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President Orders Review of FG’s Payrolls to Cut Costs Mergers of MDAs, budget review on the card Akabueze proposes six-region structure Ndubuisi Francis, Olawale Ajimotokan and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The federal government has initiated a raft of measures to

cut the cost of governance in the face of dwindling revenue occasioned by the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant global economic tailspin.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said yesterday in Abuja that the measures were targeted at reducing recurrent expenditure, which is projected

to gulp about 41.5 per cent of the total provisions of N13.588 trillion in the 2021 budget, amounting to N5.64 trillion.

She stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had

directed the salaries and wages committee to review the payroll of public servants as well as consider the merger of some agencies.

Besides, the government

will also remove some unnecessary items from the budget as a move to cut the cost of governance.

Continued on page 10

Oil Prices Rise to Seven-week High on Strong Demand Recovery... Page 8 Wednesday 5 May, 2021 Vol 26. No 9522. Price: N250

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FG Pledges to Save Abducted KadunaVarsity Students from Execution Abductors free one more captive Security council meeting continues today Iyobosa Uwugiaren, Deji Elumoye in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna The federal government yesterday expressed its

commitment to do all it could to save the remaining 16 students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, whose abductors have threatened to kill for the delay in ransoming

them.

At a press conference in Abuja where he faulted the recommendations by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in resolving

the growing insecurity in the country, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the federal government, in line with its constitutional

responsibility of protecting all Nigerians, would not fold its arms and allow the bandits who kidnapped the students execute them.

The bandits had on Monday

threatened to kill the remaining ones still in captivity if their demand for ransom was not met by yesterday.

Continued on page 11

Presidency Accuses Religious, Political Leaders of Plot to Overthrow Buhari Threatens to ‘ruffle unruly feathers’ Accusation baseless, PDP, Afenifere, ACF, PANDEF, CAN fire back Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna The presidency yesterday accused some religious and political leaders of plotting to forcibly remove President Muhammadu Buhari from office, warning that it would thwart the moves and ruffle some unruly feathers in the process.

The presidency, however, came under fire as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; the Arewa

Consultative Forum (ACF), Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in separate reactions dismissed the allegation.

The main opposition party described the allegation as a resort to blackmail in the face of the failure of the Buhari administration.

Afenifere said Buhari had lost control of the country’s leadership, adding that nobody needs to pass a vote of no confidence in him before the world knows that he has failed Continued on page 10

House Okays Bill to Increase Appeal Court Justices By 60...Page 5

EVALUATING INTELLIGENCE...

L-R: Director-General, Department of State Services, Mr. Yusuf Bichi; Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ahmed Rufai; and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, during a security meeting in Abuja...yesterday godwin omoigui

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

House Okays Bill to Increase Appeal Court Justices By 60

Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives has approved a bill seeking to increase the number of justices of the Court of Appeal by 60 and also make each division of the court have a minimum of six justices per time, for effective justice delivery.

The lawmakers yesterday passed for second reading a bill seeking an amendment to Section 1 of the Principal Act to increase the number of the Judges at the Court of Appeals from 90 to 150 to expedite justice dispensation and decrease the workload on the shoulders of the judges.

Presently, the extant law provides for 90 justices nationwide.

The bill is also seeking an amendment to Section 1 of the principal act by inserting a new subsection 2 to give the power to the President of the Court to create a new division of the court as the situation dictates.

The bill further calls for a new Subsection 3 to insert into Section 1 of the Principal Act to provide for a minimum of six justices in judicial divisions of the court in order to accelerate hearing and determination of cases.

The proposed legislation, titled: "A Bill for an Act to Amend the Court of Appeal

Act, Cap. C36, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Increase the Number of Justices of the Court and Provide for Appointment of a Minimum of Six Justices in every Judicial Division of the Court for Speedy and Efficient Justice Delivery and to Improve Citizens’ Access to Justice; and for Related Matters,'' was sponsored by Hon. Onofiok Luke.

Leading the debate on its general principles, Luke lamented that the current number has become grossly inadequate, resulting in the slow dispensation of justice by the court.

He said: "The Court of Appeal is the intermediate court between the High Court, including other subordinate courts and tribunals and the Supreme Court. Established in 1976, the court had only 3 judicial divisions. The divisions of the court have now grown to 20. Some of the new divisions were commissioned in 2020.

The law perches the maximum number of justices of the court at 90. This number has become inadequate given the recent creation of the new divisions of the court – Kano, Gombe, Awka, Asaba, etc. There is a high increase in the volumes of cases attended to by the court, which of course has necessitated the creation of

the new divisions.

"As a matter of fact, judicial divisions of the court with the huge volume of cases like Abuja and Lagos ought to have a minimum of nine justices so

that the divisions can have 3 panels sitting simultaneously.

It is necessary to note that it is this same inadequate pool of justices of the Court of Appeal that is drawn to sit

in Election Appeal Tribunals, thereby compounding delay in justice delivery. Owing to the inadequate number of justices in the court, cases stay in the docket for an undesirable long

period of time.''

The bill was unanimously supported by the lawmakers when put to a voice vote

by Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

PLOTTING AGAINST TERRORISTS...

L-R: Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd); Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno, during the National Security Council meeting in Abuja…yesterday

Power Assets’ Sale Won’t Solve Electricity Problems, Says Ex-NBET Boss Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja A former Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Limited (NBET), Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi, has said that the proposed sale of five power generating plants by the federal government will not solve Nigeria’s perennial supply challenges, especially in the short-term. Wonodi, however, described the recent moves to dispose of the assets as more of a revenue generation drive, rather than stabilising the sector.

He advised that more states should be actively involved in getting experts to boost power

supply in their respective domains.

The federal government had recently approved the sale of five generating companies - Geregu, Benin (Ihovbor), Calabar, Omotosho and Olorunsogo power generation companies, built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).

Speaking yesterday on ARISE NEWS Channel, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, Wonodi added that the sale of the plants would deepen the reforms in the sector as well as get the government out of operating power plants.

He, however, stated that the step was not the magic wand

needed in the industry.

“Selling the five out of the 10 power plants will deepen the reforms. But in the short-term, I do not think that it is going to make any difference in power supply.

“It is also a revenue thing for the federal government, which has always shown that on the income side, the sale of these assets will boost government revenue,” he said.

According to him, the government has embarked on a new push that has seen the cancellation of the former arrangement with the former preferred bidders and is commencing fresh process.

“I think that honestly it is more about government revenue now than immediate power improvement,” he said.

Wonodi stated that state governments should begin to focus on creating the enabling environment for businesses to thrive because by so doing, the purchasing power of Nigerians will improve, which will ultimately reduce the incessant resistance to hike in electricity tariffs.

He said: “This is because at the end of the day, if you can attract manufacturing companies, then the economy will grow and the employed citizens will be more likely to

pay N60 per kilowatt than the unemployed citizen who’s only willing to pay N10.”

According to him, the provision of subsidy on electricity tariffs by the government remains a sour point that is unsustainable.

“And this is one of the things that we have done or we have not done very well, which is to provide subsidy for consumption rather than for production,” he said.

He attributed the resistance to electricity tariff hike to inflation that has eroded the incomes of most families, with many Nigerian homes now spending over 70 per cent of

their income on food.

“Therefore, whenever the regulators raise tariffs, there's a push back. That push back is not just because you know power is not being supplied, but the fact is that people cannot afford to pay any anymore.

“As the foreign exchange continues to go up and there's inflation, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ( NERC) by its rules and regulations is required by the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) to adjust the tariff and most times it is going up. With this kind of push-back, we will never have the cost-reflective tariff,” he said.

Bandits Kill Two in Kaduna, Abduct MACBAN Chairman in Kogi John Shiklam in Kaduna No fewer than two people were killed by bandits in Kaduna, while the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Kogi State, Alhaji Wakili Damina, has been abducted by gunmen.

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan who disclosed the Kaduna incidents in a statement issued yesterday, also said six people were injured.

According to him, the attacks took place in Mazari, Chikun Local Government Area and Doka village in Kajuru LGA. Aruwan said the attacks were

reported to the state government by security agents.

The commissioner said, “security agencies have reported that armed bandits invaded Mazari, a community close to Buruku in Chikun LGA. “According to the report, one Mariya Sale was killed in the attack. Three others were injured, identified as Ladidi Abdullahi, Zubaida Balarabe and Hauwa'u Ayuba”.

The statement said, “in another reported incident, armed bandits attacked Doka village, Kajuru LGA. “One Bitrus Luka was shot dead, and three others were injured. The injured are: Kings Andy, Danladi Audu and Titus Friday. l

Aruwan said, “Governor Nasir El-Rufai noted the reports with sadness and prayed for the repose of the souls of the slain victims while offering his heartfelt condolences to their families. He also wished the injured a quick recovery.”

The commissioner, in another statement, disclosed that “the Nigerian Air Force, in response to credible intelligence, neutralized a group of bandits congregating in a location to carry out attacks in Birnin Gwari LGA on Monday 3rd May 2021.”

In a separate incident, the Chairman of the MACBAN in Kogi State, Alhaji Wakili Damina, has been abducted.

The state Secretary of

MACBAN, Mr. Adamu Abubakar, told journalists yesterday in Lokoja, the state capital that Damina was abducted on April 30 by some armed men dressed in army camouflage.

He said witnesses said that the abductors, numbering about eight, came in a white bus at about 12 noon to “forcefully” take away the Chairman from his house at Chikara village, Kogi Local Government Area.

Abubakar said he was informed of the incident about an hour later by the younger brother of Damina who claimed he witnessed the incident.

The MACBAN secretary said he immediately called the phone number of the missing

chairman, but it rang out.

He said that Damina’s number was switched off when he repeated the call about an hour later. “Since then, his lines are not reachable and all efforts to know his whereabouts proved abortive,” he said.

Abubakar said that he immediately notified the state Commissioner for Police of the development, adding that the state government was also informed through the Special Adviser on security matters to the governor, Mr. Jerry Omodara.

The secretary said that he and some members of the association visited the Nigeria Police Force headquarters, Abuja, to know if Damina was in their custody

but he was not in police custody.

He also said that a search party raised by MACBAN had visited other places, including abattoirs in and around Abuja to no avail.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ede Ayuba, said that immediately he was informed of the incident, he called Damina’s phone severally but there was no response.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Ayuba said efforts to get detailed information about the incident from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area where the incident happened was unsuccessful as the matter was not officially reported to him.

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Oil Prices Rise to Seven-week High on Strong Demand Recovery Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Oil prices took a jump to the highest level in seven weeks yesterday, as the market continued to be propelled by economic and oil demand rebound in the United States and Europe.

The losses from India, Brazil and other countries that are suffering hugely from the COVID-19 pandemic weren’t enough to stop the gains as investors bet that the rollout of vaccines will permit a return to pre-pandemic conditions.

Brent Crude, Nigeria’s benchmark, climbed to $68.77, up by over 1.32 per cent on the day, while the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude was back above $65 per barrel, having touched the highest level since March earlier in the day, up by 1.29 per cent at $65.57.

Although the rising price of crude oil has raised Nigeria’s hope of effectively funding its 2021 budget, but it is currently in a dilemma as the landing price of petrol continues to rise, further burdening the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which has continued to shoulder the subsidy payment.

The government promised an end to fuel subsidy last year, but rising oil prices have complicated the effort, with the state oil company disclosing that it’s still negotiating with

organised labour to find a way to allow petrol price to float without unduly harming the poor and working class.

The oil price rise yesterday was further supported by a weaker U.S. dollar, which fell after Monday data showed that U.S. manufacturing activity grew in April at a slower pace than expected.

In Europe, the European Union (EU) also gave oil bulls hope this week, unveiling on Monday a plan to open its borders to vaccinated tourists, while the European Commission proposed that the EU allow entry for non-essential travels for anyone who has received the last dose of an EU-approved vaccine at least two weeks before arrival.

But ahead of a planned revival of supplies scheduled to begin this month, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept crude production steady in April.

OPEC pumped an average of 25.27 million barrels a day last month, about 50,000 a day less than in March.

The group and its allies, which slashed production when the pandemic struck last year, are gradually restoring about a quarter of their halted supplies over the next three months, to satisfy a recovery in global demand.

They’ll phase in just over two

million barrels a day through to July, beginning with 600,000 a day this month.

Still, a survey shows OPEC maintained its discipline while waiting for the demand rebound to kick in.

Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest member, continued to make extra cutbacks in

April, pumping 8.11 million barrels a day.

The figures are based on ship-tracking data, information from officials, and estimates from consultants, including Rystad Energy AS, JBC Energy GmbH, and Petro-Logistics SA, Bloomberg noted.

The biggest fluctuations

in April were seen in OPEC members exempt from the agreement to restrain output.

Libya, which has managed to revive production since late last year following a truce in its internal conflict, suffered a slight setback. Its output retreated by 80,000 barrels a day to 1.14 million a day as

a budget dispute threatened attempts to fix war-damaged infrastructure.

But the disruption in Libya was largely compensated by a further increase in Iran’s output, as the country added 60,000 barrels a day to reach 2.41 million a day, the highest level in two years.

CONDOLENCE VISIT...

L-R: Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero; Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Masari; and Emir of Bichi, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, during the governor’s condolence visit to the monarchs over the death of their mother in Kano...yesterday

Ahmed: N54bn Released to Fund Army Operations Since 2019 To interface with Army on better measures to fund security operations Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, yesterday disclosed that the Federal Government spent about N54 billion in funding operations of the Nigerian Army between 2019 and 2021.

Ahmed made the disclosure during an interactive session held in Abuja with the Senate Committee on Army and representatives of the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff.

The Minister who was

responding to accusations by the senatots that Army is poorly funded said, ''If you permit me we have to put up some of the information that we have on that capital funding of the Nigerian Army in 2019 was N19.6 billion, N12.6 representing 64.3 percent was released, in 2020 N24.37 billion 100 percent, 2021 N29 billion released as at May we have released 17.98 which is 61 percent.''

She told the Committee that President Muhammadu Buhari and the office of budget and planning prioritizes the funding of the military and that the

president has made approval based on their direct demands for emergencies.

She noted that the military has made a special request for the provision of N64.5 billion assuring the committee that this also would be met.

Ahmed also stressed that the need for the army is very large, saying that the challenge calls for new methods of funding the military.

The Minister however assured that her ministry is to interface with the Nigerian Army on improved measures to fund security operations in the country.

She said, ''Prioritize funding of armed forces of Nigeria.

Besides, the budgetary funding that we finance a 100 per cent there are a lot of instances that the security personnel goes directly to the president to seek funding and the president prioritize the funding. Perhaps what we are providing was not enough the fact is we provide for the military and we have an opportunity in the supplementary budget where we are going to address some of that. We need to sit together and ensure that we look at how to fund the Armed forces''.

Speaking earlier, Chairman

Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume alleged that the only place he sees military preparedness is Abuja where they are well kited and armed with new AK47 assault rifles.

He lamented over the poor funding of the army saying it was unreasonable that out of a National Budget of N13 trillion, only N30 billion was allocated to the army.

He said, ''I interact with the soldiers, I have gone through the formation, I cannot see a soldier holding brand new AK47. It is so bad that the Nigerian Army is rationing ammunition among soldiers. I

can be quoted. In a budget of N13 trillion, you are allocating the N30 billion.

"As I said I can be quoted the only place I see new AK47 is in Abuja. That is necessary because that is the image of Nigeria. Nigerians are looking forward to this meeting hoping that we can resolve it, in terms of addressing the challenges of the Nigerian Army. The reason we are here is because of the serious security challenges we are facing in the country that is spreading like cancer. We are here to interact and find out what is the problem, what are the immediate solutions."

Senate Asks Buhari to Provide Five-year Post-COVID Intervention for Disabled Nigerians Deji Elumoye and Juliet Akoje in Abuja The Senate yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to provide a five-year post COVID-19 special intervention programme for Nigerians living with various types of disabilities.

This was just as it urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank, to provide Special Loan facilities to Persons with Disabilities through the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

The upper legislative chamber also called on security agencies to retain and convert personnel who became disabled in the course of discharging their duties than retiring them.

In addition, it also urged the Federal Civil Service

Commission (FCSC) and Boards of Parastatals to give special consideration to Persons with Disability during the recruitment exercise to give effect to the Legislative intent of the Discrimination against Persons with Disability (Prohibition Act, 2018).

These formed part of the resolutions reached after the upper chamber considered a motion titled, “Urgent need to provide Special Presidential Interventions for the persons living with disabilities in Nigeria.”

Sponsor of the motion, Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf (APC, Taraba Central), in his presentation, commended President Buhari for signing into law, the Discrimination against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act, 2018, and

further establishing the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities as a fulfillment of one of his campaign promises.

He, however, expressed concern that according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, about 29 million of the 195 million people who comprise the Nigerian National population were people with disabilities.

According to him, “recent reality on the activities of insurgency, banditry, indiscriminate mining activities and pollutions from the explorations of hydrocarbon resources (Oil Spills) are particularly causing children to be home with deformities in the Niger-Delta region.”

He added: “The recurrent accidents recorded on our roads and other related social ills have made Nigeria witness a surge

in the communities of people with disabilities and they are gradually becoming a strong political constituency who in the nearest future can determine the future leadership of Nigeria.

Accordingly, the Senate in its resolutions urged President Buhari to provide a five-year post-COVID-19 special intervention programme in areas of: Mass distribution of Assistive devices to include wheelchairs, prosthesis and orthotics, hearing aids, crutches, Braille machines, special computers, skin protector, among others.

The upper chamber posited that doing so would provide access to education; independent living for disabled Nigerians; and facilitate effective inclusion and participation in development activities.

In addition, the Senate called

on the Federal Government to undertake the design and construction of accessibility facilities in all Federal Government institutions, city roads, pedestrian walkways and public facilities, including airports, railway stations, motor parks, schools, universities, etc.

It also demanded the revitalisation of all rehabilitation facilities and special schools in the six geo-political zones across the country. While urging all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to provide at least 10% of their projects and programes for persons with disabilities through the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities; the chamber called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank, to provide Special Loan facilities to Persons

with Disabilities through the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

It also urged the security agencies to ensure that in an event where personnel in the course of discharging their official assignment become disabled, the security agency should retain and convert the affected personnel to a less demanding task than retiring them. While the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities shall provide the affected personnel with the assistive device; and the Chamber tasked the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities under the supervision of the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to implement the Senate resolutions.

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PAGE TEN PRESIDENCY ACCUSES RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL LEADERS OF PLOT TO OVERTHROW BUHARI Nigerians.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said in a statement that available evidence indicated that some disgruntled religious and past political leaders are poised to throw the country into a tailspin, which would compel an undemocratic change of leadership.

Adesina's statement came a day after the Department of State Services (DSS) alleged that some “misguided elements” were threatening Nigeria’s unity and peaceful co-existence.

DSS spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunanya, in a statement on Monday, had said that among those threatening the federal government and Nigeria’s unity are “some religious and past political leaders who have either called for a forceful change of government or mass action against it.”

The presidency in a reaction to the DSS yesterday said there is proof that the disruptive elements are now recruiting the leadership of some ethnic groups and politicians round the country, with the intention of convening some sort of a conference, where a vote of no confidence would be passed on the president, thus throwing the land into turmoil.

It stated: "The caterwauling, in recent times, by these elements, is to prepare the grounds adequately for their ignoble intentions, which are designed to cause further grief for the country. The agent provocateurs hope to achieve through artifice and sleight of hands, what they failed to do through the ballot box in the 2019 elections."

It added that Nigerians have opted for democratic rule since 1999 and the only accepted way to change a democratically elected government is through elections, "which hold at prescribed times in the country as any other way is patently illegal, and even treasonable.

Of course, such would attract the necessary consequences."

The presidency also accused external forces of collaborating with some individuals and groups to cause crisis in the country and warned that it will not take kindly to such moves.

"These discredited individuals and groups are also in cahoots with external forces to cause

maximum damage in their own country. But the presidency, already vested with mandate and authority by Nigerians till 2023, pledges to keep the country together, even if some unruly feathers would be ruffled in the process," it said.

But some analysts told THISDAY last night that the presidency might have been reacting to a grand move by some past leaders of the country to hold a conference to discuss the state of the nation, which they said had been hemmed by massive violence from non-state actors, including bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and separatist elements.

The conference being facilitated by a former head of state is expected to be attended by leaders of prominent regional political groups, civil society organisations, religious leaders and past political office holders.

The groundwork had reached an advanced stage and state intelligence agencies and the presidency, the analysts, said may have panicked in the fear that the conference in dissecting the litany of woes that have befallen the country may throw up conversations and conclusions that are certain to embarrass the Buhari administration.

This is Blackmail, PDP Fires Back Reacting to the allegation, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed it, describing it as a resort to blackmail in the face of the failure of the Buhari administration.

The PDP said rather than live up to the responsibilities of office by taking charge and securing the nation, the presidency was engaging in frivolous allegations against Nigerians.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that the Buhari presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are being haunted by their own shadows as Nigerians know the persons as well as the political party with the history and penchant to scuttle democratically-elected government.

The PDP said: "The presidency has forgotten that in 1983, Brigadier Muhammadu

Buhari, as he was then known, led a military coup to truncate a democratically-elected government thereby causing our nation a huge drawback on democratic governance.

"Also, in 2015, the APC, which was hurriedly formulated, made itself available as a vehicle of brigandage to disrupt our political process by beguiling Nigerians and taking power through violence, propaganda and falsehood.

"Even in 2019, Nigerians will be quick to remember how the APC imported bandits, vandals and thugs from neighbouring countries, as political mercenaries, to unleash violence, disrupt our voting processes and muscle itself into power."

The PDP urged the presidency and the APC to look inwards for those allegedly plotting to upturn democracy.

"Our party believes that the statement by the Buhari presidency is an attempt by the APC to heighten political tension in our country ahead of the 2023 election, having realised that they cannot face the people at the polls," it added.

The PDP, however, advised the APC to know that such blackmail against Nigerians cannot work.

"For us in the PDP, our party will remain undeterred, alongside other patriotic Nigerians, in our commitment towards the sustenance and stability of our democracy as well as the unity and corporate existence of our country, Nigeria," the PDP said.

Afenifere, ACF, PANDEF, CAN Dismiss allegation Afenifere, ACF, PANDEF and the CAN also dismissed the allegation by the presidency that some religious and political leaders are part of a plot to overthrow Buhari.

The leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said Buhari had lost control of the country’s leadership, adding that nobody needs to pass a vote of no confidence in him before the whole world knows that he has failed Nigerians.

He stated that given Buhari’s poor performance, there is no need for any group to “gather anywhere to pass a vote of no

confidence in him.”

Adebanjo, who described the 1999 Constitution as a fraud, also urged the president to, as a matter of urgency, return the 1964 Constitution agreed on by the founding fathers of Nigeria, including the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

He said: “Who is interested in passing vote of no confidence in Buhari? Who has confidence in Buhari before let alone pass any vote of no confidence in him? That is not the issue. The main thing is to restructure the country back to federalism and forget all these gossips

by Adesina. We don’t have to pass a vote of no confidence for the world to know we don’t have any confidence in Buhari.

“I don’t know of any group who wants to take over the government, but I know those of us who want the country to be restructured in a peaceful manner.

“Those of us in Afenifere and all other groups in the South who are agitating for restructuring are the friends of Nigeria, are the friends of Buhari. I hope it is not too late for Buhari to realise this.”

ACF also said it was wrong for the presidency to see all its critics as disgruntled people with ulterior motives.

The spokesman of the ACF, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, told THISDAY that the presidency should be broad-minded and tolerate all shades of opinions.

According to him, many criticisms against the government are done in good faith to help improve the situation in the country.

He said: “Many criticisms are done in good faith and if acted upon will help improve the situation in the country.

“It is wrong to see all critics as disgruntled, religious and past political leaders with dark motives. Some of them mean well for the government and the country.”

Also, the Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of CAN, Rev. Joseph Hayab, said the president and his team were becoming confused.

He stated: “The president and his team have gone blind and confused since in their world view, Rev. Father Mbaka and others who are telling them the truth about what is happening in the country have now

become enemies.

“You should know they have run out of excuses and have turned to blackmail even those who love them and want them to do what is good for the generality of Nigerians.

“Every religious leader who chooses to stand with the people and is demanding good governance is now disgruntled.”

The CAN chairman said the presidency needed “to pause a little and remember that these people whom they are calling names today stood with them and for them when those who think they know them more warned against it."

He added: “Nigerians have since passed their vote on Buhari and his government after watching helplessly how bandits have taken over the country; our young university students are being killed and destroyed.”

Hayab appealed to those who are making statements on behalf of the presidency to be careful with their poor words and strive to win the support and confidence of the people with love and facts, not blackmail.

The Special Assistant to the CAN President on Media and Communications, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, said beyond praying for things to get better, religious leaders reserved the right to criticise the authorities if they were not doing the right thing.

"If the government accused some religious and past political leaders of planning to remove President Muhammadu Buhari, in what ways has that concerned the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)?

The biblical responsibilities of the church include but not limited to praying for those who are in the position of authority but to criticise when doing wrongs or performing below the average. Check the Bible; there was never a time a bad ruler was spared from criticism," he said.

He stated that the government should pre-occupy itself with how best to tackle insecurity and ensure the wellbeing of the people.

"Our candid advice to the government is to find an answer to the menace of insecurity occasioned by the bandits, kidnappers and terrorists.

The country is approaching

the precipice and President Muhammadu Buhari is in the position of rescuing the country by stopping the unprecedented bloodshed.

"It is only the fool that goes to bed when his roof is on fire. Our members and non-members are being kidnapped and killed while the government appears helpless,” he said.

According to him, fixing the security challenges is beyond issuing press releases or threatening to deal with the criminals.

He stated that 24 hours after Buhari vowed never to tolerate any banditry attack on schools, the bandits struck, adding that the victims are still in captivity.

“What is the government doing to rescue the victims?

Some university students who were kidnapped in Kaduna are being killed but the government is too busy threatening the critics. We advise the presidency to recall all the promises made by Buhari during the electioneering and what is happening under his watch. Until his government wakes up to its responsibilities, the church will not keep quiet," he said.

In a reaction, PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Hon Ken Robinson, expressed shock that the presidency would under the prevailing situation of disastrous insecurity tag religious leaders and past political leaders "disgruntled."

He said such a statement was the least expected from government.

The group urged the presidency to stop chasing shadows, stressing that Nigerians are anxious, troubled and many are becoming hopeless over the worsening insecurity, while the security agencies appear helpless and vulnerable.

PANDEF asked Buhari to involve all critical stakeholders nationwide in efforts at finding solutions to the problems facing the nation.

It said: "What we expect from President Muhammadu Buhari, at this time, is to rally all critical stakeholders, from all sectors and sections of the country, to build national consensus and fashion out collective and holistic ways to address the hybrid problems confronting the country. This is not the time for arbitrary statements."

executive departments as against Nigeria, which has 27 ministers, 16 ministers of state and 27 ministries.

He lamented that the federal government is maintaining 943 Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with many of them having duplicated functions.

“There are 541 federal government-owned public corporations and enterprises.

We need to cut these in order to install efficiency in governance. Also, we have a bloated civil service.

The current civil service structure and size is clearly unsustainable for Nigeria’s economy,” he said.

He warned against the tendency where the civil service is accorded political, ethnic and religious patronage.

“A comprehensive staff auditing and job available is imperative to determine the right size of the federal civil service without having any adverse effect on the service.

And to avoid duplication in the civil service, the staff rationalisation programme should be gradual,” he added.

Akabueze said the federal government’s recurrent

spending accounted for more than 75 per cent of the actual MDAs expenditure between 2011 and 2020, in addition to personnel cost which accounted for government significant spending.

He accused the MDAs of incurring excessive personnel costs and wilfully indulging in wide range of underhand practices that are driving governance cost out of the ordinary.

According to him, in 2016, personnel cost was N1.87 trillion while at the moment the same cost has spiralled to over N3 trillion.

The effect of the rising cost of running government, Akabueze added, is the reason why only 30 per cent of the budget is available for capital project and the cause behind many abandoned capital projects nationwide.

He said: “Personnel cost accounted for 31 per cent and 63 per cent of the total spending and retained revenue in 2020. In the USA, the general administration cost is less than 10 per cent of total budget.’’

He challenged Nigerians to task themselves on

governance, saying that the success story of the Asian Tiger was a product of sound leadership and determination.

PRESIDENT ORDERS REVIEW OF FG’S PAYROLLS TO CUT COSTS Ahmed spoke at a policy dialogue on ‘corruption and cost of governance in Nigeria,’ organised by the Independent Corrupt Practice and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Also at the occasion, the Director-General, Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, proposed a constitutional amendment to pave the way for the restructuring of the country into six regions instead of the present 36 states structure. This, he said, would help to reduce the rising cost of governance.

Ahmed stated that the proposed cost-saving measures was aimed at streamlining government expenditure with revenue.

She said: “We still see government expenditure increase to a terrain twice higher than our revenue.”

She urged all government agencies to come together to trim the cost amid the country’s dwindling revenue.

According to her, the nation’s budgets are filled every year with projects that are recycled and that are also not necessary.

“Mr. President has directed

that the salaries committee that I chair, work together with the head of service and other members of the committee to review the government pay rolls in terms of stepping down on cost,” she added.

The minister said the federal government would also review the number of government agencies in terms of their mandates, adding that the government will consider merging two agencies with the same mandate.

She said: “We need to work together; all agencies of the government to cut down our cost. We need to cut down unnecessary expenditures-expenditures that we can do without.

“Our budgets are filled year-in-year out with projects that we see over and over again and also projects that are not necessary."

Akabueze, in a paper titled: ‘Reducing the Cost of Governance in Nigeria,’ described the country’s current system of democratic governance as very expansive and expensive.

He said the constitutional provision that mandated

the president to appoint a minister from at least each of the 36 states, should be amended to reduce the number of federal cabinet members.

He cited the large federal structure to be one of the drivers of the high cost of governance and engendering public outcry that government spending is largely on recurrent activities at the expense of capital projects.

While describing the subsisting fiscal policy as unsustainable, Akabueze said the persistent call for the reduction of governance cost had continued to gain momentum in view of its impact on government fiscal situation.

He stated that the cost of governance is considerably cheaper in the United States from where Nigeria copied the presidential system of government.

According to him, the general cost of administration in the United States is less than 10 per cent of the total annual budgets while the United States, with a higher population than Nigeria, has only 15 secretaries and

Continued on page 11

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WEDNESDAY, ͽ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Boko Haram Regrouping in North-east again, Says Ndume Recall ex-servicemen to fight terrorists, Atiku tells FG Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, yesterday raised the alarm that Boko Haram insurgents have started regrouping again in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

This is coming as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has called on the federal government to recall exservicemen and declare total war on terrorism.

Atiku disclosed that terrorists have extended their operation beyond the North-east and were mere hours from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Ndume made the revelation yesterday in Abuja, while briefing journalists after plenary on his bill seeking to establish Federal College of Education Gwoza, Borno State.

The proposed legislation passed second reading on the floor of the Senate yesterday.

The senator representing

Borno South said the resurgence of Boko Haram activities should not stop the establishment of more educational institutions in Borno South.

He said the area, which he is representing at the National Assemby existed without a higher institution of learning despite its size and population.

Ndume said, “Last week, 30 soldiers were killed in Mainok on the highway. Yesterday (Monday) just 30km from Maiduguri, the town was overrun by Boko Haram. It took the concerted effort of the armed forces but we lost a major and two soldiers. In Rann Local Government, the same thing happened.

“The problem we are facing in Borno and, to some extent, in Yobe and Adamawa, is that the insurgency is resurging again and that is a matter of concern.

“Part of the solution is not to give up and not to show the insurgents that Nigerians are overwhelmed but to show that despite their terrorist acts

and their stance against western education, more institutions would be established.”

Ndume said the establishment of the college would help in transforming the educational fortunes of the people of Borno South, a Senatorial District that has existed without a higher institution of learning despite its size and population.

He said, “The establishment of this college would be an addition to the only existing higher institution (University of Maiduguri) in the state.

“The enactment of this Bill will help not only in transforming the decayed educational infrastructures in Nigeria, but also help in the development of the hitherto devastated North East Region of the country,” he added.

Meanwhile, Atiku has said the time for a total war on terrorism is now, stressing that terrorists have extended their operation beyond the NorthEast and are now merely hours

from the FCT, Abuja.

He said the security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating, adding that nowhere seems to be safe.

Atiku urged the federal government to consider recalling all ex-servicemen and women who are willing to return to service and take the fight to the insurgents until they are rolled back and defeated.

He said this in a statement issued on his official Twitter handle, titled, ‘The Time for a Total War on Terror Is Now.’ “The security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating rapidly and ordinary Nigerians are living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones,” he said.

“Nowhere seems to be safe.

Farms, markets, schools, homes, mosques, churches, and urban areas are all affected.

“Terrorists are spreading their areas of operation beyond the Northeast, into far-flung areas as far as Niger State in the North-Central. That is mere

hours from our Federal Capital.

“Now is the time for decisive leadership and I call on the Federal Government to consider recalling all ex-servicemen and women, who are willing to return to service, and take the fight to the insurgents, until they are rolled back and defeated.

“As a former vice chairman of the National Security Council, I am aware that Nigeria has a sizeable population of military veterans, who are alive, and were trained locally and internationally, and it serves no purpose to allow these valuable national assets lie fallow when there is an existential threat to our nation.

“Call them up immediately.

Mobilise them to the field. The time has come for us to put in all our effort and stamp out this menace from our nation.

“The men and women of Nigeria’s armed forces, whether serving or retired, who restored peace to Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and São Tomé

and Príncipe can and should be used to do the same in the motherland.

“But they need arms and ammunition. It is incumbent on the federal government to develop a more efficient means of sourcing weapons and delivering them to the troops at the battlefront.

“A situation where terrorists and criminals are better armed than our troops on the battlefront is intolerable.

“We need to urgently improve the conditions of service of the men and women of our armed forces, and not just the government.”

“The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, working in concert with primary mortgage institutions, ought to offer the men and women of our armed forces special concessionary mortgage loans so they can own homes.

“The private sector should also be encouraged to offer discounted services to them in appreciation of their services.

of the National Association of Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTA), Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, pleaded with the bandits to spare the lives of their victims.

Danjuma told journalists in Kaduna that the parents of the affected students and Nigerians had been gripped by fear and tension following the threat by the hoodlums.

“We are simply begging them not to kill any other student in view of the fact that they are innocent.

“The deadline is really worrisome and we as parents, are concerned and worried over the lives of our students and teachers of the university,” he said.

A former senator who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, also appealed to Fulani sociocultural groups to intercede to secure the release of the students.

Sani tweeted that he had privately appealed to Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to help secure the release of the students.

Meanwhile, the National Security Council (NSC) meeting held yesterday at the State House, Abuja, to deliberate on

the security challenges facing the nation will continue today at the same venue.

Today's meeting, which will be the third in less than a week, will as usual be presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Indications that the meeting will continue today was emerged when yesterday's meeting ended without any media briefing or press statement issued.

Also, the President of the Senate, Dr .Ahmad Lawan, at Senate plenary on why the CDS and the service chiefs could not appear before the senators yesterday, said at the commencement of plenary that the military top brass could not honour invitation due to the National Security Council meeting.

"Today, the National Security Council is continuing its meeting that it started last week.

Therefore the invited security heads will not be able to come for the briefing.

"We are not sure if they will finish their meeting today (Tuesday). We assume it could spill to Wednesday too," he added.

Lawan, however, said the CDS and the service chiefs would brief the Senate tomorrow on the security situation in the country.

He said: "We have now fixed the date for the briefing to be Thursday, May 6," adding that the briefing will enrich the knowledge of his colleagues about security issues.

affecting Nigeria.

“BudgIT also found zero audit records of the N10.02 trillion received by the security sector between 2015 and 2021.”

It also alleged that budgetary provisions were made for agencies for projects that are beyond their execution. It added: “Even worse, agencies now receive allocations for capital

projects they cannot execute.

For example, the National Agriculture Seed Council has an allocation for N400m to construct solar street lights across all six geopolitical zones, while the Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan in Oyo State got N50m for the construction of street lights in Edo State.

"These are aberrations that need to be corrected."

FG PLEDGES TO SAVE ABDUCTED KADUNA VARSITY STUDENTS FROM EXECUTION 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 and provide them with 10 new Honda motorcycles by yesterday, the remaining students would be killed.

Of the about 22 students abducted on April 18 when the hoodlums invaded the school about 8:30 pm, the bandits have killed five.

However, the bandits might have reconsidered their decision to kill the remaining students yesterday as one of them was freed under a yet-to-be-clear circumstances. Their parents also appealed to the bandits to spare the lives of the students.

At the press conference in Abuja, Mohammad also spoke on efforts by the federal government to combat the security challenges facing the country.

However, the National Security Council (NSC) meeting held yesterday at the State House, Abuja to deliberate on the security challenges facing the nation will continue today at the same venue.

Also, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the three service chiefs will tomorrow brief the Senate on their efforts so far to address the security problems.

Mohammed also faulted the recommendations by the PDP in resolving the security

crisis, saying the contents of its recent press conference had exposed the opposition party's gimmickry.

He spoke against the backdrop of Monday's press briefing by the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in which he canvassed, among others, state police, devolution of powers and the establishment of border protection council, as part of steps to combat insecurity.

Mohammed accused PDP of merely playing politics with serious national issues, especially security.

The minister also threatened to expose the forces behind the current security challenges at the ‘’appropriate time’’ and deal with them.

He stated that the alarm raised by the Department of State Services (DSS) on the plot by some powerful forces to destabilise the government only confirmed the consistent position of the federal government that there were plots by some political forces to make the country ungovernable.

He said the federal government was shocked that ‘’a party that ruled the country for all of 16 years does not know that kidnapping and banditry are not federal offences.”

It advised the PDP to call out the states, including those being controlled by it, to ensure a rigorous prosecution of arrested kidnappers and bandits. ‘’PDP conveniently forgot that as far as terrorism, a federal

offence, is concerned, this federal government has successfully prosecuted thousands of Boko Haram members in Kainji, as part of a continuing exercise. We are now seeking the cooperation of the judiciary to continue with the trial of arrested terrorists," he added.

The minister explained that while PDP claimed to have ostensibly offered suggestions to the federal government on some topical issues, especially national security by dropping the toga of politics in the national interest, the party played cheap politics.

He said: ‘’The party went ahead to make wild accusations against the president and his government. For example, the PDP said the government has refused to engage, and that we were running a government of exclusion. ‘’The opposition party then went ahead to reel out a number of suggestions as a way out of the current challenges facing the nation. Unfortunately, the recommendations by the PDP have exposed the opposition party's gimmickry, and the fact that it was merely playing politics with serious national issues, especially security. ‘’Had it not been so, and had it done its homework properly, the PDP would have known that most of those same recommendations were already contained in the outcome of the federal government's town hall meeting on national security, which was held in Kaduna on April 8, 2021,’’ he added.

According to him, the federal government has consistently engaged Nigerians on topical national issues, including security, the fight against corruption, terrorism, infrastructure and farmer-herder conflict.

Abductors Free One More Kaduna Student Meanwhile, one of the abducted students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, has been released.

The mother of the released student, Mrs. Lauretta Attahiru, confirmed this yesterday to journalists in Kaduna.

She, however, declined to make further comments on how her son was released.

The police could not also be reached to confirm the release of the student as Mohammad Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna State Police command, did not respond to telephone calls and a text message .

The parents had earlier said the bandits had been negotiating with them individually, asking each of them to pay as high as N20 million, before they eventually demanded a bulk of N100 million and 10 motorcycles on Monday.

With the release of the student, the fate of the remaining 16 students remained uncertain yesterday, especially given the bandits' threat to kill them over the inability to ransom them.

Also yesterday, the President

Security Council Meeting Continues Today

PRESIDENT ORDERS REVIEW OF FG’S PAYROLLS TO CUT COSTS ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, described the cost of governance as the driver of corruption in Nigeria.

He said the government was committed to improving the country’s revenue by focusing on new and existing sources and by streamlining payroll.

He added that the federal government would also ensure removal of subsidies

and reduction in the cost of contracts and procurement are for the benefits of the vulnerable.

He listed critical area of concern to include payroll padding and the phenomenon of ghost workers.

The federal government's intended cost-cutting approach is coming amid a report by a public finance transparency advocacy firm,

BudgIT that the 2021 federal budget contains over 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion.

BudgIT, a public finance transparency advocacy firm, said in a report that the duplication of projects was just one among other loopholes for corruption in the budget.

It added that there were no audit records of N10.02 trillion

received by the security sector between 2015 and 2021.

It said: “Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health. This is very disturbing, especially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic

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NEWS

Parents of Abducted Kaduna Students Protest at N’Assembly House wades into abduction of students Udora Orizu in Abuja Parents of abducted College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna State, yesterday stormed the National Assembly complex in Abuja, demanding the safe return of their children, as well as an end to insecurity in the country.

This is coming as the House of Representatives yesterday pledged to liaise with relevant authorities to secure the release of the adducted students of Greenfield University in Kaduna State.

The aggrieved parents and the institution’s Students Union Government, were joined by some activists including Omoyele

Sowore and Deji Adeyanju, who earlier gathered at the Unity Fountain from where the protesters marched to the National Assembly complex.

However, the security agents manning the main entrance of the National Assembly denied them entrance, and they receded back to unity fountain.

The protesters, chanted songs of solidarity and displayed placards demanding prompt rescue of the students accused the state and federal governments of negligence in securing the release of the students.

Speaking at the resumption

of plenary, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila directed the Chairmen of House Committees on Defence, Army, Navy and Air force to step out and address the aggrieved parents.

Returning an hour later, the Chairman House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi

Benson was asked by the Speaker to brief the House on what happened.

Responding, Benson said upon getting to the gate of National Assembly, the protesters had left and they proceeded to unity fountain to meet them.

Getting there, he said the aggrieved parents looked

oppressed, suppressed and dejected.

Benson said, ‘’They feel they’ve been abandoned and have not eaten since two days.

They don’t have any hope; the only hope they have is on the parliament. They sent us back to you to plead with you that their plight on their missing kids be

addressed. They also requested that we speak on behalf of the kids that were kidnapped at the Greenfield University.’’

Gbajabiamila while expressing sadness said their grievances would be referred to the newly set up adhoc committee on security to proffer solutions.

Kidnappers of Editor Demand N50m Ransom in Adamawa Daji Sani in Yola The Kidnappers of the News Editor of Adamawa Broadcasting Cooperation (ABC), Hajiya Amra Ahmed who was kidnapped yesterday at her residence in Mbamba in Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State capital have demanded for N50million ransom to release the journalist.

A family source said her abductors called yesterday evening demanding for N50 million According to the source, the news editor is a nursing mother of a six-month-old baby who had resumed duty recently after her maternity leave.

He said the gunmen came in their numbers and forcefully gained entry into the home of the editor and whisked her away while they left behind her six-month-old baby.

“It appears the gunmen came with the aim of kidnapping the

husband of the journalist but since they didn’t met him, they decided to kidnap the nursing mother,” the source said.

The spokesman of State police Command, DSP Sulaiman Nguroje said, the journalist was abducted at her husband’s house at Mbamba between 1:00am to 2:00am yesterday.

He noted that the police were on the trail of the kidnapers, promising to rescue her and bring the perpetrators to book.

“It is disheartening that journalists who are working round the clock to inform and educate the populace are not immune to the snare of the kidnapers.

It is unfortunate that the lady and easy going fellow met this crude destiny. Journalists like other toiling masses are just struggling to make their ends meet. This is one story too many. Our prayers are with the immediate family of this toiling journalist,” he said.

Amotekun Operatives Arrest another 137 Persons in Ondo Forest James Sowole in Akure Barely 48 hours after the Ondo State Government repatriated 42 alleged invaders to Kano and Jigawa states, the State Security Network agency codename Amotekun, has arrested another 137 persons from one of the state’s forest reserves.

The persons, who included women and young children, were said to be occupying the Elegbeka Forest located on Ifon-Owo Road.

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had earlier this year ordered all illegal occupants of the state government forest reserves to quit, warning that anyone who wanted to stay should register with appropriate government agencies.

The governor’s action followed the gruesome murder of the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Adegoke Adeusi who was shot dead on the Owo-Ifon road.

The State Commander of Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye disclosed that the illegal occupants of the forest would

be escorted out of the state to where they came from.

“We got an intelligence report that very many people bombarded our forests at Elegbeka–Ifon area in the state.

“We moved in and when we questioned them; majority of them said they were from the Northern part of the country while others said they were from Ogun State.

“We asked for their mission; they were not able to give us a clear-cut of what they were here for. We brought some of them to Akure and their sponsors here to the headquarters of Amotekun for proper investigation.

“We profiled them and we found out that they were conniving with some persons in Ose to be given space for settlement in the government’s forest reserves, which makes them illegal occupants of the forests.”

“We are sending them back to where they claimed they came from,” Adeleye said

SAFETY ON THEIR MINDS…

L-R: Manager, Health, Safety, Environment (HSE), Lagos Region, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr. Kelechi Okpara; Senior Manager, HSE, Lagos Region, Boma Ashinze; Branch Manager, Mrs. Opeyemi Adekoya; Head, HSE, Florence Adegbola; Head, Enforcement, Allen Asawo, at the NSITF, Mainland Branch walk to celebrate 2021 International Day for Safety and Health in Lagos… recently

Senate Committee Gives CCT Chairman Two Weeks to Respond to Assault Allegation The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, yesterday, gave the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr. Danladi Umar, two weeks to respond to a petition levelled against him over alleged assault of one Mr. Clement Sagwak, a security guard.

Sagwak had petitioned the Senate, alleging that he was assaulted by Umar and

a policeman attached to him after he informed him (Umar) that his car was wrongly parked at Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja, on March 29.

He said the CCT boss slapped him severally and forced him to kneel down while undergoing his lawful activities.

The CCT chairman, however, claimed that the video in circulation did not reveal the

true situation of what happened.

He argued that the video captured only an aspect of the incident and left out the part where he was molested.

Umar, who appeared before the Senate Committee yesterday, asked the panel to give him one week to study the petition, which he said was just served on him.

This, he said, was to

enable him respond appropriately.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, asked the CCT chairman to reappear before the panel in two weeks’ time.

He said even though the Senate would proceed on a two- weeks break on Thursday, the Committee was prepared to reconvene during the break to hear Umar.

Corruption: Account for N10tn Security Allocations, PDP Tells Buhari Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to account for the N10.02 trillion claimed to have been spent on security under their watch.

The PDP also rejected what it described as the resorting to a ‘sitting-room’ measure by the APC government in the face of the porous borders and heightened terrorist activities in the country.

The PDP consequently urged President Buhari to immediately establish the Borders Protection Force, which would draw personnel and equipment from

the military and other armed services, to man the borders and check activities of terrorists and their backers.

The PDP position on the missing N10.02 trillion is predicated on heightening allegations of diversion of funds meant for security as well as an alert by a pro-transparency organisation, BudgIT, on the absence of proper audit on the spending of national security funds from 2015 to 2021.

The party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, asserted that such situation points to why terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of violent acts had continued to worsen, with

widespread complaints of lack of adequate combat equipment for the security forces, “for which our gallant soldiers as well as thousands of our compatriots are paying with their blood under President Buhari and the APC.” PDP urged Nigerians to recall that the APC administration is yet to come clean on claims by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), that billions of naira meant for security could not be traced.

According to the statement, “Our party is appalled at how APC and its administration has turned the heightened insecurity in our country, caused by their incompetence, divisiveness and

gross mismanagement of our national diversity, into a bloody merchandise for APC leaders.”

It challenged President Buhari, as the commander-in-chief, to speak out on the alleged diversion of security funds under his command.

The party also called on the two chambers of the National Assembly to immediately commence investigation into the spending of the N10.02 trillion security fund.

It said the party is further alarmed by the clear scheme by the APC and its administration to frustrate the well-intentioned strategies from the PDP to check the tide of terrorism and banditry in the country.

Ekiti to Cut Spending by N680m to Survive Current Economic Challenges Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti As a way of coping with the current economic situation in the country, Ekiti State stakeholders yesterday agreed with the state government on measures to cut government spending in order to bail the state out of current economic challenges occasioned by downturn in global economy.

The state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, disclosed that his administration would not sack any worker despite the cash crunch being experienced in the state as well as the need for a cut in government spending.

Fayemi said if the state must survive the current economic quagmire, there was need to cut over N680 million expenses per month.

The governor and

stakeholders, however, agreed on reduction in subventions to higher institutions in the state, cutting or totally stopping the running of grants to offices, and discontinuation of the consequential adjustments of the minimum wage for senior category of workers as well as ramping up of tax collection in a bid to shore up the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The one-day stakeholders’ meeting in Ado-Ekiti was called by the state government as an avenue to present the state of the state finances to the critical stakeholders comprising civil servants, traditional rulers, religious leaders, labour and trade union leaders, representatives of the academic community, students’ leaders, and the leadership of market women, artisan and transporters, among others.

WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021

COMMENT

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

QUOVADIS, NIGERIA?

Where is the country heading to? asks Sonnie Ekwowusi

A

mid the bloodletting, violence, kidnappings, banditry, drum beats of war and secession threats, the questions which both Nigerians and non-Nigerians are asking at the moment include: Quo Vadis, Nigeria? Where are you going Nigeria? To Golgotha? To Somalia? To Southern Sudan? Last week was the bloodiest and most fatal week in recent times in Nigeria. About 240 people were murdered and more than four dozen were kidnapped. Six persons were killed in Ekiti on April 20th; 40 students of Greenfield University, Kaduna were kidnapped on April 21st out of which five or six had been killed; 18 kidnapped in Oyo State on April 22nd; 45 people killed in Zamfara on April 22nd; another 83 persons murdered in Zamfara on April 23rd. Is it time out for Nigeria? Niger State Governor Abubakar Bello alerts the country that jihadists had overrun about 50 communities in Kaure and Shiroro local government, and hoisted their flag as evidence of conquest and occupation of the area. Gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen attacked the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp in Abagena, Makurdi, Benue State killing and injuring several IDPs. Benue State Governor Ortom is in tears.

In another development last week, the Ministry of Interior raised the alarm of a looming threat to blow up the country’s airports. Also last week the Chandler Good Governance Index (CGGI) ranked Nigeria the third worst governed country in the world after Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Nigeria scored 0.319 points to sit at number 102 out of 104 countries.

Consequently Nigerians are worried. The House of Representatives, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Arewa Youths Consultative Forum and others have called on President Buhari to declare a state of emergence on security.

Even savvy-veteran Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who before now would have dismissed any talk of civil war is now raising the alarm and saying that in the event of another major crisis all Nigerians (without exception) would suffer the terrible consequences. On their part, the U.S sympathizes with Nigeria. Last week, the U.S. Congress organized a virtual session on the escalating ethno-religious killings, religious conquest and occupation in Nigeria in recent times. The theme of the session was: Human Rights in Nigeria and the Role of Congress. The session was attended by Congressmen Frank Worlf and Chris Smith; Tom Suozzi and a Nigerian, Dr. Ikiebe. Dr. Ikiebe regretted the arrogance of the Nigerian political elite to admit that religious persecution and human rights abuses amount to genocide. He wondered why the Western press is reluctant to report the genocide happening in Nigeria. To him, the hoisting of the Islamic flag in the aforesaid area of Niger State is an indication that Nigeria is finished. Congressman Smith stated that President Buhari has failed and should be held accountable for the killings in Nigeria. He wondered why Boko Haram has been killing those who refused to convert to Islam. He regretted that more Christians have been killed in Nigeria than the whole of the Middle East. It pained him that Nigeria is a member of Country of Particular Concern (CPC), that is, countries adjudged guilty of severe violations of religious freedom

OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN GOVERNMENT ARE ONLY THE REPOSITORY OF THE PEOPLE’S POWER. SO LET THE PEOPLE TAKE BACK THEIR POWER

under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. You will recall that in March 2015 American ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell warned Nigeria not to elect Buhari. In his article published in Washington Times in the same March 2015, Grenell wrote that electing Buhari as president would be a disaster for Africa and would trigger off Islamic terrorist attacks to capture Nigeria because Buhari has often spoken sympathetically about members of Boko Haram and had cautioned against the rush to pass judgment on the violent Islamic sect.

Indeed, he had been selected by Boko Haram to lead negotiations with the Nigerian government.

In any case, we don’t even need the U.S. or outsiders to tell us what we already know about religious terrorism in our country. The Nigerian people are well informed that the fight against Islamic terrorism has been compromised by the government. For example, our own Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Pantami is allegedly sympathetic to some terrorist organisations yet the Buhari government, without embarking on investigation to verify the allegation, has been holding brief for Pantami. Here is a man accused of calling Boko Haram terrorists “fellow Muslims”, a man accused of praising the Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden to high heavens. By refusing to take the weighty allegations levelled against Pantami seriously, the Buhari government gives the impression that it he is also in sympathy with Islamic terrorists.

In corroboration of this is Dr. Obadiah Mailafia said: “They are already in the South; in the rainforests of the South. They are everywhere. They told us that when they finish the rural killings, they will move to phase two. The phase two is that they will go into the urban cities, going from house to house killing prominent people. I can tell you that this is their game plan. By 2022 they want to start a civil war in Nigeria.” In an online video which has been watched by most Nigerians Gen. T. Y Danjuma (rtd) said: “Every one of us must rise up, the Armed Forces are not neutral, they collude with the armed bandits that kill people, that kill Nigerians, they facilitate their movements, they cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings you will all die one by one”.

I am persuaded by T.Y. Danjuma’s logic. The Nigerian army, from now till eternity, cannot stop terrorism in Nigeria. Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai said that much. He said that terrorism may persist in Nigeria for another 20 years. You see, a government sabotaging the war against terrorism cannot defeat terrorism. In the same vein, an army rendered ineffective by the very power that set it up cannot defeat terrorism. Therefore the people should take back their power. Power belongs to the people. Our representatives in government are only the repository of the people’s power. So let the people take back their power. President Buhari will never resign. The parasites surrounding him are poised to continue telling lies on his behalf. The National Assembly is an extension of the Presidency. It will never impeach President Buhari. Therefore the people should take back their mandate from President Buhari.

MASARI’S DOGS OF WAR

Masari’s resort to the recruitment of dogs to contain banditry is bewildering, writes Tunde Olusunle

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minu Bello Masari, governor of Katsina State is a consummate reader of the national mood. Masari by the way, was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007.

Accentuated perhaps by the murderous humidity preceding the decisive advent of the rainy season, Nigeria’s sociopolitical pulse has been at an all-time high in recent days and weeks.

And Masari has been working hard to mitigate this nationwide discomfiture.

An otherwise quiet weekend was disrupted by news of the incineration of the country home of Hope Uzodinma, the governor of Imo State, on Saturday April 24, 2021. That unfortunate incident turned out to be a sad precursor to a legion of calamities, from the North to the South, and from the West to the East of Nigeria, beginning from the first working day of the new week.

On Monday April 26, the fiery furnace of assaults, attacks, mortal wounds and deaths headlined the beginning of the week. While bandits killed a divisional police officer, eight policemen and two vigilantes in Kebbi State, the abductors of the innocent students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, killed two more of the youngsters to press home their demands for an N800million ransom. In Igbariam community in Anambra State, 19 people lost their lives in an unprovoked attack, even as gunmen attacked soldiers at Amasiri, Ebonyi State.

Next door in Okigwe, Imo State, the police area command was attacked and burnt down by hoodlums, an incident which claimed five lives. From the north central state of Niger, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello raised the alarm about the occupation of parts of his state by Boko Haram, who had audaciously hoisted its flag in a community which is a mere two hours from the nation’s capital, Abuja.

On the same day, brigands kidnapped the proprietor of a hotel in Oyo State, taking along his wife, three children and five guests of the hotel. In

Borno State, hotbed of Boko Haram insurgency, the terrorists tightened their grips on ungoverned spaces and highways in the state, while gunshots rented the air around and about Owerri, the Imo State capital.

On the same day, the Imo State Commissioner for Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquired, Iyke Umeh was shot on the leg by gunmen.

Elsewhere in the North Central, some students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State were kidnapped, while Hausa motorcyclists and Yoruba youths tangoed in Iyana-Iba on the outskirts of Lagos, an incident which left many people injured. In an unfortunate incident of death by “friendly fire,” the Nigerian Air force on aerial reconnaissance in Maiduguri, mistakenly fired at land troops, killing many of them.

On Tuesday April 27, the lead story on the front page of THISDAY newspaper very fittingly was “Nation In Turmoil, Bandits Kill Two More Kaduna Students.” The New Telegraph on the other hand, opted for “Black Monday,” on its cover page, while The Nation beamed “Gunmen Kill 44 In Attacks” on its front page. The title of Nigeria’s legendary storyteller Chinua Achebe’s first novel, “Things Fall Apart,” was most appropriate to describe the nation’s sociopolitical conundrum that first day of the week. Indeed, with these many calamities in one single day, Nigeria’s “centre” was not hanging together.

Just before the last Christmas, Masari was supremely rattled by the abduction of over 300 students from the all-boys Government Science School, Kankara. The mass kidnap was carried out just as President Muhammadu Buhari arrived Katsina his home state, for a one-week break. After a week of search and rescue operations by the security services, the children were eventually rescued.

That was the high point of recurring incidents of attacks on communities, kidnapping and banditry in Katsina and other states in the North West at the time.

In response to this development, Masari shut down all secondary schools in the state, with a view to strengthening the security infrastructure in the institutions. This was aimed at preventing a recurrence of the horrendous incident. The state government closed the schools, because it needed time for introspection to manage a very knotty abnormality.

Probably satisfied by the security measures put in place while the institutions of learning were under lock, Masari recently directed the reopening of the schools. Among others, the schools in the last few months, have been secured by perimeter fences; watch towers have been built to allow security guards have a good view of the premises of the various schools, while five private security men known in common parlance as “maigad” have been recruited for each school.

Masari has also enjoined students and parents alike to be a lot more prayerful to stave off a repeat of the kidnap saga.

Masari’s prescription of an accentuated regime of religious rituals is not unsurprising. Like one who had run out of ideas and panaceas, a tacit admission of failure, Buhari himself had previously thrown up his hands in the air and admonished Nigerians to step up their supplicatory engagements with God. Nigerians have to be more prayerful, because according to him, only God can secure Nigeria. That is the depth of defeatism from the leader entrusted with our collective security and wellbeing.

More interestingly, Masari to add further teeth to the new security measures, awarded a N300 million contract for the supply of dogs, yes “bingos” to the various schools, to complement the new security architecture. By the arrangement, each school is to be provided with four dogs to complement the novel security masterplan.

Masari’s Commissioner for Education, Badamasi Lawal Charanchi confirmed in an interview that the effort is part of plans to augment the work of

security personnel attached to each boarding school.

Charanchi said “We were advised to deploy these dogs at each school because they have special abilities to detect intruders faster than human beings in many instances.” According to him, the dogs when deployed will alert the students and other security agents in case intruders or bandits visit the schools.”

Asked if the dogs were trained for this task, Charanchi proffered: “What people don’t understand is that when something is in you, you are born of it, it is part and parcel of you, that is why we looked at physiology. Whether a dog is trained or not, it has the powers to do what we want it to do. But if you have particular training for a particular thing you want to dog to do, you can as well enhance the dog.”

So the dogs, following Charanchi’s thesis, alert the students who are probably sleeping in their hostels or doing late night reading the way our generation studied several decades ago, about the presence of these insurgents and renegades within the premises of their schools. The only facade of security around them are the five “maigads”, most probably ex-servicemen and members of the Nigerian Legion, with their greying goatees. They are at best armed with dane guns, cutlassses and similar machetes, and of course prayers as propounded by Masari.

And they are to confront deviants armed with AK-47 rifles, assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades, sub-machine guns and light machines.

Security agencies across the world have developed the capacities of special dog breeds to complement security operations. German shepherds, rottweilers, doberman, labradors and beagles, among others are trained to detect contrabands, drugs, tobacco and explosives among others. They are regular sights at arrival halls in airports in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Dr Olusunle, poet, journalist and scholar, wrote from Abuja

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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021

EDITORIAL THE POLICE CONTINGENT TO SOMALIA The peace mission to Somalia is ill-advised

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mid the security crisis ravaging the nation, a contingent of 144 police officers was recently deployed in Somalia to help secure the country. The Somalian Police Operations coordinator, Daniel Ali Gwambal, said the Nigerian contingent would work with their officers in providing personality escort and protection services, training and assisting the Police Force in public order management, conducting joint patrols with their Somali counterparts and securing key government installations.

First, we recognise that the fact that a nation is beset with internal security challenges does not absolve it of its international obligations. Moreover, in successive United Nations assignments, the Nigerian police contingent has repeatedly stood out for distinction. The size of the contingent is also relatively modest when compared to the number of police personnel that are illegally drafted to private security protection of musicians, rich comedians, federal and state legislators, private businessmen, traditional rulers and local government officials. Unwittingly, the Somalia NIGERIA IS IN GRAVE experience may be DANGER. IT IS AT WAR good preparation for ON ALL FRONTS. our police in view of THERE IS PERVASIVE the rapid descent of our own country into FEAR AND INSECURITY Somalia-type anarchy.

EVERYWHERE. MOST However, many NIGERIAN COMMUNITIES ARE UNPOLICED OR UNDER- security analysts have queried the decision in POLICED the face of widespread security challenges across the nation. Nigeria is in grave danger. It is at war on all fronts. There is pervasive fear and insecurity everywhere. Most Nigerian communities are unpoliced or under-policed. Besides the decade-long insurgency in the Northeast by the extremist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, there is a disturbing wave of criminality across the country. Kidnappings, banditry and armed robberies have become a daily routine. Indeed, in the

Letters to the Editor

latest Global Terror Index released recently, Nigeria is ranked the third most insecure nation while Somalia is fifth.

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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

he police are so overwhelmed that the military has long been drafted to 33 of the country’s 36 states to perform major police function of internal security. Besides, many of the officers and men are also victims of the general banditry and criminality in the society. A report released earlier in the year said some 497 police officers and men were killed in the last eight years. Unfortunately, the numbers are going up as criminals have become more brazen. In the last few weeks, many policemen have been slaughtered, many of them on their beats. It is little wonder that President Muhammadu Buhari last week sought assistance from the United States to help maintain the peace.

The police force inability to perform satisfactorily is accentuated by acute manpower shortages. The United Nations recommended ratio of 1: 400 is obeyed more in the breach. Nigeria has a police force of about 370,000, serving a population of about 200 million, a ratio of more than 1: 540. This is grossly inadequate. Egypt, for instance, has a ratio of 1: 186 while South Africa is 1:366.

The authorities have been for years trying to recruit more law enforcement officers to make up the deficit to no avail. The poor staffing is worsened by the deployment of police personnel to secure prominent people in society at the expense of many communities.

Perhaps a professional and well-structured police would manage to make up for the shortfall by going all out to gather crucial intelligence to fight crimes. But the police are ill-motivated and professionally ill-equipped to perform their important duty of protecting the people. As the situation is, what the country can boast of at present is a police force that is easy game for a more sophisticated world of crime. At a time many Nigerians have expressed displeasure with the growing trend of soldiers taking over civil and security duties that are constitutionally reserved for the Nigeria Police Force, we do not believe that our charity should begin abroad.

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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.

DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

THE BATTLE TO CONTROL BAGA

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aga town is located in Kukawa Local Government area of Borno State in the north-eastern part of Nigeria. The town is well known for its commercial activities such as farming and fishing, because of its proximity to Lake Chad. Baga town is approximately 196Km from Maiduguri, the state capital. Furthermore, Baga town as a center of commerce, farming and fish market is one of the biggest revenue generators to Borno State Government.

However, the town as of 2013 experienced a major setback in its commercial activities due to the fight between Nigerian military and Boko Haram terrorist group which led to the death of over 185 innocent people and the destruction of property.

In January 2015, the town was attacked and captured by Boko Haram, including the military base used by the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as the town was burnt down and many people were massacred.

Again, on 27 December, 2018, Baga town military base was attacked

by Boko haram, killing 10 people. Reportedly, the attack was an attempt to take over the town by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters, a Boko Haram faction operating in the northern part of Borno State under the leadership of Abu-Musab.

However, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum’s administration came on board with 10 points agenda with security as the major priority. Prof.

Zulum during his inaugural speech in 2019 said his administration would accord maximum attention to the security of lives and property as well as food security. Governor Zulum once said, “We will not sleep until Borno fully regains peace by the grace of God.” This indicates that Zulum is working tirelessly to ensure that peace is restored to

Borno State. But this seems to be a difficult task as he planned and set up a committee to return all internally displaced persons (IDPs) back to their ancestral homes. In the process Governor Zulum was attacked several times by suspected ISWAP fighters. The governor has accused the Nigerian Army of being responsible for the attack on his convoy in August, 2020 while on a trip to Monguno and Baga towns to distribute food to IDPs. Governor Zulum said after the attack, “You (soldiers) have been here for over one year now, there are 1,181 soldiers here; if you cannot take over Baga which is less than 5km from your base, then we should forget about Baga. I will inform the Chief of Army Staff to redeploy the men to other places that they can be useful.”

Governor Zulum also said what happened to him was a complete sabotage from the military. Many people are of the opinion that the military has keen interest in controlling Baga town because of its economic viability. Some are even claiming that the military is engaging in business of farming and fishing activities within the town, gaining millions of naira as profits.

In September 2020, Governor Zulum security convoy was attacked

by ISWAP fighters, killing at least 15 security operatives while on their way to resettle Baga communities in Kukawa. The Governor condemned the attack on his convoy, saying, “I can’t be frightened by attacks while serving my people.” Zulum also said, “I will go to Baga again and again and by Allah’s will, we will resettle Marte town in October and Insha Allah we will then move to resettle people in Abadam.” This clearly indicates that Governor Zulum will not rest until all IDPs are relocated back to their ancestral homes as promised.

Mohammed Hassan, Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri

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ntelligent cars have been a part of our culture since the 1980s starting with the Knight Rider’s “Kitt”, a car probably far more intelligent than its driver. The Batmobile is always on call for Batman and with a pus h of a button it would locate him and drive there. Of course, having an automatic car with heavy weaponry may not be the best option for the average suburban driver.

A question may be what happens when the person using an autodrive car is drunk, are they drink driving or drink autodriving? A drunken slur may cause confusion as to which Cambridge to send them to, the one in Massachusetts, America or the University town in England. Should the autodrive cars share the locations of Police Alcohol Testing stations so that their drunk passengers won’t get a fine?

Autodrive cars can be programmed to do many things including to kill, well actually to selectively kill. If an accident is going to hurt the passengers or someone outside, then being inside the car is the best option.

Hackers could lead to more worrying possibilities.

Anarchists could create havoc by simply sending all of the autodrive cars onto the major roads and then have them stop in the middle of every intersection.

The end won’t come with the terminators shooting us down but rather it will be the autodrive cars running us down. Maybe it’s time to saddle up the horses again.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 • T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021

18

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

The Politics of Oil Blocks, Revocation and Reversal Nseobong Okon-Ekong examines the seeming uncertainty surrounding the revocation, restoration of Addax/ Sinopec OML License, and the report of the Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue

Buhari

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari had in March approved a decision to revoke the Oil Mining Licences of Addax Petroleum being managed

by Sinopec and domicile same with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for allocation to new operators.

The industry regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) announced the revocation of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) of four Oil Mining Licences (OMLs) previously managed by the Chinese oil company Sinopec, and assigned the rights to an indigenous consortium.

Analysts stated euphorically that it was not just a well thought-out decision based on the economics of the Production Sharing Contract but a pragmatic one that is necessary in view of the dire state of our national assets.

However, few weeks later President Buhari, again ordered the Department of Petroleum Resources to restore the four Oil Mining Licenses revoked from Addax Petroleum.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, it said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC which is in production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum, a company wholly owned by Government of the People’s Republic of China on the blocks.”

Interestingly, before the reversal of the OMLs license revocation, President Muhammadu Buhari had also set up a committee to investigate alleged “breach” of agreement by Addax Petroleum.

The committee headed by a former senator, Magnus Abe, while submitting its report to the Minister for State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in Abuja, accused the company of causing the country a huge economic loss.

But in the face of the seeming uncertainty surrounding the revocation, restoration of Addax OML License, and the report of the Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue, which indicted Addax for wasting millions of dollars, there has now emerged an ongoing debate as to what action serves the best interest of Nigeria, politically and

Sylva

economically.

The Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was commended for taking concrete steps to boost the revenue accruing to the government in underperforming assets.

However, another school of thought acknowledges that Nigeria and China continue to enjoy cordial economic, political and social ties, and support the mutual development of both countries and hence actions that may be seen to impinge the relationship should be avoided, given that Addax/Sinopec is wholly owned by the Government of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

However, the Magnus Abe Committee set up by President Buhari noted that the actions of Addax/ Sinopec put over 3000 Nigerians out of work. It wasted millions of dollars of the hard-earned currency that this country earned. What government did in revoking Sinopec’s OMLs License was in the best interest of the nation and cannot hurt the

Kyari

cordial bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China.

The report of the Committee headed

by Senator Magnus Abe stated that “Over one billion dollars have been invested in this. Addax Petroleum called off the project over an issue that was totally unrelated to this project. That action put over 3000 Nigerians out of work. It wasted millions of dollars of the hard-earned currency that this country earned.”

Government should consider the concluding comments of the Magnus Abe Committee which investigated the breach of agreement by Addax that “We felt that the public should be aware of the extent of damage that was done to waste indigenous resources, the economic waste, not only were the workers affected but other projects.”

Moreover, the choice of consortium is also in accordance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (Local Content) Act which was enacted in 2020 to

The choice of consortium is also in accordance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (Local Content) Act which was enacted in 2020 to promote indigenous operation of Nigeria’s oil and gas assets. Under the Act, seasoned Nigerian independent operators are to be given first consideration in the award of oil blocks and oil field licenses. Under the new PSC entered into by the DPR with the new consortium, the consortium will pay a Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) of US$ 340 million at the commencement of the PSC; Re-develop the significant oil resources which have been lying fallow, and ramp up production; Develop the large gas resources within 24 months both for the domestic market and for export, in line with the government’s aspirations for the gas industry; and Ramp up investment in the OMLs so that production revenues, royalties and taxes to the Government are exponentially increased, in addition to the upfront payment of GVC

promote indigenous operation of Nigeria’s oil and gas assets. Under the Act, seasoned Nigerian independent operators are to be given first consideration in the award of oil blocks and oil field licenses.

Under the new PSC entered into by the DPR with the new consortium, the consortium will pay a Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC) of US$ 340 million at the commencement of the PSC; Re-develop the significant oil resources which have been lying fallow, and ramp up production; Develop the large gas resources within 24 months both for the domestic market and for export, in line with the government’s aspirations for the gas industry; and Ramp up investment in the OMLs so that production revenues, royalties and taxes to the Government are exponentially increased, in addition to the upfront payment of GVC. The new operating consortium has been carefully chosen by government for their familiarity with the assets. The essence therefore is to ensure a seamless transition of operations with no disruptions in production or loss of revenue to the government. It is good to know that the consortium and Sinopec are engaged in negotiations to ensure a smooth handover of the assets, including amicable settlement to the former operator. It is also delightful that the consortium has spoken of its determination to maximise the potential of the assets to ensure that the government and people of Nigeria reap the full benefits in addition to deepening relationships with local communities, boost local content in all its ramifications and increase the employment and training of Nigerians, directly and indirectly.

The DPR should be commended for taking concrete steps to boost the revenue accruing to the government in underperforming assets. One thing that has helped this transaction is the very cordial relationship which the Buhari administration has cultivated with the Government of the Peoples Republic of China, which has ensured that the transaction has been well received all around and the processes for transfer of the assets have laid out pretty fast such that all parties to the transaction are working on the same page.

It is important to understand Continued on page 19

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021

19

POLITICS

The Politics of Oil Blocks, Revocation and Reversal

Shehu

Abe

the history of the four oil blocks (OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137) and why the Federal Government took the decision to reallocate the assets.

In 1998, the NNPC entered into a 20-year PSC (Production Sharing Contract) in respect of certain oil mining leases (OMLs) with Addax Petroleum, a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), which was to expire in 2018. The PSC was subsequently extended for a further four years, until 2022. By 2009, Addax had increased production in these OMLs to about 130,000 bpd (barrels of oil per day). In 2009, Sinopec (a Chinese state-owned company) purchased Addax Petroleum. As a result, Sinopec obtained the rights to these assets. No payments were made to the Federal Government during the purchase by either party.

From a high of about 130,000 bpd in 2009, daily production dropped to 25,000 bpd in 2021, more than 80 percent decline. In addition, large gas resources in the assets remain undeveloped, and no effort had been made to recover associated gas, which is flared in contravention of the Federal Government’s policy and international best-practice. Also, since 2017, Sinopec has attempted, by a private sales process, to divest its rights in the PSCs (which are due to expire in July 2022) to a third party of Sinopec’s choice. I guess the Government must have reasoned that it needs to seize control of the process else it could be stuck with new players without the enthusiasm to mine the fields and make requisite returns.

As a result of Sinopec’s failure to adequately manage the assets the revenue accruing to Government

significantly reduced. It was even more hurtful that Sinopec was thinking of passing the asset around to a new owner, and probably take a hefty paycheck while the country suffers. This informed the decision of the federal government to take back the assets and hand it over to the NNPC for better management.

At a time when the country is in need of resources and in the throes of increasing national debt to bridge its infrastructure deficit, no serious government will be reckless and carefree as to ignore the management of its national assets. This is what President Buhari has done in this case, acting on the principled advice of the Department of Petroleum Resources.

In choosing the new operators over the inactive Sinopec, the Federal Government is walking the talk on supporting local operators in the oil Industry using the Local Content law. This is commendable, especially given that Nigerian firms in oil Exploration and Production (E&P) have shown tremendous capacity in the industry, with many of them as top and rising operators in crude oil and gas production.

Under the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (Local Content) Act, which was enacted to promote indigenous operation of Nigeria’s oil and gas assets, seasoned Nigerian independent operators are to be given first consideration in the award of oil blocks and oil field licenses.

Indeed, this is a win-win transaction for Nigeria, the Buhari administration, the Department of Petroleum Resources, the operators and the host communities.

It is important to understand the history of the four oil blocks (OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137) and why the Federal Government took the decision to reallocate the assets. In 1998, the NNPC entered into a 20-year PSC (Production Sharing Contract) in respect of certain oil mining leases (OMLs) with Addax Petroleum, a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), which was to expire in 2018. The PSC was subsequently extended for a further four years, until 2022. By 2009, Addax had increased production in these OMLs to about 130,000 bpd (barrels of oil per day). In 2009, Sinopec (a Chinese state-owned company) purchased Addax Petroleum.

As a result, Sinopec obtained the rights to these assets.

No payments were made to the Federal Government during the purchase by either party

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

L-R: Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon. Yusuf Sununu , Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Toby Okechukwu, Hon. Shehu Koko and Minister of Health, Prof. Osagie Ehinare during an intervention meeting between the leadership of the House, the Ministries of Budget and National Planning; Finance; Health; and Resident Doctors at the National Assembly

L-R: Lion Nsikak Bassey, immediate past District Gov., District 404A2, decorating Mr Moses Ekpo, the Dep Gov of Akwa lbom State (right), during Mr Ekpo’s induction/decoration ceremony as Senior Lion of the Uyo Centennial Lions Club recently

L-R: Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi; Catholic Bishop, Ekiti Diocese, Most Revd Femi Ajakaiye; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr Akintunde Oyebode; at the State of the State’s Economy Address/ Meeting with stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti

Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Works (NUPENG), Osun State Chapter on a march past, while State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola watches, during the 2021 Workers Day Celebration at Osogbo City Stadium

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FEATURES

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

Import of Media Messaging Strategies in Civilian Harm Mitigation Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre with support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa recently held a one-day media interaction on the 'Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm Mitigation in Armed Conflict'. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that since images and news conveyed from conflict zones can have a decisive impact on the outcome of armed conflicts, therefore, accurate and impartial media reports are key

Facilitators and participants at the one-day Media Interaction on the Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm Mitigation in Armed Conflict

"C

ivilians are often recognised as the principal victims of conflict but rarely as the holders of rights". This cryptic statement by Program Manager, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr. Salaudeen Hashim, recently set the tone of a one-day media interaction in Lagos on the Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm mitigation in Armed Conflict.

He went on to state the importance of media and information in conflict situations, stressing that the misuse of information can have deadly consequences in armed conflicts, just as information correctly employed can be life-saving.

Role of Peacekeepers in Civilian Protection Over the years, civilians have increasingly become the victims of armed conflict. It was to mitigate that, that the Security Council of the United Nations made protecting civilians a focus of modern peacekeeping.

According peacekeeping.un.org, "during the mid-1990s, peacekeepers found themselves deployed in internal conflicts, in which the civilian population frequently became the target of attacks. Missions like UNAMIR in Rwanda and UNPROFOR in the former Yugoslavia were faced with systematic attacks on civilians that peacekeepers were ill-prepared to address. These conflicts, as well as those in Somalia, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste, witnessed armed groups targeting civilians, including the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and grave violations of children’s rights.

"As a result, the Security Council placed the protection of civilians on its agenda and developed an architecture of resolutions that strengthened the role of peacekeepers to protect. Mandates and rules of engagement were clarified to ensure that peacekeepers had the authority to act. The Council also passed resolutions to establish frameworks to address children in armed conflict and conflict related sexual violence.

"States always have the primary responsibility to protect their populations. Peacekeepers first role is to support governments to uphold their protection responsibilities through advice, technical and logistical support and capacity building. Peacekeeping missions also seek, through political good offices and mediation, to take a preventive approach to protecting civilians. As a last resort, however, many peacekeepers are authorised to act to physically protect civilians.

"More than 95 per cent of peacekeepers today are mandated to protect civilians. This including protecting children and protecting against conflict-related sexual violence.The vast majority of peacekeepers today serve in missions with mandates that prioritise the protection of civilians. " The High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations found that protecting civilians is a core obligation of the whole UN, not only peacekeeping. This work finds its most visible expression, however, in the work of blue helmets. This challenging mandate is often the yardstick by which the international community, and those whom we endeavor to protect, judge our worth as peacekeepers."

Media and Information in Conflict Situation According to CISLAC, the misuse of information can have deadly consequences in armed conflicts, just as information correctly employed can be life-saving.

"The "hate media" that were used to incite genocide in Rwanda are an extreme example of the way information can be manipulated to foment conflict and incite mass violence. Hate speech, misinformation, and hostile propaganda continue to be used as blunt instruments against civilians, triggering ethnic violence and forcing displacement.

"Preventing such activities and ensuring that accurate information is disseminated, is thus an essential part of the work of protecting civilians in armed conflict. If the first casualty of war is the truth, the next victims are those who are unable to draw attention to their need for protection. They are all too often rendered speechless and faceless by conflict, reduced to crude statistics in the news.

"Giving these victims a voice can be vital for mobilising the support necessary to protect human life. Informed public opinion can act as a brake on human rights abuses, by countering the culture of impunity and urging respect for local and international law.

Communities have an obligation to counteract such misuse of information and the media collectively and creatively."

Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm mitigation in Armed Conflict held.

Essentially, its objectives were to enhance, improve and strengthen the media to recognise that massive media campaigns can distort policy priorities, reliable media accounts, and adequate information management is an essential basis for decisions by governments, donors, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations.

While the welcome remarks was made

by CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), the lecture on "Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Bridging the gap between Law and Reality: Setting the Context" and the "Review of short video and the Messaging - Presentation, Staging and Framing" was handled

by Hashim while the breakout session was held by Program Officer (Defence and Security), CISLAC, Bertha Ogbimi.

During the breakout sessions, the participants were divided into three groups on "What are the Protection architecture required to Protect Civilians in Armed Conflict? - internal and external to the security institutions"; "What do you consider as the best strategies/tools for Protection considering the emergence of technology and new media. Who Protects in rmed conflict?"; and "Where does the burden of proof rest to show the existence or absence of risk of harm? What are the culture of protection that could be engaged for the benefits of civilians?"

Objectives It was to counter the consequences of championing inciting reportage that the one-day media interaction on the

Complex Nature of Conflicts and Role of Media CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) in his

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L-R: Ibrahim Idris, Finance, CISLAC; Program Officer (Defence and Security), CISLAC, Bertha Ogbimi; and CISLAC Program Manager, Mr. Salaudeen Hashim

welcome address, noted that the "importance of a free, professional and plural media in contributing to Protection of Civilian and Civilian Harm Mitigation in Armed Conflict has gained traction in our work. A vibrant media gives people free flowing access to information, enables dialogue, encourages people to express their views, prompts greater political participation and encourages accountability.

Conflicts today are, in many cases, more complex and multidimensional than ever before.

"This has continued to threaten protection of civilians in various levels. Most conflict deaths occur during internal wars rather than between states and regular armies. Over the past decade there has been an increase in conflict relapse rate. Conflicts are less likely to be resolved through traditional political settlements and this is due mainly to the emergence of organized crime that tends to exacerbate state fragility and undermine state legitimacy.

"Let me say that CISLAC remains deeply concerned by the high number of acts of violence against civilians in various theatres of operations across the country. It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth. Accurate, impartial media reports conveyed from conflict zones serves as fundamental to public interest. In the information era, images and news can have a decisive impact on the outcome of armed conflicts.

"As a consequence, the obstruction of journalistic tasks in times of armed conflict is alarmingly frequent. The spectrum of interference is wide, it ranges from access denial, censorship and harassment to arbitrary detention and direct attacks against media professionals.

"The velocity of today’s communication often means that a journalist’s ability to assess critically what is happening is reduced due to the difficulty of maintaining a balanced distance from events, leading to a horrible and potentially dangerous cycle of misinformation."

He further posited that expressing observations and opinions in soundbites and tweets and avoiding rational discourse and analysis can put civilian in harm’s way, adding that "it is increasingly difficult for organisations to hold back sensitive information from the public until an appropriate time. The speed of communications and competition for audience share makes the media less likely to play a gatekeeper role by withholding certain information that could derail potential risk to vulnerable civilians. The accelerating speed of communications can have positive as well as negative consequences.

"The continued suffering of civilians, particularly the effects of sexual violence, loss of livelihood and constant attacks by non-state armed groups is a cause for deep concern, children and armed conflict and the psyche of the children in these environment is a

potential harm to the society.

"Sexual violence in conflict is a niche issue, protecting civilians from sexual violence and other conflict-related mayhem is a step in the right direction.

The stories from various IDP camps and locals in operation theatres are indeed sore tales".

On the measures taken, he disclosed that CISLAC, in collaboration with OSIWA has worked collectively to institutionalise a participatory system that is vibrant, robust and effective, harping that the nature of the media is changing rapidly, arguably more rapidly than any other sector.

He said: "Media is exploding and flourishing in Nigeria, with changes happening often very rapidly; new technologies, and particularly mobile telephony, are rapidly transforming information and communication opportunities, including for the poorest with poorly understood consequences.

This shifting landscape has implications for the role of media in Protection of Civilian and Civilian Harm Mitigation in Armed Conflict.

"Social media places the audience as both content creators and consumers: “ordinary” people as opposed to professional journalists creating usergenerated “news.” In this way it can be emancipatory, giving voices to those who otherwise may not be heard, and thus having the potential to become a significant factor in effective and proactive protection of civilians. But this open information landscape also opens the door to abusive, intolerant and oftentimes malicious discourse.

"Learning to live with free expression in a digital age requires a new movement to help people understand that free speech is not without some responsibilities."

Bridging the Gap between Law and Reality Giving a background during his presentation on "Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict: Bridging the Gap between Law and Reality: Setting the Context", CISLAC Program Manager, Mr. Salaudeen Hashim noted that "in 1991, during the first Iraq war, a destitute little girl in the holy city of Safwan stood in the middle of a crowd of displaced people with a placard around her neck: We don't need food, we need safety.' She epitomised a shift in the understanding of what civilians expect from government.

"Monitoring and reporting on potential harm' and violations' or educating people on their rights can play a part in protection programmes, they are part of a wider options available. Some actions can be used to reduce the level of threat against civilians: advocacy to persuade others to protect; capacity-building to help them protect; and presence to deter potential perpetrators. Others can be used to reduce people's vulnerability or exposure to threats. the provision of assistance or information; and helping civilians have a stronger voice' to

Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa at the training

negotiate or advocate for their own safety."

Protection of Civilians Expantiating on the protection of civilians, he further posited that one must ensure that "information on a wide spectrum of protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm is captured, including in particular sexual violence, extortion, pillage and other exactions against local civilian populations, as well as communal violence and patterns of criminal violence linked to the conflict; "Provide real-time information from territories to which access is difficult or denied for CSOs; ensure that warnings quickly reach the communities that are most under threat; and enable local community interests and perspectives to be regularly reflected into protection processes".

Protection Architecture Shedding light on protection architecture in a conflict situation, Hashim noted that as the concept of protection of civilians has filtered into humanitarian action at least on a strategic level, even if perhaps less successfully on an operational level, "there has also been an increased focus on the protection of specific categories of civilians: women, children, the elderly, the disabled, refugees, IDPs; and a proliferation of organisations concerned with protection threats to these specific groups r 5IFSF JT B OFFE UP hEF NZTUJGZ the concept by moving away from the notion that protection is the sole remit of specialists', and do more to mainstream protection across all sectors of the protection response.

"Cause of action are more powerful that the cause of inaction. Community self protection strategy. Appreciate different conception protection. Adultery can be an issue of protection locally but not recognised by law. How rationale are community justice mechanisms?"

Importance of Media In this regard, why is the media very important? The value of the media in crafting its media messaging strategies is key. To achieve this, Hashim noted that they must "establish a valuable mechanism for collecting information on violations against civilians in armed conflict. A similar information-gathering arrangement could be created in relation to POC-CHM Legislation; "Understand that accurate information on violations is essential for enhancing compliance with proposed legislation and to an effective response; and link the morale of personnel in armed conflict to respect, prevent and protect civilians from harm".

Value of Legislation According to Hashim, the value of a legislation in this regard cannot be understated. He listed their duties to include; "providing direct physical protection to populations and individuals experiencing threats of violence;

strengthening local infrastructures for violence prevention, self protection, conflict management and peace building; and increasing and improving responsiveness of duty bearers, state and non state actors to protect civilians" Communication in PoC-CHM The use of communications technology and media has significantly amplified their voice, and it is thanks to mobile phones and the internet that news gets out of places where security agencies have no or only limited physical presence, he posited, adding that "checking the veracity of information is equally challenging, and the perception that affected communities and humanitarian organisations are providing information on violations may have a detrimental impact on their safety.

"Affected people are not passive in the face of threats; they make arrangements with belligerents, work to prevent violence against their communities, document violations, train communities on where to find refuge during attacks and teach armed groups the basics of IHL (international humanitarian law)".

Agenda Setting for the Media For the media, he said the must "promote awareness of humanitarian principles to a similarly broad range of audiences; intensify dissemination of POC to a broad range of audiences, including states and their armed forces, judges, legislators, ANSAs, the staff of international and non-governmental organisations and the general public, in peacetime as well as during conflict; "Incorporate POC into military manuals and operational orders and directives and establish internal investigative and disciplinary mechanisms; ensure that humanitarian principles, especially good practice, are shared more widely among humanitarian agencies; as well as establish a Journalists Action on Protection Network reporting directly to the as an advocacy framework on POC-CHM".

Way Forward What is the forward? How do we protect the people affected by a conflict?

According to the strategic guidance of UN peace keeping, modern peacekeeping has a number of tools to support the protection of civilians and they include the fact that political leaders should engage with governments and other actors to mitigate and prevent conflict; civilian experts, including Child Protection Advisers, Women’s Protection Adviser’s and Protection of Civilians Advisers, engage in a range of activities, including demobilising child soldiers, persuading armed groups to stop sexual violence and coordinating military operations to protect civilians; military and police personnel bring unique skills to provide security and stability; while the experts in strengthening the rule of law and human rights further ensure the establishment of a protective environment.

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

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Quick Takes DPR Pledges Continuous Investments

WELCOME ON BOARD

L –R: Board Member, NEXIM Bank, Mr. Ede Dafinone; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Aliyu Ahmed; Minister, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; MD/CEO NEXIM Bank, Mr. Abba Bello; Board Member, NEXIM Bank, Mr. Kabiru Hassan, and Executive Director, NEXIM Bank, Dr. Bala Bello, during the inauguration of the newly appointed members of the Board of Directors of NEXIM Bank in Abuja…recently

WTO: Okonjo-Iweala Appoints Four Deputy DGs Obinna Chima The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, yesterday announced the appointment of Angela Ellard of the United States, Anabel González of Costa Rica, Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam of France and Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang of China as her four Deputy Directors-General.

In a statement posted on the WTO’s website, the former Nigeria finance minister reiterated her commitment to strengthening the global trade body.

“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Deputy Directors-General at the WTO. It is the first time in the history of our Organization that half of the DDGs are women.

“This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organization with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions.

I look forward to welcoming them

ECONOMY to the WTO,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

Ellard (United States) has a distinguished career of service working at the US Congress as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel and Staff Director. She is internationally recognised as an expert on trade and international economic policy, negotiating trade agreements and supporting multilateral solutions as part of an effective trade and development policy.

Ellard has negotiated and delivered significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes and legislation for well over 25 years with Members of US Congress and senior Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton Administration officials.

Also, Ellard worked as a lawyer in the private sector, working on trade litigation and strategy, policy and legislative issues. She obtained her Juris Doctor, cum laude from Tulane University School of Law and her Master of Arts in Public Policy also

from Tulane. She is a frequent lecturer at law, graduate, and undergraduate classes and has published articles on trade law and policy.

For González (Costa Rica), she is a renowned global expert on trade, investment and economic development with a proven managerial track record in international organizations and the public sector. In government, Gonzalez served as Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica; as Director-General for International Trade Negotiations; as DirectorGeneral of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE); and as Special Ambassador and Chief negotiator of the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.

She also served at the World Bank as a Senior Director, the WTO as Director of the Agriculture and Commodities Division and as Senior Consultant with the InterAmerican Development Bank.

More recently, Gonzalez has worked as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Peterson Institute

for International Economics. She obtained her master’s degree from Georgetown University Law Center with the highest academic distinction and has published extensively on economic issues and trade.

On his part, Paugam (France) has held senior management positions in the French Government on trade, most recently as Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He has also held a number of senior positions in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the French Treasury. He has also served as Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. He has accumulated a deep and practical knowledge of government practices on trade as well as being familiar with high-level dialogues on trade and international economic operations.

He has published a number of articles on trade-related issues, in Continued on page 24

First Bank: Shareholders Task Regulators on Disclosure Requirements Goddy Egene Shareholders have advised the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Exchange Regulation Limited (NGX REGCO), and other regulators in the financial sector to strengthen their disclosure requirements for quoted companies.

The shareholders said this following recent revelation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that First Bank Nigeria Limited, which is a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, had been enjoying forbearance since 2016. And this

INVESTMENT forbearance was not disclosed in the audited financial statements submitted to the NGX REGCO. Speaking to THISDAY, the National Coordinator, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Mrs. Bisi Bakare, said it was shocking to know that FBN Holdings, which is one of the leading firms listed on the stock exchange, had been submitting its annual reports without disclosing the forbearance it had been enjoying from CBN. “It is even more worrisome

that the regulators could not discover this. I think the regulatory authorities in question should take this matter up with the bank why that forbearance was not disclosed in its financial reports.

“The past board members under the former chairman must all be queried on why such disclosure was not made because this action is against the disclosure rules of the exchange and others. If action is taken on the matter, it will also go a long way to serve as deterrent to others. It will bring sanity and respect for our market within and outside the country as the

matter has been become global issue,” Bakare said.

According to her, the regulators must strengthen their disclosure rules, noting that “more investments can only come into our capital market space if our regulators are putting responsible check and balance in their statutory duties on listed entities. There should not be room for sacred cows.”

The PSAN boss recommended that the external auditors should be seriously penalised for failing the make the full disclosure in Continued on page 24

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said it will continue to guarantee investments, enable participation and authorise activities in the Nigeria oil and gas industry.

The regulator added that it was working in alignment with the aspirations of the government to provide energy security for the nation and create jobs for Nigerians.

DPR stated this in a statement on Monday, signed by its Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Paul Osu, where it announced a return of its television programme to deepen the knowledge of its regulatory roles by Nigerians The programme started airing at 6pm on Monday, May 3, 2021, on all NTA stations nationwide. The industry regulator explained that the 13 episode programme was designed to deepen stakeholders’ understanding of the roles and responsibilities of DPR as well as provide update on global oil and gas industry matters to viewers.

The programme, according to the statement, will showcase how the department has continued to use its service instruments of licences, permits and approvals to enable business and create opportunities for investors and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

CAP Wins Awards

The Chemical Allied Products Plc (CAP) manufactures of Dulux paints and industrial products has added another feather to its cap by emerging the ‘best performing stock industrial goods/ building material/ chemicals and paints and the Most Profitable company industrial goods/building materials chemicals/paints at the Businessday Nigerian investor value awards (NIVA) held in Lagos recently.

The award ceremony attracted top CEOs, top decision makers in the financial services sector and a host of other distinguished personalities in Nigeria.

Responding while receiving the award CAP Plc’s CEO, David Wright thanked the organisers of the award for finding CAP Plc worthy of the honour.

In his words, “This award is a call for continuous improvement. It lays credence to our overall efforts devoted to enhancing business operating models and a boost to CAP Plc persistent pledge to delivering on market efficiency edges.

“I would like to express my deep gratitude to our regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission as well and the Board of Directors of CAP for their meticulous oversight and for ensuring sound governance, which I believe is essential to every corporate’s sustainability and long-term value creation.” Wright concluded.

CAP Plc currently reported a N14 billion market capitalisation as at February 1st, 2021 and its growth trajectory looks ever so promising.

Its announcement of the proposed merger with Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc, another top tier player in the Paints industry, in the fourth quarter of 2020, also boosted investor confidence in the company. Expected to be concluded this quarter, subject to receiving final regulatory approvals, the milestone is undoubtedly a landmark one in the Nigeria Decorative & Industrial subsector of the manufacturing industry.

NSIA Unveils Radio Campaign

TheNSIAInsurancesaiditistakinganotherstepstowardsdeepening insurance penetration through the launch of a new nationwide campaign tagged ‘NSIA Value Campaign’.

Thecompanysaidtheinitiativeaimsatofferingmoreopportunitiesto deliverbenefitsofinsurancetoconsumersandtoincreaseawareness about the organisation, while communicating effectively the value of its product offerings and tailor-made services.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSIA Insurance, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, speaking on the campaign said: “We have a lot to offer to customers in terms of value and seek to help create,protectandpreservewealthbykeepingpotentialandexisting customers in the loop about new products.

“Radio is ideal for targeting specific demographics and market segments. By choosing this medium, we can get potential customers, remain top of mind to existing customers and ultimately change the perception about insurance in Nigeria.”

“Recent studies have shown the significant role women play in promoting social unity and economic advancement”

Minister of State for Industry,Trade and Investment

Maria Katagum

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BUSINESSWORLD WTO: OKONJOIWEALA APPOINTS FOUR DEPUTY DGS particular when serving as Senior Research Fellow on International Trade at the French Institute for International Relations (IFPRI).

Paugam graduated from ENA in Paris and obtained degrees in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science in Aix-enProvence and in Law from the Faculty of Law Aix-Marseille III. Also, Xiangchen Zhang (China) is currently serving as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of China. He has long and extensive experience on WTO issues, international negotiations, and policy research. Ambassador Zhang served until recently as China’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and previously as Deputy Permanent Representative.

He has had an extensive career of more than 30 years in international trade, serving as Director of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; as Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce; and as Director General of the Department of Policy Research of the Ministry of Commerce.

FIRST BANK: SHAREHOLDERS TASK REGULATORS ON DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

their key audit matters.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Anthony Omojola, said it had been said in the past that some institutions, especially banks, were favoured.

“Some carry on with impunity without being challenged why some paid dearly for minor and issues requiring corrections. The matters of the defunct Intercontinental Bank and Oceanic Bank cannot be forgotten easily. Whichever way we look at it, it is the minority shareholders and the economy that suffers for it. “The truth is that First Bank Nigeria is not the only skeleton bank being supported by CBN, it is the attitude of the super investors that reveal this situation. I will be surprised if SEC and NSE are not aware of the situation.

NEWS

BudgIT Identifies Loopholes in 2021 Budget, Calls for Reforms Oluchi Chibuzor BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation has called on the federal government to audit security spending and close loopholes for corruption in the budget process.

While speaking on BudgIT’s recent publication, “Demanding Budget Reforms for Resource Optimisation,” a statement quoted the organisation’s CEO, Gabriel Okeowo, to have said, “2021 has been a horrifying year for Nigerians concerning security as the country combats mutating forms of crime and terror across all its 36 states; this is despite allocating over N10.02 trillion to security between 2015 and 2021.” He added: “In the 2021 budget, the entire security sector’s allocation was N1.97 trillion, representing a 14 per cent increase from the N1.78 trillion allocated in 2020.”

According to him, increased resources allocated to the security sector meant that less money was available to develop other sectors, “thus, there is a need for more scrutiny of how these allocations are budgeted and spent,” he insisted. Likewise, BudgIT’s publication noted that various non-security related government agencies now request and receive allocations for, “Security

Votes,” which it described as an opaque feature of the Nigerian security ecosystem devoid of accountability.

The report revealed that in the 2021 budget, a total of 117 federal agencies received allocations for “Security Votes” worth N24.3 billion, despite many of the agencies already having allocations for “Security Charges,” to cover each agency’s security needs.

Furthermore, BudgIT observed that the little budgetary allocation provided to other sectors were plagued with various loopholes for leakages and theft of public funds.

“Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health. This is very disturbing

especially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria,” it added.

According to the report, even worse, agencies now receive allocations for capital projects they cannot execute.

“For example, the National Agriculture Seed Council has an allocation for N400 million to construct solar street lights across all six geopolitical zones, while

the Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan in Oyo State got N50 million for the construction of street lights in Edo State. These are aberrations that need to be corrected,” it maintained.

Continuing, Okeowo enjoined the federal government to urgently block all loopholes in the budget creation and implementation process, some of which are highlighted in the recently released publication.

BUSINESS EXPANSION

L-R: Assistant Department Manager, Marketsquare, Emmanuel Okoro; Department Manager, Victor Bello; Assistant Department Manager, David OfonmbuK; Branch Manager, Shola Falola; Assistant Branch Manager, David Omolaiye; Department Manager, Emmanuel Toloruntoju; and a Buyer, Rasheed Adigun , at the opening of a new outlet by Marketsquare Stores in Benin City, Edo State... recently

FG, AfriHeritage Advocate for Social Inclusion Africa’s think-tank and research institute, the African Heritage Institution (AfriHeritage) in collaboration with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs converged to deliberate on the way forward with the Nigeria’s national and human security challenges.

The plenary session, themed ‘Trends and dynamics of armed banditry: making sense of the problem,’ brought together industry captains, academicians, government representatives, and thought leaders in areas of security and peace keeping to deliberate and proffer innovative

ideas for sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s incessant security challenges.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director of African Heritage Institution, Prof. Ufo Okeke-Uzodike, stated that, “after over six decades since independence, Nigeria is struggling to achieve basic human security needs of its people.

“Average Nigerians are consistently afraid of assorted security uncertainties. Nigerian parents and their children worry about personal safety at the markets, schools, churches and other places of worship. Even farmers worry about their personal safety

because of reputed hoodlums or bandits as they attend to their farms or livestock.

“These challenges persist because Nigeria remains a country of culturally disparate and unintegrated people who are still finding it difficult to work together with the view to solve common problems.

Sadly, effective national and human security usually require meaningful and inclusive participation and ownership by citizens.”

According to him, while big ideas podium events convene stakeholders for effective collaboration on critical issues, “it

is with the view to proffer big and unbiased ideas that could help policy makers formulate impactful public policies.”

Also, the Director General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Dr. Bakut Tswah Bakut, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was represented by Mr. Andy Nkemneme (Deputy Director, Internal conflict Prevention and Resolution), emphasised the need for all to work together in harmony to achieve and maintain peace.

“The Big Ideas Podium would not have taken place at a better time than now considering the

devastating impact of the conflict that is closing in on the nation’s safety spaces. Armed banditry has become one of the biggest threats to peace and security in Nigeria.

“The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exists to strengthen the adoption of peace and conflict resolution mechanisms in Nigeria and across Africa. “The IPCR has played and will continue to play vital roles in peace and conflict resolution in Africa and we thank AfriHeritage for this impactful collaboration in entrenching peace and security in Nigeria”.

Pension Fund Managers Urge Employers to Key into CPS Ebere Nwoji

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe

Employers of labour in both private and public sectors have been urged to key into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and ensure the remittance of their workers’ pension deductions.

Members of the Pension Fund Operators Association (PenOp) stated this during a virtual training organised by the association

Ebere Nwoji

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)

He stated that the biggest change between the CPS and Defined Benefit Scheme ( DBS) was that the employee now contributes as well as the employer. To him, the higher the contribution, the higher the funds.

Proffering solutions on how to boost retirement benefits for pensioners in the CPS, he stated that, improving productivity and hard work would go a long way in boosting ultimate retirement

benefit.

On withdrawal, he lamented that, lack of proper understanding on the mode of withdrawal of pension funds poses a big challenge to the growth of the industry.

He urged members of the public to seek understanding on the withdrawal modalities during the registration process, so that they will be better informed on the exit options available in

the scheme.

On his part, the CEO of PenOp, Oguche Agudah, said pension is a delicate matter as such needs a proper understanding of the industry.

“People are very emotional when it comes to their pension.

Any chance or story about their pension getting lost, stolen, embezzled, or loosing value causes a lot of negative emotions amongst contributors,” he said.

Linkage Assurance Unveils New Brand Identity

Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising)

for journalists.

They called on employers to remit their workers’ monthly contributions promptly, adding that such gesture would ensure employees have a secured life after retirement.

One of the facilitators, Omagbitse Barrow, noted that the key areas in the pension system include compliance, contributions, investment, service support and withdrawal.

Linkage Assurance Plc has unveiled a new identity.

The company said the move was part of its effort to meet the ever-changing demands of the market place.

The change in the company’s logo embodies new blue, red and orange colours.

It explained that the inspiration behind the transformation was to reflect the new core values of the company and to restate the qualities of trust, innovation, excellence, sincerity, and reliability that the company is recognised for.

Commenting on the new brand identity, the Chief Executive Officer of Linkage

Assurance, Mr. Daniel Braie, stated that the new logo and the recapitalisation efforts of the company presents its aspiration as, “Bigger, Bolder and Better,” to offer exceptional insurance protection to individuals and businesses in Nigeria.

“Even though our logo is changing, what is not changing is our purpose and dedication

to delivering on our promises to our stakeholders.

“To us here at Linkage Assurance, this goes beyond a logo change.

Our new identity is one of many parts of our transformation process and it helps to strengthen our purpose.

“It is a reflection of where we are heading, through our

commitment to protect our policyholders, reinforce our legacy of trust while also capturing the spirit of the dynamic future we see ahead of us,” Braie said.

According to him, the new logo with its crisp, clean feel, captures Linkage’s dynamism and excellence whilst bringing a sense of rejuvenation and growth in the company.

25

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

Consolidating Growth for Better Returns

The improved first quarter performance of United Bank for Africa Plc has shown that the pan-African financial institution is consolidating and on track to deliver higher returns to shareholders, writes Goddy Egene

“I

am very optimistic for 2021 and have no doubt we are on the right path to the industry leadership that we have envisioned for United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), in Nigeria, Africa and globally.”

The above were the words of the Chairman of UBA, Mr. Tony Elumelu, to shareholders at bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) recently. Going by the bank’s first quarter (Q1) financial performance ended March 31, 2021, where it posted double digit growth in bottom-line, shareholders would be expecting a bounteous harvest.

UBA was the earliest filer among top banks to present their unaudited financials for the Q1. The unaudited results showed a growth of 5.5 per cent in gross earnings to close at N155.4 billion in 2021, from N147.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.

The bank leveraged on modest growth in both interest and non-interest income as well as increased efficiency to deliver an impressive 24 per cent in profit before tax (PBT), which printed at N40.6 billion, compared with N32.7 billion in 2020. Profit After Tax grew faster by 26.8 per cent from N30.1 billion to N38.2 billion. The bank recorded an annualised 20.5 per cent return on average equity (RoAE) compared to 19.9 per cent in the same period of 2020.

A further breakdown of results, showed that interest expense fell from N43.69 billion to N34.209 billion, the biggest of which was the reduction in expense incurred on deposits from banks, which depreciated from N26.633 billion to N18.51 billion, resulting in net interest income of N74.381 billion, up from the previous N65.417 billion.

Also, fee and commission income rose to N34.955 billion from N28.237 billion, helped by the N12.483 billion income from electronic banking, which increased from N8.301 billion, while commissions on transactional services rose from N4.733 billion to N5.535 billion.

The bank’s total assets also rose by 2.5 per cent to N7.9 trillion in the period under review, compared to N7.7 trillion recorded at the end of the 2020 financial year whilst shareholders’ funds grew to N762.4 billion up by 5.3 per cent from N724.1 billion as at full year 2020.

Commenting, the Group Managing Director/ CEO of UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, expressed satisfaction with the performance, stating that the result reflected the bank’s capacity to sustainably grow earnings even in a highly uncertain macroeconomic environment.

According to him, its robust capital and liquidity have positioned the bank as it continues to support its customers across diverse sectors and markets, guided by prudent risk management practices.

“This impressive Q1 results reflect the capacity of our business to sustainably grow earnings even in a highly uncertain macroeconomic environment. We remain upbeat on the macroeconomic outlook of the countries in which we operate, especially as the COVID-19 vaccine distribution gains traction globally, whilst commodity prices and currencies continue to stabilise. Our robust capital and liquidity positions have positioned us to continue to support our customers across diverse sectors and markets, guided by prudent risk management practices,” he said.

The GMD noted the bank’s effort towards diligently executing its priorities for the year 2021, saying it is leverages people, process, and technology to deliver the best customer experience across all its channels and touch points, achieving industry leadership and dominance.

“The bank is making strong progress in Nigeria where our continuous market share and efficiency gains are translating into higher profits. We are committed to sustaining this strong start throughout the year, leveraging our customer-First (C-1st) philosophy and unparalleled execution to deliver even stronger returns to our esteemed shareholders in 2021 and beyond;” Uzoka said.

Also speaking, the Group Chief Finance Officer, UBA Plc, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said he was particularly pleased with their annualised return on average equity of 20.5 per cent and return on average asset of

Uzoka 2.0 per cent, as these indices buttress their commitment to delivering sustainable value to our stakeholders.

“We continued to deploy our balance sheet efficiency and digital-led cost optimisation initiatives to achieve desired outcomes. Costto-income ratio improved by 200 basis points (bps) to 60.4 per cent during the period, whilst cost of funds settled at 2.0 per cent, a 130bps reduction from 3.3 per cent in 2020 Q1,” he said.

Nwaghodoh expressed confidence that the bank would meet and surpass its target for the remaining three quarters of the year.

“We are confident on the strong prospect for earnings growth, particularly as we are better positioned to consolidate recent market share gains in Nigeria and other geographies where we operate. This result is a strong start for the year, and we are optimistic

We are confident on the strong prospect for earnings growth, particularly as we are better positioned to consolidate recent market share gains in Nigeria and other geographies where we operate. This result is a strong start for the year, and we are optimistic about sustaining the exciting performance throughout the year and beyond

about sustaining the exciting performance throughout the year and beyond,” he stated.

Uzoka had said 2020 was a powerful demonstration of what they could achieve by working together, and he was am proud of their accomplishments.

He said: “Whilst the road to recovery is still being mapped out, there’s no doubt as to the ultimate destination. We remain well-positioned to meet the challenges and to capture the opportunities that the future holds. Strategic priorities for 2021 combining disciplined execution with the Customer-First approach and a mindset of continuous improvement has enabled us to deliver superior growth rates, advance key profitability metrics, and continue to raise the bar on our financial targets.”

According to him, the primary strategy will continue to focus on providing services from customer’s standpoint (C1stPhilosophy), and deliver positive customer experience that culminates in their core essence – excellent service...delivered!

“We will push for increased efficiency in all our activities across the group, supported with a high degree execution drive. Our ambition is grounded in the strength of our People – their high engagement, personal integrity, sense of responsibility and commitment to positive customer experience,” Uzoka said.

Assuring the shareholders, Elumelu had said he was very optimistic for 2021, saying “I have no doubt we are on the right path to the industry leadership that we have envisioned for UBA, in Nigeria, Africa and globally.”

“UBA is the only pan-African bank, with offices in New York, London and Paris, complementing our twenty African country presence, that can truly claim to be Africa’s global bank. We are uniquely positioned to benefit, and ensure our customers benefit, from the opportunities presented by renewed economic

growth. Equally, the investments in people and technology, that we have patiently and strategically made, are ensuring we both maximise our potential and optimise our business model,” he stated.

Assessing the results, analysts at Cordros Securities said UBA recorded a strong performance during the period. According to the analysts, non-interest income grew during the period by 14.2 per cent to N74.38 billion, driven by the growth in fees and commissions income (+8.9 per cent to N20.37 billion, and FX trading income (+30.8 per cent to N6.17 billion). “ Although the strong performance here is a key highlight, we note that the ongoing standoff between banks and Telcos over the cost of USSD service could pressure transaction volumes if there is no amicable settlement between both parties,” they noted.

Cordros Securities noted that UBA’s operating expenses settled 9.9 per cent higher year-on-year, driven primarily by increased regulatory costs – AMCON levy (+32.8 per cent to N7.44 billion) and NDIC premium (+27.4 per cent to N3.36 billion), but remained below the expansion in operating income (+14.9 per cent to N105.04 billion).

“Consequently, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio (ex-LLE) settled lower at 61.4 per cent relative to 64.2 per cent in the prior year’s corresponding period. This decline improved the trickle-down from the income line and resulted in profit-before tax expanding significantly by 24 per cent to N40.58 billion.

Profit-after-tax settled 26.8 per cent higher at N38.16 billion.The bank’s performance follows on from a strong 2020 fiscal year. While the strong performance of non-funded income supported the financial performance, the improved operational efficiency is a highlight that should further propel earnings as the bank drives funded income growth through risk asset creation in the year. In addition, improved fixed income yields should provide a back draft for income generation,” Cordros Securities stated.

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T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

Orji: Planning Necessary for Family Wealth Preservation The Managing Director, Vetiva Trustees Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vetiva Capital Management Limited, Mrs. Theresa Orji, speaks on legacy planning, an aspect of family wealth planning, which underscores every successful financial and estate plan. Goddy Egene presents the excerpts: What is legacy planning (LP) and how is it different from estate planning?

For its 170th anniversary in 2016, Town & Country ran an editorial that it described as a “highly subjective guide to (170) people, places and things that are built to last a lifetime”. On this list were trust funds, anonymous giving, family houses, family foundations and my personal favorite, a good lawyer. These are essential aspects of every estate plan (EP) and are also the result of legacy planning (LP). Having expended your energies in accumulating your wealth and building your estate, it is critical that you apply yourself to deliberate LP as a necessity to ensuring the effective transfer of your estate to the next generation. At Vetiva Trustees, we believe that every successful financial plan must involve an efficient and effective estate plan. This means developing strategies (whether financial or social) from a family’s vision and values that would aid the transmission of family wealth across generations. We can say that LP encompasses EP in that while EP focuses on “who gets what” when the family patriarch or matriarch dies, LP answers the underlying question of “why”, by getting the testator/settlor to take a closer look at the family’s vision, values, strengths, and weaknesses; and these would typically drive the structure of his/her EP. LP also provides a holistic approach to put plans in place to not only transfer assets to desired heirs or beneficiaries but to do so in the way one wants to be remembered.

What does LP typically involve?

LP covers the process of the determining the most suitable EP route for each family. To arrive at the structure that would work best for your family there are some inherent questions that must be answered by each patriarch or matriarch and which will be most valuable in determining the structure of your estate. This would involve taking a real close look at your understanding and definition of personal wealth, family wealth, your vision for the trajectory of family heritage and the family’s place in the larger society. Decisions such as the appropriate EP to suit your family situation (i.e., type of trust, family office structure, requirement of a Will, etc.)are the result of a well-defined LP. According to a recent survey, eight out of 10 Nigerians over the age of 45 do not have a will and seven out of 10 will not make one before they pass. Also, the consensus is that most people in this part of the world believe that EP (particularly writing a Will) is tantamount to a death pronouncement. What are your thoughts on this?

It is an unfortunate situation that further compounds the bereavement process for those you leave behind with no clear instructions as to your estate or no buy-in from family members to the estate plan as it might lead to irreconcilable differences that would result in divisions across family lines, untold hardship for those you left behind (probably at the mercy of customary law) and court battles amongst the family members (some of which span several decades and generations and amount to huge expenses and exploitation which add to the grief of your loved ones). It has also been said that most people who write wills live longer and personally, I believe there is no reason not to have one since death is inevitable. As Steve Jobs put it in his commencement speech to the Stanford University graduates of 2005: “... death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent.”

When is the right time to commence LP? As soon as you can take decisions regarding your assets (either accumulated or inherited), it is advisable to speak with a wealth advisor.

It is also important to note that your legacy plan will need fine-tuning and re-tuning over the years as the best plans should be flexible

Orji enough to apply to changing circumstances of your family situation. However, its foundations will need to be firm, being rooted in the family vision and values, and being the “North Star” to guide your latter generations.

What additional benefits are there to LP? Legacy Planning gives a holistic approach to financial and estate planning. At Vetiva, we believe that wealth management should reflect the three fundamentals of financial security namely wealth accumulation, wealth preservation and wealth transmission. While your financial plan covers the accumulation and preservation of your wealth, your estate plan covers its preservation and transmission and the strategies that lead to the specific structure of each aspect is what comprises your LP. What other solutions does Vetiva Trustees have for leaving a legacy?

One may also desire to make a long-lasting impact on society in an area of community development through setting up a private foundation or establishing an endowment fund to encourage the younger generation or less economically empowered members of the society in a particular profession or passion or other vocation. Endowments for example, have been veritable tools for building society, corporate social responsibility, impact

investing and simple giving back through the ages. In the short term, however, it may be a considerable challenge juggling their need to focus on building their estates with achieving this aspiration, that most of these patriarchs and matriarchs never get round to it. In addition, focusing on the long term, what we find in many cases is a situation where such well-meaning individuals formally or haphazardly engage in philanthropic activities or corporate social responsibility initiatives when they feel financially buoyant and put a halt to it when liquidity is challenged, failing to realize that this well-meant activity could result in reputational damage if not handled professionally. In fact, the creation of a charitable legacy requires a well thought out structure and funding strategy to ensure sustainability and long-lasting impact. This is where our philanthropic advisory services and solutions becomes relevant, which is ancillary to our primary trust business. At Vetiva Trustees, we take on various services in this regard, right from the point of assisting in the formulation and articulation of a foundation’s or endowment’s objectives, assisting in undertaking the registration of the legal structure as well as other regulatory compliance activities, to the actual management and administration of the philanthropic structure in a sustainable manner, whilst ensuring that cash management is efficiently supervised with due regard to

short and long term goals.

Tell us a bit more about what you do at Vetiva Trustees Vetiva Trustees is a corporate trustee business with an unwavering commitment to consistently deliver exceptional Trust advisory services and bespoke solutions to our clients in a sophisticated and innovative manner, being part of the Vetiva brand whose essence is passionately professional. At Vetiva Trustees, we are dedicated to ensuring compliance with corporate governance and compliance issues, adhering strictly to a proven risk management framework, as it relates to our business, our clients, and the trust assets under our management, while making it our mission to ensure value is added towards achieving the objectives of our varied clientele. We have a very competent team of young professionals who are experts in estate planning advisory, philanthropic advisory services, succession planning advisory services, security & debenture trusts, note and bond trusteeship, escrow agency services, employee benefit schemes, housing trust schemes, along with a full range of corporate, public and private trust services. Vetiva Trustees can assist you to make a comprehensive legacy plan to provide for the people you love, protect your assets and so you can be remembered the way that you want.

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T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Access Bank: The Bigger It Grows, The Kinder It Become

Wigwe

Etim Etim The banking industry will make a huge donation of cash, vehicles and equipment to the Nigerian Army, Police and other law enforcement agencies in the next few weeks to support the federal government’s fight against insecurity, Access Bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Herbert Wigwe, had announced to shareholders at the bank’s 32nd Annual General Meeting in Lagos, recently.

Going by its track records in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropy, Access Bank will provide a good chunk of the contribution.

This would be a major private sector intervention to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.

“We are very concerned about the safety and security of Nigerians. We want our people to be safe. Access Bank will partner with our colleagues in the industry to support the federal government in this regard,” Wigwe said in his answer to the various comments and questions raised by the shareholders.

Last year alone, the bank invested N10.25 billion in various CSR efforts, working with 43 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across 194 communities and impacting 28, 540, 046 lives.

Through its Employee Volunteering Scheme, the bank’s workers devoted over 2, 781, 443 hours of their time, talents/resources in over 514 strategic community initiatives across the six geopolitical zones.

In addition, the bank gave out N3 billion cash to various organisations, NGOs and even state governments, including my own state, Akwa Ibom, for one form of relief or another.

The bank was also a major contributor to the CACOVID initiative in which players in the nation’s private sector donated food items worth N30 billion as palliatives to Nigerians during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

“Through CACOVID, we reached 10 million Nigerian homes. And you ask yourself what if we didn’t do it. Perhaps, we would have lost more people’, the GMD said. Goodness and kindness have always been in the bank’s DNA. ’Even when we were a small

Chairman, Access Bank, Ajoritsedere Awosika bank about 20 years ago,”, Wigwe recalls, “we launched and funded a project called Gift to Africa in which Access Bank made millions of naira worth of contributions to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We were so actively involved in fighting HIV/AIDS early on that some people even thought that we had the disease’’, he said, eliciting laughter from the shareholders and staff of regulatory agencies at the AGM. Wigwe noted that because of COVID-19, last year was particularly challenging to most Nigerian families and with security challenges enveloping the country in the last several months, the misery and desperation have been compounded.

The banking industry, he asserts, therefore stands shoulder to shoulder with the federal government to tackle the security problems.

Wigwe urges Nigerians to take the COVID vaccination as it is the surest assurance against getting sick or death.

His words: ‘’With the new strains ravaging India, it is dangerous not to take the vaccine.

These things could just arrive our shores any moment.’’

It is so important and reassuring to note that our banking industry is identifying with our national aspirations to contain insecurity and other social problems. I am particularly glad that Access Bank has been quite exemplary in this area. It is all the more comforting to observe that as Access Bank is growing bigger and bigger, it is becoming kinder and more compassionate.

This year marks the 19th year since Wigwe and his friend and business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, bought Access Bank, and assumed full ownership and management.

Over the years, the bank has spent billions of naira to fund various CSR initiatives and philanthropic programmes.

The lender has also grown in leaps and bounds, rising as a very small nondescript player to the top five in Nigeria as at December 2020.

Last year, its balance sheet hit N9 trillion, up from N7 trillion. Gross earnings rose by 15 per cent from N667 billion to N765 billion while after tax shot up from N94 billion to N106 billion.

All other indicators also went north.

Customers Deposits - N4.25 trillion to N5.58

trillion (31% climb); total assets - N7.14 trillion to N8.67 trillion (22%) and shareholders’ funds from N607 billion to N751 billion (24%).

The Board Chairman, Dr. Ajoritsedere Awosika, a retired federal Permanent Secretary, was obviously pleased as she presented the 2020 Annual Reports & Accounts to the investors and regulatory authorities Friday morning.

Explaining the impressive performance, she said, ‘’velocity of customer activities was strong across all our business lines, compensating for the impact of lower yields on gross earnings. Access Bank made several investments to strengthen relationships with its customers in the year. By redefining our approach to customer service through streamlining our internal processes, and digitising about 30 per cent of customer journeys, we were able to improve on our customer experience.”

The AGM was conducted in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols, but there were enough shareholders with the requisite portfolio holdings to form a quorum for the meeting. Most others also participated virtually from all corners of the country.

Among the shareholders physically present were Sir Sunny Nwosu and Dr. Farook Umar.

I have known both men as major players in our capital market and shareholder activism since I was a finance journalist over 30 years ago. Together with the late Akintunde Asalu, they took delight in haranguing directors at AGMs in those days.

But last Friday, they had nothing but praises for the directors of Access Bank for such a sterling showing for FY 2020. The first shareholder to speak after the Chairman’s statement was read was Dr. Eric Akindoru, representing Ibadan Shareholders Association, the biggest investors’ forum outside Lagos. He commended the bank’s Board and management for focusing on technology and business expansion through acquisitions, especially in Africa.

The bank has subsidiaries in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, DR Congo, Zambia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom, with representative offices in Lebanon, China and India.

Even the UK subsidiary has its own

subsidiary in UAE. I understand that Access New York is in the offing! No wonder Wigwe quipped in his remarks, ‘’Access Bank is becoming Africa’s gateway to the world,” noting that, “the subsidiaries are helping to promote intra-Africa trade.”

Next to speak was Nwosu who represented 920,000 shareholders under the Independent Shareholders Association. Nwosu commended the bank for ‘’a good job well done.”

He spoke extensively on the issue of unclaimed dividends, dormant accounts and restricted deposits and condemned the federal government’s plans to acquire them.

He praised the Board and Management for driving down NPL (non performing loans) from 5.8 per cent to 4.8 per cent and making a recovery N34 billion.

On the issue of NPL, the GMD condemned some unscrupulous customers in the industry who are unwilling to repay their loans. ‘’They come to the banks and beg for these loans, go around the country and parade themselves as successful businessmen, but in real life, they are bad debtors, unwilling to repay their obligations; thus putting the banks in jeopardy,” Wigwe said.

The meeting was winding down when Farook spoke, and he focused his brief remarks on abuse of insider credit. It was only the previous day that the CBN had sacked the Board of First Bank for poor management of loans granted a major shareholder. Aware that delinquent insider loans have been responsible for the death of many a Nigerian bank, Farook asked the Board of Access to ensure that no director of the bank fails to honour his or her obligations as at when due. Access Bank has grown meteorically in the last 19 years.

With 566 branches in Nigeria and 15 subsidiaries and representative offices in Africa and some other parts of the world, Access has become a financial powerhouse in our continent. For the future of the bank, the GMD notes that the bank is ‘’best positioned to maximize the identified opportunities in Africa on the back of a growing customer base and move to a cashless economy’’. I am highly honoured to have been invited to be part of the 32nd AGM. t&UJN B GPSNFS TUBGG PG "DDFTT #BOL XSJUFT GSPN "CVKB

28

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

Presco Bags ICAN Merit Award, Explains Job Creation Goddy Egene Presco Plc has been honoured by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (lCAN), with its prestigious merit award.

According to ICAN, Presco Plc was singled out for the award because of its “exemplary leadership style, dedication, promotion of transparency and accountability.”

Speaking at the 2021 ICAN Annual Dinner & Awards, President of the institute Dame Onome Adewuyi, commended Presco Plc for creating jobs for thousands of Nigerians especially in Edo, Delta States and other locations. Making reference to Presco’s waste to wealth policy, Adewuyi commended staff, board and management of the company for their dedication to the Nigerian economy. She noted that Presco firmly believes in environmentally friendly and sustainable operation, adding that, “All factory wastes from the oil mill are recycled into the plantation or used as fuel to generate green process steam and energy“.

Adewuyi explained that Presco Plc now rely majorly on green energy for its operation, adding the Institute was very proud of the positive developments at Presco Plc. Receiving the award, Managing Director of Presco Plc, Felix Nwabuko thanked the Institute, special guest of honour, Senator Kola Bajomo and all past presidents of ICAN present at the event held in Lagos. Accompanied by his wife, Fidelia, three board members including Amb Nonye Udo, Chief Bassey Edem, Mr Osa Osunde, senior management team and friends of Presco Plc, Nwabuko said: “We are doing what we think we should do to contribute to the economy of Nigeria.”

Firm Pledges to Empower Indigenous Farmers Hamid Ayodeji The Adesh Agro Farm Limited has expressed its commitment towards empowering and partnering with thousands of indigenous smallholders farmers across the country by providing necessary agro inputs.

The firm said providing local farmers with adequate technology equipment and seedlings needed in order to enhance the operations and productivity of their various farm produce remains a long term goal of the organisation.

This, the firm disclosed during the official unveiling of its processed and packaged farm products, such as cassava and palm kernel, recently in Lagos.

The organisation stated that its activities would also be aimed at enhancing sustainable agriculture, whilst supporting small and large scale crops and animal farmers with access to lands and technical know-how which would help grow their capacity and productivity.

It noted that the initiative was generated from the need to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition in the country by ensuring there is a sufficient supply of affordable nutritious and hygienic food for the nation Year on Year (YoY).

Commending staff of the company for their professionalism and dedication, Nwabuko said: “We are humbled and overwhelmed by the vote of confidence this award has brought to us”.

He attributed positive developments at Presco Plc to team work, adding “We will double our efforts”.

He said efforts are in top gear to generate more jobs in Edo, Delta and Rivers States from about 8,000 to between 11,000 and 40,000 in future. Nwabuko was full of praise for all stakeholders who make it possible for Presco Plc to put food on the tables of thousands of Nigerians. Meanwhile, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has congratulated Presco Plc for emerging recipient of the 2021 ICAN Merit Award in the Corporate Body Category.

NEWS

Lagos to Enforce Occupational Safety Guidelines in Work Places Segun James Lagos State Govern or, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the state will enforce occupational safety guidelines in work places.

According to him, safety in work places and the worker would no longer be taken for granted.

The governor stated this in Lagos, during an Occupational Safety and Health Conference organised by the state’s Safety Commission in commemoration of this year’s ‘World Day for Safety,’ said, “we will ensure strict enforcement of safety rules and guidelines that are geared towards making the workplace

safe and hazard free.’’

The governor was represented by the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Engr. Tayo Bamgbose-Martins.

He further assured that the state would continue to work tirelessly to make Lagos safe and secure for all residents by developing a virile health and safety system responsive to any emergency.

“With the challenges we have faced in the health sector in the face of this global pandemic, we are now more resolute and committed to develop a health system that is more efficient and responsive in dealing with any epidemic or pandemic that may occur in the future.

“In Lagos, we have put in place strategies and initiatives to ensure the delivery of safety measures ahead of whatever crisis we might be confronted with in any sector of the economy,” he said.

In his keynote address, the Director General/CEO, Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), Mr. Lanre Mojola, said the hazards of work-related accidents and illness which are caused by unsafe conditions acts and practices, calls for the need for countries to deliberately put health and safety systems in place to change the narrative.

He pointed that as a responsive government, the state was charged with providing regulations and laws required to ensure that

workers can discharge their duties in a safe and conducive manner He assured that the Commission would continue to spread the message of safety, saying “it is only a safer Lagos that can guarantee the attainment of a greater Lagos.”

According to him, the COVID-19 has given rise to numerous unparalleled challenges globally and put to test existing protocols on safety and health in the workplace.

“Governments, organisations and workers have been forced to think outside the box and develop new methods of work to remain productive and adjust to new reality which we call the new normal,” he said.

WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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30

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

AFEX Records N28bn in Commodities Trading in Five Years Nume Ekeghe The AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited, an agriculture value chain, has disclosed that it facilitated trade in commodities with total value of $68 million (N28 billion) in the last five years.

This was revealed yesterday during the virtual unveiling of the ‘AFEX Impact Report: Five Years in View.’

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, an independent consultant who worked on the report and a consultant to AFEX, Ms. Sanne Steemers, said the trading platform was targeting to achieve $68 million worth trade in one year and expects the agriculture landscape in Nigeria to and Africa substantial grow.

She said: “In five years, AFEX traded over 200,000 tonnes cumulatively with the value of about $68 million or N28 billion.

This year, AFEX is set to do that five-year volume within one year most likely.”

According to her, AFEX is on a mission to help Africa feed itself, “and that is what has drawn me to AFEX from the start and that is what everyone in the team is wanting to contribute to and helping Africa feed itself means that farmers need to have god livelihoods, processors and food manufactures need to have a proper business module and it means that food security for an entire country and continent.”

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer AFEX Mr. Ayodeji Balogun, stated that

the firm was committed to linking farmers and consumers of commodities with a system that supports fair exchange of value which would in turn support the entire agriculture value chain and elevate more farmers out of poverty.

He also said its innovations which are facilitating farmers and agriculture value chain would create an ecosystem whereby farming would be more attractive and that his organisation plans to expand its support to one million farmers nationwide.

Balogun said: “AFEX is in a stage where it is growing very quickly and trade volumes are growing very quickly and this also means there are more farmers that would be included in the scope of trade business.

Stanbic IBTC Partners LSETF to Support SMEs Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced its partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSEFT) to train small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in entrepreneurship through a series of financial planning sessions, tagged “Managing Your Finances”.

Stanbic IBTC, through its regular financial planning sessions, has trained individuals, entrepreneurs and business managers in personal and corporate finance and has thus enhanced their knowledge in the areas of wealth creation, and improved business management and financial management skills.

Speaking on the partnership, a statement quote the Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Dr

Demola Sogunle, to have said the collaboration reflected the financial institution’s commitment to the growth and development of Nigerians and the economy.

As he commended the LSEFT for the promotion of entrepreneurship through improved access to finance, strengthened institutional capacity of SMEs and policies formulated to improve the business environment in Lagos State, Sogunle assured the LSETF of Stanbic IBTC’s resolute support in the development of SMEs in Nigeria.

According to Sogunle, “This partnership is crucial because we will be taking beneficiaries through our highly specialised financial planning sessions where they will gain knowledge

in different areas of financial management.

“We hope that the insights from this engagement will accelerate their entrepreneurial growth and empower them with the requisite financial knowledge to thrive in life and business.

“Stanbic IBTC embraces the opportunity to contribute to achieving the global sustainable development goals, amongst which are: reduction in the levels of poverty and hunger, economic growth and reduction in inequality.”

The partnership has not only supported entrepreneurs and business owners, but contributed to the achievement of the United Nations-backed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Heritage Bank Rewards More Customers Heritage Bank said it has continually fulfilled its promises to support the Nigerian Creative Industry, as millionaires emerged from its YNSPYRE product in collaboration with the CREAM Platform.

The YNSPYRE account holders who subscribed to the platform on all networks won over N12 million during the second monthly raffle draw conducted recently.

According to a statement, the Heritage Bank’s YNSPYRE event commenced on a great note when D’banj and CREAM Platform introduced the CREAM Merit winners for March, BERRI, a music artiste who carted away sum of N10 million in form of promotional, while Clara Aden, a visual artist received N1million in financial support and Hanzy, a music artiste got over N1million

in form of mentorship support as well as Merchandise support from partner company - Boomplay.

Meanwhile, the April Raffle Draw produced 10 lucky winners of N50,000.00 each while cheques of N200,000 each were also presented to 5 Winners from the March 2021 Draw.

The event held in Lagos had in attendance alongside Divisional Head, Corporate Communications, Heritage Bank - Fela Ibidapo; Dapo Oyebanjo (D’banj) and his partner - Oje Anetor; notable dignitaries from different walks of life - Director General of the National Lotto Regulatory Commission, Lanre Gbajabiamila and Stanley Mukoro. Also present at the draw were - Sunday Are, Chief Damian Okoroafor, Poco Lee, representatives of the NLRC, Boomplay and members of the

media. Speaking during the April draw, Ibidapo stated that as a financial institution committed to delivering distinctive financial services to create, preserve and transfer wealth, Heritage Bank would continue to leverage its supports to the growth and development of the creative and entertainment sector.

According to him the bank remains proud of the entertainment industry and would continue to stand by operators in it by supporting them and watch them grow.

He expressed optimism that the creative industry, if properly harnessed, has the potential to reduce the level of unemployment in the country, boost wealth creation for the people and help the country generate the much needed foreign exchange.

ARISE TV to Interview Tony Elumelu The Group Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, and Founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, will today be a guest on ARISE News, a 24 hour international television news channel.

Elumelu is one of Africa’s leading philanthropists and entrepreneurs. Elumelu, who is also the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a family-owned investment company committed to improving lives and transforming Africa by investing in Africa’s most strategic sectors, will be speaking on a wide range of topics such as economy, Africa economic development, philanthropy, entrepreneurship

among others.

The hour-long live broadcast which will be aired at 8.30am during The Morning Show, a primetime breakfast magazine programme, will be anchored

by Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesman and award winning columnist.

Elumelu is the Chairman of pan-African financial services group, UBA, which operates in 20 countries across Africa, the United Kingdom, France, and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit taking presence in the United States.

He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp

whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading producers of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand.

He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Oil & Gas Heirs Oil & Gas – Africa’s Integrated Energy Company an upstream oil and gas company, whose assets include Nigerian oil block OML17 with a current production capacity of 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT MONDAY, 3 MAY 2021

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $65.09 a barrel on Monday, compared with $65.42 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

31

T H I S D AY ˾ ͱ˜ 2021

Union Bank Restates Commitment to Deliver Value to Shareholders Goddy Egene Union Bank of Nigeria Plc yesterday restated its commitment to delivering value to shareholders as it continues to drive growth and profitability of its business.

The Chairman of Union Bank, Mrs. Beatrice Hamza-Bassey, stated this at the 52nd annual general meeting (AGM) held in Lagos.

“Our commitment to delivering high quality earnings remains

unwavering. I am pleased to announce that the bank delivered a resilient set of results in 2020 notwithstanding the challenging macroeconomic operating environment.

“Our overall performance demonstrates our resilience and ability to adapt to the constantly changing business environment to maximise shareholder returns. We remain committed to delivering value to our shareholders as we continue to drive growth and

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

profitability of our business,” she said.

According to her, major highlights of the financial performance in 2020 show that profit before tax grew by 2.8 per cent to N25.4 billion, from N24.7 billion in 2019. Customer deposits also increased by 27.6 per cent to N1.131 trillion compared to N886.3 billion in 2019, reflecting the bank’s agility in delivering a compelling range of products to its customers during the pan-

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

demic, and increased adoption of digital channels.

Commenting on the bank’s performance for 2020 and plans for 2021, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Emeka Okonkwo said: “In 2020, despite the headwinds caused by the pandemic, Union Bank continued to deliver a strong performance that has enabled the Board of Directors propose a dividend payment for the second consecutive year. This indicates resilience and affirms the strong

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

foundation that was rebuilt over the past eight years.

As we begin a new chapter, we will continue the journey to becoming a leading financial institution in Nigeria. Sustaining value to our shareholders remains at the core of our continuous drive and we remain committed to delivering improved profitability and higher returns in 2021 and beyond.

Shareholders at the AGM

O F

approved the recommended dividend of 25 Kobo per 50 Kobo ordinary share, while applauding the bank’s resilience in these times, and its focus on sustaining shareholder value.

Meanwhile, the stock market opened trading for the week on a negative note as the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) AllShare Index (ASI) shed 0.08 per cent to close at 39,801.78, while market capitalisation shed N17 billion to N20.8 trillion.

0 4 / 0 5 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 • T H I S D AY

32

33

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 30Apr-2021, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 155.49 157.02 -3.89% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.43% Nigeria International Debt Fund 301.56 301.56 -16.62% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 110.36 110.36 -1.53% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.27% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.37 3.54 -4.89% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 1.31% Anchoria Equity Fund 129.21 130.72 -2.86% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.06 1.06 -20.06% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 18.98 19.55 4.65% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 413.76 426.23 3.34% ARM Ethical Fund 36.80 37.91 9.17% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) N/A N/A N/A ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.03 -8.70% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.75% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 103.87 103.87 2.12% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.01 1.01 0.61% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.35% Paramount Equity Fund 15.73 16.01 -1.67% Women's Investment Fund 131.07 132.46 -1.56% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.39% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 129.58 130.43 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.88 110.88 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.43% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.17 1.18 -2.83% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.36 1.36 -14.39% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 2.93% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.70% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,161.72 1,167.70 -3.06% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Balanced Fund 186.43 187.72 -0.67% FBN Halal Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.45% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 124.47 124.47 3.10% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 149.54 151.61 -1.08% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.23% Legacy Debt Fund 3.93 3.93 1.46% Legacy Equity Fund 1.58 1.61 3.74% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.15 1.15 1.62% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,824.64 3,877.09 2.05% Coral Income Fund 3,358.16 3,358.16 2.50% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 1.94%

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.51% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.75 2.82 20.04% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 14.01 148.44 -47.81% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.20 1.24 27.17% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 5.74% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.39 1.41 2.08% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,130.43 1,130.39 2.39% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 10.50 10.57 Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 3.87% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.61 1.64 7.37% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.38 12.54 2.47% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 2.38% PACAM Equity Fund 1.59 1.61 0.89% PACAM EuroBond Fund 110.48 113.38 1.06% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 127.58 129.71 8.01% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 2.37% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,117.86 3,142.43 -3.06% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 228.76 228.76 1.74% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.16 1.18 -0.85% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 299.83 299.83 1.75% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 215.70 218.33 -1.30% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.07% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,115.20 10,242.49 -3.69% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.25 1.25 1.88% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 113.36 113.36 2.05% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 100.74 100.74 UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.34 1.36 -1.88% United Capital Bond Fund 1.93 1.93 2.06% United Capital Equity Fund 0.90 0.92 3.46% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.82% United Capital Eurobond Fund 119.85 119.85 2.36% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.07 1.09 -1.20% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.04 1.04 3.70% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

122.84 53.12

1.74% 1.37%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.82 122.25 97.65

12.92 122.25 99.43

-3.00% 0.42% -1.75%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.64 5.54 17.19 1.00 19.38 160.67

3.68 5.62 17.29 1.00 19.58 162.67

-3.54% -2.56% 5.08% 2.66% -5.55% -26.57%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.52

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

34

EDUCATION Changing the Fortunes of LAUTECH Kemi Olaitan writes on steps by the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde to change the narrative about the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, bedevilled by multiple crises

I

n the recent past, the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso was always in the news no thanks to the various crises bedeviling the institution, established in 1990 under the administration of late Colonel Sasaeniyan Oresanya as military Governor of old Oyo State.

Indeed the institution was encountering among others set back on matters relating to its ownership with successive governments in Oyo and Osun (created out of the former in 1991) States, at each other’s neck over issues of the university’s leadership, staff salaries and location of new campuses, among other matters.

The instability in the school which affected its academic calendar and made students to be at home for period ranging between six months and one year at a time got the attention of the regulatory body of universities in the country, the National Universities Commission (NUC), with the Executive Secretary, Prof.

Abubakar Rasheed, during a visit to the institution, pledging to assist in bringing it back on track.

The crisis may have become a thing of the past given the commitment by Governor Seyi Makinde to turn around the fortune of the 30-year-old institution. The first step he took towards salvaging the school from collapse was the termination of its joint ownership between the Oyo and Osun State governments.

The governor while speaking on the development in Ibadan, the state capital, said the state now has the opportunity to restore the lost glory of the university, maintaining that the real work to reposition the university and take it back to the glorious days when it was adjudged the best state-run university has now begun.

Makinde stated that with the amicable ending of the joint ownership, a situation that has bogged down the university for years, he was ready to reposition the institution in line with his campaign promise. He added that Oyo State under his watch will readily reposition the school for excellence, noting that his administration’s drive to industrialise the state will get the much needed boost with an effectively run technology university like LAUTECH. “So, we give God all the glory. Now, the real work starts because we have to ensure that the university is properly funded so that it will be contributing to the economy of Ogbomoso in particular and Oyo State in general. If we are saying we want to industrialise the state and we have a university of technology adding value in Ogbomoso, the industrialisation effort can proceed very quickly,” the governor said.

He maintained that a lot of people had been reading wrong meaning into the dissolution of the joint ownership of LAUTECH, describing it as being against the spirit of regional cooperation. He however said the decision by Oyo and Osun States to have a divorce over LAUTECH ownership would pay off in the long run. “To the naysayers, they should look for other things that will divide us. Politics has not divided us. Party affiliations did not do that. LAUTECH did not do it. And we will continue to cooperate for the progress and prosperity of both states, our zone and our country.”

The governor further maintained that the state is ready to fully shoulder the financial responsibilities of LAUTECH, as it has been doing since the beginning of 2020, disclosing that the state government has appropriated enough funds to the institution in the 2021 budget and will continue to discharge its responsibilities on the institution.

“The arrangement that we met when we came in May 2019, was that Oyo State usually will fund the University from January to June and then Osun State will fund it from July to December. We had to intervene a couple of times last year and between May and December, we had to intervene to get the university running. I already indicated that we wanted to take it over and because of that, Osun felt why should they be putting their

Governor Seyi Makinde (middle); the Geputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan (third left), with members of the governing council money and negotiation was still on? So, for 2020, Oyo State has been funding LAUTECH alone. After our January to June, from July, we have been funding LAUTECH alone basically and we appropriated enough money in the 2021 budget to continue doing that. So, we anticipated that we were going to get to this position and we are putting our money where our mouth is.

“Well, the only victor now are the students and the stakeholders of the university because they can now get a stable university environment that is conducive for learning and research. So, they can go ahead and do it but between Governor Isiaka Oyetola and I, there is no victor, no vanquished. We just want our children to be able to go to school and also contribute their own quota to the development of the state and our country. It is a win-win for everybody; for the students, lecturers and stakeholders. Now, the major issue has been removed. So, they do not have any reason not to excel anymore.

“I will also use this opportunity to thank my brother, Governor of Osun State, for his cooperation and for being a statesman. When we were campaigning, I remember that my opponent then said that higher education should not be something you won’t pay for and that it should be commercialised. It was a major point of disagreement between us then and we maintained and we are still of the view to date - that higher education should be affordable. So when we came in on May 29, 2019, we found out that LAUTECH students, instead of spending four or five years for a programme, they had spent almost double of that and it was not the students’ fault but because of some people who benefit from a bad system. I appealed to Oyetola and told him that we need to resolve this problem. Let us keep our egos aside. University is from the name universal; I told him that we need to let the institution live up to its name. He saw reasons with me and we were able to come together and resolve it,” he said.

Makinde took the repositioning of the university further with the inauguration of its governing council, charging the members to provide leadership that will take the institution to the acme of excellence in the world.

The governor in his remarks while inaugurating the council members, urged them to, within a short while, ensure that the institution is ranked among the top 10 universities in the world, imploring them also to oversee and ensure accountability on the part of the institution’s direct administrators.

He also called on the members, headed

by Prof. Deji Omole, to see their positions

as a call to duty and service, adding that “this is not a job one gets and goes to sleep.”

Makinde insisted that the mandate given to the council was to take necessary and strategic measures that will make LAUTECH one of the 10 top universities in the world and the first in Africa.

On the specific mandate being given to the new council, he said, “we want you to take the necessary measures and pursue vigorously all strategies and tactics that will make LAUTECH a world-class university. That is the mandate.

What you are getting is an opportunity to shape this school for future generations. We no longer have the excuse to say one state or the other is holding back the school’s progress.

So, I encourage you to get the job done and I am sure you will get it done.”

The governor explained that though the governing council is almost invisible, its impact is always felt in the direction the school is headed, stating that the appointment of the council members is a call to service and duty that must be heeded with every sense of responsibility.

According to him, “the role of the Governing Council is almost invisible, still its impact is undoubtedly felt in the direction that the school is headed. Its position is very strategic and one of the core duties of members is overseeing and ensuring accountability on the part of the school’s direct administrators. It is definitely not a position that one takes up and goes to sleep. It is a special call to duty and service. If we are looking at the calibre of people on this board, I am convinced that you are up to the task.

“It was not a mistake that two of the members today - Professor Ayodeji Omole and Mr. Adeosun Idowu - were both the Chairman and Secretary of the Oyo State Negotiation Team on the Sole Ownership of LAUTECH, which assisted the Oyo State Government to get LAUTECH back. I gave the initial committee a mandate to go out there and get a divorce. When I gave the assignment, I knew it was going to be tough, especially where there is no halfway point for them, but they came back and delivered 100 per cent on that mandate. So, I am giving you another mandate today and I am sure you will still deliver 100 per cent.”

Makinde further assured the council of the continuous support of his government, noting that the state government is ready to work hard to help it deliver its mandate of turning the institution into a centre of excellence.

“Be assured of the continuous support of the government in this regard. Let it be that the next news we will hear in the future is

that because of the work you did, LAUTECH has broken into the list of top 10 universities in the world. I challenge you to key into this vision. We are not talking about the top 10 universities in Nigeria, but in the world. You should already know that we want you to take us from the 13th position to the first position.

I know it is a big task but that is why your mandate is to mould and make LAUTECH into a world-class institution.

“I want to assure you that the Oyo State Government is ready to work with you to make that happen. Well, in the case of LAUTECH, as we inaugurate this governing council, we can rightly say that the first phase of acquiring this school and setting things up for success has ended in praise.

The next phase of rebuilding, which is what this governing council is supposed to do, is a surgical operation. And I know that the next phase will also end in praise.”

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof. Omole said the governor has promised to give the institution all the necessary support to transform and rebuild the university, stating that the committee knew the challenges ahead of it, especially that of a crop of staff that are not motivated; with an assurance that the council will face the job squarely. He explained that the institution has a lot of potential but that, unfortunately, somewhere along the line, there was a crisis and the university could no longer focus on its core mandate.

“I am sure that you have heard that the governor has promised to give the institution all the necessary support to transform and rebuild the university. We know there are a lot of challenges, especially some crops of staff that are not motivated. You cannot owe somebody eight-10 months salary and expect such a person to put in the best.

So, we know we are going to have a lot of challenges but we will overcome them and the university will be put on a proper footing to face the challenges of development desired of a university that is really worthy of its name.

“On the first position that the governor wants us to move the university to, there is nothing impossible. The staff in LAUTECH don’t have inferior brains to those people in the first 10 universities in the world. Our staff have competed favourably with those scholars and we know that with adequate motivation, incentive and good working environment, all those things can be achieved.”

Other members of the governing council include Mr. Adeosun Olukunle Idowu, Secretary; Hon. Adekunle Bankole; Prof. Lanre Olaniyan; and Mrs. Titilayomi Ahmadu.

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EDUCATION

Sanwo-Olu Inaugurates FG to Roll out Accelerated Basic Education LASU/Cornell Varsity Programme to Improve Access Collaboration on Professional Certificate Programmes Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Segun James The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently launched a collaboration between the Lagos State University (LASU) and an American based University, Cornell University, New York for 16 professional certificate programmes to be jointly run by the two institutions.

Speaking during the virtual launch ceremony, the governor stated that the establishment of LASU/Cornell University Postgraduate Professional Certificate Programmes was aimed at giving prospective students across the country an opportunity to gain global skills and professional expertise that will not only make them relevant and employable, but globally competitive in the 21st-century digital economy.

He said the decision to collaborate with Cornell University, rated to be one of the best leading universities in the world, was borne out of the desire to keep and sustain LASU’s present pedigree and high academic profile as the second-best university in Nigeria and one of the best 600 in the world.

He stated that the collaboration is a further demonstration of his administration’s commitment to the implementation of quality and sustainable policy

that would not only meet the educational needs of the citizenry, but act as a catalyst for individual growth and rapid socio-economic development.

“The collaboration for professional postgraduate certificates in 16 areas, including Entrepreneurship Skills, Human Resource Development, Innovation and Creativity, Marketing, Leadership Skills, Management, Data Science and Statistics, would help prospective students to gain global skills that would make them relevant, employable and globally competitive.”

While promising that the state government would closely monitor all the treaties and agreements under the collaboration to ensure that there is no breach of trust, the governor appealed to the foreign partners to give LASU/Cornell collaboration all necessary support and professional advice that would not only enhance LASU’s current ratings, but make it a university of first choice in Africa.

In his remarks, Cornell University Vice-President, Professor Paul Krause, stated that his institution was ready to partner LASU to run 16 professional certificate courses that would help to build the capacity of prospective students through exposure and impactful training.

The federal government has expressed its readiness to roll out the accelerated basic education programme that will enable disadvantaged children between the ages of 10 and 18 years have access to education.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who was speaking when he received the new curriculum developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) for the Accelerated Basic Education Programme (ABEP) from the Executive Secretary of the Council, Professor Junaidu Ismail in Abuja, noted that all stakeholders would be carried along to ensure successful implementation of the programme.

Adamu, who lamented the high level of illiteracy in the country, stated that the projection of the

government was that in the next five years, the country should attain 90 per cent literacy rate with the accelerated programme and other programmes put in place by the ministry.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, the minister said obsolete curriculum posed a big problem to quality education in the country, adding that the review of basic education curriculum would be taken into consideration.

He revealed that the National Universities Commission (NUC) has commenced a review of the curriculum of universities and that this would be ready soon.

“Hundred per cent of subject areas have had their curriculum reviewed in our university and the national public launch is planned soon. A similar thing is

being done for National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

“We are pleased that NERDC is focusing on the vulnerable population.

The national roll out will start with other sister states of Yobe, Adamawa and other endemic states like Zamfara, Benue and even Ebonyi and across the country to ensure that the number of Nigerians who are considered illiterates will tinker down within a short time.

“Our initial projection in the next five years is that we should attain 90 per cent literacy rate and we will work assiduously towards that,” he said.

While speaking on the programme, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof Junaidu Ismail, stated that the programme was imple-

mented in partnership with Plan International, under the EU-Borno project being funded by European Union.

He revealed that the programme and curriculum were approved for implementation by the National Council of Education at its 64th meeting in Port Harcourt in 2019 and was piloted in Borno with 54 learning centres. He said over 8,000 learners have enrolled.

“Preliminary result from the piloting shows that the programme is indeed a way out of the menace of out-of-school children in Nigeria,” he said.

In his remarks, the Interim Country Director, Plan International Nigeria, Mr. Robert Komakech, said the goal of the EU was to increase access to safe, quality and inclusive education opportunities for conflict affected children and youths in the country.

Unimited Access to Learning: DSN, Others Launch e-Learning Platform Uchechukwu Nnaike As part of efforts to reduce the urban-rural learning disparities in Nigeria, Data Science Nigeria, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation has launched the new Learn at Home audio e-learning platform to provide free, online and unlimited learning access to more than 100 million Nigerian youths.

This first-of-its-kind audio e-learning platform will offer unlimited access based on the national mobile phone penetration, low-data and basic feature phone requirements.

The platform is a continuum of Data Science Nigeria’s successful ‘Learn at Home’ initiative, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, that provided learning to millions of Nigerian pupils amid the COVID-19 disruptive restrictions.

Learn at Home is based on an inclusive e-learning approach. It is designed to eliminate the barriers of internet access (data) cost and over-dependency on expensive smartphones in the delivery of locally relevant, convenient and inexpensive access to quality education.

The Learn at Home audio e-learning initiative, www. learnathome.radio is part of an extensive effort to reduce the urban-rural learning disparities in Nigeria.

Mastercard Foundation said it is a continuation of efforts to

ensure universal learning and improve learning outcomes across all communities in Nigeria. Already, more than four million students have joined audio classes with USSD/SMS support, where they receive educational materials on key subjects, based on the Nigerian Educational Research and Development (NERDC) curriculum for primary and secondary school students.

According to the Country Head, Mastercard Foundation Nigeria, Chidinma Lawanson, “the disruption of the pandemic did not only halt learning for many, but also revealed and exacerbated existing inequalities in learning opportunities. The purpose of www.learnathome.radio is to ensure that children have equal, convenient, and affordable access to quality learning.”

On the platform, pupils and students from primary one to senior secondary three (SS3) will gain access to a special examination readiness series that include a collection of solved past questions in WAEC, NECO, BECE and Common Entrance from 2009 to 2020. Expert teachers have been engaged to provide answers and explanations to the past questions in a step-by-step and easy-tounderstandformat, with complementary live classes that enable each student to learn at a preferred pace irrespective of location and socio-economic conditions.

L-R: The President, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, Mr. Akintoye Oyegbola; President, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN), Alhaji Jubrin Ado; Registrar/CEO, CIPSMN, Mohammed Aliyu; and Chairman, Examination Committee, Anthony Olalade, during the institute’s 2021 Group A induction of new members in Lagos... recently

Varsity Don Canvasses Responsible Sexual, Reproductive Behaviour for Economic Improvement Funmi Ogundare A Professor of Sociology, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Onipede Wusu, has stressed the need for Nigerians to be more responsible in managing their sexual and reproductive behaviour, as it will go a long way in improving the country’s economic status.

Wusu, who said this while delivering the 77th inaugural lecture of the institution titled ‘Gifts of Nature: The Soft Underbelly of Wellbeing in Society’, said effective family planning method should be encouraged to make people more responsible, adding that the teaching of sex education in schools should also be decisive to enable the youths protect themselves.

He attributed the persistence of poverty in the country to the prevailing sexual and reproductive

behaviour and other factors such as corruption, prepodenrence of illiteracy, poor quality of education, growing levels of inequalities and insecurity in the country.

According to Wusu, “where there are frequent pregnancies, there will be several children on ground, and with the level of poverty in the country, you cannot improve your economic status and contribute to national savings.

Nigerians should begin to make good use of their gifts towards self-progress and family advancement; and making the society great indeed. If we make this happen, our country will be transformed.”

He cited an instance of Japan where sex and reproduction are properly managed, saying that the consequence is usually high per capita income and high life expectancy.

“Japan can sustain their economy because their reproductive life is consistent with the economic progress. Unlike our own, we are not even ready to be responsible. People will live better than those who think sexual reproduction is a free gift and they can use it anyhow,” the don said.

Wusu expressed concern about the gradual failure of the family sexual socialisation agency which is promoting intergenerational sexual relationship and has become pervasive.

The revolution, the don noted is largely lubricated by the widespread practice wherein members of the older generation who are to socialise the younger generation into the society’s sexual norms and values, capable of improving their health and future standard of living, engage in illicit sexual relationships with

them.

According to him, “popular slang used to capture this practice in society is ‘Aristo’ and this is promoting sexual permissiveness among the younger generation. Thus, those who are supposed to be the custodian of healthy and progressive sexual culture are shaping the sex drive among young people towards a catastrophic model.”

This move, Wusu said emboldens the younger generation to embrace the sexual culture that disregard the health implications of risky sex, since most of the intergenerational sexual relationships are transactional and often disregard protection.

Other societal forces shaping sex drive among young people, the don noted include peer influence, broken homes, drugs, mass media, among others.

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WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

INEC Begins Verification of New Polling Centres To commence voters’ registration June 28 Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday commenced a

nationwide verification exercise for centres proposed for voting units to be converted to polling units across the country.

The INEC Chairman, Prof.

LG Poll: Ogun Waives Payment for Female Aspirants Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) has given women the ample opportunity to participate in the forthcoming council polls by waiving payment for nomination forms for them, for chairmanship and councillorship positions.

The body has also amended the earlier released timetable, as the days for party primaries have been increased from five to 22, starting from May 5 to May 27, 2021.

The Chairman of the body, Mr. Babatunde Osibodu, disclosed this during the official flag-off of political activities leading to the 2021 local government elections at the June 12 Cultural Centre.

According to the chairman, the political campaigns are now to end on July 22, 2021,

as against the earlier slated time, while the election date remained July 24, 2021.

He urged the political class and the aspirants to embrace stipulated guidelines.

Osibodu said: “We would waive the payment of a nonrefundable deposit by intending female aspirants. It is a gesture to encourage more women to participate in the election.

“The Electoral Law 2007 provides for payment of a non-refundable deposit by intending aspirants. For chairmanship aspirants, the fee has been set at N200,000, while councillorship aspirants is to N100,000.

“As a gender-sensitive institution, we wish to encourage women’s participation. Accordingly, the commission has resolved that this deposit will be waived for female aspirant.”

Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this when he visited some of the proposed centres and existing polling units in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa State.

Yakubu, while speaking with journalist at the commission’s LG office in Karu, Nasarawa State, during the tour, said the purpose

of the verification exercise was to ensure that the right thing is done in the conversion of the voting points to polling units.

According to him, “All the National Commissioners are out visiting the states of the federation to verify the work of converting the voting points to polling units.

“So, we decided from the

Lagos Assembly Suspends Three Council Chairmen over Alleged Disobedience The Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday suspended three local government council chairmen in the state over alleged disregard for the guidelines governing their activities.

In a statement posted on its website, the lawmakers said they would no longer continue to watch while the council chairmen stubbornly flouted the state’s local government guidelines.

The affected chairmen are: Ogidan Mukandasi Olaitan of the Lekki LCDA; Suleiman Jelili of Alimosho Local Government Area and Tajudeen Ajide of the Surulere Local Government

Area.

Their suspension was unanimously approved by members of the House in a voice vote with no opposition.

This was shortly after Hon. Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho 1), who is the chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Industry, accused Olaitan of being very rude.

The statement said Yusuff “complained that Olaitan even accused the lawmakers carrying out an oversight function on a memorandum of understanding in relation to the issue that arose from a resettlement programme in Lekki of being ignorant of their jobs.

headquarters to visit some of the polling units and voting points in the FCT and also in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. We have done that of FCT. We are now in Karu.

“You will recall that as part of our engagement with stakeholders, we show images of one of the congested polling units in the

country from Karu.

“So, I have to verify that the right thing is done in converting those voting points to polling units and relocating them in line with the commission’s guidelines.

“So far, it is work in progress.

At the end of the exercise, we will address the media.”

COVID-19 Lockdown: 378 Wives, 46 Husbands Assaulted in 2020, Says Lagos Govt Segun James During the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country last year, the Lagos State Government recorded a number domestic violence among spouses, with 48 men and 378 women assaulted in 2020.

Meanwhile, the state has recorded 43 men and 286 women assaults so far in 2021.

The figures were disclosed by the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada, while giving a brief on the stewardship of her ministry as part of the activities to mark

the second year in office of the state Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. According to the commissioner, “In 2020, 46 men were violated while 378 women were reported. This is the report of WAPA. Some people go to the Ministry of Justice, while some go the police. We were able to intervene in those issues.”

While giving a rundown of her achievements, the commissioner revealed that her empowerment initiatives and poverty alleviation programmes had impacted the lives of over 48,000 residents of the state in the last two years.

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24 HOURS...

24 HOURS...

Buhari Condemns Killing of 11 Persons in Benue, Violence in Anambra Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has strongly condemned the killing of 11 people in Gwer West Local Government of Benue State and the reprisals on innocent people by mobs that blocked roads to unleash terror and violence.

He described the spate of violence in the state as well as

mob killing of innocent people in Anambra State as unacceptable and indefensible.

The President, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, declared “I totally condemn this latest unprovoked violence and counter-attacks on innocent people that had nothing to do with the cause of the violence.”

He also deplored the killing of innocent people in Anambra State by mobs, saying “in both cases innocent people were killed through no fault of theirs.

“Violence on innocent people by anybody and any group is unacceptable and indefensible.

“Hate and bigotry have eaten so deeply and violates the sanctity of life. If we allow this culture of

IG Redeploys Imo CP, Five Others Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Acting Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Usman Baba, yesterday ordered the posting of Mr. Abutu Yaro to Imo State as the new Commissioner of Police.

A statement by Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, said the posting of was in furtherance of efforts by the police towards strengthening security, tackling violent crimes and enhancing optimal coordination of policing operations within the state.

It said Yaro, a fellow of the National Defence College and the

immediate-past Commissioner of Police, Zamfara State Command, is an operationally-minded cop.

Yaro takes over from Mr. Nasiru Mohammed, who was transferred to Western Port Authority, Lagos.

In the redeployment, Mr. Hussain Rabiu, was posted to Zamfara State Police Command as the new Commissioner for Police while John Amadi was moved from Western Port Authority, Lagos to Airport Police Command, Ikeja.

Also, CP Anderson Bankole is now in charge of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi,

Lagos and CP Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, posted to the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), Force Headquarters, Abuja as the Commissioner of Police in charge of the department.

The IG, while charging the newly-posted officers to bring to bear their professional experiences in improving policing and restoring public confidence in their new places of assignments, assured citizens of the determination of the police, under his leadership, to upscale its operations, improve public safety and tackle insecurity

CBN: South-east Unwilling to Access Credit Facilities Gideon Arinze in Enugu The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed worry over the show of indifference by those in the South-east in accessing several credit facilities made available by the apex bank.

Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi made this known yesterday during a fair organised by the bank with the theme: ‘Promoting financial stability and economic development.’

He was speaking against the backdrop of low turnout by individuals in both Enugu and Anambra states where the fair took place, simultaneously.

According to him, the fair was intended to bring to the notice of the public some of the interventions of the CBN and how they can leverage it.

He however regretted that the people were not ready to utilise the opportunity, unlike in the North where a greater number of business owners and those

in the agricultural sector have accessed the facilities.

“You don’t need to know anybody to access these facilities.

They are there for everyone to access”. That is the reality,” he explained.

He expressed worry that the rate of unemployment in the country kept increasing on daily basis even as food prices continued to rise, noting that the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele was passionate about dealing with these challenges.

Insecurity: Olawepo-Hashim Lists Six-point Agenda to Save Nigeria Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja Former presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has called for the implementation of a six-point agenda to restore stability to Nigeria.

The business mogul in a statement entitled: ‘The Dark Days Are Here, But The Light Will Come’, explained that the dark days are in Nigeria as ‘death covered’ the land.

“It is unending sorrows for most families as our country

bleeds. Insecurity is the common word now; but I am a fervent believer that order shall return sooner than later,” he said.

The politician noted that even Europe had its dark ages but later gave way to enlightenment.

According to him, “That darkness surrounds a land does not mean that light will not still come. The root causes of insecurity are rising poverty, rising illiteracy, bigotry, and hate. Nigeria would be able to rise again once we commit to tackling

these causative factors of insecurity, even as we rejig the security architecture and structure of governance.

“But as a matter of urgency, we must take the following steps to halt the advancement of enemy forces that are already amassed in Shiroro, Niger State, around Kaduna State, pushing towards Nasarawa State.

“They tried to come through Kogi State but the state governor was very smart by ensuring they were not able to build a base there.”

Mysterious Fire Razes RCCG School in Damaturu Michael Olugbode inDamaturu The Shalom Nursery and Primary School owned by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Damaturu, Yobe State, has been razed by a mysterious fire.

Eyewitnesses told THISDAY that the fire started from the primary school block wreaking havoc on the books and desks in the class, burning the entire block down.

Addressing journalists on the incident, the Head Teacher of the school, Mrs. Kemi Bature, said the staff and management of the

school were still confused and could not yet determine the cause of the fire.

She said the school uses a prepaid electrical billing system, and always switches off the entire electrical system in the school anytime the pupils are not in school.

The head teacher lamented that the fire that erupted at about 2p.m. last Monday has caused a serious damage to the entire school block, the children’s books and other school records that amount to millions of naira.

Bature also stated that the

fire was detected by some of the neighbours who alerted a teacher before they contacted the state firefighting department.

THISDAY gathered that the police explosive detectives had visited the school to comb the area for any possible explosive or any inflammable item that might have ignited the fire.

Also speaking on the incident, the Pastor in charge of Yobe State Province of the RCCG, Pastor David Ipinmoroti, said the fire incident at the Shalom Nursery and Primary School was not ordinary.

violence to go unchecked, such mobs would destroy law and order”.

The President urged leaders of ethnic and religious groups “to play their own roles constructively in controlling their followers or members, in order to support the government’s efforts for sustainable peace.”

Buhari also cautioned Nigerians against the “temptations of taking the law into their hands in the name of revenge because there are no winners in the cycle of violence, only losers.”

The President while commiserating with the families of the bereaved and the governments and people

of Benue and Anambra states, also commended the police and other law enforcement agencies for their prompt response in averting the escalation of the violence, urging them to put in every effort to apprehend perpetrators of the heinous attacks

£4.2m: Bank Documentation Shouldn’t Take 12Years, Oghara Union Tells Malami The Oghara Development Union (ODU), Lagos Branch, has asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to tell Nigerians the truth about the delay in repatriating the proceeds of assets confiscated from the three ladies associated with the former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori.

In a press statement issued yesterday the union argued that Malami’s claim that bank documentation was delaying the return of the funds was scandalous and far from reality.

The union added that Malami’s claim was also laughable, noting that the minister gave no idea of when the monies would be returned to Nigeria and Delta State.

It also accused the British authorities of playing games.

The statement signed by the General Secretary, Mr. Sunday Agbofodoh, “we say this because

we know for a fact that the monies in question have been in the custody of the British Government since 2010, a clear eleven years plus ago. Also, it is instructive that Nigeria and Britain had long ago signed an MoU on the repatriation of the proceeds. Both parties have continuously celebrated this victory in the press.

“We know for a fact that our beloved son, Chief James Onanefe Ibori is a victim of political persecution concealed as an anti-corruption fight, and we are happy that Nigerians are now knowing the truth of the wicked lies that deluged, swamped and overwhelmed him.

He has served out his prison sentence and since returned to Nigeria and his native Oghara community. We are however concerned that facts are still being twisted for propaganda purposes only to keep the issue in the media in perpetuity”.

The union said that the people of Oghara wanted a fast resolution of

the civil confiscation and repatriation process.

It decried what it described as the delay tactics on the part of the British Government.

“It is incomprehensible that in this day and age, it would take years for banks in two different countries to wire funds from one to the other”.

The ODU added that neither the Attorney-General nor Britain has addressed the question of the shortfall between the real amounts confiscated and what Britain said it would return to Nigeria.

“We are in full knowledge of the actual confiscated amount from the three women and it is £6, 838, 851.68. Of this amount, £629, 417.63 came from the sale of the property belonging to Ibori’s sister, while £2, 649, 959.45 and £3, 559, 474. 60 came from the other two ladies. The amount is not the £4.2 million as Britain and Malami claimed, and it was fully paid in 2010”.

WEDNESDAY MAY 5, ͺ͸ͺ͹˾ T H I S D AY

39

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor ßÜÙ ÕÒËäßËÑÌÏ Email ÎßÜÙ˛ÓÕÒËäßËÑÌÏ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ× ͸΀͹͹ ͹΀͹ ͻ͸΀ͻ

Pinnick invites Argentina, Romania to Aisha Buhari Invitational Tourney Argentina and Romania are likely to participate in the Aisha Buhari Invitational Football Tournament scheduled to hold in September in Nigeria.

Talks are ongoing to get both countries to be involved in Africa’s top women’s tournament expected to also have in attendance top such countries as Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, Morocco and hosts Nigeria.

President of the Nigeria Football

Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, revealed that talks were on with Argentine and Romanian officials on the possibility of both countries featuring in the competition, which is one of the programmes the FIFA Council member plans to deploy in his bid to make Lagos Africa’s Number 1 football playing city.

The NFF president said the inclusion of Argentina

World Rugby Union Bans Nigeria over Caretaker Committee Femi Solaja The inauguration of Interim committees for for 30 national sporting federations by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has led to the banning of the Nigerian Rugby Football Federation by its world and African bodies from further participations in their activities.

In the correspondence between the Nigerian federation and President, Rugby Africa, Mr. Khaled Babbou, sighted by THISDAY, frowned at the Sports Minister’s decision to sack an elected body before completing its tenure. “The dissolution of the duly elected board of NRFF is against the stipulations of the approved Constitution and is highly disruptive for the unions’ operations.

“Consequently, we have no choice but to impose an immediate suspension of Nigeria’s participation in all Rugby Afrique and World Rugby activities until further notice.

“We do appeal in all sincerity

that the Ministry allows the federation to follow its approved constitution,” the letter stated.

Mr. Khaled also noted that the replacement of the Board by a handpicked caretaker committee negates the constitution of the NRFF which was ratified at their Extraordinary General Meeting held in Lagos on the 3rd of March 2018, was also formally approved by Rugby Afrique and by World Rugby at the time.

“This constitution, ratified at the National, Regional and Global level as well as the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), represented by its Secretary General specifically stipulates the time and modalities for the elections for a new board of the NRFF which must be held by a duly constituted AGM. This development made Rugby the second body after athletics to contest the legality of the dissolution and imposition of interim committee to take charge of the federations before the main election in September.

Special Olympics Concludes SNF Unified Sports Programme in Lagos Special Olympics Nigeria has successfully concluded the Unified Sports programme sponsored by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

The SNF Unified Sports programme is a school and community-based initiative of Special Olympics Nigeria that engages participants with and without intellectual disabilities in Football and Air badminton sports training and competition.

Athletes (people with intellectual disabilities) and Unified Partners (people without intellectual disabilities) participated in self development programmes, and sports training sessions two times weekly, within various communities and centres over the duration of 21 weeks beginning November 2020 and ending April 2021.

The activities came to an end with a grand finale tournament, held on Friday the 16th April, 2021 at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos.

It featured football and air-badminton competition, mentorship sessions, award presentation and a dance challenge.

After 21 weeks, 192 athletes and 186 unified partners were equipped with sports and

developmental skills; whilst 51 coaches enhanced their sports management and training skills.

Beneficiaries successfully improved their physical fitness and sports skills, and participated in selfdevelopmental programmes including unified youth discussion forums to equip them with life skills and also prepare them for the future.

The partnership between Special Olympics Nigeria and Stavros Niarchos Foundation to implement the SNF Unified Sports Programme promoted inclusion, encouraged friendships, and showcased the sports skills of persons with and without intellectual disabilities in football and air badminton.

Special Olympics Nigeria is part of a worldwide movement (Special Olympics international) that is aimed at changing the misconceptions individuals have about people with intellectual disabilities (PWID).

“Our mission is to provide various sports training and athletic skills in a variety of Olympic - type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

and Romania would expand the scope of the tournament, which is Nigeria’s direct gain from his recent election into the FIFA Council.

Pinnick recently met with Argentina’s ambassador to Nigeria, Alejandro Herrero, where they looked at ways of strengthening footballing ties between Nigeria and the South American country.

Pinnick said the Aisha Buhari tournament is in line with his mission to build a sustainable

football culture for Nigeria, which would lead to a robust soccer industry that could contribute significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). e said, “Argentina and Nigeria have a cordial football rivalry, which has seen both countries in many international contests in recent times.

“We believe that participating in the First Lady of Nigeria Invitational Tournament will further strengthen the ties between Nigeria and Argentina.”

Also speaking on the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament, Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) President, Aisha Falode, said the organisers carefully selected the countries already listed for the competition based on their pedigree in women football.

She added: “Cameroon and Ghana are some of the strongest footballing nations in Africa. Cameroon played in the final of the African Women Nations Cup against Nigeria in

2016, while Mali played in the bronze medal match at the 2018 edition in Ghana.

“South Africa came second in the 2018 competition, which Nigeria won, while Morocco is one of the strongest women nation teams in North Africa.

The Moroccans will host the 2022 African Women Nations Cup.” Apart from football, Falode said the organisers would explore the possibility of deepening the socio-cultural ties among the participating nations.

Blessing Okagbare (right) led the Nigerian women’s 4x100m relay quartet at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar now listed amongst the top 16 countries on World Athletics rankings

Team Nigeria Women’s 4x100m Relay Team Provisionally Qualifies for Tokyo Olympics If the qualification window for the Tokyo Olympics were to be shut today, Nigeria will have the women’s 4x100m relay team battling for one of the three medals on offer at the Games.

This followed the official release on Monday of the qualication ranking of countries bidding to qualify for Tokyo Olympics by World Athletics after the end of the two-day World Relays in Poland.

The first eight places in each relay event for Tokyo were awarded to the top eight teams at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019.

In cases where those teams have also qualified in the top eight in Poland, the remaining quota places for Tokyo (16 per event) will be allocated

according to the World Athletics top performance lists as at 29 June 2021.

In the women’s 4x100m event, only two slots are available after the conclusion of the World Relays and Brazil (15) and Nigeria (16) currently occupy those two positions based on World Athletics top list of performances drawn from May 2019 till Monday May 3rd, 2021.

What this means is that the Nigerian team only needs to compete in more relay events ,run faster than the 43.05 seconds achieved in Doha in 2019 and stay ahead of some of its major competitors which include Australia (17), Kazakhstan (18), Canada (19) and Ghana (20).

The women’s 4x400m team

also has a great chance of qualifying based on the ranking and the quality of the nations who occupy the remaining four slots availabe for grabs after the World Relays.

The team is ranked 17th best behind Australia in 13th (3:28.64), Switzerland in 14th (3:29.15), India in 15th (3:29.42) and Dominican Republicin in 16th (3:30.02).

However, athletics watchers believe Nigeria, with the full complement of her team can run at least 3:26to move into 13th and qualify.

This permutation would have been needless if the Athletics Federation of Nigeria had not used sentiment to pick the team to the World Championship in Doha.

Athletes who placed seventh and eighth at the National Trials in Kaduna were preferred to those who placed third and fourth, a decision that ultimately weakened the team and could only run 3:35.90 in the heat and thus could not make it to the final.

For the men’s 4x100m, the task will be a little tougher albeit they are presently ranked 17th best with the 38.59 seconds the team ran at the African Games in Rabat, Morocco in July 2019.

There are also four slots available after the Poland event with Canada (37.91),Jamaica (38.15),Trinidad and Tobago (38.46) and Turkey (38.47) provisionally through to Japan.

Africa’s 2022 World Cup Qualifiers Hit by Stadia Issues A ban on several stadia across the continent looks set to hit the opening rounds of Africa’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers in June.

A total of 10 nations of the 40 taking part in the qualifying campaign face the prospect of ‘hosting’ matches next month outside their borders.

This after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) sent out a circular to member associations this week that included a list of approved stadia for the first two rounds of group matches.

Those affected include Senegal, who competed at the last World

Cup in Russia in 2018, and Mali, who were among the top seeded teams for the preliminaries.

Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger and Sierra Leone have all not had their home stadiums approved as CAF cracks down on poor infrastructure around the continent.

They now face a tight deadline to upgrade venues before the first set of matches begin on 5 June or they will have to host them elsewhere.

Senegal open their Group H campaign at home to Togo in

the first week of June, but their iconic Leopold Senghor Stadium is closed for renovations and alternate venues used for recent internationals declared unfit by CAF. DR Congo, Libya and Uganda have had their main stadiums rejected but will still be able to play at home at smaller, alternate venues.

The group phase of Africa’s World Cup preliminaries has the 40 countries divided into 10 groups of four. They will play six matches each through until October.

In November, the group winners will pair off into five playoff ties with the aggregate victors qualifying for the finals in Qatar next year.

African football has long been blighted by poor stadium facilities and sub-standard pitches and CAF have steadily shown more resolve in banning venues.

But in March, a similar ban on several stadia across the continent for the last round of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers was lifted at the last minute. CAF gave no explanation for the change of heart.

Wednesday May 5, 2021

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MISSILE

Adebanjo to Presidency “Who is interested in passing a vote-of-no-confidence in Buhari? Who has confidence in Buhari before let alone pass any vote-of-no-confidence in him…We don’t have to pass a vote-of-no-confidence for the world to know we don’t have any confidence in Buhari” – Leader of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, faulting claims of plot to pass a vote-of-no-confidence on President Buhari.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

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COVID Lessons from India

W

ith effect from yesterday, the federal government has banned from Nigeria passengers who have been to India, Brazil and Turkey in the previous 14 days.

Stiff penalties would be placed on the airlines that break the rules. The regulations are subject to periodic reviews.

This is a wise step to take in the light of the surge of coronavirus infections in those countries.

The disease caused by the virus, COVID-19, is ravaging those countries more than other parts of the world.

The government is rightly following science on this matter. The Academy of Medicine Specialities in Nigeria advised the government to take proactive steps to prevent transmission of variants of the virus from the epicentre of the pandemic. The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 also recommended the travel bans.

Remarkably, Lagos State government is also on alert against the third wave of COVID-19 being triggered by the importation of mutants of the virus by inbound passengers. It is important that the state government is determined to enforce the federal government’s regulations in this respect.

Lagos has a long list of countries which are being monitored for the transmission across borders.

From the particular case of India, where a humanitarian disaster looms, Nigeria should learn some urgent lessons.

The unfortunate situation of India has again shown that a country that had displayed remarkable bravery and capacity in the fight against COVID-19 could easily be overwhelmed by the pandemic.

India is the largest producer of vaccines; but now it does not have enough for its population as unprecedented figures of infections are recorded daily in the country. About 70% vaccines globally are produced in India. The Serum Institute of India (SII) has been producing AstraZeneca vaccine for 64 low-income countries including Nigeria within the framework of the COVAX programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

One of the grim implications of the situation

in India is that the exports of vaccines to poor countries would be disrupted. The management of the pandemic in those countries would, of course, be negatively affected.

India’s overall medical capacity is relatively higher than many third-world countries. Yet medical oxygen has become a luxury in that country. The oxygen cylinders available to patients in critical conditions are not enough.

Patients are taken out of the hospitals to join the queue for improvised oxygen cylinders at some production centres.

India has been a destination for medical referrals from Nigeria. In the pre-COVID time, Nigerians who could afford the exorbitant costs sought medical attention in private hospitals and other facilities in India.

In fact, few months ago India was rated as one of the countries managing the COVID crisis fairly well. For instance, only in March Indian participants spoke proudly about the management of the COVID crisis in their country at a webinar organised by the Kaduna-based think tank, the Gusau Institute, and the Monohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) of India. Such an upbeat mood about tackling coronavirus has since vanished given the reality on ground in India.

The situation was not helped by a political leadership that prioritised politics over public health based on false assurance.

In terms of the risk factors, a few parallels could be drawn between Nigeria and India.

Although Nigeria’s estimated population of 210 million is hardly comparable to India’s 1.4 billion, yet the fact remains that Nigeria has the largest population on the African continent.

The recent surge in India was partly fuelled by mass gatherings which have tragically turned out to be super-spreaders. In most cases these events had the imprimatur of government.

More infectious mutants are also found in India. The uptake of vaccines has also been relatively slow despite the fact the country exports vaccines to other countries.

Lockdowns are difficult to enforce in a country in which about 90% of the workforce is self-

employed. A majority of those working earn daily incomes. There is hardly any social safety net for the poor majority in India. Until the surge last month, India avoided national lockdowns.

Complacency set in and the consequence is the wider spread of the virus. The infections of the variants have proportionally caused more deaths than the first and second waves.

The poor members of the Indian society relying wholly on the underfunded public healthcare system are more vulnerable. India spends a meagre 3.9% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health.

The private hospitals are better developed, offering quality services. But those who lack health insurance cannot afford the huge costs of private hospitals. When public health is underfunded at normal times, the society becomes more vulnerable during epidemics.

Little surprise that the India public healthcare has failed to be resilient because it has not been socially equipped for the purpose.

Experts have also explained that age, air pollution and obesity could also be some of the risk factors in India.

So the moral of the Indian COVID story for Nigeria is that the hope on the medical and pharmaceutical options could be dashed because of some insurmountable factors. What is needed in emergency may be unavailable in practical terms.

The country should, therefore, upscale the efforts at prevention.

For instance, if faced with a surge in hospitalisations, Nigeria does not have enough medical oxygen for the patients in critical conditions who may need it. Some efforts are being made in Lagos to produce medical oxygen. However, there is hardly any indication of national preparedness in case the need for this life-saving substance arises in the course of the pandemic.

Universally, a standard cure for the disease is still awaited. Vaccines are available, but the morality of its distribution is questionable. The rich countries seem to ignore the axiom of the pandemic that “no one is safe until everyone is

safe.” Incidentally, about 20 world leaders echoed this scientifically loaded fact in a joint statement made on March 31, 2021. Yet the myopia of vaccine nationalism is still prevalent among some rich countries. The rich are, of course, reserving the vaccines for their populations. Hence while the United States has vaccinated over 100 million of its population, Nigeria is yet to vaccinate two million of its population. Given the slow rate of vaccination, the journey to the land of herd immunity may be longer than imagined at present.

The matter is made worse by the social viruses undermining the campaign for vaccination. These are the viruses of misinformation, conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy. The sociology of vaccination is such a complex one in which even some scientists join in spreading the misinformation to discourage unsuspecting members of the public.

Therefore to avert more deaths in the event of a third wave, Nigeria cannot rely on the capacity for treatment or vaccination. The country’s strength should be in prevention by emphasising stricter adherence to the protocols -avoiding crowds, wearing of masks, social distancing, hygiene etc. In the matter of COVI-19, prevention is not only better than cure, it is also cheaper and more readily available.

The presidential steering committee and state governments should intensify the campaign for all to embrace the culture of observing the precautions.

Complacency is noticeable on the part of the general public. Many people seem to have forgotten about the precautions. Members of the public simply ignore the warnings given by the health authorities about spread of the virus.

With the reported falling rate of infections, it is tempting to behave as if the pandemic is over. A few months ago, the figures of infections and deaths were also dropping in India. Today, India reports the highest figures of infections in the world. So the current statistics should not be an excuse to be careless about the virus.

This is no time to lower the guard in the fight against COVID-19.

For Solutions, Look More Inward

N

ot a few people must have felt the pains of the parents of the 17 students of the Greenfield University in Kaduna. The bandits holding the students captive had threatened to kill them if their parents failed to pay ransom, after they had killed five of their colleagues. Some of the parents of the Greenfield students and those of the Forestry Institute, also in Kaduna, were at the National Assembly yesterday to cry for help.

While the anguish of those helpless parents continued, there were other reports about insecurity from various parts of the country.

It is urgent that the Nigerian state should demonstrate its presence. The public yearning for that presence is palpable. The people need to feel secure for them to believe that the state is present.

It was, therefore, expected that government should engage the people with greater empathy and a deeper sense of accountability. Steps should be taken to keep the public confidence.

Buhari Although President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to speak to the nation as many Nigerians expect, the meeting of the National Security

Council which began last week continued yesterday and the senate has scheduled a meeting with the service chiefs tomorrow. The House of Representatives tried to calm down those whose children are in captivity.

The President should be more inward-looking in seeking solutions. He should give leadership by galvanizing the various moral and political forces within the nation to tackle insecurity. In any case, foreign help looks like a mirage in the circumstances. For instance, the United States would act not to “help” Buhari, but to advance its strategic interests in Nigeria, if any. Those who, for whatever reasons, have refused to sell arms to Nigeria to prosecute the war against terrorism are not likely going to put boots on ground to save the country. This point was made eloquently by Dr. Chidi Amuta in his column on Sunday in this newspaper. Not a few are also displeased with the manner in which the request for external help is being made by the federal government.

However, more than any foreign help the

unity of purpose of Nigerians could prove more useful in moral and political terms in the circumstance.

For instance, the President should look at the suggestions from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ethnic organisations, professional bodies, mass organisations, retired military and security officers. The various views should be examined to see which ones could be useful.

This should form the basis of engagement. The criminals don’t attack on their victims on the basis of political party. The recent rhetoric from Abuja may not be helpful in the process of finding solutions. The government should avoid the temptation of resorting to authoritarianism.

Doing so can only compound the crisis.

Instead, the President should lead the way by engaging all political and civic forces on one point: the resolution of the crisis.

This is necessary to prevent anarchy in the country.

It is the interest of the government and the people to prevent anarchy.

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