WEDNESDAY 1ST MAY 2024

To the Hardworking Men and Women of Lagos

Funso Doherty

Today is Workers Day. As usual, we can expect platitudes, social media posts, events in celebration of workers, flowery words on the importance of workers, on the need to support our labor unions, civil servants, first responders and the private sector. Today we will celebrate work but what does it mean to honor work and workers?

For most of us, work is a huge part

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of who we are and can affect our social and self-worth. Many of our aspirations involve work - we all aim to get to the next level in our careers or businesses and then to continue to climb. Work often defines us - Arch Deji, Nurse Chioma, Dr Musa etc, it is frequently how we see ourselves and how people see us. We pursue credentials, degrees, certificates

to enhance our status at work.

Conversations will be triggered today, about the treatment or mistreatment of work and workers, especially Lagosian in the lower income bracket. Unpaid salaries of government workers, but also workers in the private sector. The harsh conditions of work; Lagosians braving the heat and heavy rains to

make ends meet. Declining job security, stagnating wages not keeping up to galloping inflation, the role of technology, automation and, increasingly, AI in the future of work, the cost of commuting to work. Further, attention will be drawn to the extortionary conditions faced by bus drivers, dispatch riders, and market women and most micro-business, in their respective lines of work. The conversations

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Continued on page 41

FG Approves 35% Pay Rise for Civil Servants, Pensioners Get 28% Increase

Deji Elumoye, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The federal government has approved a pay increase of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent for civil servants on the remaining six consolidated salary structures. A statement signed by Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Emmanuel Njoku, said the increases took effect from January 1, 2024. The affected Salary Structures included the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS), Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS), and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).

Continued on page 41

United States Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell (L) with Vice President Kashim Shettima during Campbell's visit to Nigeria..... yesterday

PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government has unveiled the Aso Accord on Economic and Financial Inclusion, a multi-pronged blueprint designed to

achieve universal access to financial services across Nigeria. The accord, signed last Thursday in Abuja, was made public yesterday,

Financial Inclusion, Dr. Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro. It represents a core pillar of President Bola Tinubu

YOU ARE WELCOME...

L-R: Out-going Country Director for Nigeria, World Bank, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri; Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria

Major Oil Marketers Confirm Petrol Availability, Say 300m Litres for Distribution This Week

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos

Petroleum products dealers under the aegis of Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) yesterday confirmed adequate products availability in the country, amid the current nationwide scarcity of petrol and resultant queues in filling stations.

The group specifically disclosed that they were taking product from right vessels this week with over 300 million litres of petrol, which they said was well above their members' normal levels.

The Chairman of MEMAN and Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Retail Limited, Mr. Huub Stokman, announced this in a statement issued during the association's virtual training programme.

Stokman expressed MEMAN's empathy with Nigerians facing the challenges occasioned by the current situation and the resulting queues at many retail outlets, saying "We can see the frustration and difficulties this situation is creating".

He said the downstream regulator, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and other key stakeholders across the supply chain were fully engaged and supportive to eliminate the queues as swiftly as possible.

"Our top priority is to restore stability and ensure that fuel supplies reach all depots and retail outlets across Nigeria promptly.

"While the current situation has been challenging, we want to reassure

the public that there is an adequate supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) available. Our members in Apapa and other locations in Lagos are taking product from right vessels this week, with over 300 million litres of PMS, well above our normal levels," Stokman stated.

He maintained that the association was actively coordinating with their member companies through swaps and other supply arrangements to ensure member stations remained stocked.

He assured that their members' depots would extend their loading times to ensure they load out as much as they could, including up till today (May 1, 2024).

The MEMAN chairman informed that their partners in the National Road Transporters Organisation (NARTO) and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) had assured them of their support in ensuring that the product get to the retail outlets safely and quickly.

Stokman added: "We also will extend the opening times of selected retail outlets to ensure we can service our customers as long and as safely possible.

"Independent marketers (depots and stations) are being allocated additional PMS to alleviate the situation. We expect the situation to improve in the coming days as supply chains adjust and "MEMANstabilise.remains committed to keeping you informed and providing timely updates. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us through our official channels."

Meanwhile, the Chairmen, Forum of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday threated to embark on a nationwide strike over the N200 billion petrol bridging debt owed by the government.

The group, comprising 21 depot heads, in a communiqué read by its spokesman, Oliver Okolo, in Abuja, stressed that despite repeated appeals, the authorities had failed to offset the arrears since September 2022.

Flanked by the Chairman of the forum, Yahaya Alhassan, Okolo maintained that the survival of its members’ businesses was no longer certain, arising from the failure to settle the outstanding payment, which

he claimed had led to the death of many members. He insisted that there was a deliberate refusal to offset the debt, alleging that some of the members of IPMAN had completely shut down their businesses and retrenched their workers due to inability to pay salaries.

Specifically, he said that despite a directive by the Minister of State, Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to settle the outstanding bridging claim in 40 days from February, only N13 billion had been paid.

Okolo stated that members of

the IPMAN forum acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running, explaining however that it was demoralising to know that many of them had gone bankrupt. He added that this is as a result of their inability to meet their financial obligations to their banks, revealing that consequently the banks had taken over the business premises of many of their members.

Okolo, who is also the unit chairman of the Aba depot, which serves the entire East, expressed displeasure that rather than receive support from the government to boost their businesses, they were being discouraged by the actions of the authorities.

“It is shameful to state that only

the paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid, thus going the whole length to ignore our plight without remorse and without recourse to the minister’s directive.

“Before now, we had taken the honourable path to continually seek explanation from the NMDPRA, on why they have blatantly refused to offset the remaining debt, but we have ceaselessly met brick walls,” the group added.

The group further stated that it was not happy with the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of the sales and storage license and the subsequent delays in acquiring the license, which its members had been recently subjected to.

To Curtail Oil Assets Vandalism, NMDPRA Begins Consultations on Host Communities Regulation

Says full licensing for Dangote refinery ready soon

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) yesterday commenced stakeholders’ consultation on the contentious Midstream Petroleum Host Community Development Trust Regulation, saying that it will help curb oil and gas assets vandalism.

Speaking at the event which held in Abuja, the Chief Executive of the Authority, Mr Farouk Ahmed,

...House Summons Petroleum Minister, Stakeholders Over Lingering Fuel Scarcity

Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Petroleum Resources and all relevant stakeholders in the petroleum industry to appear before it and brief Nigerians on the measures put in place to end the current fuel scarcity and avert its reoccurrence in the future. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of ‘Matter of Urgent National Importance,’ on the need to address the lingering fuel scarcity and rising retail prices of petrol across Nigeria, moved

by Umar Shehu Ajilo at plenary yesterday.President Bola Tinubu is the Minister of Petroleum Resources while Heineken Lokpobiri serves as the Minister of State for the ministry. In the last two weeks, long queues have resurfaced in petrol stations amid scarcity of the product which has led to an increase in transport cost. Ajilo, expressed concern over the lingering fuel scarcity accompanied by excessive increase in retail price of petrol at filling stations across the country which has no doubt occasioned additional hardship to

the Nigerian citizens. He further stressed that the situation came at a time when the adverse economic effect caused by subsidy removal and soaring inflation was yet to be addressed by the government, not to mention the deteriorating income of the Nigerian masses. "The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd is yet to address this perennial and persistent fuel scarcity problem faced by Nigerians despite the volume of resources at its disposal.

also explained that the Dangote refinery will soon get its license to begin full operation.

Represented by the NMDPRA’s Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage & Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, Ahmed stated that the organisation was working quietly to ensure that the pace of licensing in the sector is ramped up.

Insisting that the Authority does not get enough accolades for the high level work it puts into churning out regulations as demanded by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Ahmed stressed that host communities issues remain very emotional, reason the stakeholders’ meeting was necessary.

“We do not receive sufficient acknowledgement for the drafting of the regulations, just like we quietly license facilities and we really do not go out there and say this is the work we put in to license.

“The PIA has been very clear about the process for regulation and it has provided that consultation must be part of that process and that the public hearing must be held with the stakeholders to discuss and review proposed draft regulations.

“And this aligns with the Authority’s approach to the work that we do, by being very collaborative. And so today's programme, just like every other stakeholder engagement, is to provide a platform to cross-fertilise ideas. And I dare say

that the Hostcom concept is one of those that can be very highly debatable and sometimes very heated for obvious reasons.

“Many of the feedbacks, the most emotional ones, have always revolved around the issue of what should qualify as the applicability of Hostcom to either the midstream and the downstream. Some hold the view that Hostcom is a concept for the upstream sector of this industry.

But I just want to set the right tone by referencing what I would call the spirit of the PIA.

“When we argue and say it's counterfactual and insist that Hostcom should apply to only extraction industries, we're posing the question, what of the emissions? What are the effects? Do they not impact on the community?

“When you read the relevant sections of the PIA, the ones that precede Section 2.40, do you not get the sense that there are industry facilities in particular that are more impactful, even more than the wellheads? I don't know which upstream facility will be much more than, in terms of scope and impact, more than the NLNG or the Dangote refinery that’s coming on stream,” he argued. He stated that the NMDPRA has issued thousands of licences for various segments of the operations of the midstream and downstream, stressing that both sub-segments of the oil and gas sector have wide

areas of reach. He added: And so we work with these operators, and we issue licenses. Within the midstream space, we have about three refineries with valid licenses. We are hand-holding the Dangote refinery through their pre-commissioning, and sooner or later they will have a full commissioning and a valid license to also do that.

“In the gas processing facilities within the midstream, there are about 15 of them with valid licenses, and much more are under processing. If you go to the downstream, in the gas space in the downstream, there are facilities more than 1,195 facilities that hold valid NMDPRA licenses. More than 176 operators hold gas imports and off-take permits.

“In the liquids licensing side of the downstream, there are 130 depots with valid licenses. Coastal vessels, more than 69 have valid licenses as of today. And in the retail outlets, we have 9,464 licensed retail outlets with valid licenses as of 10 a.m. today,” he explained. Also speaking, the Secretary and Legal Adviser, NMDPRA, Dr Joseph Tolorunse, who gave an overview of the regulation, said it shall apply only to the midstream petroleum host communities and a holder of a license that is engaged in the midstream petroleum operations.

(CBN), Ms. Emem Usoro; CBN Governor, Mr .Olayemi Cardoso; In-coming Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Ndiame Diop, and Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Dr. Bala Bello, following an introductory meeting between the new Country Director for Nigeria and the CBN Management held in Abuja…yesterday

turning of the SoD for conStruction of KeSington ADelAbu MeDiA reSource centre...

L-R: Former Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State chapter, Mrs. Funke Fadugba; former NUJ President & Representative of Chief Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Mr. Lanre Ogundipe; Publisher, Vanguard Newspaper & distinguished patron of Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Mr. Sam Amuka; Aare of Yorubaland & representative of Sir Kesington Adebutu, Aare Kola Oyefeso, and Provost, NIJ, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, during the foundation laying of turning of the SOD for the construction of Kesington Adelabu Media Resource Centre in Lagos... yesterday.

Again, Peter Obi Faults Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway Project

Insists ongoing buildings’ demolition insensitive

chuks okocha in Abuja

The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has again faulted the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, describing it as not necessary. Obi had earlier condemned the commencement of the multitrillion naira coastal highway project, when most internal roads in the country were impassable.

A statement by his media aide, Tanko Yunusa, quoted Obi to have

said Nigerians would be the victims and millions of jobs would be lost alongside people’s properties.

Writing on his X handle yesterday, the former Anambra State governor said, "Contrary to the dictates of reason and the necessity for compassion in the pursuit of public policy, the federal government has kicked off the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.

“The outcry against this project has been overwhelming because it contrasts with the prevailing situation in the country at this time.

"However, reports as of yesterday (Monday) indicate that demolition of businesses and residences in the designated right of way for the project has commenced from the Lagos end.”

He added, "The sight of this insensitive demolition is, for me, heart-wrenching. As we watch this tragic theatre, livelihoods are being wiped away. Lifetime investments are being laid to waste while jobs are evaporating as the bulldozers roar.

“Habitations of the aged are being overturned by bulldozers of

power. This hasty flag-off is in utter defiance of widespread outcry by the public, especially business and property owners whose investments are directly affected by this project.

“No one knows the outcry that I’ll herald this project as it progresses towards poor rural landscapes.

“Thousands of jobs are about to be wiped out while in one case investments above $200 million are about to be lost. Over 100,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector face clear and instant extinction.

“Over 80 small businesses are

threatened, with 4,000 mostly youth employees imminently out of jobs.

At a time when unemployment is ravaging the country, the government is embarking on a job-losing project.

“The economic losses in view only have to do with the first few kilometres in the Lagos end. But the 700 km of this road will traverse rural areas where those to be affected have neither voice, power, or influence to press their rights.

"Significant sections of the public have questioned the process that preceded the approval of this project.

The government has turned deaf ears to voices of reason and caution.” Obi further stated, "More importantly, the time has come to interrogate the rationale and timing of this and similar projects being contemplated by this government.

"The nation is today in the worst economic state in national history. Poverty is spreading by the day. Hunger has recently come centre stage among the things that trouble the majority of Nigerians. The basic necessities of life are now beyond the reach of most Nigerians.”

Naira Gains at Official Market, Marginally Declines at Parallel to N1390/$1, N1,330

A report by the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) that was issued by the Managing Director and Group Chief Economist, Afreximbank, Dr. Yemi Kale, has stated that the recent reforms initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are yielding positive results.

The “Nigeria’s central bank’s reforms,” according to the report, “are yielding results” and have enabled the Naira to make some “gains in official and parallel (foreign exchange) markets” by appreciating from its record low performance of N1,915/$ in February 2024 to N1,330/$ and N1,100/$ in March and April respectively as at the time of writing the report.

These reforms included measured taken in the foreign exchange management to improve the value of the Naira and recapitalisation of the Nigerian banks and high monetary policy rate (MPR) among others.

The report, which was dated Afreximbank Research May 2024 and titled “Monthly Developments in the African Macroeconomic Environment,” said that “despite the unpopularity of the bank recapitalisation policy within the banking community, it has positive implications for the Nigerian economy.

“Additionally, it is anticipated that

the policy will simultaneously help mop up excess money supply and curb inflation, apart from expanding the capacity of banks to supportthe government’s drive for a trillion[1] dollar economy.

“The policy is expected to improve the resilience of Nigerian banks and reduce their vulnerability to financial shocks in the face of evolving global and local headwinds.”

The report noted that the CBN raised the minimum capital requirement of commercial banks with international license authorisation to N500 billion and made similar upward revisions to the requirement for other bank categories, including national N200 billion, regional N50 billion, merchant bank N50 billion, non-interest banks N20 billion and regional non-interest bank N10 billion.

It said: “The recapitalisation process, intended to make Nigerian banks more resilient and increase their capacity to support the government’s $1 trillion economy drive, is to be completed in two years.

“The CBN further excluded shareholders’ funds from the requirement and limited the options of banks to meeting the new requirement by either raising fresh capital, exploring mergers and acquisitions, or upgrading/ downgrading their licenses.

“By this additional clause, nearly

all Nigerian banks must mobilise capital aggressively to cover their shortfalls.

“With the average bank in Nigeria falling far short of the regulatory requirement, the banking system could be bracing for another round of merger and acquisition, as seen in the previous 2004/2005 recapitalisation process that reduced Nigerian banks significantly from 89 to 24.”

The report further noted that the hike in interest rate by the CBN

would have different impacts on the economy, influencing various sectors of the economy through “higher borrowing costs, as lending rates rise in line with the MPR.

“The elevated MPR will also likely contribute to an uptick in the loan default rate.

“With higher interest rates, servicing debt will become more expensive for borrowers, leading to financial strain and a rise in defaults across various sectors.”

nume ekeghe

The naira yesterday, sustained its gain at the parallel market, and for the first time in one week gains also at the official window.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEM) window, naira recorded gains as it closed at N1,390.96/$1 a N28.15 appreciation compared to N1,419.11/$1 it closed on Monday.

By the end of trading yesterday, the parallel market concluded at N1,360/$1, a loss of N10 compared to the Monday rate of N1,350/$1. The daily turnover recorded an increase in transactions of 52.33 per cent, to $225.36 million yesterday compared to the $147.83 million recorded on Monday. Furthermore, the highest spot rate observed yesterday stood at N1,450, with the lowest spot rate recorded at N1,200.

Nigerian Banks Unveil Recapitalisation Plans, Others Silent as April 30 Deadline Expires

nume ekeghe

As the April 30, 2024 deadline for banks to submit their recapitalisation strategies to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expires, financial institutions are now navigating the path to meet the revised capital requirements.

The CBN, in March, heightened the capital threshold for banks, granting them a two-year grace period to comply or explore alternatives such as mergers, acquisitions, or license downgrades.

The revised criteria mandate commercial banks with international

licenses to maintain a capital base of N500 billion, while national and regional counterparts are required to hold N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

Additionally, the capital bases for national and regional non-interest banks have been raised to N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively, along with a N50 billion requirement for merchant banks.

Despite the compliance deadline set for 2026, banks were mandated to submit detailed plans outlining their steps, transactions, and instruments for recapitalisation by April 30. While some institutions have proactively

sought shareholder approval and unveiled concrete strategies, others have maintained silence.

For instance, Access Holdings, the parent company of Access Bank, received shareholder approval for a N365 billion rights issue, signalling a clear path toward additional capitalisation.

Similarly, GTCO disclosed plans to seek shareholders’ consent for a $750 million capital raise, utilising various securities issuance options.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) is considering a blend of capital-raising methods, including rights issues or private placements, to meet

regulatory requirements. Its Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, had mentioned: “The capital raising strategy may include a combination of options such as Rights Issue or Private Placement. The fact remains that we are confident in our ability to meet the CBN’s capital adequacy requirements and will keep investors informed as we progress.” Also, FCMB Group Plc has greenlighted a roadmap to bolster its commercial banking subsidiary, FCMB Limited, to comply with the N200 billion minimum capital base.

PhOtO: KehINDe ShONOLA

Dike onwuamaeze

BRACED CommiSSion'S mEEting in YEnAgoA...

Edun: Why FG Mandated Agencies to Remit 50% of Revenue Proceeds to Govt

Appeals for assistance of IsDB to mobilise resources from Arab Coordination league for infrastructural devt

Ugo Aliogo in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, said President Bola Tinubu’s focus on increasing domestic revenue generation was behind the government’s mandate to federal revenue generating agencies to remit 50 per cent of their proceeds to the federal government. Edun disclosed this yesterday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during a meeting with President of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Governors Roundtable, at the 2024 IsDB Group Annual Meetings and Golden Jubilee marking the 50th Anniversary of the bank.

The theme of the anniversary was “Cherishing our Past, Charting our Future: Originality, Solidarity, and Prosperity.”

Edun said the current emphasis in Nigeria was a deviation from the norm of remitting earnings after deducting operational costs. He also stated that the surplus funds from the earnings were utilised for crucial infrastructure development, social welfare programmes, and job creation.

He revealed that with oil serving as the key revenue source, steps were taken to bolster pipeline security and increase crude production. He said those steps led to the current output of 1.6 million barrels per day.

The minister appealed to IsDB to expand its portfolio of projects with more concessional loans to support government’s ongoing efforts to develop the economy.

Edun stated that in view of the fragility of the country due to

insecurity and climate issues, the federal government was seeking more grants and technical assistance from the bank.

Edun requested the assistance of IsDB to mobilise resources from the Arab Coordination league for infrastructural development.

He stated, “We wish to request for the visibility and presence of IsDB affiliates (ICD, ITFC, ICIEC) in the regional hub of Abuja to intensify their support to the private sector, who are important growth drivers, and to support the renewed hope initiative of Mr. President.”

The minister commended the bank for its continued support to the economic development of Nigeria, especially for approving the I-dice project aimed at creating the next unicorn in the Nigerian technology space and the Special Agro Processing Zone Project (SAZP) to support the country’s import substation drive.

According to him, “The President Tinubu renewed hope encapsulates a comprehensive vision for Nigeria’s future, built on the pillars of economic prosperity, social development, and political stability.

“Crafted to address the pressing challenges facing the nation while leveraging its vast potential, this agenda aims to instil optimism and confidence among Nigerians and international stakeholders alike.

“President Tinubu recognises the need to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil revenue and promote diversification across multiple sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and technology.

“By harnessing the nation’s abundant natural resources and human capital, the administration aims to unlock for growth and prosperity.”

Edun added, “Addressing the country’s infrastructure deficit is essential for unlocking economic potential and improving the quality of life for all Nigerians. The renewed hope agenda prioritise infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, ports, and energy infrastructure, to enhance connectivity, facilitate trade, and drive economic growth across

the country.

“Nigeria’s youthful population presents both a challenge and opportunity. President Tinubu is committed to the harnessing the energy and creativity of the youth through targeted programme and initiatives aimed at skills development, entrepreneurship, and job creation.

“By investing in education, vocational training, and access to finance, the administration seeks to empower young Nigerians to become drivers of economic growth

and development.”

In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer of Jaiz Bank, Haruna Musa, stated that the bank had signed a $20 million agreement in the form of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

Musa hinted that ICD supported businesses across the globe, and said the $20 million was the capital injection into Jaiz Bank.

He said they would provide funds in terms of equity, which

they could use to support their operations in Nigeria. Musa stated, “The MoU we signed today is more of supporting the working capital because after the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for recapitalisation, the qualifying capital for Jaiz Bank is about N18.7 billion currently, and the requirement by the CBN is about N20 billion for our categorisation as non-interest bank. I am very confident that Jaiz Bank will be able to meet up with the capital requirement of the CBN.”

DBN Disburses N786bn to Economy with Zero Non-performing Loans

Creates 1.5m jobs in six years

James Emejo in Abuja

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, yesterday disclosed that the development finance bank has disbursed N786 billion in loans to 494,819 MSMEs since the commencement of business operations in 2017. Speaking at the company’s 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja, he said the disbursements represented a commendable 24 per cent growth in support to the economy from the N631 billion as

well as 58 per cent increase from the 313,000 MSMES impacted in the preceding year.

He said till date the bank loan repayment ratio had been 100 per cent, boasting “we don't have any non -performing loans”.

This came as its shareholdersAfrican Development Bank (AfDB), African Investment Bank (AIB), Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) approved N3.5 billion dividend which translated to N32.70 kobo per share for the year under review. This was the second

dividend payment in a row.

Okpanachi said N187 billion of the loan disbursements in 2023 went to 356, 451 women-owned businesses while N81 billion was accessed by 120,326 youth-owned businesses, reinforcing the bank’s commitment to financing the underserved MSME market segments, which had led to the creation of over 1.5 million jobs.

He also said as part of the bank’s commitment to supporting priority sectors outlined by the federal government, N74 billion was allocated to the manufacturing sector thereby benefitting 3,696 end borrowers.

In addition, N38 billion was channelled into agriculture, reaching 8,163 beneficiaries.

year 2023 served as a stepping stone, propelling us towards a future where innovation, resilience, and adaptability will be the cornerstones of our success.

“We look to the horizon with optimism, committed to building upon our strengths and addressing the lessons of the past as we continue to strive for a brighter and more successful future.”

He also pointed out that sustainability remained at the core of the bank’s values as evident in its concerted efforts to grow its green portfolio which increased substantially to N6 billion in 2023.

Sixteen out of the 20 local government areas of Ogun State have been declared as being prone to flood as rainfall for the year 2024 is expected to start fully soon.

The government therefore warned residents living in those areas identified and others not mentioned, to temporarily relocate to safer areas to avoid flooding disaster.

Some Ogun communities such as Isheri, Sagamu, Abeokuta, Ilaro, Agbara and others witnessed heavy flooding that claimed livestock and properties last year.

Oresanya said: "Of the 20 local government areas of the state, 16 are expected to have highest rainfall with over 1,700mm, while those with lowest rainfall are Imeko Afon (1541mm) Odeda (1658mm), Abeokuta North (1675mm) and Abeokuta -South(1699mm).

"Due to this prediction, residents living on wetland areas of the state are advised to relocate to a safer ground or create higher elevation

The warning is coming following the 2024 annual flood outlook released by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA). According to the report, Ogun state is expecting an average rainfall of 1,786.5mm for a period of 239 days this year. The Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, gave the warning, while addressing journalists in Abeokuta during the 4th Ogun State flood alert for 2024.

within their residence before the rain commences fully.

“For agricultural purposes, the length of the growing season for the coastal areas of the season ranges between 250 to 292 days while that of inland areas is between 200 to 250 days".

Oresanya revealed that the state government has increased its effort it in combating the threat of flooding by building 2,975.6 metres of mini bridges and culverts, clearing and desilting 56,150 metres of river and stream courses and desilting 40,000 metres of drainage channel across the three senatorial districts.

Some of the areas include: Construction of drainage channel and culverts at Wesley Primary School, Ijebu-Ode, reconstruction of

dilapidated culvert at Saje Dumpsite road, Apakila (Abeokuta), Igbosoro (Ogijo, Sagamu LGA), Imasai.

Others include the desilting of rivers/stream courses at Yemule (Ijebu-Ode), Sensen river (Sagamu), Onibuku (Ota), Ode-Funfun (OjaOdan), Opa Are (Isheri), Sekari river and tributaries while desilting of drainages channel will take place at Abeokuta, Ifo, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ilaro, Ota among others.

He urged residents to remain calm, adding that the state government, would continue to work productively with the management of the OgunOsun River Basin Development Authority to regulate the discharge of water from the two dams, Ikere Gorge Dam located on Ogun River and Oyan Dam.

The DBN boss said, “These strategic investments underscore the bank's drive to grow sectors vital to the nation’s economy.

“As we reflect on the culmination of the year 2023, I am pleased to report the operating activities, financial results and key activities of the Development Bank of Nigeria Plc for the year ended 31st December 2023.

“This past year marked the completion of a significant chapter in our journey, as it concluded the bank's maiden strategy cycle that has guided our actions and decisions for the past six years.

“As we stand at the threshold of a new era, we embrace the opportunity to introspect, correct courses where necessary, and chart a visionary course forward. The

“This growth is particularly noteworthy as it signifies a dedicated commitment to environmentally responsible investments aligning with global sustainability goals.”

Okpanachi told THISDAY that the jobs statistics was a good start for the bank, adding that given the requirements in the economy, there is the need to create more jobs. He said, “We believe by looking into the next five years, we're scaling up operations to ensure that we'll be able to create more jobs, because that's very required in the entire economy.

Further commenting on loan repayment, he said, “Again, we give the credit to the financial institutions we work with; we give credit to the end borrowers that we work with, and I'm sure it's the lending practices that has made it very possible. Now, DBN has zero non -performing loans.”

James Sowole in Abeokuta

Edo State Governor and chairman of the BRACED Commission, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (middle), Bayelsa State Governor and host, Senator Douye Diri (2nd left), Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, her Delta State counterpart, Monday Onyeme (2nd right), and Director-General, Amb. Joe Keshi, during the commission’s meeting in Yenagoa... yesterday

Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com

As PDP Prepares to Elect National Chairman in August...

Chuks Okocha writes that as the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party fixes august, 2024 for the election of a substantive national chairman for the party, former Vice President atiku abubukar appears to be losing grip of the control of the party structure to former governor of Rivers State and current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

Although the 98th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) directed that it will reconvene on August 15, 2024 to address the issue of substantive national chairman for the party, nothing special will be achieved from the pronouncement.

The NEC meeting in simple layman’s language is a great minus to the political aspiration of former vice president Atiku Abubukar. It is also a pointer to the fact that he had lost any attempt to control the structures of the party.

This is so because before August 15, when a substantive national chairman is expected to emerge, the NEC-in-session had ordered that congresses from the wards, local governments and states in over 24 states must have taken place

This is strange because by August 15 the Congresses and the structures must have been completed with wards, local governments and states congresses already held.

It is perceived that the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Illya Damagum and some members of the PDP National Working Committee are working for the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. So, of what value would the state congresses organised by a Wike man be to the Atiku camp?

Though, Wike has repeatedly said he will not contest the 2027 Presidentiial ticket of the party, but his continued holding on to the PDP is to weaken the party. There is a perception within the party that Atiku Abubukar may contest the 2027 presidential ticket of the PDP but he is yet to deny or confirm this position.

So, by shifting the election of a substantive national chairman of PDP to August 15, 2024 when the ward and state congresses must have taken place is to ensure that Atiku does not control any structure and therefore weaken his presidential ambition.

As things are at the moment, the 98th NEC meeting was a victory in the camps of Wike who controls the structures of the party and members of the NWC.

This is why the just concluded NEC meeting could be described as an anti climax, because many believed that the meeting will take a decisive step that could reposition the main opposition party ahead of the politics of 2027.

Indications of what to come emerged when the governors elected on the platform of the party refused to take a definitive position on the election of a substantive national chairman following the information that Dr Iyorchia Ayu, a former national chairman

has withdrawn his suit against his suspension from the court.

When reporters prodded the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Senator Bala Mohammed with questions on the fate of the Acting National Chairman, Iliya Damagum, he simply said, “NEC will decide”, but added there won’t be any implosion within the party as the governors are capable of handling any situation that comes its way.

At the national caucus meeting that usually set agenda for the NEC meeting, indications of what to come emerged when the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike was allowed to attend the meeting. By the PDP constitution, Wike is not a member.

Before the actual commencement of the national caucus meeting, there was a meeting presided over by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Bala Mohammed and by the time the caucus met, the outcome was a mere formality.

Surprisingly, both Atiku and Wike at the caucus did not say a word.

Political observers blamed Atiku who is currently the leader of the party for not seizing the opportunity of the caucus meeting to show leadership.

As predicted, Wike, continued to maintain an upper hand in the

leadership crisis plaguing the party. The caucus ruled that there would be no leadership change. Rather, it directed that the NEC should constitute a reconciliation and disciplinary committee as well as approving the schedules for congresses in 24 states

By refusing for any leadership change, the national caucus approved the continue stay in office of the acting National Chairman, Illya Umar Damagum.

By this fresh bill of health, Damagum is to continue acting in office till the next NEC meeting.

To this end, penultimate Thursday’s NEC meeting would have nothing to do with leadership change until the next national convention of the party.

This decision was disclosed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, who said the decision was aimed at ensuring reconciliation and unity in the party.

According to him, the caucus had directed that the party management should set up a discipline and reconciliation committee to reconcile all members.

“NEC meeting will not discuss any change in leaders. Rather, attention is focused on unity and reconciliation.

“Caucus agreed that all congresses in the states and local government should be concluded between June and August this year”, Ologunagba said

But this did not go down well with the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees

So, by shifting the election of a substantive national chairman of PDP to August 15, 2024 when the ward and state congresses must have taken place is to ensure that Atiku does not control any structure and therefore weaken his presidential ambition. As things are at the moment, the 98th NEC meeting was a victory in the camps of Wike who controls the structures of the party and members of the NWC. This is why the just concluded NEC meeting could be described as an anti climax, because many believed that the meeting will take a decisive step that could reposition the main opposition party ahead of the politics of 2027. Indications of what to come emerged when the governors elected on the platform of the party refused to take a definitive position on the election of a substantive national chairman following the information that Dr Iyorchia Ayu, a former national chairman has withdrawn his suit against his suspension from the court.

(BOT). Senator Adoulphus Wabara who said the acting national chairman, has stayed longer than expected in his acting capacity to the detriment of the north east geo-political zone.

According to him, “The ambiguity surrounding this position has led to confusion and internal strife, hindering our collective efforts to pursue our noble objectives.

“The solutions to these two challenges are clearly imbibed in our party’s constitution but deliberate litigations have made the application of these constitutional solutions impossible.

“It is incumbent upon us to resolve this matter with utmost urgency, guided by transparency, fairness, and the best interests of our party and its members.

“As leaders, we feel the pulse of Nigerians and particularly members of our great party in their demand and quest for direction at this critical time in the life of our party, the PDP and dear nation, Nigeria.”

This position of the PDP BoT may have swayed the NEC to be definitive on the need to replace Damagum, hence the August 15 date for the election or nomination of a substantive national chairman from the northeast zone.

However, political observers are quick to say the coming to office of a substantive national chairman in August may be medicine after death as the main squabbles is the struggle for the structures of the party ahead of the 2027 general election.

The observers opine that the coming to office by a new chairman would have rendered him powerless as the wards, local governments and states congresses of the party must have been completed as the NWC of the party was mandated to complete all the congresses between June and August 2024.

And by implication, all the structures would have been taken over by the Wike Camp. But a NEC member, Sani Uba disagreed saying when a substantive national chairman notices that there are anomalies in the structures, he could move and restore things in proper order and way of things.

He explained that there are outside influence that expected the party to implode with the just concluded NEC, but the wisdom was that the NEC has approved the constitution of a reconciliation committee that would look into the grievances of some members as well as the perceived anti party activities .

Atiku Damagum

Wike

FEaturEs

How Akwa Ibom is Improving Fiscal Transparency, Utilising Public Resources Responsibly

Abasifreke Effiong

Akwa Ibom State is keen and showing committed self-effort to remain atop the subnational audit efficacy index, a civic-space driven, evidence-based assessment which seeks to know whether public resources are responsibly and effectively managed to achieve intended results.

In 2022, Akwa Ibom came first in the subnational audit efficacy ranking, the same year the United States Consul General in Nigeria, Mr. Will Stevens, lauded the state government for being 'one of US' first partners in Africa to improve fiscal transparency, and leading other states in Nigeria in creating its own public finance plan.'

The new administration led by Pastor Umo Eno, is avid to sustain fiscal reforms which placed the state as number one in the subnational audit efficacy index. It is applying strict budgetary discipline and upholding financial regulations which prescribe various approval limits for officers of government, starting with the Governor.

The state financial regulation which benchmarks approval thresholds for the Governor, the Finance and General Purpose Committee (FGPC), and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), is conscientiously applied in the state. In August 2023 before the constitution of the FGPC, Governor Eno said he could not start major projects because they were beyond his approval limits.

"We will flag-off some road projects soon. Why we did not do it before was because the amount was more than what I could have approved solely as Governor. I am a very procedural person. We needed to put Exco in place and we needed to constitute the FGPC so the amount will go first to the FGPC to get the approval before the award of contract for the projects.

"I know people were watching. If you award before doing those things, the House of Assembly will come after you. So I am also careful," the Governor said on August 19, 2023, during the Government House prayer meeting held at Latter House Chapel.

The state Accountant General, Pastor Uwem Andrew-Essien, said no expenditure can be made without a vote.

"If a project does not have a vote of charge in the budget, you can't get money anywhere." This signposts a very strict commitment to fiscal discipline.

Civil society organisations working within Nigeria's fiscal space say many policy actors are not keen about sustaining fiscal reforms since the World Bank-Assisted States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme ended in 2022.

Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), a civic-tech organisation working to foster public accountability through citizens' engagement with public audit system said it observed obvious decline in average score in the 2023 Subnational Audit Efficacy (SAE) Index. The organisation in a report released last month observed a roll back or stagnation of results achieved through the SFTAS initiative.

"It is evident that many policy actors at subnational level are uninterested in sustaining reforms achieved through the SFTAS programme given the cessation of monetary incentives aiding such reforms thereby impeding prospects for good governance, development and improved quality of life for citizens," the report funded by MacArthur Foundation stated.

The total average score in the SAE index for 2023 was 30.58 per cent against 31.81 per cent in 2022, indicating a 1.23 per cent decline.

PLSI founded in 2016, runs on donor support from Open Knowledge Foundation, The British Council, European Union, MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) with partnership from civic organisations including BudgIT, Connected Development (CODE), Socio -Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, etc.

The subnational audit efficacy index assesses the level of transparency and accountability operational in management of public funds, and implementation of public policies in the

36 states through public audit and key actors in the public audit action cycle.

The assessment covers eight priority areas - audit legal framework and operationalisation, submission of annual activity report, publication of audit documents, implementation of House of Assembly resolutions on audit recommendations, evidence of performance audit, availability of citizens' accountability report, effectiveness of public accounts committee, and civil society/media participation in the audit process.

Akwa Ibom State scored 60 per cent in the 2023 SAE assessment benchmarked on the 2022 financial statements and audited account. Ekiti and Yobe states topped the charts with 73 per cent, while Lagos ranked 36th with five per cent.

Four out of the 36 states scored above 50 per cent in the latest ranking unveiled on Thursday 14th March at the Musa Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja, during the SAE award ceremony chaired by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum. Highlight of 2023 assessment sheet shows that Akwa Ibom scored 100 in citizens' accountability report and effectiveness of its public accounts committee. It also scored high on CSO/media participation in the audit process. The state's mean score stands at 71.25 per cent in the four years SAE performance trend published by the organisation.

Reacting to the report, leader of the finance sector and Commissioner for Finance, Akwa Ibom State, Linus Nkan, PhD, said the ranking spotlights the

efficiency of the public finance management system achieved over the years.

"It is a great testament to the effectiveness and efficiency we have achieved over the years in our public financial management, the innovations and fiscal reforms we have undertaken, and the huge investments the state government has made to enhance the capacity of personnel involved in financial management in our state."

"We have very strict budget discipline and financial regulations, everyone spends within the approved items on the budget for that financial year and approval threshold. The mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability are upheld throughout the system at various levels of budget execution," Nkan said.

The state has leveraged on the reforms birthed under the SFTAS programme to improve citizens' participation in budget, enhance standard bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements and strengthen its audit processes and institutions.

The Finance Commissioner said the "World Bank SFTAS programme contributed significantly to the reforms we have in the financial management system in Nigeria. In our state, the programme helped to modify our system towards efficiency, effectiveness, transparency in the financial management system specifically improving citizens' participation in our budget, strengthening our procurement process and sharpening our skills in the preparation of financial statements otherwise called final account."

From running a Treasury Single Account (TSA), the state has automated its accounting process. Phasing out use of manual files and the concomitant reduction in audit queries as well as maintenance of asset register were significant outcomes of reforms by the Office of the Accountant General spotlighted in the

There is synergy, coordination and commitment by policy makers in the finance sector. Their focus is to build on the gains of the SFTAS programme, particularly strengthening institutional and operational framework that will enhance fiscal transparency and accountability

2022 audited accounts of the state published online.

On page 4 of the report, the Auditor General, Mr. Isaiah Ntekim, observed that "the standard bookkeeping was noted to have improved remarkably over previous years. This was attributed to the introduction of IPSAS-Accrual." IPSAS-Accrual is an asset and liability accounting template opposed to the cash-basis system. Akwa Ibom and only a few states use the IPSAS-Accrual template which is novel to the public sector in preparing their annual report.

Steps are taken to ensure full implementation of the Akwa Ibom State Audit Law 2021 (amended) especially independence and autonomy of the Auditor General to carry out audit investigations on account of any person held at any bank if (he) has reason to believe that the monies held in such an account are public funds which had been fraudulently or wrongly paid into such account. Other provisions to be implemented including setting up of state audit commission, and audit committees in MDAs.

There is synergy, coordination and commitment by policy makers in the finance sector. Their focus is to build on the gains of the SFTAS programme, particularly strengthening institutional and operational framework that will enhance fiscal transparency and accountability.

The state has partnered the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, State2State programme for technical support. More than 500 workers in the state including members and select staff of the House of Assembly have been trained on public finance management.

The latest training for members of the House of Assembly held last month at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene, was on quarterly budget performance evaluation. The trainings are periodic, cut across economic and social sectors, "have greatly enhanced performance and productivity of staff within the finance sector", Commissioner for Finance said.

The target is ensuring the entire process of financial management in the state is dominated by people with sufficient knowledge and technical capacity to sustain benefits of the fiscal reforms while deepening citizens' participation in the public financial management processes.

-Effiong, writes from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Governor Eno

Victor Athe: Strict Implementation of PIT Act Will Change Nigeria’s Revenue Fortunes

Victor Athe is a partner, of Tax Services, Stransact Chartered Accountants and Audit, an RSM correspondent firm in Nigeria. In this interview with Festus Akanbi and Adedayo Adejobi, he speaks on issues including the 2023 Finance Act, Nigeria’s public debt to GDP ratio, the implication of tax to GDP on the growth of the Nigerian economy, why Nigerians are feeling overburdened by existing taxes and VAT, and how the federal government can increase the morale of the taxpayers and harmonise tax collection

After a decade of heavy borrowing to fund infrastructure expansion, the ratio of public debt to GDP in Nigeria has continued to increase with debt service obligations taking more than 60% of the nation’s tax income, and the country is turning back to the tax authority to ramp up revenue collection. How can the federal government maximise Nigeria’s tax revenues?

Under IMF’s Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF), a country’s debt-carrying or debt-accumulation capacity would typically be determined by the strength of its macroeconomic performance and policies. Studies have shown that the accumulation of debts above recommended threshold levels could be inimical to economic growth, especially when the debt increase is not aligned with the country’s growth needs.

A high public debt-to-GDP ratio can also further exacerbate the already deteriorating exchange rate in various ways, including putting pressure on foreign exchange reserves, investor confidence, inflationary pressures, and the need for more foreign currency to service debt obligations. This underscores the importance of sustainable fiscal management and prudent borrowing practices to maintain exchange rate stability and overall economic health.

One important thing I believe the federal government should do is to ramp up our tax revenue in our current context, by widening the tax base. Several steps can be taken to achieve this, including the increased formalisation of the current vast informal sector in Nigeria.

Do you think the current leadership of the Federal Inland Revenue Service is ready to widen the tax net?

On assumption of office, the current Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) also immediately expressed commitments to significantly improve the nation’s tax-to-GDP ratio from the then 10% to as much as 18%. There is an inverse relationship between the “public debt-to-GDP ratio” and the “tax-to-GDP ratio”. This means that as the latter increases, the former is likely to reduce since it would directly mean that the government would, have a larger pool of resources available to finance its expenditure priorities, and would not need to borrow or cut down on its expenditures to maintain fiscal stability.

Another measure that can be taken, is the stringent implementation of some of the recent amendments to our tax laws, such as the Significant Economic Presence (SEP) rules. There are currently cases of multinational enterprises (MNEs) deriving income from sales through digital/electronic channels to Nigerians (mostly B2B transactions) that are caught under our SEP rules but do not remit the appropriate share of income taxes to the Nigerian government. Considering the significant earnings these MNEs derive in Nigeria, it may be an effective strategy to channel focus to collecting the appropriate level of taxes (income tax and VAT) from these multinational businesses that are deriving enormous value from Nigeria.

With many Nigerians already feeling overburdened by existing taxes and VAT, should the federal government embark on tax base expansion, while the government repairs public finances, so that more people share the tax load, thus easing the burden on the existing base?

It is certainly important for the federal government to work at expanding the tax base to capture a sizeable portion of the country’s vast informal sector, which mostly comprises unregistered small-scale businesses. This sector plays a crucial role in the nation’s economy, as it accounts for a significant portion of employment and national GDP -more than 50%.

Tax collection from the informal sector has remained a complex issue, since a majority of the businesses therein, largely operate without proper regulatory oversight. However, recent efforts by the government, which include the introduction of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Development Fund, Ease of Doing Business reforms, and Tax Reforms, introduced by the amendments to our tax legislation (e.g. the exemption of small businesses from VAT and Income Tax obligations); are all laudable steps aimed at encouraging the increased formalisation of the

informal sector.

Today, for any company, having a full-service consulting firm to support them is extremely valuable. What is the philosophy of Stransact Chartered Accountants and Audit in this regard?

Stransact, currently offers, a broad spectrum of professional services covering tax compliance/ advisory services, all aspects of transfer pricing (TP) and its related services, transaction advisory, deal advisory, accounting, audit, and all other Attest-type services. Our strategy for our target market is to provide these professional services to our clients with the same or a superior level of ‘quality’ compared to what is offered by the big brands in the market. This way, we constantly help our clients derive strategic value in all their transactions, which is significantly more than the costs to them.

Last year, Nigeria enacted the Finance Act 2023 (FA 2023), with the most significant aspect being its effort to enhance the compliance or enforcement modalities surrounding the taxation of income derived from international shipping and airline transportation. What is your structural assessment of this Act?

The Nigerian Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) provides specific rules for the taxation of foreign entities engaged in international shipping and airline transportation in Nigeria. The profits that these foreign entities specifically derive in Nigeria are typically subjected to tax using a deemed income approach (where the income tax rate is applied to a fair and reasonable percentage of their gross revenues).

The FA 2023 now requires that the gross revenue statements submitted by these foreign entities when filing their annual income tax returns would now have to be certified by an external auditor. The agencies that maintain regulatory oversight over shipping and air transport companies have also been mandated to ensure that these foreign companies present evidence of adequate tax compliance in Nigeria before all relevant regulatory permits and approvals are approved for them.

In my view, the additional requirements introduced by the FA 2023, would help ensure that the tax bases relating to the economic activities carried on by the foreign entities in Nigeria are not eroded. This way, the country can reap its fair share of taxes from the enormous economic activities of these foreign businesses in Nigeria.

In your opinion, what are the key challenges and opportunities for businesses concerning taxation in the current economic and regulatory landscape?

There are undoubtedly a plethora of challenges in Nigeria’s current economic and regulatory landscape as it relates to taxation, which includes: multiplicity of taxes, poor tax administration, non-availability of a database, tax touting, the ambiguity of Nigerian tax laws, non-payment of tax refunds, Issues around utilisation of Withholding Tax Credit Notes, Wrong Interpretation of tax laws during tax dispute resolutions, etc. Most of these issues generally result in a low tax morale in taxpayers (both businesses and individuals).

Recent studies have shown that a key determinant of tax morale is the perceived quality of the tax administration. An increase in tax morale has also been linked to satisfaction with public services, supporting the existence of the fiscal contract between taxpayers and the state- willingness to pay tax in return for effective public services.

Notwithstanding, the existing challenges, there are lots of tax incentives that have been structured to encourage increased investments in the Nigerian economy. Some of the existing incentives include tax holidays, tax exemption schemes, repatriation of foreign capital or profits at official exchange rates, export incentives, export expansion grant (EEG) schemes, gas utilisation incentives, tourism incentives, reduced tax rates on interest income, etc.

What is the implication of tax to GDP on the growth of the Nigerian economy and where are we compared to peers in Africa?

There is evidence to support the fact that countries with high tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratios have higher tax morale. Improving tax morale has the potential to increase government revenue from taxation with relatively little enforcement efforts.

States are battling with taxes too. What do you think is holding back other states in addressing the issue of multiple taxation they have?

The Nigerian Constitution, the bedrock on which all other laws run, contains the exclusive, concurrent, and residual Legislative lists’, which each specify the type of taxes that the various tiers of government in Nigeria should have legislative powers over. The debacle on whether the federal government or state governments should collect VAT is yet to be conclusively resolved due to the peculiar complications and complexities around the issue.

The practice of coming up with different names for the same tax type by federal, state, and local government agencies and ministries is tantamount to “Tax duplication”. Duplication or multiplicity of taxes is driven primarily by the need for states to generate more revenue. Despite the increase in statutory federal allocations to the states by about 69% in 2024 compared to the prior year, most states are yet not able to independently fund the deficit of their respective budget expenditures. The outcome of tax duplication is that taxpayers would have to bear a burden of taxes that is astronomically higher than what they had anticipated or planned. This huge disincentive for businesses in Nigeria contributes significantly to the poor ranking of Nigeria on the World Ease of Doing Business Index and weighs negatively on the investment climate in Nigeria. This also encourages tax touting -the creation of illegal taxes that are enforced and collected through illegal, aggressive, and unorthodox means, which are mostly extortionate.

What kind of policy should be in place for there to be harmonisation of taxation?

Our National Tax Policy (NTP) document was first created sometime in 2012 and then revised in 2017, to provide policy direction for tax matters generally. This also serves as a procedural guideline for achieving effective harmonisation between the respective tax authorities of the different tiers of government. The NTP was designed to be an instrument for creating awareness of the importance of taxation as a stable flow of revenue for the Nigerian government in the face of dwindling oil revenue. The NTP sought to address fundamental issues relating to multipletaxation,lackofaccountability fortaxrevenue,andalackofclarityonthetaxation powers of each level of government.

However, considering the fact the NTP is only a document that is not a legal instrument, the intended benefits are yet to be realised, primarily due to the lack of effectiveness in its implementation, perhaps due to the lack of legal backing.

I wonder how the federal government will cope if the Supreme Court reaches judgment on the case instituted against it by Rivers, Lagos, and some other states that joined on both parties; on the issues of VAT and who has the right to collect taxes. The lower court says it’s strictly a state tax. If the supreme and appeal courts affirm that decision, it will leave the federal government open in terms of revenue shortfalls. What do you think?

One of the challenges Nigeria is currently facing is that the indices that drive the allocation of revenue accruing to the government centrally do not effectively consider and reward contributions to the economy from arms of government that demonstrate effective utilisation of resources, promotion of investments, infrastructural development, and others.

The working poor — and, increasingly, the squeezed middle — are contributing a higher proportion. How do you think things would develop in Nigeria if federal government started taxing big money and redistributing wealth democratically? Would we see instant changes?

One of the major challenges bedeviling our revenue system is that a lot of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) are either outrightly evading payment of taxes of some or all sources of their income, or do not pay the appropriate level of taxes commensurate to their income in line with the provisions of our income tax laws.

For instance, the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act which governs the taxation of individuals in Nigeria stipulates that every individual who is a Nigerian resident should be assessed to PIT on their global income (i.e. income earned from both within and outside Nigeria). The proper enforcement of this provision alone can change Nigeria’s revenue fortunes very significantly.

One of the cardinal features of a proper/effective tax system is the redistribution of wealth. This is why the PIT rates in Nigeria are graduated such that the highest income earners are taxed at the highest rate. However, where there is a paucity of data on the actual income earned by high net-worth persons, who may have exploited a large part of our collective economic resources in generating such income, then the Nigerian economy will constantly be short-changed where an effective system is not put in place to hold these HNIs accountable to remit their fair share of taxes.

Doris Uzoka-Anite Brings Renewed Hope Alive With Quality Delivery

Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, a highly cerebral, cosmopolitan, and suave individual, has brought a fresh gust of summer wind to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s team with her disruptive ideas that are changing the fortunes of Nigeria in terms of trade facilitation, Industrial Revolution and investment opportunities. As the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, she has used her magic wand to bring about quality delivery and amplify the Renewed Hope message to Nigerians. Her remarkable achievements since taking charge have been nothing short of outstanding, and her contributions have made a significant impact on the development of the country. OLADAPO SOFOWORA highlights her remarkable achievement since she assumed office as Minister.

AChinese Philosopher, Lao Tzu said in one of his popular quotes; “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step”, this has become the truism since the swearing-in of Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite as Nigeria’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last year. Dr. Uzoka-Anite immediately hit the ground running in her quest to further put Nigeria on the map as an investment destination of choice for foreign and local investors by also igniting seamless trade activities with policies to drive the ease of doing business in Nigeria and expunging all possible bottlenecks affecting trade activities.

With much gusto and seriousness, She has achieved a remarkable turnaround with just barely a year in charge of the ministry with impeccable deliverables that have sparked the economy to a blistering and boisterous level. As an avid team player, owning to her background as commissioner for Finance in Imo State and a seasoned banker with Zenith Bank, she maintained a purposeful symbiotic relationship and collaboration with the staff of the ministry by creating an atmosphere that is purpose-driven and also result-oriented in line with President Tinubu’s mandate of reviving the economy through trade, job creation and expunging all bottlenecks mitigating against the growth of the nation’s trade and investment sector.

When she came into office; she understudies all modes of operation while she also spoke to the staff on the need to key into her vision and mission in line with President Tinubu’s 8-Point Agenda where Trade, Industry and Investment play a pivotal role in its actualization. She started with the supervision and management of multilateral trade and investment negotiations that will help attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country to help create employment and also ensure more forex inflow with the establishment of a Trade Intelligence Unit in synergy with the Federal

Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, the Nigerian Customs Services, the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace and the Central Bank of Nigeria. The TIU is providing all trade-related data and information in Nigeria by integrating big data and artificial intelligence.

The Unit will use accumulated information to predict local and global economic trends, which will help Nigerian traders with invaluable insights to navigate potential global economic shocks and provide strategic guidance to enhance Nigeria’s economic growth. With her unwavering passion, she is helping Nigeria transit from the over-reliance on revenue from Oil and Gas to other sources of income through trade of other commodities via the export of finished products, talent export and a host of others. Dr. Uzoka-Anite has also initiated several plans to grow Nigeria’s economy via food production, processing and agricultural industrialization, food export business and improvement in the farming sector; enhancing self-sufficiency in feeding the nation with what it grows and also reducing the burden of importation of food and beverages, saving Nigeria billions of dollars annually.

While attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India last year, the Honorable Minister fostered a strategic partnership between Nigeria and India thereby strengthening the age-long trade relationship between both countries which saw the actualization of Nigeria’s quest to improve its technological strength and also understudy policies which saw Indian government elevate a vast majority of its population from the poverty line. Uzoka-Anite has studied the need for a total overhaul, upgrade and change in the mentality of Nigeria to ensure purchasing power with less liquidity as it is done in developed economies across the world. She developed the much-talked-about Consumer Credit system.

The goal is to increase consumer credit uptake to enable a sustainable credit system in line with global best practices and enhance supporting infrastructure to boost credit facilitation. Funds have been earmarked from the 2024 Appropriation bill to begin the process of establishing a viable Consumer Credit system for Nigeria. Uzoka-Anite created another policy and framework that will further set the country

on the path of greatness with the Nigerian Trade Facilitation Committee’s relaunch to enhance the efficiency of Trade Facilitation and Liberalization. She strategically designed the merger of the TFL with the already existing Nigerian Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) to be streamlined and relaunched as the NTFC. The relaunch of NTFC will be nimbler and more strategic in achieving the overall objective of improving trade facilitation in Nigeria. While still being applauded for this initiative; She integrated the Presidential Grant, Loan Scheme and Palliative Programme targeted to provide financial assistance to individuals and businesses due to the biting and dwindling economy. The Bank of Industry (BOI) has been charged with the administration and effective deployment of these funds, under the auspices of the Ministry which is currently being disbursed and Nigerians in their large numbers have thanked the administration for the funds. To increase the chances of Artisans and the informal sector service providers in Nigeria; Uzoka-Anite disclosed that it is necessary to ensure Artisans are given the required certification which will not only avail them the opportunity in Nigeria it will also open doors of opportunity for talent exchange programmes with countries Nigeria is in partnership with. She berthed the idea of licensing and certification of Artisans under the Skill-UP Artisans (SUPA) initiative with the Industrial Training Funds ITF to improve artisan skills through licensing and certification to meet industry standards, boosting quality and consumer trust with the aim of 10 Million job creation, overall economic growth and talent export opportunities under the National Talent Exchange Programme (NATEP) which she launched in New York, United States of America alongside the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) during the 78th edition of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Adenuga @71: Celebrating the Telecom Disruptor

Chidiebere Nwobodo

Ithink every 29th April should be celebrated in the telecom industry as “GSM liberalisation Day”, to honor remarkable impact Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., made in the sector that led to democratization of mobile network services across the country within the shortest possible time.

Most young Nigerians, especially the Gen Z generation, who have come to be the greatest beneficiary of liberalisation of the telecom sector, are yet to fully appreciate what Globacom led by Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., did to crystalised GSM revolution in the country.

Social media has changed the lifestyle of Nigerians, especially the youths, by giving them access to information, connectivity and opportunities. Today, we have a lot of the youthful population earning a decent living as content creators on social media. Online businesses have literally transformed the world of business and provided much-needed easy of doing business because of GSM services, part of which is captured in internet connectivity. All these reforms would not have been possible if Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., did not take the bull by the horn to open up the sector through cheap mobile lines and call rates.

When GSM anchored on the shores of Nigeria and followed by the entry of two foreign legacy mobile operators in 2001, Nigerians were given the erroneous impression that mobile line services were exclusively reserved for the rich and upper middle class, as result of exorbitant price of owning SIM cards and the recurrent cost of making calls at per minute billing system, at that time.

The two legacy mobile operators (MTN and then Econet) had the upper hand in the GSM rollout, albeit oligopolistic hold on the telecom market. All the pleas made by Nigerians to these operators to reduce cost of SIM cards and consider per second billing system as obtained in other climes, fell on deaf ears.

Theses foreign legacy mobile operators insisted that per second billing was practically impossible, owing to the much-needed resources to expand

network infrastructure for better coverage. As regards cost of SIM cards, they maintained that it would rather go up as a result of market forces of demand and supply than reduced. Nigerians resigned their fate, surrendered to economic enslavement, continued paying through the nose to buy SIM cards at thirty thousand naira and above, and made calls at ridiculous rate of fifty naira per a minute. Despite the upsurge in demand for mobile phone

services and corresponding demand for SIM cards and increasing market shares, legacy operators still did not yield to intensified demand for prices of SIM cards to be crashed and calls rate change to per second billing system.

Gross exploitation of Nigerians who were desperate to access GSM services expensively offered by these legacy operators, lingered hopelessly until Globacom was launched two years after in 2003. The game was changed from this auspicious moment.

The grand entrance of Globacom into the market broke the duopoly of legacy mobile operators.

The run ably led by The Bull, Dr. Mike Adenuga, ignited stiff competition never seen before in the industry. The honeymoon was over for monopolistic tendencies.

Before Nigerians could say Jack Robinson, Globacom broke the camel’s back of duopoly. The first indigenous mobile operator crashed the price of SIM cards and introduced per second billing system. Everything that was previously propagated as impossible by legacy mobile operators was made possible by Globacom.

Within a short period of time, SIM card price crashed from thirty thousand naira to two hundred naira! Legacy operators who did not anticipate this level of competition were caught napping. In other to remain in business, they had no option than to reconsider per second billing system. Nigerians won because Globacom came.

Telecom industry boomed. Nigerians started owing mobile lines; having been made affordable by the competition brought into the industry by Globacom. In less than two decades, active mobile lines moved from few hundreds of thousand in 2003 to more than hundred million subscribers.

All thanks to a true patriot like Dr. Mike Adenuga, who came to the rescue of Nigerians from the economic stranglehold of mobile operators. Glo’s aggressive network expansion and guerilla public relations gave legacy mobile operators a run for their money, to the benefit of Nigerians. Globacom became the catalyst that propelled telecom revolution in the country.

Fast forward to two decades later, another

Adenuga arose in aviation sector in the person of Allen Onyema under the platform of Air Peace, to continue the fight against foreign businesses exploiting Nigerians in our land. Adenuga and Onyema share a lot of traits—patriotism, foresight, courage, to take a dive into the ocean of uncertainty to save Nigerians drowning out of economic exploitation by imperial interests.

Foreign airlines made Nigerian flying public to pass through the eye of the needle just to pay for flights tickets. The outrageous fare they were charging us did not only perforate our pockets economically but put extensive pressure on the naira, of which buffeted Nigerian economy.

Imagine an ugly situation where Nigerians were made to pay more, for example, a six-hour flight to London from Nigeria while South Africa to London, nine-hour flight on the same airlines, was incredibly cheaper. Nigerians sort to know the rational behind this injustice being meted out to us, none of the foreign airlines provided cogent answers. Foreign airlines were fleecing Nigerians flying in and out of this country. It was an industrial scale exploitation and wickedness. At some point, it seemed as if we did not have a government to protect us from harsh fares being charged us by foreign airlines. Those elected to defend Nigeria’s interests in the aviation sector were colluding with these vested foreign airlines to bleed us to death.

Foreign airlines saw the country as “free-forall” goldmine. Nigerians were painfully paying exorbitantly while foreign airlines were smiling to the banks, exerting an intense pressure on the local currency, and at the same time blackmailing the Central Bank of Nigeria with non release of trapped funds. We saw hell! When Air Peace under the ambitious drive of Allen Onyema began making strategic moves to fly Nigeria-London and other lucrative cum busy international routes, foreign airlines saw him as an “intruder” and “meddlesome interloper” coming to take away “feeding bottle” from their mouth.

Doris Uzoka-Anite

Adenuga

ProPerty & environment

Riel Homes Transforms Ibadan Landscape with the Brook

Bennett Oghifo

Riel Homes; a prominent real estate company headquartered in Lagos, has expanded its operations to Ibadan with its inaugural product named The Brook.

The Brook is a luxury land property situated at Alalubosa GRA, Ibadan, and is the first of Riel Homes projects in this city. At the company’s realtors’ conference in Ibadan, recently,

the MD/CEO of Riel Homes, Dr. Kolade Adepoju, said The Brook would be one of best real estate developments in Ibadan, with incredible initiatives that have not been established in the city. “I did not come to

the real estate industry to be average. Expect great things to come out of me,” Adepoju told his audience.

He assured them that The Brook is just a small piece compared to his ambitious plans for the real estate industry in Ibadan. He appreciated the development that the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde has achieved, stating that it gives room for innovations in the state.

The MD/CEO of Crowntech Construction Company Ltd., Engr. Toye Ogundoyin, who was also in attendance at the conference, congratulated Dr. Kolade for the successful expansion of his company into Ibadan. He noted that it comes as no surprise to witness investors flocking to Oyo State. He stated that the state’s expanding population and growing urbanisation have fueled a heightened demand for

properties within its borders. He credited the diligent efforts of Governor Makinde’s administration for playing a vital role in the ongoing transformation of the real estate sector in Oyo State. And he encourages innovations from private companies in this regard.

According to him, Riel Homes’ presence in Ibadan is a beacon of greater transformation that is being powered by innovation, collaboration and responsible management. He expressed his confidence in Riel Homes, particularly noting the remarkable goals the company aims to accomplish in Ibadan.

This is reinforced by the fact that the CEO of Riel Homes hails from the state. He believes that the company holds positive intentions for Oyo State.

Hon. Kazeem Bolarinwa, the former Special Adviser on Youth and Sports to the Governor of

Oyo State and a speaker at the conference, also highlighted the importance of collaboration as a significant asset. He praised Dr. Adepoju for embodying a collaborative spirit, citing it as a powerful tool for growth over competition.

Riel Homes originated in Lagos and has successfully completed five real estate projects in the region, each with its own unique stories and character. Hence by tracing the track record of the company, one can easily discern the validity of their promises. One of the key factors contributing to Riel Homes’ success is their unwavering commitment to delivering on their promises. From the initial stages of planning and design to the final touches of construction and handover, the company ensures that every step is taken with precision and care.

Lafarge Africa Unveils Watershield Cement, Pioneers New Era in Construction

Bennett Oghifo

Lafarge Africa Plc., a leading innovative and sustainable building solutions company, said it has launched a revolutionary innovative and first of its kind water resistant cement in Nigeria called “Watershield’. Developed with an unprecedented formula, Lafarge

Africa Watershield Cement represents a groundbreaking achievement in construction materials, offering unmatched durability and superior water resistance, the company said in a statement. “Traditional cement and waterproofing solutions have long been plagued by issues of water damage, rust, and

seepage, compromising the integrity of structures and leading to costly remedial works. Lafarge Watershield Cement emerges as a gamechanger, addressing these challenges head-on and providing a solution that ensures the longevity and resilience of buildings,” the statement said.

Speaking at the launch of the new product at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, GMD/CEO, Lafarge Africa Plc, said: “Today, we gather to celebrate a milestone that marks not just the launch of a product, but a moment of transformation in the construction industry. I am immensely proud to introduce

this new Watershield Cement, a product that embodies our company’s spirit of innovation, excellence, and commitment to sustainability.”

According to AladeAkinyemi: ‘’You can agree with me that once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along, altering the course of an entire industry.

Lafarge Watershield Cement stands as a prime example of such innovation, marking the dawn of a new era in construction. This product represents a safer, more sustainable built environment for current and future generations, offering peace of mind and significant savings in time and resources.’’

Wike: Southern Parkway, Independence, Constitution Avenues, Others 98% Complete

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has said that the Southern Parkway in addition to B6 and B12 Circle Road, also

known as Independence and Constitution Avenue, and the full scope development of the Arterial Road N20 from Northern Parkway (Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Expressway) to Outer

Northern Expressway (Murtala Mohammed Expressway) currently under construction are 98 per cent completed.

He stated this during a routine inspection of some infrastructure, which also included the Vice President’s official residence under construction.

“We have kept our promise to the residents of Abuja. These projects not only fulfill a commitment but also showcase the potential for improved urban mobility and infrastructure under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Wike said.

He also added that the Wuye Interchange and Guzape Lot II District Infrastructure were on track for completion and would become operational by May.

“The President has given us tremendous support, and we are committed to ensuring that these projects are completed on time to ease traffic congestion and enhance connectivity within

the city,” Wike added.

The Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Shehu Hadi Ahmad, also reinforced the minister’s assurance by saying

the roads upon completion would ease traffic congestion and improve transportation efficiency in Abuja.

The contractors involved reassured that they are dedicated

to meeting the May deadline, aligning with the government’s objectives and providing necessary infrastructure improvements to support the city’s growth and development.

Bodo-Bonny Road: FG Pays JB N20bn Augmentation Fee

Bennett Oghifo

The squabble between the federal government and Julius Berger Plc over the stoppage of work on the N200 billion Bodo-Bonny Road in Rivers State may have been resolved with the government’s provision of a N20 billion additional augmentation fee to the company.

Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, last Thursday, threatened to terminate the federal government’s contract with Julius Berger if the

company did not return to site within 14 days.

However, the company said in a statement that they have been provided an additional N20 billion augmentation fee after a meeting between Umahi and their Managing Director, Dr. Lars Richter and that they “have both committed to ensuring the completion of the critical Bodo-Bonny Road project by year end.”

The statement said, “This is coming just as the minister suggested an additional N20 billion augmentation fee to

the contractor to cushion the effects of current economic realities in the country.

“Umahi who was of the view that there was no need for any augmentation, hoped that the additional amount of N20 billion which he announced there and then would assuage the contractor’s burden on the project.”

The Minister, according to the statement, reminded the stakeholders of the importance of the project to both the surrounding communities and the country, adding

that when completed it will enhance development even as he gave the assurance to Bonny kingdom that the project will be completed by the end of 2024. Richter drew the attention of the minister to the time lag when the contract was awarded in 2014 when the exchange rate was N305 to a dollar, adding that the cost of relevant construction materials have since risen by over 1000%.

He called for the variation of the contract which he said

Group Executive Director on Recruitment at PWAN Royale, Dr. Micheal Akhuaite (2nd left) and his wife Caroline (left); MD/CEO of PWAN Royale, Amb. Austin Ejiofor and his wife, Prisca; Toyota Camry award winner, Mr. Emeka Great Ifeakandu and PWAN Group President, Dr. Jayne Onwumere, during the 5th anniversary celebration of PWAN Royale at Eko Hotels and Suites in Lagos… recently

L-R: MD/CEO of Crowntech Construction Company Ltd., Engr Toye Ogundoyin; Top Real Estate Marketer in Ibadan, Akangbe Boluwatife Marie; MD/CEO RIEL HOMES, Dr Kolade Adepoju; Real Estate Consultant, Olaosebikan Imoleayo; and former SA to Oyo State Governor on Youth and Sports, Hon Kazeem Bolarinwa, at the presentation of The BROOK in Ibadan... recently

Kayode tokede

Shareholders of 10 leading Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country have decried the massive increase in operating cost fuelled by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) levies, which reached a whooping N490.54 billion in 2023.

The 10 DMBs are: Zenith Bank Plc, Access Holdings Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA).

Others include: Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Wema Bank Plc, FCMB Group Plc, Sterling and Fidelity Bank Plc.

The N490.54 billion banking sector resolution costs and deposit insurance premium in 2023 the financial year, represent 26 per cent increase over the N386.84 billion

reported in 2022 financial year.

Analysis of the audited/unaudited reports of the banks showed that while AMCON banking sector resolution costs stood at N316.53 billion in 2023, representing about 25 per cent increase over N252 billion in 2022, NDIC deposit insurance premium moved from N134.5 billion in 2022 to N174.01 billion in 2023, a growth of 29 per cent.

A combination of expenses, which include marketing and advertising, fuel, repairs and maintenance and directors’ emoluments, constituted source of expenditure for the DMBs in the period under consideration. While maintaining a stable financial system, the NDIC charges banks deposit premiums (based on a differential rate system amounting typically to between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent of insurable deposits. Simultaneously, the banks contribute to the AMCON to the tune of 0.5

per cent of bank Assets.

However, the banks’ shareholders over the years have expressed dissatisfaction with the creation of AMCON, stressing that the charges discourage investing in bank stocks with dwindling dividend pay out as a result.

Speaking on behalf of Nigerian shareholders, the Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Mr. Boniface Okezie explained that the corporation has over stayed its function in the banking sector, calling on its banks management to suspend funding AMCON as it is affecting shareholders’ profit.

According to him, “AMCON is lobbying the federal government to extend its operations. If the Central Bank of Nigeria wanted to sustain AMCON, fine but not banks funding the corporation. AMCON has overstayed its functions in the

banking sector. AMCON is reporting losses despite collecting levy from banks and having challenges in selling recovered assets from debtors.

“The banking institution must continue to fund AMCON because it is not the bankers’ committee that form their board but the government. If the federal government wanted to keep the board of AMCON, they must think of funding it not collecting from banks.

“What was AMCON doing when some banks were having challenges recently? AMCON has not helped our banking sector and it has not posted any profit. I still do not understand why the Senate requested AMCON to continue to exist. AMCON’s 10 years has ended, according to the law but they continued to stay, playing games with shareholders’ funds.

AMCON is killing the industry and not helping the banks when

they are in financial crisis.”

Meanwhile, a breakdown of Tier-1 banks’ AMCON levy and NDIC’s deposit insurance premium revealed that Access Holdings incurred the highest amount in the 2023 financial year.

Access Banks’ AMCON levy rose to N68.81 billion in 2023, an increase of 30.5 per cent over N52.73 billion in 2022. Its NDIC’s deposit insurance premium closed 2023 at N35.65 billion, a growth of 58 per cent from N22.53 billion declared in 2022.

Further findings revealed that GTCO recorded the least with N27.3 billion AMCON levy in 2023, representing 17.3 per cent increase from N23.3 billion in 2022, while its NDIC’s deposit insurance premium stood at N17.01 billion in 2023, representing about 18 per cent from N14.4 billion in 2022.

Access Holdings’s AMCON

levy 30.5 per cent growth is on the backdrop of significant increase in the asset value of the newly restructured bank, which grew on the back of multiple mergers and acquisitions.

As of December 2023, Access Holdings recorded a total asset value of N26.69 trillion, which is nearly 78 per cent higher than the N14.99 trillion recorded in the same period of the prior year. At almost N27 trillion, Access Holdings is the largest financial institution in the country based on total assets.

Responding, GTCO said the increase in its operating expenses resulted from growth in regulatory costs- NDIC and AMCON expenses and the impact of depreciation of functional currencies across all jurisdictions wherein it operates.

A member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that the non-performing loans (NPLs) in the nation’s banking sector have seen a slight uptick, rising by 0.3 per cent to reach 4.5 per cent as of February 2024.

However, this figure remains below the regulatory benchmark of 5 per cent.

Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who doubles as a member of the

MPC, Lamido Abubakar Yuguda noted in his statement at the MPC meeting held in march.

Yuguda said: “The banking sector has remained safe and sound with the key indicators within the prudential benchmarks. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was above the 10 per cent mark in February. Non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio at 4.5 percent was up marginally by 0.3 percentage point compared to January 2024 but remained below the prudential benchmark of 5.0 per cent.

“The Industry Liquidity

Ratio (LR) was 42.7 per cent, exceeding the minimum regulatory requirement of 30.0 per cent and was higher than the 42.1 per cent recorded in the previous month.”

On his part, the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate Philip Ikeazor noted that consumer lending declined by 11.1 per cent.

He stated: “The banking sector has remained resilient as most financial soundness indicators were within their regulatory thresholds. Despite this, the moderate increase in NPLs and the slight decline in

CAR reinforces the importance of recapitalizing the banking system.

“Credit to individuals and households declined significantly by 11.1 percentage points, down from 11.82 per cent at end-January to 0.71 at end- February 2024. The decline in consumer credit is due to the tightening stance of the Bank to curb inflation.”

Deputy Governor, Corporate Services Directorate, Bala Bello noted that efforts to stabilise the exchange rate are yielding positive results, with the naira showing appreciation or relative stability

and external reserves increasing.

This improvement, he stated, is credited to policy rate hikes by the Monetary Policy Committee and non-interest rate measures and expresses that the expectations are that inflationary pressures will ease over time, supported by sustained monetary policy rate hikes and measures to attract capital inflows.

He said: “Recent developments indicate that efforts by the monetary authority to stabilise the exchange rate, are yielding positive outcomes.

The reported appreciation / relative stability in the naira exchange

rate and accretion to the external reserves over the last month is a welcome development.

“The improved exchange rate position can be attributed to the policy rate hikes by the MPC and other “non-interest rate” measures, such as re-engineering the operational procedures for the Bureau de Change segment and addressing illegal / speculative tendencies in the market, among others.

Nume ekeghe

Insurance Sector: Tasks Before Omosehin

As Olusegun Omosehin steps in as the new Commissioner for insurance, operators and stakeholders have urged him to roll his sleeves for the enormous work facing him, setting agenda for his new regime, as captured by e bere n woji in this report

President Bola Tinubu penultimate week announced the appointment of Mr Olusegun Omosehin as the new Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

Since the announcement, industry operators have been expressing their confidence and trust on him as the right candidate for the job. As he takes his seat in office, both insurance sector operators and industry analyst are holding their pointer stick indicating to him the priority areas as the incumbent regulator.

Omosehin has been advised to look back from where his predecessors started and the job they have left undone for him in their long journey of taking the Nigerian insurance sector to the exalted position of global insurance market standard like London and American insurance markets.

With this appointment, Omosehin becomes the seventh commissioner for insurance to preside over NAICOM ‘s affairs since the commission’s establishment in 1997 by the National Insurance Commission Act 1997.

InSurance cOmmISSIOnerS’ ScOre card S Before Omosehin’s appointment, here are his six predecessors, namely: Eugene Okwo, who was the first commissioner for insurance after his service of the insurance regulatory body in his capacity as Director of Insurance services when the commission was a directorate under ministry of trade .

After Okwo came the late Oladipo Bailey, who left an indelible footprint in the commission through his recapitalisation and re registration exercise that brought a major turn around in the industry. After Bailey was Emmanuel Chukwulozie who will be remembered by a major controversial and inconclusive recapitalisation exercise that was marked by series of litigations, his exit, imprisonment and eventual death.

After Chukwulozie came Mr Fola Daniel who peacefully concluded his first and second tenure of eight years as commissioner for insurance. His regime was characterised by peace, progress and cooperation between the operators and regulator and most remarkably the commencement of the industry’s journey towards meeting global market standard through his Market Development and Restructuring Initiative(MDRI).

According to him, the major objective of the initiative was aside job creation and fight against fake insurance institutions, was the transformation of the industry into trillion Naira market size .This objective was realised by the operators in the Q4 2023.

After Fola Daniel came Mohammed Kari, the erstwhile Managing Director of the hitherto Federal Government owned NICON Insurance Corporation.

His regime was market by uneasiness, hostility between the regulator and the regulated and moment of uncertainties making the operators less comfortable and much frightened.

This worked against his bid for second tenure resulting to his regime lasting for just one tenure of four years.

After Kari came Sunday Thomas who was appointed as acting Commissioner for insurance in July 2019 after his tenure as Deputy Commissioner for insurance technical in April 2017and was confirmed as commissioner for insurance on May 2nd 2020. Thomas appointment was openly embraced by virtually all the operators and their workforce.

He was seen as an insider who understood the rules of the game and knows where the shoe pinched. All through his tenure as the commissioner for insurance, respite and normalcy returned to the industry.Though his regime suffered the usual opposition to capital raising in the industry the situation was handled maturely and peacefully to the extent that operators on their own called for re introduction of the rejected risk based capital model which introduction by his predecessor brought serious confusion to the industry.

Surpr IS e S O n Th O ma S e x IT

But one of the big surprises to the operators uptill date is why Thomas could not be given chance for second tenure in office. Operators said he deserved this, given

his enormous contributions to the growth of the industry.

Expressing his surprise in this regard, the Managing Director Afriglobal insurance Brokers

Mr Casmir Azubuike said: “To me the change was a shock and very sudden. First, it was never anticipated and the usual rumours that spread whenever a change is in sight, never came. Secondly, and most likely the reason, everyone expected that Mr. Thomas would be reappointed to serve out his second term, especially as he has some critical assignments he was yet to conclude. The ongoing implementation of the tenure of MD’s and ED’s of insurance companies and the enforcement of some compulsory insurance as directed by the presidency etc. The shock particularly was as it came same week when the former commissioner lost his wife. In any case, leadership is a continum.”

“The out gone commissioner performed creditably well, he succeeded in closing the usual rancor and and confrontation among practitioners. He also brought the insurance industry to the mainstream interface and relevance with other industries and the government. Indeed he bowed out while the ovation was still loud. I wish him well in his future endeavours”, he stated.

OperaTO r S ’ raTI ng O f Om OS eh I n

Interestingly, industry analysts said if the appointment of a new commissioner for insurance to succeed Thomas was to be put to vote, ordinarily very few or no body would have remembered to nominate Omosehin.

According to them, despite his years of experience and position as the incumbent Chairman of the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) before his appointment, there are myriads of his senior colleagues out there that would have been pointed out as better option.

Indeed, nominees wouldn’t have remembered him for the post of commissioner for insurance when the likes of Tope Smart, the Chairman of NEM Insurance, Oye Hassan Odukale, the former Managing Director Leadway Assurance, Eddie Efekoha, the former Managing Director Consoludated Hallmark Insurance and even Priscilla Soares, the immediate past Executive Secretary African Insurance Organisation are there. With this, analysts said Omosehin is a child of destiny, as regarding the new position he found himself in. They therefore concluded that he whom the cap fits must wear it.

OperaTO r S ’ T e STI m O ny a BO u T Om OS eh I n

However, since his appointment, his colleagues have described him as a round peg in a round hole, insisting that though humble by

nature Omosehin has what it takes to steer the NAICOM’s boat.

“The focus now is on Omosehin and I’m also confident that by the time he settles in to roll out his agenda for the industry, we will be convinced that the presidency made no mistakes in his appointment” said Casmir Azubuike, the Managing Director Afriglobal Insurance Brokers. Other insurers who spoke about his new position, said a lot is waiting for his attention as the federal government’s adviser on insurance.

OperaTO r S ’ agenda f O r Om OS eh I n

Pointing to the enormous tasks on his table, insurers said there are a lot of initiatives that Thomas put forward supported by operators who hoped he would accomplish

it in his second tenure. They said now that his second tenure did not materialise, Omosehin has the onerous task of ensuring they are implemented instead of discarding them. They listed some of these as consolidation on the digitalisation process which Thomas initiated and ensuring updating and advancement of the commission in this regard, ongoing implementation of the tenure of MD’s and ED’s of insurance companies and the enforcement of compulsory insurances, especially the compulsory builders insurance which implementation he anchored at the insurance conference of 2023.

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

Adeyemi: FG Should Summon Political Will to Implement WEE

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of Women in Management, Business and Public Service, Bisi Adeyemi, speaks on why the federal government must summon the political will to urgently implement the National Women’s Economic Empowerment policy and action plan to unlock opportunities for women. She also talked about why corporate organisations must go beyond gender inclusion as a policy statement and report measures taken to improve gender equality. Nume Ekeghe and Oluchi Chibuzor present excepts

Adeyemi

Lately we have seen a drop in the number of women at leadership roles especially at the National Assembly and at various state houses of assembly. Has this in any way affected the voices speaking for gender inclusion in the country?

That is where to even start and we recognised the fact that policy can only be changed at that level; at the level of either executive and most importantly the legislature. But how many females do you have there? Negligible, and so I think the advocacy will start there even trying to get more women there. Political parties should open and be more deliberate, because if we are half of the population, then surely that has to be represented in all spheres of leadership. What we have realised over the years or in the past 25 years, is that one organisation cannot shift the needle and so what a lot of gender focus CSOs, NGOs and other membership organisation have done is that they have come together to collaborate and be a collective voice for change. Because there is power in numbers, and so when you are talking about the implementation of National Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), the political will is not there. We all know that we live in a society that is influenced heavily by culture, tradition, religion and so many other factors. So, the political will in itself is not there; what we have come to do collectively here just like I have told you about constitutional review, is that a lot of women groups including Women in Management, Business and Public Service (Wimbiz) have come together to assess every aspect of gender within the constitution as it is today, what are the areas that are not working for women? Again there is certain barriers within the constitution which first have to be addressed before they can cascade into policy and implementation.

We are part of that process, but we will not do it alone anymore because we have tried it for so many years it has not worked for women. That is where collaboration and partnership is coming in and the memorandum of course will be sent to the National Assembly. Prior to that, Wimbiz has engaged the NASS- seen the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senate President, Women Leader, Minister for Women Affairs, women leader in parliament,- and we are all sought of on the same page, they are outnumbered. So even when it comes to passing any kind of bill the voices that are speaking for gender are not enough and that was why five gender bills were thrown out. But luckily for us, the current deputy speaker who was in the house then when it was rejected; of course the women’s groups have engaged him and they have called for the gender bills to be represented . So, there are collective actions taking place and these are some of the things that Wimbiz are part of.

What is the expectation of women groups like Wimbiz from the National Women Economic

Empowerment Plan?

If that policy is implemented; right now let me give you the current statistics as it pertains to poverty. The national poverty index of Nigeria has already stated that we have 133 million people in abject poverty and of course women constitute a higher percentage of those that are in multidimensional poverty. Now with the Women Economic Empowerment bill being the top burner of governance, obviously, it is not even really about organisation, we are looking at the individual areas like the informal sectors and the rest even women living with disabilities.

Once that policy is in place and all the implementation and of course it cannot be one day. Implementation is a collective action, it requires input from the public sector, CSOs, NGOs , private sectors and so it is going to be a collaborative effort. Once you can increase the Financial and the economic capacity of women this nation is going to transform because we know what we do in a nation.

Can we say the organised private sector are faring well when it comes to gender inclusion? They can do better is what we will say and I think that accountability is the phase we are in now and they have to start reporting what they are doing. There is a requirement now for them to report under the ESG requirement- they have to indicate to the public and to their investor what they are doing as far as women empowerment , equal employment opportunities are concerned and on the things they are doing. So hopefully we will begin to see some changes and we want the public to know what you are doing and not just in your organisation but you have to expose it to the world and to your would-be- investors. Right now there is more that can be done Over the years, successive governments have been promising to increase women participation in governance. Has this been the case when you look at the current administration’s appointment into various leadership roles even at state levels? Look at the female representatives. The figures are even lower than where we were before, so definitely there is a gap. And so how do we close the gaps is to implement a quota system; people have always said the quota system doesn’t work but we have seen it work in some countries of the world. So, the banking sector has gotten to where it is now because there was a quota. Former CBN governor introduced the sustainable banking principles and enforced that during his tenure such that banks had to appoint 40 percent female management staff and 30 percent board. So that

helped to improve the female representation in banks and that is why you have quite a few bank CEOs right now. That is what the quota system is and of course the educational system is a bit skewed. If you look the Northern Nigeria, for example, you can see the percentage that is in school is rather low; and so there have to be some definite and deliberate effort on the part of governors in the Northern Nigeria now to ensure that same opportunities given to male children is given to the girl child, which is currently not the case. So if you think of balance at that level you will get some parity as you now go into the workforce.

You know, since COVID-19, the world has changed the working system and currently and in future working system will incorporate both virtual and physical and in whatever other forms . That stuff totally just changed how human resource and human capital management is done. It started out as a challenge but it has now become a deliberate policy that a lot of human resource departments are looking at the future of work differently. So, one strategy alot of corporate organisations and government can do is actually looking at the future of work and asking themselves that if you look at the nation and Nigeria has its huge aspirations to play in energy transition to LED, to drive technology and innovation, to look at education system and the whole digital economy conversation.

These are our focused areas, we now need to dive deep down and okay in these areas what are the gender gaps , who is playing there, who is educated there. At the educational institutional level how many women and how many men are in science, art, creative and driving innovation and technology because that is the future of Nigeria. If they look at it from that perspective and they now say that is the gender gaps there and they can even go further deep to say how do you now put in place policies and be a bit more deliberate about opening the doors for women in those areas of focus and then start to bring that next generation up and to encourage more access to education and educational amenities for female because that is the future of work should be. If they look at it from that perspective similar to the way we look at it from COVID-19 and start to put in place those policies that drive from the educational systems and institutions and who is playing in these roles; we will now start to position women. Is like a deliberate effort around them but again how deliberate it is and when they come out of university how deliberate are corporate organisations; those policies at corporate organisation level is where you will now start to see 40 percent like the finance industry started doing; where you will say 30 to 45

percent of our entire intake are women. It is very hard to do but is something that if you start to work from the educational standpoint view , you will start to build the pipeline and the funnel; you will start to bridge that gap educationally opening the doors to less privileged people , to more women and at the same time opening the doors to them in specific subject and areas. Then, when you get to the corporate level at work at higher spaces you now have policies again in places, I think this we work to get more women.

To drive policies it takes leadership, it was the last administration that said they want to do 35 percent women representation. That didn’t happen and if that had happened we would have mòre women in leadership as Ministers, Permanent Secretaries at the place of leadership so that they can now take the turn of shaping policies. You can only shape policies if you are in leadership and that is one of the strategic ways we can get more women into key leadership positions.

What specific actions can organisations take to ensure there are equal opportunities for people they are employing now by allowing the selection process to be open for all?

First of all, I know a lot of organisations have policies around equality and are to ensure that those policies are actually implemented. By the time you take company in Nigeria and go through their policy statements you will find out that there is equal opportunities. But in actual fact they do not practice it, so the first thing is to ensure the playing field is equal. But for women you have to have deliberate policies that actually encourage them to get integrated into the workplace. A woman will go and have children by the time she comes back, probably you are not giving her the same opportunities given to a man. She has lost some time, so give her some opportunities to catch up on the lost time; have opportunities for her to work from home and I think that is a no brainer now and is easier for people to work from home wherever they find themselves.

So, ensuring that as much as possible level the playing field, because it is imbalanced because of natural factors. We know typically women are caregivers so if a woman has a sick child or parents she is a caregiver and if the employer does not take into cognizant of the fact that woman is a caregiver she will expect her to play the same way as her male counterparts. So I think it is to be more deliberate taking into cognizant there may be biological imbalance here already, so how do we

ensure that the field is level by giving things that we should not give to the woman. Not playing tokenism, but actually recognising those natural factors that sort of place women at a disadvantage. We know a lot of these corporate organisation have these policies around gender inclusion but let them implement and implement that perhaps they are not doing very well. Like I said , if you read their policy statements they will tell you that we are an equal opportunity employer . Are they really? Are they deliberate about maybe, say we have this category of workforce and can they say this is 40 percent women , 60 percent male.

Do they do that sensitization from time to time just to check where they are at. So when it comes to Implementation , you have to be accountable to a standard and somebody has to be checking that standards. . Now I find some boards are now reporting certain disclosures around ESG. A Lot of corporations and even middle level corporations, their investors , shareholders and even the NGX is holding you accountable to those social performance parameters that speak to diversity; equity and inclusion. And so you will not just say it in my policy, you have to report and declare exactly how many people, how are they trained, what is the sensitization, corporate culture, where does it speak to diversity and inclusion. Those numbers will now become matters of public records because you do have to report to a board and if your board is listed the NGX is requesting it and if you are seeking investment your investors are asking for it. That is the accountability that rounds up this implementation.

Where do you see the future of women leadership heading both within Nigeria and globally and what do we expect from Wimbiz in the pursuit of advancement in women leadership across Nigerian strata?

I think the future of women leadership is bright. I am very optimistic and at Wimbiz we are very optimistic. Recently we put out and add and we basically congratulated the finance industry in Nigeria where we are able to see women at the helm of top banks. It is really interesting that the top three banks in profitability have females that lead either the holding company or the bank itself moving forward in Nigeria. If you dig a bit deeper within the Nigeria financial services business you now find across various banks, microfinance and insurance so many women.

So, what that does is that it shares a very bright light on the fact that there is a huge opportunity for women, that women are capable and do have the capacity to lead in an industry that before

now is seen as extremely male dominated. Energy is another space where women are doing very big things in Nigeria. Where you have some leading either in advocacy groups like IPGOPTS, Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE) or you have women leading organizations like SNEPCO where you have women leading as managing director, on women on the boards as executives or as directors. Like I said , the future is bright and these are again typically male dominated organisations and I have not gone to the Focus businesses. All speaking to entrepreneurship as well and so the future is bright; one area where we can definitely do better is in government. That is something where there is a huge opportunity for female leadership because that is where policy begins. That is where truly when it comes down to corporate Nigeria and public services you then start to drive the narrative differently.

So female leadership has a way to go and we have taken some good steps, some industries are definitely shining the light and doing better. Others can take a leaf from what the financial industry is doing and what the energy services are doing as well to do more. The government most definitely needs to start to look differently at implementation of some of these commitments around 35 percent representation and the advocacy that has been coming even hotter for the past three to five years around representation at the various levels of government.

At Wimbiz we have Winpoll which is our own advocacy as far as policy is concerned where we try to encourage those who can present themselves for public office and where they are not able to sort of encourage them to go and vote for those who have brought themselves out. We are responsible for the advocating of gender bills , we put a lot of our own firepark behind it and so we will continue to do that as we go into the future and encourage and associate with women even outside the Wimbiz family to run for public office. Like I said, that is one way of changing narrative faster than anything else. Wimbiz is also very good in partnerships and collaboration and even with the public sector we have collaborated with several of them. But over the past few years the national women economic empowerment policy, Wimbiz, was a part of the process of developing that policy. The real challenge we now have with the Federal Government is that the policy has been completed over a two year period but implementation is now outstanding . So with the implementation of women economic empowerment policy we will be able to see some of the gaps so has been mentioned here.

Crime&Punishment

Court Restrains Fine Coats Boss from Selling ‘Girlfriend’s Property

Funke Olaode

After six years of relationship, which both parties believed would lead to lasting matrimony, the once toast of the town lovers have dragged each other to court over property currently under litigation.

That is the case between the Fine Coats boss, Dr. Emmanuel Awode and his ‘girlfriend’ of six years, Funmi Abike Taylor.

properties situated at block 104, plot 26, Lekki 1, Lagos.

Justice Akintunde Savage of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court yesterday granted an interim order restraining Awode, CEO of Chemstar Group, his agents and privies from selling or leasing on

The court also ordered the claimant to serve the respondent, Awode, by pasting the court processes on the business premises or his residential address.

The court made the order following a motion ex parte filed

by the claimant, Ms Funmi Abike Taylor, through her counsel, Mr Wahab Shittu (SAN), in a suit marked ID/11039GCMW/2024 against Awode as respondent.

At the resumed hearing, Shittu told the court that he filed two applications before the court, noting that his first application was dated

Retired Naval Officer Writes Sanwo-Olu over Illegal Sale of Green Areas

Wale igbintade

Rear Admiral Ibikunle Olaiya (retd.) has petitioned Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu over the illegal sale of green areas near Block 113, Lekki Phase 1, by unscrupulous Lagos government officials, which violates the original master plan, which reserved the space for essential public infrastructure.

Olaiya, in separate letters to Governor Sanwo-Olu and Commissioner for Environment Tokunbo Wahab, for himself and on behalf of concerned Lagosians and residents in the Lekki axis, said it is a matter of grave concern that the green areas have been allocated to someone who has

begun construction. Titled ‘Urgent attention needed: Illegal sales of Green Areas near Block 113, Lekki Phase 1’ and dated April 26, 2024, Olaiya claimed the areas were allegedly sold for personal gains.

Olaiya said, “Despite designated green spaces intended for essential infrastructural development, such as road and drainage expansions, and the construction of a light train to accommodate the growing population, these areas are being unlawfully sold for personal gain. It is disheartening to witness such actions, particularly considering the significant investments and efforts made in the Lekki-Epe axis over the years.

He added, “Your administration’s commitment to infrastructure development, education, and the preservation of the state’s original master plan has been commendable.

“However, it is troubling to see certain individuals tarnish these efforts by engaging in illegal allocations, especially under your watch as a surveyor by profession.”

Citing the survey plan of Block 113 as evidence, the petitioner implored the governor to address the issue with the seriousness it deserves.

In the letter to the commissioner, he warned that there could be grave consequences in future “if this illegality is allowed to thrive and the good actions of the Lagos

state government to demolish houses built on canals and setbacks would be difficult to justify.”

The petitioner wondered why this should be occurring despite the existence of regulatory establishments like the Ministry of Physical Planning and the New Town Development Agency, which are tasked with overseeing development in the area.

Before the recent letters, he had, through his lawyer, Abosede Akande of Law Corporate, petitioned the governor, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Physical Planning, Ministry of Lands, and police authorities, explaining that the green areas were designated for future road expansion and erosion management.

Bribery: Court Orders Forfeiture of N2.5m to FG

Wale igbintade

The Lagos Division of the Federal High Court has ordered the forfeiture of N2.5 million to the federal government, which was the subject of a dispute between a drug convict and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Justice Akintayo Aluko, in his ruling, held that offering the sum of N2.5 million or any sum for that matter, to facilitate the release of the convict who was then in the agency’s custody is against the spirit, intent, purpose, and objectives of the provisions of the NDLEA Act.

The convict, Fatimah Hassan, through her lawyer, Oke Ojakovo, had informed the court during her trial that the NDLEA officials

demanded the money as the only means of securing her bail. However, upon collecting the money, she was not granted bail.

However, she was not granted bail after collecting the money. The NDLEA, through its prosecutor, Mr Lambert Nor, had informed the court that the convicts wanted to use the money as a bribe to avoid prosecution.

This development resulted in Justice Aluko summoning two top agency officials, who told the court the circumstances surrounding the money.

The court summoned two NDLEA officials, Quatu Mohammed, a former NDLEA Lagos commander, and Abaekwue Sunny Ngozie, an officer. In ruling on the parties’ submissions on the money,

Justice Aluko, after considering the arguments presented by the parties, held that from the evidence of both prosecution and defence witnesses, the money was meant to facilitate the release of the convict, then a suspect from the custody of the agency who was arrested for the offence of unlawful dealing in 33.5kg of cannabis sativa against the provision of Section 11 (c) of the Act.

The judge added, “It is not in doubt that the offence of unlawful dealing in 33.5 kg of cannabis sativa is a violation of the provisions of the NDLEA Act. Offering the sum of N2.5 million, or any sum for that matter, to facilitate the release of the convict, who was then in the custody of the agency at the time she was arrested and held for violation of

the relevant provisions of the act, is against the spirit, the intendment, purpose and objectives of the provisions of the act.”

Coker explained that by the combined efficacy of the provision of sections 19(1) (a ) - (d) of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery And Management Act), 2022, any property or money involved in the facilitation of an unlawful activity like in the instant case is liable to be forfeited.

According to the judge, under the combined provisions of sections 19, 22, and 68 of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, the court has the power and jurisdiction to order the forfeiture of such monies to be paid into an account known as the Confiscated And Forfeited Properties Account maintained at the CBN.

How Employee Molested My 7-year-old Daughter, Boss Tells Court

The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja had heard how a man, Joe Ojedu, allegedly molested his employer’s sevenyear-old daughter (name withheld).

The prosecutor, Bukola Okeowo, led in evidence the second and third prosecution witnesses, the victim’s mother and father.

The second prosecution witness (PW2), a mother of three, told the court that her last child and second daughter opened up to her about the defendant touching her breasts after she saw them sitting too close

to each other on a dark evening at the front of the family living room.

The PW2 told the court that the defendant was an employee tasked with ironing clothes in her dry cleaning and laundry services run inside her compound close to the duplex where she resides with her family.

She referred to the defendant as “close to the family,” to the point that she included him as a partaker in the food that she cooked for her family.

The mother of the survivor said it was on her way home on February 20, 2023, that she saw

both the defendant and her last daughter, who was seven years old at the time, sitting in a dark corner at around 7:30 pm.

She told the court how bewildered she was that her house was dark and that she called the defendant’s phone to ask why the generator was not turned on.

The PW2 told the court that her call to the defendant went through, but he did not pick it up. As she walked into her compound and saw the defendant sitting “too close” to her sevenyear-old daughter, the defendant quickly picked up his phone and

pretended to be on a call.

The woman said she was unhappy with the sight and immediately took her daughter upstairs alongside her two other children, whom she met inside the living room pressing their phones. She began to scold them for allowing their little sister to sit outside with the defendant in the dark.

She told the court that she was already suspicious, and when she asked her seven-year-old daughter to tell her the truth about whether the defendant touched her body, the girl replied and said, “You will beat me.”

April 8, 2024, and the second one was dated March 20, 2024.

He told the court that his first application, dated April 8, seeks an order of the court for substituted service and is supported by a five-paragraph affidavit.

He said the second application is an ex parte motion, attached to which the claimant deposed to a 35-paragraph affidavit.

Shittu submitted that his application was brought pursuant to Order 43 Rules 1 & 2 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019 and section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. He urged the court to grant the applications.

However, the judge, in his ruling, granted the claimant prayer of substituted service and also granted an interim injunction, “restraining the defendant either by themselves, privies, assigns, agents, or anyone acting on his behalf from selling, mortgaging, leasing, intermeddling, snooping and or continuous trespass

Funke Olaode

Justice Adenike Coker of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court has issued a bench warrant of arrest against an alleged notorious land grabber, Moroof Owonla, known as Kaka Moroof and others over their absence in court in an ongoing alleged felony trial filed against them.

The matter has suffered several adjournments due to the defendants’ absence in court since the case was filed against them.

The Director of Public Prosecution, Dr. Babajide Martins, filed eight-count charges against Moroof Owonla, Olu-Aminu, Yemisi Abdulaziz, and Ganiyu Aminu for alleged conspiracy to commit a felony.

They were alleged of forcible entry into a landed property situated at No 34, Faguson Osagie Street. The defendants, with thugs numbering about 20, invaded the hotel (property) with the intent to deprive a businessman, Hassan Alli, of his property.

They carted away building materials valued at over N32 million.

However, at the last proceeding, the judge ordered the defendants’ counsel to produce the defendants for arraignment in the suit.

At the resumed hearing, counsel from the DPP’s office, Ms T.O. Adeyegbe, told the court that the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN), had directed the matter be forwarded to Restorative Justice to see if a resolution could be achieved.

on the properties situate, lying and known and listed as one to the six.”

The disputed property includes a five-bedroom duplex with two-room service quarters located in Block 104, Plot 26. Lekki 1, Lagos. Plot 0446 of the Royal Garden Estate, Ajah Village in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State and two units of four-bedroom and 1 BQ semi-detached House, located at La Vida, Lekki, Lagos and the property located at Plot A5, Vintage Park Estate, Lagos, with five units of apartments at Paramount Residence Lekla, Lagos. There is also a four-bedroom duo luxury maisonette at IME height, Lagos (Foreshore Waters Limited).

The property in dispute are alleged gifts made pursuant to the fulfilment of his promise to marry the claimant, Taylor, and they belong to the claimant since the defendant breached the promise to marry the claimant.

The matter is adjourned until May 9.

Responding to her submission, the complainant’s counsel, Mr Imran Shitta-Bey, informed the court that on January 17, the complainant received a letter from the Attorney General to attend an Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR) meeting and was surprised to see the fugitive defendants, Moroof Owonla and others, in attendance. This indicates that the DPP knows how to invite and present the defendants for trial. Shitta-bey stated that the complainant views the defendants as disrespectful of the court, having refused to come to court to take their plea and being able to attend ADR.

He noted that their nonappearance is deliberate, so he is seeking a bench warrant or arrest against them.

After listening to them, Justice Coker ordered the prosecution to ensure that the defendants were in court on the next adjourned date. Failing which, the court would be inclined to accede to the complainant counsel’s prayer for a bench warrant against the defendants.

The DPP legal advice has recommended that the trial of the suspected notorious land grabber be a follow-up to a diligent investigation carried out by the police, and the report issued after that indicted all the defendants.

The judge then granted the prayer and issued a bench warrant against the defendants. The matter was subsequently adjourned until May 13 for possible arraignment of the defendants.

Funke Olaode

Inflation: Experts Advocate Alternative Financial Options for Retirement Planning

Ebere Nwoji

Finance experts have said that with the current state of the economy, pension contributions alone could not guarantee better life at retirement advocating alternative financial options for retirement planning.

The experts spoke at the maiden edition of the 2024 Inspenonline Retirement Summit held in Lagos recently.

They insisted that those who solemnly rely on their contributions alone for retirement, might end up living a miserable life.

They therefore, enjoined workers to always set aside fund from their salaries for Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) or purchase an Endowment Policy in

insurance companies to augment whatever that may be coming from Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) monthly stipend.

Delivering the key note address at the retirement planning summit, the Founder & Managing Director ZER Consulting Africa Limited, Ms. Adeolu Adewumi-Zer, urged workers to identify their passion earlier in life and invest in it at retirement.

She believes this would amount to investment meets opportunities.

Speaking, the former Managing Director/CEO Allianz Insurance Nigeria, said most people who entered into retirement unprepared did so because they lacked financial planning, advocating that each worker should have a financial planner who would

guide him on the best investment options and helps him in the management of his wealth.

She said, “Most people who entered into retirement unprepared was because they lacked financial planning, it is important that each worker should have a financial planner who will guide him on the best investment options and help him in the management of his wealth.”

Also speaking, the former director general, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), Mrs Folashade Onanuga,said that employers of labour must, as a matter of urgency, inculcate retirement trainings for each employee,such that,he or she could be financially independent at retirement.

Apochi, Others Brainstorm on Using Fintech to Promote Financial Inclusion

Issues bothering on leveraging on financial technology (Fintech) to promote financial inclusion, enhance the well-being of Nigerians and ensure sustainable economic growth formed the thrust of discussions at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Fintech & Financial Inclusion Roundtable organised by Business Journal Media Group in Lagos.

Experts at the event which has the theme, “Role of Fintech & Financial Inclusion in Citizen Empowerment and Economic Growth,” stated that proper leverage of fintech would enhance the economy of the nation and take Nigerians out of poverty.

Delivering the keynote address at the event, the Group Managing Director/CEO, Unified Payment

Services Limited, Dr. Agada Apochi stated that given the large number of Nigerians using mobile phones, liberating Nigeria out of poverty by leveraging fintech was achievable.

He said, “There are many more Nigerians having telephones than those having bank accounts. How can we leverage on the power of financial technology to deliver financial services for them so that they can be included- so that they will grow out of poverty?”

Also speaking, Managing Director/CEO, Human Manager Limited, Mrs. Adekunbi Ademiluyi, noted that financial inclusion started with identity, adding that when an identity of an individual was known, then one could open an account with the person.

She noted that Nigeria started well with financial inclusion, though, she observed that it had not yet gotten to where it should be, but pointed out that going by the way the fintech companies were working to ensure that every Nigerian was included, and that Nigeria would get there.

In his opening remarks as Chairman of the occasion, the Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), Dr. Umaru Kwairanga, assured that by leveraging cuttingedge technologies like mobile platforms, big data analytics and distributed ledger systems, fintech has the power to democratise finance, breaking down barriers and extending access to financial services to the underserved and unbanked.

Leadway Pensure Announces 25 % Fund Growth

Ebere Nwoji

Leadway Pensure has announced it achieved 25 per cent annual fund growth, thus surpassing its financial targets for the year 2023.

According to the pension fund administrator, the achievement comes on the heels of a recent award as West Africa’s Pension & Lifestyle Company of the Year, Best Customer Care awards, and its Chief Executive Officer, Lanre Idris, named Best Pension and Finance CEO of the Year, all in 2023.

Speaking on Leadway Pensure’s season of revenue and investment growth, Chief Executive Officer of Leadway Pensure, Mr. Lanre Idris, stated that this outstanding achievement further solidifies

the company’s position as a value-driven, growth-oriented organisation with a unique drive thereby positioning it as a trusted and capable financial management partner in the pension industry.

“In a landscape defined by economic uncertainties, Leadway Pensure has not only weathered the storm but has soared beyond expectations, achieving an exceptional 25 percent growth in fund under management, surpassing our ambitious targets for 2023.

According him, the drivers to achieving this remarkable financial milestone includes the Leadway team’s assertive revenue drive, deploying astute strategic investment steps, embracing digital innovations and adopting a customer-centric

approach as the cornerstone of its operations.

Idris said by prioritising the evolving needs of the clients and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, the management has not only adapted to the challenges of the times but has thrived amidst them.

“This achievement underscores the dedication and resilience of our team, whose collective efforts have propelled us to new heights. As we celebrate this milestone, we remain steadfast in our mission to provide unparalleled service and value to our esteemed clients. With our sights set on the future, we are poised to continue our growth trajectory, setting new benchmarks of excellence in the industry”, he said.

9PSB Reiterates Commitment to Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

Nume Ekeghe

9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), has reiterated its support to Nigerian women entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises through its agent banking business opportunities that will scale up their revenue base and improve their standard of living.

The firm noted this at the 2024 South-West Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Emerging Market Emerging Market Summit, and Expo in Lagos. The event themed: “Women Entrepreneur as Catalyst for Sustainable Development and Economic Growth,” held at Lagos State Co-operative Federation (LASCOFED) is aimed at training and empowering over 500 women participants on entrepreneurship skills and fostering market link and economic growth.

Kunle Isiaka commended the women for their resilience and viable contributions to their communities through the various initiatives and businesses.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Director, 9 Payment Service Bank, Branka Mracajac, represented by the Head of Sales Distribution and Strategic Partners, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB),

‘’I am indeed very thrilled to see these amazons who have been breaking all barriers without limitation in all strata of the society, women are truly the bedrock of the society, when a woman is trained, a nation is, of course, trained, we cannot over emphasize the need for the women to be financially included, empowered, and given the required support to thrive. “

L-R: President, Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN), Yinka Ogunnubi; Director at Deutsche Bank, Andreas Voss and Research Lead at RMB Nigeria, Usoro Essien, during the Global Trade Review Conference West Africa edition held in Lagos...recently

Ebere Nwoji

Dangote Targets 700,000MT of Refined Sugar in Four Years

Kayode Tokede

Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR) has unveiled plans to produce 700,000 metric tonnes of refined sugar from locally grown sugarcane in the next four years, through its Backward Integration Programme (BIP).

Chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Aliko Dangote stated this at the company’s 18th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held

yesterday in Lagos. Dangote, at the AGM, said in alignment with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s policy guidelines, DSR continues to focus on and enhance its Backward Integration Project (BIP) by deploying and reviewing project strategies to ensure efficient delivery.

He noted that the 700,000 metric tonnes would meet 50 per cent of the current market demand for refined sugar. Ac-

cording to him, the 10-year sugar development plan to produce 1.5 million MT of sugar per annum from locally grown sugarcane remains a germane roadmap to the attainment of the Company’s objectives.

“Our focus is on achieving the revised targets set for DSR Numan Operations, Dangote Adamawa Sugar Limited, and Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited, while we are hopeful

that the Taraba State Government will resolve the community payment issues that have led to the stoppage of activities at the Dangote Taraba Sugar Limited, Lau/Tau project.”

He added that “…During the year under review, despite the challenges we were faced with, the company significantly scaled up investment in the Backward Integration Projects with the ongoing expansion of the DSR

Numan factory refining capacity from 3,000TCD to 9,800TCD year-end.

“The factory will be increased with an additional 5,200TCD to 15,000 TCD (tonnes of cane crushed per day) eventually to meet the need in view of the massive land development activities also going on at the site. The aim is to achieve 24,200 hectares in total by the year 2029.”

He also emphasised that

despite the adverse impact on the business environment by the continuous increase in the inflationary trend, lack of liquidity and FX to fund the company’s equipment import among others for the backward integration projects, concerted efforts are ongoing to secure the needed funds for the development of the Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited project at Tunga in Awe Local Government Area of the state.

PRICES FOR SECURITIES TRADED ASOF APRIL 30 /24

My Economic Reforms Are Not Without Challenges, Tinubu Declares

Abbas: Nigeria's VAT collection lowest in Africa

Adedayo

Akinwale in Abuja

President Ahmed Tinubu has reiterated that the economic reforms and policies being introduced by his administration have associated challenges. He said his administration was implementing significant policy changes, which were long overdue, in order to reform governance and position the country for progress and shared prosperity for the citizenry.

Tinubu, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, spoke yesterday in Abuja at a two-day retreat for members of the House of Representatives on Economic Transformation and Development.

The retreat had the theme, "Navigating Change: Legislative Strategies for Economic Transformation."

Tinubu stated, "As you know,

Those in the Tertiary Education and Health Sectors had already received their increases, which involved Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) for Universities.

For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involved the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).

The health sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS).

The federal government also approved increases in pension of between 20 per cent and 28 per cent for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme in respect to the six consolidated salary structures with effect from January 1,2024.

Reacting to the federal government's statement on pay increase, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the gesture should be extended

my administration is implementing significant policy changes to reform how we govern and position our country for progress and shared prosperity for all citizens.

"These reforms, while necessary and, in some cases, long overdue, are not without their challenges. I am deeply grateful for your unwavering support and understanding during these times.

"Your understanding and support have been invaluable, and I am confident that with our continued collaboration, we can overcome any challenges that lie ahead.

"The oil and gas industry has long been the lifeblood of our national economy. My administration is working tirelessly to change this and diversify our economy from overreliance on the production of fossil fuels."

The president added that his

to all categories of civil servants.

But Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called on President Bola Tinubu and the governors to prioritise the welfare and working conditions of Nigerian workers.

That was as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that a total of 1,178,960 workers globally might die annually due to climate change-induced workplace hazards.

At the same time, First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki hailed Nigerian workers for their resilience and dedication to duty.

NLC's Head of Information and Publicity, Comrade Benson Upah, said the pay rise was for certain categories of workers in the public service.

The NLC scribe, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said the salary increase was a welcomed development and government should ensure that the margin was reflective of the harsh economic situation in the country.

Upah stated, "I am yet to see the

PreSIDencY, 36 STATeS, PrIvATe SecTor SIgn AccorD To TrAnSform nIgerIA InTo $1Tn economY BY 2030

Agenda to transform the country into a $1 trillion economy by 2030, while combating poverty and insecurity through broad-based prosperity.

The accord was signed by Vice President Kashim Shettima; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Yemi Cardoso; and National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, signed on behalf of the 36 states, while Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc., Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, signed on behalf of the private sector.

Leveraging comprehensive policy reforms and strategic investments, the Aso Accord charts a roadmap to bridge the significant gaps that have left millions of Nigerians, particularly underserved segments, like women, youth, rural communities, and small businesses, without vital financial services, like credit, insurance, pensions, and savings facilities.

According to the communique issued at the end of a two-day National Stakeholders’ Workshop on Economic and Financial Inclusion by Zauro, "Financial inclusion is an imperative, not just an economic objective, but a moral calling to unlock opportunities for every Nigerian to achieve their potential.”

Zauro, whose office spearheaded the initiative, said, "The Aso Accord provides a robust framework to democratise access to finance, empower entrepreneurs and catalyse sustainable economic growth from

administration was also determined to maximise revenue potential from this critical industry. Tinubu noted that for this reason, his government was pushing policies to attract investment in the oil and gas sector.

He recalled that he recently signed an executive order to unlock about $10 billion in fresh investments in the sector.

Tinubu said that would happen through Fiscal Incentives for Non-Associated Gas (NAG), Midstream and Deepwater Oil & Gas Developments.

He said, just last week, that the federal government signed the Consolidated Guidelines for implementing Fiscal Incentives for the Oil and Gas Sector.

The president explained that the guidelines, which represented a cornerstone of the presidential directive, aimed at enhancing the

details of the statement, but from what I heard, those affected by the pay rise are from the specialised services.

"These categories of workers are already in the privileged sector but we expect it to be extended also to other categories of civil servants who are in lower cadre and are vulnerable."

ASUU Seeks Better Welfare for Workers

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), yesterday, called on President Bola Tinubu and governors of the 36 states to prioritise the welfare and working conditions of Nigerian workers.

The chairman of University of Ibadan chapter of the union, Professor Ayoola Akinwole, in a statement, yesterday, marking Worker’s Day, noted that the socio-economic situation in Nigeria, the post-fuel subsidy removal backlash, and current fuel scarcity affected adversely the working class and their families.

Akinwole said Nigerian workers had continued to contribute to the development of Nigeria, despite being undervalued and underpaid by the various levels of governments, including private organisations.

the bottom up."

Key elements of the accord include establishing a high-level Presidential Council to spearhead reforms, potentially through an Executive Order, and prioritising innovative solutions, including government-to-person (G2P) programmes to directly invest in underserved communities.

It also aims to integrate financial literacy into the national curriculum, bridging the digital divide by strengthening ICT infrastructure nationwide, addressing gender gaps, rural exclusion, regional gap in the Northern Nigeria, enhancing service delivery for small businesses and low-income citizens, and fostering collaboration across the public and private sectors, as well as different levels of government.

Zauro said, "By enabling every Nigerian, regardless of their circumstances, to access credit, save, invest and insure their lives and businesses, we can fuel an entrepreneurial revolution that drives economic transformation across the country."

The two-day national workshop culminated in key resolutions that aligned the Aso Accord with the overall National Financial Inclusion Strategy, including leveraging technology for last-mile service delivery, promoting financial literacy, addressing gender and regional disparities, and strengthening digital infrastructure nationwide.

Zauro added, "Financial exclusion perpetuates generational poverty, but financial inclusion catalyses economic citizenship and empowerment. The Aso Accord reflects the president's determination to leave no Nigerian behind on our journey to sustainable prosperity.”

Nigerian oil and gas sector’s global competitiveness while stimulating economic growth.

He added, "Related to this are the reforms we are implementing to our tax regimes to limit the taxes collected without negatively affecting government revenues.

"All of these have the same objective – to reduce government interference with the commercial imperatives of businesses in the country so that businesses based here can be competitive and focus on their core objectives of economic growth through innovation and trade.

"We will need the support of the National Assembly to fully implement some of these reforms, as statutory changes will be required in some areas."

However, the lawmakers whom the retreat was organised for appeared to be uninterested, as

Worker's Day would be a reminder to the unfulfilled promises of the federal and state governments on improving the poor wages and working conditions of the Nigerian workers.

Akinwole stated that it was inconceivable that those in government exploited their states' resources while some even looted for their unborn children while workers were left pauperised.

While thanking the Nigerian security forces for their efforts to make the country safe, he called on President Bola Tinubu to ensure special welfare package for families of those who had lost their lives while defending Nigeria.

ILO Says Over 1m Workers May Die Annually from Workplace Related Hazards

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that a total of 1,178,960 workers globally might die annually due to climate change-induced workplace hazards.

Quoting ILO's newly published report, "Ensuring Safety and Health in a Changing Climate," the United Nations agency said a staggering number of workers globally were facing climate-related health hazards.

He stated, "Nigerians, particularly the working class, are celebrating 2024 Workers' Day experiencing fuel scarcity. Workers who are poorly paid will still have to pay hiked transportation fare. The inflation in Nigeria is killing, and many are getting malnourished as the cost of food items have skyrocketed."

According to him, the 2024

will also touch on the persistent issues of deep unemployment and underemployment, which prevent many Lagosians from providing for their families. Debates will be had far and wide. But let the debates be sincere and candid and lead to ideas and plans on how to improve opportunity, upward mobility, and prosperity.

This year, I also want to challenge us to think deeper about what this day means - what it means to work. It was the Rev Martin Luther King that said “No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence”. He went on to say “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” So today, as we celebrate work wherever we are in Lagos State - let us reflect on

the rowdiness and their loitering indicated that the retreat was another money wasting scheme.

For instance, while the programme was going on, the lawmakers were rowdy, forcing the master of ceremony to plead with them to maintain silence or talk in low voice with their colleagues.

Some of the lawmakers later left without coming back to the hall.

In his remarks, Speaker of the House, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, stressed that Nigeria’s efficiency in collecting Value Added Tax (VAT) “is the lowest among its African peers, indicating significant inefficiencies in its tax system.”

Abbas expressed the readiness of the 10th House to aid the economic policies and programmes of the Tinubu administration. He said this included engagement with stakeholders on laws governing

Phala said this year's theme focused on the urgent need to address the profound effects of climate change on occupational safety and health.

She stated, "This report reveals that over 70 per cent of the global workforce is likely to face occupational hazards linked to climate change, including excessive heat, dangerous UV radiation, and harmful air pollution.

“The report estimates that more than 2.4 billion workers (out of a global workforce of 3.4 billion) are likely to be exposed to excessive heat at some point during their work.”

Phala said the report revealed that numerous health conditions in workers had been linked to climate change, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, kidney dysfunction and mental health conditions.

She said, "The impact includes: 1.6 billion workers exposed to UV radiation, with more than 18,960 work-related deaths annually from nonmelanoma skin cancer, 1.6 billion likely to be exposed to workplace air pollution, resulting in up to 860,000 work-related deaths among outdoor workers annually.

finance, tax and oil sub-sectors of the economy, with the aim of causing positive reforms.

The legislative retreat on economic transformation and development was organised by the House in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation (KAS).

Abbas noted that the House made a deliberate decision to focus on tax reforms and modernisation, as well as a review of the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Reform Act (2021). “The overarching objective is to discuss and identify concrete legislative strategies for economic transformation,” he said.

health conditions.

She suggested that government should take decisive action together to adapt workplaces, protect workers, and build a resilient future.

According to her, "These are not just statistics; they represent a clarion call to action for all of us, highlighting the pressing need to adapt our approaches and strategies to protect our workforce.

"In Nigeria, as in other parts of the world, the effects of climate change complicate existing health risks, creating a complex landscape of workplace hazards that require innovative and adaptive responses."

She suggested measures to mitigate the climate change impact, which includes enhancing resilience planning, improving health surveillance, and investing in education and infrastructure that reduce vulnerability to climate impacts.

In her address at the commemoration of the 2024 World Day for Safety and Health at Work, organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in Abuja, ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ms. Vanessa Phala, said the report revealed that over 70 per cent of the global workforce were likely to face occupational hazards linked to climate change

these words - Let our labour speak of the greatness we all have in us. From the bus driver, to the bus conductor, from the cashier to the security guard, from the bricklayer to the teacher to the Commissioner to the Managing Director - no work is insignificant. If we all do the best we can - Lagos will be on its way to becoming the most successful city in Africa and one of the top cities in the world. A model city. It is you the people, the workers, with that famous, matchless energy and ingenuity for which the people of Lagos are known, that will deliver it. I can see it, we have what it takes. But the first step is to acknowledge that many Lagosians, including civil servants, bemoan their interactions and relationship with their Government. This should ordinarily not be an acrimonious relationship, since the welfare of the people should be the primary concern of Government. The apparatus of the state has to work and the leaders in Government are entrusted with that apparatus. They have a disproportionate potential to affect people’s lives positively or negatively. Especially

“Over 870 million workers in agriculture, likely to be exposed to pesticides, with more than 300,000 deaths attributed to pesticide poisoning annually and 15,000 work-related deaths every year due to exposure to parasitic and vector-borne diseases."

Phala said the impact of climate change on workers went well beyond exposure to excessive heat, but involved a cocktail of hazards, which result in a range of dangerous

the most vulnerable. They can do more to bring out the best, or the worst, in the average citizen than can most others. The fact that interactions with Government are often viewed as abusive, extractive and predatory, is a symptom of broken trust and broken faith. The broken trust of a people in their Government and an employer (Government) that has also not kept faith with its own employees and to whom, therefore, those workers feel they owe little allegiance.

This is a status quo we have experienced in this state for basically a generation since 1999. It is a dynamic equilibrium that is optimized for extraction by the few, rather than inclusion of the many, and that inevitably leads to resource concentration and mass impoverishment rather than widespread prosperity. Lagos is due for a new conversation on work, service and reward. A new charter on what we owe one another, and a fresh understanding of our roles from the executive committee down to the newly minted school-leaver who arrived last week from Ekiti,

Earlier, Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ismaila Abubakar, said the aim of the symposium was to ensure the implementation of an effective and efficient work ethics by workers in their various workplaces, so as to prevent work-related accidents, injuries, diseases and deaths caused by climate change.

While welcoming participants to the symposium, Director of Occupational Health and Safety Department in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs. Adogu Nneka, said the objective of the event was to create awareness on the impact of climate change on workers' health and safety.

Continued on page 45

Abia, Kaduna or New York. This can be a State we all love and take pride in.

So today on this workers day, I encourage us to each reflect on the part we can play. In all our different roles - as fathers and mothers, as employers and employees, in the private sector or public sector, in the faith community and non-governmental organizations, in the media and our public discourse and most importantly as citizens. In our work, whether as leaders or as followers, government or the governed, let us serve in such a way that the heavens will look down upon us and say, well done.

I wish us all a happy workers day.

E ku ise o.

•Doherty until recently was the Managing Director / CEO of PAL Pensions where he led a nationwide team overseeing the management of over half a trillion naira in Assets. He is a charter holder and co-founding Trustee of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Society Nigeria and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

President Tinubu

Senate reSumeS from eaSter and Sallah break...

S’South Govs Meet in Yenagoa, Lament Poor State of Power in Region, Urge FG to Review Situation

House orders NERC to halt tariff increase NBA gives FG seven days

Samuel in Yenagoa

Governors of the South-south states under the auspices of the BRACED states – Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta commission – yesterday met in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, where they lamented the current state of power in the country and urged the federal government to review the situation.

The meeting, which was hosted by Governor Douye Diri, had in attendance the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki; the deputy governor of Delta State, Monday Onyeme; and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Senator Akon Eyakenyi.

The Rivers State governor, Sim

Fubara, however, sent two representatives to the meeting. At the same time, the House of Representatives has ordered the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to suspend the implementation of the new electricity tariff nationwide.

Also, yesterday, the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has concluded a plan to institute a lawsuit against the federal government over the hike in electricity tariff, and gave it seven days ultimatum to reverse it.

However, in a communique read by Governor Obaseki, chairman of the BRACED commission, the South-south states lamented the persistent poor state of electricity in the region.

The commission noted that

member-states had made huge investments in the power sector by successive governments of the region and called on the power companies operating in the region to work more closely with the state governments to ensure the operationalisation of the new Electricity Act of 2023.

It also called on the federal government to embark on a comprehensive review of the power sector, particularly with reference to transmission.

While commending President Bola Tinubu for approving the construction of the coastal road from Lagos to Calabar, the commission called on the federal government to expedite work on the East-West road.

It also stressed the need for member-states to develop better regional interconnectivity through

road, rail, water and air systems.

It equally condemned the March 14 killing of 17 military officers at Okuama community in Delta State and expressed condolences to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the military hierarchy and especially to the families of the slain officers.

Consequently, it called on the federal government to set up a highpowered commission of inquiry to unearth what transpired in order to avoid such occurrences in future.

The commission commended the federal government for establishing the National Agriculture Fund and looked forward to working with the agency to improve the economic development of the region, particularly in the area of agro-entrepreneurship and food sufficiency.

The commission welcomed the ongoing efforts of member-states to promote financial literacy and skills acquisition among women and youths, in order to promote the growth of small and medium enterprises in the region and directed that the trainings and ongoing efforts be sustained throughout the region.

It commended the Bayelsa State government on its cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNDOC) to build a peace architecture to curb crimes and prevent violence in the state and discussed modalities for the expansion of the programme to include other states in the region.

House Asks NERC to Halt Tariff Increase

The House of Representatives has ordered the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the implementation of the new electricity tariff nationwide.

develop templates for determination of the legality, reasonableness of the procedure adopted by NERC in approving the tariff increase and establishing the performance benchmarks for the Discos.

“And authorised the consultant to work with the special committee to draft a bill ‘to provide for administrative procedures that entrench proper consultation and legislative review of process for tariff setting in the electricity and other public services in Nigeria.”

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Kama Nkemkanma on the need to address key issues surrounding ‘the sudden hike in electricity prices in Nigeria’ at the resumed plenary on Tuesday.

Shareholders of Transcorp Hotels Plc, have approved N2.05 billion as dividend, translating to 20 kobo per ordinary share for the 2023 financial period.

The shareholders also backed the company’s expansion and investment strategies and commended the board and management for leading the entity on the path of profitability.

Speaking at its 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja, Chairman of the company, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, said the dividend payout would have been higher but for the investments and expansion plans which are currently underway.

He reiterated the company’s commitment to continuously maximize long-term value for shareholders by accelerating growth, improving margins and allocating resources and capital prudently.

He said the accomplishments in the review year stood as testament to the collective efforts of the hotel’s dedicated team and the unwavering support we have received from various quarters.

In 2023, we demonstrated the immense potential that can be realized through collaboration with stakeholders and the effective utilization of our human resources and processes.

He said, “Our ability to navigate challenges with resilience and innovation was critical to our success.

As we step into the new year, our

commitment remains unwavering.

The team is motivated and dedicated to surpassing previous accomplishments and we are confident that, with your continued support, we will achieve our set goals in 2024.”

Nnorom noted that in the face of persistent inflationary pressures, heightened economic insecurity and the substantial costs associated with operations, the hotel demonstrated remarkable resilience and concluded the financial year strongly.

He said the Group recorded an impressive gross revenue of N41.5 billion, showcasing a substantial growth trajectory that outpaced the previous year's revenue of N31.4 billion.

He said the company’s stock price increased by 1022.9 per cent from N6.25 on January 1, 2023, to close at N70.18 on December 31, 2023.

According to him, “This impressive growth led to Transcorp Hotels Plc being the best-performing stock on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

With a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 228.0x and price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 26.5x, Transcorp Hotels PLC share price growth was significantly higher than the hospitality industry average movement of 4.4 per cent and the market average movement of 7.4 per cent.

“In addition to the company's growing fundamentals. including effective management and innovations, a key driver of our financial success has been our unwavering

commitment to strategic financial management.”

He said despite the challenges posed by the “prevailing economic climate, our meticulous financial planning and execution proved to be instrumental in mitigating the impact of external factors on our bottom line. This commitment is evident in the reduction of our finance costs throughout the year, reflecting our dedication to optimizing operational efficiency and cost- effectiveness.”

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Dupe Olusola,said the company was poised for another year of unprecedented success.

She said, “Looking ahead to 2024, I am filled with confidence and optimism about the limitless possibilities that lie before us. As we build upon the foundation of our post successes, I have no doubt that the coming year will witness even greater accomplishments."

It also resolved to set up a special committee made up of the Committees on Power, Commerce, Delegated Legislation and National Planning to organise a well-structured hearing on the price regulation of NESI with the participation of the Minister of Power, Chairman and Commissioners of NERC, the CEO of all electricity utilities in Nigeria, President of the National Industrial Court, Trade Union Congress and leaders of chambers of Nigerian. They further resolved to appoint a well-regarded former regulator as technical consultant to the house “to

]Nkemkanma while presenting the motion highlighted concerns over due process, fairness, and the impact on consumers, adding that the motion was aimed at restoring public trust, protect consumer rights, and ensure regulatory accountability in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

“What's more concerning are the reports indicating discrepancies in customer categorisation and widespread complaints regarding inadequate service despite increased charges.

“This situation has not just sparked national anxiety, but it also threatens regulatory certainty and investor confidence in the sector, demanding immediate attention.

Continues online

The Pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has emphasised the crucial role of industrialisaation in diversifying the economy.

Regional Sales Director, Lagos/ Ogun Dangote Cement PLC, Mr. Tunde Mabogunje, made this remark at the13th Gateway International Trade Fair at the M.K.O Abiola Trade Fair Complex, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta. Speaking during Dangote Special Day at the Fair, Mabogunje highlighted the company's commitment to manufacturing goods domestically, utilising Nigeria's

abundant raw materials.

He noted that the theme of the Trade Fair, "Achieving Economic Prosperity Through Business Connection, Trade and Investment" resonates with Dangote Group as it is focused on manufacturing of goods rather than importation thus making use of the abundant raw materials in Nigeria.

He added, "Today, through our vast investment across many sectors, we are adding value to the raw materials and transforming the same into finished products. In these sectors, we are creating linkages that connect the whole economy while at the same time promote backward integration. We

believe that industrialisation is key to diversification of the economy."

Mabogunje, who underscored the company's focus on creating linkages that connect the entire economy and promote backward integration, stressed that DIL was a regular participant at major trade fairs across the country, as one of the means of demonstrating its belief that Chambers of Commerce & Industry occupy a unique position in driving economic development through their activities. He stressed that DIL is the nation’s foremost indigenous Pan-African conglomerate with interests in cement, sugar, salt, poly products, real estate, agriculture,

logistics, telecommunications, steel, oil and gas among others.

Mabogunje, who said through these subsidiaries and others, the Group has been able to provide jobs for thousands of Nigerians, stressed that the company's target is to ensure that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in all the sectors it operates in.

"Our food subsidiaries, Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries (Dangote Salt) and Dangote Rice are providing jobs through various schemes. Dangote Sugar Refinery, through its out-grower and backward integration schemes has provided jobs to thousands of farmers in the host communities.

L-R: Senator Danjuma Goje, representing Gombe Central District; Senator Austine Akobundu, representing Abia Central; Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal representing Sokoto South and Senator Sunday Katung representing Southern Kaduna exchanging pleasantries on their way to the chambers as they resume from Easter and Sallah break in Abuja... yesterday

PhoTo:

James Sowole in Abeokuta

James emejo in Abuja

funke olaode in Lagos, Juliet akoje in Abuja and olusegun

RAddA's WoRkinG Visit to solid MinERAl MinistRy ...

L-R: Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda with the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake; during the governor's working

Nigerian, African Security Chiefs Commend Improved Security in Enugu

We’re deploying technology to fight insecurity, says Mbah

Gideon Arinze

Participants in the executive intelligence management course 17 of the National Institute of Security and Strategic Studies (NISS), drawn from Nigeria, Chad, Cote d”Ivoire, Ghana, Gambia and Rwanda, have lauded Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State for what they described as very visible improvement in security of lives and property in the state.

This came on a day the governor stressed that his administration would continue to deploy technology to fight insecurity in all nooks and crannies of the state.

The syndicate members made the observation during a courtesy call on Mbah at Government House, Enugu, during which they also toured the state’s Command and Control Centre being put together by the governor.

Speaking, a directing staff at NISS as well as syndicate supervisor and leader of the delegation, Bolarinwa Adekunle, said the syndicate, which was drawn from 29 agencies and five African countries, was in Enugu to understudy how the state government was leveraging AI to advance the security and economy of the state and also governance in general.

“I was in Enugu in 2022 as a participant of this prestigious course. We arrived in Enugu on a Sunday, and on Monday, we were made to stay in our hotel. We could not go anywhere. But today, the situation is not the same. That has been stopped. Things have improved in the state.

“Artificial Intelligence, Security and Emerging Economies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects,” was chosen by the institute, as Artificial Intelligence was fast evolving globally and permeating almost every facet of human endeavour, including agriculture, health, security, manufacturing, transportation, education, and authority.

“Africa can not stay aloof and watch other continents of the world take advantage of artificial intelligence. It is therefore imperative that we appropriately interrogate the theme of this course, such that we leverage the opportunities that abound in artificial intelligence, while we also strive to mitigate the risk and the ethical issues that are associated with it. That is why we are here,” he said.

In his response, Mbah said that his government prioritised security from the outset, knowing that his vision to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30

billion, eradicate poverty and make the state the preferred destination for investment, business, tourism and living would amount to a pipe dream without it.

Mbah also said that the administration owed the security and order enjoyed in the state to the commitment, sacrifices, and cooperation of the security agencies as well as the deployment of technology to track down criminals.

“We recognise that under the fundamental objectives and the directive principles of state policy in our constitution, the primary purpose of government is the provision of security and welfare for our citizens.

“So it means that you lose your reason for existence as a government if you are not able to guarantee the safety of your people and which is why it was almost like we had

to set forth on this when we took office.

“We have deployed technology to deal with the challenges of insecurity. In fact, you are actually seated here in the command centre, which we regard as our Command and Control Centre. We will take you around shortly to see what we are doing in terms of the deployment of security surveillance cameras where we monitor what is going on around in our state.

“We are also able to again deploy this around Artificial Intelligence to be able to nip some of these things in the bud,” Mbah stated. He added that the state was investing heavily in education to ensure that the young people were imbued with the necessary and relevant digital and entrepreneurial skills that they needed to be able to deal with the future.

Tinubu, Jonathan, Others to Grace Igbinedion Varsity’s 25th Anniversary

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

President Bola Tinubu, former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) were yesterday named as dignitaries to grace Igbinedion University, Okada, (IUO) 25th anniversary celebration.

The Igbinedion University Okada, was issued a certificate for operation on May 10 ,1999 by the then military Head of State,

Abubakar, as the first private university in Nigeria.

Speaking at a press conference to unveil the anniversary logo and announce the programmes and events marking the silver jubilee anniversary at the university main campus, Okada, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, said the week-long programme which has commenced with a free medical outreach in 10 communities

Osun Country Club Unveils Plans for Grand Launch on May 15

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Osun Country Club has announced plans to carry out the grand launch of the club to serve the people of Osun state, pledging to focus on quality and environmental sustainability.

The organisation prides itself as the premier lifestyle and leisure establishment located in Osogbo, Nigeria.

Founded in 2023 by indigenes and friends of Osun State, the Club said it will offer unparalleled amenities and foster a sense of belonging within its vibrant community.

From sports facilities to fine dining, Osun Country Club, the management said, will epitomise excellence in lifestyle and leisure, and birth a legacy of growth and development.

“Osun Country Club proudly announces its grand launch,

ushering in a new era of lifestyle, leisure and recreational excellence to serve the people of Osun State.

“Strategically located in the surrounding areas of Osogbo the State Capital, Osun Country Club promises an unparalleled experience for its esteemed members and guests, and a great addition to the growing tourist attractions of Osun State.

“With prime focus on quality and environmental sustainability, Osun Country Club will offer a sanctuary for relaxation and social engagement. Its plans for world-class amenities, including a golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts, fitness facilities, and exquisite dining and events options, will provide a haven where individuals, families and corporates can unwind and create cherished memories,” the club said in a statement.

The grand launch of Osun

Country Club will take place on May 15 at the Aurora Event Centre, Osogbo.

Headlining the event, the organisers said, will be the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke.

Other key dignitaries will include the Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, and the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, while the traditional institutions will be led by the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Ogunwus, Ojaja II.

He will be supported by their Royal Majesties, the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran; the Orangun of Ila-Orangun, Oba Abdulwahab Oyedotun; the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi; the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji and the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Lawal.

The founding of Osun Country Club, the statement stressed, underscored the unwavering commitment of indigenes and friends of Osun State, home and abroad, to the State’s development.

According to the club, it reinforces their desire to foster community spirit and promote a healthy lifestyle amongst the state’s citizens.

"We are thrilled to inaugurate Osun Country Club, a long-needed destination that will epitomise elegance, excellence, and inclusivity," remarked Chief Abiola Falayajo, President of Osun Country Club.

"As we embark on this journey, we envision a vibrant community hub where friendships flourish, and experiences abound. Our esteemed members can expect nothing short of best-in-class facilities, unparalleled service and unforgettable moments," Felayabo added.

within Okada and it environs, will feature inter- university football tournament and a special Jumat prayer on Friday, May 3.

Ezemonye said there will be a moot court competition on May 7 and an exhibition and Alumni reunion and engagement on May 9.

The anniversary celebration, he added, will climax with a colloquium titled: "Re-imagining Tertiary Education for Africa's Present and Future Realities," to be delivered by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman.

Others persons expected to deliver colloquiums include: African Union (AU) Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Mohamed Bellhocine; and Shri Balasubramanian, High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, amongst others.

Ezemonye added: "Today, we are delighted to announce the upcoming celebration of the 25 years anniversary of Igbinedion University, Okada, the premier and leading private university in Nigeria.

"We are filled with immense joy and gratitude as we mark 25 years of academic excellence, advancing knowledge and creating opportunities. Over the past 25 years, Igbinedion University has evolved into a beacon of intellectual repository, a crucible for innovation and nurturing ground for future leaders and game changers.”

In 1999, history was made with the licensing of the first private university in Nigeria. By May this year, it will be exactly 25 years

since the epochal event. Since inception, the university has achieved remarkable successes in teaching, research, capacity building, innovative studies and perhaps most significantly, the production of exceptional graduates in diverse fields of human endeavour who are contributing their quota to national and global development.

Continuing, Ezemonye noted that the university started with five faculties, 115 student enrolment at inception, but that today the institution has seven facilities and over 7,000 students.

According to him: "Igbinedion University Okada, from a modest figure of 115 enrolment at inception, we now have over 7,000 male and female students on campus.

"We have recorded steady growth in academic programmes of study. From five colleges at inception in 1999, the university has expanded to seven colleges and three schools.”

He added that the academic departments and programmes had witnessed exponential increase from seven at inception to 85, made up of 34 undergraduate and 51 postgraduate programmes.

“We have produced over 16,000 graduates across disciplines spread across the globe, with records of stellar performances in their respective fields of endeavour.

“All courses/programmes are fully accredited not only by the National Universities Commission (NUC) but also by relevant professional bodies", the vice chancellor said.

visit to the ministry in Abuja ... yesterday

UnvEiling Of thE gEndEr StrAtEgy...

L-R: Representative of the National President of Women In Mining In Nigeria WIMIN, Mrs Emily Ofodile( Social Secretary); N&G Consultant; Hon Minister for Solid Minerals Development Dr Dele Alake; Permanent Secretary, Dr Mary Ogbe & WIMIN Executive; during the Unveiling of the Gender Strategy by the minister ... yesterday

Borno: Sacking 10,566

Unqualified

Teachers

Will Compound Unemployment

Zulum approves N1bn for training

Abdurrahman Ahmed Bundi

The Borno State Government has refused to sack the 10,566 teachers said to be unqualified to remain in the classrooms, because the government did not want to compound the rate of unemployment in the state, report has stated.

This was as Governor Babagana Zulum, has approved the sum of N1 billion for the training of some 6,227 teachers certified as fit for training that would enable them to obtain the required qualifications before returning to the classrooms.

Long before the administration

of Zulum, Borno was faced with the crisis of teachers’ recruitment and remuneration.

Some of the issues surrounding primary school education in Borno were complex, including the decision by Zulum to retain those that were confirmed to be unqualified and the concern about their salaries.

But a lot of people were angry and queried why a state governed by a professor of repute would have teachers still receiving paltry sums as salary.

However, in 2020, the administration sought to sanitise the primary education system to ensure that

quality education was imparted, following the devastation caused by Boko Haram insurgency.

Zulum constituted a committee headed by Dr. Shettima Kullima to determine the actual workforce of teachers and their competence to impart quality education.

According to the 2020 report, a list of 26,450 teachers and non-teaching staff was submitted before the verification committee, and among them, 18,451 teachers participated, while 2,628 with fake certificates were identified.

Zulum then constituted another committee in February 2022, headed

by the current Commissioner for Education, Abba Wakilbe, to conduct a competency test on basic literacy and numeracy for the teachers, who had been cleared for biometric capture.

The committee’s report confirmed that about 10,566 teachers out of 15,823, representing 66% of all Borno primary school teachers, failed the test and were not qualified to teach.

More so, 6,227 teachers were identified to be trainable, and 4,339 of them untrainable.

Upon receiving the report, Zulum directed that the 5,257 who passed the test be upgraded and start to

Atiku: Longsuffering Nigerians Are Subsidising FG’s Corruption, Inefficiencies

Says every dawn unveils renewed hardship, harsh living conditions

Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubukar, has slammed the federal government, accusing it of subsidising corruption in government.

In the May Day message, Atiku said as Nigerian workers joined their counterparts across the world today to celebrate International Workers’ Day, it was a sobering truth that the plight of the Nigerian worker remained dire.

He said, "Despite prolonged pledges and flowery words by the government, the much talked-about prospects of wage increment for the Nigerian worker remains a mirage. Every dawn unveils renewed hardships and harsh living conditions.

"After the contraction and contradictions by the government about whether the subsidy regime has gone or it is still being implemented, the country is today facing the angst of frustration by Nigerians who waste precious man-hours in queues at petrol stations across the country," he stated

According to Atiku,, “The petrol subsidy is purportedly gone, yet its impact lingers – revealing the ineptitude of the current federal government.

"In an unprecedented manner and condescending of both the Nigerian worker and the general

public, this current federal government announced a unilateral removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit without consultations with representatives of the Nigerian worker.

"The continued increase in tariffs in different service offerings without addressing the corruption and inefficiencies in the system only amounts to long-suffering Nigerians subsidising the corruption and inefficiencies in the system.

"Since the days of legendary, Pa. Michael Imoudu, to latter day fire brands such as Pascal Bafyau and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the Nigerian worker has been at the forefront of the fight against tyranny and bad governance.

"No administration in our history has trampled workers' rights like this one. Daily, workers face uncertainty over skyrocketing prices of essential goods," he said.

Atiku said the Nigerian worker has had it so rough under this current administration and it was unfortunate that while the living conditions of the Nigerian worker remained at a miserably low ebb, the Nigerian government continued to regale its international audiences with tales of how the masses were being weaned of their wasteful dependence on government.

"It is thus beginning to appear, that as far as the current federal

government is concerned, the management of our country’s micro-economic outlook is an unwieldy laboratory experiment, to which the Nigerian worker is laid prostrate.

receive N30,000 as minimum wage.

The government further decided to retain those confirmed to be unqualified, because in a state like

Borno that was coming out of the insurgency, sacking such number would further compound the rate of unemployment.

Kano Court Adjourns Ganduje's Suspension Case to May 27

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

Justice Usman Na'abba, of the Kano State High Court, has adjourned the case of suspension involving the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, to May 27, for hearing and determination of applications on jurisdiction, among other motion on notice.

A faction of the APC at Ganduje ward, Dawakin-Tofa local government area of Kano, had sought extension of order suspending Ganduje.

hearing of the originating summon, yesterday, counsel to the applicants (Haladu Gwanjo and Laminu Sani Barguma), Ibrahim A Sa'ad, told the court of an application seeking to extend the exparte order pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit.

In his reaction, counsel to 1st (APC), 2nd (NWC) and 3rd (SEWC) respondents, Chief M. M Duru, told the court of an application on preliminary objection, challenging the jurisdiction of the state high court to entertain the matter.

Before granting stay of execution of his order, Justice Na'abba had earlier granted the plaintiffs exparte motion that stopped Ganduje from parading himself as APC member.

"It is my hope that the theme of this year’s Labour Day: ‘Ensuring Safety and Health at Work in a Changing Climate’, will inspire the Nigerian government to put the concerns of the Nigerian Worker on the front burner," Atiku stressed.

"While I cannot but share my sympathy with the Nigerian worker for the way the current government has ridiculed her for far too long, I must equally express my felicitations with the Nigerian worker on this year’s Workers Day.

In the aborted exparte, Ganduje had sought appeal restraining the execution of Justice Na'abba's order granted against him, insisting that those parading themselves as ward officers are impostor.

When the matter came up for

Duru notified the court on the potency of his application against all other pending motions, reminded the constitutional provision that allowed the court to determine the position of jurisdiction first before other matters.

On his part, counsel to 4th respondent (Abdullahi Umar Ganduje) L. O Oyewo told the court that his client was not ready to proceed with the matter because his client has not been served with court processes.

Alleged Terrorism: Court to Decide Miyetti Allah President, Bodejo’s Bail, May 30

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court,Abuja, has scheduled May 30, to decide whether he should admit to bail, the detained leader of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo.

The federal government had arraigned Bodejo in March on a three-count charge bordering on alleged violation of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Specifically, the federal government has accused him of unlawfully establishing an ethnic militia group, Kungiya Zaman Lafiya, to promote terrorism.

Although he pleaded not guilty to the charge, the court ordered his

remand in the custody of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Abuja, pending the determination of his bail application.

Arguing the bail application yesterday, Bodejo's lawyer, Ahmed Raji, SAN, pleaded with Justice Ekwo to admit his client to bail on various grounds ranging from ill health to fundamental rights.

Raji also prayed the court for "an order admitting the defendant to bail on liberal terms pending the hearing and determination of the charges preferred against him."

According to the senior lawyer, Bodejo "suffers from grave ill-health" and that the offences were bailable.

Citing Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution, Raji said his client was

presumed innocent until proven guilty, adding that the charge against him did not disclose any crime against him.

Contrary to government assertions, Raji informed the court that the launch of the group was done in the full glare of the public and with security agencies as well as the Nasarawa State government officials in attendance.

In an affidavit deposed to by Mohammed Musa, a brother to Bodejo, in support of the bail, the deponent said the Miyetti Allah leader who was arrested by the DIA personnel on 23 January, has "been denied access to his lawyers, family members, friends and well wishers."

Musa described Bodejo as a "patriotic Nigerian citizen, who goes

about his business within the ambit of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

The deponent further said Bodejo "neither established nor has any involvement with the ethnic militia group as alleged in the charge against him."

He explained that the essence of establishing the vigilante company was to provide security services to the members of the society and not to commit any act of terrorism as alleged by giving.

However ,the federal government, through it's lawyer, Y.A Imana, urged the court to reject Bodejo's bail application on the ground that charges against the defendant bordered on threat to national security.

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

COurtESy ViSit...

Damagum Challenges Agboola to Return Ondo

to PDP in November Guber Election

The Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Damagum, has charged the candidate of the party in the forth-

coming Ondo State Governorship election, Hon. Ajayi Agboola, to return the state to the PDP fold. Damagum gave the charge to him while presenting the certificate of return to him.

He also presented Agboola with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination forms.

“We all know Ondo State is a PDP state. I can conveniently say

we got it right (with the choice of candidate) this time. You have to work hard with others to return the state to us.

He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of not conducting

Out of School Children: Northern Govs to Invest in Education, Skills Devt

John Shiklam in Kaduna

Governors of the 19 northern states, under the aegis of Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) have resolved to invest massively in education, skill development, health care and social services in order to address the menace of out of school children in the region.

In a communique issued at the end of its meeting yesterday at the Government House Kaduna, the forum noted that human capital development was critical to the progress and prosperity of the region.

The communique signed by the chairman of the forum and Governor of Gombe state, Muhammadu Yahaya, lamented the burden currently facing the north as the region "with the highest number of out of school children in the world".

The forum received report of a technical committee on the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) and resolved that members should study the report for consideration at its next meeting.

The governors noted the role of the NNDC in reviving the economy

First Lady Hails Nigerian Workers for Their Resilience, Dedication to Duty

The first lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, rejoiced with Nigerian workers on the occasion of this year's Worker's Day celebration.

In a statement she personally signed, Tinubu hailed Nigerian workers for their innovation, resilience and dedication to duty.

Mrs Tinubu, in the release, stated, "I acknowledge the immense contributions of our nation’s workforce that is renowned for its dedication, resilience, and innovation.

"I, therefore, salute the teachers, who nurture young minds, the farmers who cultivate our land, the doctors and nurses, who safeguard our health, the engineers, who build

of the northern states and resolved to invest in critical infrastructure that are capable of unlocking the huge industrial and economic potentials of the region.

"The forum noted that climate change, unsustainable agricultural practices and population growth posed significant challenges to the region.

"The forum resolved to adopt holistic approach that promote environmental conservation, sustainable agriculture and responsible resource management to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the people and preserve the national heritage of generations yet unborn", the communique said.

The governors also received a presentation from Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) and World Bank team.

The NSGF assured the AGILE and World Bank team of its continuous support and requested them to fast track the process of upscaling the programme.

The governors also received executive committee and board

our infrastructure, and countless others, who dedicate their skills and energy to building a better Nigeria.

"Today, let us not only celebrate work, but also reflect on how we can be a better and more productive workforce.

"On this Workers’ Day, I celebrate the spirit of work with pride. May it continue to be a source of strength, prosperity, and national progress for Nigeria.”

Obaseki Hails Edo Workers, Salutes Contribution to State’s Economy, Others

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, hailed the outstanding contribution of workers in the state towards the growth of the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the past seven and a half years of

of trustees of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on courtesy call during the meeting, noting the resolve of the ACF to harmonise activities of various interest groups as well as voices, speaking and acting on

behalf of the north and resolved to support them.

A report from the Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) on the security in north was also received by the governors.

a free and transparent governorship primary election.

"At a time when our opponents could not put their acts together, but we in the opposition, much was expected of us and we shamed them. We produced a candidate without a dissenting voice. It's because of what we have put in place that has made this possible," he said.

He explained that the feat was made possible because of the various stakeholders meetings organised by the parry.

"During our stakeholders’ meeting, we agreed that all the aspirants must come from the south, and by the grace of God, that is what happened. This shows the preparedness of the party to

take over Ondo State.

"Even from the last election, we know that Ondo is PDP and from the stakeholders meeting and other engagements, we were able to come out with a single candidate," Damagum stated. In his acceptance speech titled: "Transitioning from Ineffective Leadership and Flawed Governance – A Time to Unite and Work for the People," Agboola commended the exercise that produced him.

"This election is a defining moment for us; It is about all of us coming together to chart a new course for Ondo State. It is about embracing our collective vision and aspirations for a better, more prosperous future, it therefore cannot be about me alone,” he said.

Olawale

Four men, including a pastor, were Monday night kidnapped by gunmen at Bmuko community at Dutse Baupma axis of Bwari Area Council of Abuja.

An engineer, identified as Patrick, his wife and brother were reportedly abducted from their home during the attack on Zone C, Road 5 of the community.

Residents said sporadic boom of gunshots punctuated the night and sent fears down their spines.

The family members were abducted after the criminals broke into their

his administration.

Obaseki said the workers’ commitment and dedication to transformation of the state deserved praise.

In a statement, the governor said, “This is my last year in office and I dare say that I have had the best of time working with workers in Edo State.

“The experience has been exhilarating. I am happy that working with you all, we grew the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by over 140 per cent. For me, that is rewarding.”

He stated, “It has, indeed, been an enriching journey working and I am glad that we are signing off on an exciting note as only two days ago, I announced that we have raised the Edo State minimum wage from N40,000 to N70,000.

residence.

“From the engineer’s house, after carrying his wife and brother, they divided themselves into two groups. One group went towards the riverside that leads to Kubwa and Bwari, while the other group went towards the hillside.

“It was the group going towards the hillside that stopped at a nearby house, where they kidnapped a Pastor and another young man. We could not do anything, we were scared to death during the period of the operation,” a resident, named Isah, disclosed.

One of the leaders of the community, who pleaded anonymity,

“An increase of over 75 per cent percent, which reflects how much we have come to value the work you do and which also speaks to our unwavering commitment to rewarding hard work as a government.”

Obaseki said his administration had improved the working conditions for the state’s workforce, stressing, “From infrastructure upgrade to prioritising technology and improving incentives for work, we have successfully built the first state government in Nigeria to go fully digital.

“The rate that technology is redefining work processes in Edo today is unprecedented and our workers can testify to the fact that the e-gov platform we have implemented has radically changed governance.”

also confirmed the incident.

He said they heard gunshots a few minutes before midnight, when one of the landlords among them posted a voice note on their platform alerting them about the attack.

“Swiftly, our security personnel came down. We had to make calls to the FCT Police station. Luckily, we had intervention from them, and soldiers also came to our rescue. However, the whole thing turned to something else, as nobody was arrested.

“But, the kidnappers went with three or four people. As we speak, the soldiers that went in search of them have returned without rescuing them. The policemen are still in the bush searching for them.

“We have been demanding Police outpost here in the Bmuko community. This is a populated environment. Whatever is happening here is not out of the knowledge of the security architecture of the FCT,” he said.

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday dismissed two separate suits against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election that produced Asue Ighodalo as candidate of the party in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.

Ekwo dismissed the suits for being incompetent and lacking in merit, on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the legal authority to institute the cases in the first place. The plaintiffs had dragged the PDP and other defendants to court over the delegates' list used for the conduct of the February primary election.

While the first suit marked: FHC/ ABJ/CS/195/2024, was filed by

Adizetu Umoru, the second suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/196/2024, was filed by Moses Alabi and Christopher Oboarer.

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), PDP, Umar Damagu (acting national chairman), Setonji Koshoedo, PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC), and its National Executive Committee (NEC) were 1st to 6th defendants respectively.

In their separate motions filed on February 19, 2024, plaintiffs had prayed the court to restrain the defendants from using the list of ward congresses held on February 4, for the purpose of conducting the PDP’s primary in Edo State, slated for February 22 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the main suit.

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Ajimotokan in Abuja

Founder of TEXEM, UK, Dr Alim Abubakre and Acting CEO, NGX, Jude Chiemeka, during a courtesy visit to the NGX boss... recently

COMMENDATION FOR THE MINISTER…

Representative of Ag. Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Horatius Egua(left), presenting a plaque to Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, for his commitment to the Implementation of the State Safety Programme (SSP) in Abuja…recently

Renewed Cult Clash Claims Two in Ambrose Alli Varsity

Adibe Emenyonu inBeninCity

A rival cult clash has reportedly claimed the lives of two students of Edo State-owned Ambrose Ali University (AAU), Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of the state.

The student, a 400-level undergraduate in the Faculty of Agriculture was allegedly killed at the Poultry Road extension in Ekpoma.

It was gathered that the killings came less than 48 hours after one

The students were said to have been shot dead by gunmen last Friday with an official of the institution’s students’ union among the victims.

Uzodimma Assigns Self to Land, Swears in 24 Commissioners, 16 SAs

TonyIchekuinOwerri

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, yesterday inaugurated the State Executive Council, swearing in 24 commissioners and 16 Special Advisers into office, a development coming 105 days after he was sworn in as a governor for a second term.

While swearing in the new appointees, at the new State Executive Council chambers, Government House in Owerri, the governor remarked that the process of appointments and swearing-in will still be ongoing to accommodate more people.

Uzodimma warned the members of the State Executive Council that he would not entertain any form of excuses for non-performance

Kayode Tokede

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) yesterday announced N376.49 billion ($581.36 million) profit before tax in its financial year result and accounts for full year ended December 31, 2023, an increase of 63 per cent from N230.56 billion ($540.03million) reported in 2022 financial year.

The pan-African financial institution in its profit and loss figures declared N263.52 billion profit ($406.9million) in 2023, a growth of 68 per cent when compared to N156.55 billion

even as he warned that the government would not tolerate any form of corruption. He also informed them that he has set up a new office domiciled in his office to checkmate their performance.

The governor announced portfolios for the incoming commissioners with some of the returning commissioners, including Hon. Ralph Nwosu, retaining his former portfolio as the Commissioner for Works; Hon. Declan Emelumba retained his former portfolio as Commissioner for Information; Hon. Ruby Emele retained her position at the Ministry of Local Government and chieftaincy Affairs and Hon. Chimezie Amadi retained his former portfolio as Commissioner for Digital Economy

PBT

($366.69 million) declared in the 2022 financial year.

Gross earnings stood at N1.83trillion ($2.83billion) in 2023, representing an increase of 69 per cent from N1.08 trillion ($2.53 billion) reported in 2022.

The group declared N25.9 trillion ($27.23billion) in total assets from N13.37trillion ($29 billion) reported in 2022, driven by N10.03 trillion ($10.54billion) and N19.01 trillion ($19.9 billion) loans & advances to customers and deposits from customers in 2023 financial year, respectively.

MAU Sacks Three Professors for Alleged Unethical Conducts

Daji Sani in yola

The ViceChancellor of Modibbo Adama University (MAU) Yola, Adamawa State , Professor Abdullahi Liman Tukur, has said the management of the university, after thorough investigation, has sacked three professors for alleged plagiarism and unethical conducts during his second tenure which will end in a month’s time.

The vice chancellor disclosed this at the university pre-

convocation press conference for 2022/2023 academic session in Yola yesterday, slated to take place on May 4, 2024. Tukur further explained that the three professors were found guilty by an investigative panel set up by the University Council, noting that stiff measures awaits any erring staff member and student purposely to ensure the enforcement of laws and regulations guiding the institution.

Eddy was beaten and left to die by a group of persons for allegedly purchasing items with “fake bank alert.”

The news of Eddy’s ordeal was

said to have been misconstrued for an attack by rival cult members to the effect that he was killed.

The misrepresentation of facts reportedly led to a retaliation by a

rival cult group, resulting to fatality of the two students on Friday.

Edo Command Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, Superintendent Chidi Nwabuzor,

confirmed the killings. “Yes, the command is aware of it and investigation is ongoing in the matter and some suspects have been arrested,” he said.

AbdulRazaq Presents 12 Toyota SUVs to Judges in Kwara

Hammed ShittuinIlorin

As part of efforts to boost the welfare and improve the services of judicial workers in Kwara State, the state governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq yesterday presented 12 top-of the range Toyota Fortuner Jeeps to the judges.

Besides, the state Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Abiodun Ayodele Adebara got a 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser for the use of his office, in what underlined the administration’s efforts to make the judges more comfortable in their service.

At the official presentation of the vehicles to the judges at the State High Court Ilorin, the Hon.

Chief Judge of the state, Hon. Justice Adebara, disclosed that earlier in the February this year 2024, five Toyota Fortuner Jeeps were allocated to five of the state High Court Judges from the money made available by the state government under the 2023 budget.

The Chief Judge added that five new Toyota Fortuner Jeeps procured under the 2024 approved budget were allocated to another five of the judges of the state High Court yesterday. He said, “Also, this morning, His Excellency Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq released another seven Toyota vehicles to the judiciary. Six of which are meant for the six new judges to be appointed”.

Two Brothers Fake Facebook Account of FCT Commandant of NSCDC

Michael Olugbode in abuja

Two brothers have been caught in connection with the creation of a false Facebook account to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

They were caught seven months after a manhunt was launch for

internet fraudsters who created a false Facebook account of the FCT Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Olusola Odumosu.

Speaking at the FCT Command of the NSCDC yesterday at the parade of the two brothers, Henry Ushie Odep, 34, and Emanuel

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Indigenes of Eteo community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State have lamented the neglect by the federal government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission Limited (NNPCL), 11 months

after its facility spilled crude oil in their land.

THISDAY recalled that on June 13, 2023, there was a reported spill along a pipeline operated by NNPCL carrying crude in Eteo community.

Speaking during a one-day farmers training on land

Ushie Odep, 23, Odumosu said: “You will recall that sometime in September 2023, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) alerted the public in a statement of the existence of a fake Facebook account opened by an individual in the name of Commandant Olusola Odumosu, FCT Commandant.

“This effort became necessary to distance myself from the said Facebook account so that unsuspecting Nigerians would not fall into the hands of the fraudsters.

Oil Spill: Rivers Community Laments Neglect by Govt, NNPCL

restoration against land grabbing, organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) yesterday at Eteo, a community leader, Gabriel Ollorini, lamented that the community is suffering badly from the pollution emanating from the spill.

Ollorini, who narrated how

they noticed the spill, alleged that after about 11 months, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NODSRA) Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) has not been done in the area following the incident he said has destroyed their farmlands and other sources of livelihood.

FG Commences Operation on Port Harcourt-Aba Rail Line

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt and Kasim Sumaina in abuja

It was jubilation yesterday in Rivers State, as the Minister of Transportation, Senator Said Alkali, officially flagged off the

commencement of operation on the Port-Harcourt - Aba section of the 1443km Port-Harcourt -Maiduguri rail line project.

Recalled that to intensify drive by the federal government to facilitate trade, enhance mobility, accessibility and ensure

connectivity between the Southern parts of the country and the North-eastern part of the country, the government commenced the rehabilitation of the 1443 km PortHarcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail project.

The project, which was

awarded by the Federal Ministry of Transportation China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) on October 16, 2020, with a completion timeline of 36 months, due to several technical and contractual issues commenced in March 2022.

ASRI Flags Off Construction of Students Hostel in FUT Minna

Laleye Dipo inMinna

One of Nigerian foremost philanthropists and businessmen, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, through his ASRI, has flagged off the construction of 108 bed space hostel at the Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State. The project is expected to cost

N250million and will be completed within the next three months.

The intervention of the ASRI in providing hostel accommodation in the FUT Minna is coming only after that of an indigenous businessman, the Sardauna of Minna, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, and the federal government-owned TETFUND.

The ASRI has also intervened in similar projects, including construction of lecture halls in 16 universities in Africa.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Dr Ubon Udoh, who performed the ground breaking yesterday stated that the instability in the value of the national currency and other economic challenges facing the country and the African continent will not affect the timely delivery of all the projects. Udoh emphasised the need for Nigerian philanthropists to join in the bid to solve the accommodation problems facing tertiary institutions across the country saying: “This is the only way to make education to boom.”

Ebonyi Bye-Election Tribunal: PDP Candidate Calls for Sack of Panel over Alleged Bias, Injustice

BenjaminNworieinabakaliki

The Ebonyi South senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 3 by-election in Ebonyi State, Silas Onu, has called for the disbandment of the three-man tribunal

panel over an alleged bias and lack of fair hearing.

In a petition addressed to the President of the Court of Appeal and the Judges, including Justice H.N Kunaza, Justice Bassey Bassey Nkanang and Justice M.O Agboola,

Onu maintained that he does not have any confidence in the ability to dispense justice in the petition by the panel.

The petitioner noted that continuing with the panel was tantamount to having a sealed fate, as nothing just

can come out from them. Onu said: “On April 15, 2024, upon the closing of pleadings and an application for the issuance of pre-hearing notice, electoral materials, specifically the BVAS was specifically pleaded in the petition.”

Ikpeba: Continuity Gave Finidi George the Edge over Amuneke, Others

Kunle Adewale

Former Nigeria international and Borussia Dortmund forward, Victor Ikpeba, has given the main reason why the Nigerian Football

Federation (NFF), settled for Finidi George ahead of people's favourite, Emmanuel Amuneke and other candidates that showed interest in the Super Eagles job.

Finidi won the NPFL title with

Vinicius’ Brace Earn Madrid Draw at Bayern

Vinicius Junior scored twice as Real Madrid came away with a draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie with Bayern Munich.

The Brazilian took advantage of two errors from Bayern defender Kim Min-jae - beating him for pace and slotting a shot past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for the opener, before the South Korean fouled Rodrygo in the box and Vinicius put away the resulting penalty.

England captain Harry Kane had netted a penalty of his own, beating goalkeeper Andriy Lunin early in the second half after Jamal Musiala was tripped by Lucas Vazquez in the box.

Minutes before, team-mate Leroy Sane had struck a thunderous effort inside the near post, cancelling out Vinicius' opener.

Control of the game switched hands as Bayern had failed to take advantage of their early dominance before Vinicius was played in behind by a clever Toni Kroos through ball.

Having had six shots and over 60% possession in the first 20 minutes - the best of the chances falling to Sane and Kane - Bayern were behind against the run of play.

But a ruthless four-minute period in the second half turned the game around and the German giants regained their momentum.

Enugu to Host NNL Super 8 as Aluo Hails Gov Mbah

The board of Nigeria National League ( NNL) has announced Enugu as host of this year's Super 8 slated for May 23 to May 30, 2024.

Making the announcement Monday, Chairman of the League Mr. George Aluo, said that the league board is happy that the home of football will play host to the Super 8 just as he expressed appreciation to the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah and the Commissioner For Youths and Sports Barr. Lloyd Ekwerenmadu for accepting to host the championship.

According to him, the state government has equally promised that all logistics needed for a successful and memorable competition will be put in place before the commencement of the competition.

" I'm happy to announce that Enugu State Government has

graciously accepted to bring the Super 8 to the home of Nigerian football.

"We at the NNL are grateful to the Governor and the Commissioner of Sports of Enugu State for this kind gesture and we promise all the participating teams that they will be treated to the best of hospitality the Coal City is noted for as the Governor has equally promised to make all logistics available for a hitch free championship.

The Super 8 is organised annually at the end of the league to determine the overall champion of the second tier League as well as teams that will gain promotion to the elite league.

Some of the teams that have already qualified for the championship are; Nasarawa Utd, Sporting Supreme of Abuja and Sokoto Utd.

Pupils Exhibit Talents at Maiden Edition of The Athletics School Games

The excitement on the faces of the athletes coupled with huge support from parents and guardians marked the exciting start of The Athletics School Games (TASG) held at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) at the weekend.

From the sprint to field events, the athletes displayed exceptional talents while the lively atmosphere put in place by the organisers set the tone for the commencement of the first private inter-school athletics championships in Lagos.

Eleven of the 15 invited schools made up of four primary and seven secondary schools as the athletes competed fairly with their counterparts and this again affirmed the enormous talents that abound in schools across the country.

For the Founder of TASG, Seun Akinbohun, the turnout coupled with the conduct of the athletes showed that the tournament has been well accepted by the participating teams and athletes.

“It’s the first edition obviously there were hiccups but overall, it’s been an incredible day, the participants and parents are happy.

This is my own way of giving back, creating opportunities for children to showcase their talent. Sports play a huge role in the mental wellbeing of everyone; children and adults alike. This is a way for us to create that avenue. The plan is to do this annually and we are hoping that we can get more support, more partnerships and that way, we can do it twice a year, maybe every quarter,” she said.

From the parents, the organisation coupled with the enthusiasm of the athletes singled out the tournament as a success.

“This is a fantastic initiative by the founder and I think it’s long overdue. We’ve been expecting things like this to happen. We’ve had inter-schools athletics competitions in the past but for some reasons, they’ve not been consistent. So I think this is a brilliant initiative because, there many children in our schools all over Nigeria who are talented but don’t have the opportunities to showcase their talents and this is one of the avenues with which their talent can be seen,” said Ann Dankaro

Enyimba last year in what was his debut season as a coach, whilst working simultaneously with the national team as Jose Peseiro’s assistant.

Since the departure of the Portuguese tactician, the former Ajax winger was appointed as an interim coach to help oversee the Super Eagles during the March International break. Finidi coached Nigeria to a win against Ghana, but lost the plot against Mali in Morocco.

On Monday, the NFF announced that Finidi will continue to lead

the team, this time, permanently. His primary aim is to lead the Super Eagles to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking on Monday Night Footballshow on SuperSport, Ikpeba, who was on the Technical Committee that recommended Finidi for the job, stated that the NFF settled for the Rivers-born ex international because of financial constraint.

“Firstly, I want to congratulate Finidi George on his appointment as the Super Eagles coach. However, it was a difficult task

because we initially wanted a foreign manager. However, we settled for Finidi because of the finances involved in the hiring of a foreign coach. It’s not like we don’t have confidence in our own coaches back home. We thought there should be continuity in the way Peseiro took the team to the final of the 2023 AFCON,” the former Borussia Dortmund forward hinted.

Ikpeba reiterated that the federation could have opted for a foreign coach, instead, they chose to side with the plea of the

Nigerian populace who wanted a local coach.

“So, eventually, we were guided by the NFF President to look inward. It’s not that we can’t afford a foreign manager, but Nigerians back home want a Nigerian coach, and that is what we have now,” the former Monaco Star player revealed.

Finidi George has just over a month to prepare his team as the Super Eagles will battle two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying games against South Africa and Benin Republic in June.

Paris Saint-Germain Manager, Luis Enrique, yesterday dismissed talks his French capital team were feeling the heat before their midweek Champions League semifinal, first leg game against Borussia Dortmund, stressing they are in Germany "here to enjoy the clash.”

Dortmund Coach, Edin Terzic, said PSG were "built to win the Champions League" but Enrique, who won the elite European competition as Barcelona manager in 2015, said his side should focus on relishing the experience.

"What's great about being here is that we can enjoy a really special game at a unique stadium in Europe," said the Spaniard.

"We have a chance to make our fans happy by reaching the final. That's what we've earned the right to do. We'll try to enjoy that.

"We will try to win both legs. It's not in our handbook to leave things to chance. It will be a wonderful spectacle for everyone who loves football."

PSG were dominant in a 2-0 win over Dortmund at home to open their Champions League campaign but were held to a 1-1 draw in the return leg.

Dortmund have gone 10 games

unbeaten at home in the Champions League in their Westfalenstadion80,000-seat-strong fortress.

PSG were crowned Ligue 1 champions on Sunday, their 10th league title in the past 12 seasons.

The domestic dominance has

not

silverware. PSG lost the final in 2020 to Bayern Munich.

"When you come to stadiums like this one it's a pleasure. You have to enjoy where you are and where you are as footballers as well," continued the former Spain coach.

"We'll experience it all on Wednesday (today). We are ready and prepared to play two great games and want to win both of them."

Iheanacho, Ndidi Aiming to Equal 104-year-old Record Held by Tottenham

Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi's Leicester City secured the Championship title on Monday night following a 3-0 rout of Preston North End at Deepdale, allnigeriasoccer.comreports.

City legend Jamie Vardy scored a goal in each half and Academy graduate Kasey McAteer added the third as the Foxes won for the 31st time in this season's Championship With one game left to be played by the Foxes, they have an unassailable seven-point lead at the top of the table.

After earning promotion and

winning the title, Leicester City's next target is to equal a second-tier record set by Tottenham Hotspur one hundred and four years ago. Spurs hold the record as the second-tier side with the most wins in a single season, thirty-two over the course of the 1919-1920 campaign.

If the Foxes were to defeat Blackburn Rovers at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, May 4th, they would match Tottenham's record for the most wins in a single season. Out of the thirty-one victories

achieved by Leicester City in the 2023-2024 Championship season, Ndidi participated in 24 matches, whereas Iheanacho featured in 16. The former Manchester City striker has fallen out of favour since his return from African Cup of Nations duty in the middle of February and wasn't called up for the last four matches played by the Foxes amid speculation surrounding his future. Both Nigeria internationals could be leaving the King Power Stadium as free agents in July if they don't put pen to paper on new deals.

Kylian Mbappe (second, right) will be aiming to give PSG the edge in the first leg of the semi finals of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League against Borussia Dortmund in Germany...tonight

however

been translated into European

MISSILE

Clergy to Federal Govt

“There has to be an enabling environment for farming to thrive. The issue of hunger can never be solved by any government. We must pray that God helps us to overcome poverty. Thinking the government would eradicate poverty one day is a mirage. God...created the rich and the poor, why didn’t He make everyone rich, so if He did not...why do we think the FG can make everybody rich” --President,OasisofBreakthroughInternationalChurchInc,ApostleIsrael Oyelade,tasksthegovernmentonagriculturaldevelopmentofthecountry.

Kayode Komo LA fe

In Defence of Oshiomhole

First, kudos to the Kukah Centre for organising recently a forum on the topical question of national integration. The success of the effort is a measure of the increasing relevance of the Abuja-based think tank. Cynics may dismiss such a platform provided by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, as just another “talking shop.” But it is wrong to assume that issues in Nigeria have all been properly defined. So any serious gathering aimed at further clarification on the numerous problems would be in order.

The senator representing the Edo north district, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, by his own admission, “invited” himself to the occasion. He felt the topic of discussion was an important one.

A clip of Oshiomhole’s contribution at the dialogue has since gone viral in the social media just like the clips of some of his recent statements on the floor of the senate. The indisputable fact is that Oshiomhole has been making truly progressive contributions to the debate in the national parliament. His background as a labour leader is manifest in the positions consistently taken in the course of debate. He has been remarkably flying the flag of the true labour tradition in Abuja.

At the Kukah Centre Oshiomhole spoke on the central issues of the polity, economy and society. These issues include the class nature of the application of the rule of law; the funding of basic education; ethics and values; homosexualism and the economic trend of de-industrialisation as a cumulative effect of decades of failed policies.

He deplored the failure of the elite to give leadership that’s necessary for making progress while admitting that he is part of the system having been governor and now a senator. Oshiomhole even made a critique of religious bodies and identified himself as a member of one of the marginalised minority ethnic groups in Nigeria. He is an Etsako man from the northern Edo. He said that the total population of the minority ethnic groups is a higher number than the totality of the majority ethnic groups. This, he said, would make the minorities to be the real majority if put together.

Expectedly, the video of the Kukah Centre event has generated diverse reactions. Oshiomhole has been justifiably applauded in some quarters as speaking for the common good and progress. From other perspectives, criticisms of his positions have been legitimately made in the true nature of public debates.

However, the latest video has also revived the seasonal Oshiomhole bashing which some pundits have made a pastime since the senator’s transition from labour activism to politics 17 years ago. Indeed the attacks on Oshiomhole have come from left, right and centre of the Nigerian ideological spectrum in the most uncharitable manner. In extreme cases, outright lies have been told to denigrate Oshiomhole.

Like any other activist turned politician, Oshiomhole has made his own serious mistakes. His errors have been both tactical and strategic in nature as he navigates the immense contradictions of Nigerian politics.

He readily admits this fact himself.

Pray, who is that politician who ever acts without committing errors?

The important thing is how the error is corrected going forward.

While it is legitimate to criticise Oshiomhole’s mistakes, it is utterly wrong to distort facts or tell half-truths in order to put him in bad political

light.

Samples of the twisted stories circulating about Oshiomhole could be highlighted to demonstrate this point for historical purposes.

On November 29, 2013, Governor Oshiomhole was on inspection of the work of a task force on environmental sanitation in the bid to beautify Benin. One of the offenders caught was a widow, Mrs. Joy Ifije, hawking by the road side. The poor woman begged for mercy as officials confiscated her wares. In a moment of indiscretion, the governor shouted at her: “go and die.” The ugly incident was widely reported and it naturally generated outrage from foes and friends of Oshiomhole alike. For instance, as friends, this reporter and his wife and fellow reporter, Funmi, angrily called the governor from Lagos telling him: “Comrade, this act of yours is unacceptable; it is unlike the Adams we know…” Oshiomhole’s daughter, Dr. Winnie Owumi, a urologist specialist, called from the United States also criticising her father with strong words for what happened.

Calmly, Oshiomhole responded to comments by simply asking what could be done to mitigate the damage.

As Oshiomhole later explained he received criticisms and suggestions from various quarters including, of course, members of government. The governor then took the following steps to correct the error. He invited the roadside trader to the government house as his guest. Over a cup of tea, the widow, accompanied by her son, received the unequivocal apologies from the governor.

On the occasion, Oshiomhole said inter alia: “Let me apologise for the way I spoke to you. I am very sorry about the statement. I have also realised that even in anger, one could still achieve the same result that he set out to achieve without provocative outburst. I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Sometimes you get angry when people compromise your efforts…”

The meeting ended with Oshiomhole appointing Mrs. Ifije as an ambassador on environmental sanitation. On some occasions, the lady went

round the city with the governor to sensitise residents on the compliance with environmental regulations.

The governor gave Mrs. Ifije two million naira to get a shop and establish a more decent trading business. He offered to personally pay for the education of the widow’s son to the university level. The son is now a graduate. The trading business has flourished. The widow has built for herself a three-room bungalow in Benin. She calls Oshiomhole on phone occasionally to update her about her progress in life.

The later mitigation part of the story was widely reported just like the verbal assault on the roadside trader. But pundits conveniently ignore the good part when recalling the story to lampoon Oshiomhole over a decade later. Oshiomhole’s denigrators never forget the bad part of the story; but they pretend not to remember the happy ending of the incident.

That’s bad faith.

If politicians on the hustings could be excused on this score, it is certainly less than professional for newspaper editors, columnists and television anchors to conceal facts in order to demonise a political personality. .

In any case, how does the half-truth being told about this 2013 incident diminish the importance of Oshiomhole’s 2024 position that governors should fund basic education adequately so that out-of-school children could be taken off the streets?

Another false allegation against Oshiomhole is that he once told a politician who decamped into the All Progressives Congress (APC) that his “sins are forgiven.” The insinuation here is that a politician could circumvent the law as a member of the ruling party. Oshiomhole never said such a thing. Here is the true story: As chairman of APC, Oshiomhole received into his party some politicians in Edo state who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). From the podium, Oshiomhole threw some banters at one of the politicians, Mr Iluobe. Roughly translated Iluobe means “I don’t do bad.” Oshiomhole said specifically of Iluobe that if he could act by true meaning of his name, by not doing “bad’ even though he was moving from a “bad party, the PDP,” his “sins are forgiven no matter the bad things (he) did in PDP.” Meanwhile Mr. Iluobe was not holding any political post at time. Neither was he being investigated or tried by any law enforcement agent. Since the statement was made not a few top members of APC who have held political positions have been taken through the justice process by anti-corruption agencies in the same way that politicians from other political parties have been treated. Those who keep repeating the line of “your sins are forgiven’’ have not pointed to any case involving the politician in question, Mr. Iluobe,” which was manipulated. Yet the utter misrepresentation of Oshiomhole’s statement has continued till this day.. The bogey of “godfatherism” of Oshiomhole is resurrected at every season of primary election in Edo state. Understandably, politicians seek his endorsement to secure the party ticket. Some of those who fail to win the ticket often turn round to accuse him of playing the “godfather.” The friction between Oshiomhole and his successor and erstwhile political ally , Governor Godwin Obaseki, is the most authoritative case cited in the trial of Oshiomhole in this respect. Meanwhile, it does not occur to Oshiomhole’s traducers that even Obaseki is no more singing the tune

of “godfatherism” as he approaches the end of his tenure in Edo government House. Few months ago, Obaseki invited Oshiomhole to a forum where he honoured past governors of the state for their respective contributions to the development of the state. The two politicians made complimentary remarks about each other at the event. Only two days ago, Obaseki handed over to the Edo state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a secretariat complex constructed by the state government. The magnificent building is named “Adams Oshiomhole Labour House.”

Even in the heat of the last APC primaries, some commentators displayed in their fecund imagination Oshiomhole’s “political coffins.”

Yet, the former labour leader is still speaking for the common good in Abuja.

Oshiomhole should be steadfast in articulating the cause of the common good regardless of what the cynics may say.

To do so doesn’t even require a radical disposition because that is what any decent liberal should do in the Nigerian condition.

This position is inimitably formulated by a notable liberal scholar of the Harvard University, Michael Sandel, in his book, “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?”

Writing on the “Politics of the Common Good,” Sandel puts the argument this way: ”If a just society involves reasoning together about the good life, it remains to ask what kind of political discourse would point us in the direction…The challenge is to imagine a politics that takes moral and spiritual questions seriously but brings them to bear on broad economic and civic concerns, not only on sex and abortion.”

The public sphere is impoverished when public intellectuals are so fixated in their concealed partisan positions to the extent of manipulating facts to justify their positions.

That is doubtless not in the public interest.

Happy May Day

The theme of today’s May Day cannot be more apposite: “Celebrating Workers Resilience and Contribution to National Development.”

To enhance the contribution, the method of labour may have to change in tactical and strategic terms.

While acting locally, the outlook should be global.

This is because the forces shaping the concept and the environment of work sometimes do not respect even national boundaries- climate change, technology, geo-political dynamics, pandemics etc. Beyond perfecting their dexterity in collective bargaining, labour should muster the strengthen to influence policies by the sheer force of ideas. Labour must be properly equipped to defend its alternatives to policies. It should acquire the organisational capacity to mobilise not only workers, but also the whole of the society around the options of fundamentally fighting mass poverty and gross inequality.

With proper organisation the fight for social justice can be won.

Solidarity for Ever!

Oshiomhole