TUESDAY 4TH MAY 2021

NNPC Sells N267bn Crude Oil, Maintains 1.42m bpd Output Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) sold crude oil worth N267.59 billion in February, while its total daily production stood at 1.42 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2021,

a document presented to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its April 20-21 meeting, has shown.

The value of the crude, both export and domestic for February, was 97 per cent higher than that of January which was N134.35 billion.

Similarly, crude oil export revenue received in March amounted to $93.37 million, equivalent to N35.72 billion, representing a 204 per cent increase compared to February’s receipts.

“Nigeria maintained 1.426 million bpd OPEC production

cut in 1Q21. The overall NNPC crude oil sale valued at N267.59bn (export & domestic crude) in February 2021 is 97.71 per cent higher than N134.35 billion recorded in January 2021,” NNPC stated.

Domestic gas receipts in the month were N5.75 billion,

while feedstock valued at $66.43 million was sold to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) during the period, out of which $63.79 million was received during the month.

In addition, $2.22 million was classified as receipts

from miscellaneous sources, including gas and ullage (the amount of empty space in a cargo ship's hull or in an oil terminal tank) fees as well as interest income received in March.

Continued on page 8

Stock Market Rallies to N418bn Gain in April... Page 6 Tuesday 4 May, 2021 Vol 26. No 9521. Price: N250

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After 27 Years, Bill Gates and Wife, Melinda, End Marriage...Page 5

FG Moves to Curb Small Arms Influx, Establishes Control Centre Bauchi raises the alarm over Boko Haram threat to four LGAs National Security Council reconvenes today

Deji Elumoye, Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi The federal government yesterday intensified its efforts to curb the rising influx of small arms and light weapons into the country, a phenomenon believed to be responsible for the worsening insecurity in the polity.

It established the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).

A statement yesterday by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and signed by Head, Strategic Communication, Mr. Zachari Usman, said the centre would be headed by Maj. Gen. A.M. Dikko (rtd) as pioneer coordinator.

This comes as the Bauchi State Government raised the alarm that bandits and people displaced by Boko Haram insurgents in the neighbouring Continued on page 8

Bandits Threaten to Kill Abducted Greenfield University Students Today Suspected herdsmen kill 17 in Benue John Shiklam in Kaduna and George Okoh in Makurdi Bandits who abducted some students of Greenfield University in Kaduna have threatened to kill the remaining ones still in captivity if their demand for ransom is not met by today.

In an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), Hausa service, one Sani Jalingo who claimed to be the leader of the abductors, warned that if the state government or parents of the students fail to pay a ransom of N100 million Continued on page 8

SECURING THE FEDERAL CAPITAL...

Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Malam Muhammad Bello (left), and Commander, Defence Headquarters Garrison, Maj. Gen. Preye Fakrogha, during the army top brass’ visit to the minister in Abuja...yesterday

PDP Demands State Police, Power Devolution, Border Protection Council ...Page 5

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

PDP Demands State Police, Power Devolution, Border Protection Council

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday advocated the creation of state police, border protection council and devolution of powers to address the spike in insecurity in the country.

In a speech titled: ‘Nigeria must not fail,’ read at a world press conference in Abuja, the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said the main opposition party also recommended the immediate upscaling of the personnel strength of the military and paramilitary organisations as well as the provisions of the kinetic instruments of war and law enforcement.

He said: “Our armed forces should be adequately equipped and their welfare a top priority."

PDP said efforts should be made towards partnering foreign governments and miscellaneous entities to help Nigeria combat insecurity.

"The situation in our country is not normal and exceptional steps should be taken to restore it to normalcy. The PDP, as a body, is willing to give a helping hand in this direction," the party added.

The PDP called for the establishment of state police.

"We call on all citizens to support the quest for state police as is the tradition in other federations. Mindful of the current plethora of vigilante in various parts of the country, which have not been enabled to carry out all the elements of effective policing, we call on the governors of the 36 states, the leadership and members of the National Assembly, the speakers of the state Assemblies, relevant agencies of government, to occasion a summit for a one-stop-shop regarding the creation, structure and management of state police,” PDP stated.

The party also called for the deployment of technology in the fight against terror, banditry, and other crimes.

The PDP demanded that all culprits should be brought to book, stressing that the apparent failure of intelligence to track attacks by bandits and follow up on them was a clear failure of the intelligence community.

The party noted that the

Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), established many years ago by a PDP administration, was designed for this purpose and others.

It recommended that the states where matters of national security challenges that originated or existed should be invited to the National Security Council meeting for deliberation and problem-solving interactions.

"We call for the creation of National Boarders Protection Force to secure our borders. This will include an integrated border protection system that will draw personnel and equipment from existing armed service and immigration.

"We cannot continue to watch while terrorists and bandits continue to levy war on our nation, through our porous borders. This border force should be equipped with reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, prevention, and enforcement.

It should, therefore, have air, sea, and land capability,” PDP said.

The party also called for synergy and cooperation among the armed services both strategically and operationally.

According to the party, there is no reason a theatre commander should not have within his control the deployment of the air force, the army and the navy in his operational area.

It added: "All culprits, who have levied war on Nigeria, should be brought to book. It is unfathomable that several mass kidnappings have been successfully staged with the culprits not being held to account.

It is a shameful irony that a few bandit leaders that have been taken out were killed by rival gangs and not our security agencies.

"If Sheik Gumi could detect and engage the bandits, we do not understand why our security agencies cannot track, arrest, and prosecute them."

It called on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to shed weight on arrogance, lack of respect for Nigerians and its pretense of being an island of integrity.

PDP said Buhari should begin to engage the citizens directly.

IN THE SERVICE OF GOD...

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Rev. Humphrey Olumakaiye; and his wife, Motunrayo, during the opening of the 34th Synod of the Diocese of Lagos (Anglican Communion) in Lagos...yesterday "He should address the nation on the various issues escalating tension in the land and pushing the nation farther to the tips of a precipice.

"It is serious political malpractice, for Mr. President to stand aloof, say nothing, do nothing and simply wish that the problems will somehow go away. It is a great disservice to the Nigerian people for Mr. President to abandon his presidential duties to two media handlers who resort to issuing meaningless and annoying press statements in the name of an amorphous and questionable organisation called ‘The presidency’.

Enough of trivialising governance and trifling with the lives, livelihoods and wellbeing of the Nigerian people,” PDP stated.

The party called on the federal government to stop borrowing.

“Our future generations are being mortgaged and railroaded into an avoidable debt trap. APC should do away with their nepotism and hire experts that will help creatively navigate the nation through the dire economic challenges they have led the nation into,”

it said.

It raised the alarm that the country is bleeding economically, adding that the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) must be investigated and oversight by the parliament.

"The topsy-turvy situation where Mr. President, who is the Minister of Petroleum, approves oil wells only to reverse himself in a matter of weeks as demonstrated in the case of Addax and Kaztech/Slavic consortium (OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137) and others like that should be investigated," it said.

The party blamed the tension and current separatist agitations threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria on what it described as the perfunctory management of diversity by the federal government.

"Worse still, instead of engaging Nigerians, this administration resorts to harassment and intimidation of voices of dissent,” the party added.

In calling for devolution of powers, the party said: "We call for the devolution of more powers to the states and local governments.”

PDP expressed worries

over the delay in the passage of the new electoral law ahead of the 2023 general election.

It stated: "It is worrisome that the report of the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC, which finished its work since February 2021, is yet to be laid in the two chambers of the National Assembly.

"We are aware that the work of the committee, which also benefitted from the Joint Technical Committee on the Repeal and Re-enactment of the Electoral Act comprising select members of the National Assembly, INEC, the civil society, and other experts made far-reaching recommendations that would benefit our electoral system and democracy.

"This includes early primaries, such that if approved by the National Assembly and signed by the president, INEC is expected to call for nominations in February 2022, while political parties will have until July 2022 to conduct primaries and submit a list of their candidates.”

PDP added that it was unimaginable that terrorists, who had been pushed out to the fringes by the

President Goodluck Jonathan administration, leading to the successful conduct of elections of 2015, have since boldly reasserted themselves and are now taking territories in five local governments of Niger State, which is only two hours from Abuja.

The party said it was also important to note that the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who by his position, is armed with credible intelligence, raised the alarm that terrorists and bandits were making inroads into the towns in Kaduna State.

“Also, noteworthy is the alarm raised by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Sule Abdullahi, that Boko Haram was occupying territories in his state. A strategic and intelligent interpretation of these is that Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is surrounded. Presently, the nation has witnessed an upsurge of kidnapping in the FCT, further giving vent to the assertions of the governors,” the party added.

The party alleged that no fewer than 741 Nigerians were murdered by bandits and terrorists between January and April.

After 27 Years, Bill Gates and Wife, Melinda, End Marriage Vanessa Obioha American business magnate and co-founder of Microsoft Corporation will be ending his 27-year marriage to his wife Melinda.

The philanthropist took to his official Twitter handle yesterday to make the announcement.

"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our marriage, we have

made the decision to end our marriage," read a statement signed by him and his wife.

Gates co-founded Microsoft with a childhood friend, Paul Allen, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It went on to become the world's largest personal computer software company.

Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer but he remained

chairman and became chief software architect.

He is one of the richest people in the world, worth an estimated $124 billion according to Forbes.

He married Melinda French on a golf course on the Hawaiian island of Lanai on January 1, 1994. Their union produced three children: Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe which Gates acknowledged in his tweet.

The couple created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 by combining three family foundations. The Foundation was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013, as the world's wealthiest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than $34.6 billion.

The statement added that the Foundation which works all over the world

has "enabled people to lead healthy, productive lives."

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year the couple was among the leading figures in the fight against the deadly virus. In Nigeria, however, Melinda's comment on the pandemic would impact developing countries, particularly Africa during a CNN interview didn't augur well with many. The Gates were falsely

accused of using vaccines to depopulate Africa.

Gates noted that they would continue to work together at the Foundation but "we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives."

The couple is the latest power couple to end their marriage. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ended his marriage to his wife MacKenzie in 2019.

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Stock Market Rallies to N418bn Gain in April Goddy Egene The Nigerian stock market rebounded from the losses it suffered in February and March, gaining N418 billion in April on the back of impressive 2020 full-year results and positive 2021 first-quarter corporate earnings.

The market had declined in the two previous months due to profit-taking and shift to fixed income market following a sudden uptick in yields.

However, when companies began to release their 2020 full year results, showing unexpected impressive performance, many investors realised that the balance sheets of companies withstood the devastation of COVID-19 pandemic.

The high demand for stocks lifted the Nigerian Exchange Limited's (NGX) market capitalisation from N20.429 trillion to N20.847 trillion, which translated to a gain of N418 billion.

Similarly, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 2.0 per cent from 39,045.13 to 39,834.42.

This is an improvement on the 1.9 per cent decline recorded in March.

Contrary to apprehension by investors that the COVID-19 pandemic might impair the profitability of companies, and hinder them from paying dividends, some leading companies did not only end 2020 better but also recommended dividends that further spurred the positive sentiments witnessed in the market in April.

Commenting on the performance of the market, a securities dealer, Mr. David Adonri of Highcap Securities Limited, said all sectors were lifted up by favourable sentiments.

He stated: “The equities market was lifted up by the surprisingly good full-year results released by several companies.

Investors’ confidence soared from realisation that the balance sheet of companies withstood the devastation of COVID-19.

"Apparently, the heightened insecurity that brought the rural economy to a standstill did not, in general, affect the bottom line of most companies.”

He added that the excess monies from failed application for Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds, which inundated the equities market might have also contributed to its impressive performance in April.

He said: “Both bonds and equities benefited from the declining incidence of COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rate of vaccination.

"The increasing confidence generated by this event has already given impetus to International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revise Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for 2021 from 1.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent.

"The investors’ confidence that this vote of confidence can generate, is likely to propel Nigeria's capital market to great height this year, save for crippling insecurity and hyperinflation.”

On her part, the Executive Director, NOVA Merchant Bank, Mrs. Funke Okoya, said the positive return on the NGX ASI in April reflected the appetite of investors for cash dividend declared in 2020 full year earnings season, especially as local investors remained the providers of liquidity in the equity market, as foreign investors' participation remains.

“That being said, the strong performance of equities in April, despite the rising yield environment which would have to undermine risk appetite for equities, reinforces the capacity of the local investors and the need to build a self-sustaining local investor base that can progressively and sustainably fund a private sector-led economic resurgence and provide liquidity in the secondary markets.

"Clearly, Nigerian equities remain cheap and attractive at current valuation, thus reinforcing the potential return to investors, especially over the long term. Whilst rising yield may undercut the rally on equities in the months ahead, the discounted valuation on stocks is an opportunity for passive investors to build portfolios, capable of delivering superior returns over the long term.

"This is why Nova Merchant Bank continues to explore the synergy between our securities trading and asset management subsidiaries in providing endto-end wealth management suite of offerings to local HNIs and foreign clients in ensuring they maintain diversified portfolios, actively managed by an experienced team of analysts and portfolio managers, based on diligent research, on-the-ground knowledge, best execution and client-centric philosophy,” she said.

Okoya stated that as much as the rising yield presents

a downside risk to equity offerings and they continue to rebalance clients' portfolio to reflect their proactive view on the different segments of the market and broader macro outlook, they remained buyers of equities.

“Albeit we are very selective in our stock options and this is perhaps one of those times when it is clinically important for portfolio managers to ensure investment decisions on discretionary portfolios are strictly aligned with client profiling, which is one of our fundamental guiding principles in either advising clients or managing their wealth.

"The rising yield environment also reinforces the call of NOVA Merchant Bank's investment banking subsidiary for corporate clients to accelerate their debt capital plans and execution, to take advantage of the yield environment, which has seen a steep rise over the past four months,” she said.

A financial analyst, Abiola Rasaq, said the earnings season and more importantly corporate actions from major bellwether stocks triggered the appetite of local investors for stocks in April.

“Nonetheless, with the rising yield on a fixed income market, investors may be reducing exposure to equities, a phenomenon that may reflect the moderating

risk appetite of both retail and institutional investors.

Notably, the search for a higher return on investments, which stimulated capital flows into equity market late 2020 and early 2021, especially from local pensions and traditional asset managers, is gradually easing, given the considerable rise in the yield on fixed income securities, which have seen average of 550 basis points rise year-to-date,” Rasaq said.

According to him, inflationadjusted return on a fixed income securities is still negative given the 50-monthhigh headline inflation rate of 18.17 per cent.

He added that compared to the average 14.1 per cent yield on the 30-year benchmark bond, the yearto-date rise in interest rate (using the Sovereign yield curve as a proxy) is likely to undermine cash allocation to equities, especially as institutional investors may become concerned that higher inflation and relatively weak economic recovery may weaken corporate earnings growth in the near term.

He said: “Double-digit return on risk-free sovereign notes may unfortunately undermine some progress made over the past 18months, when the lower interest rate environment partly helped in reducing the crowd-out effect of public sector borrowing in

stimulating capital flow to the private sector.

"For instance, the 364-day treasury bill printed at 9.75 per cent discount rate at the last auction is some 75bps higher than the last auction and an incredible steep rise when viewed from the perspective of near-zero rate on treasury bills in the second half of 2020.

"The increasing appetite of investors for high yield riskfree asset is well expressed by the 2.75x subscription level at the last treasury bill auction. This is a phenomenon that was also evident at the last OMO auction when the 348-day treasury was issued at 10.1 per cent, saliently communicating probable shift in monetary policy authority's stance in maintaining an accommodative policy aimed at steering the economy out of recession and perhaps a signal that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may again have prioritised its preference for naira stability over the appetite for low interest rate, especially as rising core inflation also presents a new constraint on the erstwhile policy stance.”

However, Rasaq stated that it is pertinent to also note likely profit taking by some active equity traders, whose hedge-fund-like investment strategy may justify a sell-off on stocks that are in-the-money, following the bull-run seen on stocks in 2020 and the modest

price recovery in April 2021.

“More so, probable sell-off from local investors, some of who are renowned for their preference for cash dividend, may be influenced by the fact that they have qualified for most corporate actions declared on the back of 2020 full-year earnings season, with no major dividend attraction in sight until late-third quarter (Q3) when a few banks should declare interim dividends.

Nonetheless, Nigerian equity remains a great asset class for both local and foreign investors, as it trades at discount to peer frontier and emerging market equities, as reflected by the valuation of comparable MSCI Indices.

Interestingly, dividend yields on a number of valuecounters on the NGX remain compelling, with a number of tier-1 banks and mid-cap stocks trading at double-digit dividend yields and incredibly low earnings multiples.

"Given the strong oversight of the CBN on banks, it is quite surprising that some large and mid-sized banks are trading at discount to their book values, an attractive valuation, which should hopefully drive alpha return for long-only investors with appreciable investment horizon, as the long term return on these stocks should compensate for the near term nuances and price volatility on the stocks,” Rasaq stated.

CHAMPION GOES TO OSOGBO...

L-R: General Manager, Daily Champion Newspaper (Publications), Mr. Thomas Imonikhe; Group Managing Director/ Editorin-Chief, Mrs. Nwadiuto Iheakanwa; and Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, during the visit of the newspaper’s executives to the governor in Osogbo...yesterday

Senate Leadership Meets Buhari This Week Over Worsening Insecurity Deji Elumoye in Abuja The leadership of the Senate will this week meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the myriad of security challenges facing the nation.

The Senate had at last Tuesday's plenary mandated its leadership to rub minds with President Buhari on a possible solution to the mounting security problems facing the country.

Sources told THISDAY that the leadership of the upper legislative chamber has gotten across to the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari to get a possible date to see

President Buhari.

It was gathered that the meeting would have been fixed for Monday but for the public holiday declared by the federal government to mark this year's Workers' Day which informed why it had to be pushed forward to later this week.

The meeting, according to sources, will hold at short notice "and it may be on Tuesday or any other day but definitely this week".

Those to accompany the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan to the closeddoor meeting with the President at the State House, Abuja,

include the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abubakar and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe.

Lawan will at the meeting formally present to President Buhari the upper chamber's resolution on the need for the Executive to take urgent steps to end the security skirmishes across the country.

The Senate had last Tuesday expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation of the country, and mandated its leaders to meet with President Buhari to discuss the issue and proffer lasting solutions.

The Senators decision was sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance, titled, 'Need for federal government to deploy troops and other security apparatus to immediately bring an end to the menace of insurgency and terrorism in Niger state and other parts of Nigeria,' moved by Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger East).

Moving the motion, Musa lamented that the activities of bandits and Boko Haram terrorists in Niger state has taken a dangerous dimension He recalled that the Senate have made several resolutions,

set up Ad-hoc Committee on Security, and declared every support at bringing an end to the persistent insecurity in our nation, yet insecurity has continued to elude the nation.

These repeated attacks, according to him, are taking place amid an absence of slightest hindrance, resistance, or confrontation from the authorities concerned.

Musa called for a total review of the nation's security architecture, adding that if this menace is not drastically addressed, the attacks will continue and the danger is that they may escalate further to other communities.

According to him, for almost seven years Niger East Senatorial District has come under constant and sustained multiple deadly attacks by heartless and venomous Boko Haram terrorists who are always heavily armed with assorted sophisticated and dangerous weapons unleashing their horror on the innocent populace.

He noted that about 42 communities across the two local government areas of Shiroro and Munya Local Government have so far fallen under the Boko Haram control with about 5,000 villagers already displaced in the last three days.

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Delta Optimistic as FG Expects £4.2m Ibori Recoveries Soon Banking documentations delaying return of funds

Davidson Iriekpen in Lagos and Alex Enumah in Abuja Delta State government has restated its optimism that the £4.2 million recovered from associates of a former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, would be returned to the state.

The state government expressed the optimism following a statement yesterday by the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, that the federal government would soon take possession of the recovered money.

Reacting to the announcement, the Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, told THISDAY that the state government

appreciated the efforts of the federal government to see that the funds are repatriated.

He stated that the state is also looking forward to the return of the remaining money.

He said: “We are quite optimistic that the federal government will do the needful and then make the funds available to Delta for the purpose of executing projects.”

When asked if the state government is exploring other options if the federal government refuses to remit the money to the state, he said: “That's still in the realm of speculations because we don't believe that that is going to happen. In this instance, we hope and believe that the federal government will act right because having an

option ‘B’ will mean that you are faithless. We are very convinced that the federal government will do the right thing and we don't think they will do otherwise. There's no need to begin to say we will consider other options.”

The Delta State government has been clamouring for the return of the money, or in the alternative, it should be expended on projects in the state.

However, earlier yesterday, Malami had said the funds would soon be returned to the federal government.

He blamed the delay on some documentation relating to international financial transactions.

Malami in the statement signed by his media aide, Dr. Umar Gwandu, said:

"Sometimes when a country transfers funds, it may take a little bit time more than expected due to some documentation."

He, however, added that the public would be informed once the money is received.

"Documentations with the banks in different countries often take longer than anticipated. We anticipated two weeks but we are not in control of the banks," he said, adding that the federal government is working to make sure that the transfer goes through successfully.

"There is neither complacency nor any delay as efforts are being made to ensure successful transfer of the looted funds," he said.

The money would be the first of seized assets to be

returned by the UK under the UK-Nigeria MoU entered in 2016.

Ibori had in 2012 pleaded guilty to money laundering and other charges in a UK court and was consequently sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

Some of his associates were convicted and also sentenced to prison over similar charges.

However, the federal government in the 2016 MoU has been pursuing the return of the assets in the UK to Nigeria.

The AGF had described the signing of the MoU as "another major milestone in our determined quest as a nation to attain full recovery of all looted assets, prevent abuse of recovered assets and also to ensure optimal

utilisation of such recovered assets for the benefit of our deserving citizens."

Malami stated that the federal government had provided the required mutual assistance and back-up to the British authorities while the prosecution of Ibori lasted in London.

The AGF had said that in consonance with the existing framework engaged in the management of previous recoveries, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had directed that the repatriated funds should be deployed towards the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Expressway and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway under the coordination of the Nigeria Social Investment Authority (NSIA).

He was also a Military Adviser, United Nation Office for West Africa, Director Peacekeeping Operations Defence Headquarters, Commander Operation Last Hold as well as Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole.

However, security analysts have criticised the federal government’s action, saying the establishment of the centre without a strategy for the control of the influx of arms through the nation's porous borders and the application of technology to monitor the movement of arms will make the centre become another bureaucratic arrangement not too different

from the defunct presidential committee originally set up for the same purpose.

A former Director of State Security (DSS), Mr. Mike Ejiofor, said the federal government should have applied the funding in procuring arms instead of creating another bureaucracy for diversion of funds.

He stated: "What is there?

There was a committee on small and light weapons that was in place before. There should have been an audit of the one there before to see the successes and failures.

It's just another source of

Meanwhile, no fewer than 17 people were feared killed yesterday by suspected herdsmen in Tse Angbeghe Udam Aondoana and Agbanu Seghev/Ukuse in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.

According to Mrs. Felicia Anor, who survived the attack, the herdsmen came through Akpachi in Otukpo Local Government Area and

launched the attack on Tse Angbeghe, killing 15 people while 26 others sustained injuries.

The attackers also blocked the Naka Nagi Agagbe road killing two people on a motorcycle while four others were injured.

The attack prompted a peaceful protest in Naka town by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Gwer West Chapter.

A pastor in the area, Mr. Sule Sunday, on behalf of the Christian community, expressed sadness over the persistent attack on the communities.

He called on the government to intervene.

A resident pastor in the area, Rev. Shamange, urged security operatives to go after the attackers to disclaim the

speculations that security agencies had compromised in their assignment.

An indigene of the local government and a journalist, Mr. Francis Ugbede, said the herdsmen had taken over seven council wards of Sengev , Gaagev/Tongev, Saghev/Ukusu, Tough Ateer/ Ijaha, Gaambe Ushin and Mbachohon Avihijme.

He called for increased security patrols in the local communities.

Meanwhile, security personnel have been drafted to the area to prevent further attacks.

According to the state Police PRO (DSP), Ms. Catherine Anene, the police are aware of the incident.

She, however, could not confirm the number of people killed.

while for gas infrastructure development, out of the N5 billion earmarked, N2.4 billion was released.

Crude oil pre-export inspection agency services gulped N462 million.

Frontier exploration consumed N2.2 billion, renewable energy development was N137 million, pre-export financing gulped N10 billion, N8.3 billion was spent on refinery rehabilitation while the Nigeria-Morocco pipeline

project consumed N83.3 million.

The document also indicated that N1.8 billion was spent on security and pipelines maintenance in December last year, while strategic holding was N1.86 billion, totalling N3.6 billion.

On Joint Venture (JV) repayment agreement, the NNPC noted that till date, it has paid $3.1 billion out of the total negotiated debt of $4.6 billion owed its JV partners, with an outstanding

balance of $1.54 billion.

In terms of production losses, N1.63 billion worth of petrol was lost on three pipelines, namely: Atlas Cove/Mosimi, Mosimi/ Ibadan and Ibadan/Ilorin segments the month under consideration.

February total crude oil exports payable in March was $93.3 million, while February domestic crude oil payable in May in line with the 90-day payment terms was N231.8 billion, the corporation said.

FG MOVES TO CURB SMALL ARMS INFLUX, ESTABLISHES CONTROL CENTRE Yobe State have infiltrated four local government areas in the state.

However, as part of efforts to finetune strategy at combating insecurity, the National Security Council (NSC), headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, will reconvene today in Abuja to proffer lasting solutions to the security challenges facing the country.

The ONSA statement said the new centre, to be domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser, would replace the defunct Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons and serve as the

institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research and monitoring of all aspects of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Nigeria.

It added: "This decision is part of the ongoing restructuring of Nigeria’s security architecture to address emerging threats and strengthen the regional mechanism for the control, prevention and regulation of SALW. "The impact of the proliferation of SALW across national borders in Africa and the Sahel region has resulted in terrorism, human trafficking, organised crime, and insurrections in West

Africa and Nigeria.

"As one of the measures in tackling this threat, the new centre will be fulfilling the requirements of the ECOWAS Moratorium on Import, Export, and Manufacture of Light Weapons as well as the UN Plan of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in SALW." It said the centre would serve as the national focal point on SALW in Nigeria and lead a multistakeholder process involving government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and the civil society in implementing all national,

the United Nations and ECOWAS plans of action on the control of SALW. "The centre will maintain international cooperation and also operate zonal offices in the six geo-political zones to ensure quick response and effective mobilisation of resources," it added.

The ONSA said the pioneer National Coordinator, Dikko, had served in various capacities in and outside Nigeria.

He was a course director at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre and Chief Instructor of the Nigerian Army Peacekeeping Centre.

Continued on page 10

BANDITS THREATEN TO KILL ABDUCTED GREENFIELD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TODAY and provide them with 10 new Honda motorcycles by today, the remaining students would be killed.

This is coming as no fewer than 17 villagers were feared killed in a fresh attack by suspected herdsmen in Benue State.

The Kaduna students, numbering about 22, were abducted on April 18 when the hoodlums invaded the school about 8:30 pm.

They were said to have demanded N800 million ransom for the release of the students.

However, while negotiations were still ongoing, five of the students were killed.

Jalingo said 17 students, comprising 15 girls and two boys, were in his custody, including the grandson of

the late Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, whose name was given as Hamza.

He stated that the families of the abducted students had already paid N55 million, but they had spent the money to feed the students.

“You are speaking with the abductors of Greenfield students. We heard the comments of the Kaduna State governor that he will not pay ransom to bandits to purchase additional arms.

“If they fail to bring N100 million and 10 brand new Honda motorcycles known as Boko Haram by Tuesday, I can assure you they will use trucks to evacuate the bodies of the remaining students,” Jalingo was quoted as saying in the interview.

He said five of the abducted students were killed

to prove that the state and the federal governments had failed.

Jalingo described himself as a “food seeker,” when asked if he is a terrorist.

He also warned security agencies against planting trackers on the motorcycles, as his members don’t go to towns, stressing that arresting them would be difficult.

One of the abducted students, Abigail Usman, also spoke during the telephone interview, calling on the government and parents to pay the ransom “so that they will not kill us.”

Kaduna State police spokesman, Mr. Mohammed Jalinge; and the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan did not respond to inquiries when

NNPC SELLS N267BN CRUDE OIL, MAINTAINS 1.42M BPD OUTPUT

The corporation’s value loss due to payment of subsidy as revealed last week in a letter to the accountant general of the federation was also reflected in the document obtained by THISDAY, although it wasn’t clear what gave rise to the difference in the sums which was N112 billion in the letter to the AGF while it reflected N60.4 billion in the FAAC document.

“The shortfall of N60.4bn arising from the difference

between the landing cost of petrol and the ex-coastal price in the month of February 2021 affected the revenue accruable to the federation.

“The corporation, being the sole importer of petrol, awaits the outcome of the engagement between government and relevant stakeholders to establish an appropriate petroleum products pricing methodology in a deregulated environment,” the NNPC added.

According to the document, the landing cost for the 36 vessels that brought in the product into Nigeria ranged from N155 to N170, while the ex-depot price remained at N128 and the loss per vessel ranged from N347 million to N3.4 billion, based on the 1.74 billion litres imported during the month.

For the NNPC’s funding schedule, out of the N6.7 billion budgeted for national domestic gas development, N6.1 billion was released,

contacted.

Efforts to get the reaction of the university authorities were unsuccessful as the mobile phone of the registrar, Mr. Bashir Mohammed, was switched off.

Suspected Herdsmen Kill 17 People in Benue

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Editors Seek Release of Detained Journalists, Review of NBC Code Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), yesterday called for the release of journalists who are still in detention across the country, urging media owners, the private sector and the government, to provide special protection for journalists, as most of them are often neglected and exposed to sundry challenges.

According to the guild, these challenges do not only impair the ability of journalists to discharge their duties, but also imperil their lives, culminating, in some cases, in untimely deaths.

A statement jointly signed by the NGE President, Mr. Mustapha Isah, and General Secretary, Mrs. Mary Atolagbe, on the occasion of World Press Freedom

Day, noted that journalists across the world face grave challenges while some have paid the supreme price because most governments still perceive journalists as intruders into the public space.

Quoting data from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the largest global body of journalists from over 140 countries, the NGE stated that 66 journalists were murdered in 2020 alone while more than 1,000 journalists have died from covid-19 in 73 countries since the start of the pandemic.

Also referencing the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the organisation disclosed that 274 journalists were jailed in 2020 for doing their job of treating information as a public good.

“In Nigeria, several journalists have suffered harassment, some detained arbitrarily while some were murdered in cold blood by unknown assailants.

“In 2020, alone, no fewer than 60 journalists in Nigeria faced life and career-threatening challenges in the form of intimidation, arrest and detention. Three journalists were killed within the same period, one by security forces during a protest in Abuja and two by unknown gunmen in Adamawa and Nasarawa states.

“Attacks on journalists, their offices were not spared. Several media outlets were attacked and torched by irate mob during the #ENDSARS protests, with four media outlets fined for their coverage of the protests

while others were fined for airing dissenting opinions.

The guild condemns very strongly these attempts at muzzling the media,” NGE stated.

The guild urged governments at all levels in Nigeria to value information as a public good and treat the conveyors of information as partners, instead of seeing them as enemies.

Describing the media as a partner and a critical stakeholder in the national project, the guild noted that journalists played a major role in the struggle for independence and enthronement of democracy.

It noted that the harassment of the media by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) the police, Department of State Service (DSS) and other state actors should stop forthwith.

NGE further called for a review of the national broadcasting code and all other media statutes, to bring them in tune with democracy and the promotion of free speech.

The body of editors urged the Nigerian government to, at all times, strive to protect the media, stressing that is only then that ‘Information as a Public Good’ would become relevant.

“The guild aligns with the UN and other world bodies in calling for the release of all journalists in detention. Nigeria, and indeed the world, needs a free press to promote democracy, effectively report the pandemic and other issues threatening human existence, including insecurity,” it said.

The NGE particularly celebrated journalists in

the frontline of Covid-19 pandemic coverage as well as those charged with the responsibility of reporting crime and security, at a time when the nation is struggling to contain the scourge of insecurity.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference.

The day was inaugurated to act as a reminder to governments, of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and places a responsibility on media professionals to reflect on, and adhere to the principles of best practices that promote professionalism, ethical reporting and public-spirited advocacy.

International Law Firm Elects First Nigeria-qualified Partner Leading international law firm, Clifford Chance, yesterday announced the election of Mr. Olamide Oladosu as a partner.

The new appointee is also part of a global cohort of 29 new partners drawn from all of the firm's market-leading practices and every region.

With his election, Oladosu becomes the first

Nigeria-qualified lawyer to be elected to the global partnership of a Magic Circle firm.

A statement issued by the firm disclosed that his election was being celebrated across the industry as yet another example of a Nigerian excelling at the highest professional level on the global stage.

Oladosu, a graduate of the University of Ibadan, attended the Nigerian Law School.

He was called to the Nigerian bar and was subsequently admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales.

Oladosu was previously the general counsel at Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria

and a partner at Templars, Nigeria's pre-eminent fullservice law firm.

He specialises in energy and infrastructure with a focus on the African continent and is based in the firm's London office.

In addition to his feeearning work, Oladosu leads Clifford Chance's practice in Anglophone West Africa.

His experience includes advising on some of the most complex and marketleading transactions in the region, including advising the sponsors of the Azura power plant project in Nigeria and the lenders to the Tema LNG project in Ghana.

In a statement released

by Clifford Chance, its

Regional Managing Partner for Africa, Mr. Anthony Giustini, extended his congratulations to Oladosu.

Giustini noted that Oladosu's election is a recognition of his exceptional legal expertise and business acumen and illustrated the firm's eagerness to promote and nurture African talents.

the Boko Haram militants, there has been an influx of people into the state through four LGAs in the northern part of the Bauchi State. This influx of the displaced people has put the state under security threat; our facilities are now overstretched and we are not comfortable with the development," he said.

He, however, said the government had taken steps to ensure that the threat did not turn into an attack, adding that "profiling of all the people coming into Bauchi State, particularly in the four affected LGAs, will be done in order to discover those with dangerous weapons and demonise them."

The SSG assured the people that the state government would ensure that the joint operations of the security agencies would be intensified, particularly air surveillance around the affected LGAs. He added that the people were not camped in a particular area but moving around the four LGAs and were harboured by residents of the communities, saying that security agencies would fish them out.

The government also said that five of the bandits who reportedly destroyed the MTN mast in Gamawa LGA in their bid to facilitate their nefarious activities had been arrested.

"Some bandits have been arrested for vandalising the MTN installation in Gamawa LGA with the intention of blocking communication in

the area in preparation for an attack," he stated.

FG MOVES TO CURB SMALL ARMS INFLUX, ESTABLISHES CONTROL CENTRE diversion of funds to me.

"As I said we need to restructure and we need state police. I don't think they will achieve any results. Are you going to force people to bring their arms without the existing structure, the security agencies?"

He added that the funding for the centre would have been deployed in the procurement of arms.

"That is a diversion and still aimed at wasting our resources that would have been used to purchase armament," he said.

A retired security personnel of the equivalent rank of major general, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the centre as another duplication of bureaucracy, stressing that bureaucracies would not be able to manage borders.

"It's a duplication of bureaucracy. Whatever they try to do is a waste of time if the necessary things are not done.

“They need a drone capacity that works 24 hours, seven days a week.

"If they are serious about mopping up arms, the centre will need strong vehicular and air platforms (helicopters) to be able to respond quickly when arms smugglers are cited. That is where the work of such a centre is located," he said.

He stated that if the centre would not be able to manage porous borders and apply drone technology in monitoring borders, it would not be successful.

"If it cannot monitor the

borders, it won't work.

Bureaucracies cannot manage borders without technology.

A drone technology that will be able to see who is coming in through the borders to monitor who is bringing in arms", he said.

According to him, the borders in the North are almost unmanageable and a free for all situation.

Also, Executive Director, Rule of Law and Advocacy Center (RULAAC), Mr. Okechukwu Nwangwuma, said the government’s strategy to counter the threat of terrorism was ineffective.

He stated: "The responses adopted by the government are replete with flaws. The counterterrorism efforts of the government of Nigeria are mainly centred on military action and not guided by the national strategy (National CounterTerrorism Strategy) released in 2014.

"Even the NACTEST has been found to be fraught with gaps that question its suitability as a policy document for countering terrorism in Nigeria.

"It is absolutely necessary to emplace a people-centred strategy for countering terrorism in Nigeria. Such a strategy must employ both government and nongovernmental approaches.

"I truly don't see where the establishment of a centre for small and light weapons control comes in within the existing strategy. Experience shows that many people in government saddled with responsibilities think

rather more about how to create new opportunities for patronage rather than well thought through initiatives that address the issues".

In his contribution, a Principal Officer of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, said security challenges confronting the nation at the moment might render the centre ineffective.

He wondered if the centre would deal with all components of the country fairly in its operations.

He said: "The question is how will the policy or centre work? Will it be evenly or unevenly implemented?

"How do you recover arms from Boko Haram, ISWAP and herdsmen who have already taken up arms against the state?"

He stated that if the centre intended to mop up arms, it would require "mobilised disarmament" at peacetime which he said was better organised by international agencies.

According to him, NCCSALW would be more effective when the country is seen as one.

"In summary, it is a fire brigade approach and a smokescreen," he added.

Offering further clarification, a source at ONSA said six zonal coordinating offices were being set up.

“The presidential committee (defunct) didn’t have an institutional mechanism because currently, the disposition does not

favour a whole new bureaucracy to undertake law enforcement work. The NCCSALW, like the Counter Terrorism Centre, will serve the purpose, coordinating other security agencies to effectively tackle the proliferation of SALW. "Recall that the Border Closure Swift Response Exercise became Joint Border Patrol Team in which Nigeria is working with neighbouring countries in several areas including on small arms and light weapons.

"The new centre will now have personnel drawn from other services to provide the technical input and undertake the work of mopping up illegal arms," he added.

Bauchi Raises the Alarm over Boko Haram Threat to Four LGAs Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Government has raised the alarm that bandits and people displaced by Boko Haram insurgents in the neighbouring Yobe State have infiltrated four local governments of Dambam, Gamawa, Darazo and Zaki in the state.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Mohammed Baba, raised the alarm yesterday while addressing journalists after an emergency security council meeting in Bauchi.

"Following the overrunning of Geidam in Yobe State by

National Security Council Reconvenes Today The National Security Council (NSC) headed by President Muhammadu Buhari will reconvene today in Abuja to proffer lasting solutions to the security challenges facing the country.

The council, which had met last Friday, could not conclude deliberations on the security position of the nation and had to adjourn till today to come with a holistic position on the security crisis.

THISDAY learnt that the meeting will hold at the Conference Hall of the First Lady by 10 am with Buhari presiding as usual.

Those expected to attend the meeting include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha; the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof.

Ibrahim Gambari and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd).

Others are: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu; Chief of Air Staff; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Ishiaka Oladayo Amoo and the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba.

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Military Rejects Call to Take over Power, Declares Loyalty to Buhari Kingsley NwezehinAbuja The military authorities yesterday rejected a call by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Robert Clarke for it to take over power and declared loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Constitution.

It also restated its commitment to democratic rule.

The military authorities further issued a stern warning to military personnel contemplating any treasonable act to desist from doing

so, saying the full wrath of the law would be brought upon them.

The declaration of loyalty to the president followed a comment attributed to Clarke, calling on government to hand over to the military for the purpose of restructuring Nigeria.

Astatement issued by the Director, Defence Information (DDI), BrigadierGeneral Onyema Nwachukwu, said the loyalty of the military establishment was irrevocable.

“The attention of the military high command has been drawn

to a statement purported to have been made by one Robert Clark (SAN), suggesting that the current political leadership should hand over power to the military for the purpose of restructuring.

“The Nigerian Military wishes to dissociate itself from such antidemocratic utterance and position.

Let it be stated categorically that the Armed Forces of Nigeria remains fully committed to the present

administration and all associated democratic institutions”, it said.

The Defence Headquarters maintained that: “We shall continue to remain apolitical, subordinate to the civil authority,

firmly loyal to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Army Confirms Killing of Scores of Insurgents, Two Soldiers in Borno Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Nigerian Army has disclosed that many insurgents and two soldiers were killed during a fierce encounter in Ajiri town in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State.

An update issued by the Nigerian Army Headquarters said troops engaged the insurgents in a fire-fight after the terrorists killed many of the residents and burnt nine houses.

“The terrorists having reached part of the town, initially burnt nine houses and killed some innocent residents before they were engaged by the troops deployed in the area.

“The retreating terrorists went

away with various degrees of gunshot injuries while the gallant troops are on their chase.

Unfortunately however, two personnel paid the supreme price in the resulting encounter”, he said.

In a related development, troops of the newly reinvigorated Operation Hadin Kai, thwarted terrorists’ attempt to infiltrate Rann, the capital of Kala Balge LGA of Borno State on May 1, 2021.

The update said the terrorists in their numbers attempted to disrupt the peace that was enjoyed by the border town but were met with stiff resistance as the troops in the area engaged them in a fire-fight which lasted about an hour.

Police Arrest Suspected Kidnappers Who KillVictim after Collecting Ransom John ShiklaminKaduna The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested four suspected kidnappers who killed their victim, Mohammed Kabiru, a six-year-old boy after collecting N1 million ransom.

Parading the suspects yesterday in Kaduna, the spokesman of the state police command, Mohammad Jalige, said Kabiru was abducted on April 24 at the Badarawa area, Kaduna.

He said the suspects demanded N30 million for the release of the boy, pointing out that after series of negotiations, they agreed to collect N1 million, which was delivered to them.

The police spokesman said after collecting the ransom, the mastermind of the criminal act, Mohammed Nazifi, said to be the neighbour of the victim, upon sensing the possibility of the boy revealing his identity if released, decided to strangle him to death and concealed the body in a drainage system at the outskirts of Kano Municipal, Kano State.

“We are here today Monday, May 3, 2021 to parade these suspects for the offence of Criminal Conspiracy, Kidnapping and Culpable Homicide, which the Command diligently investigated and unraveled the identities of the suspects involved leading to their arrest,” Jalige said.

We Now Have over 40m Members, Says APC Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) has revealed that the party has over 40 million members following the completion of the party’s registration and revalidation exercise.

The National Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, stated this yesterday when the party leadership received non-career ambassadors at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

He said: “We are blessed to have a focused and gentle chairman. When he came on

board, we lost ground. Under his leadership, we have regained what we lost and gained more.

We had a membership strength of 12 million. I want to inform you, your excellencies, under his leadership the APC has moved to about 40 plus million today.

“Since the creation of this party, we have never enjoyed the peace and tranquillity that we are enjoying. He has brought in some kind of calmness. We are blessed to have him. He is accessible. He read your speech before you came and he granted everything you requested. That is the kind of Chairman we have.”

FINAL RESPECT….

L-R: Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; award-winning writer, Mrs. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and her husband, Dr. Ivara Eseghe, during the funeral of Adichie’s mother, Mrs. Grace Ifeoma Adichie, at their home town of Abba, Anambra State…weekend.

NDLEA Raids Eateries in Plateau, Enugu, Recovers Cocaine, Cakes Baked with Drugs Student nabbed for selling drugs on campus

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have raided some eateries in Jos, the Plateau State capital where freshly baked cakes made with cannabis sativa were recovered in addition to 48.726kilogrammes of assorted psychotropic substances.

Some of the drug joints raided include: KNL Lounge located along

Lamingo road and another branch along Mining Quarters, Rantya Low Cost estate, as well as Tuscany Lounge on Azaki Ave, all within Jos metropolis.

Beside the drugged cakes called brownie recovered from the three eateries, psychotropic substances also seized from there include: Barcadin Codeine 14kg; Flunitrazapem 355.5grammes; Tramadol 370.1

grammes; Exol-5, 30kg; Diazepam 2.5kg and Pentazocine 1.5 kg, totalling 48.726kg. The Plateau Commander, Ibrahim Braji disclosed that five persons have so far been arrested in connection to the seized drugs.

In the same vein, Enugu State Command of the agency equally at the weekend raided the Nsukka axis of the state

capital where a 28-year-old lady, Odo Ndidiamaka was arrested with 80.23grammes of cocaine and 3.81grammes of methamphetamine. The state Commander of NDLEA, Mr. Abdul Abdullahi said the Command remained committed to unraveling other members of the drug cartel in the state.

Sanwo-Olu Vows to Make Lagos Safe Following the high rate of insecurity in different parts of the country, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday vowed that his administration would stop at nothing to ensure that Lagos remained safe and secure for all.

Speaking at the 3rd Session of the 34th Synod of the Diocese of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) held at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos,

Sanwo-Olu assured that Lagos would be a state that everybody would be proud of, adding that his administration would deliver on all the THEMES six-pillars developmental agenda for ‘Greater Lagos.’

He said: “Talking about security, we can say Lagos is relatively better but I sit on it and I know what we are doing and the things we need to do. We know we have issues to deal with as a country and Lagos will certainly be leading

that conversation because we know how critical this state is to the nation.

“This is the melting point for our nation where anybody can come in with a lot of aspirations and do well. Lagos is a state that gives hope to a lot of Nigerians.

Lagos is a state that gives hope to all of Nigeria. So, we cannot afford anything to happen here. I can assure you with every sense of commitment that we will stop at nothing to make sure that Lagos

remains safe and secure.

“In this month of May, you will see extensive pronouncements in that regard. You will see extensive policies and far reaching support that would be given out to all our security operatives so that it is not just a talk show and film show; it is something we are committed to and we will continue to make sure that our Lagos remains safe, secure, prosperous and a place where all of you would truly be proud off.”

Senate Queries NOA over N2bn Cash Advances to Staff Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has queried the National Orientation Agency (NOA) for allegedly failing to retire N2 billion paid as cash advances to some members of staff of the agency.

The committee also expressed dismay at the payment of N129 million cash to some members

of staff instead of paying the money direct into their accounts as stipulated in federal government circular on e-payment Ref No. TRY/A8&B8/2008 OAGF/ CAD/026/VOL.11/465 dated October 22, 2008.

The Senate committee chaired

by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, based the two queries issued the agency on the 2016 report of the

Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF), which is being considered by the committee.

The first query read: “The following observations were made: (a) A sum of N1.9 billion being cash advanced to some members of staff of the agency, was left unretired as at December 31, 2014. In 2015, additional outstanding advances

amounting to N108.4 million was recorded, thereby bringing the total to N2 billion.

“The practice of not retiring advances granted to staff contravened the provision of Financial Regulation 1405 which stipulates that accounting officers are responsible for ensuring prompt repayment of all advances by installments or otherwise.

Rainstorm Destroys over 50 Houses in Plateau Communities Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Over 50 houses and other properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed by rainstorm in communities in Qua’an pan Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Residents said the rainstorm, which started on Sunday night

and lasted till the early hours of yesterday, was accompanied by a heavy windstorm that blew off roofs of several houses and rendered many families homeless.

Chairman of the council, Hon. Abdulmalik Yusuf Haruna, in a statement signed by his Senior Assistant on Media, Mr.

Mathias Yengoet Dajan, said that management and residents of Quaan-Pan Local Government Area were devastated by the level of destruction.

The statement added that the Chairman had personally gone round some of the affected structures to ascertain the level of damage and had

sympathised with the victims, admonishing them to accept the incident as an act of God. Abdulmalik assured that the Local Government Authority will take necessary steps to attract support from government agencies and private hands to rebuild the affected communities.

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COMMENT

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

SAD CHAD: CRY FOR AVIOLENT BACKLAND

The legacy of anchoring power on violent ethnic security tools undermined European immigrant regimes in Africa, writes Okello Oculi

I

n 1893 French invaders forced Sultan Abd Rahman to surrender the imperial ambition of Baguirma and become a “protectorate’’. In April 22, 1900 a defeated Rabih Az Zubayi saw Tchad descend into depths of underdevelopment.

France, like Britain planted future conflict by denying the development of human and infrastructural development in the Muslim north, while it “managed to govern effectively only in the South’’. Until 1920, it was governed from Brazzaville on the Atlantic Ocean end Congo River.

The South became a source of able-bodied cheap labour exported to grow cotton in Niger. Its people became the first to provide colonised troops which joined World War Two in attacking Southern Libya on August 26m 1940. Germans dropped bombs on Ndjamena on January, 1942 in a case of Africans dying for their oppressors.

War veterans and Chad’s small educated groups formed a political party which demanded progressive change, including self-rule. After all, France had appointed a black man, Felix Ebue from the Caribbean, as the governor of Chad.

Colonial dictatorship neither bred democrats; nor build institutions and democratic attitudes. Little wonder that the first Chadian politician to head government by ‘’Chadian Progressive Party’’, Francois Tombalbaye, behaved like a colonial oppressor. In January 1962 he banned all other political parties. That included Chadian Democratic Union created by French officials to link local aristocrats, French business interests and ethnic groups in the north-east and the border with Libya.

Tombalbaye imprisoned critics in thousands and by 1966 provoked the emergence of a National Liberation Front of Chad which, like similar movements in Algeria, Mozambique and elsewhere, chose military struggle to remove a dictator. Support by Libya precipitated the military’s killing of Tombalbaye on April 13, 1966. Chad had entered legacies of a colonial-type politics of: government torture, repression, slaughter of protesters, and armed quest for ‘’regime change’’ including killing the incumbent ruler.

The rebels introduced Hissen Habre into Chadian politics.

He rejected being ruled by a southerner between June7, 1982 and December 1, 1990, he supervised arrests of 12,321 victims; killed 1,208. During ‘’Black September’’ in1984, ‘’villages were pillaged, burned, while ‘’educated Chadians from the south were systematically arrested and executed’’.

In 1987, his political police targeted the Hadjarai ethnic group for repression. In 1989, 40 localities of Zhagawa ethnic group were attacked and ‘’hundreds were killed’’. In August

BOTH CHAD AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC ARE RICH IN STRATEGIC MINERALS, INCLUDING URANIUM, GOLD, OIL AND DIAMONDS, AND THE PROSPECT OF CHINA’S COMPANIES GETTING OFFICIAL ACCESS MUST HAVE IRRITATED DEBY’S EUROAMERICAN FRIENDS

1990, arrests targeted government officials.

Like French and British colonial officials, Tombalbaye and Habre would ensure that their ethnic groups monopolised power in intelligence and political administration sectors.

Just as France and the United States aided Idriss Debby’s ouster of Hissen Habre, it is being speculated that France engineered the military coup against him.

Idriss Deby’s 30 years in power was marked by his wrestling control of oil revenues but critics assert that Deby did not pursue development for the people of Chad.

By 2020 the United Nation’s Human Development Index ranked Chad 184 out of a total of 184 countries.

Debby bought French and American support by using oil revenues to equip and support a military force which fought Islamist terrorists across West Africa. By 2013 he was supporting 2,250 troops in Mali. He had joined forces with Nigeria, Niger and Cameroun in fighting Boko Haram. He was killed after he visited Nigeria’ president, Muhammadu Buhari a few days to his presidential election.

There have been claims the Deby supported Bozize to organise a coup from Ndjamena in 2003 but sent Chadian troops to assist Michel Djotodia, leader of the Seleca coalition of militias. President Bozize had been photographed inspecting a Guard of Honour in China. Both Chad and Central African Republic are rich in strategic minerals, including Uranium, gold, oil and diamonds, and the prospect of China’s companies getting official access must have irritated Deby’s Euro-American friends. Likewise, President Buhari’s disapproval of tenure elongation by Quattara in Ivory Coast.

Deby himself had signed contracts with several Chinese companies. It is not clear if he lost favours with his NATO friends. His highest recent diplomatic achievement included keeping the ‘’International Community’’ silent over his violent repression and extension of his tenure up to 2033; and achievements in 2017 and 2021 getting his Zhagawa ethnic kin Moussa Faki Mahamat elected Chair of the African Union Commission. His ‘Oil-For-Security’ diplomacy was severely stretched to achieve victory after NINE rounds of voting.

Suspicious of his duplicitous Euro-American friends betraying him and denying his military son, Deby Mahatma Itno, succession to his throne, he probably sought to feel safe by placing Moussa Faki Mahamat within range for a novel Zhagawa civilian President of Chad.

The legacy of anchoring power on violent ethnic security tools undermined European immigrant regimes in Algeria, Kenya, and Southern Africa. Cry beloved Chad.

PARENTING AND CHILD MARRIAGE

Bidemi Nelson writes that parents should not consent to child marriage, and speak out against the practice

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hild marriage is not a new phenomenon. Reports show that it is quite common in regions like Africa, Asia and South America. Child marriage is also very ingrained in customs, traditions and religion because it has been practised from generations to generations.

This strong affiliation of child marriage with institutions of traditions and religion has made it a tenacious societal problem with very bright future prospects. Sadly, the girl-child remains the one with the higher risk of being exposed, exploited and violated within the confines of child marriage.

Child marriage is when a child is forcefully given away in marriage before his or her age of consent.

While this age may vary from place to place, the common age of consent is usually 18 years.

Alarmingly, female children who can be as young as 12 or less are increasingly considered more suitable as “prospective brides-to-be”. While child marriage may also be promoted by factors such as poverty, conflict and teenage pregnancies, it still does not favour the cause of children. The negative issues that stem out it are still the same and may worsen if the practice is not stopped. The fact that child marriage violates some of the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that pertain to children has made it a culprit in the rise of the violation of Children’s Rights. For instance, child marriage increases health challenges for children. Asides the fact that children are likely to be raped on their first copulation acts within the marriage, several reproductive challenges trail them as they grow into their formative years and beyond, including the dangers of being infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Sadly, these children never get qualitative health care services on time and even when they do,

the damage is usually done and irreparable.

Child marriage is equally the motivating factor for the rise of pedophilia in our societies. Pedophiles are people who have a strong sexual attraction for children and may molest children if given the opportunity. Child marriage simply provides a formal platform for pedophiles to bring their fantasies to life at the expense of innocent children. It is only a pedophile who will accept the hands of a young girl in marriage and make every necessary arrangement to legalize it.

Parents are critical stakeholders in the war against child marriages. When a parent is knowledgeable, emboldened and resolute about achieving positive outcomes for his or her child irrespective of difficulties, it is likely that the child’s interests and rights will be protected. Similarly, parents are equally major contributors to the rise of child marriage, globally. Even though culture, religion, illiteracy, poverty and weak law enforcement are typically blamed as catalyst for increased child marriage in the society, parents play a pivotal role to aid these factors and the practice of child marriage.

A case in point is the reluctance of parents to plan their families even when they know that they have limited resources to cater for them. When parents refuse to plan their families and continue to give birth to children that they cannot provide for, they are simply preparing those children for lives of woes. A good instance is child marriage. Having unplanned children in high numbers may increase poverty levels in families. Poverty in this regard is evident in the inability of parents to provide food, education, housing, clothing and security for their children, forcing these children to seek these things elsewhere at a high price.

Parents can also be complicit in the practice of child marriage when they withhold sex education from their children. Sex education not only protects

children from child molesters but helps children make timely and reasonable decisions about their bodies and sex matters. Children who are given relevant, age-appropriate and timely sex education are better informed on issues of sex and will most likely, not increase the statistics of teenage pregnancies. The lower the occurrences of teenage pregnancies, the lower the chances that children will be given off in child marriage as a remedy.

Parents are also disturbingly involved in perpetuating harmful cultural and religious practices. When parents are more concerned about the preservation of age-long and harmful traditions, customs and religious practices such as child marriage at the expense of their children’s well-being and safety, then such parents have become security threats to their children. When a parent is more concerned about the negative perception of society that is committed to harmful cultural and religious practices than the promotion of his or her child’s interests and rights, then such parent is quite unfit to be called a “parent”.

Sadly, one very common cause of child marriage which is subtle yet glaring and is linked with parental consent is what is called “Parental Pimping”. This occurs when parents actively prostitute their children or give their approval to illicit sexual relationships between their children who are below the age of consent and adults, who supposedly can provide for the needs of these parents through their children. It is important to note that children in this kind of relationship are not necessarily married but will likely co-habit with the adults in question, giving rise to a form of child marriage that is not formalized yet exhibits all its traits.

Parenting is a call of providence. It involves being committed to the well-being, safety, rights and interests of children, biological or not. While parents are the very reason child marriage is sky-rocketing

out of proportion due to their active or passive support for the practice, they can also be the needed agents of change to stymie it. What then is to be done? Parents should blatantly refuse to support or consent to child marriage and actively speak out against the practice in their communities. Voices are such potent weapons of change when they are many, focused and amplified. These Voices are also critical to reducing the incidences of children being in non-formalized sexual relationships with adults and can be a good basis for community interventions against child marriage. The results may not be immediate as such parents may be stigmatized for their choices and actions to stand against deep-seated but harmful cultural and religious practices (and they will be). However, the options of media support, legal actions and even relocation are available for parents who are willing to stand up to end the victimization of children through child marriage.

Parents who are challenged by issues of poverty should seek other sources of respite instead of that of child marriage. For instance, parents can take advantage of the opportunity of Free Education in public schools for their children, which reduces the cost of education, significantly. Family planning also, is a foundational way of eliminating child marriage.

Parents should actively seek out this service and ask questions. Family Planning Services are available at Family Planning Centers and hospitals. Parents should not forget to make Sex Education a priority for their children. Information on Sex Education can be solicited for at schools, hospitals and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, among others.

Child marriage is a fundamental violation of several Children’s Rights. It has been aided by parents but it must end now.

Nelson is CEO, Shield of Innocence Initiative Ibadan, Oyo State

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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021

EDITORIAL THE SCOURGE OF MODERN SLAVERY Nigeria could do more to eliminate present-day slavery

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new journal paper, ‘Gender and modern-day slavery in Nigeria: A critical analysis of baby factory and terrorism’ in the May/June 2021 edition of ‘ScienceDirect’ has drawn global attention to one of the social issues hardly discussed by the authorities in Nigeria. While the malaise of modern slavery cuts across gender, the report concludes that in Nigeria, “the disproportionate economic and power relations (such as inequalities, poverty, social exclusion, exploitations, and obnoxious cultural practices)” has engendered a situation in which women “serve as economic-slaves, sex-slaves, procreation-slaves, and money-ritual-slaves.” The article confirms recent estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which place Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo high on the list of countries where modern slavery is still prevalent.

The Slavery Convention of the League of Nations adopted in 1926 defines slavery as, “The status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. It refers to the situation ONLY CONCERTED EFFORTS of exploitation that a AIMED AT EMPOWERING person cannot refuse THE POPULACE AND or leave because of RESTORING THE DIGNITY threats, violence, coercion, decepOF THE CITIZENRY CAN tion, and/or abuse EFFECTIVELY CURB THE CURRENT MANIFESTATIONS of power.” By this classification, someone OF SERVITUDE does not have to be in chains and ferried across the Atlantic Ocean or Sahara Desert to be a slave.

They become slaves when transaction is made with them in the community they live. While no human being deserves to be a slave, millions of people across the world are in one form of bondage or another.

The case of Nigeria is particularly pathetic and needs greater attention than it attracts at the moment. Like its general population, the country is also host to the

Letters to the Editor

highest number of enslaved people in sub-Sahara Africa.

The breakdown of that sum shows that majority of the affected persons are forced into domestic, industrial and commercial labour, marriages or are simply given out to relations under innocuous circumstances. Not surprisingly, the shameful Nigerian profile is a reflection of the severity of the scourge across Africa. Various relevant organisations have identified the continent as home to the largest prevalence of slavery on earth, with more than seven per cent of every 1000 people as victims, according to the 2017 ILO report, a situation that has not changed.

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T H I S DAY

EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI AJAYI, DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D

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

hat makes the Nigerian condition more worrisome is its ignoble recognition as one of the world’s leading culprits in three critical areas of source, transit and destination as well as the continued abductions of women and girls by Boko Haram and bandits, especially in the North. For the past two decades, Europe and North Africa have continued to benefit from the growing incidence of emigration among Nigerians in search of the proverbial greener pastures. But instead of actualising their dreams, many of them end up being sexually exploited - one of the most widespread forms of presentday captivity - or trapped in other ways. Sadly, not even stories of the tortuous and precarious journeys through the Sahara to Libya and, then, less frequently to Europe have been able to dissuade our young men and women from gambling with their lives. Consequently, many of them have caused themselves harm, brought sorrow to their relations and further tarnished the nation’s already battered international image. In the case of Boko Haram, their targets have always been women and girls who are usually deployed as sex slaves.

The abundant presence of these evils in Nigeria today requires bold, well-designed and executed government interventions which could hopefully serve as catalyst for more productive involvement of the private sector in this campaign. Only concerted, collaborative efforts aimed at empowering the populace and restoring the dignity of the citizenry can effectively curb or eliminate the current manifestations of servitude.

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

BABA IJESHA AND THE LIMIT OF JOKES

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atching or listening to comedy is one of my most exhilarating hobbies. I love movies that are spiced with comedy. Comedy makes me have good laughs. Of course, laughter is medicine to the soul and body. That is why I love comedians.

I have quite a few favourite comedians, both local and foreign, particularly the ones with irresistible and compelling vibes. However, I admire every comedian and could make do with anyone. In as much as the end result-laughter- is achieved.

In my romance with comedy, one local actor cum comedian that I have come to appreciate, over the years, is Olanrewaju James Omiyinka, aka Baba Ijesha. His jocular mastery of my native language, Ijesha, in his comical act, usually thrills me. Watching him doing his stuff is always a delight.

These are, however, no laughing times for Baba Ijesha as it seems he has taken his comedy too far for once. Suddenly, the one who used to make people laugh has become a butt of cruel jokes across the land. As much as he tries, it appears Baba Ijesha can no longer make his fans laugh. His jokes have precipitously become wry and ludicrous.

What exactly could be the matter? How did the joker abruptly become the joke? Well, the story is long. But the meat of it is that Baba Ijesha has been accused of sexually defiling a minor. Ironically, his accuser is popular comedian, Damilola Adekoya, aka Princess.

Certainly, these are trying times in the nation’s house of comedy.

According to Princess, the immoral act was purportedly committed right in her house when Baba Ijesha came to her for help. Painfully,

the gangling actor ostensibly committed the shameful act against his benefactor’s foster daughter.

Could the story be true of the Baba Ijesha that brought so much laughter into many homes via his comic act? How did such a respected comedian transit so rapidly into a menacing monster?

These are puzzles that only the law could unravel. They are beyond the capacity of unlearned folks. Yes, only our learned compatriots could either nail or absolve Baba Ijesha. The allegation appears mind boggling. But his accusers claimed they have quite convincing evidence against him and they are aiming for the jugular.

Quite understandably so, Baba Ijesha has been under immense criticism since April 22, 2021, when the Lagos State Police Command arrested him for sexual assault. According to the State Police Command, “the suspect confessed to the crime and was also captured by a CCTV camera in the house of the complainant.” An unconfirmed source equally added that “the CCTV footage revealed that the accused kissed and fondled sensitive parts of the body of the girl”.

As I put down this piece, over 7,500 people have signed a petition to avert the release of the actor. The petition, which was initiated by the Aunt Landa’s Bethel Foundation, on behalf of Princess, was titled, ‘Olanrewaju James Omiyinka must not be released in Nigeria for defiling a seven years old girl’.

Though a global phenomenon, the appalling side of rape in our clime has to do with recklessness of the perpetrators, lackluster response of justice administrators and absence of institutional supportive system to help the victims.

More worrying is that a good number of suspected rapists move freely on the streets after committing the heinous act. Also worrisome

is the fact that not much is being done in respect of strengthening our weak law to incisively deal with perpetrators of rape.

Rape victims suffer a sense of abuse that goes beyond physical injury. They may become skeptical of men and experience feelings of embarrassment and disgrace. Victims who suffer rape trauma syndrome experience physical symptoms such as headaches, sleep disturbances, and fatigue.

According to experts, rape mostly occurs as result of a violent craving to control the victim, rather than an attempt to achieve sexual fulfillment. Hence, rape is considered as an act of violence, rather than sexual gratification.

No doubt, rape underscores the sorry state of mind of the perpetrator. The blatant way rape is committed shows that perpetrator operate in a distorted mindset of women being assets to be used and dispensed.

Many Nigerians believe that women/girls invite trouble on themselves by being careless. Mothers often chide daughters for wearing provocative clothing, in most cases a sleeveless garment or a pair of hip-hugging jeans. Though one isn’t an advocate of indecent dressing, but it could not be a justification for raping. Come to think of; is indecent dressing a ‘rapeable’ offence?

The Baba Ijesha’s incident should be seen to its logical conclusion.

The law must be made to take its course. No one, no matter how highly placed, must be allowed to circumvent the course of the law.

If his guilt is eventually proven, Baba Ijesha must be made to pay for this cruel joke.

Tayo Ogunbiyi is Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos

TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Kano, Gombe Govs Urge Journalists to Promote Peace, Good Governance Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano and Segun Awofadeji in Gombe

Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and his Gombe State counterpart, Mr. Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, have tasked journalists to promote peace and good governance in the country.

Speaking on the occasion of the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day celebrated on May 3 yearly, Ganduje urged journalists to be resolute in upholding accuracy, objectivity and professional ethics in the line of duty to help deepen good governance rather than heating up the polity.

Nigeria Needs Free Press for Democratic Devt, Says US Consul-General Davidson Iriekpen, Yinka OlatunbosunandOluchi Chibuzor The United States yesterday disclosed that Nigeria needed press freedom for the development of her democracy.

It tasked the Nigerian media on the need to live up to its expectations as a bridge-builder between the government and the governed.

The US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo stated these in his opening remarks in a webinar event to the 2021 World Press Freedom Day. She said there was a need for the Nigerian media to continue to put politicians on their toes in the discharge of their responsibilities as representatives of the people who are expected to strengthen the country’s democracy through meant for the benefit of the people.

Identifying the theme of this

webinar as ‘Frontiers of Health Reporting: New Insights, Fresh Perspectives,’ Pierangelo said: “The United States government will continue to emphasise the value of promoting and protecting a free press, because the media plays such an essential role in preserving democracy and, as we can witness these days, in providing information that saves lives.

“We all know that a free press is essential to a healthy democracy. The news media can be a powerful force for change. It can effectively fulfill the roles of watchdog, gatekeeper, and agenda-setter. It can improve governance by raising citizen awareness of social issues, enabling citizens to hold their governments to account, curbing corruption, and creating a civic forum for debate. I challenge you to continue to play an effective role in amplifying important issues that affect citizens.

CDHR Faults Buhari’s Planned Invitation of American Troops Peter Uzoho The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for requesting the relocation of the headquarters of the African Commission (AFRICOM) from Germany to Africa as an intervention to the nation’s current security crisis.

The group argued that such call was an invitation of American troops to Nigeria and by extension, the handing over of the country’s sovereignty to the United States.

CDHR described such request by the president as an act of desperation not properly thought out, aading that the handing over

of Nigeria’s sovereignty at this stage of the country’s history was a betrayal of the labour of the country’s past heroes, who he noted fought the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact immediately after independence.

CDHR in a six-page statement entitled: ‘In These Critical Times in Nigeria, Sycophancy is a Disservice,’ which was signed by its National President, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, taunted Buhari’s government for woefully failing to consolidate the unity and integration of Nigeria and Africa –the government’s historical assignment, and now believed that American soldiers will come to its rescue.

In a statement issued yesterday by the state Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, the governor noted that as stakeholders, journalists should exercise their duties within the realm of the law and journalism profession.

Ganduje further stated that at this critical period when Nigeria is facing myriads of challenges, the

media should always be mindful of the laws guiding the conduct of their constituted responsibilities in their reportage.

“It is important to ensure that accurate and factual reporting is part of the code of ethics guiding the journalism profession anywhere in the world.’’

The governor stated that this year’s observance theme:

‘Information as a Public Good’, serves as a call to assert the importance of savoring information as a public good.

On his part, Gombe State Governor, Yahaya, has pledged his continuous partnership with the media to entrench transparency and accountability in governance.

In his goodwill message to mark this years’ World

Press Freedom Day, Yahaya paid glowing tribute to media professionals in the state for “their resilience and commitment in enlightening and sensitising the citizenry on government policies and programmes” as well as updating the public on developments around the world through their reportage and editorial contents.

CONSULTATIVE VISIT…

L-R: Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John Akpandoedehe; Chairman, APC, CECPC/Yobe State Governor, Mr. Mai Mala Buni and Ambassador-designate to Zambia, Nwannebuike Ominyi, during the visit of non-career ambassadors to APC national secretariat in Abuja …yesterday ENOCK REUBEN

Lagos to Deport Foreigners whoViolate COVID-19 Protocols The Lagos State Government has warned foreigners against disobeying guidelines put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, the state threatened to forward the passports of the defaulting indigenous passengers to appropriate authorities for deactivation.

It also said defaulting foreigners

may be subject to deportation “Lagos State is set to take steps to prevent another wave of COVID-19, following the flattening of the second wave.

“The trigger for the third wave in Lagos is likely to be the importation of new COVID-19 strains from inbound travelers.

“On the authority of Mr. Governor, who is the Incident Commander, immediate measures to fully enforce

the protocol just announced by the federal government will be adopted for every inbound person which includes banning entry to nonNigerian passengers who have been in Brazil, India or Turkey in the last fortnight due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in those three nations.

“I have hence instructed that all these protocols would be made more stringent to protect the residents of

Lagos State from an impending third wave.

“Anyone found to have either broken this rule or supplied a fake phone number or address in a bid to escape the laid down protocols will be identified and made to mandatorily isolate at any of our government or Public-Private Partnership isolation centres or identified hotels for 10 days at their cost, in addition to a stipulated fine.

AAC: DSS Can’t Intimidate Nigerians into Forced Patriotism The African Action Congress (AAC) has told the Department of State Services (DSS) that it can’t intimidate Nigerians into forced patriotism in the absence of social justice.

In a statement issued yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of AAC, Mr. Femi Adeyeye said it was unfortunate that the DSS that was incapable of fishing out terrorists, bandits and the unknown gunmen on the streets and inside government

offices could threaten Nigerians.

The party reminded the secret police that Nigerians had passed a vote of no confidence on what it described as the tyrannical and anti-people administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“For a country that now ranks third- most terrorised nation in the world, it is rather pathetic that instead of addressing this ridiculous ‘feat,’ the regime concerns itself with a misplaced priority of

chasing after protesters and critics while empowering, protecting and defending terrorists,” AAC said.

The party said it was evident that the DSS needed a course on democratic tenets and principles and how people’s rights to disagree must be respected.

It argued that the act of drawing a red line to people’s rights must be condemned by all and sundry.

“As a party, we have long come to the conclusion that the

Buhari regime is incapable of running a democratic and highly effective government guided by the rule of law. It is our position at the African Action Congress that the rights of Nigerians to freely assemble, organise and express themselves without any intimidation must be fully respected.

We reiterate for the umpteenth time that patriotism cannot be forced on a people who have been denied social justice,” the party explained.

NUJ Honours ARISE NEWS Channel, CBN, Kyari, Others Family of Slain Akwa Ibom Job Seeker Demands Justice Oluchi Chibuzor The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has concluded all arrangements to bestow on ARISE NEWS Channel its Press Freedom Platform Award.

The award presentation which holds in Abuja on Wednesday, according to a statement signed by the Assistant National Secretary, Midat Joseph, would also involve the union’s 2020/2021 Press Freedom Lecture and Award Night, as part of activities to celebrate this year’s World Press Freedom Day. The statement revealed that House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Governor of Bayelsa State, Sen. Douye Diri; Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Mele Kolo Kyari; Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly,

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Chinedum Orji, among others, were selected for the award as Distinguished Friends of the Media, “after sifting through many nominations received from journalists and members of the Nigerian public.”

According to the NUJ, for the Defender of Press Freedom Awards, Chairman, The Whistler Communications Limited, Chief James Ume; Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Jibrin Barau; and Managing Director, Rock Global Investment Network Ltd, London, Dr. Samson Agada Omale, scaled through the nomination process.

Gbajabiamila will deliver a lecture on ‘Press Freedom, Democracy and Good Governance,’ while Barau will be the Chairman of the event.

The family of the slain job seeker in Akwa Ibom State , the late Miss Iniubong Umoren, has appealed to the state government to ensure that those behind the murder of their sister were brought to book without delay.

Elder brother of the deceased,

Mr. Ukeme Umoren made the call yesterday when the state Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel paid an unscheduled visit to commiserate with the family in Ndot village in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state.

Umoren, who welcomed the representative of the Governor and Secretary to

the State Government (SSG), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said Iniubong was the youngest of the children of the late Ephraim Umoren.

He lamented that they lost their parents while in secondary schools and struggled on their own to get education to university level to ensure a better tomorrow.

According to him, the late

Iniubong was waiting for her call up letter to proceed for national youth service, before her untimely death.

He appealed to the state government to ensure that perpetrators of the heinous crime were brought to book, adding that it would serve as the only succour to the family.

FCT Minister, Military Parley over Security of Abuja Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has held a security meeting with the delegation from the Defence Headquarters Garrison on the security of the nation’s capital.

During the meeting, the

minister assured the Nigerian Armed Forces and all other security agencies of the readiness of the FCT Administration to collaborate for the continuous security of the FCT and the safety of its residents.

He held the security meeting with the Commander, Defence Headquarters Garrison, Maj. Gen. Preye Fakrogha, who was

accompanied byArmy HQ Garrison Commander, Maj. Gen. Sanusi Dahiru; Commander, Naval Unit Abuja, Navy Commodore Sulaiman D. Ibrahim and Commander, 053 HQ, NAF Camp, Abuja, Air Commodore Christopher Akpa.

There has been concern about the security of the FCT in the light of the infiltration of some

communities in neighbouring Niger State by some Boko Haram insurgents.

The minister, however, reiterated that Abuja has been secure due to the close working relationship between the heads of the various military formations and other security agencies in the FCT over the years.

TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021

POLITICS

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

Struggling Under a Crushing Weight of Debts Vanessa Obioha writes that the rising debt profile of Nigeria brings a scrutiny on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which is arguably, the only government that has borrowed more than any in the new democratic dispensation — and perhaps the only administration that has recorded two economic recessions

Buhari

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igeria’s economy, like most nations in the world, contracted due to the unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic last year. The global crash in oil prices forced the country to suspend the external commercial borrowing as indicated by the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed.

Ninety per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings and about 60 per cent of its total revenue are from the oil sector.

As of March 2020, Nigeria’s total public debt was N28.63 trillion, about a 15 per cent increase from a corresponding period in 2019, according to the Debt Management Office. By June 2020, the total public debt was N31.01tn. The third quarter recorded $31.9 billion in external debt. By last December, the total public debt was N32, 915 trillion, about 21.61 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The public debt includes the debt stock of the federal and state governments, as well as, the Federal Capital Territory.

This rising debt has put a lot of pressure on the government’s resources as it spent $1.69 billion (N609,13 billion) to service its domestic debt in the first quarter of 2020 alone.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) in a statement in March said that the borrowing of 2020 pushed Nigeria’s debt to N32.9 trillion, although it pointed out that new borrowing to finance budget deficits had declined between 2017 and 2019. But this trend was adversely reversed last year as the pandemic and its resultant effects pegged the new borrowing in the revised 2020 Appropriation Act at N4.20 trillion.

The agency, however, noted that most of its new borrowings were concessional loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (USD3.34 Billion) and other multilateral and bilateral lenders.

Since this administration began in earnest infrastructural and developmental projects to boost the fragile economy, the debt stock has been on a rise. Most of these loans are from China, which is concessioned to handle some of the infrastructural projects, mainly the railway network.

Nigeria’s debt to China was a major cause of concern to citizens last year

Zainab-Ahmed

and caused quite an uproar such that the DMO had to release a statement to clarify facts. It stated that the total borrowing by Nigeria from China was “USD3.121 billion (N1,126.68 billion at USD/N361). This amount represents only 3.94% of Nigeria’s Total Public Debt of USD79.303 billion (N28,628.49 billion at USD/N361) as of March 31, 2020. Similarly, in terms of external sources of funds, loans from China accounted for 11.28% of the External Debt Stock of USD27.67 billion at the same date.”

It argued that China wasn’t the main source of funding for the Nigerian government while giving a breakdown of the projects funded by China’s loan.

“The USD3.121 billion loans are project-tied loans. The projects, ( 11 in number as of March 31, 2020), include the Nigerian Railway Modernization Project (Idu-Kaduna section), Abuja Light Rail Project, Nigerian Four Airport Terminals Expansion Project (Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt), Nigerian Railway Modernization Project (LagosIbadan section) and Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Abuja – Keffi- Makurdi Road Project.

“The impact of these loans is not only

evident but visible. For instance, the Idu – Kaduna Rail Line has become a major source of transportation between Abuja and Kaduna. Also, the new International Airport in Abuja has improved air transportation for the populace, while the Lagos – Ibadan rail line when completed, will ease traffic on the busy Lagos -Ibadan Expressway.

The projects also have the added benefits of job creation, not only by themselves but through direct and indirect service providers, a number of which are small and medium enterprises.

It is widely accepted that investment in infrastructure is one of the most effective tools for countries to achieve economic growth and development. Using loans from China to finance infrastructure is thus in alignment with this position,” it explained.

But the concerns still grew since China has been criticized for debttrap diplomacy, even though there are reports that vindicate China from such practices. In the last two decades, China has been seen as a lifesaver by most African countries that seek to end their dependence on IMF and World Bank.

African countries with the largest Chinese debt as of 2020 are Angola

As of March 2020, Nigeria’s total public debt was N28.63 trillion, about a 15 per cent increase from a corresponding period in 2019, according to the Debt Management Office. By June 2020, the total public debt was N31.01tn. The third quarter recorded $31.9 billion in external debt. By last December, the total public debt was N32, 915 trillion, about 21.61 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The public debt includes the debt stock of the federal and state governments, as well as, the Federal Capital Territory. This rising debt has put a lot of pressure on the government’s resources as it spent $1.69 billion (N609,13 billion) to service its domestic debt in the first quarter of 2020 alone

($25 billion), Ethiopia ($13.5 billion), Zambia ($7.4 billion), the Republic of Congo ($7.3 billion), and Sudan ($6.4 billion). In total the Chinese have loaned US$143 billion to African governments and state-owned enterprises between 2000 and 2017.

However, the rising debt profile of Nigeria has called for scrutiny on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

It is arguably, the only government that has borrowed more than any in the new democratic dispensation — and perhaps the only administration that has recorded two economic recessions. From the beginning of this administration in 2015 to December 2020, the country’s external debt profile increased from $9.7 billion to $27 billion.

During President Olusegun Obasanjo tenure, Nigeria which was at the time one of the most indebted nations in the world was able to offset the Paris Club debt that enabled Nigeria to pay most of its overall debt of $36 billion with just only $3 billion external debt owed. The late Musa Yar’Adua who took over from him left a slight increase from that amount before his demise.

When President Buhari assumed office, the country’s total public debt profile was $10.316 billion.

That figure is a far cry from Nigeria’s standing debt profile today. One of the major concerns is that while the total debt spikes, the total factor productivity growth plummets.

Nigeria is not the only economy that suffered the effects of the pandemic.

The United States, a developed nation that had a worst-case scenario of the pandemic saw its national debts rising last year. According to New York Times, the country’s debt stood at $20.53 trillion by the end of the second quarter of 2020.

African countries like Angola and the Republic of Congo are experiencing high levels of debt. They both have government debt of 120.3% and 104.5% of GDP respectively.

It is expected that the various initiatives of the Federal Government to increase revenues such as the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative and the Finance Act, 2020, should help shore up the government’s revenue and reduce the debt service to Revenue Ratio, according to DMO.

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T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021

POLITICS

Dissecting the Election Offences Bill The Election Offences Bill currently before the two arms of the National Assembly prescribes various penalties culpability ranging from monetary fines to jail terms, writes Chuks Okocha

Lawan

T

he proposed Election Offences Bill has prescribed offences and punishment for any political party or individuals that contravenes the bill.

The jail terms or fines ranges from N1 million or six months imprisonment or jail term of 30 years.

The public hearing of the bill took place last week, where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu called for a speedy passage to ensure a smooth journey to the 2023 general elections.

A copy of the bill obtained by THISDAY specifies jail term or fine to offenders including political parties From the provisions of the bill, “Where national officers or executives of any political party violate sections 221, 225(1), (2), (3) and (4) and 227 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), punishment is a term of imprisonment of at least five years or a fine of at least N10 million or both” Sections 221, 225 and 227 of the 1999 constitution as amended states in Article 221, by the way stated that “No association, other than a political party, shall canvass for votes for any candidate at any election or contribute to the funds of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at an election.

While Article 225 states, that (1) Every political party shall, at such times and in such manner as the Independent National Electoral Commission and publish a statement of its assets and liabilities. (2) Every political party shall submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission a detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets together with a similar statement of its expenditure in such form as the Commission may require. (3) No political party shall (a) hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or (b) be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria. (4) Any funds or other assets remitted or sent to a political party from outside Nigeria shall be paid over or transferred to the Commission within 21 days of its receipt with such information as the Commission may require. (5) The Commission shall have power to give directions to political parties regarding the books or records of financial transactions which they shall keep and, to examine all such books and records (6) The powers conferred on the Commission under subsection (4) of this section may be exercised by it through any member of its staff or any person who is an auditor by profession, and who is not a member of a political party.

Also, Article 227, states “No association shall retain, organise, train or equip any person or group of persons for the purpose of enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force or coercion in promoting any political objective or interest or in such manner as to arouse reasonable apprehension that they are organised and trained or equipped for that purpose.

On the offences arising from violating existing laws, the bill states that violation of the Electoral Act No. 6., 2010 (as amended) or any other law on or regarding elections is criminalized and attracts sanctions as provided

Gbajabiamila in those laws.

For instance, it said, that “Where national officers or executives of any political party violate sections 221, 225(1), (2), (3) and (4) and 227 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), punishment is a term of imprisonment of at least five years or a fine of at least N10 million or both” The bill further states, “Any person who – (1) knowingly makes any false statement on or in connection with any application to be placed on the National Register of Voters kept by the Independent National Electoral Commission; or (2) forges or fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any document for the purpose of nomination for an elective office, or delivers to the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission any document for the purpose of nomination.

This clause provides for punishment for offences listed with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 years. It also punishes offences relating to election administration by the State Independent Electoral Commission.

It also states that it is a punishable offence if any one forges or counterfeits or fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any electoral document or the official perforation, stamp or mark on any electoral document issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission; or without due authority supplies any electoral document issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission to any person; or sells or offers to sell any electoral document issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission to any person or purchases or offers to purchase any electoral document from any person It further states that it is an offence if not being a person entitled to be in possession of any electoral document which has been marked with any official perforation, stamp or mark of the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission has any such electoral document in his possession; or puts into any ballot box approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission anything other

Yakubu than the ballot paper which he is authorised by law to put in; or without due authority takes out of a polling station any electoral document or is found in possession of any electoral document outside a polling station; or without due authority destroys, takes, opens or otherwise interferes with any ballot box, ballot paper or packet of ballot papers or electoral documents in use or intended to be used for the purposes of an election.

According to the bill that has undergone a public hearing, it is an offence without due authority to print any electoral document or ballot paper or what purports to be or is capable of being used as an electoral document or ballot paper at an election; or for the purposes of an election, manufactures, constructs, imports, has in his possession, supplies or uses, or causes to be manufactured, constructed, imported, supplied or used, any appliance, device or mechanism by which a ballot paper or results of elections may be extracted, affected or manipulated after having been deposited in a ballot box during the polling at any election; or not being authorized to do so under the provisions of this Bill, makes any mark on any ballot paper issued to any person other than to himself.

The bill further states that voting at any election when he or she is not entitled to vote, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 years.

The clause on impersonation at any election is criminalized and the penalty is to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year.

While punishment for impersonation is imprisonment for a term of not more than one year under this clause, clause 19 makes the punishment imprisonment for a term of at least 15 years.

On undue Influence, the bill states that a person is guilty of undue influence where he directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person acting on his behalf, makes use of or threatens any force, violence or restraint, or any temporal or spiritual injury, damage or loss, or any fraudulent device, trick or deception, or social boycott, calamity of any kind, fear or promise, or by boast, coercion, blackmail or intimidation to prevent a person from vot-

On undue Influence, the bill states that a person is guilty of undue influence where he directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person acting on his behalf, makes use of or threatens any force, violence or restraint, or any temporal or spiritual injury, damage or loss, or any fraudulent device, trick or deception, or social boycott, calamity of any kind, fear or promise, or by boast, coercion, blackmail or intimidation to prevent a person from voting or becoming a candidate or to cause him to withdraw if he is already a candidate, or preventing a person from being nominated

ing or becoming a candidate or to cause him to withdraw if he is already a candidate, or preventing a person from being nominated.

In clause 20, the bill states that a corrupt perversion of Electoral Justice, “A judicial officer or officer of a Court or Tribunal who corruptly perverts electoral justice before, during or after an election by any money, gift, loan, property, valuable consideration, office, place, employment or appointment, or a promise of personal enrichment is punished by imprisonment for a term of at least 20 years without an option of a fine.

On Clause 21, the bill states that “Election officials, security personnel not to cause influence.

This clause prohibits election officials, and security personnel from influence influencing the outcome of an election, except through lawfully casting their votes, adding that “Punishment imprisonment for a term of at least 15 years or a fine of at least N30 million or both.

On Clause 22 which is prohibition or Disturbing Public peace, it states that directly or indirectly disturbing public peace, from three hours prior to the commencement of an election to the completion of the election on the day of an election, is criminalised. Such disturbance of public peace could be through using loudspeakers, megaphones or similar devices, “Punishment is imprisonment for a term of at least 6 months or a fine of at least N100,000 or both, while Clause 23 prohibits damaging of character It states further, “No person acting for himself or on behalf of any organisation or political party or candidate or his agent or other person shall, with an intention of prejudicing the result of any election, damage or defame, in any manner, the character of any candidate in an election or his family member.

Punishment is imprisonment for a term of at least 10 years or a fine of at least N10 million or both In Clause 24, Restriction on Election Campaigns, it states that under this clause, election materials shall bear the name and address of the political party, aspirant, candidate or person to whom/ which they belong.

The clause prohibits writing on any religious, archaeological or historical buildings, monuments or structures for the purpose of elections. It also prohibits affixing any private house, shop, wall or other structure without the permission of the owner thereof, etc.

Punishment for violation is imprisonment for a term of at least five years or a fine of at least N10 million or both.

Clause 25 is the prohibition on campaign against national interest. This clause prohibits any campaign that undermines or is capable of undermining the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, or unity of the federation. It also prohibits campaigns that promote feeling of enmity or hate on the basis of any religion. community, caste, tribe, language or territorial region.

Punishment for violation is imprisonment for a term of at least 20 years without an option of a fine NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ, 2021

FEATURES

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

Repositioning NNDC to Holistically Fulfil Mandate The Niger Delta Development Commission has for some time now come under serious criticisms over alleged financial impropriety, poor performance and derailing from its mandate. Worried by this development, stakeholders recently held a workshop/retreat on how to reposition the interventionist agency, Okon Bassey reports

E

xternal and internal stakeholders of the nine Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) catchment states namely Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Imo and Ondo including government representatives recently met in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital to fashion a way on how to ensure the NDDC lives up to its mandate.

The three-day retreat held between April 15 to 17, 2021 at the Ibom Icon Hotel & Golf Resort and Watbridge Hotel and Suites all in Uyo was tagged “NDDC Strategic Capacity Building Workshop/Retreat”, and had as its theme: “Collaborating, Planning and Re-strategising for a better Niger Delta Region.”

Papers presented by eminent personalities included, “Establishing a culture of integrity, ethics and organisational citizenship behaviour in the workplace and how to resolve the dilemma of political patronage culture"; “Effective budget presentation to the National Assembly"; “Driving Corporate Government for maximum productivity”; “Effective collaboration between the Executive and Legislature for smooth running of Government Organisations”, and “Planning for sustainable and relevant NDDC against the backdrop of the petroleum industrial Bill (PIB)"; and the repeal and re-enactment of the NDDC Acts,” among others.

NDDC was established in 2001 about 20 years now under the NDDC Act of 2000 for the development of its catchment states. It appears since NDDC came on board as an interventionist agency to resolve the developmental problems of the region, the opposite had been the case, as the people rather continue to seek solutions on how to make the commission perform its responsibilities as enshrined in the Act establishing it.

A capacity building workshop with critical stakeholders drawn from the National Assembly, the state governments of the region, the oil companies, the traditional rulers, civil society organisations, the youth and NDDC management preceded the retreat proper.

In the soul-searching gathering, various speakers opened up their minds on the positive and negative aspects of the commission’s activities in the past 20 years.

The Minster, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio described the retreat as a “family meeting” called to realistically rub minds, and to find ways to help the commission fulfill its vision.

“Twenty years of the establishment of NDDC, I believe our discussion ought to have been on the successes achieved, and how we can strengthen it achieve more for the Niger Delta and our people.

“Sadly, we are still interrogating the commission’s setback and lost opportunities” he said; adding that in 65 years of discovering oil, the region is still looking for a better strategy to usher in the kind of development that sustains the people’s livelihood and fulfills our shared dream of a better Niger Delta Region.

He said, this time, there should be a stronger commitment to restore collaboration among stakeholders, in fashioning a common roadmap to development noting that top managers of the commission would agree on the strategies required to ensure collaboration and effective implementation of

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, (2nd left) with the NDDC Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Efiong Akwa, (1st left) during the three-day Strategic Capacity Building workshop/Retreat for directors of the Commission at Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. From right are the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Mathew Urhoghide and the Ag. Chairman National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Mr Ekpo Nta

The Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Efiong Akwa, (in white) arriving for the two-day Strategic Capacity Building workshop/Retreat for directors of the Commission at Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. First left is the Director NDDC Ondo State Office, Mr Fasusi Adegoke David

the commission’s mandate.

“In fashioning this roadmap, in establishing the protocols for effective and efficient strategies for sustainable development, we must be bold on many fronts, to tackle factors which had continued to negate important work of implementing development strategies and policies”.

Akpabio identified some of the drawbacks of the commission to include corruption, governance, lack of proper consultation and engagement with communities and state governments, transparency and accountabilities in performance, organisational behaviour and implementation issues, non- existence of monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes captured in the budget among other challenges.

“And if we must find answers to these venerable questions, then we must positively change the fortunes of our people. If we must facilitate a region which addresses our people’s longstanding, yearning for a society that fulfills their expectations and provides for their needs, then we who are gathered here today must offer

a strong, unvarnished response, one which will help trigger the kind of development we all seek and work for, ”Akpabio declared.

The Minister of state, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura in a remark tagged “NDDC shall not walk alone” said the gathering manifests a collective resolve to turn things around for the long-suffering Niger Delta region, positing that the retreat, was the second of two clear manifestations of an emerging new NDDC. He recalled the month of March 2021, the new headquarters complex of the NDDC in Port Harcourt was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, “Today, we are here to rub minds with a vast array of stakeholders on collaboration and re-strategising for a better Niger Delta region.”

“These two events, coming back-toback, hold enormous promise for the Niger Delta people and all who have stakes in the development of the region.

These two events have the potential to boost the service delivery capabilities of the NDDC. These two events will

go a long way in helping NDDC shed the undesirable toga and appellations that have been its unfortunate lot in the past.

“Above all, this retreat provides an opportunity for us to co-create a new trajectory for the NDDC and the Niger Delta region in these increasingly challenging times of dwindling resources amidst heightening expectations of our people.”

“I am aware that many stakeholders of the NDDC have not been satisfied with its performance over the years.

You have been accused of not carrying them along”, he said commending the interim administrator and management for embarking on a journey of reawakening and renewal.

In his remark tagged “NDDC, born again to collaborate” the interim administrator of the NDDC, Mr. Efiong Okon Akwa, beckoned on stakeholders to come, reason and work together to create common way forward for the benefit of the people.

“We are here today to work towards creation of commonalities among stakeholders for speedy, development of our beloved Niger Delta Region.”

Remarking, the Chairman Senate Committee on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, said there was need for all stakeholders to work together to ensure that the Niger Delta moves forward.

He commended the NDDC interim administrator for realising the need for cooperation between the National Assembly and the commission saying, “In the past we had assisted the NDDC, to get the oil and gas companies to meet their statutory obligations to the commission. We amended the law and today the NLNG is paying their dues to NDDC. We must always work towards cooperation and discussion for the good of every one.”

In a similar vein, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta, Hon. OlubunmiTunji-Ojo, said the cordial relationship with the NDDC had facilitated some progress in amending the NDDC Act. He gave credit to the interim administrator for the progress, describing him as one of the best choices this

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ, 2021

FEATURES

The National President of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, and the paramount ruler of Ibeno, Owong Effiong Archianga (2nd left), speaking during the one-day capacity building workshop at Watbridge Hotel and Suites in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. From right are the Chairman of the Abia State Traditional Rulers Council, Eze Joseph Nwabeke and the President of the Host Communities Organisation in Nigeria, HOSTCOM, Dr Benjamin Tamiararebi

government had made. “I am very proud of you and the National Assembly is proud of what you are doing. We will give you all the support you need,” he assured.

He added his voice to the call to review the Niger Delta Master Plan, adding that the NDDC should also think of generating income for the Commission. “We need to harness all available funds to get NDDC projects done".

Tunji-Ojo remarked that one of the best things that had happened to the NDDC was the setting up of the forensic audit, which he said would help to clean up the Niger Delta.

A resource person from the National Assembly, Mr Gideon Jock, said the budgeting process in Nigeria was a monumental task laden with challenges but noted that with all hands on deck, “the process will, be more of a technocratic rather than a political process".

Traditional rulers from the region applauded the commission, for building the capacity of stakeholders and engaging them in the budgetary processes aimed at developing Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

The National President of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, and the paramount ruler of Ibeno, Owong Effiong Archianga, stressed the need to carry stakeholders along in budget preparation and monitoring.

“Since in budgeting, funding is very critical, I call on this august assembly to take a critical look on section 14, 2a of the NDDC Act of 2000 as amended," he said. The section, he said, stressed that the federal government would contribute the equivalent of 15 per cent of the total monthly statutory allocations due to the member states of the commission from the federation account.

The TROMPCON President said the provision was ambiguous and should be reviewed to enable the federal government contribute directly to the NDDC. Archianga posited that NDDC project monitoring committee should include traditional rulers because most of the projects were done in their various domains. “In fact, they should be consulted when projects are to be executed in their areas,” he said.

The royal father said in future, NDDC budgets “should focus on youth employment and not just empowerment, so as to create a better future for the teaming young graduates in the region".

Also speaking at the occasion, the Chairman of the Abia State Traditional Rulers Council, Eze Joseph Nwabeke, harped on the need for NDDC to continually engage stakeholders at the local level to be able to get their buy-in and ensure that they participated in monitoring the commission’s projects in their areas.

In his remarks, the National President of the Host Communities Organisation in Nigeria (HOSTCOM), Dr Benjamin Tamiararebi, commended the NDDC for organising the stakeholders’ engagement, stating that it was fundamental to have such discussions.

He said such meetings were long overdue; noting that, oil-producing communities deserved a special attention from interventionist agencies such as NDDC, to ensure the sustainable development of the long neglected region, stating: “Our people deserve to be consulted in all development programmes designed for the oilproducing communities".

In his paper titled “Establishing a culture of integrity, ethics and organisational citizenship behaviour in workplace and how to resolve the dilemma of political patronage", Col Wilson Ijide (Rtd) of the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan observed that the inability of NDDC to facilitate rapid, even and sustainable development of the region to its desire end and state was associated with the human factor element of organisational performance.

“Human factor akin to organizational culture of impunity is deemed responsible for the present state of affairs at NDDC, therefore requires a strong culture that places integrity, ethics and organisational citizenship behaviour.”

On the much talked about forensic audit of the NDDC, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Akpabio strongly disabused the minds of stakeholders that the forensic audit was a ploy to continue with NDDC interim administration.

He revealed that July ending, 2021 has been set as deadline for the conclusion of the forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari; asserting that the audit was part of the internal reform of NDDC, he said already 16 fields auditors have been assembled to commence physical verification of projects across the Niger Delta region.

Akpabio explained that the physical verification is a serious exercise because the results of the exercise might lead to the prosecution of the contractors who abandoned their contracts without completing them.

“It is the considered position of President Muhammadu Buhari that for us to have a properly constituted board for the NDDC, we should first take a look at what has happened to the commission since inception. There was nothing our detractors have not done to stop the forensic audit and this has led some people to be left wondering if the forensic audit has been aborted.

“The president is resolute that he cannot leave the Niger Delta and the NDDC the way he met it. As a demonstration of this commitment, he is funding the forensic audit from the budget of the president”, Akpabio said

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura, (right) rubbing minds with the NDDC Interim Administrator, Mr. Efiong Akwa, (left) during the interactive session at a three-day Strategic Capacity Building workshop/Retreat for directors of the Commission at Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

to the audience.

On his part, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Babayo Ardo maintained that the take-off of the physical verification phase of the audit marked a milestone in the effort to reposition NDDC for effective service delivery.

He said: “The audit of the headquarters has been completed, we are now starting the second phase of the exercise, and we will go round all the nine states to inspect the over 12,000 projects that have been identified by the NDDC.” Speaking on the forensic audit, the interim administrator of the NDDC, Mr. Akwa stressed that the exercise was a serious and deliberate act which made it necessary for the physical inspection of project sites in the mines of the Niger Delta.

According to him, wherever the over 12,000 projects are located, the committee had been mandated to visit them as security team had been put in place to escort the committee members and ensure their security.

For the lead auditor, Mr. Joshua Basiru, the forensic audit set-up in 2019 is as a result of alleged huge gap noted between resources invested and the infrastructural, human and economic development recorded by the commission.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that this forensic audit exercise is successfully executed, in a bid to reposition the commission in terms of effectively delivering on its mandate, as well as improving transparency and accountability in NDDC.” “We must not allow this project to be scuttled by those who have benefited in the past, or those who are currently benefitting unjustly from the current loopholes in the commission’s policies and operating procedures as well as the profligacy exhibited by the previous management teams to the detriment of the vast majority of the Niger Delta people, and therefore do not like to see change coming to NDDC.” The workshop/retreat addressed major concerns facing the commission and came up with salient recommendations and key action points, whose implementation to improve efficiency in, and repositioning of NDDC. This presents a potential and far-reaching opportunity for a brand new chapter in the delivery of the NDDC mandate to rapidly improve the quality of life of the people of the Niger Delta Region.

A communiqué issued at the end of the workshop/retreat tasked the commission to improve its communications strategy and implementation, as well as its interface with the National Assembly, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, state governors and other stakeholders, through regular statutory meetings, town hall meetings and other forms of communications, particularly concerning projects and programmes.

It was also resolved that the com-

mission’s annual budget should be appraised holistically, to ensure continuous fiscal transparency and accountability; “That the commission should create a culture of budget realism, by eliminating moribund items, ensuring clarity, harmonisation, stakeholder participation, effective monitoring and evaluation, and post-implementation audits; “That the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan shall be reviewed and updated, with clear goals and roles for all stakeholders set out, as the under-girding framework and compass for future budget preparations; “That the commission should automate and upgrade all its operations and ensure advanced leveraging on the automation of its Project Monitoring & Supervision (PMS) Directorate.

“That the mode of selection of Executive Management of the commission should be reviewed, with a view to giving greater emphasis to competence and professionalism, and less on political considerations; “That the roles of the Executive Directors of the commission should be properly spelt out in the enabling Act, and that the requisite qualification for executive positions should also be clearly stated in the Act; “That the commission should be included in the list of Statutory Protected Boards in the Constitution.

This will reduce the high Board and Management turnover, as well as the frequent policy changes, with their attendant costs and inefficiencies; “That there should be a halt on foreign scholarships, with greater focus on local scholarships, which have the potential of reaching a wider spectrum of beneficiaries, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and its travel restrictions; “That the commission should support tertiary institutions in the region to improve their capacities to impart the necessary knowledge and competencies; “That the commission should review its projects in order to streamline them, by ensuring effective funding and completion of critical projects, and terminating contracts that bear no relevance to the Master Plan.

“That projects handled by the commission in the past that have direct positive impact on the poor of the region, such as free medical outreaches, should be revisited and reactivated; “That while there should be less emphasis on undertaking new projects, owing to budgetary constraints in relation to outstanding obligations and the ongoing forensic audit, the commission, being the foremost interventionist agency of the region, should continue to intervene to cut the infrastructural deficits in the region, and in other areas of urgent need, such as was done at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” among other resolutions as contained in the communiqué.

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LAWYER WEEKLY PULLOUT

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IBRAHIM ATTAHIRU

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ESCALATING INSECURITY:A NATIONAL MALAISE

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LAWYER WEEKLY PULLOUT

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The Applicable Law in Customary Land Transactions PAGE 4

ESCALATING INSECURITY:A NATIONAL MALAISE QUOTABLES ‘There is no political will. None of us here, can say we know the process that this Government intends to use to battle insecurity.’ –Senator Abiodun Olujimi, Senator representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, Deputy Minority Whip, 9th National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria ‘Any government that cannot protect its citizens, whether it is Local Government or State or Federal, has lost its legitimacy.’ – Senator Ike Ekweramadu, Lawyer, Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, 9th National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria

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Baba Ijesha: Lagos Domestic and Sexual Violence Team Takes Over Case PAGE 5

The Sorry State of Judiciary Budgets and Judges’ Salaries PAGE 6

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04.05.2021

Insecurity, Blame Game and Emergency Rule GLO With Pride!

I decided to start my piece today on a positive note, since this administration believes that many of us, especially the media, thrive on harping only on the negatives in Nigeria. Last week, I mentioned the fact that many foreigners except the Chinese, are divesting and leaving Nigeria. This is true, but, I failed to take cognisance of the fact that there are still Nigerians who have invested just as much as the foreigners in our dear country, and have done well in showcasing the fact that we do have successful industries and conglomerates in Nigeria. They are doing their bit to harness the resources of the nation, create employment and promote national prosperity. Telecoms giant, Globacom Limited aka GLO, founded in 2003 by Dr Mike Adenuga GCON, is one of them. GLO is a brand Ambassador for Nigeria, as it has spread its operations to other African countries like Ghana, Republic of Benin and Ivory Coast.

In a country that is grappling with an alarming rate of unemployment, GLO employs thousands across Nigeria and the African sub-region.

I urge Government to facilitate an even more enabling environment for Nigerians to flourish, so that like GLO, we can contribute our own quota to the attainment of a dynamic and self-reliant economy, as Section 16(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended in 2018)(the Constitution) mandates Government to do. And, one key element that is essential to the attainment of a burgeoning business climate, is security, which Government must provide (Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution).

Alhaji Lai Mohammed v Late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed Last week, social media was awash with forwards questioning the mental capacity of the Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, when he ridiculously and outlandishly attempted to lay the blame for the unprecedented level of insecurity which Nigeria is experiencing today on the military regime of late General Murtala Muhammed, whom he claimed failed to continue General Yakubu Gowon’s regime’s policy of compulsory free education for those born after January 1970! Pray tell, has this administration continued the education policy, when we know that currently, Nigeria has one of the highest out-of-school children numbers in the world? When President Obasanjo stepped down from office in 2007, we had about 6.5 million out-of-school children; when President Buhari came into office in 2015, they had increased to about 10.5 million; today, UNICEF puts the number at over 13.5 million. Surely, if this administration is implementing such a good education policy, should the numbers not have decreased?

How can one sink this low, in order to pass the buck and escape responsibility and liability, making false and derogatory remarks about the dead, who even though he doesn’t need to defend himself on this, is not here with us to do so? Alhaji Mohammed being a Lawyer, must be aware of Section 36(1) of the Constitution - the right to fair hearing - ‘Audi alteram partem’. How can he blame someone who was in office for less than seven months almost 50 years ago, for the security predicament that Nigeria is facing today? As we say in Hausa, “Ina ruwan ungulu da kitso?” (what’s the business of the vulture with plaiting of hair?) - we are all aware that the vulture is bald, and consequently, has no hair to plait - in short, what does the present unprecedented level of insecurity that Nigeria is experiencing (which this administration that Alhaji Mohammed is the mouthpiece of, has failed to quell) have to do with late General Muhammed? Nothing! General Muhammed was not even in office for up to one academic year. Alhaji Mohammed’s allegation is beyond farcical, it is thoughtless and witless.

A couple of weeks ago, I did say that this blame game/buck passing, this ‘yawo’ (wandering) would not end until we reach the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914, or possibly pre-colonial times. I beg to correct myself - it may get to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ or the time of Adam and Eve! It may be because Cain killed Abel, that Nigeria is experiencing insecurity today! I only wish Alhaji Mohammed had tried to lay the blame on the living General Olusegun Obasanjo aka President Obasanjo, who took over as Head of State when General Muhammed was assassinated on February 13, 1976, and was in office for three years. It would certainly have been extremely interesting and entertaining. President

Obasanjo has become famous for his penchant for letter writing to this administration, the contents of which the latter does not particularly care for; and I can imagine that we may have been regaled with another letter containing Lai Mohammed’s life history - the good, the bad and the ugly, if Alhaji Mohammed had attempted to lay this on General Obasanjo (as he then was)!

State of Emergency on Security Nigerians are excellent at coining buzz words and phrases, and they become so catchy very quickly; for example, ‘change' and 'next level, 'bandits' and ‘banditry' (a replacement for the stigmatisation saga), and most recently, people calling for a declaration of a 'state of emergency on security or on the security sector'. A declaration of a state of emergency on the security sector, is meaningless. Or do they mean a national emergency on security? Because, it’s either that or a state of emergency simpliciter.

The Collins Dictionary defines a state of emergency as "a condition declared by a government, in which martial law applies, usually because of civil unrest or natural disaster". A state of emergency can be limited or restricted to a particular locality or area, not necessarily a whole country. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, a national emergency is “a state of national crisis; a situation demanding immediate and extra-ordinary national or federal action”; in this scenario, currently, the condition of Nigeria’s security is a national crisis, which demands immediate and extraordinary national, and even international action.

Section 305 of the Constitution which provides for state of emergency, does not provide for a state of emergency on security. It provides for a state of emergency in the Federation (Section 305 (1)); or in a State or locality, where a Governor can request the President to make a proclamation for a state of emergency therein (Section 305(4)); or the President may do so in a State or locality within a State, if the Governor fails to request for one when it is required (Section 305(5) of the Constitution).

The conditions which empower the President to proclaim a state of emergency are mentioned in Section 305(3)(a-f) of the Constitution - inter alia, when the Federation is at war, or we are in imminent danger of invasion or a war; or if there exists a break down of public order and public safety or clear and present danger of it, and extraordinary measures are required to restore peace and security, either to the nation or to the State or locality where there is trouble; or if there’s a natural disaster within a State or the whole country.

To be candid, today, most of the conditions highlighted above (aside from that of natural disaster), which empower the President or Governors to declare or proclaim a state of emergency, are very much in existence in several parts of the country, if not the whole, but the jury is still very much out as to whether a nationwide state of emergency would be welcome. In our so-called democratic dispensation, the people are already disgruntled that some of our fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are being trampled upon by Government, and it would be akin to adding fuel to the fire to declare a state of emergency, since such a declaration may have the effect of suspending the Constitution and imposing martial law - many Nigerians do not want this.

Has Insecurity Not Already Suspended Provisions of the Constitution?

What is required, is for Government to take decisive action to tackle and defeat this insecurity once and

(Used with the permission of Business Day)

for all, bearing in mind that we have multi-faceted security challenges based on different causative factors, requiring different methods of solution.

Would the declaration of a state of emergency achieve this purpose?

Two pertinent questions to ask at this juncture (maybe they may even be rhetorical questions), in response to those who are not favourably disposed to a declaration of a state of emergency because of the fear of the imposition of martial law to replace the Constitution, are whether Government, constantly observing the provisions of the Constitution in their breach with little or no regard for the rule of law, does not already amount to authoritarianism and therefore, the denial of some of our rights?

And, secondly, whether some of our rights are not already in abeyance, as a result of insecurity?! In fact, Section 45(2) upholds our rights, mandating that they can only be interfered with in a state of emergency, if it is reasonably justifiable to do so.

In the case of Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari v Federal Republic of Nigeria 2007 LPELR-958 (SC) per Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad JSC (now Chief Justice of Nigeria): “Once the security of this nation is in jeopardy and it survives in pieces rather than in peace, the individual’s liberty or right may not even exist”. This is spot on. Presently, even though no state of emergency has been proclaimed, this nation’s security is in serious jeopardy, and some of our fundamental rights already seem almost non-existent. For one, our right to freedom of movement as provided in Section 41(1) of the Constitution has been greatly curtailed, because of insecurity. Many can no longer go to their farms for fear of being attacked, raped, murdered or kidnapped, and consequently, have no means of livelihood contrary to Section 17(3)(a) of the Constitution. As most Nigerians cannot afford the luxury of air travel, and the roads are unsafe, people are constrained to stay put in one place - hopefully, rail travel will assist in this regard. The right to freedom of the media and that of expression provided in Sections 22 & 39(1) of the Constitution respectively, have been brought under threat with Government and the National Assembly trying to use contraptions like the National Broadcasting Commission and the Hate Speech Bill amongst others, to gag us.

Our right to life guaranteed by Section 33(1) of the Constitution, is also being threatened on a daily basis, as Nigerians are being killed in their numbers. Many have been deprived of their right to liberty by reason of kidnap, contrary to Section 35(1) of the Constitution. These are just a few examples of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, that have been adversely affected by insecurity and the prevailing state of the nation. Also see the case of Attorney-General Plateau State & 3 Ors v Hon. Chief Anthony Goyol & 15 Ors 2007 LPELR-12875 (CA).

Conclusion or Questions?

My dear colleagues, what are your thoughts on the declaration of a state of emergency, even if it is restricted to only a few States? Is it required?

Or is it more important for us to see some traction and action, instead of dwelling on constitutional processes? To move from this stagnation or regression, and bring in innovation and whatever else is required to empower our Armed Forces to secure our nation? Yes, I say regression because the Presidential spokespeople shouted themselves hoarse with pride (rightfully so) on the fact that when this administration assumed office in 2015, there were Boko Haram flags flying high in parts

“IS OUR FAILURE TO DEFEAT THE INSURGENTS, ONLY DUE TO A LACK OF CAPACITY BORNE OUT OF A PAUCITY OF FUNDS AND TOOLS TO FIGHT THE WAR, OR IS THERE AN ELEMENT OF LACK OF WILL OCCASIONED

BY A COUNTERMINE ON THE PART OF SOME SABOTEURS WITHIN THE FORCES AND GOVERNMENT.....?” of the North East, and they ‘technically’ defeated the insurgents, chased them out and took down their flags. Today, we hear that not only are the Boko Haram flags back up in the North East, the Niger State Governor confirmed that they have been hoisted within his State in Kaure Village, Shiroro (North Central).

Senator Ali Ndume believes that a large amount of funds must be injected into the Armed Forces forthwith, to achieve better results. Is it all about the ‘Benjamins’ (funds) alone? And, must this injection of funds not be accompanied by transparency and accountability? With allegations of misappropriation of funds allocated for the purchase of weaponry etc during the time of the former service chiefs and their predecessors flying around, naturally, Nigerians have trust issues, and want to be sure that this is not yet another scam to relieve us of our extremely scarce resources.

Let me leave you today with this parting shot - I watched a videoclip of Hon. Kazaure Gudaji, member of the House of Representatives from Jigawa State, in which he stated that one time, allowances for the soldiers were being transported to them by an Army convoy. The convoy was intercepted and attacked by Boko Haram, all the money (about N100 million cash he said) was stolen. Hon. Kazaure’s conclusion (a logical one too) was that there are Boko Haram members, sympathisers or informants within the ranks of the Army and Air Force (Armed Forces). He asked how they knew the convoy was coming, and the route it would take?

Is our failure to defeat the insurgents, only due to a lack of capacity borne out of a paucity of funds and tools to fight the war, or is there an element of lack of will occasioned by a countermine on the part of some saboteurs within the Forces and Government, or a combination of both? This is certainly food for thought. The more you look, the less you see!

4/LAW REPORT

The Applicable Law in Customary Land Transactions Facts In 1970, a dispute arose within the Oluwa Chieftaincy Family of Lagos and Apapa, over the number of branches that constitute the family. This led to the institution of Suit No. LD/828/70 at the High Court of Lagos State. In 1975, and while the suit was pending, the Appellant acquired a leasehold over a portion of land at Industrial Road, off Kirikiri Road, Apapa, belonging to the Respondents’ family and took possession following the transfer of the property by the then Head of Oluwa Chieftaincy Family and six principal members of the three branches of the family. The said lease was duly registered in the Register of Deeds at the Land Registry, Ikeja, Lagos.

Judgement in Suit No. LD/828/70 was delivered on 15th May, 1987. Therein, the court held that there are five branches of the Oluwa Chieftaincy Family namely – (i) Asalu; (ii) Odofin; (iii) Idewu; (iv) Faro; and (v) Amore. The appeal lodged at the Court of Appeal was dismissed for want of diligent prosecution, and the decision went on appeal to the Supreme Court, but the appeal was withdrawn and dismissed on 26th September, 1992.

Following the appointment of the First Respondent (from the Odofin branch) as the new Oluwa of Lagos and Apapa by the Lagos State Government on 25th November, 2004, he constituted and inaugurated a fresh executive of the family with members drawn from the five branches, in line with the decision of court. Thereafter, the Respondents requested a meeting with the Appellant in respect of the lease granted to it in 1975, but the Appellant refused to honour the invitation. The Respondents therefore, filed an action by way of Origination Summons dated 22nd September, 2011, at High Court of Lagos State, seeking to recover the piece of land the family leased to the Appellant. The Appellant countered that the Respondents’ action, was statute barred. The trial court raised suo motu, the issue of whether the lease of the land to the Appellant was created lis pendens, and invited parties to address it on the issue. In his decision, the learned trial Judge held that from the date of the decision of the Supreme Court in 1992, the coast became clear for anyone in the Respondents’ family to challenge the disposition of the family land based on the three branches representation, and which was upturned by the High Court in favour of five branches. The court held that, by the provision of Section 16(2)(a) of the Limitation Law, the Respondents ought to have filed the action within twelve years from the date of the decision of the Supreme Court in 1992. The trial court concluded that the action was statute barred, and afortiori, incompetent. On the issue of lis pendens, the court held that Suit No. LD/828/70 was neither about the sale of any real property nor recovery of possession or declaration of title; thus, the doctrine of lis pendens did not apply.

The decision above was successfully challenged, at the Court of Appeal. The appellate court, in upturning the judgement of the trial court, reasoned that the trial court failed to read the provisions of Section 16(2)(a) together with Section 68(1) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State, to determine the Respondents’ customary rights to the land in dispute. The court held that in view of Section 68(1) thereof, the Respondents are not debarred from claiming their customary rights to the land, and that the action was not caught up by the Statute of Limitation.

Regarding the issue of lis pendens, the Court of Appeal held that the Claim of the Respondents being recovery of land, is a claim to real property and not personal property; therefore, the doctrine of lis pendens applies.

The Appellant, who was aggrieved by the judgement of the appellate court, appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, while the Respondents filed a Cross-appeal on the decision about lis pendens.

Issue for Determination Two main issues were formulated for determination of the court. However, the Supreme Court adjudged the second issue as academic, after consideration of the issue below: Whether the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were right in holding that the provisions of Section 68(1) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State is applicable to the Deed of Lease dated 31/12/1975, executed under the general law by the head and principal members of the Respondents’ family.

Arguments Counsel for the Appellant argued that the Court of Appeal wrongly applied the provisions of Section 68(1) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State, and that for the said provision to be applicable, the transaction in question must be regulated

by Customary Law. Counsel submitted that the framers of the said Section 68(1) could not have intended that owners of land held under Native Law and Custom, cannot for all purposes, transact outside Customary Law; and that it will amount to an absurdity if the said provision is construed to mean that customary land owners are denied the right to transact outside Customary Law. He relied on the authority of A-G, ADAMAWA STATE v A-G, FED. (2014) 4-6 SC 127, in support of his position that three conditions must come to play in determining whether an action is caught by a Statute of Limitation. Counsel contended that the cause of action in this case, was not in respect of any customary tenure between the parties, but arose from the Deed of Lease, which is governed by the general law. Thus, the cause of action accrued on 26th February, 1992 when the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC.253/1991, paved the way for an

aggrieved branch of the Respondents’ family to commence an action for recovery of possession of the land, acquired under the Deed of Lease in 1975.

Negating the position of the Appellant, Counsel argued on behalf of the Respondents that the conclusion reached by the Court of Appeal was “orthodox and correct”. He submitted that the claim of the Respondents was for possession of land held under Native Law and Custom, and provided for under Section 68(1) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State. Counsel argued further that by the relevant provision, the phrase used is “in respect of any matter” and that the said provision does not make reference to “cause of action”. Hence, it is the underlying nature of the matter that must be considered, and not simply the cause of action. He submitted further that in construing provisions of a Statute, clear and unambiguous words must be given their natural and ordinary meaning, save for where it would lead to absurdity or injustice – AMOBI v NZEGWU (2014) 2 NWLR (Pt. 1392) 510. Counsel reasoned that since the claim of the Respondents is on a matter regulated by Customary Law, then Section 68(1) is applicable in the instance.

Honourable Amina Adamu Augie, JSC

In the Supreme Court of Nigeria Holden at Abuja On Friday, the 18th day of December, 2020 Before Their Lordships

Olabode Rhodes-Vivour Musa Dattijo Muhammad Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun Amina Adamu Augie Ejembi Eko Justices, Supreme Court SC.636/2015 Between OTERI HOLDINGS LIMITED 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

And

APPELLANT

CHIEF MUKAILA KOLAWOLE OLUWA (The reigning Oluwa of Lagos and Apapa) DR. AKEEM OSENI (Odofin Branch) MR. JAIYE OLUWA (Odofin Branch) ALHAJI IMAM ISHOLA AKAPO (Asalu Branch) ENGINEER WAHEED BAKARE OLUWA (Asalu Branch) CHIEF NASIRU OLUWA (Idewu Branch) PRINCE BABAJIDE SUMONU (Idewu Branch) MR. ABIODUN TIJANI OLUWA (Amore Branch) MR. SALISU OLUWA (Amore Branch) ALHAJI AKEEM OTOTO (Faro Branch) DR. MONDIU BABATUNDE SARUMI(Faro Branch) RESPONDENTS (For themselves and on behalf of the Oluwa Chieftaincy family of Lagos and Apapa)

(Lead Judgement delivered by Honourable Amina Adamu Augie, JSC)

“...... REQUIREMENTS GUIDING THE TRANSACTION OF CUSTOMARY LAND, ARE DISTINCT FROM THAT UNDER GENERAL LAW...... THE REFERENCE OF THE RESPONDENTS TO CUSTOMARY LAW RELATES ONLY TO THE HOLDING OF THE LAND, AND NOT THE TRANSACTION WITH THE APPELLANT. IT FOLLOWS THAT THE APPLICABLE LAW, IS THE GENERAL LAW”

Court’s Judgement and Rationale Deciding the main issue, Their Lordships highlighted the provisions of Section 16(2)(a) of the Limitation Law of Lagos State, which provided for a twelve-year limitation period for an action for recovery of land, and Section 68(1) thereof, which provides that the limitation law shall not apply to actions in respect of any matter which immediately before the commencement of the law, was regulated by customary law.

The court noted that the purpose of limitation laws, expressed in the Latin phrase – interest rei publicae ut sit finis litium, is that litigation shall be automatically stifled after a fixed length of time, the merit of the case notwithstanding. Another factor is the need to prevent Plaintiffs from prosecuting stale demands, and protecting Defendants from disturbance after a long lapse of time after being accustomed to their position, or lost the evidence to defend it – AMADI v INEC (2012) LPELR-7831(SC).

The issue in contention between parties in this case, is whether the action filed by the Respondents is statute barred because the cause of action arose from the Deed of Lease which is governed by General Law, or that the action is not statute barred because the claim was for possession of land held under Native Law and Custom. Under the Nigerian Law, transfer of land can either be under (i) Customary Law; or (ii) Received English Law. There is also the need to distinguish the nature under which land is held (the Respondents’ land is held under Customary Land Law), and the nature under which the said land is transacted (either in a lease, tenancy or alienation). In this case, the land devolved on the Respondents as descendants of Amodu Tijani, but the transaction was executed under General Law as shown in the Deed of Lease. It is trite that requirements guiding the transaction of customary land, are distinct from that under general law – ABIOYE v YAKUBU (1991) 5 NWLR (Pt. 190) 130.

The root of title to the Appellant’s possession of the land, is traceable to the transaction under General Law. It is not the case of the Respondents, that the transaction was executed otherwise. The reference of the Respondents to Customary Law relates only to the holding of the land, and not the transaction with the Appellant. It follows that the applicable law, is the General Law. A follow-up issue is when did the cause of action accrue, having established that the General Law is the applicable law.

A cause of action is the bundle or aggregate of facts, which gives the Plaintiff a substantive right to make the claim for the relief sought. In this case, it is clear that the cause of action is not founded on the ownership or devolution of the land to the Respondents. The disagreement over the number of branches of the Oluwa Chieftaincy Family was the subject of the 1970 suit, and the transaction in dispute here was entered into with the Appellant by the three branches of the family then, before the subsequent judgement of court to the effect that there are five recognised branches of the family. Thus, the cause of action in relation to the Respondents, challenging the Deed of Lease executed by a fraction of the Respondent’s family, further to the decision of the Apex Court in the matter, accrued in 1992 upon the dismissal of the appeal of the Oluwa family. However, the Respondents slept and woke up from their slumber only in the year 2011, to file the action leading to this appeal.

The action was filed in contravention of Section 16(2)(a) of the Limitation Law, having been filed after a period of nineteen years. The Respondents’ suit was statute barred by Section 16(2)(a) and so, their claim became extinguished and unenforceable.

Appeal Allowed; Cross-Appeal Struck Out. Representation I.A. Ovbagbedia for the Appellant.

Adebayo Oyagbola for the Respondents.

Reported by Optimum Publishers Limited, Publishers of the Nigerian Monthly Law Report (NMLR)(An Affiliate of Babalakin & Co.)

04.05.2021

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L-R: Lady Debbie Obodoukwu, Editor, THISDAY LAWYER, Mrs. Onikepo Braithwaite and Mrs Lilian Agbakoba, during the presentation of the new Managing Partner of OAL

L-R: Media Assistant to OAL, Niyi Odunmorayo, Innovation Officer, OAL, Stephanie Etiaka, Associate, Joseph Siyaidon, Legal Administration Manager, OAL, Chinyere Nwali-Chukwu and Associate, Kaeto Chukwu Ude

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04.05.2021

The Sorry State of Judiciary Budgets and Judges’ Salaries This opportune article by Ahuraka Yusuf Isah at a time when the JUSUN Staff have been on strike for approximately one month on the issue of the funding of the Judiciary, discusses the concept of the independence of the Judiciary, the third arm of Government, vis-a-vis its underfunding, particularly with regard to the inadequate salaries and allowances paid to our judicial officers, whom despite the fact that they have one of the busiest dockets in the world, are so poorly paid. Worse still, our judicial officers have not had an upward review of their remuneration packages in at least 13 years, in spite of the inflation and devaluation in currency that Nigeria has experienced, especially over the last six years Why Lawyers Want 5% of Annual Budget for the Judiciary

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his opportune article by Ahuraka Yusuf Isah at a time when the JUSUN Staff have been on strike for approximately one month on the issue of the funding of the Judiciary, discusses the concept of the independence of the Judiciary, the third arm of Government, vis-a-vis its underfunding, particularly with regard to the inadequate salaries and allowances paid to our judicial officers, whom despite the fact that they have one of the busiest dockets in the world, are so poorly paid. Worse still, our judicial officers have not had an upward review of their remuneration packages in at least 13 years, in spite of the inflation and devaluation in currency that Nigeria has experienced, especially over the last six years Like Judges’ salaries, the annual budgeted amount to the Judiciary has remained static for years. The same N110 billion budgeted for the Judiciary in 2018, was repeated in 2019, 2020 and 2021, making four consecutive years despite the spiralling inflation and skyrocketing exchange rate in the country.

The last time salaries of Judges were reviewed, was by virtue of the ’’Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2008’’ that came into force on February 1, 2007. In other words, Judges’ salaries have remained static for 12 or 13 years, and still counting. Since pensions are predicated on salaries, Judges who retired within the same period have been receiving same pension amounts too.

Observations and Views of Senior Lawyers Towards the end of last year, some senior Lawyers in the country including Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, J.B.Daudu, SAN and Augustine Alegeh, SAN, Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, Asiwaju Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, Alasa Ismaila and Celestine Offia questioned the rationale behind budgeting same amount of N110 billion to the Judiciary, for four consecutive years.

The Lawyers who separately spoke to newspaper reporters on the subject-matter, stated that the allocation of the same amount to the Judiciary for four years running cannot be justified with any economic parameters or explanation, because the value of Naira has depreciated by over 60% in the last four years.

While taking turns to lament over the yearly declining Judiciary budgets, the Lawyers observed that the Judiciary appears to be particularly worse off under the President Buhari administration. They asked the NJC to obey the judgement of Justice Mohammed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja in Olisa Agbakoba v AGF, NJC & NASS, which ordered the Council to assert its constitutional authority to get its funding directly from NASS, and not the Executive.

According to Agbakoba, ‘’the NJC needs to assert its constitutional authority to get its funding directly from the NASS and not the Executive as confirmed by Justice Mohammed sitting as a Judge of the Federal High Court in Olisa Agbakoba v AGF, NJC & NASS’’.

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad Daudu said, ‘’One of the hallmarks of the Judiciary as an independent arm of Government, is its ability to remain not only impartial in the discharge of its core duties, to wit adjudication, but to hold on to its independence jealously. A Judiciary that is starved of funds, is not independent.

This is because its personnel will be, or are

“...... THE SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES OF NIGERIAN JUDGES AT THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVELS, HAVE REMAINED STATIC FOR OVER TWELVE YEARS TO DATE. BESIDES, FINDINGS HAVE ALSO SHOWN THAT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF JUDGES AT THE FEDERAL AND STATE JUDICIARY SERVICES IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WHICH STOOD AT 1062 IN 2015, ONLY MOVED TO 1067 IN 2019, AND 1071 IN 2021”

severely hampered from discharging their functions or duties. A cash strapped Judiciary will always be at the mercy of the arm of Government that controls its purse strings, and this is contrary to the requirements of the Constitution which expects the Judiciary to be neutral in the discharge of its duties which is to all citizens, even if the determination of their civil rights and obligations is between them and Government or vice versa.

“In the past 4 years, the economy has suffered a serious downturn, the value of the Naira has depreciated by at least 60%. By pegging the budget of the Judiciary for the past 4 years at the same amount of N110 billion per annum, and that does not mean that the budgeted amount is the released amount, the Judiciary is only getting 40% of what it was getting four years ago in the face of crippling inflation and damming devaluation.

What this means is that the Judiciary is barely able to discharge its functions. The Judiciary must not be brought to its knees.

“Both the Executive and Legislature must come to the realisation that, despite their exposure to political cases, the Judiciary is not manned by politicians and no amount of arm twisting by financial emasculation can bring the Judiciary to its knees. In future, the Judiciary may have to explore the option of litigation to compel Government to improve its funding’’, Daudu stated.

Alegeh said, ‘’The truth is that the Judiciary is not being treated on equal terms or as another arm of Government by the Executive and Legislative arms of Government.

Otherwise, it isn’t proper to submit budget estimate of N187 billion, only to be handed down with N110 billion. ‘’How do they want the Judiciary to make up for the big differences, when it indeed, based its proposal on the number of Judges to be appointed, number of courtrooms to be built, and so on? ‘’I advice the Executive and the Legislature to reconsider Judiciary’s 2021 budget of N110

billion, and review it upward. We must all agree that the Judiciary is the custodian of rule of law, and as such, the safeguard of democracy’’, Alegeh said.

Asiwaju Awomolo: “The nation’s Judiciary under President Buhari’s watch, has not been accorded its rightful place as an independent arm of Government. The Judiciary has always been at the short end of the stick. It has not found favour at all, under the current dispensation”.

According to Ahamba, ‘’The CJN can draw the attention of the NBA to the sad trend and development in which Judiciary is treated as pariah third arm of Government, by allocating N110 billion to it in four consecutive years. ‘’It is unheard of that the Judiciary would submit N18 proposal, only to be allocated with N110 billion. NBA can react and protest on behalf of the Judiciary before the NASS, and ask it to change the tide. It is part of the function of NBA to defend the Judiciary against oppression from the other arms of Government’’, Ahamba said.

However, Ismaila said, ‘’No one can believe that Judiciary used to receive N150 billion budget approval in this country. Budget allocations to it have been declining in quantity and percentage share of the nation budget. While the 2010 allocation of N95 billion to the Judiciary represented 2.2% of that year’s budget, in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the nation’s budget shares for the Judiciary were N85b (1.8%) N75b (1.7%), N67b (1.3%), N68b (1.3%) and N73b (1.6%) respectively. The N70 billion budgeted for the Judiciary in 2016 (out of the N6.08 trillion total proposals) is 1.1%. ‘’The 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 budgetary figures for the judiciary have been declining to below 1.0% just as that of the 2021 fiscal year budget of N110 billion out of a total budget of N13.08 trillion is 0.84%; which is because, while the nation’s total budget increases that of the third arm of government remains constant at N110 billion’’, he said.

Offia said, “It is understood that the Judiciary had, in its 2021 budget estimate it submitted indicated that it would appoint about 60 Judges for the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, beside the eight newly appointed Supreme Court justices and others to follow. ‘’These Justices being appointed or to be appointed require spaces for their offices, which must be equipped with books, equipment aside aides and logistics, and that’s money’’. ‘’It has to be inserted in the constitution that judiciary budget must not fall below 5% of the total annual budget of the country, and so also in the states. Judiciary had at certain time used to get N150 billion budget for a year when the total budget of the country is not up to a quarter of what it is today’’, he said.

Malami Insists Judges’ Salaries Will be Reviewed Soon Over a year ago, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malam, SAN, disclosed cont'd on page 7

04.05.2021

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The Sorry State of Judiciary Budgets and Judges’ Salaries “THIS LAW WHICH REPEALED A SIMILAR ACT OF 2002 TO INCREASE JUDGES BASIC SALARIES, ALLOWANCES AND FRINGE BENEFITS IN 2007 HAS NOT BEEN REVIEWED, AND AS SUCH JUDGES HAVE BEEN EARNING THE SAME TAKE HOME PAY SINCE 2007”

cont'd from page 6

that the Federal Government had constituted a Committee to review the salaries and other benefits of the judicial officers in the country.

Precisely, Malami stated this in the speech he delivered at the special session of the Supreme Court to mark the beginning of the new legal year and conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria held on Monday September 23, 2019. According to Malami, the setting up of the Panel came after the meeting he had with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, on the review of judicial salaries and conditions of service.

The Committee, the AGF said would consult with the heads of courts and other stakeholders, in order to come up with recommendations to ensure that the welfare of judicial officers reflect current realities. Although the AGF didn’t disclose when the Panel was set up and who are its members, he added that the report of the Committee was expected to be turned in and concurrently used to upwardly review the Judges’ salaries, as soon as possible. ‘’Similarly, based on a presidential mandate and a meeting held between My Lord, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, the Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service was constituted. ‘’In coming up with its recommendations to ensure that the welfare of our noble judicial officers reflect the current realities, the Committee consulted with all Heads of Courts and other stakeholders. I can assure this noble gathering, that the efforts of the Committee will soon materialise for the good of our dear country’’, AGF stated.

Meanwhile, the AGF reiterated on April 12, 2021 that the salaries of Judges and other judicial officers across the country, will soon be reviewed. He made this known during an interview with newsmen, at the commissioning of Sokoto State High Court of Justice Complex “Regarding the welfare package of our noble judicial officers, I must make reference to the Presidential mandate given in that regard, and I am glad to inform you that several meetings have been held, as a result of which the Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service was constituted, to ensure that welfare of our judicial officers reflect current realities of our time. I am to assure this noble gathering, that the efforts of the Committee will soon materialise for the good of our dear judicial officers and our country.”

Current Judges’ Salaries From all indications, the salaries and allowances of Nigerian Judges at the Federal and State levels, have remained static for over twelve years to date. Besides, findings have also shown that the total number of Judges at the Federal and State Judiciary Services in the entire country which stood at 1062 in 2015, only moved to 1067 in 2019, and 1071 in 2021. The record also shows that the 1071 Judges in the country, are made up of 248 and 819 Federal and State Judicial Officers (Judges) respectively. These were the existing figures before the appointment of four additional Judicial Officers to make up Supreme Court Bench to 20 Justices. It should be borne in mind that appointments of Judges, whether at a court of first instance or appellate courts, are made pursuant to vacancies often created due to retirement, death or otherwise.

The last time salaries of Judges were reviewed in the country, was by the ’’Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008’’ which came into force on February 1, 2007. This law which repealed a similar Act of 2002 to increase Judges basic salaries, allowances and fringe benefits in 2007 has not been reviewed, and as such Judges have been

Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN earning the same take home pay since 2007.

It has to be understood that there is no senior, junior or probating Judges within the same court of coordinate jurisdiction.

Judges are only promoted from a lower to a higher court, like from the High Court to Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court if there are vacancies occasioned by retirement, resignation, removal or death.

Hence, a judicial officer who was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench in 2008, has been earning same salary amount since then.

Breakdown of Judges’ Salaries and Allowances By virtue of the ‘’Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008’’, CJN’s annual basic salary is N3,353,972.50 (or N279,497.71 monthly), while other Justices of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal receive N2,477,110.00 as basic annual salary or N206,425.83 monthly.

Justices of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the FCT High Court and President of the Industrial High Court, Grand Khadi of State and FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, President FCT and State Customary Court of Appeal earn annual basic salary of N1,995,430.18 each. In addition, Judges of the Federal, State and FCT High Courts, National Industrial Court, Khadi Sharia Court of Appeal in FCT and State; and FCT and State Customary Courts also earn annual basic salary of N1,804,740 each.

The Act also dictates the allowances and fringe benefits payable to the judicial officers at the Federal and States’ levels, which are predicated on the annual basic salaries on a percentage basis. The law names such allowances to include accommodation, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, medical, security, furniture, personal assistance, motor vehicle loan, severance gratuity and retirement benefit. Others are leave allowance, motor maintenance and fuel, hardship, newspaper, estacode duty tour, outfit and special assistant allowances.

The Act says the accommodation, medical, security and special assistance allowances and benefits won’t be paid, but provided

by NJC. Furniture allowance is paid every four years, while the leave allowance is earned once in a year. The car loan facility is optional; it is a benefit noticed more in the papers than the beneficiaries, according a serving Judge who doesn’t want to be mentioned.

While the CJN gets $2000 estacode when he travels, other Supreme Court Justices and the President of the Court of Appeal get

$1300 of estacode each. Others get between $600 and $1100 estacode each.

Judges’ retirement benefits from CJN down the line, are based on scheme of service.

These earnings are however, according to the Act, exclusive of tax.

By the time the basic salary, allowances and fringe benefits are posted, the CJN and other Justices of the Supreme Court receive monthly salary alerts of N480,766.89 and N751,000.00 in their bank accounts, respectively.

The CJN’s net monthly salary is even lower than that of his brother Justices, because of deductions made on account of other monetary and material provisions such as food items, which are provided to him by the Federal Government.

Contrary to media reports speculating various figures the nation’s Judicial Officers earn annually, but based on NJC records, Judges all over the country at the Federal and States’ Judicial Service earn a total of N8,654,954,541.97, approximately N8.7 billion.

A total of 1071 Judicial Officers, both at the Federal and State levels, are on the pay roll of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

While N2,256,351,435.33 (that is, N2.3 billion approximately) was paid to the 252 Federal Judicial Officers including the Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2019, a sum of N6,398,303,106.64 (N6.4 billion approximately) was paid as salaries and allowances to 819 State Judicial Officers. In other words, both the Federal and State Judicial Officers earn the sum of N8.7 billion as salaries and allowances per annum in Nigeria.

A further breakdown shows that the 252 Judicial Officers comprise of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, other Justices of the Supreme Court, President of the Court of Appeal, other Justices of the Court of Appeal, and Justices of the Federal High Court, Federal Capital Territory High Court, National Industrial Court, Sharia Court of Appeal and Customary Court of Appeal and their heads. At the same time, the 819 State Judicial Officers are made up of 70 heads of court (that is, 36 Chief Judges, 17 Grand Khadis and 17 Presidents of Customary Court of Appeal); and 744 Judicial Officers.

Take for instance, in 2015; N7.00 billion was appropriated for the Supreme Court by the National Assembly. Out of that, N304,137,542.21 was budgeted for the ‘’consolidated salary of Justices’’ of the Supreme Court, N1,122,909,366.76, N2,795,953,091.03 and N2,777,000,000.00 were budgeted for the Supreme Court staff salary, overhead and capital respectively. In other words, the Supreme Court staff salary appropriation was almost four times that of the Justices of the Apex Court.

The Court of Appeal in the same 2015 appropriation got N11.10 billion, which was made up of N1.214 billion consolidated salary of Justices of the Court of Appeal, N2. 699 billion personnel, N4.699 billion Overheads (including Election Tribunal) and N2.496 billion for capital expenditure. These are the patterns of disbursement with the Federal High Court, Federal Capital Territory High Court, National Industrial Court and Customary Court of Appeal (FCT) that got N12.1 billion, N7.0 billion, N5.6 billion and N3.05 billion respectively.

Comparison with Other Jurisdictions It also goes without saying, that the salaries and purchasing power of Nigerian Judges and their counterparts abroad and in some African countries, are wide apart by great margins.

In the United State of America, while the Chief Justice, John Roberts, earns $255,500 (or N118, 807,500) per annum, the eight Associate Justices earn a healthy pay raise to $244,400 (N113, 646,000). The current salary for Supreme Court justices in US, is significantly higher than the average salaries earned in related occupations.

The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord President of the Court of Session and Master of the Rolls, make up Group 1.1 of the scale on £214,165 (N128,070,670), below only the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, who earns £239,845 (N143,427,310).

In South Africa, according to the latest report of the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers, chaired by Judge Willie Seriti, Judges in the High and Labour Courts earned annual salaries of R1.4 million (or N46.9 million).

Judge-Presidents (heads of court) pocket R1.6million (N53.6m) a year, Constitutional and Supreme Court Judges get R1.7 million (N56.9m) and the Chief Justice earns R2.3 million (N77.0m).The package of the President of the Supreme Court is just over R2-million a year. When they retire, Judges are entitled to continue drawing their salaries and other benefits, which continue to qualify for an annual increase.

Conclusion It is time that Nigeria takes a leaf out of the books of some of these jurisdictions, and as a matter of urgency, addresses this crucial issue of inadequate Judges’ remuneration forthwith. With the ongoing JUSUN strike, this is as good a time as any, to resolve the outstanding issues holistically.

Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, Abuja

8/COVER

04.05.2021

D I S C O Escalating Insecurity:

The nation’s insecurity is worsening, the challenges are humongous, and the solutions have been elusive so far. The recent escalation of clashes between security agencies and local insurgents in the South East, have heightened the calls for Government to urgently rethink its strategies for combatting the security challenges in Eastern Nigeria and other hotspots like Benue State, where there are killings almost on a daily basis. The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, was not left out, as there was an attempt to assassinate him earlier this year in March, while seven internally displaced persons taking refuge in a Camp in Abagena, Makurdi were murdered last week. Policemen and other security personnel, have also not been spared, as several of them have lost their lives in the violence. At least five Policemen were killed about two weeks ago in Okigwe, Imo State, while others suffered the same fate of death in Rivers State. Norrison Quakers, SAN, Professor Andrew Chukwumerie, SAN and Jide Ojo interrogate the multifarious issues, and proffer suggestions on how to end the crisis

Quelling the Security Crisis in Eastern Nigeria Norrison I. Quakers, SAN Background

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he term - ‘Security’ is a crosscutting and multi-dimensional concept associated with safety and survival and has been subjected to different definitions, however, there is a consensus that the Government is the only institution on which lies primary responsibility and power for the safety of its territory and its people. Hence, it is expressly declared in Article 2(1) UN Charter, vis - ‘The Organisation is based on the sovereign equality of its members’. This is also deeply embedded in the conceptual structure of international law.

Central Security Framework Under Nigeria’s Constitution Sections 33 to 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) grants to every Nigerian citizen the right to life, dignity of human person and personal liberty.

Whilst, Section 214(1) of the Constitution provides as follows: “There shall be a Police Force in Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other Police Force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.”

Section 217 of the Constitution provides - “There shall be an armed forces for the Federation which shall consist of an army, a Navy, an Air force and such other armed forces of the federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.”

The State of the Nation A peek into our fatherland today, when extrapolated against the recent hike in prices of products that form the fulcrum of basic amenities of life, will reveal that poverty has reached

New Service Chiefs; Ibrahim Attahiru, Isiaka Amao, Lucky Irabor, Awwal Gambo

a worrisome peak. This ultimately is the causative factor of the agitations by ethnic minority communities and other presumably disadvantaged groups. Further, a broad look at the socio-economic and political realities in Nigeria confirms that the corollary of this is security challenges, including but not limited to the terrorism and

“GOVERNMENT SHOULD DEPLOY FUNDS, FOR A TECHNOLOGICAL AND MANPOWER BOOST OF THE SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE. FOR THE EXTANT SECURITY FRAMEWORK, THERE IS NEED FOR AN IMPROVED SECURITY BUDGET, EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING”

banditry bedevilling different parts of our polity particularly in the South-East, the Region under focus.

In all the reactions of the Federal Government so far, the fundamental and immediate causes of these manifestations are yet to be adequately addressed.

Of note, though every Nigerian citizen, by virtue of Section 40 of the Constitution, is free to communalise by joining other persons to form associations for the purpose of pursuing and protecting their interests, such associations must not violate any extant law.

The Pursuit of a Safe Haven by Regions The magnitude of insecurity problem, has exceeded the coping capacity of the conventional security outfit in Nigeria. The South West Region has birthed Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed- ‘Operation Amotekun’. The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) had earlier unveiled Northern Nigeria security outfit code-named 'Operation Shege-Ka-Fasa'. The fast-deteriorating security situation in the Southeast states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo led to the unveiling of the security outfit codenamed ‘Ebube Agu’ meaning - fear of a lion in Ibo with its headquarters in Enugu, and the responsibility to checkmate rising unrest in the region; albeit, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) which is a non-State regional force affiliated to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that earlier sprung up, had insisted that there is no security outfit that can be floated in the region aside from it.

For Peace in Eastern Nigeria There has not been a synergy between ‘Eastern Security Network (ESN)’ and ‘Ebube Agu’ in the Eastern Region, which has led to a series of conflicts that has worsened the security situation of the region. Consequently, the community policing initiative which many have patiently waited to berth, to no avail amid the incessant threat posed to the overall security of the region, has now turned into the nightmare of the region.

The recent killing of members of the militia group - Eastern Security Network (ESN) linked to the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) including Ikonso, the ESN unit commander by a tactical team of the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army, and Department of State Services (DSS) has already dealt a blow on the Biafran separatist organisation in Nigeria.

Whilst some in the region regard the deceased Ikonso as a villain, others see him as a hero. Notwithstanding these contending perspectives, what remains to be settled is the antidote

COVER/9

04.05.2021

U R S E A National Malaise

for the recent phenomenal wave of political assassination, murders, armed banditry, kidnapping and general eruption of insecurity in the region; this is the succour expected by the average resident of the South Eastern part of Nigeria, whether a pro-IPOB agitator or not.

Checkmating Insecurity through State Police The brutish and bestial state of politicking by elected representatives in Nigeria, who are self-acclaimed - ‘servant leaders’ in addressing the disasters crippling our individual natural right to be happy, and challenging the narrative of opinionators that have described the Nigerian State as - ‘predatory, propaganda tilled, parasitic, patrimonial, decadent, criminalised, chronic, venal, irrational, kleptocratic and impotent’, has left much to be desired.

In the pre-independence era, the Native Authorities were in direct control of their domains. The helplessness of the centrally controlled Police in Nigeria today is such that has led to the inability to checkmate the surge in the rate of sophisticated crimes in the Eastern Region and other parts of the country.

Under the current dispensation, the sole institution responsible for enforcement of law is the centralised Nigeria Police Force, as captured by Section 214 of the Constitution. However, a cursory appraisal of Section 2(2) of the Constitution, will lead to the infallible conclusion that State Police accords with the principle of Federalism on which Nigeria fashions her Constitution.

The recommendation of State Police into the Nigerian policing system, as a solution for the curbing of the incessant security conundrum in the country, once more comes to fore since Nigeria is a Federation. Regrettably, the Nigeria Police Force is structurally deficient as at today. Remarkably, in the United States of America whose template of federalism is theoretically similar to ours, there are Federal, State, County and Municipal Police.

Interestingly, the major opponents of State Policing have always relied on the likelihood of abuse of power by the respective State Governments, however, this challenge is not peculiar, since as of today, wherein the operational control of the Nigeria Police Force is centralised, being in the hands of the Inspector General of Police Force, who in turn, is answerable to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Police rascality is common knowledge. Regrettably,

cordingly, legislate for State security outfits to bear arms, since Item 2 of the Exclusive Legislative list of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria confers on the National Assembly, the powers to legislate for the whole nation concerning arms, ammunitions and explosives.

Government should deploy funds, for a technological and manpower boost of the security infrastructure.

For the extant security framework, there is need for an improved security budget, equipment and training.

Norrison I. Quakers, SAN, FCArb, Constitutional and Human Rights Lawyer, Lagos Norrison Quakers, SAN

those on the other side of the fence are often too quick to puncture this argument. But, judicial notice has even been taken of this. Uwani Musa Abba Aji (JSC) in KURE v C.O.P. (2020) VOL. 301 LRCN PG. 105 @ 135AF noted“The Police have muzzled the rights and freedom of Nigerians, even where cases are clearly outside their jurisdiction, power or corridor. If this is not curbed, everybody including the judicial officers will suffer always from floodgates of civil matters being hijacked by the Police and transmuted into crimes. If this is not tackled, everybody would have suffered in the merciless hand of the police who has become a law unto itself in this country” Way Forward/Taking Cue from Global Best Practices In 2015, the United Nations launched 17 Sustainable Development Goals to make people's lives happier. On July 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed UN resolution 65/309, Happiness Toward A Holistic

“..... NIGERIANS MUST BE DELIVERED FROM TRIBALISM AND SECTIONALISM. THAT IS NOT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE LEGISLATED UPON”

Approach To Growth. Today, the sole ambition of the average Nigerian, is to elope in pursuit of happiness in other climes. Our teeming younger generation are apparently confounded, hence resort to despicable immoral and illegal conducts to practically stay alive. There is also disaffection amongst patriots.

Whilst divergent reasons have been adduced for the state of insecurity ravaging the country, and in particular, Eastern Nigeria, in resolving the nagging issue, there is need for a proactive leadership to check the rising spate of poverty. The Governments of all States, including those in the Eastern Region, should deploy means of uplifting the standard of living of Nigerians. Good leadership is important; for instance, the State Governors who are duly entitled to certain amounts of allocation as security votes, should render proper account.

There is also an urgent need to checkmate lopsided political appointments, to stem agitations by ethnic nationalities.

In the face of the deploring security situation confronting the nation at this time, there is definitely a need for re-conceptualisations of national security; advocating for non-recognition of any State security outfit in Nigeria is not in the best interest of the country, in view of the principle of true Federalism.

State Police should be considered and Vigilante groups established for the protection of lives and property, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Police must operate within the ambit of the law.

There must be collaborations between States and the Federal Government on security matters; the National Assembly should ac-

South East Security Crisis: A National Problem Professor Andrew Chukwumerie, SAN It is all over the country. I think one of the sources of the problem is the fact that though the State Governors are recognised by the Constitution and the laws as the Chief Security Officers of their States, the same Constitution and laws deny them the power and reality of being the Chief Security Officers of their States.

While a Governor may instruct the Commissioner of Police, for instance, on a security issue in his State, the Commissioner may well ignore the instruction from the Governor and wait for confirmation from the Inspector General of Police, or by extension, the President. In the same way, the Governor cannot instruct the GOC or other equivalent of the armed forces like the Navy or Air Force.

The Way Forward The way forward is to make the Governors the Chief Security Officers - the decentralisation of the nation's security architecture. I have not been a fan for State Police but with the way things have gone, State Police now appears attractive and inevitable.

It may have its drawbacks, but for effective policing in the country, State Police involving community policing should be embraced.

Another way forward, is the restructuring of the country. On this, it seems to appear that several parts of the country are at one, at least in theory. Whilst some parts of the country seem very serious about restructuring, some parts seem to cont'd on page 10

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Escalating Insecurity: A National Malaise cont'd from page 9

pay lip service to it. The end result is that, there are several meanings and interpretations of restructuring.

In my view, restructuring must be along the lines of the six geopolitical zones now existing in the country. It seems that the old regional arrangement is hardly acceptable now, as people in the South-South can hardly accept to come under a regional government, or its equivalent, in the South-East. The restructuring must, of course, involve finance and revenue. Along with, a panacea for most of the problems facing the country, is for the adoption of place of residence in preference for place of origin/extraction. If somebody has lived in a place for five years, nothing should stop him adopting that place as his place of origin. Finally, Nigerians must be delivered from tribalism and sectionalism. That is not something that can be legislated upon. Unless we are delivered from tribalism and sectionalism, whatever else is out in place may just fail.

Prof Chukummerie SAN writes from Owerri.

Samuel Ortom: When a Governor Has to Flee!

Jide Ojo Introduction On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, politician, farmer, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment, and now Governor of Benue escaped death by whiskers when assailants suspected to be herders waylaid him on his way back from his farm. According to Ortom, about 15 herders who were dressed in black outfits ambushed him and his security personnel. In his words “…. I went to my farm along Gboko road. And, on our way back, we started hearing some gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black, and from experience, we now discovered that these are Fulani militias and I did not want to take things for granted because, few days ago, the media were awash with statements from MACBAN who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016 where they decided that they will take Nigeria, and that every other person is a slave; that was when they started infiltrating the entire country”.

According to the Governor, “I appreciate the security men attached to me. They were able to repel them, and the gunmen could not have access to me. And I thank God for my fitness, to have run for more than one and a half kilometres without stopping.

It means that God has given me strength, and I am grateful to God.” Ortom, who has been a vocal critic of open grazing of cattle, reportedly impounded over 200 cows for violating the anti-grazing law the State passed in 2018. The attack on the Governor has been widely condemned by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum, the Peoples Democratic Party, and as well as many other groups. The

ment Area of the State, was said to have been razed down by the suspected herdsmen. The rice farm, according to the Farm Manager, Kena Iordzua, covered about 250 hectares of land, with the burnt rice estimated at over N100 million. The farm Manager told The PUNCH correspondent that the herders came to the farm with a large number of cattle during the day, and set it on fire at three different points.

Iordzua said the inferno could not be put out due to the wild nature of the fire, as a result of the harmattan. The farm Manager added that security agents were mobilised to go after the herdsmen, who shot sporadically in the air as they retreated towards the Nasarawa State border.

Professor Andrew Chukwumerie, SAN

former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, also promptly ordered an investigation into the attack.

FUNAM Claims responsibility On March 20, 2021, in a press statement signed by Umar Amir Shehu, a group known as The Fulani Nationality Movement, (FUNAM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said it had genuine reasons, as it acted on behalf of millions of Fulani people in 15 countries. FUNAM said it is a case of vengeance against an infidel, who has used his time and money in destroying the Fulani values and inheritance. According to the group, “Our courageous fighters carried out this historic attack to send a great message to Ortom and his collaborators: Wherever you are, once you are against Fulani long term interest, we shall get you down. This is a clear warning. We hope those who take us for granted, will get the indisputable message”.

FUNAM claimed 11 of its operatives were involved in the attack' and that the

“IT IS HOPED THAT THE FACT THAT A GROUP HAS OWNED UP TO HAVE PERPETRATED THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ORTOM, SHOULD PUT PAID TO SPECULATION THAT THE GOVERNOR ORCHESTRATED OR STAGE MANAGED THE ATTACK ON HIMSELF, IN ORDER TO DRAW SYMPATHY”

Governor was able to escape because of a slight technical communication error. It claimed Ortom has been leading the campaign against Fulani interests, in the North. The group said it has operatives in all Southern States. It warned collaborators working against Fulani people across Nigeria, of dire consequences. It stated clearly that any State or individual that opposes RUGA or ranching, will be confronted.

It said FUNAM will carry out attacks on strategic human and material assets of States and non-State groups or individuals, known for their anti-Fulani campaigns.

The PM News on March 21, 2021, first published the FUNAM press statement. The newspaper reported further that in 2018, the group had triggered some furore in Nigeria when it claimed the Fulani are the owners of the Nigerian territory, from Sokoto to the Atlantic. The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar, CFR, the spiritual head of the Fulani, reportedly doubted the authenticity of the group and disowned its statement as reckless. The group allegedly has made several incendiary statements thereafter, without any consequence. According to the PM News, in February 2020, the group in a statement by its president, Badu Salisu Ahmadu, claimed a special Fulani Strike Force was responsible for the killing of 23 people in Plateau State in late January 2020. It is hoped that the fact that a group has owned up to have perpetrated the assassination attempt on Ortom, should put paid to speculation that the Governor orchestrated or stage managed the attack on himself, in order to draw sympathy.

Ortom’s Rice Farm Razed on December 31, 2018 The recent attempt on the life of Governor Samuel Ortom, was not the first to make him pay for supposedly opposing Fulani interest. According to The PUNCH newspaper of January 2, 2019, suspected armed Fulani herdsmen on New Year’s eve stormed the rice farm belonging to Samuel Ortom, and set it ablaze. The rice farm, located in Gbajimba in the Guma Local Govern-

Was Ortom the only Governor to be attacked in Nigeria?

At least nine people were reportedly killed in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday, November 21, 2020 when Boko Haram terrorists targeted a convoy belonging to Borno State Governor.

According to local reports, members of the terrorist group attacked the convoy of Gov. Babagana Zulum on the Gajiram-Monguno road, killing seven soldiers and two civilians. Zulum escaped uninjured, but, it was the third time he had been attacked by Boko Haram terrorists, a report by Anadolu Agency (AA) said. Zulum’s convoy was reportedly attacked twice along the Baga Highway in September 2020.

Also, former Governor of Benue State, George Akume in March 2004 escaped assassination, after his convoy was attacked near Nasarawa-Eggon, Nasarawa State on his way to Kaduna to attend a meeting of the Governors of the 19 Northern States. His friend and former Managing Director of the Nigeria Airways, Engineer Andrew Agom and a security guard, Sergeant John Ngam, died in the attack.

General State of Insecurity in Nigeria Such is the general state of insecurity in Nigeria, that traditional rulers, political office holders and persons considered as Very Important Personalities, have been targeted for attacks by unknown armed groups. In November 2020, bandits shot a prominent First Class traditional ruler in Ondo State, Oba Israel Adeusi who was the Olufon of Ifon. Ifon is located in Ose Local Government Area of the State in South-West Nigeria. Oba Adeusi was said to be returning to his town from Akure, the Ondo State capital, where he went for a meeting with other frontline traditional rulers in the State. In December last year, unknown gunmen attacked the convoy of the Emir of Kaura Namoda in Zamfara State, Alhaji Sanusi Muhammadu Asha, killing three Policemen, and five of his guards and aides.

Ortom’s Spat with Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State In February 2021, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State engaged in a word of words with his Benue State counterpart on his handling of the herders/farmers conflict. Mohammed blamed Ortom for his 'lack of foresight', for the negative perception of Fulani herders in the country. Speaking on cont'd on page 11

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Escalating Insecurity: A National Malaise “THE KANO STATE

cont'd from page 10

the theme "The Role of the Media in Promoting Peace and Unity in Nigeria", which marked the closing ceremony of 2021 Correspondents' Chapel Week organised by Correspondents' Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bauchi State Council, the Governor lamented that the herder/farmers crisis was poorly handled by Benue State Governor.

The Governor further lamented that pastoralists in the country, particularly Fulanis, are being maligned even though most of them have become victims of cattle rustlers who have dispossessed them of their commonwealth, and they ‘have no option than to carry AK47 because the society and the Government are not protecting them’.

On Friday, February 12, 2021, Ortom’s Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase issued a statement on the matter. He said inter alia that “the most shocking part of Governor Bala Mohammed’s statement was where he defended herdsmen for bearing arms. “I wonder which section of the law the Bauchi State Governor cited to support herdsmen’s free movement around the country with sophisticated weapons. I recall that it was the same Governor Mohammed who once said on national television, that a Fulani man is a global citizen, and therefore, does not need a visa to come to Nigeria, and that the forests belong to herdsmen. I wonder if my friend and colleague in Bauchi State knows a thing or two about the horrendous activities of herders in parts of the country, to warrant the emotional defence and justification that he has repeatedly put forward in their favour”. After the brickbat, the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and his Adamawa State counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri, invited the two feuding Governors to Port Harcourt and settled the rift.

Resolving the Herders/Farmers Crisis in Nigeria From all indications, it will seem the genesis of the crisis for which the life of the Benue Governor is being sought, is over the 2018 anti-open grazing law in the State. It should be recalled that this law was a ‘child of necessity’ and a last resort, after years of attack by supposed herders on the farmlands of Benue indigenes, especially in Agatu and Guma Local Government Areas.

The two LGAs were the epicentre of the 2018 New Year’s Day massacre, that left close to 80 persons dead. It was a pogrom that shook the entire State.

Governor Samuel Ortom has pledged not to repeal this anti-open grazing law.

Other States such as Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo have also passed similar legislations.

In fact, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State on January 18, 2021 incurred the wrath of some Northern groups, when he gave a quit notice to all herders who are illegally rearing their cattle inside the Ondo forest reserves.

The Governor issued a statement which read: “Today we have taken major steps at addressing the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State. These unfortunate incidents, are traceable to the activities of some bad elements masquerading as herdsmen. These

GOVERNOR, ABDULLAHI GANDUJE, AND INDEED, THE NORTHERN GOVERNORS FORUM HAVE COME OUT TO SAY THAT OPEN GRAZING IS NO LONGER FASHIONABLE AND SUSTAINABLE IN NIGERIA, AND THAT THE BEST WAY TO GO IS RANCHING”

Jide Ojo

felons have turned our forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating for ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.

As the Chief Law and Security Officer of the State, it is my constitutional obligation, to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the State. In light of the foregoing, the following orders are hereby issued: 1. All Forest Reserves in the State are to be vacated by herdsmen within the next seven days with effect from today, Monday 18th January, 2021.

2. Night-grazing is banned with immediate effect, because most farm destruction takes place at night.

3. Movement of cattle within cities and highways is prohibited.

4. Under-aged grazing of cattle is outlawed.

“Our resolution to guarantee the safety of lives and property within the State shall remain utmost, as security agencies have been directed to enforce the ban. In its usual magnanimity, our administration will give a grace period of seven days for those who wish to carry on with their cattle-rearing business, to register with appropriate authorities”.

It is the herders/farmers clashes that have also led to a non-State actor, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho, to similarly give a quit notice to Fulani’s in Igangan in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, and the forceful ejection of Seriki Fulani of the town, Abdulkadir Saliu. Similarly, members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) recently captured and handed over to the Police, Isikilu Wakili, a prominent Fulani herder in Ayete area of Ibarapa, who was fingered in many kidnapping and rape cases in the town.

The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and indeed, the Northern Governors Forum have come out to say that open grazing is no longer fashionable and sustainable in Nigeria, and that the best way to go is ranching.

Sometime ago, as published in Business Day of Saturday, March 27, 2021 while fielding questions from journalists in Katsina, the Kano State Governor disclosed that his administration has

been able to stem the tide of banditry, by establishing a ranching culture in the State. He said, “We are building a RUGA settlement in Sambisa forest, our border with Katsina, and we have succeeded in curtailing the effect of banditry in that area. So, we are building many houses, constructing a dam, and establishing cattle artificial insemination centre. We are establishing a veterinary clinic and already, we have started building houses for herdsmen.”

Ganduje advocated for the proscription of nomadic herding which features the transportation or trekking of herdsmen, from the North to the middle belt and Southern part of Nigeria. “There should be a law that will ban it, otherwise, we cannot control the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers and cannot control the cattle rustling which are affecting us greatly”, he said.

The Northern Governors Forum headed by Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, also met on the herders/farmers clashes. In a communiqué issued on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 after their virtual meeting the previous day, the forum noted as follows: “The current system of herding mainly through open grazing, is no longer sustainable, in view of growing urbanisation and population of the country. Consequently, it resolved to sensitise herders on the need to adopt new methods of herding, either by ranching or other acceptable modern methods. It appealed to the Federal Government to support States with grants, to directly undertake pilot projects of modern livestock production that would serve as a springboard for the full implementation of new methods of livestock production. The Governors called on political leaders to isolate criminality and social groups in their domains, with a view to treating criminals like criminals”.

A February 24, 2021 report in Vanguard newspaper reported that, the Federal Government, on February 23 announced securing €400,000 grant to kick off National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP, in four States. In a statement by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Project for Agricultural Coordination and Planning, PACE, President

Muhammadu Buhari, secured the grant from the Dutch Investment Agency, RVO, after approval of the grant, which Buhari signed a Memorandum of Understanding, during his visit to the Netherlands. The States for the NLTP include Nasarawa, Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe. The statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Dr Andrew Kwasari, who was accompanied by members of the FMARD-PACE Team on a two-day visit to the Nasarawa State Livestock Transformation Office to ensure that the State Livestock Transformation team was fully aware of the requirements for successful implementation of the pilot, said the €400,000 covered 50% of the cost of the pilot start-up of NLTP model in Nasarawa State for 30 pastoralist households, with a start date of March, 2021.

Final words The Federal Government is right on track with kick starting the National Livestock Transformation Plan, under which it intended to establish ranching.

However, it has to also sponsor an executive bill to ban open grazing nationwide. Despite the purported ban of open grazing in the Federal Capital Territory by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, herders are still going about their business without let or hindrance. All forest reserves in Nigeria also have to be wired with Closed Circuit Television cameras, drones and satellite surveillance, in order to expose criminal herders using the forests as hideout for kidnapped victims. All apprehended criminal elements should be prosecuted and made to serve their punishments, rather than offering them nebulous amnesty which has so far proved counterproductive. Lastly, attackers of Samuel Ortom must be fished out and prosecuted, in competent court of law.

Jide Ojo, Development Consultant, Author, Columnist and Public Affairs Analyst

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When Emperor Nero Roosts in Nigeria Introduction In governance style and body language, President Muhammadu Buhari appears to be the Roman Emperor Nero of Nigeria. They are two of a kind. The same six and half a dozen. The same Hamlet and the Prince of Denmark.

The same beans, akara and moinmoin. He fiddles while Nigeria burns. To fiddle is to spend time in aimless or fruitless actions. It is quite clear now that, Nigeria is not working. The fault lines are widening and deepening on a daily basis. Into gullies, canyons. Our Federalism has been unitarised. The Federal Government is the king. The States are vassals. Can someone (Yinka Odumlakin and Innocent Chukwuma who just transited) help us here, by waking up Lord Lugard from his grave, shaking him up vigorously, and asking him one all-important question: why did he on January 1, 1914, forcefully rail-road and weld together, unwilling, disparate, and virtually mutually exclusive peoples and ethnic Nationalities who were already set in their ways, and used to their sovereignty and independence in their various geographical and ethnic domains? Why did Lugard force them into one unworkable contraption called Nigeria?

Yinka and Innocent, go about out in the spirit world, capture Lugard and help us torment this man who had married Miss Flora Louisa Shaw (the young British Journalist who gave Nigeria her name after the Niger River-“Niger Area”, in an article she wrote in the Times of London on January 8, 1897. For the record, Nigeria was formerly called the “Royal Niger Company Territories”. Miss Shaw (later Mrs Lugard) felt this name was too long, to be used as a name for Real Estate Property. After all, Nigeria had been sold to the British for £865,000 only in 1899, as a mere commodity. Flora coined the name “Nigeria” in preference to others such as “Central Sudan”. To her, Nigeria was an “agglomeration of pagan and Mohammedan States”.

Hold Lugard by the neck, until he provides reasonable and cogent answers. There is today in Nigeria, anger, anguish, blood, sorrow, pains and pangs everywhere. Even those who had initially ethnicised, parochialised, nepotised, linguisticalised, religionised and tribalised Nigerians' cry for redemption, have now backslided and retraced their ignoble steps. The ruling party hawks, the Buhari supremacists, the pretenders, fawners, bootleggers, bootlickers, money bags, sycophants, government contractors, power and influence purveyors and historical revisionists are now suddenly silent, gaping, and wallowing in misery. They are undecided about how and where to hide their primitive acquisitions, loot and our stolen common patrimony.

Because, the chicken has finally come home to roost. The rich also now cries. Even long time pioneer ardent critics (like me) of this clueless, rudderless, compassless and anti-people government, have been given a break. My constant highlighting of this Government’s shortcomings and serial acts of nepotism, favouritism, prebendalism, cronyism, religiosity, corruption and tribalism, are now being vindicated on a daily basis. Nigeria has become a huge joke; a country of one scandal per day everyday.

Nigeria, we hail (wail) thee.

Our President is Missing in Action Nigeria has become a country where the Government defends Service Chiefs, Ministers and aides who are accused of corruption and show sympathy for deadly terrorists (some of the Herdsmen). Yet, there is supposed to be a President. He is President Muhammadu Buhari. But, Buhari is glaringly missing in action, cocooned away in Aso Villa from his electors and the Nigerian people. He is like a struggling pupa and larva, refusing to metamorphose into a caterpillar, and then into adulthood. Buhari's capacity for governance, has been tested over a period of six years.

But, Buhari has woefully and roundly failed Nigeria and Nigerians, as he once did between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985, before General Badamasi Babangida overthrew his despotic Government.

Boko Haram insurgents have since taken over large swaths of lands in Niger, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, Borno, Zamfara, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Taraba, Kogi, Kwara, Jigawa and Adamawa, States.

Boko Haram operates comfortably and confidently, planting their blood-stained flags of sovereignty and sozereignty on the very soil of some of these States, and their local government areas. In a supposedly sovereign and independent nation! Having overrun the entire Northern hemisphere, the Boko Haram, insurgents have since turned the South East and South West zones into their new theatres and odeons of deadly operations.

The insurgents and merchants of disintegration spread and spill blood, carnage, rape, fear, death, melancholy, poverty and conquest. Nigeria is today, a sprawling field

a legitimate government and marauders. That is one big sign of a failed State.

There is absolutely no leadership; no governance at all. No one appears to be in charge, at all. By the way, where is the famed cabal? Gone with the wind? We are fast drifting to the precipice. Inexorably. Asphyxiatingly.

Bleedingly. There may be no country called Nigeria in the foreseeable future, if someone does not wake up President Buhari from his deep slumber and self-denial.

The man is a recluse, ascetic, reticent, dodgy, taciturn and cocooned in his false world of illusion and delusion. He is impervious to Nigerians' moans, complaints and groans.

Nigerians who are gnashing their teeth, are accused of being “Wailing Wailers”. Though most unfair, Buhari relishes this tag. But, hiding behind a finger as he is currently doing, in the wishful thinking that he will one day wake up and suddenly discover that the insecurity challenges have vanished into thin air, is not possible at all. It is a tall dream. He needs to urgently wake up to his call of duty, walk the talk of his Electioneering Campaign Promises, and think outside the box. An Immediate Declaration of a National State of Emergency on Insecurity Must Be Activated Now. Otherwise, Nigeria may be consigned to the vehicle of historical oblivion, or the dustbin of history. The clock is ticking very fast.

There was a country!!! (Thank you sir, Chinua Achebe).

President Muhammadu Buhari

of fresh and caked blood. Blood of Nigerians congealed by afternoon baking sun. The terrorists even now collect taxes, rates, and give identity cards and passes to indigenes to enable them enter and exit from their own homes and farms. Because they are in absolute control. They represent the absolutist Sheriffs in town.

Governors who desire to reach Mr President to complain and ask for succour and respite, are degradingly stonewalled, totally ignored, despised and ignominiously left to lick their oozing wounds. They are forced to preside over solemn dirges, and burial ceremonies of their hopeless and hapless citizens. Chaos and anarchy now reign supreme.

Nigeria is fast disintegrating. She now possesses all the ingredients and signs of a FAILED STATE. There is now balance of power and instruments of violence, between

“BOKO HARAM INSURGENTS HAVE SINCE TAKEN OVER LARGE SWATHS OF LANDS IN NIGER, KADUNA, BENUE, PLATEAU, BORNO, ZAMFARA, YOBE, GOMBE, BAUCHI, KANO, NASARAWA, KEBBI, KATSINA, SOKOTO, TARABA, KOGI, KWARA, JIGAWA AND ADAMAWA, STATES”

Remembering Buhari as Emperor Nero Does President Buhari want to be remembered as the infamous Emperor Nero of Nigeria? Do not permit this tag, Sir. PMB, Let me refresh your memory Sir, because I know none of your handlers or Advisers will dare tell you the truth. They only genuflect, kneel, bow, prostrate and roll before you on their obsequious tommies. They fondly call you “Baba”. They idolise and deify your age and position, instead of competence. Let me tell you about Nero, Sir. Nero was the 5th Emperor of Rome. He was proclaimed Emperor Nero (AD 54) at the age of a mere 16. Nero was very ambitious.

Nero, Sir, is a metaphor employed to deprecate the unconscionable acts of a person who engages in trivial or irresponsible past times, in an otherwise state of emergency.

The story has it that Nero was infamous for his impulsiveness, tyranny and persecution of Christians. He even murdered his own power-hungry mother. There was said to be a great raging fire, which started in the merchant shops around Rome’s Chariot’s Stadium (“Cirus Maximus”), on July 1964 AD. The fire burned for a total of nine days in this city of two million people, destroying two-thirds of Rome-10 out of Rome’s 14 Districts. The 800 year Temple of Jupiter Stator and the Atrium Vestae (the heart of the Vestal Virgins), were completely destroyed. Emperor Nero, who was said to be idling away in his villa in the cooler city of Antium (35 miles away), merrily playing the fiddle, was said to have blamed the fire devastation on the Jewish Christian religious community. He therefore, initiated the Roman Empire’s first persecution of Christians. Citizens were prevented from fighting the fire, with threats of torture and death. He mercilessly and savagely crucified many of them. Some pundits even suggested that Nero had deliberately ordered the fire so as to bypass the Senate, clear space for a new sprawling palace, and rebuild Rome to his taste. There seems to be logic in this thin king, because Nero built the Domus Aurea, series of majestic villas and pavilions set upon a landscaped park and a man-made lake, in the very wake of the blazing inferno.

The palaces were known as NEROPOLIS. Sir, do not let yourself be remembered like Nero. Please, Sir, avoid it.

Nero is bad history. Pull yourself out of ignoble history.

Try to use your remaining two years well Sir. Time is not on your side Sir. Nor is age. Nor is strength. Nor is capacity. Nor is vision.

Whatever be the case, for now, I cannot honestly differentiate between Emperor Nero and Major General Buhari; or between Nigeria and the Rome of AD 54. Or, can you?

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK “We've seen over time that countries that have the best economic growth are those that have good governance, and good governance comes from freedom of communication.

It comes from ending corruption. It comes from a populace that can go online and say, 'This politician is corrupt, this administrator, or this public official is corrupt”. (Ramez Naam) A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. (Gerald R. Ford)

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

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Quick Takes SKLD to Reward Loyal Customers

STOCK-TAKING

Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe (left) and the bank’s Chairman, Mustafa Chike-Obi, during the bank’s 33rd Annual General Meeting held in Lagos…recently

FG to Revamp Task Team on Prompt Implementation of Audit Reports Stories by Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government has said that it is set to reinvigorate the Inter Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) set up to ensure prompt implementation of findings and recommendations in industry audit reports of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, who chairs the committee, while speaking during a visit to NEITI secretariat, said he was at the agency’s headquarters to fashion out the modalities and the framework for the new panel.

“The Inter - Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) will now be resuscitated, it will come back to life and will continue to discharge the very objectives for which the government set up that committee to achieve.

The result will begin to come very soon.

ECONOMY “This is part of the collaboration. We are always supportive of what NEITI is doing and they are equally collaborating with us. We will put heads together to make sure that whatever is due to government by way of revenue, royalty, fines and so on, do come to government.

“We are supportive hundred percent of what NEITI is doing and we will assist them to achieve their objectives,” Idris assured.

He explained that NEITI was working in the areas of curbing corruption and plugging leakages in the extractive industries, stressing that the visit showed the importance his office attaches to NEITI’s job of scrutinising revenues and ensuring that such revenues are fully accounted for.

“We have a lot in common because as a treasury,

we also have an oversight function on revenues coming to government, not just the federal government but to the entire federation and that is also what NEITI is doing,” he added.

While welcoming the nation’s chief accountant, NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, said he would continue to ensure that the job of tracking government finances in the extractive industries is done effectively.

“We want to work with all agencies that either take custody of government funds, warehouse or manage them because most of these funds come from the extractive industries and the office of the accountant general of the federation is the nation’s treasury house, so the office has enormous responsibilities in that regard.

“I am very much encouraged by the massive reforms that the accountant general’s

office has carried out in terms of payment systems that have been automated. This has reduced very significantly issues of corruption. That is why NEITI finds the office a very useful partner.

“When we look at NEITI’s industry reports, we are encouraged by the responsiveness of the office to NEITI’s remedial issues,” Orji added.

The NEITI boss regretted that in the last five years, the IMTT has not been very active but pointed out that the committee will be resuscitated to reduce to the barest minimum the chances of NEITI quarrelling with sister agencies on the pages of newspapers.

“This is because from inception the concept of the IMTT by government was to ensure inter-agency discussion and dialogue on NEITI remedial issues with a view Continued on page 24

…Plans Nuclear Plant for Power Generation To curb the perennial electricity supply challenges in the country, the federal government has said that it is exploring opportunities in nuclear power generation.

Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Dr. Usman Idris, who spoke when the organisation paid a courtesy visit to the national commission, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), stated that the move will considerably reduce the power deficit in the country.

The DG/CEO NNRA, who was represented by the General Manager, Radiological Safety, Dr. Isa Sambo, explained

ENERGY that all avenues were being explored to ensure that Nigeria’s power supply problems are quickly resolved.

“Nigeria is working towards developing a nuclear power plant for electricity generation and therefore, there is need for the NNRA to explore all opportunities for capacity building,’’ he stated.

Idris reiterated the mandate and activities of the NNRA, starting from regulating the possession and use of radioactive material in the country throughout the entire value chain. He said the sole aim of the entire regulatory process was to protect human life,

environment and property from the harmful effects of ionising radiation.

Idris added that the NNRA has over the years worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the aspect of regulation, stressing that the relationship has been cordial and fruitful.

He disclosed that the visit was part of the commission’s effort to build capacity of staff in the regulation of nuclear technology development, with a view to enhancing the overall competence of the NNRA staff.

He noted that the agency was strengthening relationship with other government bodies for capacity building of staff in order to enhance their competence in addition

to exploring the opportunity for research and fellowship provided by the UNESCO for Nigerians.

In his comment, the Secretary General of UNESCO, Mr. Olagunju Idowu, appreciated the team for encouraging partnership and affirmed that UNESCO’s focus is to ensure that citizens benefit from its enormous opportunities.

He assured NNRA of the organisation’s readiness to collaborate with it in the interest of the nation.

Meanwhile, the NNRA has restated its commitment to ensuring safety in the workplace, in commemoration of World Safety Day with the Continued on page 24

The SKLD Integrated Services through its retail unit, SKITrecently announced the launch of a campaign to reward its customers with over N6 million worth of discount, vouchers and gift items. The promo tagged,‘SKLDRewardPromo,’commencedinAprilandwillruntillFriday, May 24, whilst draws will be held every Friday from the 23rd of April physically and virtually in order to select the six lucky winners.

The SKLD reward promo which seeks to reward six back-to-school shoppers every Friday for five weeks with N30,000 SKIT shopping vouchers would also comprise of back-to-school supplies such as, bags, school uniforms, shoes and all sort of stationeries.

Speaking on the initiative, General Manager Commercials, SKLD Integrated Services, Seun Ogunjimi, said the initiative is the company’s value proposition to customers.

“Weremaindeterminedtowardsbuildingvalueforallofourstakeholders thereby, ensuring that our consumers have one less thing to think about when it comes to their children’s education, we are currently aware of their difficulties, especially as a result of the pandemic, and we want to help alleviate them.

“TheSKLDRewardPromowascreatedasaresultofthis.For5weeks during the promo, we will be rewarding 30 skit customers with over N1 million in discount, vouchers and gift items.

“We also, identify with the challenges of running a business in this environment, as such, we are rewarding school owners 20 per cent discount on school uniform purchases in our Marcel Hughes early bird campaign,” she said.

In his remarks, Brands and Marketing Manager, SKLD Integrated Services, Wale Disu, said the reward scheme represents one of the organisation’s core values, saying it is customer- focused.

Tesla Under Scrutiny in China

Electric vehicle makerTesla Inc., facing scrutiny in China over safety and customer service complaints, is boosting its engagement with mainland regulators and beefing up its government relations team, industry sources said.

According to Reuters, Tesla’s change of strategy leading to more behind-the-scenes interaction with policymakers in Beijing compared to relatively little previously showed the seriousness with which the US automaker views the setbacks in its second-biggest market.

It also comes at a time when China is trying to regulate large and powerful private companies, especially in the technology sector, on concerns about their market dominance.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, a public holiday in China.

As they do elsewhere, regulators in China, the world’s biggest auto market, discuss industry policies and standards with global and local companies, industry associations and think tanks.

Manufacturers typically join such meetings in China, but unlike rivals includingToyota Motor (7203.T) and General Motors Co (GM.N),Tesla officialswerelargelyabsentfromtheclosed-doorgatherings,according to four people familiar with the matter.

Online Retail Sales Jumps to 19%

Online sales accounted for nearly a fifth of total retail turnover last year as lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic fuelled a boom in e-commerce, a United Nations study released on Mondayshowed. Onlinesalesaccountedfor19percentofoverallretail sales in 2020, up from 16 per cent a year earlier, according to estimates from the UN Conference onTrade and Development (UNCTAD) based on national statistical offices in major economies.

Reuters quoted the report to have revealed that South Korea reported the highest share at 25.9 per cent, up from 20.8 per cent the year before. China had a 24.9 per cent share, Britain 23.3 per cent and the United States 14 per cent.

Global e-commerce sales rose four per cent to $26.7 trillion in 2019, accordingtothelatestestimatesavailable,UNCTADsaid.Thisincluded business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, and was equivalent to 30 per cent of global economic output that year.

The pandemic led to mixed fortunes for leading B2C e-commerce companies in 2020, according to the report.

“You have to maintain your aircraft and without a standard globally acceptable maintenance organisation here you will still need to take aircraft out” CEO, Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe

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BUSINESSWORLD FG TO REVAMP TASK TEAM ON PROMPT IMPLEMENTATION OF AUDIT REPORTS to resolving them.

“It was quite impactful in the past and that is why we are going back to that task team with the support and collaboration with the office of the accountant general of the federation”, the NEITI Chief said.

Meanwhile, NEITI is to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

The MoU is to define modalities for deepening the engagement with the NFIU in the areas of information and data sharing in financial corruption in the extractive industries.

The executive secretary of NEITI, explained that the measures were designed to ensure that those who take compliance to NEITI processes for granted will face the consequences.

…PLANS NUCLEAR PLANT FOR POWER GENERATION Association for Occupational Safety and Health of Nigeria (OSHA).

OSHA is an independent academy and professional institution with global and regional chapters dedicated to supporting individuals and corporate organisations around the world in achieving zero accident at the workplaces.

Speaking after the inauguration of committee members from various ministries, private organisations, health and safety advocates and ambassadors to help push for maximum safety in the society, NNRA Manager, Information and Protocol , Mrs Ekaette Bassey, stated that the agency would continue to ensure protection of life, health, property and the environment from the harmful effects of ionising radiation.

The event focused on promoting safety consciousness in workplaces, homes, schools, markets and other public places with the ultimate goal of achieving significant reduction in the occurrence of accidents and fatalities in the country.

NEWS

$1.3 Zungeru Power Plant Reaches 88% Completion Stories by Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The $1.3 billion Zungeru hydroelectric power located in Kaduna State, has now reached 88 per cent completion, with December 2021, set as the date for its inauguration.

Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, who made the disclosure in an infographics updating the country on the extent of work, stated that 700 MW would be injected into the national grid by the time the project becomes functional.

Designed to generate about 2,630GWH annually, Mamman stated that the project comprises a composite dam with roller compacted concrete, asphaltic core rockfill dam, diversion work, spillway and plunge pool, power intake and penstocks as well as tall race channels.

In addition, the Zungeru works, he said, has 330/132 transmission lines evacuating power to the existing grid connecting Jebba and Shiroro power plants as well as the Tegina substation and further consists of four Francis turbine units. Mamman stated that while the overall progress of work has

now been put at 88 per cent, dam civil works have reached 98 per cent and electrical as well as hydro-chemical works have hit 75 per cent.

He disclosed that the project was being funded by a counterpart financing mechanism, with the federal government having paid up its entire share of $309,250,000.

In addition, he stated that over $1 billion has been paid till date, of the entire $1.293 billion contract being executed by Mssrs CNECC Sinohybrid Consortium.

Still on the financing of the project, the minister said that a loan of $984.3 million was taken from the Exim Bank of China to rev up the country’s power infrastructure.

While expressing excitement over the project, Mamman said the work started in 2013, while the overall completion was set for December 28.

“I am excited to announce that we will be injecting about 700MW of electricity into the national grid by December 2021 from the Zungeru Plant barring any unforeseen developments.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to deliver this project in December 2020 as planned due to the global pandemic which meant workers on site had to be away for the better part of last year.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to completing all inherited and initiated projects,” Mamman assured.

STAKEHOLDERS’ ENGAGEMENT

L-R: Second Vice President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria(CIBN), Prof Deji Olanrewaju; President, Dr. Bayo Olugbemi; Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Prof Bolaji Owasanoye; Registrar/Chief Executive, CIBN, Mr. Seye Awojobi; Member, ICPC, Mrs. Olubukola Balogun; and National Treasurer, CIBN, Mr. Dele Alabi, at the CIBN stakeholders’ engagement with the Commission in Abuja recently

FG Seeks Curb Advance Rent Payment The federal government has urged private developers and individuals to consider limiting the practice of collecting rent in advance, especially for long periods.

The government maintained that during renewal, private landlords should give back by accepting monthly, quarterly or half- yearly rent instead of one year, two or three years rent in advance.

Speaking at the ninth Council

on Lands, Housing and Urban Development Meeting held in Jos, Plateau state, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, argued that the government has a limited role to play in the provision of affordable housing to Nigerians since houses are mostly built by individuals and private companies.

Represented by the Minister of State, Works and Housing, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, Fashola enjoined the council to recommend, as part

of its communique, a legislation that limits payment of rent in advance and add sanctions for violation.

“It is therefore my candid recommendation to this council to consider intervention by way of recommending a legislation that limits advance payment for renting an accommodation,” he stated. In addition, Fashola urged the council to consider cooperative housing as part of their discourse and recommendations for afford-

ability and accessibility to housing in the country.

“My recommendation for improving access and affordability to housing in the Covid-19 era is for private companies and individuals to give back some of what they control to citizens in the way the federal government has given back to citizens some of what it controls,” he said.

He stated that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) had been driving the cooperative

housing initiative at the federal government level, describing it as a flexible scheme in terms of design, leveraging members to get group discount for purchase of building materials as well as engagement of contractors.

In his remarks, Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong told the participants to come up with tangible solutions to tackle the challenges of land titling affecting affordable and accessible housing in the country.

Nigeria Asks WAPP Members to Offset Pending Dues Nigeria has requested members of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to pay up their pending dues in order to ensure smooth operation of the regional power group.

Aside Nigeria, other members of the group include Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The body was created to

ensure regional power system integration and realisation of a regional electricity market and is made up of public and private generation, transmission and distribution companies involved in the operation of electricity in West Africa.

Speaking at WAPP’s 49th Executive Board meeting in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, Chairman, Mr. Sule Abdulaziz, who also doubles as the acting Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), stated that though

economies have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was the need to build resilience to enable the pool achieve its goals.

A statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, explained: “The Chairman while welcoming members of the board to the meeting, stressed the need for member utilities to pay their dues promptly, to enable WAPP to continue to discharge its duties to member states.

“He commended member utilities that have paid their dues for the year 2021 despite the effects of COVID-19, and equally encouraged others who were yet to do so, to endeavour to do so.”

Nigeria expressed satisfaction over the implementation status of WAPP priority projects which it said show that the projects were progressing despite the pandemic and its disruptive effect.

It stated that related challenges such as Right of Way (RoW) is-

sues were being addressed and commended the secretary general for the successful negotiation with WAPP technical and financial partners on the financing of a significant number of projects.

Some of the projects include the Cote d’Ivoire – Liberia – Sierra Leone – Guinea interconnection line (CLSG) project, the L’Organization pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Gambie (OMVG) loop project, and the International Coordination Centre (ICC) project.

‘How TCN is Reducing National Grid Collapses’ Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising) Correspondents

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

ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy)

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has stated that grid collapses throughout the country have reduced considerably due to recent efforts by the company.

Speaking when participants of the Senior Executive Course 43, for the year 2021 of the National Institute for Policy

and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Jos, visited him in Abuja, the Acting Managing Director of the TCN, Mr. Sule Abdulaziz said the present management of TCN was vigorously pursuing its grid maintenance, expansion, and rehabilitation programme.

“I am glad to inform you that

due to our commitment in TCN, transmission grid disturbances have been reduced to the barest minimum; grid capacity has also increased.

“Within the first quarter of this year, TCN efficiently wheeled successive all-time peak generation without a hitch, the latest

being 5,801.60 MW to distribution load centres nationwide,” said Abdulaziz.

The TCN head further noted that the company has continued to collaborate with the Generation Companies (Gencos) and the Distribution Companies (Discos) towards ensuring that

power is made more available to Nigerians.

In his remarks, Chairman of the NIPSS study group, Rear Admiral E.O. Jaiyeola, said the course was to prime the participants on developing strategic and specific policies for national development.

Report: Nigeria, Others to Fuel Asia’s Growth with New Oil, Gas Projects Nigeria and other African nations are becoming a major investment magnet as new discoveries position the continent as a guarantor of energy security to emerging Asian nations, a report by the Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) has indicated.

Quoting secondary sources, it stated that Africa accounted for 8.8 per cent of the world’s oil production in 2019, while Nigeria was Africa’s top oil producer at 2.2 per cent; Algeria was next at 1.6 per cent; then Angola, 1.5 per cent while Libya’s production

was 1.3 per cent. The report released recently, indicated that Africa contributed 6 per cent to the world’s natural gas production in 2019, with Algeria ranking as the continent’s top gas producer at a global share of 2.2 per cent followed by Egypt, 1.6 per cent,

and Nigeria, 1.2 per cent.

“Keen to add to its reserve base, Nigeria is preparing a new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and the government has provisionally awarded tenders to develop 57 marginal oil fields, with $500 million in signature bonuses

at stake. “Nigeria is targeting marginal fields for the first time in 20 years as the country looks not only to boost its revenues but also to raise local participation in the oil sector from indigenous companies, which typically work these marginal fields.

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Examining FG’s Solar Solution for Schools, Hospitals In the next one year, the federal government intends to electrify Nigeria’s 104 Unity Schools and over 200 healthcentres in the country. In this report, Emmanuel Addeh undertakes a preview of the scheme

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hichever way one looks at it, ensuring universal access to energy services in Nigerian schools and health facilities remain an essential requirement for improving the overall well-being of learners in the country as well as patients who go for treatment in health centres all over the nation.

But over the years, despite the obvious link between the provision of electricity and patients’ hospital experience and well as students’ educational achievement, access to sustainable sources of energy has been mostly far-fetched.

Since reliable electricity has become essential to enhancing the general standard of living, it makes sense therefore to assert that the lack of it is also capable of creating considerable impediments towards escaping poverty and is a major contributor to a lower standard of living, which education seeks to eradicate. According to the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), roughly four out of every five primary and secondary schools in African countries lack access to electricity.

In the same vein, quite a number of primary health facilities in the country, especially in rural communities have limited access to energy and still rely heavily on traditional and outdated energy sources.

In areas where they exist, power supply is usually erratic, which adversely impacts the provision of healthcare services and has over the years frustrated medical professionals out of the country.

Indeed, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) estimates that out of the 75,000 doctors registered in the country, about 40,000 practice outside Nigeria, emigrating to countries like the UK where it is projected that 12 doctors from Nigeria are registered every week, owing to issues as basic as power supply.

Without doubt, lack of access to modern forms of energy or what is now commonly referred to as energy poverty, has both direct and indirect harmful effects on health and medical care facilities in Nigeria and by extension in sub-Saharan Africa.

The impact of lack of electricity supply to hospitals, especially primary healthcare centres can be quite devastating as doctors and other medical staff struggle to provide services, especially at night. Depending on paraffin lamps, candles or torches that provide low quality light, give off harmful fumes and, in some cases, present a fire hazard, ultimately, these present more expensive and costlier options in the long run because of their negative effect on livelihoods.

While life-saving treatments cannot be performed without good lighting, conducting medical examinations, invasive surgeries or childbirth, with poor lighting unsurprisingly pose additional risk to the patient.

Even before the added impact of Covid-19, vaccines, medications were expected to be stored in proper conditions, especially vaccines which protect against preventable diseases and can lose their effectiveness when not refrigerated properly.

In remote villages, even small health facilities will need to communicate with specialists, which will be almost impossible without energy to power basic gadgets like communication devices which are necessary to ensure that there is sufficient support during emergencies and enable better treatment decisions by connecting to specialists from referral hospitals.

The most routine procedures, even in cases of childbirth require medical tools that are impossible to use without a reliable power source, as access to power supply can increase child survival rates.

Furthermore, it is not uncommon to see health centres deploying generating sets, with its attendant emission of greenhouse gases which are harmful to already sick patients and exposes them to carbon monoxide poisoning.

In the education sector, the challenges are not less prominent. In 2017, The United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon revealed that about 65 per cent of the 74,280 public primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria lacked electricity, and as a result cannot guarantee technology-based education.

President Muhammadu Buhari Speaking on the topic: “Light up, Light in: Interrogating the Nexus between Electricity and Basic Education in Nigeria,” Kallon said that of the billions of people who lack access to electricity globally, a huge number is resident in Africa.

“But the facts have shown that students who have access to electricity have been confirmed to perform better because they have access to modern facilities,” he stated.

Although in the past, there have been various efforts at minimising the impact of these shortcomings, but the recent initiative by the ministry of power to ensure the electrification of unity schools in the country and primary health centres in the next one year, appears to be one of the programmes with most impactful potential.

The federal government noted that through the programme, its is implementing an off-grid electrification for the deployment of solar electrification projects in the hospitals, schools and households in vulnerable off-grid communities across the country.

Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, said the federal government will set up solar mini-grids in all the 104 unity schools across the country, stressing that the renewable energy project is expected to improve security in the schools.

Aside enhancing students’ learning experience, bandits have in the last few months ramped up attacks on public schools across the country in the cover of darkness, one of the challenges the government is hoping to halt.

Mamman added that mini-grids will also be provided in 200 primary health centres (PHCs) across the country to improve healthcare services.

He said: “The federal ministry of power, under my watch, is embarking on a programme to electrify 200 primary health centres and all the 104 unity schools in the country.

“The mini-grid is also designed to provide solar powered street lights to the immediate communities of the PHCs and within the environment of the Unity Schools.

“We took this extraordinary step, to revolutionise

The federal ministry of power, under my watch, is embarking on a programme to electrify 200 primary health centres and all the 104 unity schools in the country

Mamman and ease the learning process in our schools, as well as to facilitate uninterrupted healthcare services to our rural communities. The lighting programme is also expected to enhance the security arrangements around the schools.”

The minister added that the programme is being handled by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and will create jobs and provide energy access to the unserved or underserved communities across all the geo-political zones under the federal government’s plan to achieve 30 per cent renewable energy sources by 2030.

Recall that the REA is currently implementing the Rural Electrification Fund (REF), Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), Energising Education Programme (EEP), Grid Extension (Capital projects), Energising Economies Initiative (EEI) and Solar Power Naija Programme.

The agency is responsible for creating an enabling environment for private sector-led projects which include conducting pre-feasibility assessments, energy audits, enumeration, data analysis, identification of qualified private sector developers, and project stakeholder engagements.

Mamman reiterated that the scheme will involve the deployment of mini-grids in 200 PHCs and provision of solar street lights to adjoining communities, distribution of Solar Home Systems (SHS) to 104 unity schools and provision of solar street lights within the campuses.

“In addition, the processes are in advanced stages for World Bank financing under the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) to further close the energy gap in the health sector through the deployment of solar-hybrid captive power solutions to 100 secondary and tertiary health facilities which have also served as isolation and treatment centres across the country.

“Through these programmes, health centres, unity schools and communities will be strengthened with reliable power to deal with health cases, provide a conducive environment for quality education delivery and an improved standard of living.

“In line with global best practice, all components and interventions being driven under the ESP of the federal government of Nigeria have been deliberately designed to optimise the best in renewable energy technologies, mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic while closing the energy gap across the nation,” the government added.

On his part, the Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, who directly supervises the REA, said that the project will cut across the six geo-political zones under the Economic Sustainability Programme (ESP).

According to him, the presidential initiative, which is expected to be completed in 12 months, tagged, “Energy for All- Mass Rural Electrification”, is geared towards supporting the country’s economic recovery and growth plan to mitigate the impact

of Covid-19 in the economy of the nation.

Jedy-Agba enthused that the mass solar electrification projects will create jobs and facilitate energy access to unserved and undeserved areas in line with federal government’s plan to have 30 per cent of its total electricity supply from renewable sources, especially solar power by 2030.

The minister emphasised that the federal government initiative is to strengthen and close the energy gap in the health sector through the deployment of solar-hybrid captive power solutions to secondary and tertiary health facilities which have also served as isolation and treatment centres across the country in the Covid-19 scourge.

He stated that the mass solar electrification initiative will strengthen the functionality of health centres, unity schools and communities that were in the past faced with the absence of electricity.

He admitted that primary health centres and secondary schools in the country have gone through difficulties in providing electricity to strengthen their capacities, but said the intervention strategy of the present administration has changed the narrative of lack of access to electricity.

The minister noted that before now, the Buhari administration had formulated relevant policies to extend the minimum use of electricity in secondary schools and primary health institutions in the country.

However, the power sector reforms, he maintained, became a reality when government opted to provide clean and renewable energy first in selected federal universities and is now being extended to secondary schools and primary health centres across the nation.

The primary health and secondary schools electrification project, he stated, is carefully designed by government to empower communities and drive the process of development in the two major sectors of national life.

Through these projects, the federal government stated that artisans, skilled and unskilled workers would be engaged, creating more jobs for the youths.

“Government policy thrust is to reduce deaths and worsening conditions of the health of our people as mostly seen where primary health centres cannot make use of small and medium scale equipment because of the absence of electricity, incessant shortages of water supply and other factors that require power to function effectively.

“Secondary school students are faced with the high spate of kidnap, yet only few schools have capacity to provide electricity through generating plants in their local institutions.

“With the advent of this programme, adequate security in secondary schools can be assured as movement of people can be monitored at night.

Besides, students will have long hours to study,” the ministry noted.

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Orjiako: Corporate Governance, Key for Organisational Performance Recently, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc emerged as the Most Profitable Company (Oil & Gas: Exploration and Production), while its Chairman Dr. ABC Orjiako was awarded the Board Chairman of the Year at the Nigerian Investor Value Award (NIVA). In this virtual interview, Orjiako speaks on the feat and other salient issues. Obinna Chima presents the excerpts:

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hat do you think these recognitions mean to the company?

Thank you very much. For me, I must say that I am very delighted and happy that SEPLAT won the award as the most profitable oil and gas company. It is indeed very gratifying. I would like to give a lot of credit to the management team. We always pride ourselves as having one of the best and most experienced, most hard-working, most focused management team and staff. The credit goes a lot to them.

Another thing we are happy about is the way our company is governed. Once you have the right governance in place, a lot of things will then definitely fall in place. So, what we’ve done is to make sure that when we speak about corporate governance; it is not just about ticking the boxes. It is in our DNA and everything we do in making sure that company is properly governed. This has manifested itself in the way and manner with the profitability of the company and how it has continued to grow upwards despite the challenges in the way.

Can you take us through the company’s clear performance that informed the recognitions?

First of all, one of the things we have always said in SEPLAT is that from inception, we have been very clear, and have well defined who we are as a company, where we are going with a defined roadmap. That is what we have been following and that is why within four years of existence, you found us listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

And, in doing that, we were very clear that to start with, we needed a very strong board, a board that is made up of with people with the right expertise, the right diversity, the right experience, both in the business we do and also in the financial world. So, our board does not just have quite a lot of experienced people, but also members with diversity across geographies. And with that, supported by a strong management team and professional staff, we then hit the ground running focusing on our vision. Our vision to build a world-class company that focuses on stakeholders’ values. The company obviously from its oil and gas business is now translating to the energy business. We immediately championed the acquisitions from the international oil companies. We saw that as the future of the indigenous growth in the oil and gas business. We championed that and we are happy to say that we have led from the front in that regard. But of course to grow the kind of independent company that is a leader in the sector, we felt that it is important to situate the company where you have the wider global scrutiny from the investor community. And following our listing on the two exchanges, which of course you recall, was the biggest IPO in sub-Saharan Africa in oil and gas. And ever since then, what we have done is to deliver on the promises we have made. We have also since our existence distinguished ourselves from peers, distinguished ourselves from the kind of corporate governance that we have put in place, distinguished ourselves from the level of efficiency we brought to bear in our project delivery system, and by making sure that our unit operating cost remains one of the lowest in the industry, if not the lowest. So, in every regard, we ensured that we grew revenue year-on-year, we grew profitability year-on-year and at the same time we ensured that the total shareholder return was guaranteed. Initially when we started, we were focusing also on capital appreciation for shareholders until the capital market took a dive southwards.

But in compensation for that, we maintained regularity and consistency in paying dividends to our shareholders and that has paid off

Orjiako because we promised them that we are going to continue to give returns to them every year. And we have also made sure that the management staff are well looked after so that we can retain the best talents in the organisation to continue to deliver on what we set out to do. So overall, it’s been a combination of hard work following focused vision and mission for the company. Also, maintaining very high level of integrity and ethical practices is our core values. So, all of these put together is what has sustained the profitability we have maintained over the years and also the good returns we made to not just the shareholders, but all the stakeholders.

I am sure you are all familiar with what we have done in communities where we operate? We make sure that we engender mutual respect for these host communities and we have enjoyed a win-win situation with them

SEPLAT provides 30 per cent of gas to power in Nigeria, it is because of the deliberate effort we have made to align ourselves with the gas revolution that the government has been pursuing. And we strongly believe that once we provide the power infrastructure, it then becomes the platform for diversification of the economy

in everything that we do. So our corporate social responsibility programme is one of the best you can find in the industry and every business. So, all of these, put together, has given rise to the profitability that we have enjoyed over the years. And of course, has now culminated in the awards that you are seeing today.

What has been your guidelines for leading an effective board?

I spoke about this earlier on. I think everything revolves around strong corporate governance. At SEPLAT, one of the things that we emphasise is not just enough to comply to rules and regulations, we go over and above that and set, very high standards around what we do. And we do this through the right policy framework. So, we set up our board dynamics, and position it towards high performance. And that starts from the constitution of the board, if you take time and look at the people who make up the board of directors of SEPLAT, you will find that these are talents that are very difficult to replicate. And, of course, if you have also followed what we have done over the years, our board starts with very experienced people, but from time to time, we also refresh this board. As you may have seen, we refreshed the Board recently, where both the independent non-executive directors were replaced. The very strong hands we had in the persons of Mr. Michael Alexander, who was a senior independent director, got replaced by Mr. Xavier Rolet, a former CEO of the London Stock Exchange. It is not easy to attract this kind of people to the board. But they have confidence in what we are doing. You also would have seen Arunmah Oteh, who joined us. She is a very well respected lady globally in the marketplace as well as in the regulatory space and sustainability world. So, to attract people like this means that there is quite some

confidence in the company. And once you do this, we make sure that the board continues to have the right policies around it, and we empower the Independent non-executive directors to actually be the true representatives of the shareholders in the company such that the majority shareholders do not lord it over everyone else. We also make sure that there is proper separation of duties between the board and the management, between the chairman and the CEO. We make sure that as a non-executive chairman, we have oversight functions, but we do not do the company running day-to-day. All of these bring healthy checks and balances in the way the company operates. And in doing that we provide the required support for management to deliver on the promises we made to the shareholders and stakeholders. And of course, going forward, we are properly in tune with what is happening globally. In our industry today it becomes clear that the industry is shifting from just pure oil and gas company, to being an energy company. So at SEPLAT, we are always proactive. Today we speak about an energy company that provides energy solutions and going forward, we make sure that we are completely aligned with what the global environment is looking at with respect to climate change, ESG and the rest of them. And coming back home, we know that providing Energy Solutions means making sure that we play our role in closing the energy gap. That is why when you hear today, that SEPLAT provides 30 per cent of gas to power in Nigeria, it is because of the deliberate effort we have made to align ourselves with the gas revolution that the government has been pursuing. And we strongly believe that once we provide the power infrastructure, it then becomes the platform for diversification of the economy which the government is also talking about. So all of these put together are what propels our success.

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Power Minister Allays Fears of Electricity Tariff Hike Oluchi Chibuzor The Minister of Power, Engr.

Sale Mamman has dismissed rumours of a major hike in electricity tariff.

In a statement in Abuja on Thursday, the minister said instead of significant hike in electricity tariff, Nigerians should expect an increase efficiency in the sector to reduce tariffs while

managing headwinds from foreign exchange and inflation.

The clarification came amidst reports of possible major increase in the price of electricity that has dominated the public space.

Mamman, explained that the order issued by NERC on the 26th of April 2021 titled, “Notice of Minor and Extraordinary Review of Tariffs for Electricity Transmission and Distribution Companies”

was a routine procedure. He said the review planned by NERC is in accordance with Section 76 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.

According to him, “the tariff for customers on service bands D & E (customers being served less than an average of 12hrs of supply per day over a period of one month) remains subsidised in line with the policy direction

of the federal government”.

The minister said Section 76 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 provides clear guidelines for the periodic review of tariff (based on market data and submissions from licensees).

The guidelines include the provision that the Commission shall give notice of activities related to tariff “in the Official Gazette, and in one or more

newspapers”.

“The Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) per NERCs regulation obtains inputs from operators in the market every 6 months to perform minor reviews and a major review is required every 5 years. “Thus, as in January a minor review will occur in June. Given the timing for the extraordinary review has also elapsed, a review will occur for

consideration in January 2021,” the statement said.

Mamman, said the Buhari administration remained faithful to the adopted resolutions from the Joint FGN-NLC/TUC Technical Committee on Electricity Tariffs which makes recommended for, “NERC to conduct an extraordinary review of the MYTO to further review factors and align them with current evolving realities.”

Aladdin Digital Bank Launches App to Enhance Customer Satisfaction Hamid Ayodeji Aladdin Digital Bank has launched its digital App - Aladdin Finance - that will cater for the banking needs of a wide range of customers, including young professionals and ordinary Nige-

rians with legitimate endeavours they do for a living.

According to a statement, Aladdin Digital Bank, which is powered by PurpleMoney Microfinance Bank, “seamlessly combines banking and commerce, and supports your hustle by

giving you the tools you need to save, borrow, make payments while selling your products and services to other members on the platform.”

The Aladdin App, which was launched recently, and had over 10,000 downloads on Google Play

Store as of March 2021, and has been described as a revolutionary app by leading experts in the Fintech industry.

According to the Co-Founder/ Chief Executive Officer, Aladdin Digital Bank, Darlington Onyeagoro, the Aladdin Finance

App provides a user-friendly platform for customers to process transactions such as paying bills, buying airtime and data, and transferring money to any bank in Nigeria.

The launch of the Aladdin Finance App is targeted at

Nigerians who own and operate a smartphone.

However, Onyeagoro added that the bank, through its, “Aladdin Economy,” also provides an avenue for customers who do not have smartphones to access its services.

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

‘Growing Interest in Crowd Funding is Boosting Mechanised Agriculture’

VAT Consideration for Casino Operations in Nigeria Nana Abu By product category, the global betting market can be broadly segmented into lottery sports, casinos and games and online betting. Due to the high popularity of lotteries globally, this was the largest segment of the market in 2018 as it had about 46 per cent of the market share during the period.

Casino activities have witnessed growth over the last decade due to technology advancement, digitisation and the relaxation of laws guiding their operations across various countries.

There has also been an increasing demand for online betting due to increasing number of youths in the population, digital revolution, live sports betting and ease of access to betting platform on mobile applications. This trend is expected to lead to market penetration and significant growth of this segment.

In Nigeria, the most popular form of these wager activities are sports betting (football league promotions, the pools etc.), the lottery and slot machines. Other segments of the Nigerian Gaming industry include gaming machines, scratch cards and interactive games, promotional lotteries run by various companies. It is expected that technology will continue to play a key role in developing and shaping the industry in Nigeria.

Adegoke

Bennett Oghifo The use of venture capital alone in financing agriculture in Nigeria and most of Africa is being augmented by crowd-funding and this is attracting mechanisation with support from traditional human labour.

This is seen as a good thing, because it makes investment in agriculture more interesting, if practiced correctly.

The crucial shot in the arm that spurs modern farmers to be dedicated is crowd funding, a financial arrangement with great appeal for those who desire to invest in farming through trusted parties.

“We are employing venture capital and crowd funding in our farm. I was pleasantly surprised at the speed with which it was accepted by those we approached with the idea,” said the Managing Director of Skapomah Global Limited (SGL) Farms, Mr. Seun Adegoke.

The SGL Farms is spread across 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of flat ploughable land located about 40 minutes’ drive towards the Owode border town, specifically at Anigbado, Abeokuta–Imeko Road, Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State.

The target is to cultivate rice in over 70 per cent of the land, leaving the remaining stretch with a sprinkling of maize, cassava, tomatoes, cucumber, water melon, and yams.

The variety of rice cultivated is Faro 44, recommended by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and they are almost ready for harvest. Through irrigation, the farm intends cultivating rice at least twice a year.

The farm plans year round cultivation through channeling water for irrigation and effective soil management.

The farm, according to Adegoke, is lucky there are no challenges with pest birds. There are, however, challenges from herdsmen who encroach on the farms with their animals.

There are more contentious obstacles, such as land preparation which is a major challenge in farming, said Adegoke, who called for the government’s direct involvement or support in land clearing and preparation.

Although this activity is crucial to effective and efficient agriculture, but it is frustrated by absence of farm machinery, particularly for hire (it is not often cost-effective to purchase some), and the disappointing services provided by private sector farm equipment hiring firms.

A tour of the farm revealed thousands of hectares already cultivated with rice and other crops, Farm machinery and accessories such as John Deere tractors with air controlled cabins and accessories like ploughs, harrows, planters, and boom sprayers are stationed strategically on the farm where they can come into use within seconds. There are also fertilizers heaped in two barns.

However, mechanised farming shill has its challenges and Adegoke believes the government can come into play and make them go away for serious farmers to produce the food that the nation needs. “The government should make access to machinery for mechanised agriculture readily available.

“Government should invest in the purchase of farm machinery that we can hire. They can even get the original equipment manufacturers to set up their factories here to build the machines and these will be cheaper for farmers in the country to hire and to purchase by those that can afford to.”

He said this would embolden the nation’s farmers to grow more types of food, stating “Even in Nigeria now, you see people growing Apples and other seedless Grapes, which in the past looked impossible.

“Someone did research on the possibility of growing Strawberries in all the 36 states of the country and it worked. One just needs to know how to do it, regardless of the fact that it could be more stressful, but the good thing is that it is achievable.”

Adegoke said they have also been able to innovate in their operations, “from repairing burst tractor tyres with special sealants that have proven to be very effective, as the sealant casts the tyre from within.”

They deal with other stress-inducing additives like machinery fluids, diesel, engine oil, brake oil, which prices increase without notice.

“We also pay heavily for transportation to bring in the machines/tractors and others. The last time we hired three cranes to offload a machine from a low bed truck. We transported a bulldozer from Ekiti to this place with N750,000. A vendor brought a tractor here and couldn’t get it to start because of a fake spare they bought for even N1.5 million.

But if we have an assembly plant in the country, we wouldn’t suffer to get parts for the machines.

In fact, it would come with warranty.”

Adegoke also wants the government to engage in research on behalf of the nation’s farmers for sustainability.

“There is need for more investment in agricultural research. For instance, in some nations, it is possible to attain 12 to 14 tonnes of rice per hectare. Here we attain about four tonnes on research fields.

“Unfortunately, most of us, as farmers, cannot invest in research. It has to be the government coming in to help. It is important that government shoulders research because of the long term goal of benefitting the people.

“There also has to be some sort of subsidies available for farmers. For us, the subsidy can come in the form of machinery. It is important to have installmental payment packages available. It would make farm financing easier if the schedule of payment is convenient,” he added.

On the government’s recent closure of the nation’s borders to protect local rice farmers from unfair competition from foreign rice, which has since been re-opened, Adegoke said, “Actually, I don’t personally believe in border closure. I believe that market forces should dictate.

“If we produce more at less cost, we will counter the low cost of foreign rice. The problem is that cost of production is very high in this country.

If local rice is affordable and are good in quality, foreign rice will disappear to oblivion. If we have eyes on a philosophy of stimulating increased local production through less stress in production, we would be better for it.”

Regulatory Framework in Nigeria At the federal level, the industry is regulated by the National Lottery (Amendment) Act 2017 and the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (under the National Lottery Regulation, 2007 while at the state level, it is only Lagos state that has the Lagos State Lotteries Law 2008 (LLL). Other states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja are yet to enact any lottery laws. Therefore, these regions rely on the provisions of the National Lottery (Amendment) Act 2017 (the Lottery Act) and the National Lottery Regulation 2007 (the Regulation).

The Lottery Act defines “Game” as pari-mutuel and fixed odds and any other lottery that has the nature and character of the game. Further, Lottery is defined in the Lottery Act to include any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan, promotional competition or device for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance, or as a result of the exercise of skill and chance based on the outcome of sporting events or any other device which the President may be notice in the gazette declare to be lottery and which shall be operated according to a licence.

This article focuses on the VAT considerations for Casino operations in Nigeria in light of the Finance Act 2020 and National Lottery (Amendment) Act 2017.

It is worthy of note that the Casino (Licensing) Law 1964, which was the first attempt to legalise and regulate the industry, defined a Casino to mean any building in respect of which a license has been issued and to which members of the public authorised by the licensee, have access for the purpose of playing prescribed games of chance.

The Finance Act 2020 and VAT Considerations for Casino Activities Gaming houses (for instance, Casinos) earn revenue on gaming activities by: 1 either charging the punters / patrons /bettors an entrance fee, commission for entry or to place a stake, or a fee for using the gaming facility or 2 earn revenue from the positive difference between the amount staked and the patrons/ bettors’ winnings.

While it has been a long-standing debate on whether the casino activities are by their nature services and therefore the applicability of VAT has been called to question, some countries have deemed this a supply by virtue of their extant provisions (for instance, South Africa).

It is often said that patrons of Casinos derive some form of social amusement from the gaming activity, thus, “entertainment” in the form of lottery and gaming services are provided by the Casino operators. The VAT Act defines “entertainment” to include any exhibition and performance in which the admission of people is subject to payment by such persons albeit some specified exceptions.

Based on the above, key questions that comes to mind include: a) Could the gaming houses be said to be supplying a service? b) Where the gaming house/ casino does not charge an entrance or admission fee, would VAT be applicable?

Section 2 of the VAT Act as amended by the Finance Act 2020, provides that the tax shall be charged and payable on all supplies of goods and services in Nigeria other than those listed in the First Schedule to the Act (i.e. exempt goods

Adegoke and services and zero rated goods and services).

The amendments to the VAT Act by the Finance Act 2020 appears to have put some clarity to this in the definition of a service for VAT purpose. The Finance Act 2020 has defined service to mean: a) anything, other than goods, or services provided under a contract of employment; and b) includes any intangible or incorporeal property (product, asset or property) over which a person has ownership or rights or from which he derives benefits and which can be transferred from one person to another, excluding interest in land and building, money or security.

From (a) above, anything that is not a good or services provided under a contract of employment can be classified as a service. Further, in so far as the service does not fall within the category listed in the First Schedule to the Act, then it is liable to VAT. On this basis, the argument that gaming activities in casinos should not be considered VATable may no longer be tenable.

However, the Lottery Act introduced a special tax regime for lottery companies in Nigeria. Specifically, section 35A (1) and (2) of the Lottery Act provides that there shall be imposed and charged a tax to be known as the Lottery Companies Income Tax (lottery tax) at the rate of seven per cent on the net proceeds of the licensee at the end of each assessment year, to be administered and managed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Where a licensee has been assessed for lottery tax in any year, the licensee shall be exempted from the provisions of the CIT Act and the Value Added Tax Act (VAT Act).

From the above, Casino operators may be faced with multiple taxes as the provisions in the Lottery Act contravene those of the VAT Act (as amended). While the Lottery Act specifically exempts VAT from casino operators, the VAT Act has defined services to be widely encompassing and therefore the casino operator may have to comply with the provisions.

Further and to buttress the above, the FIRS during a stakeholders’ meeting organised in conjunction with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission in 2019, stated its plans to charge VAT on gaming activities and automate VAT collection from operators in the industry. Given that the Finance Act 2020 also provides for the automation of the FIRS system with the taxpayers’, via the deployment of technology and process automation, it is necessary for the FIRS to communicate clearly the modalities for the collection /remittance of the VAT due on gaming activities.

Also, it is important that there is juxtaposition between the various legislations and regulations guiding the affairs of the gaming houses. This will ensure that the operators clearly understand their tax obligations and minimize dispute with the tax authorities.

Conclusion While there is no doubt that gaming activities also contribute to the growth of the economy, it is necessary for the government to ensure the appropriate regulatory and fiscal framework is put in place to regulate and derive tax revenue from the activities of this growing sector. Also, it is important for the government to provide clarity on fiscal obligations of the gaming house, such that the government plugs potential tax leakages and prevents these gaming houses from suffering multiple taxes. t"CV JT B NBOBHFS JO UIF 5BY 3FHVMBUPSZ 1FPQMF 4FSWJDF %JWJTJPO JO ,1.( /JHFSJB 5IF BVUIPS DBO CF DPOUBDUFE BU OBOB BCV! OH LQNH DPN

TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY MAY 4, 2021

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT Govt Must Consider Price Control in Building Materials Market, Says Adeyemi Bennett Oghifo

T

he federal government has been advised to introduce price control policy in the nation’s building materials market to stabilise rising cost.

There are two basic building materials –cement and rods- that have proven to have very unstable prices recently, according to the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Homes Limited, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, stating that the government should intervene to curb impending homelessness.

Adeyemi, who is also the Secretary-General of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) Southwest, said his company, Sterling Homes has an ongoing project and that within two days of trying to restock cement, they got a shock that the product’s cost had risen from N3,450 to N3,800. “This is just within 24 hours.”

Worse still, he said cement is being hoarded to justify the rising cost. “It is the same thing with steel, meaning within the first quarter, prices have increased over 70 per cent, and it is still increasing. In fact we now have some dealers who are hoarding and not ready to sell, because they are sure that before next week (this week), One of them prophesied it will get to N5,000 per bag very soon. So, the dream of an average Nigerian to own a home is slim.”

The inflation, he said has affected them adversely, stating “even us, we are because we have put our homes on sale at a particular price, but now with what is going on, we are

in dilemma. We also have this challenge with steel/iron rods.

“The government needs to take a look at this ugly situation critically. In the real sense, I think we need to have a price control policy within the building and construction materials market, the essential materials, like cement, reinforcement, which are iron and steel.”

On the part of the manufacturers, he said, “If we feel the major components required to make these materials are not locally available, then we should explore importation of the building materials.

Although I know that we have most of these essential principal components in abundance, I’m aware we have them in some places in this country. So, we shouldn’t even be found selling cement at a ridiculous price. Importation of cement may not be necessary if the government creates an enabling environment for the manufacturers to function properly. I also know there is hindrance created by bureaucracy in the mining industry that could make difficult for those who can extract these materials locally.

If they can relax or eliminate these bureaucracies that make it easier for these materials to be locally sourced, instead of importation, because if it is importation, then the prevailing forex rates and duties will also come into play.”

He said it would be foolhardy to equate the building industry with that of petroleum where government insists market forces should control prices. “The petroleum and built industries are two separate industries. Shelter is considered one of the basic

needs of life, after food and clothing. People must have roof over their heads and one of the essential and non-negotiable materials that is required for the kind of construction we do in this part of the world, which is wet construction, is cement. So, the government will have no choice than to look into the pricing control mechanism. I feel the market has been monopolised and the government needs to break this monopoly.”

He said the federal government, in the past, succeeded in breaking the monopoly in the textile industry when it placed a ban on importation.

He lauded the government’s efforts to control quality in the built industry, but said, “I foresee a doom, because some developers may be forced to compromise standards or quality, in terms of going for substandard materials in a bid to meet up with the surply, because the inflation has eaten up the profit margin.

So, they will think that the only way they can hedge against inflation is to subscribe to substandard materials.”

Adeyemi said safety should not be compromised in housing construction, explaining that this was guaranteed by adherence to standard practice and use of quality materials, among others. If these two are jeopardized, it will cost lives, from building collapse, structural failure because some developers will not adhere to standard practice like ratios in materials’ mixing, because of the drive for maximisation, which is essential for business’ survival. Government should check the materials being imported like rods/steel, because they are substandard.

Adeyemi

The quality of steel has been compromised, and we are sure that some even have the SON certification, maybe forged.

SON raided some factories recently, we know.”

He said, to get around this problem, they test some of their critical materials in the laboratory to ensure the right quality is being used. “You’ll be shocked to see some materials with SON certification not passing the test, and these are the stuff that have flooded our markets.”

He recommended that developers should change their designs and become innovative and “to consider

our construction methodology built to suit our target populations.”

He said the problem in moving building materials from factory to construction sites is caused by poor infrastructure.

“When the road networks are not in good shape and the railway is not functioning, there is bound to be high costs of materials, because transporting them from Lagos to Maiduguri or elsewhere will be very expensive with poor infrastructure since the cost implication will be factored into the street price.”

Another recommendation he made was that developers

should be deliberate about their designs because it affects costs. “Our construction methodology encourages waste. If you go to construction sites, you’ll see colossal waste of building materials-steel, iron, cement, blocks, all wasted.

Developers must eliminate waste in construction for the nation to be self-sufficient in housing.”

Sterling Homes contributes to the nation’s housing stock, using “Our cutting edge construction methodology and our unique tailor-made designs to help us to cut down on waste and maximise profit,” Adeyemi said.

IoD is Building N10bn, 15-floor Fully Commercial Edifice in Ikoyi Fadekemi Ajakaiye The Institute of Directors (IoD), Nigeria, is building a 15-floor fully commercial edifice in Ikoyi, Lagos at an estimated cost of N10 billion.

The edifice, to be known as

IoD House, will be completed in 36 months, and is located at number 8, Temple Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State, where a ground-breaking ceremony was held recently.

The President and Chairman of Governing Council,

IoD, Chief Chris Okunowo, stated that the edifice which will be built on a land area 3,237.716sqm and with a net floor area of 3340.40sqm, will be a standout building in the heart of Ikoyi and will become the corporate headquarters

L-R: Member, IoD House Committee, Otunba Lekan Belo; Past President, IoD, Ms. Benedikter Molokwu; Director General/CEO, Mr. Dele Alimi; Second Vice President, Alhaji Tijjani Borodo; President/Chairman of Council, Chief Chris Okunowo; First Vice President, Dr. Ije Jidenma; Immediate Past President, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed; and Chairman, IoD House Committee, Mr. Ernest Ebi, at the groundbreaking of the IoD edifice...recently

of the Institute of Directors Nigeria.

“It is an unparalleled residential and office project that will become the corporate headquarters of the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IoD Nigeria), by the grace of God, within the next 36 months,” he said.

“Our Governing Council, in November 2018, approved the new design of the IoD House as a 15-floor edifice and a fully commercial property, which was expected to host only offices and business concerns. However, we had to rethink our strategy in the year 2020, when the advent of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic taught us all new lessons in our business and private lives,” he said.

He stated that, as a dynamic organisation, the Institute resolved to review the design of the IoD House and decided to have a mix-use property, which would accommodate both residential and commercial usage.

“Seven (7) out of the 15-floors of the edifice offer several luxurious residential apartments of choice. The building offers investors

and/or buyers; 3-bedroom apartments of minimum 242sqm; 4-bedroom apartments of minimum 280sqm, studio apartments of 72sqm each, and two penthouses, all designed to create an immeasurable luxurious and comfortable experience,” he said.

“This project is estimated to cost the Institute the sum of N10 billion. Our team of experienced members, in the IoD House Committee, came up with plans for the financing of the project. A levy of the sum of N150,000 for all members of the Institute, others include donations, equity and loan; with loan being a last resort,” he said.

He stated that the Committee would be offering the various residential flats available in the edifice for sale, off-plan, at highly subsidised rates, when compared with similar developments in Ikoyi.

He stated that the edifice which has “Green credentials” also boast of 151 space ample car park integrated into the building, a recreational floor comprising amenities like meeting rooms, swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna,

library, business centres and seminar rooms. It also has a spacious ground floor, which has a restaurant and banqueting area.

“The IoD House, a corporate and residential edifice will be a landmark development, not only in Ikoyi and Lagos but also in the national and international real estate space.

The structure would meet all sustainable and environmental certifications in its design strategies,” he said.

The Architect of the Project, Arc Olusegun Ladega stated that the edifice is a mixed-use development that is composed of residential, commercial, and leisure facilities. A single-stop, where you can live, work, and play. The building has been designed based on the current healthcare situation to have flexible buildings that are easily adaptable to all kinds of circumstances, also designed to meet all the new stringent planning regulations and exceeded all expectations of the planning regulations, designed for efficiency use of energy and focused on creating a building that achieves green certification level,” he said.

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˜ ͼ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

TUESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Africa’s Six Top Women’s Football Nations for Aisha Buhari Cup Duro Ikhazuagbe Africa’s best six women football playing countries have been listed to participate in the inaugural Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament scheduled to hold in September in Nigeria.

The six countries include; hosts Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Morocco.

Speaking on the invitational tournament yesterday, Chairperson of the Nigerian Women’s Premier League (NWPL), Aisha Falode confirmed that the country’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari has endorsed the tournament as one of the events aimed at inspiring the girl/child in the continent.

“As I speak, South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Mali have already signified

their intention to participate in the competition,” revealed the NWPL chairperson who is also a board member of the NFF. Falode admitted that the tournament “is a direct effect of the election into the FIFA Council of Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, who is particularly interested in the development of women football in the continent.”

Falode further assured football stakeholders that the tournament “will be a festival of women football with some of the biggest names in world soccer expected to be in Nigeria to witness the matches and also participate in some of the events lined up alongside the games.”

Already, friends of the First Lady are expected be at the event to support her throughout the

Victor Moses Named Man-of-the-Match in Spartak Moscow Win at Arsenal Former Super Eagles winger, Victor Moses, 30, appears to have rediscovered himself in the Russian topflight league as he inspired Spartak Moscow with double assists for his team to pick all three points against Arsenal Tula.

The former Chelsea wingback who set up Aleksandr Sobolev for the first goal in the game in the 21st minute was named the Man of the Match for the game played on Workers’ Day. Arsenal Tula however equalised following Ilya Kutepov’s own goal on the stroke of half-time.

Moses teed up Jordan Larsson for the winning goal 14 minutes from time.

The former Super Eagles player who is on another loan trip to the Russian club after long spell of loan sojourn at Inter Milan, now have three goals and four assists in 17

league appearances for Spartak Moscow this season.

Domenico Tedesco’s side occupy second position on the table with 53 points from 28 games.

Victor Moses displaying his Manof-the-Match award in the Russian topflight...yesterday

Barcelona Eye Super Eagles’ Star, Ndidi, at Nou Camp Femi Solaja with agency report Strong indications emerged yesterday that Nigeria international, Wilfred Ndidi, may end up in Laliga following report that Spanish giants, FC Barcelona are reportedly weighing up the possibility of going for Wilfred Ndidi, who is valued at around €50 million by Premier League club Leicester City.

According to a report

by Spanish outlet El Gol Digital,Ndidi is the subject of interest from the former UEFA Champions League winner over a possible move in the future.

The Catalan giants have identified the Leicester City midfield powerhouse as immediate replacement for Segio Busquet who had held the central midfield position since 2009/10 season.

Few seasons ago, Barcelona had N’Golo Kante, whose €60 million valuation was then “unaffordable” on the radar.

The Nigerian star joined Leicester City a year after the club won the English Premiership in 2016 from Genk. Ndidi has

since imposed himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe.

Ndidi has made 171 appearances for the former Premier League champions, with nine goals to his credit and 10 assists.

Considering his stature within the English top-flight, Ndidi was last season a target of Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester United but of all the big power houses in Europe, the Spanish outlet explained that Barcelona seems to be ahead of others going by the recruitment policy of the new hierarchy of the club.

Reports also linked the Blaugranato the likes Georginio Wijnaldum from Liverpool and Adrien Rabiot from PSG but team seems to be closer to landing the Nigerian because of his physical ability and versatility of playing other roles as he used to do with his present club, Leicester City.

Leicester City are believed to have slapped a €70 million price tag on their prized 24-year-old defender and it is unlikely that Barcelona will be able to afford the sum this summer.

tournament.

“Apart from the football on the pitch, there will be other activations to sensitise Africans

on the benefits of sports to national development. It will also address issues affecting women in developing countries

with direct reference to the place of the girl/child in our society.

Female football aficionados are already looking at the

tournament as dress rehearsal for the CAF Women’s Champions League, which will begin later this year.”

NFF President, Amaju Pinnick (left) presenting Nigerian jersey to Ambassador Herrero during his courtesy visit to the Sunday Dankaro House secretariat of the federation...yesterday

Argentina’s Ambassador Wants Stronger Football Ties with Nigeria The Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina to Nigeria, Alejandro Herrero, has advocated the streghtening of footballing ties between Argentina and Nigeria, insisting that there are compelling commonalities between the two countries in the realm of the ‘beautiful game’.

During a courtesy call on the President of Nigeria Football Federation and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick at the NFF Secretariat, Abuja on Monday, Ambassador Herrero recalled several instances of on-pitch skirmishes between the two countries, saying that Nigeria and Argentina “always clash at the FIFA World Cup with narrow wins for Argentina but you have won one Olympic gold medal

at our expense and we have won one at your expense.”

In a buoyant and relaxed atmosphere, the Ambassador said he would particularly be delighted to see regular games between nine –time African champions, Super Falcons and the Argentina Women A team, as well as exchange programmes and meaningful collaboration between the football federations and clubs of both countries.

In his response, NFF President Pinnick said he was excited by the possibility of closer collaboration and stronger footballing ties between Nigeria and Argentina, as this would benefit the NFF in its drive to accomplish its mission of building a sustainable football culture for Nigeria

and fostering the building of a virile football industry – areas in which Argentina has some knowledge and experience.

“Our mission is to build a sustainable football culture for our country, and eventually have a robust football industry that will not only sustain itself but also contribute significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Argentina is a country where the football culture is fully entrenched. Our teams clash all the time at the FIFA World Cup, at the Olympics, at youth tournaments and in friendly matches and both have had their victories.

“We have immense respect for what Argentina has been able to do in football, but you will agree with me

that Nigeria has also made immense impact in world football, from youth tournaments to the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. Now, we seek to buoy our football industry to become the big business that it should be.” Pinnick also mentioned the maiden edition of the First Lady of Nigeria Invitational Tournament being planned for later this year, and hinted that both countries could explore the possibility of Argentina Women A team joining the fray.

With Ambassador Herrero to the Sunday Dankaro House NFF’s secretariat were Victoria Budic (Deputy Head of Mission) and Fernando Lacabanne (Head of Economic and Commercial Section).

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Guardiola Unfazed by City’s Advantage Going into Tonight’s Clash with PSG Manchester City will treat today’s Champions League semi-final Clash with Paris StGermain “like another game”, Manager Pep Guardiola insisted yesterday.

The Premier League leaders carry a 2-1 advantage into their second leg at Etihad Stadium as they bid to reach their first Champions League final.

“We arrive in a good moment and I said to the guys, ‘Don’t think too much to win the game’,” said Guardiola.

“It is the same message of the last six months.”

Guardiola, 50, won the competition twice with Barcelona but this is the furthest he has got in five attempts with City.

“We approach this game like another game,” he added.

“We start with a small advantage but we have to

play to win the game. This is all we are going to do.”

City have no fresh injury concerns, with Guardiola resting Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden for City’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday, PSG may be without star forward Kylian Mbappe after the World Cup winner missed the French champions’ 2-1 win over Lens with a calf injury on Saturday.

But Guardiola expects the 22-year old to feature. “(Mbappe) is going to play - and I am looking forward to him playing, for the football and the game itself,” he added.

Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis, Nielsen’s Gracenote: “After winning 2-1 in Paris, Manchester City now have well over 50% chance of lifting their first Champions League trophy

at the end of this month.

“The number one team on our Euro Club Index (www. euroclubindex.com) is estimated to have 87% chance of finishing the job of knocking out Paris St-Germain and 57% chance of winning the competition.”

FACTFILE Manchester City are unbeaten in all four previous European meetings with PSG (W2 D2), winning their last home match against them in April 2016 in the second leg of that season’s Champions League quarter-final.

PSG have only faced AC Milan (four times) more often without winning in the Champions League than they have against Man City (three).

Man City have won their past six Champions League matches and victory here would see them break the record for the longest ever winning run by an English team in European Cup history. Three other sides have

won six in a row: Manchester United (1965-66), Leeds United (1969-70) and Arsenal (2005).

PSG progressed from their last Champions League knockout tie when losing the first leg, recovering a 2-1 first-leg deficit against Borussia Dortmund in last season’s last 16 to progress 3-2 on aggregate.

However, in their major European history, the French side have never progressed after losing the first leg of a knockout tie at home.

Should Manchester City progress, they would reach their first European final for 51 years, since winning the 1970 Cup Winners’ Cup final against Gornik Zabrze. This would break the record for the longest gap between appearances in European finals, currently held

by Sporting Lisbon (41 years between 1964 Cup Winners’ Cup final and 2005 Uefa Cup final).

Tuesday May 4, 2021

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Price: N250

MISSILE NLC to El-Rufai “The public service of the state with less than 100,000 employees and their families) cannot be consuming more than 90% of government resources, with little left to positively impact the lives of the more than 9 million that are not political appointees or civil servants” – President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, faulting Governor Nasir El-Rufai for describing workers as micro minority.

TUESDAY WITH REUBENABATI abati1990@gmail.com

F

Fr. Mbaka’s Sin

r Ejike Mbaka, Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu attracts controversy the way flies are attracted to dung. He is completely unfazed about it. He comes across as a priest who does not mind what Pope Francis once referred to as “the sin of scandal”. Last week, Fr. Mbaka stirred the hornet’s again when he announced to his congregation that he had changed his mind about President Muhammadu Buhari, or perhaps he had received another message from God to the effect that if Nigeria’s President Buhari does not resign for failing to find a solution to Nigeria’s problems, he should be impeached. This came as a rude shock to many. Fr. Mbaka was a staunch supporter of President Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 and 2019 general elections. He used his pulpit to campaign for the APC. In 2015, he openly opposed then incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience Jonathan. He would later claim that an attempt was made on his life. Mbaka wields enormous influence in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. He runs a personal ministry, more of a personal business which he calls Adoration Ministry which deploys a combination of the Scriptures, combined with faith healing, theatrical, spell-binding tactics, metaphysical hallucinations and a bit of shamanism to hypnotize an attentive audience.

In a country where poverty is widespread and the people are looking for Salvation on earth and in the hereafter, anyone who is able to offer a combination of these elements is bound to be a celebrity. And Mbaka is. He is a celebrity. Something of a Rock Star! But where and when did he and his APC friends part ways? He did not really say anything earth-shaking or original, but coming from him, a Buharideen and an APC apologist, the weight of his new revelation attracted the right measure of attention.

In the past few days, we have been treated to a tit-for-tat between the Presidency and their Enugu-based star-gazer. Presidential Spokesperson Garba Shehu did not allow the saliva in Mbaka’s mouth to dry up before issuing a statement to state that Mbaka, the Catholic priest is not what he projects himself to be. Shehu gave an account of how Mbaka once visited Aso Villa to see the President with three contractors in tow. He wanted contracts from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

But the President directed that due process must be followed. Garba Shehu, an experienced spin-doctor thus used Mbaka to score three quick points: (1) that Mbaka is a businessman in priestly garment and an influence peddler; (2) that his so-called prophesies are at best personal opinions depending on his calculations of likely benefits and (3) Mbaka should be grateful that when he visited the Villa, the Presidency was kind enough not to expose him by publishing his photographs.

Garba Shehu was not alone. Yekini Nabena, the Deputy National Secretary of the APC also found it necessary to advise Mbaka to desist from making statements that could destabilise the country, and if he fails to do so, he would be reported to the Vatican. Nabena even quoted the Bible to remind the Catholic priest of his priestly obligations and the Example of Christ. Beyond the Villa and the APC, other Nigerians waded in, including Reno Omokri, the self-confessed “Buhari Tormentor” who accused Mbaka of hypocrisy and further sent “An Open Letter to Pope Francis” to draw his attention to the delinquency of one of his priests in Nigeria. The Department of State Services has also since reminded religious and political leaders to eschew divisive politics, because the Nigerian state will not hesitate to defend the country against all forces of destabilization.

Clearly, the Nigerian government is embattled and it is not ready to tolerate additional pressures from any quarters. Even the World Press Freedom

Fr. Mbaka Day statement that was issued by the Presidency yesterday, May 3, while expressing commitment to free speech and the freedom of information, condemned licentious freedom, and gave a small lecture on responsible journalism. And it does not matter whether you were once a friend like Fr. Mbaka, the priest or Eedris Abdulkareem, the artist. The other week, Eedris Abdulkareem dared to criticise the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN in a new album. Keyamo promptly released text messages between him and Eedris in which the musician begged the Minister for money to pay hotel and hospital bills, in exchange for his support for the Buhari administration. This may be a new tactic.

Nobody should be surprised if one of these days state officials release images of some vocal critics eating jollof rice and fish bone as Nicodemus guests at the Presidential Villa.

But Fr. Mbaka is taking it all as they say, on his chest. He is practically making a mockery of the reactions to his statements. He says it is stupid “to be attacking a messenger of God” and that yes, he took three white men who are contractors, who asked for his assistance, to the Villa, so what? They were asking for security contracts for themselves, not for him, and they didn’t get the contracts, so what? He accuses the Buhari government of not having “ä reward mechanism”: “All the people they have been giving contracts, are they better than me? Am I begging them, do they know how many people I fed?

Fortunately, they reported that they denied me of the contract – which contract? …They have shown that they don’t have what we call reward mechanism. If Shehu is a human..I don’t even know who the Shehu is. He should be apologising that they have not come down to say Nagode Allah for surviving what they are passing through.

The last person this administration should fight is Father Mbaka talking here because if they speak against me, the anger of Heaven will be upon them and their end will shock everybody…”

This is really a different kind of priest. It is not beyond him to rain down curses like confetti at a wedding! I find his response naïve and contradictory, and strange, given the fact that the Catholic Church traditionally provides their priests the benefit of a sound education and clerical training. He is not the first Catholic priest to be controversial or outspoken in recent times. Recently, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese pointedly accused the Buhari government of nepotism. The government and its agents hemmed and hawed. There were threats that Kukah will be expelled from Sokoto. But in the end, nothing happened. Kukah has since then delivered more stinging homilies and public

lectures on the state of the nation. They have learnt to leave him alone. Nobody accused him of bringing contractors to the Presidential Villa.

Fr. George Ehusani is another prominent Catholic Priest. He succeeded Kukah as Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat. He is not afraid to express his mind. He is consistent and blunt. He sings.

He preaches. He runs a public-spirited NGO on Leadership. Nobody has disturbed him because he does not phone politicians or government officials to ask for favours. In Ewu, Edo State, there is Fr. Anselm Adodo, the Benedictine Monk who is pushing the frontiers of Alternative Medicine and Epidemiology at the Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories. Fr. Anselm is so busy with research, he probably does not know where the Government House of Edo State is. To go higher within the hierarchy, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has been in the business of speaking truth to power before Mbaka gained admission to the seminary.

Nobody has ever accused him of drinking tea with a cup belonging to the Nigerian government.

There is also Ignatius Ayua Kaigama, former Archbishop of Jos who is now the Archbishop of Abuja. No contractor, white or black, would ever dare ask him to wear his cassock to go and lobby for contracts. But Mbaka is truly different. He is the priest of “reward mechanism”. His public persona is that he is a Catholic priest of election seasons.

He is a one-man Electoral Commission that can predict election results or anoint Gubernatorial candidates. In 2015, he reportedly rejected money that was donated to the Adoration Ministry by the Jonathan administration. One of his proclaimed achievements is that he correctly predicted that Senator Hope Uzodinma would become Governor of Imo State through the Supreme Court. But now, Uzodinma no longer picks his calls. He was also once a friend to former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani. It didn’t take long before they quarrelled and the Oracle of Adoration began to see new visions. In December 2018, former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi apparently did not understand the meaning of “reward mechanism” when he attended an annual harvest and bazaar celebration at the Adoration Ministry. He was accused of being “stingy.” Mbaka attends road commissioning ceremonies. Only the God he worships knows how many contractors he has taken around the South East in search of contracts.

The Diocese of Enugu, to which Fr. Mbaka belongs has often disclaimed his remarks as his personal opinion. The Catholic Bishops Conference has also always warned against the promotion of partisan politics in the context of Mass. But Mbaka appears untouchable. Reno Omokri, who is himself a preacher of the word, has reported Mbaka to Pope Francis. But Mbaka is thoroughly amused. He tells his critics: “Ïf Rome hears that Father Mbaka is challenging evil governance, Rome will clap for me, so quickly go to Rome…” He is probably amused because he knows that those rushing to the Vatican may not know how the Catholic church system works. The Pope does not get directly involved in the disciplining of priests. Under the Code of Canon Law, it is the responsibility of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith which deals with crimes of an ecclesiastical nature committed by priests. But the Rules stipulate that the local church must take the first step in disciplining a delinquent priest, and outcomes of investigations and conclusions can then be forwarded to Rome. Omokri’s petition will be referred to the local church in Nigeria.

Will the local church act? Does Mbaka’s Bishop see anything wrong in what he does? Is his Adoration Ministry so rich and so supportive of the Church that not even the Catholic Bishops Conference can apply the essential norms? The problem is probably not Mbaka, but the Catholic Church of Nigeria and its leadership. Mbaka’s

style is also probably environmentally determined.

He has received words of encouragement from Nnamdi Kanu of the Independent Peoples of Biafra Organisation (IPOB). Ohanaeze Ndigbo has also publicly supported him. Nnamdi Kanu even said Mbaka also has the right to change his mind like Sheikh Isa Pantami! In Nigeria, religion and ethnicity provide ready cover-ups for anything.

Mbaka represents an emerging face of the Church, a living embodiment of the rise of utilitarian capitalism in the Church of Christ, and the conflation of priesthood with hedonism.

Catholic priests were known ordinarily as persons who had taken the Oath and dedicated their entire life to service and prayers. They disconnect from earthly pleasures. Riches do not mean anything to them. They are happy to commit to the task of salvation. It is therefore most shocking that a priest like Reverend Mbaka as far back as 2016 was described in one report as the owner of a Ministry within the Catholic Church, the Adoration Ministry, which he runs as a personal “business”.

When he was asked to move from Christ the King Parish, Enugu to Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Emene, his main concerns were the assets of the Adoration Ministry and the fact that he would “suffer.” This new tendency of priests who do not want to suffer, who would rather choose the hedonistic life, explains the new character of the Church. Priests no longer get enough financial support. Priests now want to own estates. They drive exotic cars if they can. They want to travel First Class too. They argue that even St. Paul had a business on the side that gave him extra income. Hence Mbaka can tell the Presidency: “... do they know how many people I feed?” We are in the age of billionaire priests who run business empires. With the offertory no longer generous, since members of the congregation are mostly poor, and in need, some enterprising priests can no longer rely on their meagre stipends. They are creating businesses and opportunities in the name of God to live well, and to support others and whenever they can, take care of the Bishops too. They have forgotten that the Lord Jesus was born in a rented manger. He was buried in a borrowed tomb.

Where is the Church? In November 2014, Pope Francis gave an interesting homily on this same subject at the Saint Martha Guesthouse at the Vatican. His focus was the Gospel of Luke. He said that “there are two things that the people of God cannot forgive: a priest attached to money and a priest who mistreats people. This they cannot forgive! It is scandalous…” Quoting the Gospel of Luke, the Pope recalled how Jesus turned tables and drove away people who were selling inside the church: a sacred place of prayer which had been turned into a business place. He added: “Ï think of how our attitude can scandalize people with unpriestly habits in the Temple: the scandal of doing business, the scandal of worldliness…It is scandalous when the Temple, the house of God becomes a place of business…” The Bishop of Rome has certainly not yet heard of the Nigerian phenomenon. Everyone who has had cause to comment on the Federal Government and Fr. Mbaka’s saga, including Yekini (!), has been quoting the Bible. Let me add this passage from the Gospel of St. Mark, Chapter 11: 15-17: “Then Jesus went to the Temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seat of those who sold doves.

And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them: Is it not written, my house shall be called a House of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves.” This is the word of God to us. May the Lord bless His Word...

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