no previous connection and business with,” he alleged.

Osinbajo: FG Ready to Provide Reliable Energy for Nigerians Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hinted of the commitment of the federal government to provide reliable and affordable energy to an average Nigerian.

Speaking yesterday during the virtual roundtable meeting of the Africa Regional Heads of Government Commonwealth Roundtable, which was chaired by

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, Osinbajo who represented President Muhammadu Buhari stressed that Nigeria was on the path of ensuring more access to affordable, reliable energy for its populace.

He also stated that the nation was transitioning to the use of cleaner energy in line with the net-zero emissions global target, adding however that an end of

international funding for gas as a fossil fuel would create dire challenges for gas-producing countries especially in Africa.

Osinbajo noted that Nigeria is already transitioning from petrol (Premium Motor Spirit) to natural gas, which is “accepted more or less as a transition fuel, the bridge to renewable energy.”

According to him, Nigeria supports the goal of the

Commonwealth in outlining responsible transition pathways to decarbonise and achieve net and negative zero emissions,” while emphasising the efforts of the Buhari administration through its Economic Sustainability Plan to provide five million homes with cleaner energy through its solar power programme, as well as the Natural Gas Expansion Programme.

FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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COVID-19: Lagos, Kano Lead as Nigeria Vaccinates over 1m Persons Onyebuchi Ezigbo inAbuja

As the national vaccination exercise against COVID-19 entered its sixth week, the federal government has said that 1,051,096 people have so far received a single dose of the Astrazeneca vaccine jab as at yesterday, Thursday, April 15, 2021.

In an update on the ongoing vaccination across the country, posted on its platform, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), said that vaccination was being carried out in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The agency put the percentage of the vaccine doses so far

administered at 52.2 per cent.

The statistics showed that Lagos State was leading in the number of persons vaccinated with 193,794, followed by Kano, 57,165; and Kaduna with 55,756.

The vaccination figures showed that Abia had 6,506; Adamawa, 18,964; Akwa Ibom, 11,400; Anambra, 10,179; Bauchi, 35,834; Bayelsa, 10,517; Benue, 21,070 ; Borno, 20,860; Cross River, 14,566; Delta, 20,580; Ebonyi, 8,587; Edo, 27,588; Ekiti, 27,739; Enugu, 11,131; FCT, 44,815; Gombe, 26,879; Imo, 18,954; Jigawa, 27,772; Kaduna, 55,756; Kano, 55,165; Katsina, 39,313; Kebbi, 15,597 and Kogi, 5,952

Others are: Kwara, 30,738; Lagos, 193,794; Nasarawa, 30,738 ; Niger, 26,712; Ogun, 52,613; Ondo, 31,406; Osun, 20,973; Oyo, 35,060; Plateau, 27,656; Rivers, 26,847;

Sokoto, 11,608; Taraba, 7,714; Yobe, 21,037and Zamfara, 15,331.

Nigeria is currently leading 13 other African countries in the number Covax vaccine

deployment with 3.94 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccines.

Following the vaccination of 1,051,096 persons, the country now has 2,888,904 and when added to

the 100,000 doses of Astrazeneca recently donated to Nigeria by the Indian government, the total number of vaccines yet to utilised would be 2,988,904.

Lagos Begins Work on Rail Mass Transit to Move 1m Daily

Segun James

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the 37 km Lagos Rail Mass Transit Red Line, which will traverse Agbado to Marina, and projected to move more than one million commuters daily.

The rail system, which is expected to be completed by next year, will be constructed in three phases. The first phase (AgbadoIddo), which will be completed in 24 months, will share tracks with the federal governmentowned Lagos-Ibadan railway line up to Ebute-Metta. It will have its dedicated track from Ebute-Metta to Oyingbo and reduce travel time from about two and a half hours to just 35 minutes. The passenger capacity of the first phase is 500,000 daily, it was learnt.

The ceremony was held at the proposed site of the Ikeja Train Station. It was witnessed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who was represented by the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh.

The Red Line, which will be fully operational in the last quarter of 2022, is a project of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), and will have eight train stations from Agbado to Oyingbo.

The Red Line is to raise mass transportation capacity

in the state, complementing the Blue Line that traverses from Okokomaiko to Marina.

The Blue Line is at 78 per cent completion.

Sanwo-Olu, who was at the event with the state Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, handed cheque to property owners affected by the right of way, describing the project as another initiative of his administration to deliver enduring infrastructure for the transport system as well as make Lagos a competitive mega city.

He said the traffic management and transportation pillar in his government development blueprintProject THEMES-was being implemented with the goal to develop an efficient and sustainable transportation model that would improve mobility, promote economic growth and enhance the living conditions of residents of the state.

According to the governor, “Today’s flag-off of the construction of infrastructure for the standard gauge Red Line is another promise kept, and it demonstrates, in practical terms, our commitment to achieving the objectives of traffic management and transportation pillar in our development agenda. This is because we recognise the role which an efficient transportation system plays in enhancing people’s quality of life and as a major driver of socio-economic development.

DPR Adopts Dispute Resolution Mechanism for Oil Industry

Peter Uzoho

The Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu, has declared that the era of unnecessary litigation arising from conflicts in the Nigerian oil and gas industry was completely over with the institutionalisation and application of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) channel for the industry.

Auwalu stated this yesterday in Lagos at the flag-off of the oil and gas industry Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (ADRC) and inauguration of the 20-man Advisory Council and the six-man Body of Neutrals, both for the centre.

ADRC is one of the flagship centres of the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre

(NOGEC) sited at the former DPR headquarters in Lagos and is primarily aimed at resolving conflicts among parties relating to commercial, contractual, technical, host community issues, among others, in the industry without recourse to law courts.

He said unnecessary litigation was uncalled for as it retards the growth of the oil and gas industry and creates a lot of conflicts among contractual parties, technical parties, and commercial parties, among others.

“It is completely over; unnecessary litigation is uncalled for, it really retards the growth of the industry. It creates a lot of issues within the parties, whether it is contractual parties, technical parties, and commercial parties.

PARTNERSHIP THAT WORKS…

L-R: Consul General of France in Lagos, Mrs. Laurence Monmayrant; Minister of Foreign Trade and Attractiveness, Mr. Franck Riester; Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe; and Ambassador of France in Nigeria, Mr. Jerome Pasquier, during the minister’s visit to the Access Bank’s Head Office in Lagos…yesterday

Navy Takes Delivery of New Offshore Survey Vessel in France Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Nigerian Navy yesterday took delivery of a new offshore survey vessel, NNS LANA, in Saint Nazaire, France.

A statement by Nigerian Navy said the vessel was the first ever purpose-built offshore survey vessel for the Nigerian Navy.

Speaking at the flag transfer ceremony, Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd), represented by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, stated that the

new vessel was conceived as a replacement to the previous NNS LANA, a survey ship that was decommissioned about 10 years ago.

Magashi, who was the special guest of honour at the event, added that the occasion marked a great milestone in the fulfillment of the dream of not only replacing but enhancing Nigerian Navy’s survey capability.

The statement issued by the Naval Spokesman, Commodore Suleman Dahun, said the

new vessel was expected to fill the void created following the decommissioning of the previous NNS LANA. Highlighting the import of having a survey vessel like NNS LANA, the minister said the survey services and charting waterways played a crucial role in ensuring safe navigation as well as delivery of maritime security.

“NNS LANA will not only enhance the safety of Nigeria’s maritime environment but the ship will serve as a critical

component in the projection of naval power for enhanced maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

“It will also play a critical role in protection of maritime resources and preservation of law and order at sea, thus contributing significantly to promotion of global maritime commerce”, he said.

He, therefore thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment towards the recapitalisation of the Nigerian Navy Fleet.

HEDA: Nigeria Loses $18bn to Illicit Financial Flows Annually Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), a non-governmental organisation, has said that Nigeria could be lost between $15 and $18 billion to illicit Financial Flows (IFF) annually.

Making the disclosure in its latest report on the subject, the organisation noted that the trend had been steadily escalating, stressing that Nigeria accounts

for up to 30 per cent of Africa’s total loss to illicit flows.

Quoting secondary sources, HEDA stated that in the last decade, the annual average loss by Africa increased to $50 billion, in comparison to what was a yearly average of only $9 billion for the period 1970 and 1999.

Positing that the loss would have increased in the last couple of years, HEDA noted that if the huge drain out of Africa were

entirely curtailed it could save enough to reduce or entirely remove the additional $93 billion a year deficit that Sub Saharan Africa requires to address infrastructural needs.

However, the body admitted that exact calculations of the extent of damage are notoriously difficult due to differences in measurement standards and methods.

“The influential Thabo Mbeki report, of 2018 put Africa’s losses at between $50 and $60 billion

per year, with Nigeria accounting for 30 per cent of the amount.

Therefore, Nigeria may be losing between $15 and $18 billion every year to illicit financial flows.

“In fact, some accounts argue that Nigeria alone and not the whole of Africa loses up to $50billion yearly. At any rate, many other estimates argue that African states collectively leak IFF to the tone of approximately $60 to $100 billion each year,” the group said.

We are Mobilising More PDP Govs to Join APC, Says Kogi Gov Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman of the Mobilisation of Youths, Women and People Living with Disabilities Committee, Yahaya Bello, has revealed that the ruling party is mobilising more governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the APC. The Kogi State governor

stated this yesterday in Abuja after the meeting of Strategy and Contact Committee held at the national secretariat of the party.

On the rumoured defection of some PDP governors to the party, Bello said as the chairman of Mobilisation of Youths, Women and People Living with Disabilities Committee, he is also mobilising other members of political parties,

including the governors.

He said: “We are equally mobilising members of other political parties, including governors. Remember, there are others that are youthful as well as those youthful in hearts. So, we are bringing them into the party. You will see them in numbers soon.

“You can see that everybody is coming to the party (APC) because this is where things

are happening and this is the party that is moving the country forward. That is why we are strong and are waxing stronger and moving forward in unison.”

Also, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, said the tripartite committee meeting was put in place to bring cohesion among the executive, legislative and the party.

Delta Diaspora Group Petitions Senate President on Petroleum Industry Bill Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Isoko Association of North America (IANA) yesterday called on the National Assembly to expunge what it described as some colonial arrangements in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently before the federal lawmakers.

The stakeholders comprising communities in the two Isoko local councils

hosting oil exploration and production companies, noted that after a review of the PIB’s chapter on host communities’ development, the bill fell short of promoting a harmonious relationship between the host communities and oil companies.

According to the association, led by its President General, Mr. Obaro Odu; Member, Action Committee, Eloho

Otobo; and Secretary General, Prof. Oghenekome Onokpise, the draft bill confers significant decision-making powers on the oil companies in the proposed design and operations of the trust fund.

“We fear that the proposed institutional arrangements are a recipe for tension and conflict rather than harmony, at a time when every effort should be exerted to reduce the potential

for friction between the host communities and the oil companies,” the group stated.

It argued that the bill proposes that the host communities’ development trust shall be incorporated within 12 months from the effective date of existing mining leases, designated facilities, and facilities under construction.

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Damasak Attack: EU Calls WORLD OF ISLAM for Safe Passage of People The Fasting of Ramadan: A Time Caught in Violence for Thought, Action, and Change!

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The European Union has called on all parties in the ongoing security crisis in the North-east region of Nigeria to allow people caught in violence to move freely to safe places as well as facilitate unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.

A statement issued yesterday by the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Mr. Janez Lenari, on the latest terror attacks on Damasak, Borno State, said: “The EU is following with deep concern the recurrent violent attacks

by non-state armed groups against the people of the town of Damasak, Nigeria.”

The statement lamented that the lives and security of civilians are in danger and that humanitarian premises have been destroyed with humanitarian workers deliberately targeted.

It said because of the recent increase of violence in Northeast Nigeria, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people would be left without assistance in an area where humanitarian assistance was already struggling to reach

those in need.

It said: “The EU strongly condemns such attacks, and calls on all parties to respect international humanitarian law as well as to safeguard human rights. All parties should allow those caught in violence to move freely to safe places and facilitate unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.

“Violence is the main driver of food insecurity in Nigeria, where there are currently over nine million people who require urgent food assistance.”

Ekiti Ranks Fourth in Budget Transparency The civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders in Ekiti State have lauded the strides of the state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, in moving the state from 28th position in 2018 to fourth position out of 36 states in the Budget Transparency Index.

They also hailed the Fayemi administration for validating the state Action Plan on Open Government Partnership (OGP) to further consolidate good governance and enhance transparency and accountability.

Performing the validation in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Fayemi said the action was a demonstration of the commitment of his administration to enshrine

the principles of openness in government business and simplify service delivery to the people.

Represented by the state Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, the governor stressed that the OGP process requires high level political support to succeed, noting that its implementation will increase citizens’ trust in government.

The validation of the action plan was witnessed by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), representatives of CSOs, faithbased organisations, private sector groups, trade unions, senior government officials and OGP national Secretariat.

Impressed by the evidence of good governance witnessed under Fayemi’s watch, the Civil Society Adviser, OGP National Secretariat, Mr. Stanley Achonu, noted that Ekiti State has scored many firsts, including the first in the South-west region to sign the OGP; the first to have the fastest Action Plan on OGP, and the first in Nigeria to enact Freedom of Information (FoI) law.

Fayemi said the validation of the Ekiti State OGP Action Plan was preceded by preliminary sensitisation meetings with all relevant stakeholders and the development of the document, which was a commitment to deepening good governance in the state.

Osinbajo Commends Abiodun on Digital Economy Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday commended Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over the launching

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as OLADEJO OMOTOLANI TEMITOPE now wish to be known and addressed as JOHNSON OMOTOLANI OLADEJO. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ANUNOBI MARIA MGBECHI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NWOGU MARIA MGBECHI. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS KIKELOMO TEMILADE MOFIKOYA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS KIKELOMO TEMILADE LAWAL. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as BEN REBECCA ANDERSON now wish to be known and addressed as UMOLE REBECCA NOBERT. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ADEROBA OLUWABUNMI FELICIA now wish to be known and addressed as AYODEJI OLUWABUNMI FELICIA. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

of Ogun Digital Economy Infrastructure Project in the state.

Osinbajo gave this commendation while speaking virtually at official launch of the project, held in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He noted that digital economy technology was the future of all aspects of human existence such as business, education, healthcare, governance, security, and the practice of practically every profession, lauding Abiodun for his initiative of bringing broadband to homes, businesses and homes in Ogun.

He added that with the

launch of the project, Ogun is taking hold of the future, saying making digital access available to all the citizens and businesses remained the most far-sighted action any government can take in the present time.

While saying the project is a critical component of President Muhammadu Buhari’s objectives of broadband connectivity for all by 2023, Osinbajo emphasised that access to broad-band and modern technology tools have become compulsory for any community that seeks meaningful growth, security and prosperity for its people.

Sterling Bank Trains Secondary School Students on Financial Literacy In a bid to inculcate financial discipline, Sterling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank, held a financial literacy training session for secondary school pupils in Jigawa State.

The interactive session equipped the pupils with skills for making informed and effective decisions on the use and management of money.

Tagged Financial Literacy Day, the event, which held at Dutse Commercial Secondary School, Takur, Jigawa State, at the instance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was part of activities lined up to celebrate the annual Global Money Week.

In his speech, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of

Sterling Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, said the bank chose to train the pupils to shape their thinking and expose them to important financial lessons needed to beat future economic challenges.

The CEO, who was represented by the North-West Regional Manager of the bank, Mr. Ibrahim Salihi, said the oneday training was also aimed at helping the pupils better understand the importance of savings and investments.

“We are optimistic that if the pupils can understand the importance of savings and investments at a young age, they would grow into adults who can achieve financial security and success,” he said.

Taha Ghayyur, Taha Ghaznavi/Medium/IslamiCity

“Fasting in Ramadan develops in a person the real spirit of social belonging, of unity and brotherhood, and of equality before God. This spirit is the natural product of the fact that when people fast they feel that they are joining the whole Muslim society (which makes up more than one fifth of world’s population) in observing the same duty, in the same manner, at the same time, for the same motives, and for the same end.

No sociologist or historian can say that there has been at any period of history anything comparable to this powerful institution of Islam: Fasting in the month of Ramadan. People have been crying throughout the ages for acceptable ‘belonging’, for unity, for brotherhood, for equality, but how echoless their voices have been, and how very little success they have met...” says Hammudah Abdalati, in Islam in Focus.

“What is fasting?” “How does the fasting of Muslims in Ramadan differ from the fasting of other faiths?” “Why should one ‘torture’ one’s body in the first place?” “What do you really gain from fasting in the end?”...These are a few questions that a number of non-Muslim friends and colleagues often ask us, usually out of fascination with this spiritually-uplifting practice of Islamic faith, and at times out of pity and sympathy for us, thinking, why should anyone suffer from hunger and thirst like Muslims? I wouldn’t be surprised if many of us shared the same negative perception of Fasting.

It is important to note that Fasting in Arabic is called, “Sawm”, which literally means ‘to be at rest’. Fasting in the month of Ramadan (the 9th month of the Islamic lunar calendar) is one of the Five Pillars upon which the “house” of Islam is built. During this month, every ablebodied Muslim, is required to fast, everyday from dawn until dusk 12 Reasons To Fast!

Develop Character Fasting is an institution for the improvement of moral and spiritual character of human being.

The purpose of the fast is to help develop selfrestraint, self-purification, God-consciousness, compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing, the love of humanity and the love of God. Fasting is a universal custom and is advocated by all the religions of the world, with more restrictions in some than in others. The Islamic Fast, as opposed to mere starvation or self-denial, is an act of worship and obedience to God, thanksgiving, forgiveness, spiritual training, and self-examination.

Self Reflection Ramadan gives us a break and provides us with a rare opportunity to think about our own selves, our future, and our families. It is a time to give ourselves a mental break and to temporarily forget about the hundreds of worries and stresses we are constantly bombarded with. In hectic times, such as ours, and in places like the West, this valuable time to think about our lives, on individual basis, is a luxury and is desperately needed! It is a unique month of self-analysis, and of taking stock of one’s moral and spiritual ‘assets and liabilities’.

Develop Compassion Fasting inculcates in us patience, unselfishness, and gratitude. When we fast we feel the pains of deprivation and hunger, and learn how to endure it patiently. The meaning of this powerful experience in a social and humanitarian context is that we are much quicker than anybody else in sympathizing with the oppressed and needy around the world, and responding to their needs. “It is the month to visit the poor, the sick, and the needy to share their sorrows. It is the month where the food, sustenance and the earnings of a believing Muslim increases and they are blessed,” says the Final Prophet of God, Muhammad (peace be upon him), a man who was known for his noble humanitarian causes, for social justice, and for being the first to respond to other’s needs, despite the fact that he himself lived a very simple and humble life.

It is only during such a trying time as Ramadan that we can reflect on the condition of those in this world who may not be as fortunate as us.

Develop Adaptability Fasting in Ramadan enables us to master the art of mature adaptability and Time-Management.

We can easily understand this point when we realize that fasting makes people change the entire course of their daily life. When they make the change, they naturally adapt themselves to a new system and schedule, and move along to satisfy

the rules. This, in the long run, develops in them a wise sense of adaptability and self-created power to overcome the unpredictable hardships of life!

A person who values constructive adaptability, time-management, and courage will appreciate the effects of Fasting in this respect as well.

Cultivates Love It cultivates in us the principle of sincere Love, because when we observe Fasting, we do it out of deep love for God. And a person, who loves God, truly is a person who knows what love is and why everyone on this Earth should be loved and treated justly, for the sake of God. Elevates the Spirit Fasting elevates the human spirit and increases our awareness of God. It strengthens our willpower as we learn to rise above our lower desires.

The institution of fasting is both unique and a shared experience in human history. From the very beginning of time, humans have struggled to master their physical and psychological selves: their bodies and their emotions. Hunger is one the most powerful urges that we experience. Many, through over- or under-eating or consumption of unhealthy foods, abuse this urge. Thus, when a person purposefully denies something to their own self that it craves, they are elevating their mind above their body, and their reason and will above their carnal passions. “A fasting person empties his stomach of all the material things: to fill his soul with peace and blessings, to fill his heart with love and sympathy, to fill his spirit with piety and Faith, to fill his mind with wisdom and resolution,” says H. Abdalati in Islam in Focus. The person who can rule their desires and make them work, as they like, has attained true moral excellence.

Develops Clarity of Mind With the clarity of mind and absence of distractions, also comes a greater focus. As students, the period of fasting, especially early during the day, serves as a tool to focus our minds on our academics. In the month of Ramadan, many Muslims try to avoid watching TV, listening to music, and some other leisure activities, which spares them more time and energy to be spent on more productive activities such as academics, intense study of Islam, voluntary prayers, social and humanitarian causes, and a quality time with the family, to name a few. It is a reminder of our duty to God, our purpose and higher values in life, as God Himself describes the purpose of fasting as follows, “O you who Believe! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may develop consciousness of God” (Quran 2:183).

Develops a Healthy Lifestyle Fasting has numerous, scientifically proven, benefits for our physical health and mental well-being. The time, length and nature of the Islamic Fast all contribute to its overall positive effect. One of the medical benefits is a muchneeded rest to the digestive system. The reduced food intake during the day allows the body to concentrate on getting rid of harmful dietary toxins accumulated as natural by-products of food digestion throughout the year. The length of the Islamic Fast itself (around 12-14 hours) is in sync with the ‘transit time’ of food from the mouth to the colon of the large intestine, ensuring that no stimulus reaches the stomach or digestive system while it remains in homeostasis.

Therefore, for the vast majority of healthy individuals fasting poses no medical risks but in fact provides many health benefits, such as: an increase in serum Magnesium, essential for cardio-vascular health and prevention of heart complications; improvement in the quality and depth of sleep; improvement in memory and slower skin aging over time; increased production of growth hormone, etc. Also, as a general note, it has been observed that underfed animals live longer than their heavily fed counterparts and suffer fewer illnesses during their lives.

Moral Training The month of Ramadan provides us with a sort of “Boot camp.” It is a month of intense moral training. Since we know that Fasting is a special duty prescribed by God, we learn that any sins may spoil our record of fasting with God, so we go through great lengths making sure we are on our best behavior. Many people who experience fasting in this month, feel the impact that this intense training has on their habits, and realize the power of this transformative tool designed to make us better human beings- the ultimate goal of any spiritual exercise. The entire Ramadan atmosphere provides the driving force for this positive change.

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BACK PAGE CONTINUATION SHAKA MOMODU GOT IT WRONG ON TINUBU brought tremendous benefit to the state and its people. By increasing IGR, the firm has helped increase the state budget, enabling it to engage in programmes and projects vital to development that otherwise would not have been done. Shaka, why do you leave out this part? Despite the unprecedented length of your writing, you also left out that Alpha Beta also has other states and international clients, engaging them on the same basis by which they have contracted with Lagos. Guess those ghosts and goblins in his mind kept my dear Shaka from writing the truth.

Also, they seem to have convinced Shaka from revealing that there are petitions against Mr. Apara and that those petitions are more convincing and evidence-based than his claims. The company books have been audited and the books have been deemed in order. No wrongdoing has been found on the part of Tinubu in the matter because no wrongdoing has been committed. All this shows that Shaka has downgraded himself from being at least a semblance of a journalist to being an unabashed merchant of lying gossip. If Momodu is so confident that Apara is right, then Momodu should write an equally long piece convincing the fugitive Apara to return to testify and to withstand the testimony against him. No, he rather believes Apara argues this from afar because he is afraid the conclusion will not match his narrative.

Only recently, the founding EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, asserted that Obasanjo tried to clamp Tinubu but to no avail. According to Ribadu, “One state we investigated most during my tenure as EFCC Chairman is Lagos. We sent information to all our allies in the Metropolitan Police, the FBI, etc. I remember I told the National Assembly when EFCC could not get any wrong about Tinubu in Lagos. I said we must wait for the international community because they were also doing their own investigation. We were all waiting to expose Lagos corruption but even the international community didn’t indict him; they found nothing.

That is why Lagos under Tinubu was the only state EFCC didn’t charge to court.”

Momodu, I guess the demons in your

Tinubu

eyes rendered you blind to the Ribadu statement!

Shaka shamelessly brings Asiwaju’s son Seyi into the picture, claiming that Seyi should not have a successful advertising business. First, Shaka overinflated Seyi’s position among the outdoor advertisers in Lagos State. He does not have a dominant or even the leading position.

Yet, Shaka bears down on the young man for wanting to make a place for himself.

It is crazy to chastise the boy for wanting to be successful. Guess Shaka would be elated if he were a failure. However, if the boy failed or merely sat at home, Shaka would lambast Tinubu for having a spoiled, indolent offspring.

Second, Shaka claims Tinubu should be prevented from running for the presidency because of his role in the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Shaka’s illogic on this point is audacious even for him. Yes, I admit we have stiff challenges. Despite the problems, a lot has been done diversifying the economy especially revitalising agriculture, completing important infrastructural projects abandoned under the PDP, investing into social programmes like N-power, Tradermoni, Marketmoni, etc to help the most vulnerable segments of our society. The Buhari government has worked hard to improve life in the world of complex reality. This is more than can

emulation has been achieved at the expense of what the leading Northern scholar, Dr Mahmud Tukur has condemned as “British economic and soical policies, such as blocking access to western education for the masses in most parts of northern Nigeria, which did not bring about development but its antithesis of retrogression and stagnation.” A contemporary manifestation of Tukur’s scholarly observation and critique is provided in the testimony of Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar: “No north is not secure at all. In fact, it is the worst place to be in this country because bandits go about in the villages with their AK47 and nobody talks to them. They stop at the markets and buy things and even collect change with their weapons.”

And Gimba Kakanda sums it up perfectly “When, on November 2, the political and religious leaders of Northern Nigeria assembled in Kaduna to deliberate on the state of affairs in the region, so much was expected. Hosted by the Northern Governors’ Forum, it was intended to reassure the people of a pathway out of the cycle of killings and insecurity that

had doomed the region. The first response expected at the Kaduna meeting was acknowledging the role of the participants in the production of this economically and educationally disadvantaged society. The dependency of the talakawa must’ve been an eyesore, but it was poverty serially weaponised to assert northern domination in Nigeria’s political power equation. The Kaduna meeting was of the members of the highest hierarchy of this pseudofeudal society built on “ranka ya dade” culture, where the victims of entrenched corruption and political negligence serve as the foot-soldiers of Pan-Arewa agenda that doesn’t benefit the lower classes”.

“In their midyear report, Amnesty International tracked some killings across the North and reported about 1,126 deaths, with at least 380 kidnapped, in just 8 of the 19 states in the region between January and July.The state with the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria, according to the 2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria document of the National Bureau of Statistics, was Lagos.

It recorded an impressive 4.50 per cent, even though 40.1 per cent of the nation’s

be said of the crazed scribe Shaka who has immersed himself in the waters of unrestrained fiction.

In addition to the fictional nature of his assertions, Shaka’s position has outrageous implications. By his logic against Tinubu, then the people who voted for Buhari should also not be allowed to vote in future elections as well. Shaka does not want democracy. All he wants is to have his own way. Yet he levels criticism at those who work within the democratic context. Shaka is a full-fledged hypocrite.

Whether he likes it or not, Lagos stands as a success story. The foundation for that success were the Tinubu years. The cabinet Tinubu formed constituted many of the best and brightest of the state. They planned well. Worked hard, Accomplished much. Tinubu’s cabinet was a composite of knowledge and competence from across the country. This inclusive tradition continues.

Today, an Arewa, Alhaji Kabiru Ahmed, is the Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development while Sam Egube from Delta is the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget.

There is even a more appalling part of Momodu’s gibberish. This rented pen, this writer for easy hire, levies personal attacks about Tinubu’s mental acumen. Such is the case with a dwarf telling a tall man he is too short simply because the tall man cannot reach to the clouds. Asiwaju has proven himself again and again to be a person of deep intellect. Whether it is his track record as governor or national leader of the party or whether through his many public statements ranging from economic policy to the herder crisis, Tinubu has shown remarkable vision and insight regarding the matters of the day. Most of his ideas are far beyond Shaka’s myopia.

Even if Shaka could manage a constructive idea, rest assured that Tinubu would have more original thought of a better version of it. Tinubu seeks the greatness of an entire nation. Shaka just wants to be a great journalistic hack. Never the twain shall meet. We should thank God for that.

Rahman, former Editor, THISDAY, The Sunday Newspaper, is Media Advisor to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

THE TRIAL OF AFENIFERE parties for the better part of the period spanning 1960 to 1999.The political party system and the legislative institution are the most conspicuous and consequential casualties of military intervention in the governance of Nigeria-as elsewhere. And the more protracted the rule of military dictatorship, the more impoverished the political system and the attendant roles of the party system including leadership recruitment and reproduction.

In response to the the stimulus of the disabling muddle of Nigeria’s political disorder, Afenifere has had to adopt the survivalist mode of bending with the winds of adversity and in the process become captive to identity instability. The terms sociopolitical, sociocultural, political party are loosely and interchangeably employed to suit the moment by promoters and critics alike. The more dubious allegation is that as an instrument of Yoruba power politics projection it has underperformed and rendered the Yoruba to the status of ‘playing catch up with the North’. On account of the uniquely tragic failure of Nigerian politics, championed by the North, I couldn’t have imagined that playing catch up with the North as a worthy aspiration until a recent celebration of this failure as somehow commendable “their elders are behind the scene in advisory positions as Patrons. They do not make themselves seen or heard, they do not hug the klieglights like our own Babas, they just silently inject their knowledge and experience into the system to make decisions robust and strong.

That is why we are always playing catch up to the North”.

In the first place, I can see no evidence of superior political acumen in the hegemony of the North other than the brazen enabling of British colonialism, holding the upper hand in the balance of terror equation of Nigerian politics and a questionable attribution of higher population- politics being the game of numbers. It is ironical that what is being touted as worthy of

In response to the the stimulus of the disabling muddle of Nigeria’s political disorder, Afenifere has had to adopt the survivalist mode of bending with the winds of adversity and in the process become captive to identity instability. The terms sociopolitical, sociocultural, political party are loosely and interchangeably employed to suit the moment by promoters and critics alike.

population lived in poverty. The highest was Sokoto state with a frightening 87.73 per cent of its population considered poor, followed by Taraba with 87.72 per cent, Jigawa 87.02 per cent, Ebonyi 79.76 per cent, Adamawa 75.41 per cent, Zamfara 73.98 per cent, Yobe 72.34 per cent, Niger 66.11 per cent, Gombe 62.31 per cent, and Bauchi 61.53 per cent. In fact, of the 20 poorest states ranked, which excluded Borno State, 17 were all in the North. No Northern state made it to the top 5 least poor, and only one, Kwara State with 20.4 per cent, made it to the top 10”.

“Nigeria holds the record for the most number of out-of-school kids in the world.

With 13.7 million kids, most of whom are in the North, roaming the streets, redemption isn’t in sight. The kids are victims of the elite’s failure to sustain education policies suitable for their people. The consequent Almajiri system wasn’t designed to provide manpower for white-collar jobs, and the backwashes include rippling poverty, unemployment and insecurity that should dominate discussions at the Kaduna meeting. The resolutions of the Kaduna meeting were an attempt to preserve the extant social hierarchy. The elite present weren’t sympathetic to the people who had buried their loved ones and restricted from travelling for fear of certain gunmen abducting them for money. Just because the feudal lords and compliant vassals seated in Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, had failed to prioritise the interests of the serfs.

The region’s major threats, which ought to have been the reason for the meeting, was addressed in the ninth resolution, and presented as “Calls for collective effort in addressing the lingering challenges of the North e.g. Almajiri system, insecurity, illiteracy, poverty, etc. (sic).” It’s the shortest paragraph in the communique: the biggest threats to the region, which have killed lives and wrecked the local economy, stated in a throwaway sentence and reduced to etceteras”.

FRIDAY APRIL 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

47

FRIDAYSPORTS

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

NSF 2020: Okowa Assures Team Delta Handsome Rewards for Retaining Title Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has assured the state’s athletes at the Edo 2020 edition of the National Sports Festival that he would keep his promise of handsome rewards for members of the state’s contingent to the justcocluded games in Benin-City.

Okowa gave the assurance in a congratulatory message to ‘Team Delta’ for topping the overall medals table at the 20th National Sports Festival tagged Edo 2020 and for successfully retaining the overall title of the competition for the sixth time in a row.

He said that the young sports ambassadors deserved to be well rewarded because they have brought honour to Delta State by keeping their own side of the bargain with their impressive haul

of medals at the sports fiesta.

The governor stated this in statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Olisa Ifeajika, on Thursday in Asaba.

Team Delta, the defending champions of the festival, topped the medals table with a total haul of 304 medals, comprising 158 gold, 126 silver and 110 bronze medals.

The host, Edo State, came second with 129 gold, 104 silver and 108 bronze, while Bayelsa State won 56 gold, 55 silver and 58 bronze medals to place third.

Okowa said, “On behalf of the government and people of Delta, I congratulate members of the victorious ‘Team Delta’ for once again bringing honour to our great state with their sixth consecutive victory at the National Sports Festival.

“Just like I said before your

departure to Benin for the games, you all went through trying times preparing for the 20th edition of the festival and I am glad that by the grace of God, with discipline, perseverance and motivation, you have once again bought the trophy home.

“Although we had a stiff contest from the host, we were able to maintain our unassailable lead and we

give God all the glory.

“Let me assure you that because you have kept your own side of the bargain by winning the competition again, the state government remains irrevocably committed to rewarding medalists at the competition.”

The governor lauded the contingent for its outstanding performance and for sustaining the state’s winning streak

at the sports fiesta, which accounted for the successful defence of the title it won in the last edition in 2018.

He equally commended Delta State Sports Commission officials and coaches for their commitment, which was reflective of the athletes’ overall commanding performance and resounding victory.

The governor also gave Edo

State Government a pat on the back for not only being able to host the festival after several postponements, but doing so successfully and grandiosely.

Edo 2020 was first postponed in March 2020 following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic but suffered other postponements until it eventually kicked off on April 4, 2021.

Team Nigeria Ready for Tokyo Olympics, Says Sports Minister Athletes to camp in Lagos and Port Harcourt Following the conclusion of the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival in Benin City on Wednesday night with impressive performances by some of the athletes, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has now shift focus to the Tokyo Olympics.

Expectedly, some of the home- based athletes who have qualified in their various events to be in Team Nigeria for the trip to the Far East, are expected to begin camping in Lagos and Porth Harcourt for final build-up.

According to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Dare, “with the successful completion of the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival, all our attention now shift to the Tokyo Olympics.”

“As the count down to the Games now less than 100 days away where our

athletes are expected to signify to the world that we are ready and that we mean business.

“The successes recorded here (at Edo 2020) would propel us to achieving greater success in Tokyo.

“Preparations will now begin in earnest with the athletes to be camped in Port Harcourt and Lagos.

“We are also monitoring the performances of the foreign-based athletes closely,” stressed the minister.

The Minister commended the feats of Ifeiazibe Asagbe who won 15 medals in Swimming, 10-year-old Stephanie Onusiriuka who won three medals in gymnastics as well as Grace Nwokocha who won the women’s sprint double of 100m and 200m events to ensure her qualification for the Olympics.

Rohr Hails Ahmed Musa’s Short Deal with Kano Pillars Ahmed Musa’s sensational transfer to Kano Pillars has been applauded by Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, who said he believes his captain can gain match fitness at the NPFL club.

Ahmed Musa became a free agent in October when he parted ways with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr and he will now be at Pillars till he agrees terms with a foreign club.

“I am very happy for Ahmed Musa to be able to play again with his old club of Kano Pillars,” Rohr said.

“This will allow him to keep

Arsenal players rejoicing with Alexandre Lacazette (2nd right) scorer of Gunners’ second goal in the 4-0 defeat of Slavia Prague...yesterday

Obaseki Harps on Maintenance of Sports Facilities Displayed skills as an avid golfer during Edo 2020 Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who teed-off the golf events of the just concluded 20th National Sports Festival in Benin City, has assured stakeholders in the sport that the world-class facilities used in hosting Nigeria’s own ‘Olympic games’ will not be left to rot as a maintenance agency has been put in place for that purpose.

One of the highlights of the sports festival that would continue to resonate in the days ahead is the golf tournament where both Obaseki and his

deputy, Rt Hon. Philip Shaibu featured.

Obaseki in particular demonstrated his skills as an avid golfer to the delight of the top executives and golfers present at the tee-off at the Benin Golf Club, inside the Government Reserved Area, (GRA) in Benin City.

Speaking later, Obaseki underscored the benefits of the game to players and enthusiasts.

For us, golf is about good health and happiness and making sure one accomplishes

God’s purpose in one’s life. Golf is a game of life because it tests one’s endurance, fitness and ability to face life’s challenges.

“In America and other parts of the world, the game of golf is played by all, irrespective of their financial status; it is not meant for the rich alone.

Golf requires a lot of mental participation.”

He insisted that through the new order in place in Edo, all the facilities used for the Festival will be maintained and put to good use.

“There are tremendous changes in Edo today regarding how we maintain the structures and institutions. It has to do with the people, with capacity building and making sure you have the right processes and procedures.

“Through the new hiring and recruitment which are ongoing in the Edo State Public and Civil Service, we are going to put in place not only the right people but also the right systems and institutions to sustain what we are doing.

Vandrezzer FC Withdraws from NNL in Protest over N1m Fine

One of the privately funded According to a statement football clubs in the country, issued by the management of Vandrezzer Football Club of the Lagos-based club, the decision Lagos has withdrawn from “becomes imperative in view of in shape while waiting to find further participation from all the fact that the Management and activities of the Nigeria National Board of the Nigeria National a club elsewhere in the world.” League (NNL) with immediate League as presently constituted “Kano Pillars are a good effect. has demonstrated enough resolve club and I wish him all the best at the club,” he added.

Rohr came under heavy E U R O PA L E AG U E criticism after he called up Ahmed Musa for last month’s AFCON qualifiers against Bukayo Saka was on the scorers‘ Four stage with a 2-1 (3-1 agg) Benin and Lesotho.

He won his 96th cap with sheet yesterday as Arsenal cruised scoreline against Dinamo Zagreb in the second the Eagles as a late substitute into the semi final stage of the Europa League with a 4-0 (5-1 leg of the European second tier against Lesotho.

The second round of the agg) crushing of Peter Olayinka’s competition.

The night had potential to be a 2022 World Cup qualifiers Slavia Prague in the second leg begin in June with Nigeria of the second tier European club nervy affair with the tie evenly poised at 1-1, but the Gunners drawn in the same group as competition.

Now the Gunners are primed to produced one of their best Cape Verde, Central African play Samuel Chukwueze’s Villarreal performances of the campaign to Republic and Liberia. who also went through to the Last keep alive their hopes of European

and communicated same to us in clear terms that our club, with its transformation agenda is not in any way needed in the NNL league.”

The team was fined N1million for some infractions but that decision did not go down

well with it’s management and therefore decided to pull out of the competition.

There was no official statement from the NNL on the decision of the club to withdraw from the competition midway into the season.

Bukayo on Target as Arsenal Crush Slavia Prague to Reach Semi qualification for next season.

They scored three goals in the opening 24 minutes and had another ruled out by the video assistant referee - all-but ending the contest in the opening period.

Nicolas Pepe squeezed home at the near post to open the scoring in the 18th minute before Alexandre Lacazette converted a penalty three minutes later following a foul on

Bukayo Saka.

Saka coolly swept in the third as Arsenal tore their Czech opponents apart once more.

Elsewhere, Manchester United defeated Granada 2-0 (4-0 agg) to also book a semi final place.

The Red Devils are to meet Roma in the other semi-final after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side comfortably saw off Granada.

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Obaseki to Finance Minister

“We believe it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of us all.”

– Governor Godwin Obaseki accusing the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, of playing to the gallery over the country’s economy.

AKINOSUNTOKUN DIALOGUE WITH NIGERIA

I

akin.osuntokun@thisdaylive.com

The Trial of Afenifere

t is now a platitude to argue that Nigeria is lurching and gyrating in a debilitating state of anomie, of systemic crisis. The significance of this identification is that the numerous challenges we grapple with on a daily basis have increasingly become unamenable to an item by item resolution.

Once validly identified as one, a systemic crisis renders any isolated response to isolated manifestations of the crisis of little or no consequence in governance delivery.

Think of how the prevailing Nigerian power crisis challenge cannot be solved without ensuring that the component aspects of generation, transmission and distribution are held in sync and wholistically addressed. Once formulated as a systemic crisis, the prescriptive policy response has to be commenturately of system-wide dimension, scope and magnitude of (for instance) the order of entire constitutional overhaul. This system-wide imperative and model is presently represented in Nigeria as restoration of federalism ie restructuring; and adequately captured in the words of Wole Olanipekun “the news is everywhere and the propaganda has gone haywire that the National Assembly is amending the constitution as if what the constitution requires is an amendment rather than a total overhaul starting from the preamble to the definition schedule..all arms of government and government structures

Adebanjo

have to be redefined, resituated and restrategised for a new Nigeria which we bring about unity and faith, peace and progress.”

Left unattended, the systemic crisis soon degenerate into a state of of anomie.

It subverts the sociopolitical order and fosters political dysfunction and social disharmony. In the ensuing distortion and disequilibrium, institutional role players tend to get denatured; and absurdities get to constitute the new normal. This is the operative context within which the breach rather than the observance

of the constitutional groundwork becomes normalised and predictable. It is the reason you are liable to the charge of lack of patriotism for suggesting that the serial and regular violation of the federal character principle does violence to the Nigerian constitution. It is the reason for political identity instability and discontinuities. It is the reason for the pervasive failure of leadership recruitment and succession.

Alongside the compelling news of the shocking departure of Yinka Odumakin on one hand and the appointment of Chief Ayo Adebanjo as leader of Afenifere at another, it is the reason why Afenifere is my subject matter today. To the immortality and apotheosis that Yinka has deservedly garnered, there is little for me to add other than anger and grief. Though in grief, I’m quite angry with him. Even when all conventional medical indication required him to do so, Yinka would not just slow down. Notwithstanding the noble and higher cause that consume our attention and commit ourselves, we are equally required never to lose sight of our human frailty. In the presumed certainty of inevitable return from the abyss of Covid-19 (into which we both stumbled), I had threatened to tie him down on his bed with a restraining belt for at least a month for a most needed recuperation and regeneration (apologies to Joe). The need for him to be so restrained was uniquely obvious to me on account of a 24/7 working relationship we shared

in the past one year whose demands kept escalating in direct proportion to the unrelieved political sword of damocles dangling over Nigeria.

In almost any arena of human endeavour, attaining to a position of active and consequential leadership at the age of 93 years is guaranteed to raise eyebrows yet within the constraints of a warped political environment and his own track record, the appointment of Chief Ayo Adebanjo as Afenifere leader was logically anticipated.

It is symbolic of the failure of political leadership recruitment and succession attendant on systemic breakdown.The wherewithal of this peculiarity hacks back to the collapse of the First Republic and the ensuing regime of political absurdities that followed.The collateral damage was the failure in the performance of the role of leadership recruitment which was rendered awol in the gap between 1966 and 1979.

Rather than renewal with successor generations, the political actors of 1966 were recycled to fill the vacuum created by the failure of the political system to fulfil the role of continuous and regular leadership reproduction and recruitment into the civilian political. Conventionally, the role of leadership recruitment into the political system is that of the political parties and pressure groups. The poverty of the performance of this role is selfexplanatory in the non-existence of political Continued on page 46

RIGHT OFREPLY TUNDE RAHMAN

Shaka Momodu Got it Wrong on Tinubu

S

haka Momodu again last Friday walked the path of the inflamed mercenary with the verbal ooze he dared to call a journalistic article. Shaka seems troubled on all sides by ghosts and ghouls, which he claims show the evil spirit of others. In reality, these troubling spirits are solely internal to him. He is obsessed with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to an unnatural degree. Such obsession is usually the by-product of unrequited admiration turned into resentment and evil imagining.

Poor Shaka, he blabbered almost every insult known to man and not a dent was made by all of his exertions. Shaka, the stones you wanted to throw were too big for your petty hands. Try as you might, it was inevitable that you would not reach your target. All you did was crush your own feet. Yours was but the desperate heave of a mind shattered by

hate and envy.

The things that you wrote show that you have abandoned all pretence at journalism. You are hurt to the quick by the achievements and status of Asiwaju Tinubu. In reality, you are the newspaper equivalent of a stalker. You probably have a picture of Tinubu on your ceiling above your bed so that his is the last face you see before entering the nocturnal realm of Morpheus. You probably have his picture on your favourite Egusi soup bowl so that you see him every time you dine.

What you have written is beyond propaganda. As you have done in the past, you have engaged in slander. You are so angry that you must have demolished several keyboards pounding out your torrent of hatred. Yet, in the end, what you wrote says more about your state of mind than it will ever say about Tinubu.

Yours was but a desperate heave by a

desperate soul.

It is obvious why you wrote the twopage ugliness when you did. You and the shadowy masters behind you were sent aghast and placed on your heels by the show of genuine support and respect accorded Tinubu on his birthday, and particularly exhibited at the colloquium bearing his name. Your masters fear that this same support and respect would follow him even more if he decided to announce his candidacy for president.

You all were agitated by fear because you well know that neither you nor the political operative whose bidding you perform can ever attract such attention.

While Tinubu’s presidential candidacy is unannounced and a subject of ample speculation, one thing is beyond speculation: that is if you should announce a colloquium in your name and advertise it non-stop for ten long years, you would

have but two attendants in the end- you and the ghouls that inhabit your mind.

Thus, you must disparage Tinubu for doing yearly what you can never come close to in an entire lifetime of unanswered cravings.

Through your piece, you danced long if not very well for your masters. Although a clumsy and over the top effort, no one can fault your expenditure of energy.

You truly wasted yourself. Shaka, you accuse Asiwaju of “overbearing influence and corruption”. You focus your venom on Alpha Beta, a firm engaged in tax consultancy with the Lagos State Government, based on allegations made by its erstwhile and discredited Managing Director, Mr. Dapo Apara. The firm is engaged in a legitimate business with the Lagos State Government. Its work has Continued on page 46

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