WEDNESDAY 23TH JUNE 2021

Buhari Sends N895.84bn Supplementary Appropriation Bill to Senate Extra expenditure to cover COVlD-19 vaccine programme, procurement of military equipment Deji Elumoye and Juliet Akoje in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has transmitted a 2021 Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N895.842 billion to the

Senate for passage into law.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its virtual meeting last Wednesday in Abuja had approved the supplementary appropriation bill for onward transmission

to the National Assembly for approval.

The bill was transmitted via a letter dated 15th June 2021, and addressed to the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan.

Buhari, in the letter which was read yesterday at plenary said the amount captured in the bill was proposed to fund the COVID-19 vaccine programme.

He added that part of

the supplementary budget would be used to also fund health-related expenditures for the treatment of additional 50,000 patients under Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme in states and to

procure additional equipment to tackle security challenges nationwide.

According to the president, the supplementary budget will Continued on page 10

Oil Price Rallies above Two-year High, Breaches $75 Mark...Page 8 Wednesday 23 June, 2021 Vol 26. No 9570. Price: N250

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Jonathan: Inability to Manage Nigeria’s Diversity Cause of Growing Tensions Calls for equity in distribution of key political posts Seeks incorporation of security chiefs' positions in FCC document Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday attributed Nigeria’s failure to properly manage its diversity and continuing inability to give ethnic and religious minorities their proper place in the country as part of the reasons for disenchantment in the polity.

The former president, in his

address at the 13th Joe-Kyari Gadzama Public Lecture said aside from the South-west, no other area in the country has been able to balance religion and development.

“That is the only part of Nigeria where we feel has been able to manage religion and development very well.

So, we must look at our own Continued on page 10

Mohammed, Malami, Fashola, others to Meet Twitter over Suspension ECOWAS Court restrains FG from prosecuting users Olawale Ajimotokan, Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu in Abuja The federal government yesterday kick-started the process of resolving its dispute that led to the suspension of the operations of the microblogging platform, Twitter, in Nigeria, with President Muhammadu Buhari

raising a team to negotiate with the United States-based company.

The team, comprising cabinet members, will be led

by Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed.

According to a statement yesterday by the Special Assistant to the President Continued on page 10

BOOST FOR POVERTY REDUCTION...

L–R: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo; Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Agba; and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Ms. Sa'adiya Farouk, at the inauguration of the National Steering Committee for the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) in Abuja...yesterday godwin omoigui

NGE: Media Bills Draconian, Aimed at Criminalising Journalism...Page 5

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

NGE: Media Bills Draconian, Aimed at Criminalising Journalism Says media not FG’s political enemy Seeks deletion of obnoxious provisions from proposed laws

Ejiofor Alike The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) yesterday criticised ongoing efforts by the National Assembly to amend two media-related laws, describing it as an attempt to criminalise journalism.

It also said that the media industry should not be regarded as a political opponent or enemy of the federal government, adding that many of the politicians’ attacks on the media are habitually not envisioned to win an argument on the values, journalistic or legal, but to bully media organisations.

Reacting to what it described as draconian provisions in the two bills to amend the Nigeria Press Council (NPC) Act and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act that are currently before the National Assembly, which the sponsors said were aimed at moderating the recklessness of the media, the guild said the bills are meant to restrain journalists from discharging their constitutional duties.

The editors, in a statement yesterday by their President, Mr. Mustapha Isah, and General Secretary, Mr. Iyobosa Uwugiaren, said as the oxygen of democracy, the media would be strangulated if the bills are passed in their present forms.

NGE stated that the bills were unhelpful, especially at a time when there is a popular ongoing global conversation about the need for a ‘#NewDealForJournalism’ - for immediate and sustained action from, and collaboration between governments and other influential actors to improve the policy, funding and enabling environment for independent professional journalism.

The NGE added that while it is not opposed to any law to promote media stakeholdersdriven regulatory council, the many draconian provisions in the Hon. Odebunmi Olusegun-sponsored bills are

actually aimed at criminalising journalism in Nigeria.

NGE said the intention of the sponsor of the bills was suspicious, while the bills negated all known features of media regulatory bodies in the world.

“For example, while the NPC Act. CAP N128, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1992, created by the military dictatorship, gives the council board full responsibility to administer the council, the proposed Act restricts the council’s board to advisory capacity on a part-time basis without direct interference in the day-to-day administration of the council, and gives the executive secretary all the powers. ‘’The proposed NPC Act says the board shall consist of one representative each from Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Ministry of Information, two representatives of the general public, one of whom shall be a legal practitioner and a woman and executive secretary of the council, who shall serve as the secretary to the board, the board is a mere advisory body. ‘’The bill also says that the chairman of the board shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Minister in charge of Information. And that all other members of the board shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation by the Minister of Information. The intension of this kind of council is suspicious,” NGE added.

The guild added that the professional body doesn’t need the approval of the Minister of Information to establish and disseminate a national press code and standards to guide the conduct of print media, related media houses and journalists and approve penalties and fines

against violation of the press code, as provided for in the bill.

It said it was not aware of any media regulatory council in the world, which requires the media regulatory council to establish a national press and ethical code of conduct for media houses and journalists, which shall come into effect and be disseminated after approval by the Minister of Information, and the code will be binding on every media houses and journalists.

“Again, apart from the fines for journalists or media houses that violate the Act, the bill also says that in an extreme case, the council shall order the striking out of the name of the journalist from the register; and suspend the person from practice by ordering him not to engage in practice as a journalist for a period not exceeding six months; as may be specified in the directive,” NGE said.

According to the NGE, this kind of media regulatory council will neither serve the interest of the media industry, strengthen its constitutional

role of holding public officers accountable to the people nor serves the general interest of the public-who are the original trustees of the media.

The NGE stated that in the proposed NPC legislation, the sponsor mischievously smuggled in the controversial ‘’fake news’’ provision by stating that any person who carries news, established to be fake thereafter, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N5 million or a term of two-year imprisonment or both, and compensation of N2 million payable to the person(s), group(s), corporate bodies, government or any of its agencies whom the news was carried against.

According to the NGE, the bill also states that any print media house whose medium was used to carry such news is liable on conviction to a fine of N10 million or closure of such media house for a period of one year or both and compensation of N20 million to the person, group, corporate body, government

or any of its agencies, whom the news was carried against.

On the proposed NBC amendment legislation, the guild said section 23 of the bill, which gives the Minister of Information powers to participate in the making of regulations is unhelpful, as the participation of the minister will turn NBC into a tool for political interference.

The guild stated that the provisions of the two bills give the impression that the federal government is out to crush its enemy, adding that the media is not an enemy of the state.

The NGE added that the two bills, if passed, will compound the nation’s negative image in the global community.

“Nigeria comes in at No. 120, the rough equivalent of a D+ in this year’s index by Reporters Without Borders.

You’ll find similar results on the Democracy Index where Nigeria is ranked No. 110 the lowest-ranking Hybrid Regime, one slot away from authoritarian,” the NGE said.

It said the bills were seen by many as attempts to further stifle the democratic space, currently having challenges on all fronts.

The editors said they were also opposed to the prescribed involvement of the president and the minister of information in the composition of appointments into the boards of NBC and the NPC, adding that the board members should appoint their own chairmen.

NGE insisted that the NPC and NBC should be truly independent, and shouldn't be under the supervision of the minister of information, who is a political office holder and affiliated to a political party.

“The Ghana model comes to mind here. Nigeria should be seen to be moving with time, instead of taking retrogressive steps in media freedom," it added.

The guild called on the National Assembly to remove the obnoxious provisions in the two bills that make it look as if they are meant to strangulate, instead of regulate the media.

OPERATION WHITE...

L-R: Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari; Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa; and Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, during a stakeholders’ engagement on the NNPC’s Operation White in Abuja…yesterday

Senate Endorses Yahaya as Chief of Army Staff Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate yesterday confirmed the appointment of Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya as the Chief of Army Staff.

His confirmation was sequel to the consideration of a report by the Joint Committees of Defence and Army that screened the army chief penultimate week.

Presenting the joint committee's report, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, said the committee was satisfied with the comprehensive and robust engagement and interactions with the nominee during the screening.

He said Yahaya’s nomination was in line with section 217 (2) (a)(b)(c) of the 1999 Constitution as altered, as amended, and in accordance with the provision of sections 18(1) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap A20 Law of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

He stated that the committee did not receive any petition against the nominee, adding that he was cleared by the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to him, during the screening committee, “The nominee’s knowledge of the strategic capabilities of the army was exhaustive and impressive.

“He showed a clear

knowledge of the army which is apt for a chief of army staff.

Despite the army being the largest of the armed forces, the nominee was clear in his vision to encourage joint operational synergy with other services for success in all theatre of operations.”

According to it, the nominee agreed on the need for the command to have more transparency and disclosure to the committees on security in the legislature in order to ensure a harmonious working relationship, considering that they are critical stakeholders in the security sector governance.

It added that Yahaya underscored the need to ensure peace in the forthcoming

elections, and to deal with non-kinetic issues such as the settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Boko Haram’s insurgency.

Giving insight into the dynamics of the challenges of the North-east, Wamakko said Yahaya told the committee that under his command in January, Nigerian troops advanced into enclaves of Shekau-led position in Alagarno forest-Timbuktu triangle axis.

Wamakko stated that the committee, during an interaction with the nominee, recognised the current security challenges confronting the nation, adding that the committee urged the COAS

and the military to ensure that peace is maintained and returned to all parts of the country.

Also, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, said: “Due to the nature of the appointment as part of our security apparatus, the committee decided to do the screening in a closed session after the preliminaries.

“And, therefore, I want to appeal to the Senate to expeditiously approve this confirmation so that the chief of army staff be decorated accordingly to enable him to start some of the jobs he cannot do now because he is still in an acting capacity.”

In his remarks, President

of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, commended the Joint Committee of Defence and Army for a thorough job done and advocated support for the military in the fight against insecurity.

He said: “Let me also remark here, that what our country faces may be military, but the military alone cannot resolve the security challenges.

“The military needs the support of each and every single citizen of this country.

In whatever capacity we find ourselves, either as legislators, government functionaries, businessmen or simple citizens, we must give the military the kind of support that it requires.”

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Oil Price Rallies above Two-year High, Breaches $75 Mark OPEC set to mark 50th Anniversary of Nigeria’s membership Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Nigeria’s oil benchmark, Brent, crossed the $75 price per barrel mark yesterday, setting a new record last seen in April 2019, on the back of continuing signs of a rapidly tightening market supply of the commodity.

While Brent oil futures was up 0.4 per cent to hit $75.19 per barrel, the United States oil standard, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures was up 0.10 per cent to around $73.19 per barrel.

Both benchmarks have risen for the past four weeks on optimism over the pace of global COVID-19 vaccinations and expected pick-up in travels in Europe and America.

Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, had said that rather than being a positive development, the rising prices of crude oil in the international market could cause major challenges for resource-dependent nations like Nigeria.

Describing the phenomenon as a “chicken and egg” situation, Kyari stated that oil prices had started exiting the comfort zone set by the NNPC, and it was becoming a burden.

Kyari put the comfort zone globally at $58-$60, saying that for the NNPC, anything above $70-$80 will create major distortions in the projections of the corporation and cause additional problems for the oil corporation.

The NNPC has continued to battle the dilemma of rising oil prices, which aggravates its burden of shouldering the payment of petrol subsidy, which has made it unable to contribute to the Federation

Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) on two occasions this year.

Aside from increasing subsidy payments, Kyari expressed the concern that as the prices of oil rise, buyers of Nigeria’s crude may be compelled to accelerate their investment in renewable sources of energy, thereby leaving the industry in a quagmire.

The new high is more than 50 per cent this year for the product that sold for below $10 around March last year, while WTI spiralled southwards to the negative territory, with sellers in some countries offering dollar incentives for buyers to evacuate their huge inventories.

However, the latest rebound has been largely attributable to rising economic activities in the U.S and China as countries continue their recoveries from the COVID-19 pandemic and ramping up vaccination of their citizens.

Also fuelling the bullish market is a Bank of America Corp. forecast that the global crude benchmark could hit the $100 a barrel mark in 2022, giving credit to a rebound in travel.

If crude returns to triple digits, it will be the first time since 2014, before a flood of North American shale oil sent the market into a slump from which it has never fully recovered.

According to the bank, global oil consumption will continue to outstrip supply in 2022 as the economic recovery from the pandemic boosts fuel consumption, while investment in new production is crimped by environmental concerns.

In addition, negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal took a pause on Sunday after

hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi won the country’s presidential election, dimming early chances of Iran’s full supply return to the oil market.

But the market has continued to be cautiously optimistic due to the inability of India, one of the world’s largest oil consumers, to fully exit the COVID-19 danger zone and the lessening of crude import quota by China, about 35 per cent less than the quantity in 2020.

Also, the soaring prices may be impacted next week as pressure mounts on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies (OPEC+) to consider reviving more of the production curtailed during COVID-19 when it meets at

the end of the month.

Like the NNPC, which has predicted higher prices due to ongoing under-investment in the sector, Trafigura Group, the world’s second largest oil trading company, which also does business with Nigeria, has said that oil could top $100 a barrel in the next 12 to 18 months.

“The market is hungry for oil. Eventually, you are going to be in a situation where demand has not only recovered but is stronger than it was, and you don’t have that capacity you need. Prices could hit $100 as soon as next year and are likely to exceed that level within 18 months if the conditions are right,” Trafigura’s Global Chief Economist, Saad Rahim, told Bloomberg TV.

Meanwhile, the OPEC secretariat will mark the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s membership of the organisation on July 12, having unanimously accepted the country as the then 11th member on the same date in 1971.

To commemorate the landmark date, the secretariat said it had pieced together a special bulletin that will look at the history of Nigeria’s relationship with OPEC, including the many giants of Nigerian public service who have been responsible for the successful five-decade relationship.

A statement by the organisation stated that the focal interview would be with President Muhammadu Buhari, whom it described as an OPEC

veteran for over 40 years.

“Buhari has been heavily involved in the organisation’s affairs and is currently the only serving head of state in the world who made his career by being intensely involved in the OPEC family,” it stated.

According to OPEC SecretaryGeneral, Sanusi Barkindo: “OPEC has been fortunate to benefit from the talent, wisdom and extraordinary capabilities of generations of Nigerian public servants. They have been integral to what the organisation has achieved.

“Over the course of the five decades of OPEC membership, Nigeria has been a constructive partner, seeking consensus, and always encouraging compromise. The special OPEC bulletin highlights all of this.”

EKO FERRIES...

Newly procured high capacity boats inaugurated by Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in Lagos…yesterday

Buhari Promises to Bequeath Better Policing System Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to bequeath a citizen-led policing system to the nation at the end of his eight-year rule in 2023.

He stated that his administration has demonstrated firm commitment towards changing the principle and strategy of policing.

He mandated the Ministry of Police Affairs to receive complaints from the public on cases of abuse and maltreatment by police personnel.

The president, according to a statement yesterday by his media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, spoke in his address at the passing out parade of 418 officers of the 3rd Regular Cadet Course at the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil in Kano.

Buhari added that he has directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to review upward police emoluments.

He said the new pay structure would be commensurate with the vital functions of the police

performed as the lead agency in internal security operations.

In the speech delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Maigari Dingyadi, the president said a citizen-led policing system informed the approval for the adoption of community policing as the internal security strategy of the country, and the approval of funds to support the implementation process.

The president said that the police reform initiative, embarked upon by his administration had focused on improving the welfare of the force, recruitment of 10,000 junior police officers annually, investing in the upgrade of facilities at the Nigeria Police Academy and other police training institutions, among others.

He added that a Nigeria Police Academy (Establishment) Bill is currently receiving legislative attention at the National Assembly.

Buhari said on passage, the bill would give legal backing to the existence and academic

programmes of the Nigeria Police Academy and legitimise its status as a police university.

Buhari added that as part of his administration’s police reform initiatives, the Police Public Complaint Committee, which is domiciled in the Ministry of Police Affairs has been resuscitated with the mandate to receive complaints from the public on cases of abuse and maltreatment by police personnel.

Membership of the PPCC, he said, comprised officials from MDAs and security agencies.

He added that a publicprivate partnership arrangement undertaken by the Ministry of Police Affairs to rejuvenate the national public security communication system network has been approved by the Federal Executive Council. ''This is with a view to ensuring that when fully reactivated, the police and other security agencies will be able to fully utilise this vital facility,'' he said.

The address highlighted ''well-thought-out reform

programmes'' by the federal government to modernise and reposition the police to meet the aspirations of the citizens, as well as to manage current and evolving threats in the most efficient and professional manner.”

The president said his administration re-established the Ministry of Police Affairs out of the former Ministry of Interior in 2019 with the intention to drive the police reform process by initiating, formulating and implementing policies and programmes relating to policing and internal security. ''This initiative was also intended to provide supervision and administrative support to the force, particularly, in the area of training and capacity development as well as the enhancement of the budgetary profile of the Nigeria Police. ''In order to address the funding challenges of the force, I also assented to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Bill on 24th June 2019 and followed up with the inauguration of the board of trustees to ensure

the immediate take-off of the fund," he said.

He stated that he was being constantly briefed on the activities of the trust fund and he was delighted to note that already, critical operational items including purpose-built operational vehicles and other policing assets are currently being delivered through its intervention. ''I am confident that with the sustained intervention of the trust fund, the operational efficiency and human capacity development goals of Nigeria Police will be attained on a sustainable basis and by extension, our internal security order will be enhanced in due course,'' he said.

Buhari said on September 15, 2020, he assented to the Nigeria Police Bill, which had been under legislative actions since 2014.

According to him, the Act replaces the repealed Nigeria Police Act that had been in existence for over 77 years, and which had become an archaic legal instrument and a

fundamental clog in the wheels of modern policing.

He added that the new Nigeria Police Act contains fundamental provisions, which are positively altering the policing in Nigeria as it has given legal backing to the principle of community policing and addressed vital issues that have historically been inhibiting police administration. ''With the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, the nation has been given a unique legal instrument that will modernise police operations and position Nigeria Police towards the attainment of its 21st century policing mandate,’’ he said.

The president charged the young officers that the task of advancing major police responsibilities will in due course fall on their shoulders. ''The federal government and the citizens of this nation demand of you the assurances that in this task of national service, you shall not let yourselves, families, the Nigeria Police Force and the nation down,'' he stated.

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PAGE TEN JONATHAN: INABILITY TO MANAGE NIGERIA’S DIVERSITY CAUSE OF GROWING TENSIONS unique circumstances and come up with the right form of government,” he said.

His address during the event, which held both virtually and physically in Abuja, was titled: “Redefining Democracy: Yearnings of the Minority in a Democratic Setting.”

Jonathan stated that he decided to honour the invitation to speak on the state of the nation, despite the likely misinterpretation of his treatise, out of his respect for the host, Mr. Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), and because a society that does not respect the rule of law would breed anarchy where life becomes nasty, brutish and short, making real progress difficult.

According to him, in Nigeria, the complications associated with the marginalisation of minority groups and tribes were identified many years ago and efforts have been made across generations to solve the problems, including the Willinks Commission set up during the colonial era.

He added that although the Federal Character Commission (FCC) is a product of such efforts, it has not fully rectified the anomalies, having been tailored to deal with mainly the civil service.

Jonathan said: “The Federal Character Commission over many decades may have been doing its best to give everyone fair representation and a fair sense of belonging, but there

are still many who feel that this agency of government has not fully addressed the challenges of accommodating minorities.

“This is because it has managed to pursue with varying degrees of success emphasis on the civil service.

However, many are of the opinion that it does not really go far enough, since it currently does not address inequalities in political appointments into sensitive areas such as the military and public sector appointments.”

He stated that Nigeria now faces the challenge of managing diversity and minority interests, and even in the parliament, it has been struggling with the task of accommodating disadvantaged groups like women and people with disability.

He traced the country’s problems to its foundation, saying that the growing dissent cannot be divorced from the country’s failure to manage its differences and play down on its fault lines.

“From the independence and post-independence crisis, the coups and the counter-coups and the different republics to date, the swelling disenchantment is the fallout of our inability to manage our diversity and downplay our differences. It is obvious that calls for fragmentation seem to be getting louder among some segments of our nation.

“This is because we have not been able to positively harness and harmonise our enviable size and the ingenuity of our people and project our greatness,” he stated.

But beyond the grandstanding from some quarters, the former president stated that Nigeria needs to unite and face the problems that have been holding it down, further pinning it down to “a failure to properly manage our diversity and harness our potential.”

For a multi-ethnic country to make progress, Jonathan said that there must be a conscious effort to give a democratic sense of fairness, equity and justice and guarantee minority groups access to the political space.

He added that the refrain that Nigeria is potentially great was going out of tune, as the younger people had begun to query whether Nigeria will ever operate within its full capacity.

“By now, we should be running an advanced economy and the social system and standard services that support that economy just like other nations like Singapore or Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates who share the same political and economic evolution with us. However, we are lagging behind so far away from them.

“The stories of these countries clearly confirm that the journey to the transformation of a nation

does not take a lifetime. That Nigeria still remains potentially great after over 60 years of independence shows that there are fundamental lessons in the political evolution of our nation that we have not really learnt,” he said.

According to him, although there is a school of thought which blames the country's colonial experience for its seeming backwardness, while the proposition may have some element of truth, Nigeria was not the only country that was colonised.

He said a second school of thought blamed the huge size of the nation, describing it as the dilemma of the whale, which is feared for its weight, and yet dies by its weight.

He added: “I share the sentiments of many political commentators that at the crux of our challenge of national transformation is the problem of our political and governance structures and the inability to harness our diversity towards shared prosperity.

“I believe that from independence, the political evolution of leadership in Nigeria has been too concentrated along tribal and religious lines and that is still haunting us today.”

He said it was the reason he conveyed a national conference in 2014 which sought to look at the political leadership structure, saying that the nation is currently trapped in the

dilemma of an “imperceptible giant” that needs to work harder to realise it's destiny.

He said what many countries might be doing better than Nigeria was that they had developed systems and institutions that ensured that the political recruitment process offered a space for all, including the minorities.

“Where the minority feels that they are not relevant, there's always the tendency to fulfil their destiny with a different approach. This is the beginning of the unending agitations and resistance movements across the world,” he added.

He decried the winnertakes-all approach to politics, stressing that enough space must be created for those who may be at a disadvantage, a situation that has fuelled the practice of cross-carpeting in the country because there’s usually nothing for the loser.

He also stated that bestowing maximum powers on one individual may not be the right form of government.

According to Jonathan, the inequity in the polity runs from the federal to states to local governments and even in wards where certain minorities can never dream of becoming top leaders because of their areas of origin.

“Looking to the future, I can say that our leaders can do a lot more to eliminate ethnic sentiments in our society,

enthrone merit and build a system that gives citizens equal opportunities to excel.

“There has to be a united, strong and cohesive Nigerian nation of patriotic citizens for any structure or system to yield the promise of our shared prosperity,” he added.

Earlier, Gadzama, who praised Jonathan for averting bloodshed by handing over peacefully to his successor had said that in every democracy, majority rule was endorsed and guided by the constitution, which also protects the rights of the minorities.

He stated that the participation of persons belonging to the minority in public affairs and in all aspects of the political are essential to preserving their identity as a minority.

He added that democracy is likely to develop and endure when all members of society are free to participate and influence political outcomes.

Aside from Jonathan, other dignitaries at the event included the National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Mohammed Bello; Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Mr. Onofiok Luke, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) and members of the diplomatic corps.

of Twitter was pursuant to security reports of the SSS. Mohammed added: “Furthermore, the right to freedom of expression on the Twitter platform is further qualified by Section 45 of the constitution in light of the provisions of Section 5(1) and (2) of the Terrorism Act of 2011. For clarity, the section reads: “Any person who knowingly in any manner directly or indirectly solicits or renders support for the commission of an act of terrorism; or to a terrorist group, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 20 years.”

He interpreted the “support” in the sub-section 1 to include incitement to commit a terrorist act through the internet or any electronic means or through the use of printed materials or through the dissemination of terrorist information.

He added that Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be

the primary purpose of the government.

Mohammed stated that from the purview of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, as it regulates the operations of a foreign company in Nigeria, Twitter is not licensed to do business in the country.

According to him, having failed to register as a separate entity in Nigeria, as required

by Section 78 (1) of CAMA Act 2020, Twitter cannot do business in the country or exercise any powers of a registered company.

Mohammed said the operations of Twitter in the Nigerian social space was not legally permissible when it was used in airing information that endangered the lives and security of the majority of Nigerians.

He said the principles of the law were clear on the

MOHAMMED, MALAMI, FASHOLA, OTHERS TO MEET TWITTER OVER SUSPENSION (Media), Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN); the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), will join Mohammed in the talks.

The engagement followed a letter from Twitter informing the federal government of its readiness for talks following the suspension of its operations on June 5 for deleting the president's tweet, warning the Igbo of a potential repeat of the civil war that might result from the escalation in insurgency traced to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

Besides, the federal government accused Twitter of being part of a plot to destabilise Nigeria for allegedly

funding and promoting last October's #EndSARS protests, that Buhari considered an agenda to oust him from power, and for condoning Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, tweets inciting attacks on security personnel in the South-east.

Also yesterday, the federal government, again, defended the suspension of Twitter's operations in the country, saying it was done under the National Security Act, Terrorism Prevention Act, Cyber Space Act and Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

However, Twitter users got a legal cover to continue tweeting, despite the federal government’s threat to prosecute violators of the ban on using the platform, as the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja restrained the federal government from imposing sanctions, or doing anything whatsoever to arrest or prosecute any Nigerian and media houses using Twitter, pending the hearing and determination

of a suit before it.

Again, FG Defends Suspension, Says Freedom of Expression Not Absolute The federal government has again justified the suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria, insisting that the freedom of expression is not absolute.

Mohammed, who appeared before the House of Representatives Joint Investigative Committee on Twitter Suspension, yesterday told the lawmakers that the federal government suspended the operations of micro-blogging platform, under the National Security Act, Terrorism Prevention Act, Cyber Space Act and Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

He referred to the provisions of Section 45 of the 1999 Constitution as altered, which he said left no one in doubt that the provisions of Section 39 of the constitution on freedom of expression was

not absolute.

According to him, the right to free expression within the contemplation of Section 39 makes it a qualified right in light of the aforementioned Section 45, which allows restrictions of civil liberties in the public interest.

Relying on Section 45 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, he said: “45 (1) Nothing in Sections 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this Constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society: (a) in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health or; (b), the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other person.”

The minister also justified the Twitter ban by relying on Section 3 of the National Security Act. He quoted the section as charging the State Security Service with the duty to preserve the nation’s internal security and prevent and detect within its borders any crime against its internal security.

He stated that the ban

BUHARI SENDS N895.84BN SUPPLEMENTARY APPROPRIATION BILL TO SENATE be funded through facilities sourced from the World Bank and available new facilities.

Buhari said the supplementary budget was promoted by the need to make provision for procurement and administration of COVlD-19 vaccines.

“The availability of COVlD-19 vaccines and the procurement terms were still uncertain as at the time of finalising the 2021 budget.

Hence, there was no provision in the 2021 Appropriation Act for the procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines.

“However, the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has

now developed a COVID-19 vaccine programme for the country. Under the vaccine programme, 70% of eligible Nigerians are to be vaccinated between 2021 and 2022.

“In addition, our security and law enforcement agencies urgently need to procure additional equipment and other resources in response to the prevalent security challenges across the country.

“The Ministry of Defence has carefully scrutinised these procurement needs, which the military authorities claim to represent the minimum requirements to secure our country and address current external and internal security challenges," he added.

Part of the funds required will also be used to meet

the federal government’s commitment to treat additional 50,000 patients under the Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme in States (NCAPS), due to the reduction in the amount provisioned in 2021 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly.

“In order to address the urgent problem of oxygen availability in the country and avoid the potential loss of lives, provision was made for the procurement and installation of new oxygen plants nationwide and repairs of oxygen plants in FCT hospitals.

“It is also necessary to provide additional funds for public service wage adjustment to cater for sundry wage-related issues

in the health and other sectors, which if not resolved can add to the prevalent sense of instability in the polity," Buhari stated.

Of the N895,842,465,917 proposed, N45.63 billion is for the COVlD-19 vaccine programme, which will be sourced from existing World Bank loans and other grants totalling US$113.22 million.

Buhari said: “The balance of N37.93 billion required for COVlD-19 vaccines, salaries and other health-related expenditures totalling N41.69 billion and the N48.20 billion recurrent components of defence/security expenditure will be funded by drawing N135 billion from some Special Reserve/Levy Accounts, which will be

captured as revenues to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

“We propose to fund the balance of N722.40 billion for capital expenditure on defence/security and capital supplementation from new borrowings, in the absence of any supplementary revenue sources.

“Understandably, needs currently abound in many other sectors. However, we have limited the supplementary budget proposal to just these critical and emerging areas of need due to our severe fiscal constraints.

“All other needs would be deferred to the 2022 budget, which we plan to present in September of this year.”

Continued on page 11

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WEDNESDAY, ͺͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Dangote to Start Fertiliser Exports to US, Brazil Oluchi Chibuzor with agency report The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said that his company’s new fertiliser plant will export its first shipment in late June or early July, to Louisiana, in the United States, while the majority of exports from the plant are expected to go to Brazil.

The new plant at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos State, designed to manufacture

three million tonnes of urea per year, will also supply all the major markets in sub-Saharan Africa, Reuters quoted Dangote to have said during a virtual economic forum hosted by Qatar.

“Apart from meeting the domestic demand, we are going to be able to earn quite a lot of money exporting the goods to the South American countries,” he said.

The company’s fertiliser hit the market this month.

Dangote had during a recent

tour of the plant this month, disclosed that the company would start exporting fertliser and would help improve forex earnings for the country.

Many in Nigeria also hope the Dangote plant will help alleviate chronically low crop yields in Nigeria, which are partly due to insufficient access to fertiliser.

According to the World Bank, Nigeria consumed around 20 kg of fertiliser per hectare of arable land in 2018, compared with 73

kg in South Africa and 393 kg in China.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had barred the use of its foreign exchange for fertiliser imports as part of a raft of controls aimed at boosting domestic production.

Africa’s richest man had told some bank chief executive officers as well as the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, during a recent tour of the fertiliser plant that “the urea that we actually went to see is a small percentage

of the gas that we have been flaring in this country.

It means that we alone, just this three million tonnes of urea, you are talking about bringing in over $1.2 billion into the country."

“So, if that is the case, you can imagine if Nigeria is to be importing urea, the port charges, the congestion in Apapa and Tin Can Island.

It means that farmers, it wouldn’t even be possible for them to plant because to transport urea is not a

joke. And I think we must really thank you Mr. Governor (Godwin Emefiele) and the bankers for making this possible,” he had added.

Dangote stated that his company’s urea had got all the licences from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other agencies.

Court Orders FG to Pay Akwa Ibom, Rivers $3.3bn Oil Revenue Alex Enumah in Abuja The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, yesterday ordered the federal government to pay a total sum of over $3.3 billion to both Rivers and Akwa Ibom States, being their share of the revenue from crude oil sales.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo made the order while delivering judgment in a suit jointly instituted by the two states to demand their share from the $62 billion the federal government had claimed it recovered from the sales of crude oil.

The judge held that the case of the plaintiffs was

meritorious and ordered the federal government to pay $1,114,551,610 to Rivers State, and $2,258,411,586 to Akwa Ibom State.

The amount represents what the two states separately claimed against the federal government as their share from the $62 billion recovered from oil companies as sales proceeds.

While the AttorneysGeneral of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States are plaintiffs in the suit, the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice was the sole defendant.

In the judgment, Justice Taiwo held that the federal government by its refusal to

defend the case when served with the court processes admitted the monetary claims of the two states against it.

According to him, the mere notice of intention to defend the case without joining issues with the plaintiffs was a fatal error on the part of the federal government and was not enough in any court matter.

By refusing to debunk, counterclaim or controvert the claims of the two states on the oil revenue issue, the judge held that the federal government had admitted all the averments of the two states are true.

Justice Taiwo further held

that the suit of the two states was founded on a Supreme Court judgment on how proceeds from sales of crude oil should be shared, adding that the claim of the two states on the recovery of an additional $62 billion by the plaintiffs was never controverted by the defendant, in spite of several correspondences hence, the law deems the unchallenged claims as true.

Justice Taiwo rejected the assertion of the federal government that it cannot pay the money, it did receive from crude oil sales, adding that the defendant ought to have filed a bonafide defence to explain its position on

the $62 billion oil earnings as required by law.

“By not filing defence to challenge the claims of $62 billion oil earnings of the two plaintiffs, I have no option than to hold that the federal government has no defence to the issue and I have no discretion to give judgment in favour of the plaintiffs.

“I hereby make an order that $1,114,551,610 be paid to Rivers State as its share of the $62 billion oil revenue and another $2,258,411,586 be also paid to Akwa Ibom as its own share from the oil proceeds.“ The two plaintiffs had instituted their joint case based on a statement from

the office of the AGF and published by THISDAY Newspaper that another $62 billion was recovered from foreign oil companies as proceeds of crude oil sales.

Justice Taiwo held that although, the AGF Office attempted to withdraw the press statement, the issue of the huge revenue generation was not addressed.

The judge subsequently held that the federal government actually recovered the $62 billion as contained in the press statement and ordered it to release the shares of the two states to them in compliance with a Supreme Court judgment.

Army Warns Niger, Kogi, Kwara Residents over Fleeing Bandits Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Laleye Dipo in Minna The Nigerian Army yesterday alerted residents of Kogi, Kwara and Niger states to be vigilant and report movements of bandits to security agents.

The warning came as the army said the bandits had begun fleeing their haven in the North-west following offensives launched by security forces on their locations.

The alert followed the arrest of a fleeing bandit by troops operating along Mokwa-Jebba road, during a stop-and-search operation along the road on Sunday.

The army, in a statement said the arrest was effected about 9:00pm, when the troops intercepted a car travelling

from Zuru in Kebbi State to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The statement, issued

by Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the heat on the bandits and other criminals in Niger State and the contiguous states had caused them to flee.

The statement said: "The heat on bandits and other criminal elements in Niger State has caused them to start fleeing to supposed safe havens.

"Members of the public, particularly around Niger and contiguous states, are, therefore enjoined to be vigilant and report any suspected movement of fleeing bandits to security agencies."

On the arrest of the bandit,

the army spokesman said the vigilant troops spotted an occupant of the vehicle, who claimed to be Sgt. Aminu Sule.

"Upon a body search, the occupant was found to be in possession of a pair of camouflage uniform, military boots, knife and substance suspected to be charms.

"On further interrogation, the suspect confessed to be travelling to Ogbomosho in Oyo State. He further claimed that the uniform and boots belonged to his brother who is a soldier.

"However, on closely scrutinising the suspect, he was discovered to be fleeing from the ongoing operations in Niger State to a safe haven", it said.

The army added that the

suspect was apprehended and handed over to the police at Mokwa for further investigation.

No fewer than 1,000 heavily armed security operatives made up of men of the Nigerian Army, civil defence, the Nigeria Police, some vigilantes and local hunters were sent into the Niger forests on Monday to dislodge the bandits and rescue pupils abducted from an Islamic school in Tegina.

Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, launched the operation during which he said government has now resolved to "take decisive measures to ensure the safe return of the children".

According to Bello, the operation had become

necessary because the bandits had reneged on all the agreements reached with parents of the abducted pupils for the release of their wards.

He said: "The abductors are not honest; they are not honourable after agreeing with parents they started shifting goal posts and now we are here to take action.

"Even though we have ruled out payment of ransom, it is time for government to take decisive measures towards ending the bandits' activities that are forcefully changing the lives of the people, especially in the rural areas "We have to try our possible best not to make them succeed in forcing us to change our normal lives; they started by displacing farmers from their

farmlands, next, they moved to burning farms, then moved to kidnappings and forcing us to close our schools, now they have started attacking Islamic schools, only God knows what is next."

He, however, said "most of these bandits are from outside the country; they are hired to cause problems for us. It is not the habit of the true Fulani to indulge in this kind of act.”

Bello also met with the parents of the 156 kidnapped pupils and other stakeholders at the palace of the Emir of Kagara, Alhaji Ahmed Garba Gunna, during which he commiserated with them and also pleaded for their patience as government was exploring all avenues to rescue their children.

solicitor to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and lawyer to the government, Mr. Maimuna Shiru, following a suit filed on June 8 against the government by SERAP and 176 concerned Nigerians.

The court said: "The court has listened very well to the objection by Nigeria. The court has this to say. Any interference with Twitter is viewed as interference with human rights, and that will violate human rights. Therefore, this court has jurisdiction to hear the case. The court also hereby orders that the application be heard expeditiously. The Nigerian government must take immediate steps to implement the order."

Reacting to the ruling, Falana said the intervention of the ECOWAS Court was a timely relief for Nigerians

using Twitter who had been threatened with prosecution.

He said: "Contrary to the assurance credited to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), that violators of Twitter would not be prosecuted, the federal government filed processes in the ECOWAS Court threatening to prosecute Nigerians using Twitter for violating the suspension under the provisions of the Penal Code relating to sedition.

"It is extremely embarrassing that the federal government could threaten to jail Nigerians for sedition, which was annulled by the Court of Appeal in 1983, in the case of Arthur Nwankwo vs The State."

The substantive suit has been adjourned till July 6 for hearing.

MOHAMMED, MALAMI, FASHOLA, OTHERS TO MEET TWITTER OVER SUSPENSION exercise of personal human rights in the face of national security threats affecting the larger citizens.

The minister added that provisions in Articles 24, 25 of the African Union on Cyber Security and Personal Protection, Article 19 (2) and (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as Section 1,2, 3 and 4 of the Cyber Crimes Prevention Act provide the requisite legal backing for the federal government to regulate and protect the country’s cyberspace, including social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as applications, internet platforms, and cloud computing platforms.

“Following the above, the Federal Government of Nigeria is further empowered to take all reasonable steps to defend its cyberspace where it perceives

or finds that a cybercrime is threatened to be committed, has been committed, or is being committed on and through its cyberspace,” he added.

The minister, however, dismissed claims that the operations of Twitter were suspended because it pulled down Buhari’s tweet.

He said: "I want to make two clarifications. The first is that we did not ban Twitter; we simply suspended indefinitely the activities of Twitter. The second is that we did not suspend the activities of Twitter because they deleted Mr. President’s tweet. Not at all. We are very unambiguous on why we suspended Twitter."

Asked if the federal government took into consideration Nigerians doing business on Twitter, the minister stated that it is because there is a country

called Nigeria that people can do business on any platform.

Asked why the federal government waited for the president’s tweet to be deleted before the suspension even though the government knew all along that IPOB has been using the Twitter platform, Mohammed spoke of the federal government's efforts to rid Nigeria of fake news and disinformation, which started in 2017.

He said: "When we organised a national council on information in Jos, Plateau State, to address the issue of fake news and disinformation, there we said that the next war would be caused by fake news. How prophetic we were! In 2018, we started an advocacy programme whereby we went from one media house to the other, seeking their

support in weeding out fake news. Some supported us, some did not. When we were convinced that they were not going to listen, we said that we were going to regulate social media. We wrote to the NUJ; we wrote to the Guild of Editors. They snubbed us.”

ECOWAS Court Stops FG from Prosecuting Twitter Users Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja has restrained the federal government from imposing sanctions, or doing anything whatsoever to arrest or prosecute any Nigerian and media houses using Twitter, pending the hearing and determination of a suit before it.

The court gave the order after hearing arguments from

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WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

NLC Plans Another Protest in Kaduna over Sack of Workers Urges FG to reject govs’ proposal on fuel price

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The organised labour under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has again threatened to ground activities in Kaduna State over alleged mass sack of civil servants by the state

government.

The labour movement also urged the federal government not to accept the recent proposal by the 36 state governors to hike the pump price of petrol to N385 per litre.

Addressing journalists yesterday

INEC: Why APGA Won’t Participate in Anambra Governorship Election Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday explained that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may not be allowed to participate in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State due to the party’s non-compliance to Section 85 of the Electoral Act. The commission has also urged any political party that is not satisfied with its position to go to court.

INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Publicity and Voters’ Education, Mr. Festus Okoye told THISDAY that APGA had earlier informed the commission of its election to hold ad-hoc delegate congress on June 23, only to later write the commission to declare that the delegates’ election had been conducted.

According to Okoye, “On

the 16th of June 2021 the party forwarded to the commission the list of delegates for its congress for the purpose of nominating its candidate for the said election.

“On the 18th June 2021, the Secretary to the Commission responded to the said letter and notified the party that it did not notify the commission of the date of the congress where the ad-hoc delegates were elected as required

by Section 85 of the Electoral Act” Okoye further explained, “

By Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010(as amended), every registered political party is legally obligated to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 21 days’ statutory notice of its intention to organise any convention, congress, conference or meeting for the purpose of nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified in the Electoral Act.

NDLEA Arrests Medical Doctor, Army Deserter for Dealing in Drugged Cookies, Cocaine Michael Olugbode in Abuja A medical doctor, Jane Ofoma has been arrested in Auchi, Edo State, by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for operating an online catering service, Omachi’s kitchen, through which she sells drugged cookies and biscuits.

A statement issued yesterday by the spokesman of the agency, Mr. Femi Babafemi said following intelligence and surveillance, narcotic officers of the Edo State Command of NDLEA on Saturday, June 19, 2021, stormed Ofoma’s operational base at 1 Winners Way, Auchi, where she

was arrested and at least 94 pieces of cookies produced with cannabis sativa were recovered.

He disclosed that Ofoma, 26, who is a graduate of medicine from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka recently completed her housemanship at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

According to him, she confessed to baking the cookies with skunk in her statement while under interrogation.

Also arrested is a 30-year-old Emmanuel Ehiramhen, of No. 10 Egan Street Ekpoma, Edo State by officers of NDLEA in the state for dealing in crack cocaine.

Umahi Mourns, Declares Public Holiday as Ebonyi Commissioner Dies Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki The Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. Dave Umahi has expressed shock over the death of the state Commissioner for Infrastructure Development, Mr. Fidelis Nweze.

The governor also declared yesterday as public holiday in the state, stressing that no market or any other business would open, in honour of the late commissioner.

Nweze died in a hospital in Abuja from complications after a surgery he underwent to correct a ruptured intestine.

He sustained the injury in an auto crash on Saturday along the Enugu-Abakaliki highway.

Umahi, in an emotion-laden voice, confirmed his death to reporters yesterday in capital

Abakaliki.

He described the Commissioner as irreplaceable and one of the pillars of his administration.

“Nweze died this morning at Turkish Hospital Abuja at about 9:50am. He was traveling to Enugu on Saturday morning with his driver and orderly.

“At Obunagu in Enugu State they rammed into a stationery truck.

He was on seat belt and they were all conscious. He was rushed to Niger Foundation, Enugu.

“I got to know about it on Sunday and I insisted they move him to Abuja. I sent a doctor to the Turkish hospital.

“He was having severe pain; so, they did an examination and discovered that the seat belt had ruptured his intestine.

in Abuja on the outcome of its extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba said that the NEC meeting has resolved to embark on another protest in Kaduna State without notice.

“National Executive Council has resolved to withdraw all services and protest this neo-liberal and extreme right-wing policy. The protest should take effect without further delay.

“Mobilisation of all our state

councils and all affiliates should take place immediately, and all employers of labour should be put on notice, as required by our extant laws,” he said..

The first protest embarked upon

by NLC, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their allies literally shutdown economic activities in the state and resulted in violent confrontation between the workers and hired thugs.

However, the crisis seemed to have deepened with the Kaduna State governor, Nasiru El-Rufai

rejecting a peace deal brokered by the federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and insisting that NLC erred by leading the protest that disrupted activities in the state.

Responding to the accusation by the Kaduna governor that he led an illegal protest, Wabba said the last warning strike, “was carried out in line with the decisions of the NLC NEC and in conformity with our national laws that protects the right of the Nigerian workers to withdraw their services”.

Regarding the dispute with the Kaduna state government, Wabba said it is on record that between March 31 and first of April 2021, thousands of workers were laid off from the unified local government system in Kaduna State and the State Primary Healthcare agency.

He said that many of the affected workers have worked for between 10 to 33 years, adding that their latters of disengagement rarely had provisions on when their entitlements will be paid

ALL EYES ON SCIENCE…

L-R: Director, Science and Technology Promotion, Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Oguntunde Abayomi; Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Sunday Akpan; Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Minister of State, Mr. Mohammed Abdullahi; Physics Teacher, Government Science School, Kuru, Jos, Plateau State, Mr. Bindip Lachang; and Director General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Prof. Ibrahim Doko, during the presentation of indigenous science kits to some selected secondary schools in Nigeria by the minister in Abuja… yesterday ENOCK REUBEN

Osinbajo Heads National Steering Committee on Poverty Reduction FG establishes private equity fund DejiElumoyeinAbuja Vice PresidentYemi Osinbajo has been named the Chairman of the National Steering Committee on National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) in the country.

This is just as the federal government announced the establishment of private equity fund to lead resource mobilisation drive for national poverty reduction drive.

Already, President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the National

Steering Committee (NSC) of the NationalPovertyReductionwithGrowth Strategy (NPRGS) headed by Osinbajo, reiterating his commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, with a well-researched framework for implementation and funding.

The President, according to a statement by his Media Adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, spoke yesterday while inaugurating the committee in Abuja where he noted that the NPRGS had already proposed the

establishment of a private equity fund, the Nigeria Investment and Growth Fund (NIG-Fund), to lead resource mobilization drive and also manage the resources in a sustainable manner.

He recalled that “This journey began in January, 2021 when I directed the Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Secretary to the Government of the Federation to collaboratively work together to articulate what that will lift 100

million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years.

“I am happy to note that the process of designing this inclusive poverty reduction strategy recognized and addressed past mistakes as well as laying the foundation for a sustainable poverty reduction through the wide range consultations held at all levels of government, development partners, the private sector as well as the civil society”.

Senate Expresses Concern over Implementation of 2017-2020 Economic Recovery Plan Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate has expressed concern over the implementation of the federal government’s 2017-2020 Economic Recovery Plan, which elapsed last year.

It has therefore mandated six of its committees to engage the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, on the federal

government’s elapsed Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) between 2017 and 2020.

The Committees are: National Planning; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions; Marine Transport; Land Transport; Works and Power.

The decision to engage the Finance Minister was sequel to the adoption of a motion “on the need to critically assess the performance

of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020”, moved during yesterday’s plenary.

The motion was sponsored by Senator Abdu Suleiman Kwari, who while presenting the motion noted that the four-year Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020, which was the source document of Nigeria’s four years Appropriations Act had elapsed.

He recalled that President

Muhammadu Buhari, launched the Plan in April of 2017 to ensure the actualisation of a sustainable inclusive growth of the economy.

According to him, “the Plan was targeted at achieving a structural economic transformation with emphasis on improving the efficiency of both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy;

Two Die, 13 Vehicles Burnt as Tanker Explodes in Ogun Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta At least, two persons have been confirmed dead while 13 vehicles were reportedly burnt when a petrol-laden tanker exploded at the Ogere-Remo axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in the early hours of yesterday.

The tanker explosion, which occurred at the proposed new Kara Market in Ogere Remo at the Ogun State corridor of the expressway, resulted in heavy gridlock, compelling traffic management authorities to divert vehicular movements.

THISDAY investigations

revealed that a long truck had earlier, around 4 a.m., fallen on the expressway, causing gridlock.

Few hours later, a fuel-laden trailer, which was trapped along with other vehicles in the ensuing traffic, suddenly burst into flames.

The Public Relations Officer

(PRO) of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Mr. Babatunde Akinbiyi, who spoke to journalists in Abeokuta, said a 33, 000 litre petrol-laden tanker, held up in traffic suddenly burst into flames, which later consumed 12 other vehicles.

Court Rejects Suits Seeking to Sack Buni-led APC Caretaker Committee Alex Enumah in Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out two suits challenging the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and also seeking to void the setting up of the National

Caretaker Committee led by Yobe State Governor, Mai-Mala Buni.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo, in two rulings delivered yesterday held that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to institute their cases against the party.

The first suit was filed by a former South-South National Vice Chairman of the party, Mr. Hilliard

Eta in the name of APC, while the second suit was instituted by a former APC Youth Leader in Abia state, Kalu Kalu Agu. Plaintiffs in both suits, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/736/2020 and FHC/ABJ/CS/1589/2021 had sought an order to determine the legality or otherwise of the June 17, 2020 National Executive

Committee (NEC) meeting, which dissolved the NWC and appointed a National Caretaker Committee led by Yobe State Governor, Buni.

They had prayed the court to reverse the dissolution of the Oshiomhole-led NWC and declare the Buni-led NWC unlawful.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021

COMMENT

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

SANWO-OLU AND EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP Dan Aibangbe pays tribute to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor, at age 56

C

ome June 25, 2021, the Lagos “Point-Man,” as fondly called by his youthful followers and admirers, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu would have spent 56 years in his sojourn here on earth. He would also have spent 758 days in office as the Governor of Lagos State. Such a date is noteworthy for many reasons.

Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu is a man of many parts. To me, his foremost attribute is his piety. I guess this is the foundation of most of his other personal traits. He respects individuals in their own capacity, places great value on relationships, allows access to even the distant associate.

He values goodwill and loyalty. He is meticulous, intelligent and a workaholic, a man of balanced cognate experience in both the private and public sectors and a thoroughbred technocrat. He is consistent in his drive, yet you will find him as humble as they come.

An alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Leadership, the London Business School, the Lagos Business School and the University of Lagos, Governor Sanwo Olu has brought a new leadership model that has delivered qualitative direction, exhibiting and practicing transparency and accountability as deliberate policies.

A veteran of the system with veritable track records, the Lagos State helmsman who prefers to be addressed simply as “Mr Governor,” has continued to advance the frontiers and promotion of the common good, the upliftment of Lagosians and the construction of enduring bridges and platforms of peace and security.

Many citizens are unaware of so many details about the man at the saddle of affairs of such a unique geographic, social-economic and political construct, which is a significant representation of Nigeria at large. In a very short time, he has proven to be a great asset to Lagos and Lagosians from all walks of life.

Like every success story, the life script of Sanwo-Olu is checkered along the way and I want to seize this opportunity to recap as much as I have garnered. Born on June 25, 1965, Sanwo-Olu holds a B.Sc in Surveying and Geo-Informatics and an MBA from the University of Lagos. He had his early education at Government Demonstration School, Gbaja, Surulere and Ijebu-Ife Grammar School, Ogun State.

Mr. Sanwo-Olu’s tracks in the private sector are marked as a treasurer at former Lead Merchant Bank from 1994 to 1997 before joining United Bank for Africa (UBA) as the Head of Foreign Money Market. He subsequently moved to First Inland Bank Plc (now First City Monument Bank) from where he retired as a Deputy General Manager and Divisional Head. In the public space, his career began in 2003, when he was appointed Special Adviser on Corporate Matters to the then Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Femi Pedro, and later in the same capacity to the Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He made further progress to be appointed acting Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget. In 2007, he became the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry under Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. After the general elections in 2007, Mr. Sanwo-Olu was appointed Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions by Governor Babatunde Fashola. His meritorious service to Lagos State continued when Governor Akinwumi Ambode appointed him in 2016 as the Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC).

According to that renowned author, business and leadership coach, John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership”.

Despite the political furore that threw up the selection, election and

A VETERAN OF THE SYSTEM WITH VERITABLE TRACK RECORDS, THE LAGOS STATE HELMSMAN WHO PREFERS TO BE ADDRESSED SIMPLY AS “MR GOVERNOR,” HAS CONTINUED TO ADVANCE THE FRONTIERS AND PROMOTION OF THE COMMON GOOD, THE UPLIFTMENT OF LAGOSIANS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ENDURING BRIDGES AND PLATFORMS OF PEACE AND SECURITY

‘coronation’ of the new king in town, Sanwo-Olu’s administration held a great promise for many reasons. He has the pedigree; the state has a strong support system and the party has the experience required to perform. Despite all this, we all know that the devil is often found in the details and the execution is a different ballgame from the plan.

The best laid plans can often turn awry! Herein lies the premium often placed on the Project Manager! The Sanwo-Olu/APC campaign manifesto had enough content and promise, no doubt. The five-Pillared THEME covering Transportation/Traffic Enhancement; Health & Environment Improvement; Education & Technology Upgrade; Making Lagos a true 21st Century Hyper-City; and Elevation of the Entertainment & Tourism Experience is quite a handful. In the Nigerian political landscape, this garden of roses guarantees nothing, except the thorns! But surprisingly, the Sanwo-Olu (Sanwo-Eko) administration in earnest, commenced a daily check-off against each and every deliverable! What looked on paper to be a lifetime plan for Lagos has begun to materialize with rapid alacrity and precision.

In my opinion, the trick to the successes so far recorded can be found embedded in the vision, teams, partnerships, innovativeness, economy and the potential encapsulated in the polity called Lagos.

From the beginning, it was clear that the seemingly obscure man, Sanwo-Olu is a ready-made product for governorship of Lagos. His pedigree is unquestionable! His slim-fit physical fitness is a testimony to the detailed care of his amiable wife, who herself is a veteran of the medical profession. Based on the visuals that litter the media space capturing Governor Sanwo-Olu’s involvement in projects initiation and commissioning, the youths have fondly nicknamed him ‘the pointman’ or the pointing governor. You will always find Mr Sanwo-Olu pointing to or at something that needs to be done or has been done!

His physical fit and trim posture align with the proverbial ant, who does not sleep or fold its hands! But I do hope he manages to find time to rest and refresh, so he can outlast a second tenure in office.

This occasion of his birthday should be an opportune one for him to take full advantage of the fifth pillar of development, entertainment!

The tireless man had serious issues to contend with at the onset of his administration. Rather than being deterred, he rose to the occasion of the COVID-19 Pandemic to provide exemplary leadership, not only to his Lagos constituency, but to the nation at large. He was the first governor to come up with a response plan, which was sold to the presidency and formed key input into the national response plan.

Another test case was the #EndSARS Campaign, which transmuted from a popular civil action into an inglorious orgy of violence and destruction overnight. You found Sanwo-Olu among the first responders and his government was the first to package the palliative measure of Judicial enquiry and compensation for victims. This was also sold to the presidency and successfully adopted as a model for response across the states of the federation. Initially, many legal gurus and civil society activists questioned its legality, but the pragmatism of the template overrode all initial reservations.

Governor Sanwo-Olu’s leadership capacity for team dynamics is demonstrated through the harmonious performance of his high calibre team members such as the Deputy Governor, the highly renowned Health Commissioner as well as Industrial giants who formed the CA-COVID Alliance.

Aibangbe, a Media & Public Relations Consultant, wrote from Lagos

RESTRUCTURING, NOT CONSTITUTION REVIEW The ethnic nationalities must sit down and agree on how to live together, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi

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he on-going purported amendment or review of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly is illegal and unconstitutional. It is anti-people and therefore a futile exercise. Only the people of Nigeria who are the repository of power under our presidential democracy can rightfully enact, review or amend a constitution. However President Buhari and some others argue that the restructuring of Nigeria can be met and achieved under the on-going constitution review. With the greatest respect, this argument is fundamentally flawed. Constitution review is not restructuring. The mandate given to the President and members of the National Assembly by the people of Nigeria to govern is a limited mandate which does not empower them to review the existing 1999 Constitution let alone enact a new constitution.

Only the sovereign, that is, the people, can review or enact a new constitution for the good governance of Nigeria. If Nigeria is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-national society, her constitution must reflect the shared visions and aspirations of the variegated interest groups and nationalities that constitute Nigeria.

This is why the Nigerian people (not a handful power-drunk and failed messiah) should be allowed to enact a constitution that should govern the affairs of the people. Therefore the National Assembly cannot usurp the power of the Nigerian people to review or enact a Constitution which ought to protect the people’s interests.

This is the view being canvassed by the late Chief FRA Williams SAN, Prof., Ben Nwabueze SAN, Afe Babalola SAN and other eminent lawyers over the years. I completely agree with them. Without prejudice to the constitutionally-recognized role of the National

Assembly in law-making under the 1999 Constitution, a constitution review is a very important task which cannot be successfully done without first eliciting the views/reactions of the people of Nigeria through referendum, or through constituent assembly or others means of assessing the will of the people. In any case, the 1999 Constitution (which is substantially similar to the 1979 Constitution) which the present National Assembly is trying to amend is not the people’s Constitution. There was no time the Nigerian people met in 1999 to enact for themselves a constitution. The 1999 Constitution is General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s military constitution. It is not an autochthonous constitution. It is not the much-vaunted people’s constitution. The fact that Abdulsalam Abubakar used some civilian legal experts in enacting the constitution does not confer legitimacy on it. The Preamble to the Constitution, “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution” is a big lie because there was no time the Nigerian people met either directly or indirectly to enact for themselves a constitution. Simply put, the 1999 Constitution is an inconvenient inequitable constitutional contraption being used to perpetuate injustices in Nigeria. To the extent in which the constitution is a mere contraption it lacks the people’s mandate and legitimacy and therefore it is illegal, null and void. Therefore the National Assembly should not be seen to be amending or reviewing a contraption which in actual fact is nothing. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.

Apart from being a military constitution, the 1999 Constitution over-concentrates power (as could be gleaned from the long list of federal powers in the

Exclusive List of the Constitution) in the hands of the federal government thus leaving the federating units at the mercy of the federal government. This is the main reason for the consistent clamour for a people’s constitution and, by extension the restructuring of Nigeria.

You will recall perhaps with special poignancy that in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2007, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Prof Wole Soyinka, Ikemba Odimegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Chief Ralph Uwazurike, Yerima Shetima, and others had dragged the federal government to the Federal High Court in 2007 to, inter alia; challenge the legitimacy of the 1999 Constitution.

In fact, one of the declarations being sought by the plaintiffs in the aforesaid suit was a declaration that “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution” is a scandalous lie.

Given the increasing secessionist agitations and demands for restructuring of Nigeria, it is obvious that the Nigerian people are looking for an opportunity to discuss how they want to live together as a people in one country. Call that opportunity anything; the fact remains that the Nigerian people are looking for an opportunity or forum to express their views about the goings on in the country. Whether we like it or not, this meeting of minds of the people of Nigeria shall come to pass one day. It is not possible to force people with pent-up grouses about the injustices meted out against them to live together without giving them an outlet or opportunity to express their anger and views. Some don’t like to call things by their real names. Others prefer to sweep things under the carpet.

Considering the lopsided nature of our federalism, fiscal indiscipline, imbalance in the sharing of the wealth of the country, long years of sorrowing under military

rule and all that, the National Assembly cannot now singly-handedly review the 1999 Constitution without opportunity given to the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria to express their views on how they should be governed. If democracy still means “government of the people” then the people must always have the final say in matters affecting their interests. Since the representatives of the people exercise power on behalf of the people, they cannot impose their will on the people. You see, we must guard against the deliberate shutting out of the people in the making of the constitution which affects their interests. We should not think of the government only in terms of the scope it has left for each individual to enjoy his/her freedom: we must think of the capacity of the government to govern according to the will of the people.

This is the true meaning of presidential democracy. This is why the people are clamouring for restructuring of Nigeria. At the moment Nigeria is facing probably her worst fractionalization since her independence. The common strands that cut across the different divides at the moment are mutual distrust, mutual suspicion, pent-up grouse, enmity, hostility and fear of domination. The ugliest aspect is that President Buhari does not listen to the people. Dialoguing with this president has become a herculean task. President Buhari’s nepotism, incompetence and cluelessness are producing the Nnamdi Kanus and Sunday Igbohos of the world and secessionist agitations in Nigeria. As a remedy, the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria must sit down, discuss and agree on how to stay together as one country. President Buhari cannot be imposing his Fulanization Policy on the country at the same time preaching that the unity of the country is not negotiable.

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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021

EDITORIAL BEYOND THE COUP IN MALI The coup in Mali holds lessons for African leaders

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he African Union (AU) recently suspended Mali from the continental body following a military takeover of the country for a second time in less than a year. The AU has also called on the military to “urgently and unconditionally return to the barracks, and to refrain from further interference in the political processes in Mali”. Similarly, the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at an emergency summit in Accra, Ghana last week also suspended Mali. But these measures are not likely to change anything in a country that has been in political turmoil for almost a decade.

Toppling a president and prime minister for the second time in nine months raises a number of questions about the challenges of political stability and order in today’s Africa as well as the relevance of both AU and ECOWAS. But the problem started nine years ago. Many will recall that in 2012, citizens of Mali introduced a new way of popular protest which THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE seemed like taking the Arab Spring of THAT THE VIRUS OF the previous year to MILITARY RULE DOES NOT another level. While SPREAD IS FOR WEST AFRICAN LEADERS TO PUT demonstrators in Algeria, Egypt, THE INTEREST OF THEIR Libya and Tunisia, PEOPLE FIRST IN WHATEVER took to the streets THEY DO and occupied landmark areas, the Malian protesters made straight to the Presidential Palace, went into the apartment of the then interim President Dioncounda Traore, and gave him the beating of his life.

That made-for-Nollywood episode was a fall-out of the shaky and contentious peace plan put together by ECOWAS leaders who emplaced a one-year transitional arrangement with Traore, the then parliament speaker in the ousted government, at the helm. The arrangement of course collapsed within weeks but not before granting the then coup leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo,

Letters to the Editor

some cosmetic face -saving sweeteners - including a life pension, a house, transportation and security as well as immunity from prosecution. From that time, Mali has known no peace. In the past one year, there have been series of street protests fuelled by political in-fighting, poverty, pervasive corruption, and a religious insurgency that gains strength as the crisis in the country continues. The interference by France has only compounded the situation.

H 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 OGED ENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT PATRICIA UBAKA-ADEKOYA TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

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.

RESUMPTION OF SIM CARD SALES AND ACTIVATION

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s almost every Nigerian is aware, the federal government, through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, issued a statement in December 2020, ordering all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to suspend the sales and activation of SIM cards nationwide. This development was met with some form of resistance by Nigerians as they believed that the directive would have direct impact on the daily socio-economic activities of various persons, including business enterprises.

On April 19, 2021, the government lifted the ban on the sales of SIM cards nationwide after the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) concluded its audit of the SIM registration exercise. The suspension of the ban affords Nigerians the opportunity to purchase and activate SIM cards at only NCC-approved outlets owned by the telcos.

Nigerians deserve to know a thing or two about the resumed sales and activation of SIM cards across MTN outlets nationwide. Here are four things you should know: One, no SIM Registration by Proxy. What this simply means is that no matter how busy you may appear to be, you must register your MTN SIM card yourself.

This further implies that you cannot delegate this task

owever, the main concern now is not only about the crisis in Mali but the implication for democracy in West Africa. In neighbouring Niger Republic, for instance, the military has also taken over after the soldiers stormed the Presidential Palace in Niamey, the Nigerien capital, just two days before President-elect Mohamed Bazoum was due to be sworn into office. It is therefore important to send a clear signal to adventurous military officers especially in countries around the Sahel that military rule is now an aberration. No matter how bad the situation may be in any of these countries, military apologists who are desirous of effecting change of any form should do so through democratic means.

In a democracy, there are rules enshrined in the constitution on how a government can be removed. What was witnessed in both Mali and Niger Republic are antithetical to those ideals.

We therefore hope that AU and ECOWAS leaders will put necessary pressure on the junta in both countries for a return to democratic rule. Against the background that Chad is already under military rule following the killing of President Idris Deby, it would appear that democracy is becoming a frail plant in the West African climate. The only way to ensure that the virus of military rule does not spread is for West African leaders to put the interest of their people first in whatever they do.

If they continue to abuse the power given to them through the ballot box, democracy will continue to be endangered in the sub-region and on the continent.

to another person! The process must be done by you because your personal data would be synced with the MTN SIM card you have purchased.

Two, SIM card registration is free. Typically, Nigerians have been accustomed to pay through their nose for things that should either be free or should be their right. Luckily, this is not the case here as MTN understands the tough times Nigerians have been through during these times. All you have to do is walk into any MTN-approved outlet to purchase a SIM card and then get it registered for FREE. Three, free National Identity Number (NIN) Enrolment. If you are thinking you cannot own a new SIM card because you have not registered for NIN, then you are wrong! This is because the entire process of enrolling for a NIN has been made easy for you. All you have to do is to take a stroll into any approved MTN outlet to register for a NIN and the rest is a seamless ride.

Four, increased selected outlets nationwide. As we endeavor to fully comply with the directive of NCC, MTN is keen on creating an enabling environment by having more approved outlets from the regulator. This is to ensure every Nigerian gets the opportunity to purchase and activate an MTN SIM card in a stress-free manner.

Oluwatosin Akinrinde, Lagos

SABON-GARI BYE-ELECTION: A LESSON

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he bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electorate Commission (INEC) on Saturday, 19th June, to fill the vacuum created by the removal of former speaker of Kaduna state house of assembly, Abdullahi Shagali, has come and gone. What surprised many political spectators is how the ruling party which occupied the seat before suffered a resounding defeat from the opposition PDP. Since the defeat of the party there are lessons from the bye election. The opposition PDP had carefully selected a qualified candidate who gave the ruling party the run of their money. This indicates presenting a credible candidate is prerequisite to success. Interestingly, the PDP has never faltered in doing just this.

The anti-masses policies being pursued by the state government under the leadership of Governor Nasir el-Rufai must have contributed to the easy defeat of the party.

Since inception governor El -Rufai has been wielding the big stick on civil servants in the name of right sizing. It is estimated that over 60,000 staff were sacked outright and their benefits denied by the state government. Added to the baggage of woes is the increase of tuition fees in the state’s higher institutions of learning by the state government. Now, a student who used to pay N26,000 as his/her tuition fees is being forced to pay N70,000 for polytechnic while almost N200,000 for the state’s university. The parents of these students who were relieved of their jobs must have used the opportunity to ensure the ruling party’s candidate lost. The defeat of the government candidate is clear testimony that the scheduled August local government elections will be keenly contested by the opposition PDP. The victory of PDP in the bye election will surely send warning signals to the ruling party by the electorate.

The Kaduna State APC should start preparing to vacate the state because their days are numbered. Nobody will risk voting them in the forthcoming LG election and 2023 general election.

Lawal Adamu Usman, Kaduna

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 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 21Jun-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 154.35 155.88 -4.59% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 4.35% Nigeria International Debt Fund 314.14 314.14 -23.78% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 111.35 111.35 -0.67% 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 6.62% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.22 3.38 -5.26% info@anchoriaam.com 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 3.26% Anchoria Equity Fund 131.35 132.80 -1.25% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.07 1.07 -19.18% 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 N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Eurobond Fund ($) N/A N/A N/A ARM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 104.74 104.74 2.98% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 129.72 130.37 2.71% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 9.20% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 1.95 1.95 -19.74% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.04 2.08 -18.17% mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.02% Paramount Equity Fund 16.06 16.35 0.40% Women's Investment Fund 133.37 134.82 0.18% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.89% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 116.77 117.54 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 106.89 106.89 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 4.08% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.18 1.20 -1.54% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.36 1.36 -13.90% 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 3.02% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.97% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,167.15 1,176.55 -2.47% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,378.59 1,378.59 10.58% FBN Balanced Fund 187.83 189.07 0.08% FBN Halal Fund 110.09 110.09 9.15% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.40% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 125.61 125.61 3.47% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 154.99 157.10 2.52% 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 N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Money Market Fund

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N/A

N/A

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.07% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.85 2.91 24.11% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 150.00 150.45 -3.48% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.25 1.29 31.97% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.09 1.09 6.46% 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 1,147.38 1,147.38 3.86% 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 11.21 11.2553 7.05% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.56% 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 1.63 1.65 7.33% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.45 11.50 -5.61% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 3.84% PACAM Equity Fund 1.62 1.63 2.40% PACAM EuroBond Fund 111.06 112.74 1.04% 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 126.68 126.34 5.69% 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 1.01 1.01 3.41% 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 3,176.22 3,202.12 -1.23% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 230.59 230.59 2.55% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.20 1.21 2.12% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 302.61 302.61 2.70% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 219.88 222.51 0.60% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.62% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,324.79 10,454.09 -1.70% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.26 1.26 2.61% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 114.46 114.46 3.04% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 101.67 101.67 UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.37 1.39 -0.01% United Capital Bond Fund 1.95 1.95 3.11% United Capital Equity Fund 0.92 0.95 3.81% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.63% United Capital Eurobond Fund 121.11 121.11 3.48% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.11 1.13 2.66% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.05 1.05 5.36% 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 12.69 12.80 6.92% Zenith Ethical Fund 14.08 14.20 15.25% Zenith Income Fund 24.12 24.12 0.60% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.05%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.09 51.54

2.77% -1.64%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.05 123.10 97.90 17.25 17.76

12.95 125.65 99.68 17.35 17.86

-2.00% 2.16% -1.51% -

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.75 5.65 17.20 1.00 19.42 148.64

3.79 5.73 17.30 1.00 19.62 150.64

-0.78% -0.75% 5.18% 4.16% -5.34% -31.53%

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.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 • T H I S D AY

17

18

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

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

As Jegede Proceeds to Supreme Court, Akeredolu May Be Governing on Borrowed Time Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State may have recorded uncomfortable victories at both the trial Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, but the insistence of Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2020 Ondo State Governorship election to proceed to the Supreme Court carries a potential fatal damage against Akeredolu’s pyrrhic victory, writes Nseobong Okon-Ekong

Akeredolu

Jegede

Yakubu

Muhammad

I

who is equally the Governor of Yobe State, Governor Mai Mal Buni, the court affirmed the unconstitutionality of the action but queried why the Governor was not made a party to the matter. The court, therefore, concluded that the exclusion of Buni who the APC had admitted acted for it in his capacity as the Caretaker Chairman, was unfair and had become fatal to the appeal. It, therefore, dismissed the case.

The PDP and its candidate have expressed their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the appeal and will proceed to the Supreme Court according to its spokesperson. But a major controversy is brewing! The PDP has accused the Court of Appeal of still withholding the details of the judgement many days after delivering the judgement, a practice that the party considers strange. The electoral matter is time-constrained and any delay in releasing relevant documents is akin to frustration and limiting of the ability of parties to fully maximize the law.

It will be recalled that in the case of Adeleke vs Oyetola of Osun state, the administrative error of the Appeal Court became a chemical weapon for the defence according to a legal practitioner. The court should always act in a

way that encourages the justice system rather than acting in a manner that may suggest doubt to its integrity. Not releasing documents of judgement one week after the ruling is certainly not acceptable in a time-constrained case such as this. It is still early in the day to predict what becomes of this very novel case and a potentially profound outcome that will become a reference point in the history of electoral law in Nigeria.

In the last three days, the PDP in Ondo State has embarked on public awareness exercises including meetings with journalists and public procession to press home its demand for Certified True Copies of the judgment on the 2020 Ondo governorship poll.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kennedy Ikantu Peretei alleged a ploy to sabotage Jegede’s case. He described the action of the Court of Appeal as, “Nothing but willful disobedience of the Constitution, unethical practices and blatant refusal to follow public service rules and ethics will explain a situation whereby a major political party and appellant in an election case would have to resort to press releases to get officials of the Judiciary to do their job. We are being portrayed as beggars

in our own country despite the weight of the Constitution and the law of natural justice on our side.”

The insistence of the Ondo PDP is understandable because it is racing against time.

The Supreme Court has only 60 days from the date of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, to dispose of this matter, and it may not be out of place to interprete the refusal to release the Certified True Copies of the judgment as deliberate tactics to frustrate Jegede’s case at the apex court.

The PDP, therefore appealed to the President of the Court of Appeal and the National Judicial Council (NJC) to prevail on the Court of Appeal to perform the responsibilities of that office and accede to its request without delay.

The PDP Ondo State Chapter of the PDP, further accused the Court of Appeal of an open show of partisanship, in clear violation of the laws of the land, and in defiance of the Supreme Court before which it has expressed intention to pursue its case to a logical conclusion. The party asserted that Court of Appeal was willfully holding on to the said copies in an undisguised bid to frustrate the case of its governorship candidate in the disputed election.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Dada Awosika expressed his understanding of the matter at hand. According to him, there is a misconception making the rounds about the petition of Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). The case of Jegede and PDP was essentially based on the fact that the sponsorship of Akeredolu (SAN) by APC was a nullity in law and as such APC did not have a candidate for the Governorship election of October 10, 2020.

The matter has nothing to do with nomination of Akeredolu to contest election. In the first place, it is the provision of Section 177 (C) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) that guides and protects the sponsorship of any candidate of a political party for an election. Secondly, the point being made by Jegede and PDP is that the Chairman of APC at the material time (Governor Mai Mala Buni) that endorsed and forwarded the name of Akeredolu to the electoral umpire (INEC) was constitutionally disabled vide section 183 of the constitution from taking up any other executive position whilst being the executive Governor of Yobe state. The constitution of APC specifically and expressly states that the chairman of the party is the Chief Executive Officer of the party performing executive functions. The Court of Appeal rightly agreed with this position that indeed there was violation of the constitution but decided to hold the view that because Mai Mala Buni was not made a party to the election petition at the tribunal (being the person

t is exactly one week today since the Court of Appeal gave a verdict in the governorship matter brought before it by Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2020 guber election in Ondo State, which the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the incumbent Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner.

Jegede’s case against Akeredolu had earlier been dismissed by the Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, making it necessary for him to approach the Court of Appeal, which also gave an unfavourable verdict against Jegede.

The judgement of the trial tribunal was to the effect that the alleged sponsorship of Akeredolu by Governor Mai Bala Buni despite being constitutionally barred under Section 183 of the Constitution, was an internal affair of the APC. The trail court held that the issue raised by Eyitayo Jegede’s lead counsel being a constitutional infringement on candidate sponsorship as required under Section 177 (C) of the constitution cannot be consigned as pre-election matter. However, the court declined the interpretation of the constitution claiming lack of jurisdiction and subsequently dismissed the case. Unsatisfied, Jegede proceeded to the court of Appeal to contend the decision of the Tribunal. Although the Tribunal verdict appeared to have favoured Governor Akeredolu, through the window of not joiner of Gover Buni. But, this is clearly appear an uncomfortable victory, according to a legal analyst as the constitutional infringement angle raised by Jegede’s legal team could be very fatal to Akeredolu’s mandate if not successfully consigned to a pre-election issue.

The defence lawyers including INEC’s lawyer filed three cross-appeals against the tribunal ruling delivered in their favour. In all, there were the appellant’s appeal and three cross-appeals from Governor Akeredolu, APC and INEC before the appeal court that was determined last week. During the ruling on the appeals, the three cross-appeals by lawyers representing the APC, Akeredolu and his deputy, and INEC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Akin Olujimi (SAN), Charles Edosanwa and others seeking to consign Jegede’s case to pre-election meddlesomeness into APC’s internal affair and issue of locus all failed as the law with several authorities presented did not support such grounds of cross-appeals according to the court. On the main appeal presented by the counsel to Jegede, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), there were six issues raised out of which the majority were resolved in favour of the appellant. However, on the main issue of the breach of the constitution by the APC’s caretaker committee chairman

The judgement of the trial tribunal was to the effect that the alleged sponsorship of Akeredolu by Governor Mai Bala Buni despite being constitutionally barred under Section 183 of the Constitution, was an internal affair of the APC. The trail court held that the issue raised

by Eyitayo Jegede’s lead counsel being a constitutional infringement on candidate sponsorship as required under Section 177 (C) of the constitution cannot be consigned as pre-election matter. However, the court declined the interpretation of the constitution claiming lack of jurisdiction and subsequently dismissed the case.

Unsatisfied, Jegede proceeded to the court of Appeal to contend the decision of the Tribunal. Although the Tribunal verdict appeared to have favoured Governor Akeredolu, through the window of not joiner of Gover Buni. But, this is clearly appear an uncomfortable victory, according to a legal analyst as the constitutional infringement angle raised by Jegede’s legal team could be very fatal to Akeredolu’s mandate if not successfully consigned to a pre-election issue

Continued on page 19

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021

POLITICS

As Jegede Proceeds to Supreme Court, Akeredolu May Be Governing on Borrowed Time

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

From left; Governor Gboyega Oyetola and President, Ileri-Oluwa Development Initiative/wife of the Governor, Kafayat Oyetola and Mrs Adejumo Temitoyo, a beneficiary of Farmers Input Support Scheme for women, from Ago Owu Farm Settlement during the 2nd Phase of the programme, organised by wife of the Governor, at Agric Marths, Ede on Tuesday

Buni

Secondus

directly involved in the said infraction of the constitution) and as such the violator of the constitution by the current Chairman could not be transcribed /credited to APC as the constitution doesn’t recognize violation through agency relationship.

The Learned Silk adjudged the court’s stand as strange reasoning .He said, “Even at the lower court (election tribunal) on the state of the pleadings, APC, Akeredolu and their counsel all agreed that Mai Mala Buni acted as agent of the party. The fundamental and rudimentary Principle of agency law supports the position that Mai Mala Buni is an agent of a disclosed principal (APC) who is answerable to his conduct. In any event, not clamping down on APC for violating the constitution is tantamount to allowing the party to continue to wallow and benefit from this constitution infraction. As stated by the apex court in its Judgment of December 20, 2019 in the case of Ugwumba Uche Nwosu Vs Action Peoples Party & Ors, (Unreported) Appeal No: SC/1384/2019, the court held that any act that is not authorized by the constitution is an illegality and the perpetrator of such violation must not be allowed to go scot free to enjoy the fruit of his illegal act or bask in the warmth of his iniquity. APC and Mai Mala Buni violated the constitution.”

Awosika further argued that the trial election tribunal dismissed Jegede’s petition on the ground that Jegede and PDP’s complaints were rooted in the internal affairs of APC and having not been a member, he had no locus standi to interfere. This, the court of appeal overturned and held that basis of Jegede’s case at the trial is sponsorship. Jegede and PDP’s appeal were partly allowed. Out of Jegede/ PDP issues submitted for adjudication of the court of Appeal, five were in their favour. The Appeal court agreed to the extent that the constitution was actually breached by APC but that Jegede/PDP did not join the sitting Governor Mallam Buni that committed the constitutional infractions. As stated earlier, once the principal is identified, there is no need to join his agent in any suit. In this circumstance, Mallam Buni is the agent of the APC. This was the escape route created for Akeredolu.

It is pertinent to state that APC, INEC and Akeredolu all cross appealed against some of the findings of the election tribunal but the Court of Appeal in its wisdom dismissed all the cross appeals for lacking in merit.

In the estimation of Awosika, “The matter as presently constituted appears to be novel election matter in the sense that this is the first time in our electoral jurisprudence that a sitting Governor, being the chairman of a major political party, will be directly instrumental in sponsoring a candidate for a Governorship election against the express provision of Section 183 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which forbids an Executive Governor of a state from assuming any other executive role whilst still being a Governor. The court of Appeal found unequivocally that there was indeed a breach of the constitution but the non-joinder of Mai Mala Buni is fatal to the petition of Jegede/ PDP and that though he acted as agent of APC, the constitution doesn’t recognize violation of its provisions through agency relationship.

Therefore, going to Supreme Court will bring finality to the issue, enrich our political space

and our electoral jurisprudence.”

A closer scrutiny of the reasons advanced for the decisions reached by both the Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal expose a wobbling legal technicality that may collapse at the Apex Court. The dismissal of the appeal of Jegede by the Court of Appeal was premised on- the non-joinder of the National Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extra-OrdinaryConventionCommittee; Governor Mai Mala Buni by the petitioner.

Whereas, both the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the APC clearly expose the position of the learned judges as flawed.

Commenting on the Court of Appeal judgement, an Akure-based lawyer, Aki Amuluku identified the parties to an election petition without ambiguity as stated in Section. 137 of the Electoral Act. There are two parties to an election petition; the Petitioner and the Respondent. The Petitioner is: r "OZ QFSTPO DMBJNJOH UP IBWF B SJHIU UP CF returned at the election or r " DBOEJEBUF BU UIF FMFDUJPO PS r " 1PMJUJDBM 1BSUZ XIJDI QBSUJDJQBUFE BU the election.

The Respondent to such petition shall be: r 5IF TVDDFTTGVM DBOEJEBUF BU UIF QPMMT 4FDUJPO 285 CFRN 1999 (As amended). r 5IF QPMJUJDBM QBSUZ XIPTF DBOEJEBUF XPO the election---Buhari v. Yusuf. r 5IF $IJFG &MFDUPSBM 0GàDFS PG UIF 'FEFSBUJPO where the petition relates to the election of President or Vice President, r 5IF $IJFG &MFDUPSBM 0GàDFS PG UIF 4UBUF where the election relates to that of Governor or Deputy Governor of that state, r 5IF &MFDUPSBM 0GàDFS PG B 4FOBUPSJBM EJTUSJDU Federal constituency, State constituency where the election relates to a Senator, member of House of Representatives, member of State House of Assembly respectively. r 5IF 3FUVSOJOH PGàDFS XIFSF UIF QFUJUJPO complains about the conduct of a Returning Officer or Presiding Officer, he shall for all purposes be joined as a Respondent.

It must be noted that only principal can be joined, not the agent Again, INEC is to be joined as a respondent where the petition contains a complaint against any INEC official. There is no need to join individual electoral officer, once INEC is joined as a respondent. INEC is to defend the petition on its behalf and on behalf of the officer concerned. Thus, the non-joinder of such officer is not fatal so long as INEC is joined.

Amuluku posited that the same situation applies to any political party joined in a petition.

If any official or member of a political party is mentioned to have committed an infraction, he is not a necessary party to be joined, rather he is at best a desirable party. This is because such official is an agent of the party. Based on the Doctrine of Agency., when a principal is joined in a civil suit based on an official function discharged by the agent, the onus is on the principal to make such an agent to appear in Court to clear any discomfort created by the function discharged by the agent.

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

From left; Olusegun Abimbola ( SAN), Chairman, NBA-SLP, presents a prize to Mr Moses Ekpo, Deputy Governor, Akwa Ibom State for onward delivery to Governor Udom Emmanuel,whom he represented at the recent NBA-SLP Annual Conference in Uyo

L-R: Vice Chancellor Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Prof. Smaranda Olarinde; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Founder, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN); his wife, Yeye Aare Modupe Babalola; and the Osemowe of Ondo Kingdom, Oba (Dr) Victor Kiladejo; during the commissioning of the university’s Independent Power Plant (IPP) project and foundation laying of nine other projects at the university campus, in Ado Ekiti

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State (left) and the President of the Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka at the recent Aba Business Summit

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FEATURES

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

Redirecting Attention ofYouths to Eroding CulturalValues Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that the 2021 Day of African Child Celebration, afforded the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation the opportunity to champion the quest to redirect the attention of youths to eroding cultural values, which is part of its strategic mandate of preserving, presenting and propagating the African Culture in its entirety

Dancing competition at the commemoration of the 2021 Day of the African Child

Chairperson of the occasion, Dr. Olufemi Ogunsanya, founder and managing director, Oxbridge Tutorial College

Gift presentation to winning school

DG, Topgrade Secondary School (Winner, Poetry Category) and Mr Taiwo Otegbeye

F

or the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), the children and youth constitute a critical aspect of the society, thus, the earlier they are exposed to the cultural beliefs and tradition, the better for the nation. It was in tandem with that belief that the centre recently marked the 2021 Day of the African Child.

Themed "African Culture Fit for Children", the event held at Testimony Place, Lekki, Lagos and was targeted at restoring a culture on the decline through foreign influence, with calls for cultural reorientation and reintegration.

These days, it is commonplace to see Nigerians, especially youths, who prefer to subject themselves to foreign influence than their culture, deeming the latter as diabolical.

Nothing succinctly captures this best but Barack Obama in his book 'Dreams from my father', where he states that 'For a people already stripped of their history, a people often ill equipped to retrieve that history in any form other than what fluttered across the television screen, the testimony of what we saw every day seemed only to confirm our worst suspicions about ourselves."

Bringing this home, the Nigerian culture seem to be vastly eroding, giving way to foreign influence, and thus many are of the opinion that nothing short of cultural integration is the way out and that must start from the homes and even absorbed in schools as a subject.

History The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the OAU Organisation of African Unity. According to Wikipedia, it honours those who participated

these factors, the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) recently joined the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s Day of the African Child.

Drawing stakeholders and even school students to the venue, the centre was particular about its stance on the need to raise children that will be a generation of leaders that would accelerate social change.

While the Chairperson of the Occasion was Dr. Olufemi Ogunsanya, founder and managing director, Oxbridge Tutorial College; the speakers were Barr Omoyeni Ayoade, the principal, The Peak Chambers, Ikoyi; and Mr. Taiwo Otegbeye, founder and visioner, Liberation Alliance.

CBAAC recognises the importance of the Day of the African Child (DAC) as an advocacy tool for enhancing the visibility of the African Union (A.U) Charter on the rights of the African Child, which is geared at promoting their welfare issues. Essentially, the Day of the African Child Celebration is one of the standing annual activities of the CBAAC. At the event, issues concerning the development of the African Child were brought to the fore in order to inspire a sober reflection and action towards addressing the plethora of challenges that they face on a daily basis.

CBAAC DG, Hon Oluwabunmi Amao in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day.

It also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.

In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, about ten thousand black school children marched in a column more than half a mile long, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young students were shot, the most famous of which being Hector Pieterson (see image).

More than a hundred people were killed in

the protests of the following two weeks, and more than a thousand were injured.

Therefore, every June 16 every year, governments, NGOs, international organisations and other stakeholders gather to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the full realisation of the rights of children in Africa.

CBAAC's Role The strategic mandate of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) is to preserve, present and propagate the African Culture in its entirety. In line with

Clarion Call In her address, the CBAAC Director General, Hon. Oluwabunmi Ayobami Amao, noted that she was glad at the enthusiasm received from the participating schools and invited guests, "whom have been quite elated with the choice of the theme by CBAAC to mark this year’s celebration".

On the choice of the theme, she said it was "informed by the need to redirect attention to the eroding cultural values being experienced in our society in recent times. The situation

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

FEATURES

The DG and guests at the event

L-R: Principal, Chrisland Schools, Van Der Merwe; CBAAC Director, Research and Publications, Mrs Osaro Osayande; CBAAC D.G, Hon. Oluwabunmi Amao; and Director, Admin & HRM, Mr S.S Bamikole

Guests at the high table

Some of the participating students

has become quite distressing that if urgent actions are not taken, there might be a total erosion of our values and we would have no society to live in.

"There is no gainsaying that culture is a very powerful tool in shaping the upbringing of our children to become responsible adults. The African culture is potent enough to mould our children into what we want them to be.

Regrettably, it is disheartening to note that those good aspects of our cultural values are being lost to the forces of so called civilisation.

I recall with nostalgia how we were brought up through values that were rooted in our culture and tradition such as those of respect for elders and constituted authorities, hard work and productivity, honesty and chastity, decency, good neighbourliness and the concepts of Omoluabi, amongst several others.

"Unfortunately these have all become very scarce commodities among our children. The slides that were just displayed illustrate the sharp contrast between what was obtained during our own time and the current generation. There is almost a total collapse of cultural values and morality in our society today. It is lamentable that vices such as indecent dressing, get-rich-quick syndrome, yahoo-yahoo, lack of respect, kidnapping e.t.c. have become the resultant effect of the lack of proper upbringing of our children.

"The advent of social media has also compounded issues. The family culture which was obtained in the past is gradually dying. In fact, most families are now more closer to their phones and other internet gadgets at the expense of their families, thereby neglecting their children.

It is against this backdrop that today’s event is aimed at redirecting attention to the fast disappearing values which are important in moulding the character of our children.

"The onus lies on us parents to ensure that our children and wards are properly nurtured in accordance with our rich cultural values and tradition. Indeed, there are no better ways of projecting our rich cultural heritage, other than carrying the younger generation along, by providing a platform for them such as the one we are witnessing today.

"As a mother and someone who holds the matters of arts and culture very dear to my heart, and particularly as it involves our children, I must say that there is no amount of time and resources that would be considered too much, more so is that the

Charge Finally, Amao did not drop her microphone without giving a charge to the school studdnts.

She said: "For our school children, my charge to you is that do not forget your culture, learn from it and you would all become better persons. Be focused and do not give in to peer pressure."

The dancing troupe aim is to raise the moral standard of our children. Interestingly, today’s programme is carefully packaged in a manner that will enable schools to compete in different events ranging from Cultural Dance / Drama to Debate, Poetic rendition and Fashion Parade. " Very important is the debate segment with the topic: “Is African Culture Important in the Upbringing of the African Child? I have no doubt in my mind that today be worthwhile as we keenly await the commencement of the events."

Appreciation Expressing her gratitude to all who graced the occasion, she also appreciated "Dr. Olufemi

Ogunsanya, Founder and Managing Director, Oxbridge Tutorial College for unreservedly accepting to Chair this event at the shortest notice. Indeed, she has proved that she is mother. My gratitude also goes to our erudite team of Panel of Judges who in spite of their very busy schedules have accepted to honour our invitation for this all important task.

"To all our special guests, permit me to say therefore, that your presence here today, is a clear demonstration of your commitment not only in the promotion of our culture and tradition, but also a mark of honour and your own way of lending your voices to the advocacy for the proper upbringing of our children."

Side Attractions As the event was tailored for children, it was only fitting that they were involved in the entire process. Therefore, the event which attracted pupils from several schools included cultural dance and drama presentations, debate, poetry recitations, art exhibition and an African cultural fashion parade.

For the debate which was between secondary school students, it was titled "Is the African Culture important in the upbringing of the African Child?"

At the end of the whole presentations, Chrisland Schools Limited clinched the first position for the debate competition while Christ Redeemers College and FSTC Yaba clinched the second and third positions respectively.

For the drama/cultural dance,Cannon James Pearce Anglican College, Home Science Association School and STC College clinched the first, second and third positions respectively.

The poetry competition was won by Topgrade Secondary School with Cannon James Pearce Anglican College and Chrisland Schools Limited at the second and third positions respectively.

At the fashion parade, Chrisland Schools Limited won that category, while Home Science Association School and Dowen College were at second and third positions respectively.

Meanwhile, the Best Overall School award was won by Chrisland Schools Limited while the Best Debator was won by Mafeng Gyang, also from Chrisland Schools.

About CBAAC When the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) was established, it was on the premise that it would promote African heritage and culture. Strategically, as a foremost cultural agency, CBAAC has a key mandate and plays a crucial role in making Nigeria the arrowhead in the presentation, preservation, promotion and propagation of African cultural heritage.

22

˾ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021

23 June 2021

s

Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index down 338bps The Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index declined by 3.38% to

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

1,595.44 points driven by sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ AIRTELAF (-10.0%), BUACEMENT (-2.8%), and ZENITH (-0.4%). Together, these

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

stocks accounts for 46.3% of the index.

Local Bourse Extends Losses... ASI down 1.8%

Yesterday, the local bourse extended losses, due to sell

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,595.44

-3.38%

678.00

-10.0%

27.8%

70.00

-2.7%

11.3%

28.55

0.0%

9.2%

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 BUA Cement Plc

pressure on AIRTELAF (-10.0%), BUACEMENT (-2.7%), and

3 Guaranty Trust Bank PLC 4 Zenith Bank PLC

FBNH (-2.1%) as the All-Share Index fell 1.8% to 37,847.07

5 Dangote Cement PLC 6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

Price Change Index to Date

ROE

ROA

P/E

5.3x

P/BV

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

8.7%

59.5%

15.0%

3.5%

-20.4%

-20.4%

10.0%

3.5%

0.6x

5.6%

13.3%

-9.5%

-9.5%

19.1%

11.2%

33.6x

6.3x

2.5%

3.0%

-11.7%

-11.7%

26.6%

4.3%

4.1x

1.0x

10.5%

24.3%

2.4%

23.80

-0.4%

7.2%

-4.0%

-4.0%

23.1%

2.9%

3.2x

0.7x

12.6%

31.2%

230.00

0.0%

6.3%

-6.1%

-6.1%

32.0%

15.5%

12.9x

4.1x

7.1%

7.8%

165.00

0.0%

5.3%

-2.9%

-2.9%

97.1%

11.4%

14.7x

13.3x

5.7%

6.8%

1,400.00

0.0%

4.1%

-7.0%

-7.0%

104.8%

17.8%

28.3x

37.9x

4.3%

3.5%

21.00

0.0%

3.7%

-0.2%

-0.2%

8.8%

6.2%

10.6x

0.9x

4.8%

9.5%

9 Access Bank PLC 10 United Bank for Africa PLC

8.55

0.0%

3.2%

1.2%

1.2%

16.4%

1.4%

2.6x

0.4x

9.4%

38.5%

7.30

0.0%

2.5%

-15.6%

-15.6%

0.3x

7.1%

11 FBN Holdings Plc 12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC

7.15

-2.1%

2.7%

0.0%

0.0%

11.1%

1.1%

3.8x

0.3x

6.3%

59.20

0.3%

2.4%

5.7%

5.7%

4.5%

1.8%

64.2x

2.9x

1.6%

1.6%

39.55

-0.9%

േϮ͘ϳďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ

13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC 14 International Brew eries PLC

2.0%

4.7%

-10.2%

20.7%

2.9%

7.0x

1.4x

8.6%

14.2%

5.40

0.0%

1.6%

-9.2%

-9.2%

-15.5%

-3.4%

TRANSCORP (42.4m units), VITAFOAM (20.1m units), and

15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

29.80

-0.3%

1.3%

14.6%

14.6%

700.00

0.0%

2.0%

74.0%

points. Consequently, YTD loss worsened to -6.0% while ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ േϯϲϯ͘ϵďŶ ƚŽ േϭϵ͘ϳƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϰ͘ϯй ĂŶĚ ϱϰ͘ϲй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ Ϯϭϴ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ

DANGSUGAR (17.6m units) while MTNN ;േϯϯϯ͘ϴŵͿ͕ DANGSUGAR ;േϯϭϮ͘ϭŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ VITAFOAM ;േϮϳϭ͘ϲŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ value.

Bearish Sector Performance Across sectors under our coverage, performance was bearish as 4 indices lost and 2 gained. The AFR-ICT and Industrial 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůĞĚ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϭй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞͲ

7 Nestle Nigeria PLC 8 Lafarge Africa PLC

17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

0.0%

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC 28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC 30 Guinness Nigeria PLC

ly on the back of sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ AIRTELAF (-10.0%) and BU-

31 Custodian and Allied Insurance 32 AIICO Insurance PLC

ACEMENT (-2.7%). Similarly, the Insurance and Banking in-

33 Total Nigeria PLC 34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

ĚŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ Ϭ͘ϰй ĂŶĚ ϳďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ MBENEFIT (-7.3%), FBNH (-2.1%), and ZENITH (-0.4%).Conversely, the Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŝŶĐŚĞĚ ŚŝŐŚĞƌ ďLJ ϱďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ

35 Wema Bank PLC 36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

buying interest in OANDO (+0.7%) and VITAFOAM (+9.7%).

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ǁĞĂŬĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϴdž ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϭdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚͲ ed in the last trading session as 18 stocks advanced while 23 stocks declined. FIDSON (+10.0%), VITAFOAM (+9.7%), and REDSTAREX (+9.6%) led gainers while AIRTELAF (-10.0%),

ŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶ ŚƵŶƟŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƟĞƐ͘

41.0x

0.6x

5.9%

0.0%

1.0%

15.9%

15.9%

24.6%

16.0%

12.8x

2.9x

6.6%

7.8%

0.4%

0.7%

-9.5%

-9.5%

11.4%

1.1%

2.3x

0.2x

9.6%

44.0%

13.8%

5.15

0.0%

0.6%

-14.2%

-14.2%

0.6%

0.0%

68.5x

0.2x

17.70

0.0%

0.6%

0.6%

0.6%

25.5%

12.6%

7.3x

1.7x

8.5%

3.15

0.0%

0.6%

-5.4%

-5.4%

4.8%

29.3%

1.61

0.0%

0.4%

-21.1%

-21.1%

9.2%

0.9%

4.0x

0.3x

3.1%

25.1%

14.35

-1.0%

0.4%

-1.0%

-1.0%

18.4%

5.8%

8.3x

3.1x

2.8%

12.0%

0.90

-1.1%

0.4%

0.0%

0.0%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.5x

1.1%

-2.4%

72.60

-4.5%

0.3%

2.3%

2.3%

17.9%

7.3%

2.3x

2.8%

13.20

0.0%

0.2%

-5.0%

-5.0%

-6.2%

-4.1%

1.5%

3.4x

13.8x

1.2x

5.50

-5.2%

0.2%

3.8%

3.8%

6.17

0.0%

0.3%

31.0%

31.0%

35.5%

4.2%

29.00

0.0%

0.3%

52.6%

52.6%

-17.8%

-9.0%

5.95

0.0%

0.2%

1.7%

1.7%

25.0%

7.8%

3.0x

0.7x

1.10

0.9%

0.2%

-2.7%

-2.7%

20.5%

3.3%

3.0x

0.2x

145.00

0.0%

0.2%

11.5%

11.5%

20.00

0.0%

0.2%

13.5%

13.5%

8.3%

1.1%

8.8x

3.6%

0.1%

-17.4%

-17.4%

8.4%

0.5%

0.0%

0.0%

-100.0%

7.4%

0.9%

1.8% 4.7x

1.5x

11.3%

0.9x

2.94

0.7%

0.1%

-20.5%

-20.5%

14.5%

2.6%

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-28.7%

-7.6%

52.95

0.0%

0.1%

-4.4%

-4.4%

9.3%

6.4%

3.57

0.0%

0.0%

-0.8%

-0.8%

-10.6%

-5.5%

9.2%

33.1% 4.6%

0.7x

2.0%

11.4%

4.5x

0.4x

7.0%

22.3%

6.6x

0.7x

4.5%

15.1%

1.3x

0.2x

79.0%

1.9x

-16.8%

7.6x

0.7x

2.0%

0.6x

13.1% -22.5%

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

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

10.0%

T R A N SC OR P

42.4

-1.1%

VIT A F OA M

13.60

9.7%

VIT A F OA M

20.1

9.7%

R ED ST A R EX

3.67

9.6%

D A N GSUGA R

17.6

0.0%

VER IT A SKA P

0.24

9.1%

FB NH

12.4

-2.1%

CHA M S

0.21

5.0%

A C C ESS

11.5

0.0%

C OUR T VILLE

0.21

5.0%

ST ER LN B A N K

10.7

0.0%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.51

4.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

10.5

-0.4%

SOVR EN IN S

0.26

4.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

10.4

0.4%

WEM A B A N K

0.57

3.6%

J A P A ULGOLD

6.9

4.1%

J A IZ B A N K

0.60

1.7%

LIVEST OC K

6.7

-2.2%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

T o p 10 L o s e r s

678.00

33.0%

4.2%

P ric e C hg %

A IR T ELA F R I

21.2% -22.4%

21.9x

62.50

P ric e

7.3% -5.2%

5.06

T ic k er

2.4%

2.28

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

-10.0%

M TNN

333.8

0.0% 0.0%

M B EN EF IT

0.38

-7.3%

D A N GSUGA R

312.1

C OR N ER ST

0.51

-7.3%

VIT A F OA M

271.6

9.7%

LEA R N A F R C A

1.01

-6.5%

Z EN IT H B A N K

250.1

-0.4% -0.9%

IKEJ A H OT EL

0.91

-6.2%

ST A N B IC

196.4

PZ

5.50

-5.2%

N EST LE

189.6

0.0%

M EYER

0.59

-4.8%

NB

162.8

0.3%

72.60

-4.5%

A C C ESS

98.4

0.0%

88.5

-2.1%

87.2

0.0%

P R ESC O

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

3.2%

4.7%

F ID SON

MBENEFIT (-7.3%), and CORNERST (-7.3%) led decliners. In ƚŚĞ ŶĞdžƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͕ ǁĞ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞ Ă ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌͲ

0.9%

7.4%

T o p 10 G a in e r s T ic k er

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ tĞĂŬĞŶƐ

1.6%

-8.7%

0.8x

105.50

0.57

37 Oando PLC 38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC

74.0% -100.0%

1.0x

26.3%

N EIM ET H

1.72

-3.4%

FB NH

H ON YF LOUR

1.40

-2.8%

SEP LA T

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

23

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

Group Business Editor Obinna Chima Email obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08024557078

ͯ Ͷ ˜ Ͱ ͮ Ͱ ͯ MONEY MARKET OVERNIGHT OBB

REPO 19.25 18.75

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

S & P INDEX 18 18.50 20

INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

S & P INDEX 520.51% 0.71% 2.42%

1/4 TO DATE YEAR TO DATE

EXCHANGE RATE -6. 85% ̋ ͰͰ˛ͱͲϱ

N411//1US DOLLAR* ̩

Quick Takes Foundation Appoints Board Member

The Mastercard Foundation has announced changes to its Board of Directors.To this end, Robin L.Washington has been appointed to the Board and long-time Board member President Festus G. Mogae will be retiring.

“I’m thrilled to welcome RobinWashington to the Board,” Mastercard Foundation Board Chair, Zein Abdalla said.

“AsyoucanseefromRobin’sbiography,shebringsafantasticrangeof operational experience and insight that will benefit the Foundation enormously as we continue to expand our impact,” Abdalla added.

WashingtoniscurrentlyamemberoftheBoardofDirectorsofAlphabet, Inc.,HoneywellInternational,Inc.,andSalesforce.com.SheservedasVice PresidentandChiefFinancialOfficerofGileadSciences,Inc.fromMay 2008untilNovember2019,wheresheoversawGlobalFinance,Facilities and Operations, Investor Relations and the Information Technology divisions.PriortoGilead,shewastheChiefFinancialOfficerofHyperion Solutions,Inc.Ms.Washingtonisacertifiedpublicaccountant.Sheholds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

LSF PR Bags SABRE Awards

UNVEILINGCSRINITIATIVE

ConvenerOfDashMeFoundation,Mrs.KemiAdeosun;VicePresident,Prof.YemiOsinbajo,andDashMeChiefExecutiveOfficer,OmorinsolaArogundade,atthelaunchofDashMe FoundationinLagos...recently

W’Bank: How Nigeria Can Generate N10tn Tax Revenue in Three Years Obinna Chima The World Bank has advised the federal government to focus on low-hanging and revenueyielding fruits in order to achieve substantial gains, grow Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio to about seven per cent and rake in about N10 trillion revenue in the next three years.

Specifically, the bank advised the government to increase ‘sin taxes,’ charging fees for electronic money transfers, rationalising tax expenditures, removing loopholes in tax laws, and improve tax compliance with more disciplined revenue administration.

The advice formed part of the bank’s ‘Nigeria Development Update’ released recently.

The report titled: ‘Resilience through Reforms,’ noted that tax revenues were necessary to run essential services, provide security

ECONOMY to citizens, help tackle hunger and poverty, and deliver critical health and education services.

It pointed out that Nigeria may be Africa’s biggest economy but at just four per cent, it has Africa’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratio.

Furthermore, the Washingtonbased institution stated that the COVID-related economic slowdown and the steep fall in oil prices in 2020, brought into clear focus the need to increase non-oil revenue in Nigeria, even when investment, jobs, and growth also needed to increase.

“This calls for a carefully calibrated set of policy and administrative measures that can grow revenues without discouraging investment.

“That rules out any increases in traditional ad valorem taxes like

the value-added tax but it does afford an opportunity to fully apply tax policies already adopted and reform tax administration to seal compliance gaps.

“In the longer term, fundamental reforms of the tax system will be necessary to stimulate post-pandemic investment and economic growth. As Nigeria tries to “build back better” after the COVID crisis, a more strategic approach to revenue mobilisation will also be necessary: not just taxing more, but taxing better; not just how much to collect, but how to collect, what to collect, and from whom,” the bank added.

It also noted the continuing effects of the COVID-19 crisis on welfare and work. According to the World Bank, the pandemic has continued to profoundly affect employment and household welfare in Nigeria.

It revealed that data collected

in the February 2021 COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey had indicated that the number of people working in February 2021 was similar to the number in September 2020—much higher than would be expected if employment were following typical seasonal patterns.

“The higher share of people working was more concentrated among women and people from poorer households, which indicates an ‘added worker effect,’ more members take on work to help the household to cope with economic shocks.

“Moreover, the commerce and service sectors have expanded beyond what would be expected given previous seasonal patterns, especially for women.

“Accompanying these labor market shifts, incomes for some Continued on page 24

‘Poor Power Supply Raises Production Cost for Plastic Manufacturers’ Peter Uzoho The poor electricity supply in the country is increasing the cost of production for manufacturers of plastic products in Nigeria, posing a major disincentive for continuous investment in the sector.

The General Manager, Pentagon Plastic Industries Limited (PPIL), Mr. Shyam Barakale, stated this during his chat with journalists on Monday.

He added that one of the biggest challenges facing plastic manufacturing outfits was the cost of providing their own power.

ECONOMY “If regular and consistent electrical power can be sourced from the grid, we can easily concentrate on our core activity which is plastic manufacturing rather than investing in building and maintaining power plants,” Barakale said.

According to him, lack of regular power compelled the company to invest in its own power source, relying on Clarke Energy, a multinational specialist in distributed power generation solutions, to set up its own power.

THISDAY learnt that Clarke

Energy provided a 1.8MW gas power plant for PPIL which the company purchased and regularly maintains.

“With Clarke Energy, we have a partnership that goes back to 2014. The company carried out a technical study and recommended the deployment of a gas power plant. It has been serving us well since 2015.

“The gas generating set comes at a very high cost but it has also given us significant cost savings and increased our production efficiency,” he said.

More specifically, the leadership of both companies enjoys an excellent relationship, which

has helped to facilitate a seamless scheduled 30,000hours overhaul maintenance on their 1.8MW single module Jenbacher gas engine last year since its commissioning,” the Managing Director of Clarke Energy, Yiannis Tsantilas, said.

However, apart from the electricity challenge, the PPIL GM revealed that plastic manufacturers also contend with the lack of feedstock for producing high-quality plastic products.

According to Barakale, plastic feedstock, a byproduct of the Continued on page 24

LSF PR, a pan-African public relation agency, has announced that it received multiple awards at the 2021 edition of the SABRE awards whichheldvirtually.TheSABREAwardsheldrecently,wasestablished to recognise the best public relations work from across the world.

AstatementbyLSFPRsaidtheagencywontheSABREAfricaawardsfor SuperiorAchievementinBrand-Building;BestPRcampaigninWestAfrica, and was also awardedWinner in the Mining and Extractive Industries category.Theagencyalsoreceivedtwocertificatesofexcellenceforthe outstandingcampaigninWestAfricaandspecialevents/sponsorships.

It added: “The agency was shortlisted as a finalist in the Energy and Natural Resources Category alongside agency counterparts across Europe, Middle East and Africa (SABRE EMEA).

“ThisyearmakesitthefourthinarowwhereLSFPRhasbaggedawards at the world’s largest PR Award. Last year, the agency won two Gold Awards for Financial Communications and Sponsorship. In 2019, LSF PRalsowon4awards,beingnamedafinalistinthePlatinumcategory (Africa),andwinnerintheDiamondcategory(EMEA),foritsnoteworthy brand-building campaign.”

LuckyBet Unveils Mobile Agent

In a bid to empower Nigerians, LuckyBet, has launched the LuckyBet Mobile Agent.

Announcingthenewinitiativerecently,itsMarketingManager,Anthony Onyemauwa, disclosed that the business initiative was designed to reducethebarriertoentryofbecomingasports-bettingagent,andgive accesstomoreNigerianswhohavelessthanonehundred-thousand-naira start-up capital to play in the fast-growing sports-betting industry.

“Ourdesirehasalwaysbeentohelpallourstakeholderscreatewealth, either as punters or agents by creating a platform that enables them to create their own luck, and their wealth, hence our pay-off line, to ‘Get Lucky, Get Rich.’

“TheLuckyBetMobileAgentinitiativeisnotonlyanexpressionofthis commitment, but also a call for all able-bodied men and women who have access to a laptop, a table and chair, and a space, to take charge of their individual destiny by seizing this opportunity offered by our LuckyBetMobileAgentinitiative, disruptiveinitiative,”Onyemauwasaid.

ITFC to Support The Gambia

TheInternationalIslamicTradeFinanceCorporation(ITFC),amember oftheIslamicDevelopmentBank(IDB)Group,hassignedanew5-year Framework Agreement in favour of the Government ofThe Gambia.

Theinterventionaimstoprovideupto$50milliontothecountryonan annualbasis.Theagreement,signedMinisterofFinanceandEconomic Affairs (IsDB Governor), Mambury Njie, was part of the corporation’s ongoingeffortstocombattheeconomicrepercussionsfromCOVID-19 and strengthen key economic sectors in member countries.

The $250 million Framework Agreement will provide pre-export financing for major cash crops such as groundnuts and cashew nuts, the main agricultural produce in a sector that is a major employer of the country’s workforce.

“As newly inducted estate surveyors and valuers, I implore you to explore modern technology and innovation in enhancing professionalism and good service delivery in your day to day tasks”

orks and Housing Minister,

Babatunde Fashola

24

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD W’BANK: HOW NIGERIA CAN GENERATE N10TN TAX REVENUE IN THREE YEARS households have increased since before the crisis, although this is far from universal. Yet even if incomes are stabilising, households are feeling the impact of rising prices, which erodes their purchasing power and means that food insecurity is still widespread,” the report added. According to the report, uncertainty about the trajectory and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic would continue to influence household consumption and private investment.

“The COVID-19 crisis is far from over, and while the second wave of cases appears to have peaked and receded, how the pandemic will evolve is still unclear. Indeed, the December 2020 Business Expectation Survey Report and the CBN Consumer Expectations Survey for Q4 of 2020 reveal high, though easing, uncertainty and risk aversion among consumers and firms,” it added. The bank stated that the rollout of vaccines would likely impact the pace of the recovery, adding that immunisation in Nigeria was not expected to be widespread in 2021.

‘POOR POWER SUPPLY RAISES PRODUCTION COST FOR PLASTIC MANUFACTURERS’

petroleum industry refining process is a very capital-intensive venture and due to Nigeria’s low refining capacity, it has to source raw materials from outside the country.

“We have to invest a lot in raw material sourcing and this involves sourcing for foreign exchange which makes us vulnerable to volatile exchange rates. This adds to production costs and often results in delays.

“Looking at the volumes of raw materials imported into the country, you would see that if Nigeria has a bigger refining capacity, a lot of the foreign exchange paid to import them would be saved, he noted.

According to Barakale, the Nigerian market presents many opportunities for plastic manufacturers with its large population and strategic location to serve other markets in Africa.

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) ÜÙ×ÙÝÏÖÏ ÌÓÙÎßØ (Maritime) Ë×ÏÝ ×ÏÔÙ (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor (Energy) Emmanuel Addeh (Energy) Reporters

ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy)

NEWS

BDC Directors Reiterate Commitment to Exchange Rate Stability Dike Onwuamaeze Bureaux De Change (BDC) directors have reiterated commitment to ensuring stable exchange rate and sound corporate governance practices.

This was part of resolutions made at the end of a meeting of BDC Directors organised by the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) in Lagos, recently.

The BDC directors also expressed support for the proposed ABCON Task Force Committee for the purposes of monitoring compliance by operators. While observing that the guidelines for BDC operations require that all licensed BDCs operate inside their registered offices, the directors charged ABCON to punish any operator involved in street trading of forex or any activity that contravenes the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the sub-sector.

Furthermore, the directors, in a statement, committed to increased supervision of their operations of their BDCs while ensuring adequate remuneration for staff and prompt rendition of returns to the regulatory authorities. They however stressed the need for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the sales margin of BDCs stressing that the N2 margin presently allowed by the central bank

was inadequate in view of the operating cost of BDCs as well as the rising inflationary trend in the country.

They also highlighted the need for the CBN to expand the operating scope of BDCs to allow for more business revenue to cover their operating cost.

The resolutions followed presentations by ABCON’s executive council members on the role of directors in ensuring that their organisations operate within the scope of the CBN guidelines for

the subsector.

ABCON President, Dr. Aminu Gwadabe, charged the BDC directors to protect the huge money invested in their BDCs by ensuring their staff operate within the approved guidelines of the CBN. He said this has become imperative to protect the BDC business, especially the weekly dollar sale by the CBN. Noting that total investment in each BDC was about N35 million, he called for increased supervision by directors, to detect

and forestall any activity that could lead to the loss of such investment. Listing the expected roles of BDC directors, Chairman South West Zone, ABCON, Mr. Taiwo Ebenezer, said directors should be involved in the day-today activities of their firms and relate regularly with their staff.

Among other things, he added that BDC directors must know the sources of funds paid into their corporate accounts, while also ensuring weekly operational reports from their staff.

On his part, ABCON National Treasurer, Alhaji Gbadamosi Mohammed, said it was the duty of directors to educate their members on the ethics of the business as indicated in the CBN guidelines.

He added that the ongoing nationwide ABCON training was informed by the need to ensure that all BDC staff are adequately educated, and the directors should ensure application of lessons from the training by their staff in the day-to-day running of their BDCs.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

L-R: Head, Retail Segments, Wema Bank Plc, Mudashiru Hakeem; Head, Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, Bimbo Agbejule; Public Relations and Communication Officer, Idemy Industries, Adegbola Jadesola; Regional Manager, Mainland, Lagos, Wema Bank, Aramide Awosanya; and Regional Manager, Ikeja, Lekan Somorin, during the bank’s Women empowerment initiative for the Ferry Community, Oworoshoki, Lagos...recently

Gombe Targets 100,000 Vulnerable Children, Youths in New Initiative Stories by Segun Awofadeji in Gombe Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Yahaya has performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the At-Risk Children Project (ARC-P) in the state.

ARC-P is an initiative designed to provide a multi-pronged approach for the rehabilitation and reintegration of vulnerable children to support them attain their full potential.

Performing the exercise at the Government House, Yahaya said the launch of ARC-P in the state will go a long way in giving the vulnerable children a sense of belonging.

The governor said it was not a coincidence that the national launch of the At- Risk Children project took place in Gombe State, because according to him, with the signing of the MoU, ARC-P, his administration’s target was to further support at least

100,000 children and youths across the 11 local government areas to constructively live a life of dignity by providing them with necessary skills that would enable them harness their potentials and energies for the overall development of our state.

“Furthermore, out of our desire to tackle the problems of youth unemployment, we established a database for unemployed graduates in the state and so far we have registered over 17,000 job seekers and we are making concerted efforts to link them with necessary jobs that match their skills and training.

“The availability of this database put us ahead of other states in the selection of the pilot state for this project.

“Through this partnership, we shall equally train and engage not less than 2,000 youth for the enforcement of environmental sanitation and protection as well as road traffic regulations in the first phase of the project.

“In order to address these issues, the federal government through the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment came up with the ARC-P alongside other social intervention programmes so as to mop up these children and young adults from the streets and give them opportunities to realise their full potentials through a number of mechanisms being implemented at the state and local government areas level,” he explained.

Yahaya maintained that the initiative will help reduce poverty and insecurity while also providing solutions to the health, educational and social challenges facing these demographic group.

“On our part, our administration has keyed into all existing social intervention programmes and introduced new initiatives tailored towards finding and implementing local solutions to address the menace of outof-school children, reduce poverty

and provide job opportunities to our teeming youth. So far, we have mopped up over 300,000 out-of-school children and returned them back to classrooms.

“Similarly, we have established 290 girl-child non-formal learning centres across all the LGAs and enrolled about 47,126 girl-child.

“Our girl-child skills acquisition programme has seen us training over 3,000 girls on beads making, bakery and cosmetology and provided them with starter packs to enable them engage in decent means of livelihood,” he added.

He revealed that his administration recently conducted an enumeration through the Better Education and Service Delivery for All (BESDA) project where it was estimated that there are over 700,000 out-of-school children spread across all the 11 local government areas of the state, a statistics he noted was above the UNICEF’s estimated figure of about 550,000.

“The Almajiri system as practiced today is characterised by child neglect, abuse, social exclusion and chronic poverty thus churning out young people with little or no formal education and lacking employable skills thereby posing significant social and economic challenges to themselves, the government and the society at large.

“To add to this, our girl-child population are mostly exposed to street hawking, child labour and often end up in commercial domestic services rather than pursuit of formal education in a bit to provide livelihood to their families.

“This exposes them to sexual exploitation and various degrees of gender-based violence,” he said.

He said in order to domesticate the convention on the rights of the child, his administration has drafted the child rights bill which is presently before the state house of assembly and has passed second reading.

Minister Advocates Nigerian Food as Tourism Products The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has called for concerted efforts at improving the Nigerian food and cuisine production processes.

Mohammed, who made the call at the occasion of the World Gastronomy Day celebration in Abuja, organised by the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) in collaboration with the Embassy of The Peoples Republic of China and the Arts and Culture Department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), recently,

noted that Nigeria has culture as its tourism competitive advantage which is mostly defined by its foods and cuisines.

According to a statement, the Minister who was represented at the occasion by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Ifeoma Anyanwutaku, also called for the Nigerian tourism industry to seize the opportunity offered by gastronomy which has become a major tourist pullfactor to enhance the country’s portfolio as a preferred tourist destination in Africa.

Speaking at the occasion,

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha said food, as one of the three basic needs of man, should be accorded priority attention in nation building for the care, wellbeing and healthy living condition of the people.

Okorocha who applauded efforts of NIHOTOUR in organising the first observance of the United Nations World Gastronomy Day in Nigeria since its inception in 2017 globally, promised to initiate the establishment of a Food

Technology training outfit as part of the Institute’s training mandate in hospitality.

Earlier in his welcome address, Director General of NIHOTOUR, Alhaji Nura Kangiwa, the initiator of the World Gastronomy Observance Day in Nigeria, said the country needs to strategically conceptualise its tourist products to attract continued traffic of both domestic and international tourists for sustainable growth of the Nigerian tourism industry in line with the federal government’s economic diversification

efforts.

Kangiwa, who called for investment in the gastronomy sub sector, said its multiplier effect and social value chains as a thriving industry will help eradicate poverty and improvement in rural infrastructure, adding that NIHOTOUR will continue to offer Courses for the development of Nigerian unique tourism products and competitive destination management to enhance the human capacity base of the country’s travel tourism and hospitality industry.

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Leveraging Bond Market for Growth Goddy Egene writes that companies have been taking advantage of the capital market to raise bonds to fund their operations for growth and improved returns

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perating in the Nigerian economy has been a big challenge for companies in many ways. To operate successfully in Nigeria, companies have to provide virtually all their needs- electricity, water and others.

All these bring extra operational costs, which reduce the profitability of businesses. The cost of operating has even gotten worse given the high inflation that is above 18 per cent. This implies that for a company to operate, it was must have enough capital to be able to fund it capital and operational expenses.

Again, having access to funding is not very easy for many of the companies. The equities market, which used to be a very good source of funding, has remained mostly inactive for many years due to investor apathy. The difficult economic situation has made it unpopular for investors to save and invest in equities. Hence, that segment of the capital market has provided little funding for corporate. Those who access funding there, do so through rights issues.

However, most listed companies and some private ones have found the bond segment of the nation’s capital market to be way out.

The debt capital market has assisted many companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to access capital with relatively low coupons below 10 per cent.

Between January and now, companies have raised over N230 billion from the debt market through bonds issuances. For instance, BUA Cement Plc raised the highest of N115 billion.

Fidelity Bank Plc raised N41.213 billion, while Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc got N29.8 billion.

Also, some firms not listed on the NGX have taken advantage of bond market to raise fresh funds to boost their performance.

Also, NOVA Merchant Bank raised N10 billion, while Mecure Industries accessed the market for N3 billion, while Emzor Pharmaceuticals raised N13.7 billion. CardinalStone Financing SPV Plc raised N5 billion. TSL SPV similarly got N12 billion from the market.

The Divisional Head, Listings Business, NGX, Mr. Olumide Bolumole said the exchange continued to provide issuers with a platform that allows them meet their strategic business objectives and it is the exchange’s delight to see issuers take full advantage of our products and services to support their growth story.

Some of the issuers have expressed excitement and satisfaction over the ability to access capital from the market and list the securities on the exchange so as to provide liquidity for investors.

For instance, the Group Managing Director, CardinalStone Partners Limited, Mr. Michael Nzewi, said: “It is particularly exciting for us at CardinalStone because it represents the attainment of our aspiration to list some of the securities in our capital structure on the exchange. We are thankful to NGX for giving us the opportunity to list on its platform; without their support, we would not be here today.

“We would like to assure NGX that we are committed to finding ways to leverage its products and services and drive participation in the capital market from other institutions.

Of course, we appeal to our colleagues in the industry to take advantage of the opportunity to raise capital on NGX just like we have.”

Speaking in a similar vein, Managing Director, CardinalStone Asset Management Limited, Mr. Mohammed Garuba, said: “I thank NGX for the opportunity and must give kudos to NGX for facilitating seamless remote trading over the past year; the impact is clearly seen in capital raising activities on the bourse.

“I must also congratulate NGX on the recent launch of its campaign, The Stock Africa Is Made Of. It is indeed an exciting initiative as it has helped to re-engage key players within the capital market value chain. While a lot of focus has been on equities in the past, listing a bond is another way to not only raise capital but also improve governance within an organisation, which was our experience. We have learnt from this process, and are willing to support counterparts and clients who wish to embark on this journey.”

The N115 billion bond raised by BAU Cement Plc, which is the first bond issuance by the company, is also the largest corporate bond issued in the Nigerian debt capital market,

Trading Floor The proceeds from the issuance, according to the company, will be used to refinance existing debt obligations of the issuer, finance the issuer’s working capital as well as fund its Debt Service Reserve Account. BUA Cement is the second largest cement producer in Nigeria and the largest cement producer in the North Western region of the country.

Commenting, on the bond issuance, the Chairman, BUA Cement, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said: “This is the largest corporate bond issue in the history of Nigeria’s DCM. In 2020, we made a strategic decision as a proudly Nigerian company to list the shares of BUA Cement.

“This was in line with our core strategy to continue seeking out viable investment and growth opportunities within Nigeria.

This bond issue - a first by BUA Cement, demonstrates our confidence in the Nigerian DCM as well as continued investor confidence in BUA Cement’s business model, our management team, and long-term strategy, all supported by strong credit ratings. We remain committed to unlocking opportunities within the industry for Nigeria.”

Also commenting, the Chief Executive Officer, BUA Cement, Yusuf Binji, said: “The success of the bond issue underscores the strength of BUA Cement’s brand. The transaction, being the largest corporate bond issuance in the history of Nigeria’s DCM, reiterates the strength and acceptance of BUA Cement’s brand and the trust placed by stakeholders in the company’s strong cash generation capacity, credit profile and strategy driven by a well experienced management team.

He explained that diversifying and extending the duration of their funding sources with the inclusion of this bond, at a competitive rate, would further enable them to achieve their strategic objectives and vision.

“We also have confidence in FMDQ Exchange, hence our decision to list the Bond on the Exchange. BUA Cement is profoundly grateful to the entire transaction parties, the bondholders and the regulators, who have

made this become a reality today,” Binji said.

The bond proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt obligations. It will also help the company take collaborative actions to diversify the company’s financing options beyond expensive short term debt.

According to him, the bonds floated by Flour Mill will help to strengthen the company’s capital base and provide the needed working capital required by the Company. He added that Flour Mills Group will continue to deleverage and replace short term financing with longertenured and lower price funding to optimize capital structure and reduce financing cost.

On his part, the Group Managing Director of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Omoboyede Olusanya, said the bonds raised by the company would help to strengthen its capital base and provide the needed working capital.

He explained that the Flour Mills of Nigeria would continue to deleverage and replace short term financing with longer-tenured and lower price funding to optimize capital structure and reduce financing.

He added that it would also help the leading food business company to explore diversified funding sources from the Nigerian capital market, with the hope of enhancing growth and the development of the company.

According to Olusanya, Flour Mills of Nigeria will continue to explore opportunities to raise funding via the capital market as this enables the company to diversify its funding sources and continue to play a role in the capital market as a significant player in it.

Speaking on the significance and success of the bond issuance, the Group Managing Director, Emzor Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Stella Okoli, said: “This first-time bond issuance is a fantastic achievement for Emzor and is in line with our commitment to facilitate unlimited wellness by delivering quality and affordable medicines for all. The capital raised will, therefore, drive and accelerate our expansion plans, delivering strong growth and margin improvement. We recognise the efforts of the investor community ensuring the success of this bond issuance and commit to uphold

their confidence in us as we deliver on our long- term growth strategy.”

She said Emzor Pharmaceutical had become a household name and continued to establish its footprint as a leading manufacturer of high-quality pharmaceutical and medical consumables in Nigeria. According to the company, that facilitated by lead issuing house, Renaissance Securities (Nigeria) Limited, and joint issuing house, Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, the debut offering was without a doubt, testament to its growth potential and the level confidence placed on the brand by the investing community.

Commenting on the companies patronage of the bond market, the CEO, Blackstone Capital Limited, Dr. Lizzie Kings-Wali, said corporates are trying to fulfill their debt capital needs before the yield curve begins its upward trend.

“As the interest rate environment changes, corporates are trying to fulfill their debt capital needs before the yield curve peaks. Notably, the low interest rate in 2020 provided unique opportunity for investment grade corporates to raise long term debt capital at historic-low rate, with some Issuers printing 5 and 7 year bonds at low single digit interest rate. Whilst inflationary pressure eased slightly in the past two months, and the steep rise in interest rate has partly moderated the negative real return, there are concerns on further rise in interest rate, especially as Naira remains under pressure. Hence, the current rate environment is still considered benign for debt issues and we hope to see more transactions before year-end,” she said.

According to her, interestingly, the 10-year tax relief on corporate bonds will expire next year, with low probability of its renewal/ extension given current fiscal position.

“Thus, corporates seeking to leverage their balance sheet in growing their business may seek to print debt offerings ahead of the expiration of the tax holiday, as the reinstatement of taxes on bond coupons will increase cost of debt to Issuers, given that investors will price in the effective tax and demand a higher tax-equivalent yield on the bonds,” Kings-Wali explained.

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Access Bank: Providing Support to MSMEs Hamid Ayodeji writes on interventions by Access Bank Plc in the micro, small and medium scale enterprises segment of the economy finance, access to business loans and access

M

icro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries.

MSMEs contribute up to 45 per cent of total employment and up to 33 per cent of national income (GDP) in emerging economies, according to a report by the World Bank.

Also, it is estimated that 600 million jobs will be needed in the next 15 years to absorb the growing global workforce, mainly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In emerging markets, most formal jobs are with MSMEs, which also create four out of five new positions. However, access to finance is a key constraint to MSME growth, as without it, many SMEs languish and stagnate.

In Nigeria, reports show that over 40 million MSMEs exist in the country, employing over 80 per cent of the country’s population and contributing about 50 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

But MSMEs globally were last year confronted with shocks occasioned by the disruptive impact of the COVID-19, with those in Nigeria badly affected.

But to address challenges facing MSMEs, Access Bank had unfolded various forms of support for operators of such businesses, through the $50 million loan support the bank secured from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Access Bank’s Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe, had said the bank was committed to helping Nigerian businesses weather COVID-19 pandemic and set a course for recovery.

According to Wigwe, the funds has helped the bank increase liquidity to several Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises navigating the economic challenges of COVID-19.

“In Nigeria, SMEs contribute over 45 percent of national GDP, account for about 96 percent of businesses and 84 per cent of employment.

Access Bank, therefore, recognises the importance of SMEs to economic stability and is going the extra mile to ensure that such businesses are adequately financed to weather these testing times,” he said.

According to him, the IFC’s funding has not only enabled the bank to extend financial relief to clients across all sectors during the pandemic, but beyond the COVID-19 crisis as well.

Wigwe said the partnership with IFC would also help set Nigerian businesses on a recovery path.

The funds from the loan, made through IFC’s global COVID-19 ‘Fast-track Financing Support Package’ enabled Access Bank to provide increased trade financing and working capital lending to its business clients experiencing disrupted cash flows, supporting business activity and preserving jobs.

Reiterating Wigwe’s comments, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria, Eme Essien Lore, said, “It is crucial to support smaller businesses to keep the wheels of Nigeria’s economy turning during today’s unprecedented economic challenge.

“IFC’s longstanding partnership with Access Bank means together we can move much-needed funding to businesses that need it most, helping them remain in business and retain their employees.”

Access Bank, Africa’s largest retail bank, serves more than 36 million customers across a network of 677 branches.

In line with its drive to support entrepreneurial spirit in the country, the bank recently rewarded serving members of the Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with over N15 million in the third edition of the bank’s youth business challenge competition, Accessprenuer.

The competition was held simultaneously across five NYSC camps in Abuja, Osun, Enugu, Nassarawa and Rivers States.

According to the bank, five top winners won N1 million each, while others were rewarded with consolation cash prizes totaling N10 million during the final business pitch of the contest for NYSC 2021 Batch A Stream II Orientation Course.

Wigwe Winners of the N1 million star prize were Easngbedo Precious in Abuja camp; Nwakor Favour Alex in Osun; Olusanya Miracle in Rivers; Omoha arinze in Enugu, and Egbewole Abduljelli in Nassarawa camp.

Speaking on the Accessprenuer challenge initiative, Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu, said: “The challenge is aimed at promoting entrepreneurial aspirations among talented corp members.

So far, the competition has proved to have a great impact on youth empowerment in the country as we received more entries during the current challenge.

“It is a way to support the young men and women who are just graduating from university to grow. We are also using this as an opportunity to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youths whilst providing them with financial grants through this competition to grow them from job seekers to employers of labour.”

The pilot phase of the Accessprenuer challenge competition by Access Bank was in partnership with the NYSC Skills Acquisition

In Nigeria, SMEs contribute over 45 percent of national GDP, account for about 96 percent of businesses and 84 per cent of employment.

Access Bank, therefore, recognises the importance of SMEs to economic stability and is going the extra mile to ensure that such businesses are adequately financed to weather these testing times

& Entrepreneurship Development took place across three states (Ogun, Enugu and Abuja) in February this year.

The scheme was designed to train corps members on business plan writing, after which a competition will be held to select the top winners with bright and feasible business ideas within the mandatory 21-day Camp orientation exercise.

Similarly, the bank recently launched what it termed the ‘Diamond Business Advantage (DBA) lite’ as part of efforts to increase its digital loans and enhance access to finance for young entrepreneurs.

The bank said the product which is targeted at the youths was designed to add value to micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

Speaking during the launch of the product in Lagos, recently, Etuokwu, said, entrepreneurship is essential for the growth of any nation.

He said: “DBA Lite is a product of the erstwhile Diamond bank via the Diamond Business Account (DBA) and that was one of the best products in the market but after the merger, we renamed it as DBA but this innovation; DBA Lite is targeted for the youths who are start-ups, established or growing.

This innovation will bring access to digital loans for the youths because that is what we want to do with this innovation.”

Etuokwu noted that the digital loan would be in the form of N50,000 to N5 million, adding that entrepreneurs can only access the loan once they meet the requirements.

According to him, Access Bank accounts for over 50 per cent of digital loans in the industry because it is gives such loans at an average of N18,000-N20,000 daily.

“Last year, four million people accessed N100 billion and we are targeting more in 2021. We are growing and we will keep growing because our digital loans are not for the youths only but for small business owners, employees and the rest of them and I am assuring you that we will do double digit this year as that is the plan.

“As we speak, we are averaging N12 billion to N13 billion every month and so we should be somewhere around N60 billion to N70 billion and clearly, we will do more than we did last year,” he said.

Giving more insights into the product, Etuokwu noted that the features of the product includes less documentation, affordability, convenience, access to market, access to

to payment acceptance services.

The bank has through its ‘W’ initiative continued to support female entrepreneurs.

The bank had unveiled the ‘W’ initiative to accelerate its support for women. In addition to financial inclusion, the initiative also focuses on women empowerment offerings. Some of these include mentoring, capacity building, maternal health services, access to loans and credit facilities.

In line with its support for female entrepreneurs, the bank also unveiled the third edition of its Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa programme.

The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa programme was designed to provide female- owned businesses across Africa an opportunity to access finance, world-class business trainings as well as mentoring opportunities.

The programme was designed to create an enabling environment for female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

The Group Head, ‘W’ Initiative, Access Bank, Ms. Ayona Trimnell, said Access Bank has been a leading advocate for women’s economic empowerment in Africa.

She added: “We launched the first Womenpreneur pitch-a-ton initiative in 2019 in line with our value proposition to be the number one bank of choice for women in Nigeria, and we have received over 100,000 applications over the last two years.

“In 2020, despite the pandemic, we were able to expand the programme to other female entrepreneurs across seven African countries with three winners emerging from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Zambia out of 50 finalists. “This year we are making the programme bigger and better by increasing the numbers to 100 women entrepreneurs who will emerge as finalists.

“The programme will also be opening up to a total of 9 African countries Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and the Gambia.”

The 2021 Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa programme was unveiled on Monday and will run through August 13, 2021. It offers financial grants, an exclusive certified capacity building program and business coaching aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs.

On his part, Wigwe said: “For us at Access Bank, supporting and empowering women is truly at the heart of our strategy and other things we have to do as far as sustainability is concerned.

“In the last couple of years, we have made significant progress as a bank and there have been several things that have been done in terms of supporting women.

“The ‘W’ initiative is supposed to inspire and empower women as well as female entrepreneurs. When we started doing it, some people thought it was a joke.”

With the introduction of the W Power Loan, female owned businesses can now request loan from the bank just after 30 days of operating an account.

The package comes with benefits such as business advisory services, a flexible repayment period and a low interest rate as well as flexible security options, to ease the minds of the passionate business owners.

While the bank has put measures in place to dispel some of the fears about taking a loan, it noted that there are ways female entrepreneurs can position their businesses to access loans.

“While most women have an innate ability for organiSation, they are also known to shy away from documentation processes as it relates to a business. It is necessary for you to go the extra mile to understand how your business works beyond making sales.

“Through our W session- in-branch and W Business Hubs, we provide you a platform to meet with industry experts on how to come-up with a compelling business plan.

“Many female entrepreneurs in Nigeria begin their businesses as a side-hustle, a hobby and as such, registering the business may not be a top priority if sales can continue without it,” the bank added.

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BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Why Nigeria is Not Yet Sufficient in Cassava Production Oluchi Chibuzor

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assava (Manihot esculenta) is a perennial woody shrub that has an edible root that was first cultivated in South America and introduced to Nigeria in the sixteenth century. Cassava is considered a source of food for the poor and has been widely criticized for its propensity to deplete soil nutrients and opens the farmland to erosion.

Based on the aforementioned, a large proportion of cassava crops are grown on marginal lands (bad topography) that are usually not competitive (not too good for other crops) and some others are not tractor friendly.

Another complication around cassava production is that the type of land tenure system in Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa does not allow for large farm holdings suitable for mechanisation. Most cassava farmers cultivate small farm areas, which are not conducive or economical for mechanisation.

Despite these challenges, cassava is one of the fastest expanding staple food crops in cassavaconsuming countries and has continued to gain prominence among farmers while the industrial demand is also rising consistently, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

Globally, cassava has experienced consistent growth of well above three per cent annually According to the FAO, as of 2018, world cassava production stood at about 278 million tonnes; Africa total production was about 170 million tonnes (about 56% of world production) (FAOSTAT, 2019).

Nigeria is the largest global producer of cassava with its production accounting for 21 per cent of global production of cassava but Nigeria, does not participate in the global processed cassava market (298.8 million tons).

Cassava production in Nigeria is principally in the hands of smallholder farmers who produce cassava primarily for the traditional food market previously and now transiting for industrial end-users.

The Nigerian Cassava Production systems are inefficient based on global standards. Majority of the cassava production systems are not oriented to the industrial market. An estimated 30 million farmers are involved in cultivation of cassava.

Despite the huge population of cassava farmers, Cassava yields are still sub optimal.

Market trends also indicate unmet demands for cassava products from the food, livestock, textile, and pharmaceutical industries. While there are many industries in Nigeria such as those involved in the production of ethanol, food noodles, drilling mud, textiles and paper mills among others, which need cassava products, very few cassava processing factories are available compared to the optimum market potential. This has been attributed to the lack of application of a value chain approach capable of delivering a range of new technology to access opportunities in an integrated manner to achieve economies of scale and scope for profitability and competitiveness.

The Nigerian cassava sector distinguishable into two categories: the traditional food-oriented component and the new emerging industrial component.

The bulk (about 90%) of the fresh cassava roots (FCR) produced annually is channelled into the traditional sector while about 10% of total FCR goes into the industrial sector. Much of the activities operate in a neat configuration of traditional institutions, synchronizing cassava production, processing, and marketing.

Exports of cassava products, new convenient products from cassava and products made from cassava (Starch, Ethanol, HQCF, etc.) are beginning to appear in markets.

Cassava industry local and international Market intelligence is very poor or non-existent in some regions, hence Cassava value chain stakeholders run independent sector silos strategy which has made it difficult for aggregation of marketing and logistical opportunities, and benefits of economies of scale and scope, to achieve profitability and earn investor plus financial institutions confidence.

Concerted efforts are required to effectively position Nigerian cassava in regional and international markets to ensure sustainable development of the sector and ensure improvements in the production, processing, and marketing of cassava without negatively impacting on the food security of the country.

These efforts will equally lead to increasing the contribution of cassava to economic transformation

Nanono through key stakeholders’ involvement and building an agribusiness economy capable of delivering sustained prosperity for food security, exports promotion and sustainable income and job growth.

This forward looking for the cassava sector can only be actualised by: i.

Identifying and developing new market opportunities for import substitution and export. ii.

Stimulating increased private sector investment in the establishment of export-oriented cassava industries. iii.

Ensuring the consistent production and supply of fresh cassava roots with high starch content to end user industries iv.

Advocating for supportive policy and institutional reforms for the development of the Nigerian cassava sector. v.

Facilitating the establishment of targeted support infrastructures that will reduce transaction cost and increase competitiveness of the entire cassava commodity chain in Nigeria. vi.

Integrating the rural poor especially women and youths into the mainstream of the National Economy.

Investment Outlook The investment outlook gives a clear picture of the investment required to effectively drive the vision of transforming the cassava sector into a US dollar industry. This will require additional investment in the establishment of processing facilities to produce food grade starch, ethanol, high quality cassava flour, and glucose syrup.

This will also open export market for these products in the West Africa Sub-Region. The establishment of additional plants will also lead to cultivation of additional hectares of land for cassava. The bulk of the investment is in the traditional food chain of gari, fufu, lafun etc. and the increasing trend of production of packaged foods for both local and international markets.

The ethanol production facility will also have a huge investment for both set up cost and the fresh cassava root requirement. Currently, a sorbitol plant is at the stage of commissioning, and it is the first of its kind in the country and it will be using cassava as raw material. There is still an untapped opportunity in modified starches that can be produced in-country and exported to earn more foreign exchange for the country.

Other investors are installing HQCF, ethanol and starch processing facility.

Cassava processing equipment fabrication is also another area of investment in the country with some Nigeria fabricated equipment being supplied to other African countries. The equipment that has left the shores of the country include the flash dryers, automatic garri roaster, hydraulic presser, stainless steel roasting pans, graters, wet and dry hammer mills.

Socio-economic Benefits of Industrial Cassava Sector The economic and market potential of a realistic demand for industrialisation and commercialisation of cassava is enormous. Several US dollar million worth of cassava is bought annually for industrial processing from smallholder farmers scattered in 26 States of the federation and they are economically empowered leading into improved livelihood as new investors are coming into the sector.

Additional cassava processing factories are needed to position Nigeria in the right pedestal for cassava industrialisation. Also, the country requires two more cassava based large ethanol

factory that will produce at least 500,000 litres per day to complement the four functional ones; the country requires 8 more High Quality Cassava Flour factory to add on to the existing one. Moreover, 2 more additional glucose syrup factories are needed. In creating the multi-billion cassava industries, the aforementioned must be pursued and achieved in the next five years.

Twenty-six out of the 36 states in Nigeria cultivate cassava in large volume; this makes cassava a national food crop and a new face for industrialising the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

Only cassava farming provides a source of livelihood for about 300 million people in Sub Saharan Africa and about 40 million people in Nigeria.

Cassava is grown in two planting seasons in Nigeria, March – April (North)/ March – May (south) and November – December (North)/ November – January (south) depending on the rainfall pattern.

Harvesting of cassava starts from nine (9) months till twelve months after planting for the best starch content yield. Capitalising on the crop’s industrial potential will generate additional income for farmers and drive domestic industrial growth that creates jobs and reduces reliance on imported commodities like wheat, starch, and ethanol.

It should be stated that it takes a total of about 150 man-days to cultivate, manage and harvest one hectares of cassava farmland considering that most smallholder farmers do not have access to the use of tractors.

The cultivation of the FCR required for the production of the various cassava-based products in-country still needs to be improved upon as most of the cassava processing factories are operating below installed capacity due mainly to the inadequate supply of FCR with high starch content, dry matter and at the right price.

With the advent of the COVID – 19 pandemics with the public advocacy campaign for the use of hand sanitiser, the demand for ethanol increased drastically as this is a major ingredient to produce hand-sanitiser and cleaning agents for surfaces.

The quantity of hand sanitiser and cleaning agents produced in-country is yet to be determined and the volume of ethanol required cannot be less than tens of million additional litres annually.

The land size required to cultivate the quantity of fresh cassava roots required to produce ethanol demanded in-country is 61,538.5 hectares, which is almost the total land mass of the country. This is just one of the cassava derivative and so alternative raw materials must be considered for ethanol production that will meet up with the quantity demanded. The table above also states the land mass required for the FCR quantity needed for other cassava-based products.

Abass et al. (2014) have argued that without mechanisation, using improved inputs alone will not sufficiently boost cassava production in Nigeria.

Regulatory Framework In Nigeria, staple foods, including cassava and cassava products have not been within the government regulatory framework. Despite the clear dominance of extra-governmental regulators in the Nigerian cassava sector, recent developments culminating in the emergence of a growing cassava industrial sector and the Presidential Initiative on Cassava are directing the attention of government regulators in standards, food and drugs administration, weights and measures, phytosanitary inspection, and consumer protection to the cassava sector. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) was established to investigate the quality of facilities, materials, and products in Nigeria, and establish a quality assurance system, including certification of factories, products and laboratories.

The SON standards for cassava products in Nigeria have just been produced as a direct outcome of the current emphasis on developing the emerging cassava industrial sector. The standards cover quality expectations of processes and outputs of cassava enterprises, packaging and labelling, specifications for local and export markets, and requirements to qualify from various categories of standard labels.

The emergence of clear standards from SON for various cassava products portends a good omen for NAFDAC’s ability to determine adulteration of cassava products, identify appropriate labels and packages and prescribing standard compositions of cassava products.

In the marketing of cassava roots and cassava products, volume measures are still the norm.

The vast volume of cassava and cassava products passing though informal channels into and out of Nigeria have not been assessed by this agency.

Enabling Policies Required Policies provide guidance, consistency, accountability, efficiency, and clarity on how an initiative, programme or project operates. This provides the implementation framework in terms of guidelines and principles for the organisation or teams to follow. There are policies that should be implemented and promoted to achieve the multi-billion US$ cassava industry Agricultural Policy r 4VQQPSU 1VCMJDJUZ PO )2$' JODMVTJPO policy as Private Public Partnership The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) planned to reduce wheat importation by implementing 10 per cent high quality cassava flour (HQCF) inclusion in bread policy. The benefits of the policy include increased gross domestic products (GDP), increased agricultural productivity, food security, foreign exchange savings, employment generation, and wealth creation. Efforts should be made to enforce this paper policy as this will bring about additional investments in the establishment of large scale HQCF factories in the country. r 1SPNPUJPO PG MPDBM DPOUFOU JO $BTTBWB industrialization The Presidential Initiative on Cassava has created a lot of opportunities for the industrialisation of the crop to acquire a core position in the economy.

One of the main objectives of this approach is to promote the adoption of improved and profitable post-harvest and processing technologies as well as new product(s) development. The local content in cassava industrialization initiative will draw the required attention to the potentials of cassava as an industrial raw material for the production of starch, ethanol, glucose syrup, etc in Nigeria. r 1SPNPUJPO PG DSPQ DVMUJWBUJPO JOTVSBODF contracts policy excluding exogenous default risks Conventional Insurance companies should have insurance policies for farmers and farming operations as this will give some level of indemnity and will bring more players into agricultural insurance sector and boost productivity. Also, just as the commercial banks have agriculture departments so also, insurance companies should be made to have agriculture departments with agriculture insurance policies for the various agricultural production units Trade Policy r *NQPSU SFTUSJDUJPO PO DBTTBWB CBTFE QSPEVDUT and close substitutes Nigeria introduced bans on the import of various products in 2002, which have been repeatedly modified since. The list of import bans has been reduced in the last years but did not disappear.

Under the “Tariff Book 2008-2012” import bans have continued for 26 product groups including: poultry, pork, beef, eggs, vegetable oil, noodles, waters, beer, bagged cement, some medicaments, soaps and detergents, corrugated paper and paper boards, some textiles, industrial gloves, footwear, bags, furniture etc.

In January 2011, a limited number of items were delisted (toothpicks, cassava, ready-made garments, certain types of furniture). Import restriction on cassava-based products and close substitutes is key to the industrialisation of the sub sector and should be enforced by government.

There are packaged garri coming into the country in recent times. r /P *NQPSU %VUJFT PO "HSJDVMUVSBM machineries and agro processing equipment Government should encourage investors in cassava industries by giving low or no import duties on Agricultural processing equipment and farming equipment that are not produced locally.

This will bring down the cost of investment and boost industrialisation of cassava business. r 4JOHMF EJHJU DSFEJU GBDJMJUJFT GPS DBTTBWB value chain actors on clear financial products Loans and other credit facilities for food and agro-allied players especially cassava processors, farmers and some other stakeholders should enjoy single digit credit facilities from the lending institutions. This will help the investors and show the commitment of government to the sector.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

28

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

How Emefiele Changed Narrative in Agriculture Sector Kelvin Gilbert

R

ecently the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) unveiled its first rice pyramids in South-west Nigeria, specifically in Ekiti State.

The unveiling was a follow up to the one done in Kebbi and Gombe states where the apex bank also unveiled 13 rice pyramids which housed 50kg bags of rice numbering 200,000.

It is not only rice, recently in Katsina State, the bank working with Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) also unveiled the first maize pyramid in Nigeria.

These exercises clearly showed that Nigeria is on the match towards self-sufficiency in food.

This is a clear departure from what the situation was before the present governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele assumed office in 2014.

As at 2014, Nigeria was spending N1.3 trillion worth of foreign exchange on the importation of food. This was despite the huge investment made in agriculture by the immediate past administration.

That was even an improvement, between 1990 and 2011, Nigeria imported an average of N1.923 trillion worth of commodities per annum. In essence, the nation imported about N1.0 billion worth of food per day in the period. This was about $9.28 million worth of food per day in the period.

The result reveals that although the country had a positive trade balance (on the aggregate) annual food import bill was in multiples of five times of the export.

At that same time, Nigeria was also spending about $5 billion annually on the importation of textiles, money that would have been ploughed into the development of infrastructure.

A report by the Global Economic Symposium (GES), also suggested a steady rise in prices of rice between 2006 and 2014, which indicated that Nigeria had been consuming more rice than it had been producing. “When I assumed office, I felt that that was not acceptable,” Emefiele said while justifying his policy thrust in the agricultural sector.

“My immediate question was: can we not produce these ourselves? After all, only a few decades ago, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of many agricultural products like palm oil, cocoa and groundnuts.”

He said food importation fueled domestic inflation, depleted foreign reserves, displaced local production and created unemployment.

“With the fast depletion of rice reserve in the

Emefiele country, it was obvious that Nigeria could not afford to sustain rice importation. We all know that import dependency especially on commodities of comparative advantage was neither acceptable nor sustainable.”

It was this stand that informed the establishment of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), a programme meant to provide farm inputs in kind and cash to small-holder farmers (SHFs) to boost agricultural production which had been neglected through years since Nigeria discovered that huge cash comes from crude oil.

The ABP launched in November 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari is re-writing the sour narrative on local agriculture. ABP is a low-interest loan scheme which gives ample room and flexibility for payment. Interest was as low as nine percent but with the advent of the COVID-19, the interest has been adjusted to as low as five percent. The loans are disbursed through any of the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs), all of which the programme recognises as Participating Financial

Institutions (PFIs). Categories of farmers captured under this programme include those cultivating cereals, cotton, roots and tubers, sugarcane, tree crops, legumes, tomato and livestock.

Because of this new push by CBN in the area of agriculture, the nation has witnessed a leverage and quantum leap in agricultural produce. Rice, yam, sundry grains, poultry and livestock among others have enjoyed increased production with some farmers exporting their produce.

With this has also come a significant improvement in the value chain. More and more farmers have upped their game by producing in the farm and processing for the table.

Through the ABP, the CBN governor did not only change the script from the old unimpressive order, he gave force of action to its performance.

The CBN ban on the importations of scores of goods, some of which can be described as lowhanging products for Nigerian entrepreneurs, and Emefiele’s determination to follow the ban through showed the character and the will of a central banker committed to rescuing his local economy from the

treacherous vagaries of a globalised marketplace.

So far, according to CBN, the programme has financed over 3.1 million farmers to the tune of over N492 billionfor the cultivation of 3,801,397 hectares across 21 commodities through 23 Participating Financial Institutions in the 36 states of the Federation and FCT, from the inception of the programme till date.

To mitigate against the risk of farmers not being able to pay back the loans, the CBN created the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), which also serves as a micro-finance bank to handle the loan disbursement.

No doubt, the ABP has been of tremendous assistance to farmers which is why those in other crop groups that are not captured in the programme are crying for attention, the problem however, is the implementation which appears to be flawed in some areas.

Commending the efforts of the CBN governor through the anchor borrowers programme, Dr Edwin Uche, National President of Maize Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MGPMAN), the ABP has given us hope. He noted that the pyramids are simply symbolic and to show that efforts are being made.

According to him, “the pyramids signify a lot depending on how you define it. It tells you the level of efforts being put in place to ensure that maize is grown and that the challenges associated with maize farming is being addressed gradually.

It also shows you that the farmers are working hard to support food security in Nigeria.

“It is also to motivate people within the value chain that it is possible to attain self sufficiency in food if we all work together. Yes there are questions about why the pyramids when there is scarcity, of course we have to do the pyramids to show the world that we are doing something to address the scarcity.”

One discernible result, according to operators in the nation’s textile industry, is that in 2019, textile industries had enough supply of cotton produced within the country for their raw materials with some still lying in their warehouses.

CBN’s Director, Development Finance Department, Yila Yusuf, said CBN is trying to bring back the glory of textiles of those days where the industry used to employ 10 million people across the country.

“In the 80s, we lost that glory because of smuggling where our country was turned to a dumping ground of textiles materials.” t(JMCFSU JT BO FDPOPNJTU CBTFE JO "CVKB

Standard Bank Organises Investors’Conference Standard Bank Group is bringing together international investors, policymakers and top African corporates to look ahead to the opportunities in a growing Africa. The 11th Africa Investors’ Conference (AIC), being organised in collaboration with ICBC Standard Bank, is being held over five days, from June 21st to 25th.

According to a statement,

Standard Bank Group has partnered with Microsoft to power the conference’s virtual format, using the Teams platform to host over 3,000 meetings between African corporates and institutional investors over the five-day period. Attendees would hear a keynote address from Corporate Vice President and President, Microsoft MEA,

Samer Abu-Ltaif,on why Africa’s speedy adoption of tech will help to drive growth on the continent. In 2020, a total of over 2,800 meetings which attracted over 40 corporates were facilitated through the conference.

The statement noted that this year is set to be the biggest yet, with at least 25 per cent more African corporates confirmed to attend. Further enhanced by the

attendance of some of Africa’s leading policymakers and speakers from prominent organisations in Africa and globally, the agenda-setting conference provides a virtual platform for equity investors such as AIG, Jefferies and JP Morgan to meet in select groups and identify investment opportunities with some of the continent’s most successful corporates, including

Nampak, MTN, Anglo American Platform, Liberty Holdings and many more.

“Key insights will be delivered during the conference’s flagship plenary sessions which will feature His Excellency, the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission

for Africa, Lesetja Kganyago, Governor, South African Reserve Bank and Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala.

“With the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in mind, this year’s conference is distinctly forward looking, and will track the opportunities on offer to investors and corporates under the themes of Africa’s People, Progress and Potential.

TPDCL, Silverbird Group Seal Cinema Contract Ndubuisi Francis ÓØ ÌßÔË President, Silverbird Group, Mr. Guy Murray-Bruce has assured that his firm’s multi-million naira contract with Tejuosho Property and Development Company Limited (TPDCL) would unlock new business opportunities for lasting and

enduring wealth in Lagos State.

Murray-Bruce, who disclosed this while signing a contract for the establishment of Silverbird Cinema at the shopping mall, Yaba, noted with enthusiasm, that Lagos State would witness more economic boom while infusing creativity in the minds of Lagosians, as more guests are expected to visit and patronize

the market.

He said: “Our strategic and innovative collaborations with a wholly-independent real estate development firm (TPDCL) will revolutionise value systems while creating new opportunities for lasting wealth.

“With this, we are going to attract new and more visitors into the market as well as the state”

he affirmed while signing an agreement to set-up a six- screen cinema at the mall.”

Briefing the journalists on the partnership agreement in Lagos State, the General Manager, TPDCL, Mr. Edward Stevenson said more business opportunities were expected, as more than 60,000 guests would visit the mall on daily basis.

He assured that adequate security arrangements have been made to control both human and vehicular traffic.

Stevenson noted that there are over 1, 000 car park spaces in different locations in and around the mall, noting that parking space would never pose a challenge for them. The management, he added, is also considering establishing a

community radio station in the mall for the dissemination of important information as well as advertising goods and services in and outside the market.

According to him, Tejuosho would be the first market in the whole of the African region to have cinema as well as radio station in a corporate mall, describing such feat as novel.

Ecobank Moves to Empower Female Entrepreneurs Nume Ekeghe and Chiamaka Ozulumba Ecobank Nigeria has gone into partnership with a media entrepreneur and blogger, Linda Ikeji to host ‘Self-Made Woman

2021’. The event is geared towards mentoring and providing financial empowerment and liberation to young aspiring female entrepreneurs, thereby building stronger economies and improving the quality of life for such women.

Speaking on the collaboration, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan said: “When Linda Ikeji approached us for partnership, we obliged her without hesitation because the initiative aligns with our

empowerment policy for women.

We recognise women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in the society.”

He reiterated that, Ecobank remains a women-friendly bank with many initiatives and

innovative products targeted at empowering and sustaining female entrepreneurs in Nigeria such as ‘Ellevate’ and ‘Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs Initiative (EFEI)’, which is designed to empower and support female

owned small-scale businesses.

Under the initiative, prospective female entrepreneurs have access to a special loan package, where they can easily access credit facility with interest rates as low as 1 percent.

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD

INSURANCE

As Claims’ Denials Unsettles Insurance Sector Non-payment of claims is one ugly habit that is threatening the future of Nigerian insurance sector, writes Ebere Nwoji

C

ustomers of insurance companies are no longer at ease with the rate of claims denial by companies in the sector.

Some of the aggrieved policy holders have threatened to take it personal with insurance agents who sold policies to them, but could at the expiry of the contract, could not stand by them to get their claims paid by the insurance firms.

Some policy holders have gone to the extent of threatening the lives of such agents if at their insurers deny them their claims.

Checks by THISDAY revealed that some of these non-claims paying insurance firms have weak financial base while some are even the big players.

A case in point was one of the firms with the highest premium who insured a house for a journalist at the sum of N20 million.

According to the journalist, at the time of signing the contract, after the inspection of the property, the insurance company said he should pay an extension for the policy he wants the insurance to cover.

Shortly after, the house the journalist insured was ravaged by flood. The journalist claimed that when he saw the flood affecting the house, he called the insurer’s attention but the officers failed to do anything or even to go to the area where the property was located.

According to the journalist, he even asked the insurer whether he could start doing something to prevent further damage to the house, but they said it was an insurance case therefore he should not tamper with the house.

But when the damage was completely done, he filed his claim only for the insurance firm to tell him that the cause of the damage was not insured against.

The journalist asked them about the extension he paid, but the company’s claims’ manager replied that what he insured for was flood but what damaged his house was erosion.

Thereafter, the journalist approached the Nigeria Insurers Association, (NIA), secured a meeting with the Director General who promised to look into the matter, but up till today nothing came out of it. He went further to report the case to NAICOM, the regulator whose officials told him to forward all the policy papers and mails between him and the insurer, but after all these, nothing has been done by the commission officials.

The journalist said he is now homeless because the damage to the house was enormous and his insurer had made away with the premium he paid before the damage occurred.

Aside these, various members of the insuring public who insured with some weak insurance companies are now in very tight corners as the companies are unable to pay their claims.

Indeed, claims settlement plays a pivotal role in establishing public confidence in insurance operators.

Unfortunately, the issue of non-settlement of claims and its attendant controversy between the insurance operators and the insuring public has continued to reoccur in the relationship between the public and insurance industry operators. The controversy sometimes occurs when an insured begins to make claims on a policy that was not accommodated by the contract he signed with his insurer or that his claim is genuine, but the insurer tries to deny it.

Going down memory lane, controversy on claims settlement could be said to be as old as insurance business in Nigeria.

The result is that till date, public confidence and trust on insurance industry has remained vague while patronage of the industry is very low.

This explains why for decades,

the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has continued to struggle to get the industry out of the woods and make its contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy meaningful.

From where the industry is today in terms of contributions to the GDP among other members of the financial services sector, it is certain that the commission is still far from achieving g this.

Currently, insurance contributes less than one per cent to the country’s GDP. On their part, insurers have put up various strategies to woo Nigerians to increase their patronage to the industry.

The insurers claimed that result of one of their researches on low penetration of insurance showed that ignorance of benefits of insurance has remained a prime factor that makes Nigerians not to buy insurance.

Believing this, the insurers have evolved series of awareness programmes geared towards making Nigerians buy insurance.

They had embarked on road shows,

lobbied government to introduce insurance as a subject of study in senior secondary schools and now their efforts have geared towards introducing insurance as subject of study in junior secondary and primary schools, all in an efforts to catch Nigerians young in their knowledge of insurance which will grow to patronage of the industry when they begin to earn income.

The insurers have gone round universities and other tertiary institutions to encourage them to establish insurance departments.

But, because of non-payment of claims, these efforts have not yielded the desired results as the industry continues to suffer from low patronage. On its part, NAICOM had in the past put up policies on claims payment in order to address the situation.

For instance, the commission had in the past given insurers a deadline to pay all outstanding claims or face sanctions.

The commission had then said the directive became necessary because non settlement of genuine claims had brought

the image of the industry to disrepute.

But despite the commission’s threat, operators remained adamant as they have been non-payment of claims. According to a former insurance commissioner, Mr. Fola Daniel, claims payment is the best advertisement the industry operators should do because a satisfied customer is the one that will market the next product of the company that satisfied him and the main thing that can satisfy a customer in insurance contract is the ease of claims payment.

Generally, some of the issues that could make claims payment outstanding include reporting delay, that is time gap between claims occurrence and claims reporting to the insurance company); and settlement delay because it usually takes time to evaluate the whole size of the claim.

Indeed in advanced countries, insurance managers are so faithful to their claims settlement obligation that they keep what they referred to as claims reserves which involves an insurance company putting

sufficient provisions from the premium payments aside, so that it is able to settle all the claims that are caused by these insurance contracts.

Here in Nigeria, it is not certain if such reserve is made. Where it is made, it is just merely put there for the regulator to see.

Often what is experienced is long period of argument between the insured and the insurers when claim occurs.

The argument is caused by the fact that while the insured wants to get his claims paid without delay, the claims department officers of insurance firms want to save their companies from spending on claims payment and this often delays payment of the claim. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, recently threatened to deal decisively with insurance firms not paying claims.

Indeed, from his statement, the commission will soon come up with a strategy that will expose non claims paying firms and deal with them without fear or favour.

30

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

AfCFTA: SON Canvasses Standards’Harmonisation for Products Oluchi Chibuzor In order to reap the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), there is the urgent need to harmonise products standards in Africa, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said.

It further stated that standards’ harmonisation would equally go a long way towards checking the activities of unscrupulous importers and dealers on fake and sub-standard products who would want to use the window opened by the trade pact to carry out economic sabotage.

Director General/ Chief Executive, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim stated these at the African Organisation for Standardisations (ARSO) Council Meeting as part of the ARSO General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda recently.

He was quoted in a statement to have said AfCFTA has presented the compelling need for product standards to be harmonised at the regional level in order to promote intra-

African trade.

He explained: “Africa is no doubt a big market. The advanced countries know this. Africa must therefore put her act properly together to compete with the rest of the world.

“ARSO needs to brainstorm concerning the kind, type and nature of products and services that could give Africa comparative advantage and value addition at the global market. It is all about global acceptability, competitiveness and regional economic development.’’ He stated that ARSO needs standardisation and quality assurance to promote sustainable agricultural and industrial growth, while ensuring food security in Africa, adding that SON has since developed several standards on agricultural and agro-allied products. Salim also congratulated the newly elected president of the 26th General Assembly of ARSO, who is the Director General, Ghana Standards Authority, Prof. Alex Dodoo. Salim said SON was set up to provide

technical assistance and support to genuine local manufacturers as well as protect them from unfair competition from substandard products.

While also acknowledging manufacturers’ sacrifices through investments in infrastructure, creation of job opportunities and regular payment of taxes as part of growing the nation’s wealth, he assured them of his commitment and support to boost local manufacturing in Nigeria.

Dodoo would succeed BOOTO à NGON Charles in June 2022, after he was unanimously elected in Kigali, Rwanda.

In his acceptance speech, Dodoo expressed gratitude to member-states for the trust and confidence reposed in Ghana and his candidature. “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to serve, having in mind the enormous task of supporting our respective governments in making the AfCFTA a success which is key to the continent post-covid recovery,” the president-elect stated.

Salim

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

USTDA, InfraCredit Partner on Infrastructure in Nigeria Goddy Egene InfraCredit, a specialised infrastructure credit guarantee institution has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Trade and Development Agency to bring high-quality U.S. infrastructure solutions to Nigeria.

InfraCredit is backed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Private Infrastructure Development Group companies GuarantCo and InfraCo Africa, KfW Development Bank, Africa Finance Corporation and African Development Bank.

Under the terms of the MoU, USTDA and InfraCredit will work together to identify infrastructure projects that could benefit from project preparation funding and subsequent credit enhancements.

This collaboration will facilitate the development of bankable infrastructure projects highlighting

U.S.-based solutions and bring them to market for InfraCredit’s investment-catalysing guarantees.

The sectors of cooperation highlighted in the MoU included clean energy, information and communications technology, transportation, agribusiness and healthcare infrastructure.

Commenting, USTDA’s Acting Director, Enoh Ebong said: “The foundation of any strong partnership consists of trust, mutual respect and collective prosperity. These principles are central to our relationship with InfraCredit. USTDA’s three decades of project preparation expertise is an excellent complement to InfraCredit’s financial guarantees. “Under our partnership, we will leverage each other’s resources to overcome many of the constraints that inhibit the bankability of infrastructure investments in Nigeria.”

Also commenting, Chief

Executive Officer of InfraCredit, Chinua Azubike said: “USTDA’s project preparation and partnershipbuilding activities have supported InfraCredit in executing wellstructured, bankable infrastructure projects that can access long term domestic institutional investments in Nigeria’s debt capital market. We believe this relationship is catalytic in strengthening local capacities and promoting domestic resource mobilisation for infrastructure finance in Nigeria.”

Currently, USTDA and InfraCredit are collaborating with Nigeria’s Hotspot Network Limited on the deployment of up to 2,000 cellular base stations that would expand digital connectivity in rural Nigeria. A USTDAfunded feasibility study on the project is currently underway for InfraCredit’s financial guarantee.

Since 1992, USTDA has funded nearly 80 project preparation activities in Nigeria.

FG Ends CSDP after 16,166 Micro Projects Olawale Ajimotokan ÓØ ÌßÔË The Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) has officially been concluded with over 11 million direct beneficiaries across the 29 states and an estimated 25 million indirect beneficiaries.

The programme was shut down yesterday by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq.

During it’s over 11-year span,

CSDP successfully completed16, 166 micro-projects in 5,664 communities and 934 vulnerable groups. The micro-projects cut across eight sectors of intervention namely education, health, water, transportation, electrification, socio-economic, environment and community housing.

In addition, 5,764 classrooms, 1,323 health centres and 4,442 water micro projects were constructed and/or rehabilitated.

The minister said the CSDP

operated with the core principle of Community Driven Development (CDD) approach.

The 11-year old programme was launched in 2009, for the implementation of the Social Protection Programmes of the federal government through the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) and now supervised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Access Bank Launches Initiative for Female Entrepreneurs Nume Ekeghe In a bid to empower female entrepreneurs, Access Bank Plc has unveiled the third edition of its ‘Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa’ programme.

The programme was designed to provide female owned businesses across Africa an opportunity to access finance, world-class business training as well as mentoring opportunities.

The programme was designed to create an enabling environment for female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

Speaking at the launch of the third edition of the initiative, Group Head, ‘W’ Initiative of the bank, Ms. Ayona Trimnell, said: “Access Bank has been a leading advocate for women’s economic empowerment in Africa and this is the key motivation for the ‘W’ Initiative which caters to

the women economy particularly in the areas of financing, capacity building and creating networking opportunities for women.”

She further stated that, “we launched the first Womenpreneur pitch-a-ton initiative in 2019 in line with our value proposition to be the number one bank of choice for women in Nigeria, and we have received over 100,000 applications over the last two years.

(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 ˜ Ͱͯ ͰͮͰͯ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $72.45 a barrel on Monday, compared with $71.56 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).

31

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

SAHCO Pays N223m Dividend, Assures Shareholders of Higher Returns Goddy Egene The Chairman, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc (SAHCO), Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, has assured shareholders of improved performance and enhanced returns on their investments in the years ahead.

Speaking at the 11th annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday in Lagos, Afolabi said keys areas that would receive greater attention from the manage-

ment in order to achieve the improved performance include new business drive, customer relationship management, brand equity improvement and effective pricing of services.

According to him, the company would devote sufficient resources to new equipment acquisition, infrastructural development and human capital development to ensure profitability He noted that the company would continue with its drive

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

of becoming one of the leading ground handling companies in Africa in terms of market share, client base, revenue and profitability.

Afolabi explained that with a next level mentality firmly entrenched by the board, the management had been mandated to pursue and deliver a better results in 2021 and the years ahead.The chairman stressed that shareholders remain a key interest group as the owners of the

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

business. Hence, he appreciated the shareholders for investing in the company and for the continuous support over the time. He said: “Let me further reiterate and assure that the company will always make decisions in the overall best interest of all shareholders.”

Speaking on the financial performance of the company, the managing director, Mr Basil Agboarumi, said SAHCO recorded a decrease of nine per

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

cent in its revenue from N7.655 billion in 2019 to N6.981 billion in 2020. According to him, SAHCO, however, made a profit after tax of N482.377 million in 2020 compared with N261.943 million posted in 2019.

He said the feat was achieved in spite of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The boost in our performance is as a result of the commitment of the workforce, and the smart marketing strategies,” Agboarumi

O F

said. He said the company in its quest to provide top-notch services, acquired environmental eco-friendly electronic powered baggage tow tractors and forklifts.

According to him, the equipment with zero emission are fitted with the latest technological innovation in the aviation industry.

The shareholders at the meeting unanimously approved 16.5 kobo per share dividend recommended by the board of directors which amounted to N223.34 million.

2 2 / 0 6 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

32

IMAGES

L-R: National President of Ogidi Development Union, Mr Kayode Eniolorunda presents an award to DirectorGeneral, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr Folorunsho Coker, at the Ogidi Ela Day 2021 celebration in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi...recently

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Photo Editor ÌÓÙÎßØ ÔËÖË Email ËÌÓÙÎßØ˛ËÔËÖË̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ×

L-R: Head Pastor, Dominion Chapel International, Bishop John Praise; Church of God Mission Abuja Chapter, Bishop Festus Akhimien; and Head pastor, Church of God Internationa,l Bishop Feb idahosa, during the National Day of Prayer for Nigeria held in Abuja...recently

L-R: Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun receiving a from the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, during the visit of the Ambassador to Presidential Villa in Abuja...recently

Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (left) inspecting a quarter guard at the Naval Base Baga, Borno State...recently

L-R: Commercial Director, Josien World, Samuel Douglas; Country Manager, Punch Marketing Limited, Chris Parkes; Managing Director, Punch Marketing Limited, Mrs. Tayo Parkes; and Chief Executive Officer, Sofisticat 360, Lanre Ogunlesi , during the launch of Sainte Croix Cognac in Lagos...recently

L-R: Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Chairman Afenifere Renewal Group, Hon OlawaleOsun; Special Adviser on Political Matters, Hon. David Olusoga; duringa colloquium commemorating the June 12 1993 election in Ado Ekiti...recently

L-R: Assistant to the Special Adviser on Job Creation and Youth Empowerment to the Ogun State Governor, Abiola Odetola; Director, Sustainability and Corporate Communications, IHS Nigeria, Cima Sholotan; Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Hon.Ramon Kolawole Salako; Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Toyin Taiwo; and Special Adviser on Finances, Dimeji Belo, at the graduation ceremony of 100 beneficiaries from the IHS Project Empower initiative in Ogun State...recently

L-R: Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe (PDP, Adamawa South), his son, Stephen Binos; and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the First Solo Exhibition of Paintings and Photographs by Stephen Binos in Abuja...recently

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 • T H I S D AY

33

34

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ, ͰͮͰͯ

EDUCATION RedirectingYouths towards PositiveValues, Nation Building Mr. Isaac Olaniyi Alaka is the founder of Palatable Poison, a non-governmental organisation aimed at reaching out to students in schools on the need for them to eschew sexual immorality, drug abuse and other vices that could jeopardise their future. He explained to Funmi Ogundare its impact so far since its establishment and the need for government to support the organisation so as to further strengthen the outreach and ensure that the country builds people that are morally and mentally sound

T

he country’s value system seems to have been eroded so much that it is affecting the youths who constitute a larger percentage of the population.

Often time, too many young people receive confusing and conflicting information about morality and sex as they grow from childhood to adulthood. Worse still, many parents or guardian do not create time to give sex education to their adolescents or wards because they are either too busy trying to fend for their families or instead of correcting them for any wrong doing, they chastise them, thus creating a big void.

Rather than allow the future of these young ones to go down the drain, a non-governmental organisation, Palatable Poison, saw the need to fill the void that has been created, by organising school outreaches to talk to adolescents on how they could discover their purpose in life, stay out of immorality and other vices.

The founder, Mr. Isaac Olaniyi Alaka told THISDAY what spurred his passion to establish the organisation.

“The organisation berthed from a passion of what I saw around me. I have come to discover that morality and chastity has taken a flight from the lives of the youths. I saw many youths becoming cultists, drug addicts, rapists, going deep into pornography, mastubation and all forms of sexual immorality. We have quite a number of non-governmental organisations, but it seems as if they are not really touching where they ought to touch. The NGO started when I was serving in a school in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State as a youth corps member in 2014, but Palatable Poison started three years ago.

“While I was teaching in a school, I was given some subjects to teach, but I felt there was more to impacting the youths than just teaching. So I requested for three more subjects.

I was taking all classes from JS one to SS three.

Each time I taught them, some of them wrote on a paper that they were molested by their uncles, fathers and pastors. I discovered that at the onset, some of them were brilliant, but when they got involved in pre-marital sex, their academics began to deteriorate.

“Then I saw the need to correct this wrong by putting them through and afterwards, I discovered that 80 per cent of them were getting back their academic excellence. So I felt if this is a solution to their problem, then there is a need to give them a one-on-one counselling.

I now entrenched it to other regions beyond the school I taught in. I told the principal to give me a day off because he saw the result and the impact I was making on the lives of the students.

“They were becoming morally sound, no more sagging, smoking and drinking or hanging around the fence. The one day off my principal gave me was used to reach out to other public schools around. As a tough corps member, they gave me the opportunity to penetrate the schools. After this, 80 per cent of the students came back rejoicing and I picked up the mandate to impact. That was when Palatable Poison started.”

Alaka said while he was looking for a paid employment three years ago, he was caught up in a short revelation where he saw himself in a room with an angel who showed him several teenagers involved in sexual immorality, adding that he had to resign from his paid employment to work full time to impact students positively and so far, the impact has been huge.

“I saw about seven of those; lesbianism, bestiality, incest and men smoking. The angel told me that what they were doing is palatable to their bodies and poison to their soul and future. So that was what berthed Palatable Poision.

“I worked as an accountant in a dental

The founder, Palatable Poison, Mr. Isaac Alaka (middle), with students and some members of his team during a school outreach in Lagos... recently clinic then, but I wasn’t fulfilled. I had to resign and I worked for Project for Human Development (PHD), we go to schools, but I was still restricted, so I resigned. I picked up this myself to reach out to students and so far, we have been able to reach out to 150 public and private schools in Lagos, Oyo, Osun and Ogun states.”

In February this year, Alaka who is a sickle cell carrier, said he and his team members were able to touch about 35 schools. Some took topics on rape, drug abuse, abortion, premarital sex, while others took topics on living purposeful life.

He said the impact has been tremendous, adding that some of the students felt remose by their actions after he shared his story of how he was able to scale through his sickle cell experience and crisis.

“So I call myself sickle brave that though I can be a sickle cell carrier, yet fulfil my purpose.

We have been to several schools to impact the youths and a lot of them write to us. I have about 2,000 handwritten letters, 90 per cent of them border on the issue of molestation, forced into immorality and drugs, as well as smoking through peer pressure. One SS1 student told me he is into cultsm and that they have gone to rob before.

“The work is large, but the little we can do is to help reach out. They also confide in us which makes us happy. I believe that praying with them is not enough. One of them told me how she has slept with her father and brother and is now seeking for help. The letters were too much for me that I had to discard some and send some to their school.

“The work is getting too bulky for me and people are getting to know us. We feel that there is more to do than keeping their letters.”

In the course of impacting students, Alaka said some of them had disclosed to him how they had thought of committing suicide because they were either being neglected by their parents or they felt the society does not need them.

“I got two letters recently, one of them said if I had not come, she would have attempted suicide. Another said she was tired of living, that this world does not need her. Many of them said their parents never had time for them and they have never had any conversation with them except being flogged or chastised.

One said he had the best position when he was in primary school, and when they were about giving him the prize, the mother had left. Another said there was no love at home and no attention was given to them.”

Alaka said lack of attention from parents at home is the reason most adolescents look out to get it from others who molest them in one way or the other, adding that peer pressure or the association of friends that they keep bring to them low self-esteem or make them feel unwanted.

“I have always told them that your association determines your acceleration. Low self-esteem could come from the school or church and try to bring the self-esteem of the girl-child down, stigmatisation is also a factor. I was stigmatised and I had low self-esteem and that was why I had suicidal thoughts at some point. The students also felt that why will they continue failing a course when they teach some of their friends who pass the same subjects.

They feel that their parents scold them and their teacher didn’t help matters and none of their friend puts them through.”

For those that have gone through these challenges, Alaka said his organisation provides therapy for them by hammering on the fact that there is greatness inside of them, adding that these words make them feel better.

“A family friend once committed suicide because her mother told her she cannot amount to anything and that if she fails her SSCE again, they will send her to the village. So by the time she got her result, seeing that she had failed, she hung herself. We found that these are some of the things destroying many lives. I spent about seven years in the university, I was failing due to my crisis and my parents actually neglected me.

“We need to let the children know that this is where it came from. I wasn’t well fed when I was in school and any little thing triggers my crisis, I also had pneumonia of the lungs, so I felt what was I living for! I had suicidal thoughts then, until I met a counsellor who told me that I can be a sickle cell carrier, but still live longer. So from there, I was able to get out of low self-esteem and stigmatisation and suicidal thoughts,” he said.

According to him, when teenagers engage in premarital sex, it brings about premature maturity such that will make them feel that they are on top of the world and are uncontrollable.

This, he said makes them to lose concentration in their academics.

“Some of them drop out of school, some of them even slap and insult their teachers. That is why we lay emphasis on premarital sex.”

Asked the effects of COVID-19 on his team to spread the message, the founder said it created a bond between families such that

parents were able to make out time for their daughters and sons and they had the privilege to ask questions, adding that it was also an opportunity for the organisation to reach out to them via social media platforms.

“We organised online teachings, chatted with them, created a teens group and shared true life stories with them and they were able to open up to us. We also got some funding from two organisation from UK and we were also exposed to online trainings and teachings that on a normal day, we wouldn’t have been exposed to.”

He however said some of the students got exposed to internet and they began to download erotic things that are presently affecting them negatively. “Some of the girls wrote to us that they saw their first pornography during COVID-19 and they began to practice it and now, they could not get it off her minds. One of the girls told me she used to be the best student in her class, but she lost concentration as a result.

“At that period, fathers too began to sleep with their female children. COVI-19 actually affected families both negatively and positively in terms of their mental wellbeing and emotional inteligence. It however brought out the best in some and the beast in others. The effects were 50:50.”

Asked if he thinks the government is doing enough through the schools curriculum to emphasise on sex education in schools, Alaka said, “they are not doing enough, there should be more sensitisation on the issue and there should be a body that will be responsible to scrutinise, teach and talk about these issues in schools, else we will not stop seeing abuse, rape and molestation.”

He said the government should empower more youths and give them the opportunity to access schools, saying that the more children are left in the hands of uncles, brothers, neighbours who lie to them, the more we will keep losing covenant children and future of Nigeria into suicide, depression and low self-esteem.

He expressed concern that some teachers who are paid to teach students are the ones endangering their lives saying, “I heard the story of a teacher who taught 14 female students in Akute after school hours. He is a pastor, one of the girls confessed that the teacher disflowered her and same for all of them.

For such teaching position, the teacher must be someone that should be trusted and the man is not struggling with sexual indiscipline.

“In the course of my studies as a student, I discovered that those that were lured into premarital sex were pastors’ daughters and girls from reputable homes, so the bad girls were the ones pimping them, if pastors’ daughters can actually fall into that, it means the pastor is not doing enough from the home front. Most times, we put the blame on the girl because she is exposing her body.

“If the government can grant such opportunity, it will go a long way. I once shared my true life story with them on how I was dealth with. One of the five things I talked about was purpose, when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable, when you discover your purpose, it leads to recovery.

They need to know who they are and build themselves up. We need people who are morally and mentally sound to lead this nation into the promised land.”

Alaka stated that his organisation needs more volunteers and support in terms of finances to further grow the outreach and make more impact in the area of stamping out the issue of drug abuse, sexual immorality and depression among adolescents.

“If government can empower more people like us, who have passion, they have provision, so when passion meets provision, it moves to action and manifestation,” he said.

35

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͱ, ͰͮͰͯ

EDUCATION

More Nigerian Schools to Get Thinking School Accreditation

Change Tactics in Securing School Children, Varsity Don Tells Govt

Uchechukwu Nnaike

Governments across the country have been tasked to change tactics in securing school children who have become high targets by armed bandits and kidnappers.

A lecturer at the Gombe State University, Dr. Umar Adamu, who decried the consistency in which these attacks have been going on without any solution, said the situation is so alarming and is posing a serious threat to the development of the country in general.

He said this while presenting a paper on ‘Education, Development and Security’ at the commemoration of the ‘Day of the African Child’, organised by Save the Children International, held in Gombe.

According to him, the rate of kidnapping of children is alarming to the extent that parents are afraid of sending their children

The Greensprings Training College (GTC) has announced that more Nigerian schools are adopting the Thinking School education approach based on how the novel approach is reinforcing schools’ curriculum across the world.

The education approach was first embraced in Nigeria in 2018 by Greensprings School, Lagos, and now, Grenville Schools, Lagos and Evergreen School, Enugu are also on their way to becoming certified Thinking Schools, courtesy of GTC. Explaining the importance of Thinking School accreditation, the Head of Greensprings Training College and one of the programme’s national trainers, Mr. Abraham Ogunkambi, said the aim of the programme is to help schools build a community in which their students, teachers and even parents can become pragmatic problem solvers.

He said, “becoming a Thinking School comes with lots of advantages. The modules of the training focus on teaching staff how they can become better thinkers; they also learn how they can teach students to think critically,

creatively, and objectively to solve both academic and life problems.

“Aside from that, the Thinking School programme helps improve students’ academic performance and reduces behavioural problems. The reason for this is that the programme teaches students to think about the consequences of their actions and inactions, thereby making them to be responsible for the outcomes.”

Ogunkambi also revealed the procedure of becoming a Thinking School, stating that it is an 18-month journey. “It takes 18 months to become certified, and within that period, Thinking School national trainers would train the drive team of the school to equip them with the skills, resources and techniques that will enable them to pass this knowledge to their colleagues, for onward training of their students and in some cases, their parents are trained as well,” he said.

Thinking School is an initiative of the University of Exeter, in collaboration with Thinking Matters.

Greensprings Training College is the official training partner for Thinking School in Nigeria.

Segun Awofadeji in Gombe

to schools, while the children are scared of going to schools for fear of being kidnapped or eventually killed.

“The situation is getting out of hand and that is why we are always calling on government to change their style in the area of providing security in the school environment.”

Adamu called on the state government to take proactive measures, saying, “security measures must be tightened considering what is happening with our neighbours.”

He said Nigeria can only be assured of the future of its children and the country in general if the learning environment is secured for children, adding, “government must also deploy all the necessary and relevant facilities and materials in schools.

“In the past, the schooling system was very conducive, but now, because of the increase in population, government is not

doing much to expand by building more schools, classrooms, providing learning materials and also recruiting more qualified teachers and improve on their welfare.

“The teaching profession needs to be attractive, but if you look at the way teachers are being treated by government now, it has discouraged people from joining the teaching profession because of the negligence,” he stressed.

Earlier, the Advocacy Coordinator of Save the Children in Gombe, Mr. Akpan Effiong, said the 2021 International Day of the African Child has the theme, “30 Years after the Adoption of the Charter: Accelerate Implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa Fit for hildren’.

He said, the day was being celebrated with a call for serious reflections and commitment towards addressing the numer-

ous challenges facing children across Africa.

According to him, the celebration should be a build up to the realisation of the rights of children from the family, community level and up to national and international levels.

He said, Agenda 2040 provides a child centred focus based on the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which highlights children’s rights and welfare concerns in paragraph 53.

The celebration witnessed participation of children from several schools across the state with key advocacy messages centred on promotion, protection and provision of the rights of children; protection of children from violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse; domestication of child’s right law, as well as the rights of the girl child to access quality basic education in a safe environment up to senior secondary level.

NiMet Builds Weather Station to Boost Agriculture, Learning at MOUAU Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has built a meteorological station at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the institution.

The Vice-Chancellor of MOUAU, Prof Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, who made this known at a news conference to mark his 100 days in office, said the process of acquiring the weather station had stalled for over two years before he assumed duties as the VC. “Today the university’s state-of-the-art weather station built and equipped by NiMet is fully functional,” he said, adding that the agency has also made a firm commitment to equip the meteorological laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment.

He added that the deal made with NiMet involved staff training and provision of resource materials, noting that the acquisition of the weather station is a historical feat for MOUAU. “Unarguably, the weather station is very important for agriculture, meteorological studies, civil engineering, and other courses,” the VC said.

According to him, the presence of NiMet would fasttrack the accreditation of the university’s Water Resources Department and Agro Meteorological Department, as well as

“open up more opportunities to us for collaboration and more permanent partnership.”

The weather station built at MOUAU was part of efforts

by NiMet to increase the density of its meteorological operations across Nigeria in line with the requirements of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

The new VC, who highlighted his achievements within the first 100 days of his administration, said he had untied the knots that stalled various projects in the institution hence contractors have returned to complete abandoned projects.

He stated that the 45 brand new vehicles that were acquired for transport services, but abandoned to rot away for the past five years would now be deployed for their original purposes as the dispute with the contractor that supplied the vehicles has now been resolved.

The VC expressed his love for electronic and digital means of rendering services, saying that his administration has deployed digital platforms for senate meetings, information dissemination, issuance of statement of results. transcripts, among others.

He promised that he would never deviate from steering the ship of his administration in the desired direction while maintaining an open door policy and throwing “my doors are open to accommodate the varied public we have to serve.”

Participants at the Maltina School Games final held at Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi State... recently

FG Decries Non-implementation of National Home Grown School Programme in Kwara, Bayelsa Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The federal governemnt has expressed concern over the non-implementation of its National Home Grown School Programme in Kwara and Bayelsa States.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouk, who stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State capital during a courtesy visit to the Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi, added that other 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had already enrolled into the programme.

She attributed the state’s

delay in the enrolment to initial non-compliance with the programme’s guidelines and COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister said “with the relaxation of lockdown caused

by COVID-19 and resumption of schools, the state will soon be there.”

Represented by Special Assistant to the President on National and Social Investment Programme, Dr. Nasir Mahmud, the minister said the state recently expressed its preparedness to come on board the programme.

She said based on the data available from the state, about 96,000 pupils in public schools

from primary one to three would benefit from the programme, adding that over 1,500 schools would also be enrolled.

She added that primary one to three pupils are the targets of the school feeding programme in the country.

“Recently, the state communicated to the ministry that it is ready and we are here to assess the status of the preparedness and if there is any support we need to give, the ministry will give to make the state come on board.

“So far, we are very happy with what we saw. We just debriefed the state deputy governor about our findings.

There are very few gaps here and there and we believe together with the national and state governments we will soon address them to make sure the state begins the programme.

In a matter of weeks I am confident that the programme will commence in the state.”

She said the programme had steadied enrolment of pupils in public schools in the federation.

“We have seen tremendous improvement in schools’ enrolment in the country. The other objective of the programme is to make sure students stay in schools resulting in learning improvement,” the minister added.

9mobile Trains Journalists on Reporting Analytics In line with its commitment to strengthen and advance the growth of Nigeria’s media profession, 9mobile recently held the second edition of its capacity-building session for journalists drawn from across different news desks.

With the theme ‘News Reporting: Using Analytics in News Gathering and Understanding of Audience Profile’, the session was facilitated by an experienced

multimedia producer and social media strategist, Usifo Omozokpea, who is currently the Audience Development Manager (West Africa) at The Conversation Africa.

According to Omozokpea, the use of analytics in news gathering is critical in navigating the ever competitive battle for attention.

“The dynamics of journalism has long changed. In addition to dealing with a dwindling budget,

news outlets are faced with attracting audience attention; the audience can no longer be taken for granted. This poses a central challenge for journalism as its role is premised on connecting with an audience,” he said.

Explaining further, he said: “Analytics is a two-sided thing, the content and audience analysis. To this end it has become necessary for journalists to equip themselves with the knowledge

of their target audience using data and analytics.”

Omozokpea noted that audience data is a complement to the journalist’s intuition, adding, “there is always the firsthand experience. What analytics does is to provide guide on how to tell the story better using appropriate headlines, graphics, photos, descriptions etcetera, while keeping the audience in mind.”

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23,2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

36

NEWSXTRA

Court Sentences Lawan to Seven Years in Jail Alex Enumah in Abuja Justice Angela Otaluka of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo District of Abuja, yesterday sentenced a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Farouk Lawan to seven years imprisonment for demanding $3million bribe from

an oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola.

Justice Otaluka handed down the jail term to Lawan after finding him guilty on all three-count criminal charge brought against him by the federal government.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had slammed a three-count

criminal charge against the former Chairman of House Committee that probed payments of oil subsidy.

Lawan was accused of demanding the sum of $3 million from Otedola so as to exonerate his firm, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from alleged complicity in

Buhari Appoints Buratai, Olonisakin, Ambassadors to Benin Republic, Cameroon Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai (rtd.), as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic.

A former Defence Chief, Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (retd.), was named the Head of Mission to Cameroon.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, according to a statement by the Information Officer in the ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, presented letters of credence to the ex-service chiefs, during a brief ceremony in Abuja.

“The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Geoffrey Onyeama today, June 22, 2021, presented Letters of Credence to the Ambassador-Designate of Nigeria to the Republic of Cameroon, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (rtd.), and the Ambassador-Designate of Nigeria to the Republic of Benin, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai (rtd.).

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs during the brief ceremony congratulated the immediate-past service chiefs on their appointment and called on them to deploy

their wealth of experience to promote Nigeria’s interest during their tour of duty in countries of accreditation.”

The statement was, however, silent on the posting of the other former service chiefs – former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok- Ette Ibas (rtd), ex-Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar (rtd.); and former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Usman (rtd.).

Buhari had on February 4, 2021, appointed the exservice chiefs as non-career Ambassadors.

Remain Selfless, Disciplined, Yahaya Charges Soldiers Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General Farouk Yahaya, has charged troops of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army to remain selfless and disciplined in the discharge of their duties.

He said his administration would provide troops with the needed equipment and welfare support to discharge their responsibilities effectively.

According to a statement issued yesterday by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, the COAS spoke in his address to troops at Abakpa

Cantonment, Enugu.

The statement was titled, ‘Be selfless, patriotic in the discharge of your duties – COAS charges troops.’

“The Chief of Army Staff, Maj Gen Farouk Yahaya, has charged the troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army to remain selfless and disciplined in the discharge of their duties. He made this assertion during his address to troops today 22 June 2021 at Abakpa Cantonment, Enugu.

“Gen Yahaya, who was on his maiden operational visit to 82 Division Area of Responsibility said his administration would

provide troops with the requisite support including improved welfare and equipment to discharge their responsibilities effectively.”

In his welcome address, the General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Maj. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, expressed the commitment of the Division to tackle all threats to national security in South-Eastern Nigeria He lauded the COAS’ concern for the wellbeing of troops and his timely operational visit to the Division Area of Responsibility, adding that the visit will shore up troops’ morale as they perform their duties.

Most Injuries at Lekki Tollgate were from Machete Cuts, Stampede, Says Lagos Davidson Iriekpen The Lagos State Government yesterday claimed that most of the injuries sustained by protesters at the Lekki tollgate during the October 2020 EndSARS protests were from machete cuts and stampede.

The Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, stated this when he appeared before the Lagos Judicial Panel on police brutality to represent the state government.

Muri-Okunola came to the panel to present a timeline of the activities of the state government during the #EndSARS protests, including the Lekki tollgate shooting.

The HoS noted that the state government established an adhoc committee, referred to as the incident command centre, during the protests to monitor the security situation in Lagos.

He said when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu visited Reddington Hospital and General

Hospital, Marina, on October 21, 2020, it was discovered that 25 patients were receiving treatment in the two hospitals.

“Due to the monitoring activities of the incident command centre, we were informed that there were indeed casualties in some of our hospitals in Lagos. There were more than other places — based on our feedback and information monitoring — in Reddington Hospital on Admiralty Way, and in General Hospital, Marina,” he said.

ABUAD Industrial Park will Boost Economy, NACCIMA Tells Babalola The National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Hajiya Saratu Iya Aliyu yesterday commended the founder of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola for inaugurating the National Park, adding that, when completed, it would boost the economy of the state.

In a statement made available to journalists, the President who also laid the foundation for the Wood Processing Factory at the Park,

said that when completed, the various factories at the park would spark up a positive revolution that would eventually improve not only the economy of Ekiti State but that of Nigeria.

Hajiya added that the factories would also provide employment opportunities for the teeming youths and would serve as a practical learning spots for students of the university.

On the team of NACCIMA was the Deputy National President, Mr. Dele Oye, who also laid the foundation blocks for the Rice

processing factory. Other projects inaugurated were the University’s Independent Power Project (IPP), foundation-laying of Herbal Drug Production Factory, Intravenous Fluid Manufacturing Factory, Yam (Poundo) Factory, Cassava Factory Pepper Drying and Processing Factory, among others.

The highlight of the event was the presentaton of NACCIMA @60 and Nigeria @ 60 Excellence Award in the Practice of Law and Outstanding contributions to Education in Nigeria to Babalola.

the subsidy scam perpetrated by some oil marketers under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He was also accused of receiving the sum of $620,000 cash from Otedola being partpayment of the bribe.

Delivering judgment in the suit yesterday in Abuja, Justice

Otaluka found the defendant guilty, and subsequently sentenced him to seven years imprisonment on counts one and two of the charge and five years on count three.

The sentences however, are to run concurrently.

Meanwhile, the Judge also ordered Lawan to refund the

sum of $500,000 he collected from Otedola to the coffers of the federal government.

Lawan before his arraignment was a four-term member of the House of Representatives, who represented Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State between 1999 and 2015.

CBN Rolls Out 27,000Mt of Paddy Rice to Crash Price James Emejo in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said plans had been finalised to distribute 27,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice directly to millers nationwide effective June 24.

The initiative which is being undertaken in partnership with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), is expected to address the rising cost of food prices in the Nigerian market.

The move will come as huge relief to Nigerians who have raised concerns that despite the bountiful harvest season, the prices of food commodities especially rice had been on the increase.

Stakeholders have variously blamed the middlemen for hoarding the commodity in order to benefit from an artificial scarcity, thereby unduly affecting prices.

But the CBN and relevant farmers’ associations had assured that prices will plummet once the

harvest came.

The apex bank however, stated that the direct allocation from RIFAN warehouses across 16 states of the federation followed the earlier sale of paddy aggregated as loan repayment under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to millers from the rice pyramids recently unveiled in Niger, Kebbi, Gombe and Ekiti states.

The CBN in a statement by the acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, pointed out that Kaduna State had been selected as key location for the paddy allocation exercise which will be done simultaneously in the states that recorded the highest quality of rice harvests during the last farming season.

He said the new strategy was in line with the bank’s mandate of ensuring price stability and its focus of being a people-centered central bank.

Nwanisobi also expressed

optimism that the allocation of the paddies would trigger a decline in the prices of rice in the country, boost availability, and ultimately check the activities of middlemen seeking to create artificial scarcity along the supply chains.

The CBN, working with relevant agencies, had in January triggered the release of about 300,000 metric tonnes of maize from strategic anchors under the ABP which forced down the prices of maize from N180,000 per metric tonne.

The economy had witnessed upward inflationary trajectory for 18 consecutive months in recent times, caused largely by food inflation.

However, analysts are optimistic that addressing the insecurity challenges bedeviling the country could further impact positively on prices.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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Gunmen Kill APC Scribe in Ondo James Sowole in Akure Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers have killed a member of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Hon Dele Isibor.

Isibor was said to have died on Monday from injuries he sustained from the attack.

Isibor was Secretary of the APC in Ose Local Government Area.

A statement by spokesman of the party, Mr. Alex Kalejaiye, said the late Isibor was a dependable ally and deeply committed to the development of the APC at the grassroots.

Kalejaiye said Isibor was attacked at the weekend while on his way to Ifon,

headquarters of Ose Local Government Area.

According to him: “The party condemns the violent attack on its stalwart, which led to his painful exist, at the time the party

is warming up for its congress.

“Security challenge has been a major focus of the APC-led government in Ondo State for which so much has been done.

The attack on Isibor and others

has again underscored the need for every stakeholder to support the security initiative of the State Government to stamp out all forms of criminality.

“Praying for the repose of his

gentle soul, the party condoles with the Isibor family, his community, and the APC fold in Ose, and indeed, Ondo State, asking God to grant us the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

Osinbajo Restates FG’s Commitment to Growth of MSMEs Deji Elumoye inAbuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated the federal government’s commitment to give prioritised attention to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), especially those creating jobs for Nigerians.

Osinbajo stated this yesterday during a tour of some MSMEs in Abuja in the company of Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, which took them to DLK Clothing Signatures Limited, a manufacturer of shoes, garments and other items, located in Lugbe, and the Roving Heights Book Store located at the Wuse II area of the FCT. At the Lugbe facility, Osinbajo was conducted around the different production lines by the CEO of the company, Lovelyn Mbanefo.

The vice president, while interacting with the workers at the factory, observed the inner workings and the different processes in the

production line.

At the Roving Heights Book Store in Wuse II, the Vice President was conducted around the Book Store by Ms. Nike Oyetunde, the Co-founder of the book store, where he bought a few titles and was told about the business operations and how sales fare in the book store.

Speaking after the tour, Osinbajo expressed satisfaction with the operations of both MSMEs, adding that what he had observed was quite impressive.

According to him, “this is our MSME Week; we are looking at star MSMEs here and there, looking at what they are doing and in what ways we can support them. So, we are looking forward to working with them. We are here at the DLK manufacturing company. They manufacture, as you have seen, boots, shoes, special uniforms for the NYSC, for the Armed Forces, and they also make bags and masks.

Even face masks.

APC Confession of Failure Vindicates Us, Says PDP Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said the confession by the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) when they gathered yesterday in Abuja for a youth conference, that their party and President Muhammadu Buhari have failed to deliver, vindicated its position that they (APC and Buhari) will leave office in 2023 without any legacy.

The PDP described the efforts by the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, to have blamed President Buhari and the APC’s failure on a so-called face-off between the executive and the National Assembly as a despicable juvenile excuse for the incompetence and corruption that weighs down the Buhari

administration.

The opposition party in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, insisted that as the APC leaders have summoned the courage to admit that the party and Buhari presidency are a bunch of failure that have brought so much challenges to the country, “Nigerians expect them to advise Buhari to end his presidency’s recourse to false performance claims and seek help from more competent hands to manage the affairs of our country.

“The APC leaders’ confession is stating the obvious as the Buhari presidency and the APC have only succeeded in wrecking our once robust economy, and turned our country to a beggar country as well as the poverty capital of the world.”

Seven Die in Ekiti Auto Crash Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti No fewer than seven people yesterday lost their lives in an auto crash on Iluomoba-Aisegba road in Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

Several persons were also wounded during the head-on collision involving a luxury bus and an 18-passenger bus.

The incident happened by 6 a.m. yesterday when the luxury bus with registration number: BDG-47-WT, and one Hummer bus with registration number: ABC-82-XH, reportedly collided, leading to the death of some persons.

Due to the severity of the accident, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Mobayo, and

the state Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, visited the scene of the fatal accident.

Eyewitness confirmed that the luxury bus was coming from Kano to Lagos while the bus was traveling from Lagos to Abuja before the collision allegedly caused by high speed occurred.

A statement issued by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Sunday Abutu, explained that: “At about 6 a.m., a luxury bus had a head-on collision with an 18-seater bus on Ilumoba/Aisegba road which led to the death of seven persons, including the driver, who were on the Hummer bus, while several others on the luxury bus sustained different degrees of injuries.

SEALED AND DELIVERED…

L-R: Head, External Communications and Innovation, CSR-in-Action, Mr. Dami Vera-Cruz; Chief Executive, CSR-in-Action, Bekeme Masade; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo; and Director, CSR-in-Action, Mr. Meka Olowola, during a courtesy visit to the minister to present the 2020 Corporate Sustainable Investor Report (CSIR) developed by CSR-in-Action, in Abuja…recently

Three Persons Feared Killed over Stolen Phone in Kogi Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja No fewer than three persons were killed over an alleged stolen mobile phone in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.

The incident occurred at APD area, opposite NNPC filling Station, along Lokoja-Abuja Highway.

THISDAY gathered that a suspected snatcher had stolen the phone and later killed its owner, while trying to escape.

The suspect later sneaked into a shop where the innocent shop

owner was mistaken for the thief and was killed by a mob while the suspect escaped.

However, sympathisers identified one of the alleged killers of the shop owner and beat him to death and set the corpse ablaze while some persons were taken to the hospital for injuries they sustained during the clashes.

The Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. William Ayah, confirmed the incident and explained that a report got to the police around 10.00 a.m. that some miscreants were fighting

opposite the NNPC filling station at the ADP area of Felele, outskirt of Lokoja.

Ayah explained that the Divisional Police Officer mobilised a patrol team and found two corpses at the scene of the incident, stressing that investigation revealed that Shalisu Ado, 20 and Mohammed Mukaila 19 years engaged themselves in a fight over a yet-to-be ascertained issue.

He noted that in the process, Mukaila allegedly stabbed

Ado on his chest and he died instantly, but some youths who had sympathy for Ado carried out a reprisal attack on Mukaila, lynched him and set his corpse ablaze.

Ayah stated that two persons who were found with Mukaila, namely Mr. Muhammed Mubarak and Mr. Suleiman Yakubu, who were believed to be members of Aro Bags secret cult were mercilessly beaten by the mob but were rescued by the police and taken to hospital.

Ondo Court Grants Alleged #EndSARS Protester N10m Bail James Sowole in Akure The Ondo State High Court that sat at the Correctional Centre, Olokuta, Akure, has granted bail to Ms. Kemisola Ogunniyi, a suspected EndSARS protester who delivered a baby in prison custody.

She gave birth to a baby boy in the prison custody last week’s Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Ogunniyi and

three others were standing trial at the high court for allegedly vandalising a property during the EndSARS protest, which took place in Akure, the state capital, in October 2020.

The defendants were charged for arson, conspiracy, riotous assembly, stealing and malicious damage.

The state government has expressed its readiness to secure the bail of the defendant.

Justice Omolara Adejumo granted

the bail application yesterday based on humanitarian ground and for the purpose of the christening of the baby, which would take place on Wednesday (today).

The judge ruled that the defendant should be bailed with a sum of N10 million with a surety.

The Counsel to the defendant, Mr. Tope Temokun, expressed satisfaction over the release of his client from the prison as well as the bail condition.

He said: “She (Ogunniyi) has been released from the prison while the bail condition would be perfected later.”

He further explained that the N10 million bail condition did not mean that the defendant would pay the money to the court but must have a guarantor who is worth N10 million with evidence of tax clearance and must be residing within the jurisdiction of the court.

N’Assembly’s Rooftops Leak as Senate Resumes Plenary Deji Elumoye and Juliet Akoje in Abuja As Senate resumed plenary yesterday after a 12-day recess to mark the two-year anniversary of the ninth National Assembly, heavy rainfall may have destroyed many parts of the Assembly rooftops said to have been built about 30 years ago, thus causing

minor flood in the central lobby of the complex.

The flooding prevented the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, from entering the Senate chambers early until about 11.00a.m., when he moved in to preside over the plenary attended by many senators.

Apart from the lobby,

other parts of the Assembly seriously affected by the roof leakage include the Senate Press Centre and the United Bank of Africa (UBA) branch at the Assembly filled with water from the leaking roofs.

Staffers of the Thyaura Company, official cleaners in the National Assembly, battled to clean and control the water

as the intensity of the rainfall increased Senators, staff members and visitors were forced to wait at the lobby for many minutes before proceeding to the chamber, their offices and other destinations as more cleaners were called to join their colleagues to control and clean the water.

USVarsities Admit About 13,000 NigeriansYearly David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The United States Consulate’s Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Stephen Ibelli, has disclosed that about 13, 000 Nigerian students are admitted in US annually.

Ibelli made the disclosure yesterday during the launch of the ‘Windows on America’ Hub at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University

(NAU), Awka.

He described Nigerians as one of the most dominant immigrant groups in the US. He said that the ‘Windows on America’ hub was aimed at providing Nigerian youths with educational opportunities available in U.S.A “Windows on America” are free spaces that offer services to

students to learn about how to study in the United States and how to apply for scholarships to study abroad.

“The hub will help to promote mutual understanding between the US and great youths of Nigeria to access information about the country, its government, history, culture and education system “The hub will also provide free

libraries, online courses, training on resume writing, an incubation centre for talented youths to develop their natural endowments, as well as their leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

“We have about 13,000 Nigerians admitted to study in the US yearly. This shows that both nations share diverse cultural uniqueness,” he said.

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WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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WEDNESDAY JUNE 23, 2021 ˾ THISDAY

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

D’Tigers’ Tokyo 2020 Camp Opens in California with 49 Players Femi Solaja Exactly one month from today to the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Head Coach of the Nigeria’s senior men’s team, Mike Brown, has officially kicked off preparations with invitation of 49 players to camp in California, USA. Nigeria is paired in Group B alongside Australia and winners of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia and Croatia between 29th of June and 4th of July 2021.

D’Tigers’ squad streaming

into the camp is headlined by NBA star Monte Morris (Denver Nuggets), Miye Oni (Utah Jazz), OG Anunoby (Toronto Raptors), Kz Okpala (Miami Heat), Festus Ezeli, Precious Achiuwa (Miami Heat), Udoka Azubuike (Utah Jazz) and Jahlil Okafor (Detroit Pistons) who are all in line to make their international debut for Nigeria.

Josh Okogie (Minnesota Timberwolves) is expected to join other NBA players that include; Gabe Vincent (Miami Heat), Al-farouq Aminu (Chicago Bulls), Jordan Nwora (Milwaukee Bucks) and Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings) who will

be making their return to the team after their 2019 FIBA World Cup exploit which saw Nigeria becoming the first African team to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics alongside Ike Diogu (Bameso, Dominican Republic).

Those expected from Europe comprise of; Obi Emegano (Fuenlabrada, Spain), Ike Iroegbu (Elan Chalon, France), Michael Oguine (BC Souffelweyersheim, France), Zaid Hearst (Alba Fehervar, Hungary), Ike Nwamu (Samara, Russia) and Michael Gbinije (BC Nevèíe, Lithuania).

Others from Europe listed for

the camp to fight for places in the final rooster include; Talib Zanna (Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Israel), Emmanuel Omogbo (Vellaznimi, Kosovo), Christian Mekowulu (Treviso, Italy), Tonye Jekiri (Baskonia, Spain), Abdul-Malik Abu (Fethiye, Turkey), Chima Moneke (Orleans, France), Amanze Egekeze (Gries/ Oberhoffen, France), Calab Agada (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel), TK Edogi (St. Chamond, France), Joshua Ajayi (Hermine Nantes, France), Keith Omoerah (Poitiers, France) and Michael Eric who recently helped CSKA

Moscow of Russia to the European Basketball League.

Others who will be fighting for a chances to represent their fatherland at the games include long sought after NBA champion, Festus Ezeli, UC Iroegbu, Ike Ndugba (2021 NBA draft prospect), Mike Okauru (UNC- Wilmington), Ben Uzoh (Rivers Hoopers), Michael Adewunmi (UT-Rio Grand Valley), Aminu Mohammed (Georgetown University), Manny Obaseki (Texas A&M University), Elijah Olaniyi (Stony Brook University) and Chibuzo

Agbo (Texas Tech University).

Gideon George (Brigham Young University), Makenzie Mgbako (Gill St. Bernard School), Warith Alatishe (Oregon State University), Efe Abogidi (Washington State University), Stephen Domingo (Lakeland Magic), Emeka Okafor, Clifford Omoruyi (Rutger University) and Ekpe Udoh (Beijing RF, China) complete the 49-man list.

The players started arriving the camp since Sunday, 20th of June for the first phase of the preparations.

...Ogwumike Misses Team USA Again!

As Nigeria’s D’Tigers camp in California, USA opens with 49 players on Sunday with Head Coach, Mike Brown ferreting for his final squad for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, the omission of Nneka Ogwumike from Team USA rooster is creating buzz in basketball circles around the world.

The Los Angeles Sparks forward with Nigerian ancestry missed the cut the same way she did for the last Games in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil in 2016.

The six-time WNBA All-Star and 2016 league MVP has been a regular for Team USA, playing in 59 international games including gold medal runs in the 2014 and 2018 FIBA World Cups.

Team USA Head Coach, Dawn Staley, addressed Ogwumike’s omission when the teams were

announced, citing her health as a concern.

Ogwumike suffered a knee sprain on June 1 and was given a 4-to-6-week timeline for a return to play. She remains sidelined three weeks into that timeline.

Nneka Ogwumike...misses Team USA cut again

Group Rolls out Drums for Ajunwa A Lagos-based entertainment outfit, Great Dynamic Talents Limited has revealed plans it is putting in place to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Chioma Amaju’s gold medal winning jump at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.

Chief Executive Officer of the outfit, Rev. Samuel Ikpea who is also the chairman of Nigeria Football Supporters Club revealed that the plans include a symposium as well as a creative musical tagged Ajunwa: “The Trials and Triumph.”

“We decided to celebrate this Nigerian and African legend while she is still alive for the historic feat she achieved 25 years ago in far away Atlanta, Georgia, USA during the 1996 Olympic games.

“Chioma Ajunwa is a great woman and at Great Dynamic

Talents, we believe that we should celebrate our heroes and heroines while alive, and show them our genuine appreciation for what they have done for Nigeria,” Ikpea remarked.

He went further to disclose that the celebrations of Chioma Ajunwa will begin on August 2nd, a symbolic date for her Olympic Games feat, as well as, 6th, and 7th, 2021, at the prestigious Shell Muson Centre in Lagos.

According to Ikpea, further plans will also see Ajunwa and the organizers, visit the 36 state governors of Nigeria and present them with replica of the historic Olympic gold medal.

Ajunwa while thanking Ikpea and the group for celebrating her, said she is happy this is happening while she is still alive.

UEFA Euro 2020 Group Stage Round up Matches Live Today on DStv, GOtv The final group stage matches of the ongoing Euro 2020 Championships will be live on DStv and GOtv tonight on SuperSport.

In Group E, Slovakia will clash with Spain in Seville at 5pm live on SS EURO2020 (DStv channel 204 & GOtv channel 32).

Slovakia coach Stefan Tarkovic has promised a tough game for Enrique’s side. Sweden will take on Poland in Saint Petersburg at 5pm live on SS Football (DStv channel 205 and GOtv channel 31).

Sweden needs only a draw against Poland to guarantee a

top-two finish. All group E matches will air live on Wednesday 23 June on SS Euro 2020.

Also today, in Group F, Portugal will face France in Budapest at 8pm live on SS EURO2020 (DStv channel 204).

The ‘Group of Death’ has been an unpredictable one thus far.

France tops the group and are best placed to guarantee progression, but Portugal will be tough opponents in Budapest as they look to bounce back from their 4-2 humbling at the hands of the Germans.

TOKYO ON THEIR MINDS...

Sports Minister, Sunday Dare (left) and newly elected President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa exchanging views during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Trials which held in Lagos at the weekend

Dare: Team Nigeria Athletes Have Given us Renewed Hopes in Tokyo 2020 Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, has expressed his excitement with the quality of performances recorded at the four-day Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) 2020 Olympic Trials and Invitational Relays which ended Sunday at the Sports Ground of Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos.

Dare who witnessed three of the four days of action, says the quality of the performances has given Nigerians hope of podium appearances in Tokyo at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games which starts 30 days from today.

“I am glad that all our athletes heeded the clarion call to take part in this Championship.

Your performances are not only impressive, but have set the standard and the tone of what to expect at the Olympics,” said Dare in his address to the athletes at the end of the competition at the weekend.

“With what we have seen at this trials, we now have a clearer picture and renewed confidence that our athletes will perform well in our areas of core competitive advantage at the Games. ‘’Blessing Okagbare, Tobi

Amusan, Enoch Adegoke, Ese Brume and others’ impressive outings signpost what to expect at the Olympic Games. They cannot afford to let millions of our compatriots who have invested heavily emotionally and financially on them,” he further stressed.

He therefore urged the athletes to replicate the performances they put up at the Olympic Trials when they get to Tokyo. ‘’You have the huge responsibility to ensure that we perform well at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by replicating your impressive performances

here in Tokyo. ‘’As a Government, we have provided all the support and motivation you need for podium success in Tokyo. More than ever, Government ensured that you had a lot of support for a long camping exercise at home and abroad, most of you were adopted through our “Adopt-an-Athlete” Initiative by state governors individuals and corporate bodies.

The duo of Blessing Okagbare and Enoch Adegoke were the standout performers as botrh set new championship records.

Ikpeazu Backs Abia-born Gymnast to Excel, Donates N5m for Her Training Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia Abia State-born gymnast, Miss Stephanie Ogechukwu Onusiriuka, has been assured of government’s readiness to support her to attain greater heights in the sport.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu gave the assurance when he received the wonder-kid at Government House in Umuahia, stressing that his administration would always be there for any Abia child that exhibits extraordinary skills in any area of endeavour,

especially sports.

The 10 -year-old gymnast, who hals from Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State, is rated among Nigeria’s best gymnasts. She won a gold medal for Nigeria at the 2019 African Level System Gymnastics Competition in South Africa when she was just eight years old.

At the last National Sports Festival, Edo 2020, she won 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal, and was crowned 2nd best gymnast in Nigeria.

Governor Ikpeazu, who was so impressed with the exploits of

Miss Onusiriuka announced a N5 million support to assist her parents pay for the gymnast to participate in international training next month in Europe.

He noted with pride that Abia has such a wonder-kid blessed with prodigious talents which she has fully exploited to bring glory to herself, her family, Abia State and Nigeria.

Ikpeazu further assured that the gymnast would be supported to get all the exposure she needs to develop her skills, noting that her talent could take her to the

highest level of international recognition.

He commended the parents of the gymnast, Engr and Mrs. Onusiriuka for identifying the talent in their daughter and supporting her to nurture it, adding that other parents should take a cue and discover the hidden talents of their children early enough.

The Governor, who described Miss Onusiriuka as an inspiration to other Abia kids, enjoined the parents of the gymnast to henceforth keep him updated on her progress.

Wednesday June 23, 2021

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Wike to Buhari

“It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must also be in charge in other things including security. Who signed order 10? Is it the governors? It is not when things are going bad concerning security and you say you’re not in charge, and it becomes governors’ responsibility” – Governor Nyesom Wike asking President Buhari not to shift his power of securing Nigerians to state governors.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

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Poverty and Policies I

n his macro-economic analysis on ARISE TV last Saturday morning, Professor Ken Ife highlighted some of the remarkable policy steps taken by the government which he repeatedly said “no one talks about” in the public sphere.

The economist, who is a regular guest of the television station, is the coordinator of the 2021-2025 Medium Term Development Plan of the federal government. It is hoped that the system would absorb some of the ideas which Ife has professed in the making of the development plan.

From his vantage position as a professional economist, Ife also plays the role of a public intellectual competently as he offers technical insights in an accessible language on the economic policies of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Before relating Ife’s professional submission to the actual poverty situation in Nigeria, two prefatory points might be apposite to the discussion.

First, the interventions of scholars such as Ife are reminiscent of the days when governments valued the inputs of Nigerian professional economists in policy formulation and articulation. In the First and Second Republics as well as during military rule professional economists were involved in putting together plans and strategies. Hence you cannot tell the full stories of past development plans without mentioning, for instance, the names of eminent economists such as Dr. Pius Okigbo and Professor Ojetunji Aboyade. On a broader scale, the universities are the centres for the production of knowledge in the various disciplines including economics. But the government has hardly been optimising the use of the knowledge produced in the universities as inputs to policymaking.

What with the official contempt for scholarship in Nigeria, the state does not seem to value the ideas from the universities. Whatever happened to the government’s reliance on bodies such as the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER) for ideas? Do research institutes have any role to play in drawing up development plans anymore? In fact, the voice of the Nigerian Economic Society ought to be more organisationally distinct and louder at this time when workable ideas are needed to resolve the socio-economic crisis facing the nation.

Secondly, watching Ife talk on television as an expert in his field could also remind the public of the huge gap created by the lack of policy articulation which ought to be filled by the Buhari administration.

By the nature of their respective assignments, government officials and their experts are expected to lead debates in the public sphere on policies.

Members of the public, (experts and non-experts alike), in turn should make constructive criticisms of the policies in the interest of development of the people. For instance, when the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was introduced 35 years ago by the government of President Ibrahim Babangida, the debate on the merits and the demerits of the programme were led by the administration officials who were professional economists formidably supported by other experts. These included Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu and Dr. Chu Okongwu (who were ministers holding economic portfolios) and Chief Olu Falae, who as the Secretary to the federal government was deeply involved in the policy articulation. Both Kalu and Okongwu had the background of the Bretton Woods institutions.

Unfortunately, instead of leading public debates on some of the socio-economic policies some officials of this administration are provoking debates on the anachronistic idea of open grazing for cattle

Buhari and authoritarian attempts to circumscribe human freedom by means of even non-existing laws. As a result, the nation is polarised at a time unity is sorely needed to tackle the crisis in the land.

In effect, the administration is unwittingly diverting attention of the public from what is happening in the realm of economic management by its misadventures in the politics of diversity and the gross incompetence in the security sector. The public focus seems to be on those areas- insecurity and the threat to national integration - which are the weak points for the administration.

Little surprise that “no one talks about” the economic policies as Professor Ife put it during the programme earlier referred to in this discussion.

Ife explained these policies that would be embodied in the proposed development plan in a way not many administration officials have done in recent past as follows: There were some plans in the past such as Vision 2010 and Vision 2020. Those target years have, of course become history. Some of the past plans had no mechanism for measuring performance. This is expected to be corrected in the present plans. Unlike previous plans, the present one places a lot of premiums on the role of science and technology – bioeconomy (which, for instance, accounts for 2.4 trillion euros in the German economy), digital technology, innovation etc. Comparisons could be made with Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore on the central role of science and technology in the economy. There is the irony that the economy is not deriving full benefits of even a rise in oil prices because the revenues are held “hostage” by importation of fuel in a country exporting crude oil. So, the focus on agriculture is only logical in the circumstance.

It is acknowledged that the plan faces the “headwinds of debt, food inflation and insecurity.”

There is an organic link between these aspects of the crisis. Food prices constitute a major component of inflation in the economy. With bandits and other criminals making farmlands unsafe, food insecurity stares the nation in the face. Besides,

To achieve poverty reduction sustainably there should a defined philosophy of economic development

“Nigeria actually feeds more than 200 million people” because of the food outflow from Nigeria to Niger, Mali, Benin and the Cameroons. Yet the Anchor Borrowers Programme driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made significant impacts. Peasant farmers now use their BVN to have access to capital without collaterals.

There is the mapping of the lands for “vertical and horizontal traceability.” The advances in the agricultural sector have been “dramatic.” The government should involve the local governments to decentralise the activities which the CBN has begun. Hectares of lands could be acquired by the local farmers and shared to farmers.

Another point made by Ife was the justification of the huge indebtedness of Nigeria on the ground that “a foundation is being laid for infrastructural development” with the loans. He added that “this government has not defaulted” in servicing of the loans. Penalty for default in loan servicing represented about 40% of the debt trap which Nigeria exited in 2005 with the payment of over $12 billion. For instance, before this administration the last major investment in the railway was done by the colonialists in 1927. Previous administrations began the railways projects and initiated the process of sourcing for loans. The Buhari administration has now completed some of the railways projects to the acclamation of even some of its critics.

Ife also attributed the progress made in the domestic production of of fertilizers to overall agricultural policy. Incidentally, the Dangote Fertilizer Plant has the capacity to meet local demands as well to export. Alhaji Aliko Dangote said yesterday that the plant would export fertilizer to Brazil and the United States. For long, the supply of fertilizer has remained a critical factor in the implementation of agricultural policies in food production. In 2018, Nigeria’s consumption of fertiliser per hectare of arable land was estimated to be 20kg.

This is a low estimate compared with 73 kg in South Africa and 393 kg in China.

According to Ife, this administration has wisely opted to complete some of the inherited public works projects. He said: “One good thing about this government is that public works projects have not been abandoned; .... contractors were sent back to the sites.” Although some of the projects are far from being completed, yet the perennial problems associated with abandoned projects have been avoided. In the view of the economist, the policies should be better structured so that some of these projects would be handled based on Public Private Partnership (PPP).

All told, Nigeria is still regarded as the poverty capital of the world. Beyond the figures and macroeconomic projections, however, the reality is that poverty remains the lot of millions of Nigeria. It is instructive that Professor Ife did not make undue assertion in this regard as an expert. In the present Nigerian condition, the ultimate measurement of economic performance is poverty reduction. An economy in which the lives of tens of millions are defined by ignorance, disease and misery cannot be said to be working in humane terms. This is regardless of what the official and non-official experts say to the contrary.

In his Democracy Day broadcast, Buhari said: “In the last two years we lifted 10.5 million people out of poverty – farmers, small-scale traders, artisans, market women and the like.” That was actually Number 37 in his 59-point message to the nation on June 12. While experts and nonexperts were still digesting the full import of the official announcement of poverty reduction, the World Bank released a report on Nigeria three days later entitled Nigeria Economic Update:

Resilience through Reforms. The World Bank duly acknowledged that Nigeria has exited its “deepest recession in four decades,” in the report.

However, the Bank seemed to have a different reading of the poverty situation in Nigeria: “In 2020, rising prices alone - even without incorporating the direct impacts of COVID-19 on welfare - may have pushed an estimated 7 million Nigerians into poverty.”

Perhaps, it is socially pointless disputing the poverty figures. It may be more important to ponder in qualitative terms the consequences of burgeoning poverty on the streets. Poverty is more meaningfully gauged with the barometer of the streets rather than the one on the pages of official publications. The government and its experts may need to consider the political economy approach to the socio-economic crisis facing Nigeria.

In any case, the Buhari administration has on its agenda the lifting of 100 million people out of poverty in 10 years.

Only yesterday, the President inaugurated a steering committee on poverty reduction. The committee which includes some state governors, and some members of the federal cabinet is to be chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

According to Buhari, the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) is expected to “translate our good intention into positive impact of the average Nigerian so that we create an appreciative impact on the poverty situatin in our country.”

To achieve this purpose, the committee will have oversight functions on ministries, departments and agencies in the implementation of policies in a collaborative fashion. This is important because the Buhari administration has hitherto been plagued with dysfunctionality. Collaboration has hardly been a culture of ministries, departments and agencies.

Besides, the government also plans to establish a private equity fund, the Nigeria Investment and Growth Fund (NIG-Fund) to mobilise resources in a sustainable manner for the purpose.

In this respect, Nigeria is rightly drawing inspiration from India which lifted more that 270 million people out of poverty in 10 years beginning from 2006. By the way, India used to be called the poverty capital of the world. China has the record of lifting more than 770 million out poverty through “targeted poverty reduction.”.

Basically, poverty reduction is a philosophical issue. It involves asserting the humanity of the people in policymaking. It means that people should be the centre of development. Poverty reduction goes beyond bandying about statistics in official statements. The process must be owned by the people.

So, to achieve poverty reduction sustainably there should a defined philosophy of economic development. Those who drive the policies must be convinced about the government’s idea of development. For instance, you cannot reduce poverty significantly in the Nigerian context when the mindset of policymakers is that the state has no role to play in the economy. China and India did not achieve their feats in poverty reduction by leaving their peoples to the mercy of phantom market forces. Those who do not philosophically find inequality and social injustice revolting cannot practically implement a poverty reduction strategy to any appreciable degree. The matter is deeper than merely calculating growth rates periodically.

The first step is for the government to have clarity of purpose about competent economic management as a duty of the state.

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