THURSDAY 30TH JUNE 2022

CBN Sets January 2023 Deadline for Financial Institutions to Tighten Noose on Cybercrimes James Emejo in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday released the Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework and Guidelines for Other Financial

Institutions (OFIs), following the recent increase in the number and sophistication of cybersecurity threats against financial institutions.

The central bank also set January 1, 2023 as the effective date for full

compliance with the provisions of the guidelines.

The bank said the directive became mandatory for institutions to strengthen their cyber defenses if they were to remain safe and sound.

The circular dated June 29, 2022, and signed by the CBN Director, OFIs Department, Nkiru Asiegbu was addressed to all OFIs under the regulation of the banking sector regulator.

The apex bank added that the guidelines represented the minimum requirements to be put in place by all OFIs. The regulator stressed that the safety and soundness of OFIs

required that they operate in a safe and secure environment, hence the platform on which information is processed and transmitted should Continued on page 10

R. Kelly Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Charges... Page 10 Thursday 30 June, 2022 Vol 27. No 9942. Price: N250

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FG Blames Terrorists for Perennial Nationwide Power Outage... Page 8

Irabor: Nigeria’s Security Problem Requires Political Solution Says with citizens working alongside state agencies, 2023 elections will be peaceful Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, says Nigeria’s security

challenge needs sound political solution. Irabor said this on the Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Channel.

He assured that with Nigerians

working alongside the security agencies, the 2023 elections would be peaceful.

Irabor stated, "I like to assure Nigerians that the election in 2023

will be conducted under a secure atmosphere. That's a guarantee that I want to leave with Nigerians on this interview. That, certainly, is what we are working very

closely with.

“We've mapped out our plans along with the police and other security agencies, and we are escalating all personal engagements

to ensure that we provide security that will enable the Independent National Electoral Commission Continued on page 10

Ortom Undecided About Support for Atiku, Wants Wike Placated Seeks meeting between PDP candidate, Rivers governor Real reasons Wike lost out on VP nomination Fayose explains why Wike won’t support former vice-president's ambition

Chuks Okocha in Abuja, Emma Okonji, Nosa Alekhuogie in Lagos and Victor Ogunje in Ado-Ekiti In what was indicative of cracks within the ranks of the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP), the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday, said he was still undecided about his support for the Peoples Democratic Party Continued on page 10

Ekweremadu: Senate Delegation Leaves for London Tomorrow... Page 5

AFRICAN CENTRAL BANK GOVERNORS’ ROUNDTABLE...

R-L: Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Director of African Department, International Monetary Fund, Abebe Aemro Selassie; Governor, Bank of Ghana, Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, and Governor Central Bank of Kenya, Patrick Njoroge, at an African Central Bank Governors’ Roundtable in Oxford, UK…yesterday

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322, 0807 401 0580

NEWS

INAUGURATION OF VETLAND JUNIOR GRAMMAR SCHOOL...

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu cutting the tape, to his left is Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; followed by member, the State House of Assembly, Agege Constituency II, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu; Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo and Chairman of the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools (SCRPS), Mr. Hakeem Smith, during the official commissioning of Vetland Junior Grammar School at Agege,...yesterday

2018 AuGF Report: SERAP Tasks National Assembly, Anti-corruption Agencies on Recovery of N105.7bn Unremitted Funds from MDAs Says Bank of Industry tops the list with N46.2bn Falana regrets attorney general denied him the fiat to recover billion dollars for FG Dike Onwuamaeze and Gilbert Ekugbe The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has tasked anti-corruption agencies, Public Account Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly (NASS) and other oversight bodies in the country to ensure the recovery N105.7 billon unremitted revenues indicated in the 2018 Audited Report of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF).

SERAP also stated that the Bank of Industry (BoI) lead the class of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that were accused of nonremittance of internally generated revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the 2018.

SERAP said: “The report of the AuGF for the Federation of Nigeria for 2018 revealed several weaknesses and lapses in the management of public funds and resources identified across various ministers,

departments and agencies during the annual audit.

“In total, the sum of N105,760,058,919.43 worth of infractions were observed along six cross-cutting audit issues.

“Disaggregated outlook of these infractions showed that failure in remittance of revenue was responsible for N54.6 billion; irregularities in payments/expenditures - N18.3 billion; irregularities in contract award, execution and payments – N23.4 billion; store items not taken on store charge – N8.3 billion; unretired advances – N354 million and circumvention of procurement process – N371 million.”

These were disclosed yesterday in Ikeja, Lagos State, during the 2022 SERAP Report Presentation titled “Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Nigeria,” where SERAP called on the Fiscal Responsibility Commis-

sion (FRC) to ensure that revenue accruing to the federal government is duly remitted by government agencies to appropriate authorities.

The report stated further that “the auditor-general mentioned in his report that there was no improvement in the level of responses to audit observations by accounting officers of the MDAs. “Although the PACs of the NASS stepped up effort to review audit reports and invite agencies of government to appear before them to defend queries raised by the auditor-general, it is not evident how much of the N105.7 billion not accounted for in 2018 have been recovered from indicted agencies and returned to public treasury.

“It is equally not clear whether what sanctions were placed to deter future abusers of public finance management process.”

The 2022 SERAP’s report observed that non-remittance of percentage of

IGR into the CRF was responsible for 88.8 per cent of the N54.6 billion not remitted to government by different MDAs. “Seventeen MDAs were identified not to have remitted percentage of IGR into the CRF valued at N48.5 billion.

“The Bank of Industry was responsible for 95.3 per cent (N46.2 billion) of the total unremitted funds followed by National Insurance Commission at 2.3 per cent (N1.05 billion),” SERAP said, adding that the “Financial Reporting Council failed to transfer its annual operating balance from commercial banks to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) valued at N750 million.”

The Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of SERAP Law Report, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said during the presentation of the report that it is sad that Nigeria has failed to make money from those who were either bribing its officials or banks

that have been keeping the country’s looted public funds.

Falana said: “Glencore paid the United States of America $1.8 billion for bribing some officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). We have not made a dime from that criminality.

"Halliburton paid United States’ government $579 million for bribing Nigerians in respect of LNG. Siemens paid the United States $1.3 billion for bribing Nigerians. I am challenging the National Assembly to get in touch with the Ministry of Justice. How can countries be making money because their officials came to commit a criminal offence in Nigeria and Nigeria is not making anything?

“We once wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to give us the fiat to collect billions of money for our country. How? Former Head of State, Late General Sani Abacha, looted the treasury of

Ekweremadu: Senate Delegation Leaves for London Tomorrow Nigeria High Commission engages lawyers for couple Sunday Aborisade in Abuja President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan yesterday said a delegation from the Red Chamber’s Committee on Foreign Affairs would depart Nigeria on July 1, 2022, to pay a visit to Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife.

Lawan stated this while giving details into the outcome of a closed session held by the upper chamber before the start of plenary proceedings.

The closed-door session which started about 10:57 a.m. ended at 11:49 a.m.

Lawan said the decision to wade into Ekweremadu’s arrest and detention over allegations of organ harvesting was against the backdrop of a briefing received by the Nigerian High Commissioner to London.

He further disclosed that the Senate would engage the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigerian High Commission in London on the recent arrest of Senator Ike Ekweremadu by the London Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom.

He said, “I had a personal engagement with our Nigerian High Commissioner to Britain,

Alhaji Isola Sarafa, who has done so well to establish contact with our colleague, who has been able to get his team to be in the court at Uxbridge where Ekweremadu was taken to.

“The High Commission has also been able to provide some consular services that include the engagement of some lawyers who will defend our colleague.

“We commend them for giving attention to the issue at stake.

Equally, the Nigeria Foreign Affairs Minister has been engaged here, so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes steps to provide diplomatic support for our colleague.

“Because this issue is already in court, we have limited opportunity to discuss beyond what we have done so far.

“But I want to ensure the family of our colleague, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Nigerians, that the Senate will continue to engage with our ministry of foreign affairs as well as our high commission in London.

“The High Commission has done so much but we still expect that it will continue to provide any other further consular services.

“We have also mandated our committee on foreign affairs to

engage with the British high commission here in Nigeria, to find more details on this case, as far as the High Commission is involved.”

Speaking further, he said: “There will be a delegation to London to see Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his

wife. A delegation from the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate will leave in the next two days to London for that purpose.

“I want to urge all federal government institutions that can do anything to ensure that Justice prevails in this case, that they do so.”

The former Deputy Senate President and his wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu last week denied allegations of child trafficking, potential modern slavery, and organ harvesting levelled against them in the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in the United Kingdom.

the CBN and took dollars, pounds and Euros which he scattered in 140 banks in the world.

“We identified these banks and now pleaded with the government to give us the fiat to help it to ask these countries: ‘you have kept these monies for 20 years what about the interests, what of the damages payable for keeping looted public treasury by a public official whose salaries you ought to have known in your due diligence.’

“We were given the fiat for six months. We spent the six months gathering our evidence and at the time we were to pursue them the attorney general refused to renew the fiat. The NASS your job is cut out for you.”

Falana pointed out that any stolen money from the NNPC that is recovered belongs to the Federation and not the federal government, adding that any looted fund from the CBN recovered must go back into the federation account and not the TSA. He noted that the sum of N10 trillion the Director General of the Budget Office in the Presidency, Dr. Ben Akabueze, alleged in December 2018 that the MDAs owed the country has remained uncollected since then.

"We will continue to encourage an organisation like SERAP, but let us get the appropriate agencies to do their work. I believe all of us like SERAP must stand up to demand accountability," he said.

Abuja-Kaduna Train Attack: Family Members Intensify Plea for More Victims’ Release Juliet Akoje Following reports of the shooting of one of the captives in the AbujaKaduna train, family members have intensified their plea to relevant agencies of government to hasten the release of their loved ones still in captivity.

Two family members, who spoke on behalf of others, during their visit to the House of Representatives yesterday, appealed to the lawmakers to urgently intervene in the matter.

They were received by two members: Hon Bamidele Salam, from Osun State and Hon. Manu Soro Masur, from Bauchi State - who represented 11 lawmakers that had

been pushing for the release of the captives.

The wife of one of the kidnapped victims, Matilda Kabir, said it was shocking that one of the victims was shot dead.

She said they feared not knowing who would be the next victim.

“We are here to plead with the House of Representatives. The news we are getting is not favourable.

We are here to beg them to help us. It is not funny again. The news we got this morning is one person was shot. We don’t know who is next. My husband is there.

“We don’t know if it would be any other person. Nigerians should help. My husband is in captivity.

They have been suffering. Imagine sleeping and standing there for 94 days. We are going to a hundred days. Please help us,” she said.

Another family member, Aminu Lawal Uthman, whose brother was also abducted, said more pressure should be put on the federal government and the security agencies to ensure their release.

“We are here to meet members of the House to continue pleading on efforts to release our family members because of the news we got this morning that one of the captives was shot. It is a terrible news.

“We are here to meet the right people to do the right thing to put more pressure on the FG and

security agencies to do more to get the captives release. Every second is very important,” he said.

Responding, Salam said it was horrible to have little children, sick people, and elderly people held is such hostile environment.

He said on Tuesday, they had initiated contact with two persons directly involved with the negotiations for the release to see what level they could also try to appeal to the terrorists to soften the grounds of the abductor, saying whatever their demands, the government would be able to meet them.

Continued online

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NEWS

SKILLS ACQUISITION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE...

L-R: Wife of Osun State Governor, Alhaja Kafayat Oyetola, her husband, Gboyega Oyetola; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Princess Adejoke Adefulire and the Deputy Governor, Adegboyega Benedict Alabi, during the inauguration of the 1000 Capacity Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Dagbolu, Osogbo….yesterday

House Begins Probe of Duplication of MDAs’ Duties, May Recommend Mergers Passes entrepreneurship bank bill Lawmakers lament lukewarm attitude of chairmen of some committees Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives has inaugurated an ad hoc Committee that would commence investigation into the duplication of functions

by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.

The lawmakers had in March, while adopting a motion sponsored by the Chief Whip, Hon. Tahir Monguno, resolved to look into the matter.

Monguno had while moving the motion said there were about 1,484 agencies, departments, boards, parastatal and corporations in the country, which gave rise to duplication of functions and clash of interests.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who inaugurated the committee yesterday, stated that the aim was to reduce cost of governance, end bickering and prevent redundancy.

He explained that in the coming days members of the Committee would investigate the overlapping functions, and counter-productivity of established MDAs, and establish areas of mergers, synergies and justification of the existence of some of the established MDAs, boards, and corporations.

He urged the MDAs and other critical stakeholders to work with the Committee to complete its mandate in accordance with its terms of reference.

"Notably, the House of Representatives is not out to witch-hunt any individual or organisation, but we are propelled by our desire to ensure good governance and in the exercise of our legislative oversight powers as enshrined in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

"This Committee is expected to come up with solutions to the apparent continuous conflict of functions and avoidable bickering among established MDAs resulting in ineffectiveness, inefficiency and redundancy in the government workforce. The Committee is therefore expected to engage relevant stakeholders and members of the public with a view to resolving the areas of conflict among the MDA's, which may require amending some laws and/or outright repeal, as the case may be," Gbajabiamila said Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the ad hoc Committee, Hon. Victor Mela-Danzaria, said most of the laws establishing government agencies were made during the military regime and not in tandem with democracy.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday passed the bill for an act to establish the Entrepreneurship Bank of Nigeria.

The proposed legislation titled, "Bill for an Act to Establish Entrepreneurship Development Bank of Nigeria to charge it with the Responsibility, among other

things, to provide Medium and Long Term Finance for Indigenous Small Businesses and to Provide for Establishment of Nigerian Entrepreneurship Development, Encourage Aspiring Entrepreneurs and Small Scale Enterprises in Nigeria," was sponsored by the House Spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu and Olalekan Afolabi.

Leading the debate on its general principles, Kalu said the bank when established would be charged it with the responsibility to among others, to provide medium and long-term finance for indigenous small businesses in Nigeria as may be determined by the board of the bank from time to time.

According to him, the bill

The Senate yesterday confirmed the appointment of ministerial nominees sent to it last week by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The ministers-designate were: Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh - Abia State; Umana Okon Umana - Akwa Ibom State; Ekumankama Joseph Nkama- Ebonyi State, and Goodluck Nana Opiah - Imo State.

Others were Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub - Kano State; Ademola Adewole Adegoroye - Ondo State; and Odum Odi - Rivers State.

They replaced the ministers who resigned their appointments in the wake of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election recently.

Three of the nominees were former legislators and were given the privilege to take a bow and go

as a mark of honour.

Those who enjoyed such privilege were the former Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Goodluck Nana Opiah; a nominee from Kano and the former Senior Special Assistance to President Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Reps), Umar Ibrahim El-Yakubu and a nominee from Ondo state, Ademola Adewole Adegoroye who said appearing before the Senate for confirmation as minister had been his life time ambition.

Opiah who is also the current Commissioner for Petroleum Resources in Imo state, said as a former legislator, he promised to be a worthy ambassador of the legislature and would enhance the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Ikechukwu from Abia State advised the federal government

ing the real needs of the indigenous business or initiatives owned and run by the youth.

Kalu said, "Even the African Development Bank has seen the need to have a specialised bank for the youths. According to THISDAY Newspaper of May 29, 2022, the Continued on page 35

World Bank Lists Nigeria among Countries with Huge Unbanked Population Nume Ekeghe The World Bank has named Nigeria as one of the seven countries that contribute to half of the global population that is unbanked which was pegged at 1.7 billion people.

The bank also noted a majority of the unbanked population in Nigeria are women.

This was stated in the ‘2021 Global Findex 2021 Report’ released by the World Bank yesterday, where the multilateral institution listed Nigeria alongside Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan as where nearly half of the about 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked in the world live.

It stated: “Globally, about 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked — without an account at a financial

institution or through a mobile money provider. Because account ownership is nearly universal in high-income economies, virtually all these unbanked adults live in the developing world. Indeed, nearly half live in just seven developing economies: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

“Fifty-six percent of all unbanked adults are women. Women are overrepresented among the unbanked in economies where only a small share of adults are unbanked, such as China and India, as well as in those where half or more are, such as Bangladesh and Colombia.

“Poor people also account for a disproportionate share of the unbanked. Globally, half of unbanked adults come from the poorest 40

Senate Confirms Buhari's Ministers-designate, Adjourns for Sallah Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

which focuses on Nigerian youths intends to provide improved access to finance for entrepreneurs in innovation, manufacturing, agriculture and trade.

He said a fundamental challenge to youth entrepreneurship capacity was lack of access to functional and effective finance, hence existing financial institutions are not servic-

to ensure that modular refineries are cited in oil producing communities, adding that this would address issue of unemployment by creating jobs, reduce fuel scarcity, among others.

Ikechukwu whose nomination was endorsed by all the three Senators from Abia State was also described as a patriotic Nigerian who employed several youths in his private company.

On his part, Umana was described by senators from his state as a technocrat per excellent who would use his experiences to make impacts for the development of the country.

Umana while responding to question on how to stop relying too much on forex, recommended that the government should create enabling environment for massive production of goods and services by the private sector.

The youngest of all the nominees is Joseph Ekumankana Nkama from Ebonyi state, a 46-year-old lawyer.

He encouraged youths in the country to venture into untapped areas of investments, while calling on the federal government and stakeholders in the education sector to urgently address the ongoing ASUU strike in the interest of the future of Nigerian youths.

Odum Udi from Rivers State was said to have served as local government chairman for five times in the state and his achievements were eulogies by various senators across the party line. He was later asked to take a bow and go.

In his remarks after the confirmation, Senate President Ahmad Lawan congratulated all the ministerial designates and urged them to make their impacts felt in their various ministries.

percent of households within their economy, the other half from the richest 60 percent. But the pattern varies among economies.

“In those countries where half or more of adults are unbanked, the unbanked are as likely to come from a poorer household as from a wealthier one. In economies where only about 20–30 percent of adults are unbanked, however, the unbanked are much more likely to be poor.”

However, the World Bank noted that mobile money has in recent years driven increased financial inclusion particularly in Africa.

According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred financial inclusion–driving a large increase in digital payments amid the global expansion of formal financial services.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money adoption continued to rise, such that 33 per cent of adults now have a mobile money account, a share three times larger than the 10 per cent global average.

“Although mobile money services were originally designed to allow people to send remittances to friends and family living elsewhere within the country, adoption and usage have spread beyond those origins, such that three out of four mobile account owners in 2021 made or received at least one payment that was not person-to-person and 15 per cent of adults used their mobile money account to save.

“Opportunities to increase account ownership in the region include digitalising cash payments for the 65 million adults with no account receiving payments for agricultural products, and expanding mobile phone ownership, as lack of a phone is cited as a barrier to mobile money account adoption.

“Adults in the region worry more about paying school fees than

adults in other regions, suggesting opportunities for policy or products to enable education-oriented savings,” it added.

The President of the World Bank, David Malpass was quoted to have said: “The digital revolution has catalysed increases in the access and use of financial services across the world, transforming ways in which people make and receive payments, borrow, and save.

“Creating an enabling policy environment, promoting the digitalisation of payments, and further broadening access to formal accounts and financial services among women and the poor are some of the policy priorities to mitigate the reversals in development from the ongoing overlapping crises.”

The report also noted gaps in account ownership between richer and poorer, stating that, “on average around the world, poorer adults are less likely than wealthier ones to have an account. Among adults in the richest 60 per cent of households within economies, 74 per cent have an account. Among those in the poorest 40 per cent of households, 61 per cent do. That leaves a global gap between these two groups of 13 percentage points.

“The average gap across developing economies is similar and accounts for much of the global gap.

In high-income economies account ownership is nearly universal among both groups.

“But sizable gaps also exist in economies where overall account ownership is relatively low, at about 50 percent or less. In the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Vietnam the gap is roughly 20 percentage points. Put differently, in these economies wealthier adults are about twice as likely as poorer ones to have an account,” it added.

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NEWS

THIRD LAGOS INTERNATIONAL WATER CONFERENCE...

L-R: Keynote Speaker/Chairman, Global Water Leaders Group, Mr. Christopher Gasson; Executive Secretary, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO), Mrs. Funke Adepoju; Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olalere Odusote; Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello; and Consular-General, Denmark Consulate in Lagos, Mr. Per Christensen, at the 3rd Lagos International Water Conference (#LIWAC2022) held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos organized by LASWARCO... yesterday

FG Blames Terrorists for Perennial Nationwide Power Outage Approves N11.7bn, $22.8m for six new electricity projects Deji Elumoye in Abuja The federal government has disclosed that the perennial power outage across the country was caused by continued vandalism of power infrastructure by terrorists.

It expressed regrets that terrorists’ continued vandalism of power infrastructure was seriously affecting the capacity to deliver electricity to consumers.

Briefing newsmen yesterday at Abuja, after the weekly virtual meeting of the Federal Executive

Council (FEC) presided over by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, was specific about cases in the North-east, North-west and North-central, where he said after power infrastructure were brought down by terrorists and restored, they have been vandalised again.

He added: "We have vandalism on our lines, vandalism on our stations, sub-stations, we have those ones that affects us indirectly, and directly affect us but the infrastructure is not directly

our own.

"Like vandalism around oil pipelines which affect gas and once you don't get gas to power, you don't get the megawatts, once there is no power coming from the generators, you know what that means."

Commenting on the impact of insecurity on power infrastructure, the minister said: "We have a lot of challenges and it's not that we are sleeping over them. We are up and doing, we are tackling them as they come. Some already we

Okays initiative to raise annual revenue by N3.96trn

have pulled them down, some we are pulling them down.

"This is a sector whereby you have so many players, responsibilities are vested on so many people.

In fact, even some who are not given any responsibility interfere.

"So, we are working round the clock to ensure that we nip everything in bud. For instance, this Maiduguri issue that you have particularly mentioned.

Yes, through our thinking out of the box, we're able to take back electricity to Maiduguri and people

Fuel Queues in Abuja, Kogi, Others May Worsen as Marketers Withdraw Services

Say NMDPRA leadership inaccessible, owing N50bn Downstream regulatory agency reveals N74bn paid to marketers in seven months

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The perennial petrol queues in and around Abuja may further deteriorate from this week as members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the Suleja axis yesterday withdrew their services.

In a communiqué read by the Secretary of IPMAN, Suleja and Abuja depots, Alhaji Mohammed Shuaibu on behalf of the Chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, the union accused theNigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) of being insensitive to their plight.

Specifically, the independent marketers said their members had not been paid their “bridging claims” for about 12 months, amounting to over N50 billion.

But in reaction, the NMDPRA said it had so far paid N74 billion to IPMAN members as bridging claims in the last seven months.

IPMAN however alleged that the fund administered by NMDPRA was being withheld for inexplicable reasons.

The branch of the striking petroleum marketers covers Abuja, Kogi, Nasarawa, parts of Kaduna state as well as the entire Niger state.

“The Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) is owing us bridging claims from 2021 till date. Therefore, all our claims should be paid without any delay.

"About 85 per cent of our staff are being laid-off because there is no

money to pay their salaries. These include pump attendants, truck drivers and other administrative staff,” the independent marketers lamented.

IPMAN stated that for instance, the marketers that had up to 10 trucks and above could no longer maintain them due to lack of payment of their bridging claims allowances by the NMDPRA which oversees the midstream and downstream areas of the petroleum industry.

Due to the payment default, the IPMAN members said the development had reduced the supply of petroleum products to Abuja and environs, since getting funding to purchase the product and maintain their trucks to transport products from the south to Abuja had become problematic.

“The above-mentioned problems have resulted in the scarcity of petrol currently being experienced in Abuja and environs unabated.

“The new management of NMDPRA is short-changing marketers by selecting a few marketers and paying them, while others have not been paid.

“We are surprised that the head of the midstream and downstream has been disseminating information, using different media houses that he has paid the marketers, while the available records show that PEF is owing marketers for 12 months," IPMAN contended.

According to the fuel marketers, while available records showed that

Farouk Ahmed’s predecessors cultivated a good business environment by ensuring that marketers' claims were not being delayed, the new chief executive's disposition at the helm of affairs clearly showed that “he's out to kill marketers' businesses.”

In addition, the independent marketers revealed that all efforts made to reach out to the head of the midstream and downstream

had not been successful, stating that calls made to his phone are neither answered nor returned.

“On the above subject matter, the public should hold the head of the midstream and downstream responsible for the current scarcity being experienced across the petrol station in Abuja and environs.

Continued online

are enjoying it.

"Yes, we are facing a lot of security challenges in this country.

We have challenges around our installations in Kaduna. As I'm talking to you now, we have been battling with one of our line snap towards Shiroro. We have two lines coming from there.

"One, we cannot even go there to inspect and see what is wrong because of the security challenges.

We have issues around right of ways which I have talked to you here about which we are pulling down some. Some are still lingering, but we are facing them head on.

"So I'm confident if we remain on our toes without giving up, we will surmount all these problems."

According to him, government has now been compelled to design alternative but less efficient ways to supply electricity to areas affected particularly Maiduguri in Borno State.

He also said government officials had not been able to access vandalized power infrastructure in Niger State including Shiroro to determine their problem because of insecurity in the area.

The minister, however, said the security agencies were cooperating with his ministry on how best to deal with the situation.

Speaking on one of such projects approved by FEC he explained:

"There is one in Damaturu Yobe State. This one is very peculiar because as you may be aware, for over one year, Maiduguri has not been enjoying full electricity.

"We were able to take electricity supply through an old line of 33 KV which we repaired and restored and were able to take 10 megawatts to Maiduguri over 130 kilometers on a 33 single circuit. We restored that around three to four months or thereabout.

"So, they're enjoying but very little. By the time the electricity reaches Maiduguri, not will drop to six or seven megawatts because of losses along the way.

"As you are also aware, the 330 takes power to Maiduguri was vandalised by insurgents.

And we tried a number of times to restore it, they will go back and pull down the towers.

"So, we now decided, in the main time to take electricity through the 33 KVA which they are enjoying but not as they may like it to be.

It’s being rationed around the time.

"So, we are currently procuring another 33 double circuit new one to Maiduguri along the same route.

"So, the idea is if someone tampers with it, it's easy to restore it within a day or two, unlike the bigger one which is the 330 which Continued on Page 36

£223,000 Ransom: Court Frowns at Billionaire Kidnapper, Evans’ Failure to File Defence Wale Igbintade Justice Kayode Ogunjobi of the Lagos High Court, yesterday expressed displeasure over the attitude of the convicted kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a. Evans for failing to file his defence in a case instituted against him by one of his victims, Chief Donatus Dunu.

The judge complained that the matter had suffered several adjournments, stressing that the delay was hurting everybody and putting the state at expenses.

Duru, a kidnap victim had in 2018 filed the suit demanding for return of the sum of £223,000 he paid as ransom while in the custody of the kidnap kingpin.

The claimant is also demanding

for additional sum of N50 million as damages.

When the case was called yesterday, Mr. Maxwell Chukwuemeka, announced his appearance for the defendant (Evans).

Chukwuemeka, told the court that he had filed two applications, namely, a motion for change of counsel and a motion for amendment of the defendant's statement of defence.

Chukwuemeka, was seeking to represent the defendant.

The claimant's counsel, Mr. D. O. Obiora, however told the court that the defendant has been changing counsel but did not oppose the applications.

Obiora, argued that the court delivered a ruling on May 23, granting leave for the defendant

to file his statement of defence, yet he did not file it, but was seeking leave of the court to amend his applications.

The trial judge, Justice Kayode Ogunjobi, however, granted the two applications.

The judge complained that, “this matter has suffered several adjournments. The delay is hurting everybody and putting the state at expenses.

“We have been here since 2018 till 2022, at the instance of the defendant. I awarded a cost of N2.5 million because the delay was unwarranted.

“If there is further delay, I will award another cost because I don't see why you have an application to amend your statement of defence and you didn't come with the

amended statement to file it.”

Justice Ogunjobi, thereafter adjourned the case until July 13 for the defence to open its case.

The claimant had instituted the suit on May 16, 2018, and served the defendant through the Comptroller General of Prison Kirikiri maximum prison Lagos.

Evans was initially represented by a lawyer in March 2019, and was accorded every opportunity to defend the suit but failed to do so.

However, when the claimant closed his case on March 3, 2022, the defendant came back seeking leave of court to defend himself.

According to Evans he has been in prison custody since August 2017, and was not aware of the pendency of the action.

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R. Kelly Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Charges R&B singer, R. Kelly was yesterday sentenced to 30 years in prison according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

This followed his conviction last year on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges stemming from his efforts over years to use his fame to ensnare victims he sexually abused.

According to CNN, prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Kelly, 55, to more than 25 years behind bars, while his defense attorneys asked for 10 or fewer, saying prosecutors' request was, "tantamount to a life sentence."

Survivors of Kelly's abuse held hands and prayed as US District Court Judge Ann Donnelly began reading his sentence.

Kelly - who wore a tan prison uniform, dark-rimmed glasses and a black mask at the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn -- showed no emotion.

"You left in your wake a trail of broken lives," Donnelly told

Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly.

In deciding the sentence, Donnelly said she considered Kelly's own traumatic childhood, during which his attorneys said he was repeatedly sexually abused by a family member and a landlord.

"It may explain, at least in part, what led to your behavior," the judge said. "It most surely is not an excuse."

A jury convicted Kelly last September on nine counts, including one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law.

Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York accused Kelly of using his status as a celebrity and a "network of people at his disposal to target girls, boys and young women for his own sexual gratification."

The five-week federal trial in Brooklyn included testimony from witnesses who said they were sexually and physically abused

by Kelly.

The court also heard from people involved with orchestrating the disgraced R&B singer's 1994 marriage to the late singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 years old and he was an adult after she believed she'd gotten pregnant.

Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said he would not address the court, pointing to the other criminal case faced by Kelly, but said before the sentence was read that her client "rejects that he is this monster."

"He accepts that he is a flawed individual," Bonjean said, "but he is not this one-dimensional monster that the government has portrayed and the media has portrayed."

Kelly made his only comment in response to the judge after Bonjean said he wouldn't speak: "Yes, your honor, that's my wish."

Prior to sentencing, the court heard impact statements from seven of Kelly's victims, including Jane Doe 2, who testified at trial.

"It's been 23 years since we knew each other, and you've victimized a lot of girls since then," she said,

addressing Kelly. She later added: "Now it's your turn to have your freedom taken from you."

"No one can undo the harm that has been done to these victims," attorney Gloria Allred, who represented three victims who testified, told reporters Wednesday outside court. "But at least it's time for Mr. Kelly to be accountable."

Defense attorneys and prosecutors argued yesterday in court over whether Kelly even could pay a fine. The defense said he is, "pretty close to indigent," and could not. Prosecutors disagreed, saying money from the sale of some of his music rights and millions of dollars in royalties held by Sony could cover any fine.

In the nine months since his conviction, Kelly has replaced his entire legal team with Bonjean and her firm. Bonjean is the attorney who helped Bill Cosby get his sexual assault conviction overturned and also represented Cosby in a civil case he lost this month at trial.

"We were prepared for it,"

Bonjean said of the sentence outside the court. "We are now prepared to fight this appeal."

Kelly is being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn and was expected to be moved back to Chicago, where he faces another federal trial in August on child pornography and obstruction charges.

In over 14 hours of interviews with psychiatrist experts, Kelly said his closest relationship growing up was with his mother. His earliest memories were watching his mom perform as a singer in a band called "Six Pack," and he would often accompany her to McDonald's where she would drink coffee and they would share a pastry.

Kelly had never met his father and described his mother's death as the most tragic event of his life, saying he would go to McDonald's frequently to smell the coffee and remember her, according to a letter filed by Renee Sorrentino, a clinical assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

"To me, the 'M' stands for mom.

Going to McDonald's is always being around my mother," Kelly said.

Among the letters that asked for a shorter sentence for Kelly was one written by Diana Copeland, Kelly's former assistant who testified as a government witness and said she wrote a letter in support of Kelly because it was the "right thing to do."

"God doesn't want us to throw humans away," Copeland wrote.

"If we have the audacity to care for the perpetrators as well as the victims, we can all rise."

Joycelyn Savage, who was considered a victim of Kelly's by prosecutors, also remains a supporter.

"Robert and I are deeply in love and it breaks my heart that the government has created a narrative that I'm a victim," Savage wrote.

"I'm a grown woman, and can speak for myself which is why I wanted to provide this letter to the court."

Is he not supposed to know?”

Noting that Atiku had ignored the recommendation of a committee set up by the party to pick his running mate, Fayose said, “PDP set up a committee to recommend a running mate for the candidate and the committee voted and picked Wike, but they didn’t comply with the recommendation of the committee.

“If the party is now a one-man show, we will show them that we can resist it. We are with Wike 100 per cent. When they need Wike’s money and Wike’s support, they will say, ‘Wike is good enough’.

Wike has been injured, but we will remain with him. Whatever he does is what we would do; wherever he asks us to go is where we will go.”

Asked what would happen should Wike ask them to support Atiku, Fayose: “Wike will never say we should support Atiku.

Wike cannot come out to say he is supporting Atiku. I dare him to say so, because he knows that whatever he says will haunt him forever. If Wike supports Atiku, we will abandon him.”

On whether the plan was to technically support the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu, or his counterpart in the Labour Party, Peter Obi, Fayose said, “This is not about Bola Tinubu or Obi, but this is about our belief that power must come to the south and it is a struggle we must actualise.”

Fayose explained that, “When the June 12 election was cancelled, the presidency was zoned to the southwest to pacify the southwest region. When former President

Goodluck Jonathan was overstaying, it was believed that he was already using the northern slot. So, he was opposed and a northern candidate was installed through the APC. “This time, it is the turn of the south, because Buhari has spent eight years. Why will PDP be insisting that it must again be the turn of the north?”, he added, stating also that he did not care if his actions were perceived as anti-party activity.

“What I am saying is, it is the turn of the South, and if they want to expel me, to hell with them. I am not taking money from anyone to belong to this party. If they want to rock this boat, we will help them to rock it.”

On his stand that it was the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, Fayose’s controversial Tweet has, however, been widely taken as wholesome denouncing of Atiku, insisting that it was the turn of the South to produce the next president after the expiration of two terms of eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice.

The former governor, who disclosed this via his verified twitter handle, Gov@Ayo Fayose, argued that section 3(c) of the PDP constitution provided for a rotational presidency.

He tweeted: "The PDP Constitution provides for a rotational Presidency. Section 3(c) provides that the party shall pursue its aims & objectives by ‘adhering to the

ORTOM UNDECIDED ABOUT SUPPORT FOR ATIKU, WANTS WIKE PLACATED (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, because it was a decision that would be informed by the leading of the spirit.

Ortom, who declared that his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, was badly treated by the party leadership, however, sought the possibility of a meeting between Atiku and Wike, where the issue currently creating a gulf in the party would be addressed completely.

At the same time, a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has also explained why Wike would never support Atiku’s presidential bid, saying doing otherwise would forever haunt the Rivers governor.

Ortom, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, who spoke on the Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Channel, said the PDP leaders badly treated Wike by choosing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as the vice-presidential candidate of PDP, instead of Wike whom 14 out of 17 PDP members, voted for as their preferred choice.

However, multiple sources familiar with the decision making process leading to the eventual selection, disclosed to THISDAY last night that contrary

to widespread believe that there was only one committee where Wike had 14 votes, Atiku actually set up four different committees to advise him on the choice of his vice presidential candidate.

The committees according the sources, included that of Elders of the Party which was made up of the founding fathers of the party; a committee of governors, past and present and another committee of the National Assembly members.

"Yes, Wike may have succeeded in the committee Ortom talked about but contrary to agreement of non disclosure of their recommendations, the Rivers state governor went ahead to publicise the recommendation which was seen as attempt to tie Atiku’s hands.

But the key reason among others, was feeling among many northern leaders that Wike was anti-north and that it may be too risky to have him as the vice president given what they interpreted to be his anti-northern stance which they believe would strip north of resources. The issue of VAT which Wike championed was cited as example and became a key albatross against him. The aggressive manner he championed the VAT issue ruffled a lot of feathers in

the North. Taking away VAT from federal control as you know would be detriment to many Northern States - only two states like Lagos and Rivers would be the greatest beneficiaries. Many northern states would simply go bankrupt. The northern leaders of thought read Wike's position on this key issue to be anti-north and where therefore not happy with him."

However, speaking further on the issue, Ortom said the party needed to consult more to appease those, who have been offended by the PDP leaders, adding also that, Nigerians must come together to salvage the country, stressing that he could not glibly declare his support for Atiku’s presidential bid, despite being from the same party except he heard from God. Explaining why he has held back his support for Atiku, Ortom said, “I was among the 17-member committee set up by Atiku and 14 of us in the committee said the person should be Wike. Unfortunately, Atiku picked Okowa. That is his wisdom. You cannot ignore decision of a committee you set up yourself and expect people to be happy. For now, I have gone into hibernation.

“I am in hibernation. I am pray-

ing. When I finish the prayers and whatever God directs me, I will do. We expect Atiku to do more but we are not seeing that. They should stop that. Atiku should go to him (Wike). Why won’t he ignore their calls. Is that not an insult?

Wike is a pillar in the party.

“Currently, Nobody in the party has contributed more for the party to move forward than Wike. If Atiku was not going to honour the decision of the committee, he should have called Wike earlier and informed him. He didn’t do that. You can’t do things anyhow and expect us to be happy.”

On his part, Fayose, in an exclusive telephone interview with an online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, recounted how Atiku “promised” to make Wike his running mate after he was declared winner of the PDP presidential primary election.

According to him, Atiku failed to fulfil his promise to Wike, when he settled for the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate.

“Wike never said he wanted to be VP, but when Atiku visited him, he was the one who said, ‘I want you to be my VP’. He said that to Wike. If that then changes, is Wike not supposed to be told?

IRABOR: NIGERIA’S SECURITY PROBLEM REQUIRES POLITICAL SOLUTION (INEC) and, of course, all stakeholders, who are engaged in the exercise, which is a national exercise that the whole world is looking up to Nigeria for (do their work).

“The election will be conducted under a secure environment and that is a guarantee and we are working very assiduously to ensure that."

He added, "For every conflict that the military have ever been involved in, the military only leaves the platform for other means of conflict resolution to be conducted.

So, in this case, of course, political solution lies at the root of the resolution of all crises, whether it is Boko Haram or IPOB, there are things that almost all of them must end within the purview of political settlement. Why? Because when we are talking about political science, we are also looking at issues of governance.

"So, in the local governments across the length and breadth of the nation, what is the level of development? What is the level of empowerment of the citizens?

How have we been able to provide skills acquisition that will enable citizens to not just be self-employed but also be engaged in meaningful entrepreneurial skills.

“The federal government is doing quite a lot. I'm sure you know the programmes of youth empowerment that the federal government is doing. But let it

get to the states and local governments and not just having them in smaller numbers and packages.

Let it be an exponential growth of entrepreneurial skills development and acquisition across the length and breadth of the country."

On the Niger Delta situation, Irabor said a combination of operations by the Nigerian Air Force and other security agencies had contributed to addressing the issues of insecurity in the region.

He said, "The Navy, within the last year and a half, has been able to maintain a clean maritime environment, especially, when you are talking about the shipping lanes.

But, of course, there are problems that have to do with crude oil theft, vandalism of the pipelines and other associated issues, which we are dealing with in concert with other members of the defence and security agencies.

"So far, so good, even though they are still a long haul, I must say that quite a lot of improvement has been made. But I must also use the opportunity to say that the citizens of the Niger Delta or the inhabitants of the Niger Delta, who we are also sensitising for them to collaborate more with us, need to take greater responsibility, because the environment that is being polluted by these criminals.

It is those who inhabit these areas that will be worse for it."

Reacting to the alleged collusion

of members of the armed forces in some criminal acts, Irabor said, "Those are allegations. I do not also run away from the fact that there may be moles among us, and that is why we take disciplinary action against any act of indiscipline that we find.

“A lot of our personnel have faced marshals, some have been sent to prison, some have been dismissed, but that is only a small number compared to the establishment itself, the institution. So, if there are one or two persons, who have been involved in one form of criminality, the issues are, have they been caught, dealt with? Why use them now for the assessment of the larger armed forces?"

He said the armed forces personnel were professional men and women that were patriotic in doing the job that they were sent to do, insisting that he is proud of everyone of them.

He, however, said those who had soiled the name of the military would be dealt with.

Further on the issue of security, Irabor advised all Nigerians to see security as a collective concern.

"Do not shy away from reporting anyone, whose ways are not right,” he advised Nigerians.

He added, “If you don't, then, of course, you will be the loser.

But I know that as we continue to sensitise Nigerians, greater cooperation will be achieved in

the area of security.”

On what happened in Cross River State recently, Irabor exonerated the military of any wrongdoing, and insisted that the military would always act professionally to maintain peace in any troubled community He said, "I am aware and the troops were never involved in any issue of raping and destruction. No, that's not correct. I am glad that you mentioned it was a communal clash, so what is the business of the military in being involved in communal clash?

“But, of course, because lives were being lost, and we have military deployment around those areas, it was based on that, that the commanding officer of the unit went to address the problem that they had. Now getting to the scene, one of the communities for whatever reason, because they were armed, they shot at the commanding officer, wounded him, and wounded about five soldiers.

“No officer will see his men being wounded, when he has come to keep the peace. No soldier would stand idle and then see citizens unleashing mayhem not amongst themselves only, but equally taking up arms against those who have come to bring sanity to the environment. So, it was at that point that the troops needed to react.”

Continued on page 34

CBN SETS JANUARY 2023 DEADLINE FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO TIGHTEN NOOSE ON CYBERCRIMES be managed in a way that ensures confidentially, integrity and availability of information as well as the avoidance of financial loss and reputation risks among others.

The CBN noted that considering the reliance of financial institutions on information and communications technology (ICT) to operate their business and the rising incidences of cyber threats and attacks targeted at financial institutions, it became necessary to implement cybersecurity measures to mitigate against those risks.

The bank specifically noted that threats including ransomware, targeted phishing attacks and Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) had become prevalent, demanding that financial institutions boost cyber resilience as well as take proactive steps to secure their critical information assets to ensure their safety and soundness.

The objective of the guidelines is to among other things create a safer

and more secure cyber environment that supports information system security and promote stability of the OFI sub-sector.

It also seeks to promote and maintain public trust and confidence in the sub-sector as well as contribute towards the prevention and combating of cybercrime in the OFI sub-sector.

Essentially, the framework provides a risk-based approach to managing cybersecurity risk and consists of six parts including Cybersecurity Governance, and Oversight, Cybersecurity Risk Management System, Cyber Resilience Assessment, Cybersecurity Operational Resilience, Cyber-Threat Intelligence and Metrics, , Monitoring and Reporting.

The document further spelt out the roles of board of directors in relation to cybersecurity as well as appointment and responsibilities of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) among others.

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EDITORIAL

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

THE RESIGNATION OF CJN MUHAMMAD With the exit of Justice Muhammad as CJN, the apex court must put its house in order

F

which called to question the leadership of the (now ollowing a recent damaging protest letter former) CJN, Justices of the court were denied from Supreme Court Justices, the sudden allowances, transportation and other basic domestic resignation of the Chief Justice of Nigeria perks. The budget of the Supreme Court was also (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad did not allegedly mismanaged. come as a surprise. And it is unlikely that Given this backdrop, it becomes immaterial many Nigerians will miss him. For much ZKHWKHU -XVWLFH 0XKDPPDG MXPSHG RͿ KLV RI KLV VWHZDUGVKLS LQ R΀FH -XVWLFH 0XKDPPDG privileged position or was pushed out. But his somehow made his conduct and competence the resignation on health grounds could not have come at IRFXV RI GLVFRXUVH +LV SDWKHWLF VHQDWH FRQÀUPDWLRQ a better time. His presence at the head of the nation’s hearing three years ago was mostly about his basic Supreme Court at a period of political transition had NQRZOHGJHDELOLW\ DV D MXGLFLDO R΀FHU 7KHUHDIWHU WKH serious implications. The serial failures of an arguably Supreme Court became incompetent and morally an object of public opaque CJN is injurious doubt and even outright to the rule of law as the ridicule about the The right of every citizen to justice, the entire principle of rule EHGURFN RI RXU ÁHGJOLQJ credibility of some of the democracy. Given the rate judgments it delivered. of law and equality before the law which are fundamental to the at which courts, rather To be fair, Justice than the electorate, end Muhammad may have existence of a democratic order reside in the Supreme Court up determining actual inherited a liability winners of elections, the from his much-assailed judiciary has written itself predecessor and the into the electoral code, with dire implications for PDQQHU LQ ZKLFK KH DVFHQGHG R΀FH DV &-1 $ democracy and the rule of law. Such notion of justice mixture of political pressure and credibility concerns T H I S D AY is a scandalous indictment of the institution that KDG EHGHYLOHG WKH ÀQDO VWDJHV RI WKH WHQXUH RI -XVWLFH EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU allows it to prevail and the person at the helm.

DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA Walter Onnoghen who was practically forced out of MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO The apex court is the ultimate determinant of R΀FH ,Q HVVHQFH WKH FLUFXPVWDQFHV RI WKH XQWLG\ H[LW DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU questions of justice in the land. Beyond it, the next RI KLV SUHGHFHVVRU OLWHUDOO\ GHÀQHG WKH H[SHFWDWLRQV CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI level of appeal is to God! Therefore, the right of every around Justice Muhammad’s appointment. The EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN citizen to justice, the entire principle of rule of law MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI executive probably expected him to be more THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE and equality before the law which are fundamental ‘friendly’ in political cases while restoring some of to the existence of a democratic order reside in the the credibility of the judiciary in terms of the probity Supreme Court.

Minimally then, the leadership of individual judges. He failed woefully both as a of that court and indeed the judiciary must inspire T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D symbol of moral credibility, and in discharging the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA in the citizenry and the international community a fundamental democratic obligation of the critical GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, FHUWDLQ FRQÀGHQFH GHULYDEOH IURP WKH PHULWRFUDWLF arm of government he headed.

ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI rigour of their selection process.

It is therefore not surprising that the prelude to DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, While we wish Justice Olukayode Ariwoola the ANTHONY OGEDENGBE the departure of Justice Muhammad as CJN was a DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI best in his new assignment as the acting CJN, we virtual revolt of 14 Justices of the Supreme Court.

SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH must reiterate our stand that the present culture of a In an unprecedented show of dissatisfaction, his ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI PHUH FKURQRORJLFDO DVFHQVLRQ WR WKH FUXFLDO R΀FH RI colleagues had signed a public petition accusing him CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI WKH QXPEHU RQH R΀FHU LQ WKH MXGLFLDO VHFWRU LV QRW WKH DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO of a litany of acts which amount to mismanagement TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com best. At some point in the future, we hope that there DQG RXWULJKW DEXVH RI R΀FH )URP WKHLU SHWLWLRQ will be a reform to tinker with that process.

Letters to the Editor

Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-300 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 (750- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with photograph, email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LETTERS

NIGERIA: A LAND OF DEEP DARKNESS As if to show that Nigeria`s democracy is yet to fully evolve to the place where it can fully give power to the people, a metaphor aptly presents itself in the Nigeria`s power sector, in the wheeling and dealing which have aggressively worked hand- in- hand for many years now to keep Nigeria enmeshed in darkness.

The inability of Nigeria`s power sector to give Nigerians steady power supply has continued to defy successive administrations to the eternal frustrations of Nigerians. Nigeria`s political vultures have been known to feed voraciously on these frustrations. During elections, they know how to tell 1LJHULDQV WKDW WKH\ ZLOO À[ SRZHU LQ WKH FRXQWU\ +RZHYHU for many years now, the experience of the sector mirrors the experience of Nigerians and it is one of anguished frustration.

So why is it that more than six decades after independence, and more than two decades after the return to democracy, 1LJHULD KDV EHHQ HPEDUUDVVLQJO\ XQDEOH WR À[ LWV SRZHU VHFtor? Many factors go to answer this question. However, only very little doubt exists that chief among these factors is a lack of political will which embraces the question of strong lead-

ership in resolving Nigeria`s power challenge, and also the unwillingness or inability to confront crippling corruption.

Nigeria`s power sector has been a kind of bottomless pit into which so much resources have been plunged with puzzlingly little to show for. For example, between 1999 and 2007, about $16 billion was said to have been sunk into the power sector. Nigerians know that it was the cankerworm of corruption that consumed most of the resources. Many of those who handled the resources within that period are still alive.

Inexplicably, those who should ask questions have remained tongue-tied over the fortunes of the power sector.

Then, the national grid is always collapsing to leave Nigerians in the claws of gripping darkness. Recently, when yet another collapse was recorded, the Federal Ministry of Power blamed saboteurs for the collapse.

All things considered, Nigeria`s lack of steady power supply has continued to prove costly. The country`s desire to be on the path to economic development with content citizens who are driving its economic transformation has remained a pipe dream for many years. Small businesses, usually the

SLQH RI HYHU\ VWURQJ HFRQRP\ KDYH FRQWLQXHG WR VXͿRFDWH LQ the darkness foisted by extremely poor power supply.

When these businesses put the cost of sourcing for alternative sources of power alongside other costs that necessarily FRPH LQWR SOD\ LQ UXQQLQJ D EXVLQHVV WKH\ ÀQG WKH 1LJHULDQ business environment to be unduly harsh. It is not usually long before many of them fold up, sending many dreams hurtling through the window, and making the slope of poverty and unemployment even more slippery.

The fact that it is not just the economy of the country but SUDFWLFDOO\ HYHU\ DVSHFW RI QDWLRQDO OLIH WKDW LV DͿHFWHG E\ poor power supply is also highlighted by the experience of patients in Nigerian hospitals. In many hospitals especially those owned and run by the government, it is not uncommon to see patients give up the ghost because critical care came too late, delayed by epileptic power supply.

A lot is broken in Nigeria today. Fixing what`s is broken FDQ EHJLQ IURP À[LQJ DQ H[WUHPHO\ EULWWOH SRZHU VHFWRU Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

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POLITICS

Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com (08033025611 SMS ONLY)

Adeleke: I’m Optimistic of Winning Osun Governorship Poll The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming governorship poll in Osun state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in an interview with Yinka Kolawole, reels out his agenda for the state of the living spring and why he’s sure of victory during the July 16, 2022 election. Excerpts:

H

ow prepared are you for the July 16 election?

Fully prepared. I’m ready on all front. I have been on the campaign trail for weeks now. I went round the local governments, meeting our people. I can tell you the reception has been marvelous. Every where we reach, the jubilant crowd of voters are overwhelming. I am the people’s choice. You remember how I was rigged out in 2018. Our people are now prepared to vote for me again and defend their votes.

What is your assessment of the mood of the state?

I will say the state is energised. The incumbent has performed poorly. The lack of good governance is visible. Just go round the state. You will see clearly the failure of governance, lack of capacity and governance by propaganda. Our people are eager to vote out Oyetola.

Adeleke

Thanks so much for this question. I have a five- point agenda widely circulating. They include the following: First line charge for workers’ welfare, salaries, gratuities and pensions; boosting state economy through business loans to market women, youth and artisans; Osun money serving Osun people through home grown infrastructure policy; People-focussed social policy through skill based education, affordable health care, state security and social security support; and Agro-based Industrialisation for wealth and job creation for youths and women.

Is your party really ready going by reported infighting within the house?

There is no infighting within the house.

We had disagreements; It is all about democracy. But we are today one big family.

PDP is stronger now than ever before. On daily basis, we are receiving defectors into our party. In the last one week alone, many top leaders of APC have joined us. Within PDP, we have all agreed to work for the party. Across the local governments, our people are working hard, mobilising the people. On the other hand, APC is not ready.

Governor Oyetola is afraid of the people. So APC and their thugs have been attacking our supporters across the state. Hope you read our recent press statement? We had to petition the IG of Police going by how APC go about unleashing violence on our people. Everyday, people are leaving APC to support me. The news is everywhere. So I am ready. My party is ready.

People will want more details. What in specific terms are we to expect?

Agriculture is to be the main focus of our administration for the creation of employment and eradication of poverty. We will create an agripreneurs programme.

Here we will train and financially empower at least 200,000 agric

If you say you are ready, your manifesto will prove it. What is your agenda for the people of Osun state? We have not heard much of your plans and programmes.

entrepreneurs on quarterly basis. We will reform agric mechanisation programme to expand access and affordability for farmers.

I plan to capitalise on my experience as a businessman to facilitate export market for our farmers. Osun farmers will earn dollars through our agriculture export agenda. We plan to use agriculture as a major means of job and wealth creation. Another area I am passionate about is making Osun an ICT digital economy hub. We plan to provide the environment to generate jobs and wealth and fight poverty. Osun youth are talented. I will convert their energy to ICT innovations and digital economy. Let me also share this with you and readers. Osun economy is dry.

I mean dry as there is no money circulating within the economy. I plan to boost the state economy by injecting state fund into the local economy. Our administration will empower the cooperative societies to channel soft business loans to artisans, Iyalojas and Babalojas.

I will upgrade the Cooperatives and link them with standard financial institutions.

I will work with Chambers of Commerce in Osun to empower businesses in Osun state. I will equally discourage capital flight from Osun. Osun money will service Osun through local patronage of local contractors.

As a lover of youth, another plan for job creation is to expand direct labor policy. Our infrastructure projects will have more than 75 percent labour intensive activities.

But it seems you have no agenda for the education, health and even sport sector?

First, let me assure you that I have a detailed manifesto. We are conscious of the need of our people. For the education sector, our plan incude emergency repair and upgrade of school facilities to commence within 100 days in office; emergency provision of school learning materials to enhance students performance; strengthening of PTAs to address crisis of cultism and lawlessness across the education system; encouragement of public private partnership in the management of our schools; this is to bring in private sector support for the education sector; reform and expansion of a robust scholarship and

bursary policy for Osun students; new state partnership with owners of private schools to expand education access and affordability; and creation of private sector supported College of Digital Economy for Osun state University to be located at Iwo. For the health sector, our plan include a review of ongoing support programmes for the primary health care centres, immediate provisions of water and basic drugs in our general hospitals ; immediate upgrade of facilities at our general hospitals and proper attention to the welfare and needs of medical workers. I am also a great sport lover, so I believe Osun needs a befitting integrated international stadium. There should be good stadium for each of the senatorial district.

I will personally ensure that Osun is well placed in at least 10 sporting games.

There is rural and grassroots poverty.

What will you do to address this?

I read a lot about China and its anti-poverty policy. It was a huge success. But why was China successful in fighting poverty? Because its local government system is strong and functional. So to me, we need to restore the autonomy of local governments. There is no two way to it. Our local governments must be allowed to function. So as a Governor, I will strengthen the local governments through aequate funding and monitoring.

You have so many programmes but Osun is highly indebted. How do you hope to fund the agenda?

Yes. Osun is highly indebted. That is one of the legacies of Oyetola government. The problem now is that we don’t have the actual figures of the debt. As to your question, our government will first block all loopholes in the state finances. Secondly, we will be prudent, very prudent to ensure value for money.

We will tap into donor and private sector support in the management of state finance.

Our first 100 days programmes will set the stage for the financial recovery of the state.

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

‘With Tinubu on Ballot, APC Remains the Party to Beat in 2023’ The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial zone, Chief Kodilichukwu Okelekwe, in this interview with Adedayo Akinwale says with Senator Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the party, APC remains the party to beat in 2023.

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ormer Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, recently emerged the APC 2023 presidential candidate. What does that portend for the party?

First let me start by congratulating Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his doggedness, tenacity. It is a victory well deserved. Having said that, if you look at his chances in the main election, it is obvious that APC is the party to beat. You know why? Because we have a good candidate in Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Love him or hate him; but one thing you can’t take away from him is that he is a leader gifted with the characteristics, the major ingredients that make for good leadership. God has endowed him with those characteristics and what are those characteristics? You talk of determination. You talk of self-confidence. You talk of good judgment and finally, we talk of foresightedness. You can agree with me that he is endowed with these four major characteristics that make for success in leadership. Therefore, I have no doubt in my mind that he will emerge victorious. Again, if you look at the political permutations on ground, it is also in his favour. This is apart from the fact that he is a very good and sellable candidate.

A lot of people expected delegates from the

been my first choice. But I was not a delegate. I can’t really say what happened. But I wouldn’t want us to really dwell on that now. I want us to focus on the fact that a candidate has emerged.

So, as South Easterners, as Igbos, how do we key in? Because I can tell you, Asiwaju Tinubu is a president in waiting. So, the question as an Igbo man is, what does an Asiwaju Tinubu presidency portend for the Igbos? I think that’s what I want us to dwell on. As for the behaviour of delegates from the South East, it leaves so much to be desired. But let’s not focus more on it.

Let’s focus on the future. How can the Igbos key in? How can the Igbos be part of the Tinubu presidency, what does it portend, what will be the place of the Igbo in his presidency, these are the areas, we need to focus on, to talk about, and not to dwell on the past.

Okelekwe

South East to vote for aspirants from the zone at the last APC national convention, but what we saw was a far cry from that.

To be honest with you, I would have loved it if a person from South East had emerged as the APC candidate. That would have

You are from the South East where the APC is seen as “Hausa or Northern”party, what hope is there for the APC in the South east in the coming election? Secondly, why do you think Ndigbo should key into the Tinubu project?

You talked about the perception of APC as “Hausa or northern party”. Well, now that there’s a southern person as the presidential

candidate, is it right to still call it a “Hausa or northern party”? I don’t think so. So, if I may, without conceding, assuming it used to be, right now with the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as the presidential candidate, the APC has come of age. APC is a Nigerian party, we have demonstrated that by electing a southerner as the flag-bearer of the party.

Secondly, I would have loved to see a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, no doubt about that. I am not making a pretense about that, I’m a proud Igbo man. There’s no way you can be a proud Nigerian without first of all being proud of your heritage, of where you are coming from. So, I am a proud Igbo man, that is why I am also a proud Nigerian. Having said that, the question is, as Igbos, what do we do? How do we key in? The emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as the standard flag bearer of APC calls for strategic thinking among the Igbos. That is what it calls for. I had spoken about the inevitability of Tinubu’s presidency come 2023. As Igbo, we need to be strategic in our thinking. How can we be part of it?

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY JUNE 30, 2022

POLITICS

Ogun: Why I am Routing for Peter Obi A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Serguis Ogun, in this interview with Udora Orizu, explains why he believes Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, is the best marerial to lead Nigeria come 2023. Excerpts:

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he primaries are over and the country is now gearing towards the general election.

Looking back, what were your observations?

I think the primaries especially for the two major political parties, the APC and the PDP, it was a disgrace what turned out because a situation where, maybe we didn’t have these statutory delegates. In the first case, I don’t think there was anything wrong with section 84 (8) because we just copied the Electoral Act 2010, just copied, I think, section 87 or is it 78, lifted it and put it there. And if you cast your minds back since 2010 till now statutory delegates have been voting. So where did the brain wave come from that we now said people might input certain things into it and will not allow statutory delegates to vote and we now have to amend it. But the impression we were giving was that it is all tied up with the president; I never had any problem but I thought it wasn’t necessary and the day we amended it I actually said it on television that it was not necessary because I think we were dabbling too much into the political parties’ affairs. These are areas where we should leave to the political parties if we really want them to deepen the internal democracy, these are things they should handle. But well, we have had the primaries.

They have come and gone and the way it turned out, I guess because the statutory delegates were not there, so it had only few people to deal with. For the national assembly election, they had to deal with the adhoc delegates, for the PDP three per ward and I think the APC, it was much more than that and for the presidential, for PDP it was one per local government, national delegates I think for the APC it was about three or five. So, they had few people to deal with and of course more money went in there. So, that is the dis-

N5,000 or N10,000 but now that it is so heavily monetized, it is unfortunate. Well at the primaries, PDP produced Atiku and APC Tinubu and Peter Obi had to go to Labour which I think was a good thing.

Ogun

grace really. That you are going to spend that much money just for somebody to emerge and a lot went down, a lot of money and this is a country that we are borrowing for practically everything; borrowing to pay salaries, borrowing to subsidize petrol, borrowing for everything and yet we had that kind of money in circulation just to buy votes at that level. I mean, if a party is going to nominate somebody, the way I know this in the past and I think the candidate of ADC said it that they put money together for the delegates because they are going to come from all over the country and for then, for their transport and accommodation.

That is what I am used to. In the past when you go Benin from my state, from my local government to Benin, they will give you transport money. You give people from my ward, maybe

Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi was a member of PDP, just until recently he left; how did you receive the news of his departure even though you said it is a good thing? Some people said he would have become the running mate to anyone who emerged as the presidential candidate if he had stayed put.

You can’t be too sure that Atiku would have picked him because there is rumour here and there that the Delta state Governor sank in so much. Maybe that deal was already closed before the day of the primaries. It is said that he who pays the piper dictates the tune. It is possible that stew was already cooked before the real event took place but I don’t know. These are just rumours on the street.

Would you think Obi just left without some bad blood? There were speculations that he was forced to leave by the activities of some governors before the primaries.

I think he saw the handwriting on the wall and it was a good thing he left. Was he going to be able to match Governor Wike?

He was not going to be able to match Wike, neither was he going to match Atiku. He didn’t have that kind of war chest and this is a private businessman. So, serving in office is a public service and the office is a public office. So, why should you spend your entire savings, family savings to come and serve? He has the appeal. He served as a governor and he showed to the world what he can do. So, why does he need to go and break the bank to become a candidate of a

political party. People should be begging him to become the candidate because we can see clearly that he has the footprint to take this country to the height we desire for it to get to. So for me, I think he saw the handwriting on the wall and it was a good thing he left otherwise he would have been humiliated.

People say he has no structure and all of that and there is so much frenzy.

Those who are really campaigning for him are basically on the social media.

The structure will come. I believe that the structure will come. We need to know how TUC and NLC are standing because they are supposed to be a major party of the Labour party. Usually, when the NLC has strike or they are picketing any establishment, you see the way they come out in their numbers. For example, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), when they are on strike, they have a team to implement that strike. They go round all schools in every community. So, they have people. They have road transport workers. They have the teachers and you will agree with me that you have this set of people everywhere.

In the smallest community, you will have a school and you will have a teacher. But I think we need to go and study how the Labour party works in England. It might not work like that here because here we are emotionally attached. If you are my brother and you are a member of the PDP and by virtue of my work affiliation with labour, there is every tendency that I might want to vote for my brother who is a member of PDP. That is because we are Africans. But like I said, we need to study how it works in the UK. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Okai: President Has Failed Woefully to Secure the Nation An activist and Peoples Democratic Party’s House of Representatives candidate in 2023 poll, Austin Okai, in this interview with Juliet Akoje, says President Muhammadu Buhari has done nothing to stem the tide of insecurity in the country. Excerpt:

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he spate of insecurity in the country generally is on the increase and as a very strong vocal voice in the society, what is your message to President Muhammadu Buhari concerning insecurity in the land?

He is unnecessarily being stubborn; he is not doing anything about it. As I am talking to you, it is getting to seven months that some students were abducted from Katsina, they have not yet been found. What of the train attack, you are aware of the train attack between Abuja and Kaduna, the victims are still being held in the hands of the abductors. You can’t tell us that they don’t know what is going on, it is becoming alarming and we see it as business as usual.

If somebody like me is even in the national assembly, I will press more to ensure the president talks to Nigerians about the spate of kidnapping and killing, it is unusual, it is uncalled for, for a president who is a former general and the nation is insecured under him and he sees it as a normal thing, it is an aberration and everyone of us must stand up to it, you can’t govern a nation with this kind of condition. And this has shown that truly they lack the capacity to rule. Thank God February 18, 2023 is coming and Nigerians are eager to effect changes but even at that, we must call a spade a spade, he has failed woefully, he has failed to keep to his constitutional responsibilities, the oath he swore to protect Nigeria’s integrity, to ensure security of lives and properties, he has failed.

Today as I am talking to you, the sit-at-home order in the south east is well being observed even by the government agencies and parastatals and he is not doing anything about it.

government must keep changing hands and now that he has refused to hire and fire, it shows that he is comfortable with it; therefore he cannot be exonerated from the ongoing crimes against Nigerians.

Okai

Killings across the six geopolitical zones, no zone is safe anymore because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government; he finds it difficult to fire those he is supposed to fire, the National Security Adviser is still there despite the resolution by the national assembly that he should fire the man. The NSA is the custodian of the Nigerian information and intelligence gathering, processing and he acts on it, until that man leaves, because he has so far demonstrated that he lacks the capacity to be the National Security Adviser of the president.

Until there is an end to it, the

We are approaching that time of the year where the people will be electing their leaders; what is your message to the youth specifically because in most cases of electoral malpractices and all that, the youth are said to be behind some of these things. What is your message to the masses concerning the 2023 election?

Whoever we think, we have tested so many of them and if you observed some of them are our grandfather’s mates, they enjoyed their own life, they are enjoying our father’s opportunity and now they want to also take over our own chances. And that is why people like me stood up, I am standing up tall to ensure that the constituency which has 80% of the votes as Nigerians, 80% of the eligible voters fall into the age of the youth and unfortunately we are under represented.

Look at the cabinet of President Buhari, is there any youth among the ministers, none.

The highest thing they can give you is one SSA where you don’t even have a port folio or some of them don’t even have an office.

Where the critical decisions are being taken, the youths are not there.

Now that you are planning my own tomorrow and I am not there, how do you know what I want? They don’t hear from us, most of them use the old methods as it was obtainable in the 70’s, in the 80’s and that is obsolete. The world is changing and we must effect changes too. I know experience matters most but what

is wrong in having all the Ministers of State as young ones, what is wrong in having 90% of the people in the House of Representatives to be within the age of 45, 50, 45 to 35, what is wrong? We should be involved in planning our future, we shouldn’t just be used only for election malpractice, thuggery, destruction of election materials. No, this is our time.

At what time did Yakubu Gowon became a president, ditto Ibrahim Babangida, all of them were within the age of youth. President Buhari became a governor at a younger age, he became a minister at a younger age, he even became a president but up till now, he is still our president when some of us have graduated and still looking for jobs.

So unless we speak in one language, nobody should come and define the youth any more in the name of religion, this is a Muslim, we should stand by him, he is our brother, this one is a Christian, we should stand by him because he is a Christian, he is our Christian brother, we say no to that; let us talk sense into ourselves.

What do we want? is this a country? is there any future for us? is this the type of country we want to live for our children yet unborn with what we are going through? And if we must say no to that, to have a better Nigeria for our children yet unborn, then it is now we should rise up, the time is now for us to rise up, let us get massive orientation about the APC and let us effect change of government in a democratic way by voting out those that have failed, by voting out the party that has failed.

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

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FEATURES

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

Accelerating Sustainable Development in Africa through STEAM In line with its commitment to accelerate sustainable development in Africa and beyond, Sahara Foundation is inspiring a young generation of African changemakers to tackle prevalent challenges within their communities by identifying novel approaches and developing innovative solutions to address local problems. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that through their STEAMers “Catch Them Young and Curious” initiative, 150 junior and senior secondary school students in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda are creating value for society

Executive Director, Sahara Foundation, Pearl Uzokwe with the Nigerian National Demo Day Winners from Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos

A group from Igbobi College showing off their ‘Triple Irrigation System’ prototype design

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or Sahara Group, its commitment to enabling growth for all is all encompassing given that beyond business, it has touched and continues to touch countless lives by placing premium on human resource, all targeted at empowering the society and leaving it better than they met it.

Through its Sahara Foundation, the group has gone from identifying valuable partnerships that supports innovation across Africa to improving access to quality education as a viable means to achieving sustainable communities.

Undoubtedly, Sahara Foundation is committed to accelerating sustainable development in Africa and beyond.

CATCH THEM YOUNG INITIATIVE In accelerating sustainable development, one of the vehicles for this is targeted at teenagers and youths.

This position has been adopted by The Sahara Group through its foundation- Sahara Foundation in creating its STEAMers “Catch Them Young and Curious”.

This initiative is a Science Technology Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM) educational program designed by Sahara Foundation in partnership with STEMCafe to create an opportunity for young people to access a deep dive learning experience, get immersed in a practical classroom and have access to world-class maker labs leading them on the journey to becoming technical problem solvers.

Already, the initiative is raising 150 student participants with creative confidence, a deep understanding of embedded systems, additive manufacturing, and practical experience in using human-centred design in creating sustainable solutions to business and social problems.

According to the foundation, "This program is inspiring a young generation of African changemakers to tackle prevalent challenges within their communities by identifying novel approaches and developing innovative solutions to address local problems."

MODALITIES Giving a breakdown of the modalities involved, the foundation disclosed that "Sahara STEAMers is targeted at junior and senior secondary school students and is currently running with 150 participating students in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Each country has two participating public schools, with each national school accounting for a total number of 25 students.

Students from Oshodi Junior High School engaging in a live demonstration of their group’s invention before the judges

The winning group ‘The Watch Men’ from Igbobi College along with the Managing Director, Sahara Group Limited, Emmanuel Magani and Pearl Uzokwe, Executive Director, Sahara Foundation

"The academic year long Sahara STEAMers program comprises weekly multiple in-class sessions where students had the opportunity to engage with expert facilitators from STEMCafe and work with Sahara volunteers as they were introduced to concepts and systems that facilitated their basic understanding of physical computing with Arduino and additive manufacturing.

"Through practical hands-on learning experience, they learnt about the various circuit components (sensors, actuators, etc) and functions with simulations and handson interactions with concepts of circuitry and physical computing.

"In addition to the Additive Manufacturing, the programme took the fellows through different modules to explore Computer-Aided Design (CAD), 3D modelling, printing & lots more.

"After which, participants advanced to the ideation and prototyping phase where they are grouped to present a project that solves a problem they have identified in their community. The students also engaged in vision boarding sessions where they learnt about the benefit of vision setting accompanied with goal setting and action steps to actualisation of their dreams.

"This year’s program will end with national and regional Demonstration Day events. The national Demo Day event will take place at STEMCafe’s Makers Spaces in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Each group will present their project ideas before a panel of judges and the winning groups from the three countries will go on to compete in a regional Demo Day Finale where an overall group will emerge as regional champion."

SAHARA'S MOTIVE For Sahara's Managing Director,

Emmanuel Magani, their motive is simple- to catch them young. In an interview with THISDAY at StemCafe Makers Space in Lagos, he said: "As we know, technical education is key for the development of any country. Sahara is an energy company so we are entirely in oil and gas, infrastructure, and power and our responsibility is to bring energy to life and you can’t do that without a great technical education.

"So for us, STEAM is a way of reaching out and catching them young by getting the interest of young people on the right opportunity to be interested in this key sector that is transformational to the world today.

"We all know how tech is at the core of everything that happens. It’s what’s driving the global revolution and Sahara wants to be a part of that by supporting young talents, getting the opportunity to get on that track."

On how sustainable the project, he said: " Sahara as a business has been here for 26 years so as a business you can see we have longevity and in anything we choose, once we evaluate and deem it to be creating value for the society we are willing to support."

On possible partnerships with other professionals he said: "This is a partnership. As you know, CC Hub is an incubator supporting technology talent across. So we partnered CC Hub to deliver this program and we are open to other entities. Again, this is a product of a partnership."

OVERVIEW Giving a run down on how the initiative kicked off, Executive Director, Sahara Foundation, Pearl Uzokwe said: "This Sahara Group programme came about with what

"This program is inspiring a young generation of African changemakers to tackle prevalent challenges within their communities by identifying novel approaches and developing innovative solutions to address local problems...we wanted to basically raise a generation of innovative thinkers"

I'll call a new phase of our journey at the Sahara Foundation.

"We decided that we wanted to revise the Sahara Foundation's focus areas and this happened in 2019 just before the lockdown which is part of our sustainability strategy that we are going to carry out activities in the same area as our core business area.

"As you know the Sahara Group is an energy company. We decided that we know what our impact on various parts of the ESG framework are and as a result we are going to carryout initiatives to promote access to energy or improve access to energy or anything that is going to promote sustainable environment and as you can imagine this areas it became very obvious to us that one way to improve the quality and content that we get in this place is to work on the pipeline and the pool of people that will work in this fields.

"Of course you can't talk about working in this field without talking about the STEAM or subjects in science and technology engineering down to math.

"We then started ideating around what we wanted to do, we knew that we wanted to work with children that are quite young. We wanted to get them before society told what they were not and that was very important to us.

"If you look at our program, it's not just called STEM, it's a STEAM program because the art was very important to us. "...So we decided to work with stem cafe who have fantastic mega spaces across not just Lagos but also in Uganda and Kenya where we also have offices. We are working with 150 children across these three countries over the course of the entire school year.

"This program started last year because we always do this per academic year and this is coming to an end. This event is called the National Demo Day- the beautiful thing is we are then going to have a regional Demo day. So the finalist from Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya will then come head to head but we wanted to ensure that the impact was sustained.

We wanted to basically raise a generation of innovative thinkers."

On sustainability, she said the goal is to keep expanding the initiative given that Sahara has offices in 18 countries. With this expansion, she said they will build an army in the sense of children who have creative solutions in this world of STEAM and can go further than one can ever imagine.

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21

Harnessing Reward as Enabler forYouth Productivity Amid a demotivated youth population cloaked in despair and defiance, Omolabake Fasogbon writes on how corporates intervention by way of reward and recognition of feat is changing the narrative

L-R: Winner, Creative Art, Debo Adebayo; Winner, Community Service, Chioma Fakorede; Professional Category, Moyosola Kara; Winner, Business Category, Henrihi Bankole Akomolafe; Winner, Media Category, Lehle Balde; Winner, Social Impact, Michael Sunbola and Winner, Innovation Category, Victor Boyle Komolafe at the 2022 edition of the Lord's Achievers Award held at Landmark Event Centre, in Lagos... recently

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ranklin D Roosevelt once said, "We cannot always build the future, but we can build our youths for the future”.

According to the United Nations, with improved education outcomes, relevant skills and competencies, and access to decent jobs, the youths are best prepared for the future.

Consequently, they help accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and foster a prosperous, sustainable and equitable socio-economic environment for all.

Sadly, the gaps are wide that are limiting possibilities for the youths, posing existential threats to the future.

From statistics, over 33.6 million (16.8 percent) Nigerians comprise the youths (aged between 15 and 35), with the figure still growing.

To experts, a huge population of this group means that a maximum number is in the working age, with dynamic and innovative qualities that should be explored to a country's advantage.

Executive Director of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore says of the youths, "These young people also present an incredible opportunity for the world and for your businesses. They’re not only your future employees and customers. They’re tomorrow’s dreamers, doers and thinkers – tomorrow’s leaders.

Imagine what they could create: new medical cures, new modes of transport, new ways to communicate, more sustainable economies, even a more peaceful world.

"Their lifetimes could be full of breakthroughs, inventions and progress that could benefit entire economies. They hold the future in their hands".

If the position of Fore on the youths was anything to go by, indeed, the more the youths are in number, the merrier for a nation.

However, the Nigerian situation is bleak as compounded by endemic threats like infrastructure deficit, scary unemployment figure and poverty, amongst others.

Notwithstanding, some Nigerian youths are breaking the glass ceilings and therefore blazing the trail to humble challenges and setbacks.

A perfect fit is the young Founder of Haima Health, Bukola Bolarinwa, a legal practitioner holding sway in the health sector. She is reputed to have built Nigeria’s first online and mobile blood bank to transform the country's blood supply system.

Like Bolarinwa is also 31-year old Maya Horgan Famodu, the Managing Director of Ingress Capital, an equity crowdfunding platform that connects investors with start-ups seeking funding. Coincidentally, both are 2022 winners of Lord’s London Dry Gin’s prestigious Lord’s Achievers award.

From ages, Geoffrey Chaucer's popular maxim that says- 'Idle hands are the devil's tool' has proven right till date and an evidence of threat

for an environment that packs inactive youths.

On the other hand, it is widely believed that recognising and appreciating efforts could inspire an idle hand into productivity and spur an achiever into achieving more, not minding the obvious constraints.

A Human Resource expert, Mary Jones averred that reward and recognition increase productivity and motivation.

"The act of recognising desired behaviour increases the repetition of desired behaviour, and therefore boosts productivity", she said.

Similarly, an article published in Scientific World Journal says "Recognition for positive behavior is an appropriate response of the social environment to elicit desirable external behavior among the youth." It is said to provide positive reinforcement for good behaviour while encouraging one to complete a difficult task.

"A system that provides a variety of incentives, rewards, and recognition is needed in order to serve today’s diverse youth audience; the effect of this translates to growth in society and economy," the article submitted.

Realising that Nigerian youths are hardly celebrated for their feats, Indigenous premium spirit brand, Lord’s London Dry Gin came up with the Lord Achievers' Award.

The annual award aimed to celebrate and recognise young individuals between age 25-40 who through great strength and tenacity, have achieved significant strides in their fields of endeavours.

As argued by academic scholar, Ilyas Abdilahi, “organisations need to be youth-centric and one way of getting this is by prioritising youth-focused initiatives, including recognition of feats, as a critical part of their corporate social responsibility mandates”.

The Lord's Achievers award was conceived as a major component of Lord’s London Dry Gin to influence societal development.

Other than celebrating achievers, the award since inception has been a source of inspiration to many youths who hitherto had given up on themselves and the system, as evident in the testimonies of past winners.

The effect of which has brought more youths into the productivity circle and contributing meaningfully to national development.

Speaking on the motivation for the initiative, Director of Marketing and Innovation at Grand Oak Limited, the parent company of Lord’s London Dry Gin, Obinna Ike stated that the company observed that many worthy achievements and innovations driven by millenials have gone unnoticed and not celebrated, adding that it lowers morale.

Ike said the recognition platform was ideated to champion innovation amongst the youths, but also to give the target audience more reasons to keep their craft, regardless of obstructions.

He said, "The age range selected of 25 - 40 was intentional as Nigerian youths are frequently underrepresented in other recognition platforms, a disservice to the tremendous impact they make in the community. " The Lord’s Achievers Award was established to recognise and celebrate those who despite their ages have set out to hold themselves responsible for the excellent delivery of solutions, ensuring the positive impact of their activities on the end-user; execute robust plans in the face of barriers, and stay unflinching in the face of challenges, as they chart unfamiliar territories".

He stressed that youths remained the organisation's target, since these ones live and radiate the Lord’s Gin DNA such as distinct, unique, inspiring, vibrant and young.

“These people have made an impact in their chosen fields, inspired many with bold, audacious and impactful innovation, placed Nigeria on the map by others’ recognition of their skills, and displayed attributes of perseverance and resilience in the face of difficulties.

They have proven to be a role model in leadership and laid down a sustainability structure for their platform", he expressed.

Honorees for the award are usually shortlisted by a sample of randomly selected individuals who are engaged to present names of achievers as well as decide on rationale for the nominations.

Recurring names are thereafter compiled and presented to a council of eight-man

"The recognition platform was ideated to champion innovation amongst the youths, but also to give the target audience more reasons to keep their craft, regardless of obstructions"

executive jury from diverse fields for final review.

The eight-man jury , subject to change yearly, decides on who emerge as final winners after screening their achievements which are usually determined by the reach and scope of work; duration of project and the potential for scale and future impact on wider socio-economic outcomes.

For these organisers, the initiative is not a business strategy but more of impacting humanity, hence its worked-out structure for sustainability.

Ike explained further, "The awards ceremony has been strategically planned to be a long-term initiative with inbuilt sustainable process. To ensure it continues in its journey to recognise deserving youths, we are exploring partnerships with different organisations across board who espouse similar values and understand its importance.”

"Our return on investment is the opportunity to inspire youths across the nation to believe in their dreams, strive to achieve said goals and resulting in a domino effect of impactful contributions to the community . This knowledge provides the measure of satisfaction needed."

Ike revealed that this was why the organisers have always expanded the scope of the award to reflect the dynamic and evolving nature of the country and challenges.

"For example, we began in 2019 with seven categories but have expanded to 10 as at the last edition, because we observed more problems and social issues that demand interventions by resilient youths, to secure the growth and prosperity of Nigeria. Such expansions will continue to be based on needs and where necessary, we might bring in other forms of engagement," he said.

In addition to Famodu and Bolarinwa, others that made The Achievers Award list for year 2022 edition included, Founder/CEO of Ladda and Money Africa, Tosin Olasiende who clinched the prize in the Finance category and Co-founder/ CEO at Spleet Africa, Akintola Adensami who emerged winner in the Tech category.

Dapo Adedeji, a visual storyteller and the Co-founder /Chief Commercial Officer at Voriancorelli, Jennifer Onyebuagu won the Art and Agriculture categories respectively while the Fashion, Literature and Social development laurel went to Founder of Arami Essentials, Ore Runsewe ;Nigerian-British Author and Poet, Sarah Aluko and Founder/CEO of Water With Development (WaterWide) Wilson Atumeyi, respectively.

Award-winning TV and radio presenter, Tomike Adeoye clinched the honours in the entertainment category.

Ike reaffirmed that the programme offered a platform for achievers to network with fellow like-minded individuals and build greater awareness for their organisations towards business growth.

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THURSDAY JUNE 30, 2022 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

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Ericsson: Global Mobile Network Data Traffic Doubled in 2 Years, 5G Subscriptions to Hit 4.4bn in 2027

Emma Okonji The latest Ericsson Mobility Report shows that global mobile network data traffic doubled in the past two years, with a projection that 4.4 billion 5G subscriptions are expected by 2027.

According to the report, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will account for 20 per cent of all mobile data network traffic by the end of 2022, with 60 per cent of global mobile network data traffic expected to be over 5G networks by 2027 The report projected North America to lead the world in 5G

subscription penetration in the next five years with nine-of-every-ten subscriptions in the region expected to be 5G by 2027.

The forecast is contained in the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, which also predicts that current global 5G subscriptions will pass the one billion milestone by the end of 2022.

In Nigeria, the statistics released last week by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, revealed that Nigeria’a mobile broadband subscriptions reached 83.37 million, equivalent

to 43.67 per cent mobile broadband penetration in May 2022.

The Nigerian broadband statistics for 2022, showed an increase in mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration from 75.57 million subscriptions and 39.59 per cent penetration in May 2021.

Based on the fast growth of broadband subscriptions and penetration level, the NCC and the telecom operators, last week, reassured Nigerians of their commitment to roll out 5G network across the country, beginning from August 24 this year.

The Ericsson Mobility Report said

in India, where 5G deployments were yet to begin, 5G is expected to account for nearly 40 per cent of all subscriptions by 2027. In global terms, 5G is forecast to account for almost half of all subscriptions by 2027, topping 4.4 billion subscriptions.

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report, which is the twenty-second edition of Ericsson’s network traffic insights and forecasts, also reveals that global mobile network data traffic doubled in the past two years.

The traffic growth was driven by increased smartphone and

mobile broadband usage, as well as the digitalisation of society and industries. The recent statistics and forecasts highlight the strong demand data connectivity and digital services have, and are expected to have, despite the global Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties. Several hundred million people are becoming new mobile broadband subscribers every year.

The June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report also verifies that 5G is scaling faster than all previous mobile technology generations.

About a quarter of the world’s

population currently has access to 5G coverage. Some 70 million 5G subscriptions were added during the first quarter of 2022 alone. By 2027, about three-quarters of the world’s population will be able to access 5G, according to the report.

Analysing the report, the Executive Vice President and Head of Networks at Ericsson, Fredrik Jejdling, said: “The latest Ericsson Mobility Report confirms 5G as the fastest growing mobile technology generation ever, and Ericsson is playing a key role Continued on page 24

Global Technology Companies Set to Achieve Carbon Neutrality in 2030, Say ITU, WBA Emma Okonji Thirty-eight of the world’s 150 leading tech companies are on track to become carbon neutral by 2030, with several aiming to be carbon negative soon after, a report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), has revealed.

The new report, Greening Digital Companies: Monitoring Emissions and Climate Commitments, documented the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use of 150 of the world’s leading tech

companies.

The study strives to enable tech companies to adopt best practices, accelerate emissions reduction, and ‘green’ themselves to eliminate carbon-dioxide (CO 2) and other GHG output from their operations.

According to the report, if other digital companies would emulate those currently leading in the quest for carbon neutrality, it could make information and communication technologies (ICTs) one of the greenest sectors of the global economy.

ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, said: “Tech companies are

essential part of the global economy.

This new study serves as a roadmap to drive all these companies towards net-zero emissions. This is the way to ensure today’s digital transformation accelerates climate action – and to do so before it’s too late.”

Operational GHG emissions among the 150 companies accounted for 239 million tonnes in 2020, equivalent to 0.8 per cent of the world total. Yet digital companies – defined as those that produce and sell ICT equipment, operate telecommunication networks, and provide software

and other information technology services, including data centres and cloud computing, have also become prominent in the race to eliminate harmful emissions.

Executive Director at WBA, Gerbrand Haverkamp, said: “Digital companies and their innovative nature are indispensable drivers of change to build a future that is not only technologically connected, but also fair and sustainable for both people and the planet. This report is testimony that digital companies can and must play a notable role in the race to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in solutions

aligned to the Paris Agreement. We hope this research can incentivise companies themselves to learn from best practices, reduce their emissions, and improve their energy efficiency across all their operations.”

The report further said from renewable power purchases and investments in carbon capture to issuing green bonds, these companies were at the forefront of global GHG reduction efforts.

Digital companies accounted for seven of the top ten largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy in 2020, making up almost

half of the renewables purchased globally that year.

Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, said: “It is no secret that as we increase our use of technology services, networks and devices, energy consumption and emissions increase in tandem. But digital technologies can be part of the solution, too. They can directly address challenges related to climate change, help scale up renewable energy markets, support smart Continued on page 24

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT M O N D AY, J U N E 2 8 , 2 0 2 2 BILLS

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109.76

8.00

108.04

10.09

106.57

10.25

120.20

10.72

113.30

10.77

Change Updated Time (%) 24, -0.01 June 2022 24, 0.02 June 2022 24, 0.10 June 2022 24, 0.00 June 2022 24, -0.09 June 2022

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NTB 14-Jul22 NTB 11Aug-22 NTB 8-Sep22 NTB 13-Oct22

300,00 300,00

0.00 June 24, 2022

415,00 417,00

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8.10

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0.01 June 24, 2022

8.90

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9.18

CONTRACT Current TENOR Contract Rate ($/₦) (MONTH) NGUS JUN 29 1 427.24 2022 NGUS JUL 27 428.93 2 2022 NGUS AUG 31 3 430.63 2022 NGUS SEP 28 4 432.32 2022 NGUS OCT 26 5 434.02 2022

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24

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

L-R: Executive Director, Corporate Services and Business Support, Lekki Gardens Estates Limited, Emily Atebe; Chief Executive Officer, Lekki Gardens Estates Limited, Richard Nyong; Director, Boston Advisory Limited, Rotimi Balogun, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Capital Trustees Limited, Buky Ikeotunoye; the Global Chairman, TOLG, Micheal Orimobi and Partner, PHOTO: SUNDAY ADIGUN SIAO, Abiodun Ariyibi during the signing ceremony of the N25Billion Commercial Paper Limited for Lekki Gardens Estates Limited in Lagos…. recently

Experts Call for Constant Sensitisation to Address Cyber Threats Emma Okonji Some cyber security experts have called for constant awareness and sensitisation of individuals and organisations to help protect their data.

The experts made the call in Lagos during a security awareness session organised

by Infodata Professional

Services in collaboration with Forcepoint, with the theme; ‘Data and Human Factor -The One Security Solution‘.

Senior Manager, Sales Engineering at Forcepoint, Mr. Mohammed El Shenawy, said creating awareness from time to time about the new technologies and the basic protection from internet risk

was very important.

According to El Shenawy, “Today’s awareness is for professionals that need to protect people’s data.”

In his presentation, the Managing Director of Infodata Professional Services, Chuks Ulu Udensi noted that current data has showed that there is an increasing proliferation of

targeted cyber-attacks in the financial services sector, ranging from insider threats to typical Ransomware, Phishing, Web application and Vulnerability exploitation attacks, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and attack campaigns of the nation-state and state-sponsored threat actors.

Regional Solution Manager,

sub Sahara Africa at Infodata Professional Services, Eze Isiago, said it partnered with Forcepoint to sensitise prospective and current customers about the growing trend in technology.

Regional Sales Manager, Infodata Professional Services, Chika Udensi, said “as we all know, technology is evolving and Infodata and Forcepoint

have decided to come together to give end users topnotch security platform.”

Chief Information Security Officer of Stanbic IBTC, Mr. Igboa Abumeri, said the event had helped to create more awareness on how to keep safe online and protect the systems made available to customers to carry out financial transactions.

‘Kaduna Dry Port Set for Domestic Export Warehouse Operation’ The Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP) is set to commence operation as Nigeria’s first Domestic Export Warehouse (DEW) to promote export of made in Nigeria goods and agricultural produce.

This was disclosed by the Port General Manager, Rotimi Raimi -Hassan at a media parley in Lagos where he said the facility is ready to be launched while listing support infrastructures already put in place for seamless and efficient operation.

According to him, KIDP is set for commissioning to pilot the DEW services as the most equipped facility in Nigeria with modern laboratory to check quality of exports that would be processed through the dry port.

He added that about 10 trucks are ready for deployment and that KIDP has judiciously utilised the Export Expansion Facility Grant from Federal

Reporters Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy) Ugo Aliogo (Development)

Government, CEO of Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and other government agencies for their support towards the success of the

DEW project “I can tell you that we are ready to make DEW a success and will continue to improve in ensuring that whatever leaves

our port meets international standards. Aside being linked to rail, our dry port have installed weigh bridge for accurate weight of cargoes too, “he said.

FMDQ Approves Lekki Gardens’s N25bn CP Programme Kayode Tokede FMDQ Security Exchange Limited (FMDQ Exchange) has approved N25 billion Commercial Paper (CP) Programme for Lekki Gardens Estates Limited, Nigeria’s foremost real estate investment company.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Lagos recently, the

Chief Executive Officer, Lekki Gardens Estates Limited, Dr. Richard Nyong, described the approval for the registration of the CP Issuance programme by FMDQ Exchange on its platform as a big step for the company, which he believes would help to deepen its market offering to customers and unlock value for all stakeholders.

On the significance of the

transaction to the company, Nyong said, “This is beyond a milestone for us. It is a blessing to be here. Six years ago, we had such an incident that everyone felt we would never come back from it. Seeing our business reach this point where there is a huge market acceptance for us up to the market to raise funding is a very significant validation.”

Also speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director, Boston Advisory Limited, Mr. Rotimi Balogun, described the CP for Lekki Gardens as a step in the right direction as it would help enhance the process of bridging the housing gap in Nigeria.

In her remarks, the Executive Director, Corporate

Services and Business Support, Mrs. Emily Atebe, said, “Today represents a significant milestone for Lekki Gardens in our commitment to enabling the most significant number of people to make the most value of their property and property-related investments and in the process contribute to closing the critical housing gap.”

Bauchi Microfinance Agency Partners Oxfam on Group Based Financing Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Deputy Business Editor Chinedu Eze Comms/e-Business Editor Emma Okonji Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents Emmanuel Addeh (Energy) KayodeTokede(CapitalMarkets) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance)

Government under the office of the Vice President to achieve hitch free logistics.

He commended the Federal Government, Kaduna State

To further upscale rural cooperative financing aimed at reducing poverty among citizens of Bauchi State, the State Agency for Sustainable Microfinance has partnered Oxfam Nigeria for technical support towards sound implementation of the Agency’s program tagged “Microfinance Institution Building Program for Poverty Reduction (MIFIN)”.

Speaking shortly before the signing of the MoU yesterday, the Director General of the State Microfinance Agency, Nura Muhammad Dan’madami said that MIFIN program is aimed at strengthening the capacity of microfinance institutions and member based groups with a view to establishing linkages for a viable and sustainable microfinance system.

“The program will be

implemented in the 323 wards spread across the 20 Local Government Areas, with an estimated 807,500 poorest of the poor and vulnerable groups that includes: women, youth and persons living with disability.

“With Oxfam’s years of experience in the Livelihoods and Nutritional Empowerment (LINE) Project, Rural Finance and Social Inclusion, the Agency

deem it appropriate for such partnership, “he said.

Also speaking, Oxfam Nigeria Country Director Dr. Vincent Ahonsi said that Oxfam is working with many national and local partners including Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Bauchi State towards improving the livelihood, and nutrition of rural communities across the state.

Represented by Oxfam

official, Samuel Lashom, Dr. Ahonsi said that despite the enormous agricultural potentials in Bauchi State, inadequate mechanized agricultural equipment and tools, poor access to financial services including subsidized and inclusive loan facilities, constitute constraints in fighting poverty, unemployment, and poor agricultural yields in the state.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES SET TO ACHIEVE CARBON NEUTRALITY IN 2030, SAY ITU, WBA power grids and smart metering for buildings, and of course enable emissions reductions from our work through solutions like video

conferencing.”

Overall, the 150 tech companies covered by the study consumed 425 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity

in 2020, around 1.6 per cent of the world total. Of that amount, around one third was renewable.

Giving details of renewable

energy supply challenges, the report said low- and middleincome countries frequently face energy challenges, including

limited electricity access or unreliable grids, resulting in over-reliance on dirty dieselpowered generator sets.

ERICSSON: GLOBAL MOBILE NETWORK DATA TRAFFIC DOUBLED IN 2 YEARS, 5G SUBSCRIPTIONS TO HIT 4.4BN IN 2027 in making it happen. We work every day with our customers and ecosystem partners around the world to ensure that millions more people, enterprises, industries, and societies enjoy the benefits of 5G connectivity as soon as possible.“

Executive Editor at Ericsson, Peter Jonsson, said: “The deployment of 5G standalone (SA) networks is increasing in many regions as communications service providers (CSPs) gear up for innovation to address the business opportunities beyond enhanced

mobile broadband. A solid digital network infrastructure underpins enterprises’ digital transformation plans, and their new capabilities can be turned into new customer services.”

The report also highlights the increasingly important role that

Fixed Wireless Access is playing in the delivery of broadband services.

Ericsson predicts that the number of Fixed Wireless Access connections will exceed 100 million in 2022, a figure that is forecast to more than double by 2027, reaching almost 230 million.

On the Internet of Things (IoT), the report notes that in 2021, broadband IoT (4G/5G) overtook 2G and 3G as the technology that connects the largest share of all cellular IoT connected devices, accounting for 44 per cent of all connections.

25

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Ayobami: Complex Transactions Will Enhance Real Estate Industry Ms. Kareem Shakirat Ayobami, a woman with over 10 years experience in real estate consultancy, brokerage, development and general real estate practices, speaks about how complex transactions can sustain real estate business within and outside Nigeria. Oluchi Chibuzor brings the excerpts: serve as deterrence to others.

How did you get into the real estate business, and what has been your motivating factor? am the founder and CEO of Whiterose and the company is primarily into real estate practices including property developments, general construction, brokerage, asset management, consultancy etc. I have been consistently involved in real estate practices for over a decade.

I

How would you describe the state of the real estate sector presently?

As I have always answered this question whenever it is put to me by concerned persons, firms or groups, the real estate sector in Nigeria is blessed with so much investment opportunities but it lacks a well regulated structure or system. For example, any person can just wake up and award himself/herself a ‘seasoned real estate practitioner’ without passing through any training whatsoever. The consequences of this is the emergence of ubiquitous real estate agents all over the country who end up either defrauding unsuspecting investors or cause the investors to fall prey to bad real estate investments Ayobami due to the inexperience and lack of expertise of the Lagos State has experienced incidents of so-called brokers. Notwithstanding, I commend the at least four building collapse this year. In efforts of most stakeholders in the private sector who what ways can regulatory bodies improve to are striving each day to maintain the best practices in curb this menace? real estate; on our part, we have currently taken a step The unfortunate incidences of building collapse forward to not just uphold the standard best practices in this year in Lagos State is a very sad one, especially all our real estate transactions, but to train and develop as same are avoidable had the relevant government as many aspiring real estate practitioners as possible, regulatory agencies been proactive and efficient. To hence our initiative of Whiterose International Network avoid future occurrences of these ugly incidents, Platform (WIN). WIN is a platform that trains and I advise the Lagos State Government to adhere empowers prospective real estate entrepreneurs and to some important regulations such as proper it is part of the Whiterose initiative towards human licensing and permits for any building construction capacity development and empowerment. whatsoever, using the standard global best practice building standards/regulations. Ensure constant With Nigeria battling with inflation at the moment, on-site supervision and follow up at every stage will you say the real estate industry provides an of construction to ensure strict compliance to ample window of opportunities to a potential building regulations. investor right now?

Also, by swiftly and immediately sealing off any The Inflation ‘cancer’ currently ravaging the country development or construction that is found violating is no doubt negatively affecting all the economic sectors the established building regulations and demolish of the country, the real estate sector inclusive. However, same where the situation demands and ensure a there is still no better time to invest in real estate than proper supervision of the personnel directly involved now. This is because any investment in real estate can in the supervision of any given construction in only appreciate, as real estate never depreciates. Hence, order to detect any possible compromise due to the inflation can actually be a blessing in disguise for real bribery and corruption. estate investors due to the speedy rate of appreciation of Finally, by severely punishing any person or real estate this period, thereby guaranteeing a bountiful corporation that is found circumventing the building return on investment for investors within the shortest regulation irrespective of the violator’s status, to possible time.

There has been criticism that most developmental projects in Lagos State are made for the upper class. Is this true?

This isn’t true. I for example, was once a homeless person on the streets of Lagos and could not even boast of a good two square meal at the material time, but today, I not only own homes, I develop and sell to others. So if I can, then anybody can.

The problem is ignorance.

Your slogan says ‘Affordable Homes for All’.

How are you able to capture the low-income earners in your projects?

Indeed, our ultimate aim at Whiterose is to make home ownership affordable to anyone irrespective of financial status and class. We have achieved tremendous success in this using various innovative models such as flexible installment payment structures for up to 72 months installment payment plans in some cases, just to make it easy and convenient for any person to pay for his/her dream home without strain. Currently, we have come up with yet another innovation called LOT Subscription and many have regarded our Lot Subscription model as a home ownership revolution. In LOT Subscription, up to 20 persons can own a home and be guaranteed of their respective return on investments, while gradually acquiring more lots to possibly own a 100 per cent of a given home.

More information on this innovation are all over our various advertising mediums or our office can be contacted for further enquiries.

Whiterose is also into facility management, what are the opportunities in this sub-sector?

At the core of property investment is maintenance and sustainability, that is where facility management comes in. To guarantee a desired return on investment on real estate investment, the property must be effectively and efficiently managed by experienced professional facility managers, hence the increasing need for same in the real estate sector. It implies therefore that the business opportunity in the facility management sub-sector is enormous, though challenging.

In terms of regulation, will you say your industry is over-regulated or under-regulated?

In my opinion, the problem of regulation in the

real estate sector in Nigeria is neither over-regulation nor under-regulation, but the problem is rather effective enforcement of the various regulations. In other words, as the various regulations are not being effectively enforced, it is either the regulations are overwhelming the enforcement apparatus or that the system of enforcement is incompetent as a result of corruption. I will therefore advise the Government to concentrate on developing a corrupt-free and viable enforcement agencies that will implement the current regulations on ground.

Nigeria’s Accountant-General was recently arrested for laundering stolen funds via real estate. What are you doing in your firm to prevent money from being laundered through real estate?

It is true that the real estate sector has always been used as a ready tool for money laundering from time immemorial. On our part however, we have developed formidable structures that have helped in no small measure to ensure that we only deal with genuine real estate investors at all times. For example, part of the prior investment documentations we obtain from our clients includes requirements to indicate the sources of income; we thereafter subject all the information we obtained to thorough investigation (in collaboration with the relevant security agencies if the need be) to ensure that our prospective investor’s source of funds is genuine.

Does Whiterose have any kind of partnership with mortgage banks by way of helping the middle-class get loans for housing projects?

We are currently consulting with some financial institutions with an aim of developing a partnership that would assist any aspiring real estate investor have access to funds, irrespective of social status; it is a work in progress and we will be much delighted to see our efforts in that regard come to fruition.

There have been calls for real estate practitioners to prioritize renewable sources of energy due to the global shift towards the reduction of carbon emissions.

How are you doing this at Whiterose property?

We at Whiterose have always been a crusader of green energy in our real estate practices over the years. In most of our developments, we invest heavily in renewable energy such as solar propelled power supply, and we are consistently supporting research on other sources of renewable energy such as biotechnology, with an aim of completely depending on green energy in a few years from now.

Safeguarding African Brands against Counterfeiting Raheem Akingbolu writes on how counterfeiting is killing African businesses and economies and how a brand protection and anti-counterfeiting firm is taming the ugly menace

T

oday’s marketplace is global. Every company, every institution, every city, or every nation competes with each other across the world.

This is the same way brands compete against each other in the global arena. Building strong brands is one way for countries to establish their presence in the global market arena and position themselves for competitiveness, national growth and development.

Moreover, strong brands are great wealth creators for both the owners and their countries of origin.

The USA is a very good example. Following this, businesses in Africa are encouraged to intentionally engage in the building of strong brands to enable them to have a place in the global marketplace and become sources of wealth for their countries.

This is not easy for them because of many factors including: the cumbersome way of conducting businesses in the continent, which makes it difficult for brands to thrive; the unfriendly tax laws, outdated Intellectual Property protection laws, the consumption based attitude of African nations, who consume much but produce little and issues of environment such as corruption and bad political leadership in many instances, to mention a few. Added to the aforementioned problems, is the problem of uncontrolled and increasing infringement of Intellectual Property Rights and the lack of support framework to mitigate this crime.

The conception, launch and nurturing of brands is a time-consuming effort that requires a high level of investment over an appreciable period of time, before the brands get accepted, grow equity, and become wealth earners for their owners. This effort includes but not limited to regular research and development for product development and continuous product enhancement, investment in machinery to enhance the production output, investment in packaging design & production, marketing and brand building activities to the target markets and a lot more, all of which combine to build equity and trust for the brand, ultimately helping the brand to gain strength and market share.

Unfortunately, as businesses embark on the arduous task of building strong brands, counterfeiters and adulterators prowl on them daily, making them lose returns on their investments.

BRAND PROTECTION

As a result, beyond the challenges of building strong brands, organisations must also be ready to safeguard such brands. Brand Protection is another vital component of the Marketing Mix that cannot be ignored. This is because once a brand has built equity, it becomes vulnerable to infringement by those with the unwholesome desire to prey on the brand and reap unfairly from the investment of the brand owners.

These criminals who prowl on brand owners’ sweat, mercilessly exploit this equity and trust which has cost the brand owners so much to achieve at a very high cost. These damaging infringement activities range from outright faking of the brands by manufacturing sub-standard look-alikes, tampering with the quality of the brand, unauthorized distribution, sales of the brands, and so many other such destructive activities.

No category is exempted. Sadly, most strong brands are counterfeited: food and beverages, beauty and cosmetics, software and hardware, music and movies, literary works, medications, electrical and electronics, automobile and machine parts, building material, just name it.

In the process, loyal and prospective customers are deceived and made to believe that these fake products are genuine. Moreover, these practices have an incalculable effect on the businesses, injurious to the health of the people, and affects the growth and development of the economy. The economy is affected due to the fact that when brands are counterfeited, the Government is deprived of tax that should be earned from the sale of such.

Every sensitive, consumer-oriented and responsible business should and must fight counterfeiting and other infringement activities to protect their investments, the reputation of their brands and more importantly the health, safety and satisfaction of their customers. They should protect their brands from theft and counterfeiting. Unfortunately, most of them do not know how to go about it or where to get help. These companies need to seek out

competent partner organizations, with on the ground knowledge of the environment and expertise to navigate the murky waters of the Nigerian and African markets to mitigate these criminal activities. This is where Marq Sikyor Africa comes in.

THE BEGINNING

The company, founded in September 2013, is a pioneer Brand Protection and Anti-counterfeiting firm providing services to local, international and global businesses that wish to protect their brands from counterfeiting and other forms of infringement in Africa. The firm covers the key markets in the continent: East Africa, through their Nairobi operations in Kenya, West Africa, through the Lagos office in Nigeria, and Southern Africa, through the Johannesburg operations in South Africa.

The Founder and Group Evangelist of the company, Mr. Joko Okupe, said: “The repertoire of expertise and experience available to MARQ SIKYOR AFRICA, its in-depth understanding of the market terrains, and good grasp of the workings of Law Enforcement and Regulatory Agencies, make us surefooted to deliver results in infringement investigations and enforcement matters. Our brand protection investigations cover Anti-Counterfeiting, Anti-Piracy, Parallel Imports, Product Diversion, Trademark Infringement and Product Tampering/Adulteration among others.”

NIGERIA’S MARKET

At the Media Presentation of the Company, which was held in Lagos recently, the Founder of the firm, said that “From 2013, when we opened shop, the trend of counterfeiting and infringement has gotten much worse than it was. Victims are helpless, not knowing what to do or where to go for help, when their ideas

or brands are infringed upon by criminals. There is a wide ignorance gap yearning to be filled. Government is also trying its best, but limited in many ways too. So, the establishment of this company is a great milestone in the fight against infringements and in the efforts to safeguard brand assets and intellectual property in Nigeria. “Currently, we are in a globalised world where brand building has become a strong fundamental for businesses, institutions, and governments - as it propels business growth and countries’ economic growth. In today’s world, where all frontiers and boundaries are broken, brands cross geographic and cultural borders in trade relationships involving exports for the purpose of earning foreign exchange.”

According to him, “Of the top 10 most valuable brands in the world as at 2021, seven are of American origin and are great wealth earners for the businesses and the country. It’s no wonder the USA is at the forefront of championing the Anti-counterfeiting drive globally.

There is a new awakening to the understanding that brands are intangible but incredibly valuable assets to a nation’s growth and development.” It is noted that developed economies appear to be over-investing in branding compared to developing economies to increase their competitiveness. For this reason, developing countries, particularly African countries, are encouraged to re-assess their attitude towards brand building, if they must compete favourably in the global marketplace.

He said that strong brands don’t just happen.“They are outcomes of great visions powered by strong strategies and backed by great investments and commitment, over an appreciable period of time .”

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Tourism as Crucial Driver of Global Economic Recovery Folorunsho Coker

GATHERING FOR A RESCUE MISSION

O

ne situation that unfortunately has remained definitive of the human experience in the past three years, and which stimulates a concert of responses, is the outbreak and onslaught of the coronavirus, that has negatively impacted our conditions of living, well-being and the economy of nations.

It is without doubt that tourism was one of the sectors greatly disrupted in the wake of the COVID-19 advance, with adverse consequences for livelihoods, jobs, and the general global economy, seeing to a huge erosion of over 80 per cent of value across a chain of related industries – from travel to hospitality, fashion, and others.

Yet, it is a testimony to the human capacity to heal, and resilience, that the world has equally been on a positive trajectory of recovery in more than a year. This has led to major efforts being made to recoup lost grounds and create new value that drives sturdier economic growth, while motivating the demand that reflates fiscal activities, thereby resuscitating and expanding the jobs and income pool, etc.

A significant aspect of the bouquet of responses that have been recognised as capable of deepening the ongoing exertions at recovery has been the identification of the vast capabilities of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) and the huge promise they hold. This had earlier led to the declaration of 2021 as the International Year of the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development by the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations.

Certainly, the creative and cultural industries and tourism belong to an analogous native space, in which they are interdependent, and with each feeding on the energies of the other. As the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) put it, in this bold strides towards recovery, the “creative economy and creative industries could be part of the solution. They offer an immense potential for growth, innovation and product diversification within the tourism ecosystem.”

To further explore the potentials of the CCI, which are yet to be fully mined to the extent of their capabilities and promise, most of the key actors and stakeholders within the tourism ecosystem from across many notable parts of the world have agreed to converge in Nigeria for a thought-fest on how

Folorunsho Coker to take the present recovery to a deeper and more sustainable level.

The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and United Nations World Tourism Organisation are organising a joint conference on “Linking Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries: Pathways to Recovery and Inclusive Development” to hold in Lagos from November 14 to 16, 2022. This conference will build on the UNWTO and UNESCO joint proclamations, with emphasis on the Kyoto Declaration on Tourism and Culture advocating for greater linkages between tourism, cultures and the creative industries, as a way of engaging with the current challenges that the world faces in the numerous endeavours at economic recovery.

Crucial to its objectives, the conference will consider and outline the various dimensions of the potentials of the creative industries, how these can inspire business opportunities, enhance the offerings and products of cultural tourism, while equally promoting inclusion by assisting traditionally marginalised groups with

entrepreneurial skills.

Also, the gathering will deliberate on how to enable collaboration across destinations, communities, academia and the private sector, as a way of improving training on the creative industries and cultural heritage.

While a vital motivation for tourism and the various local and trans-continental pilgrimages around it is the desire to witness cultural experiences across different places and spaces, one can easily identify the unique trend-setting location of Nigeria and its cultural industry from the recent infectious enthusiasm of the Culture minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. In his declaration, “The Whiz Kid of this world, the Burna Boy, Davido and Tiwa Savage have really shown the world that Nigeria is a hub of the creative industry.”

Hence for the Honourable Minister, as the country’s prime public policy lead in the cultural sector, “hosting this conference is an affirmation of Nigeria’s huge contributions to the creative industry and the recognition that Nigeria is the hub of the creative industry in Africa.”

More so, in the work that we have done in the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), which I have led in over half a decade, we have given critical support to the country’s creative and culture industry assets, of whose virility and forward looking prominence, testimonies abound. Our music, film, art, dance, fashion, cuisine and festivals are all game-changers that accentuate the desire to witness and experience Nigeria, as such the creative sector and tourism have always been intimately engaged, and they affirm each other.

The return and unique numbers of visits generated from interest – as shown across many digital platforms that promote Nigeria – reveal the great attention that the country’s culturedriven tourism has been engendering. And, our programming around domestic tourism continues to be affirmed, as expressed in the Tour Nigeria brand, which is posed to strongly complement international recovery efforts, by stimulating demand locally in a way that grows the confidence to inspire Nigerian destination marketing internationally.

We are, therefore, thankful for the leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Information, alongside the UNWTO, in convoking this very

timely gathering for thinking through much of the issues set to make the world economic recovery more enduring, by enabling the creative and culture industries as a crucial anchor.

NIGERIA’S CULTURE AND CREATIVE INDUSTRY ECOSYSTEM

Globally, the culture and creative industries constitute some of the huge drivers of economic activity that can be further purposed as greater stimuli for economic recovery. This is evident from their documented impact, seeing to the generation of an annual compound value of close to $2.3 trillion, as representation of 3 per cent of the world’s GDP, according to UNWTO estimates. Moreover, about 40 per cent of international tourists are observed as “motivated primarily by culture-related experiences” for embarking on destinations.

It is quite safe to project that the culture and creative industries could become significant catalysts of recovery and growth in a resurgent global economy, steadily coming out of the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. This is not far-fetched with the strengthening of demand for tourism, hospitality and other related industries, as the world decisively breaks out of the pall of fear induced by an increasingly subdued pathogen.

Prior to the offensive of the coronavirus and the unfortunate disruptions that it occasioned, as recently as 2018 tourism accounted for close to 7 per cent of world trade, over $8.9 trillion of the world’s total GDP, and more than 300 million direct and associated jobs globally. In Nigeria, some estimates put the entire spectrum of the tourism value chain as constituting as much as 30 per cent of the GDP and 20 per cent of jobs. Quite unfortunately, close to 80 per cent of all these was eroded in the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The creative and culture industries in Nigeria are an extended composite of a number of interconnected and linked sectors, cutting through a sizeable gamut of economic activities, and responsible for between 10 and 15 million jobs, from music to design, fashion, film, television, radio, photography, architecture, printing and performance arts. Also, hotel and hospitality, publishing, Information Technology, gaming, software development, advertising and digital marketing, etc.

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Odukoya-Ijogun: Understanding Brand’s Essence Key to Business Growth The Vice President- Brand, Marketing and Communications, Nomba, Caroline Toluwani Odukoya-Ijogun, in this interview with Raheem Akingbolu, speaks on recent developments in the financial sector and how fintech is redefining the sector through enhancement of cashless policy and payment system we will accelerate our expansion across the country ensuring that over 350,000 businesses are equipped with all the tools required to run their businesses seamlessly, by the end of the year.

Can you explain the rationale behind the rebrand from Kudi to Nomba. Specifically, what’s in the name change, what does the brand Nomba stand for? ith the transition and evolution of our business, came the need to ensure we have a name and an identity that’s all our own and cannot be confused with anything or anyone else. Our name change is not a random thing. It is something that we carefully arrived at. Nomba is a play on the word, ‘Number’. It comes from the understanding that our daily lives are inundated with numbers and figures and having a firm grasp of those numbers keeps us in control. In business this cannot be over-emphasised; it is all about numbers; you must know your numbers and be able to leverage them. That’s why we are here. We are here to help our customers, and I must hasten to say our customers are everyone- from the micro-retailer to the big multinationals; our solution will help them stay on top of their numbers and on top of the game.

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Can you shed more light on the brand and its operations?

While the name Nomba may still be new, our presence in the market dates all the way back to 2017 as a chatbot designed to simplify payment. In 2018 it evolved into a company whose distinct point of sale (POS) technology, partnerships with banks and other licensed financial institutions democratized access to banking products and services for merchants across Nigeria. This also includes core banking solutions such as opening savings accounts and loans. Today, there are over 150,000 businesses on the Nomba platform enabled to carry out card, cash and bank transfer related transactions for their own businesses and on behalf of their customers. With an onboarding rate of over 10,000 new businesses monthly, Nomba currently processes over $16m in payments daily across more than 500,000 unique transactions.

Today, payments in the retail sector in Nigeria are largely offline with over 25 million merchants

Odukoya-Ijogun yet to accept any form of digital payments.

Many of the retail businesses who do accept digital payments lack a unified platform to seamlessly manage their businesses across multiple touch-points and locations. From payment collection, to trade financing, to intelligent business reporting, and even multiple location management, businesses largely depend on traditional financial services who do not provide the ecosystem of services that support their businesses.

With Nomba, they have all of this on one platform and this truly makes a difference and simplifies their payments and operations.

We expect more than a 100 percent growth of the businesses on our platform by the end of the year. Ambitious I know, but we are making the appropriate investments particularly in people to help us achieve this.

Harnessing their experience and expertise,

What is Nomba offering to Nigeria and beyond?

Our vision is to enable economic prosperity by supercharging businesses that are the lifeblood of any economy, to meet their goals by helping them optimise their operations.

At Nomba we offer an integrated experience to businesses on our platform. Our offering is a collection of business and payment tools designed through our 5 service lines- our omnichannel acquiring, agency banking, savings [Wealth management], credit and cash collection businesses. All of these come together to build a unique business banking experience to facilitate the success of the medium and small businesses that we serve. This is what differentiates us. So we are with our customers through their whole business journey - before, during and after every transaction. We are partnering with everyone to grow and succeed.

SMEs/Informal sector form a huge chunk of Nigerians; while the World Bank says there are about 400 million unbanked Africans, and this includes women and rural populations. How are you taking care of them?

We are ensuring that even these people you described have access to multiple channels to receive payments. Currently a lot of small businesses are losing out on income because they do not have the means to receive all sorts of payments.

Someone goes to the lady who sells roasted plantain with a debit card and she asks him to please go get cash. If he really wants the plantain, he will go to get cash but if he stumbles on another seller right beside the POS kiosk or ATM, he is unlikely to go back to the original

plantain seller. Plantain seller number one has lost that business. In most cases, people who have no cash on them will not even approach the plantain seller, so unwittingly these small businesses are losing income.

With our well-priced POS machines, USSD payment methods and in time our QR solutions, they never have to lose their income ever again.

They will be fully equipped to offer their customers multiple channels of payment and can put up a sign showing they too accept all forms of payments. That aside, our agents often serve as mini banks to these businesses. So at the end of the business day, they don’t need to take home their cash with all the risks, they can deposit it in the bank through our agents.

These services are available in urban and rural areas, we are making it easier for people to enjoy banking services, wherever they are.

How do you view the future of fintech in Nigeria and how do you position yourself in that space, putting into consideration the challenges and opportunities ahead?

Our view of the future of fintech is very optimistic. While some people say that there are too many fintechs in the market already, we believe that the sheer size of the market, the value being created and the learnings being garnered are unprecedented. I believe a combination of these factors will lead to the expansion of our local fintechs into other markets, because if you can win here, you have the expertise that is sought after in other markets and the opportunities will present themselves.

In a nutshell, our view is that local fintechs will expand and grow beyond these shores and we are already seeing players making very big moves and even buying out fintechs in the US. This is the future, it’s not reductionist as many might suggest but expansionist. The opportunity in this market is largely untapped and the more players we have to speedily meet the needs of the market, the better. We are positioning ourselves to be a big part of this future and will share our plans when the time is right.

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27

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Sule: Startups Need Resilience, Resourcefulness to Succeed Finalist at the Visa CEMEA Everywhere Initiative and Managing Director, CarePay, Abayomi Sule, shares his experience as a tech startup providing solutions in the health sector and his emergence as finalist in the Visa competition. Emma Okonji brings the excerpts: How will you describe the Visa Everywhere initiative programme, where tech startups like CarePay was given the opportunity to pitch their technology driven ideas and solutions? he Visa Everywhere Initiative is an open innovation programme that helps startups unlock new growth and partnership opportunities. It also provides startups with a global platform to demonstrate their ground-breaking solutions. The process associated with the 2022 CEMEA regional finals was transparent and well organized. It was a delight for us at CarePay to have been selected as “Audience favourite” at the 2022 CEMEA regional finals.

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How will such initiative from Visa help enhance the Nigerian Fintech ecosystem, especially in today’s world of digital transformation?

Visa is a global brand hence any initiative with the Visa imprimatur gives participating technology companies especially finalists and winners significant brand equity. It is noteworthy that about 450 fintechs of the over 1300 entries came from Nigeria and two Nigeria-based Fintechs were shortlisted among the five finalists with both participating Nigerian Fintechs taking home two of the three prizes up for grab at the finals. I think the significant participation and success of Nigerian Fintechs underscores the potential and impact of Nigerian innovators and the versatility and diversity of the Nigerian Fintech ecosystem. I expect that it will further buttress the attention and interest of local and foreign investors in supporting Nigerian Fintech players.

You were one of only five finalists chosen from more than 1,300 participants in the Visa CEMEA Everywhere Initiative. As a Nigerian startup, what exactly gave you an edge over the 1,300+ participants?

I think our pitch and proposition were unique. We put forward our innovative healthcare merchant offers programme, which is probably the first of its kind in Nigeria and West Africa. The proposition allows subscribers enjoy discounts up to 37.5 per cent on their healthcare expenses at point of service across hundreds of healthcare merchants in Nigeria. The product has benefits to multiple stakeholders in the healthcare financing and payment ecosytem. We positioned the healthcare discount product as an enterprise loyalty benefit product which can drive affordability of healthcare services for Visa cardholders and drive increased revenues and brand equity for collaborating healthcare merchants, Visa partner banks and fintechs. Notably as well, in the post-pandemic era healthcare is a contemporary issue which requires all brands to do whatever they can to protect their employee and customers’ lives and livelihoods – the healthcare merchant offers allows Visa and her partners to demonstrate their support and commitment to their customers/cardholders in this regard. In particular, the proposition and pitch must have struck a chord with the audience who voted us as the “Audience favourite” at the 2022 CEMEA finals.

Tell us more about CarePay solution, how it started, the challenges and the success stories from inception?

Carepay is an aggregator of healthcare services for insured and uninsured individuals and households.

CarePay exists to ensure that everyone, everywhere can afford the healthcare services they need. We want to provide everyone with a health cover. We innovated the healthcare merchants offers programme based on feedback from non-insured prospects which indicated they were undecided about health insurance and preferred to pay out-of-pocket. So, we engaged with healthcare merchants (pharmacies, clinics, medical laboratories and hospitals) to negotiate discounts off their standard pricing, which we aggregate, coordinate and pass on to subscribers and enterprises who partner with us.

The greatest challenge was convincing tier 1 healthcare merchants to give us significant discounts on their standard pricing. Since launch we have seen significant uptake by individuals, households, and enterprises such as fintechs, banks and pension funds. The enterprises pass on the discounts to their customers as loyalty benefits to drive customer retention and increased use of their products especially debit or credit cards.

Startups pass through a lot of huddles and challenges, before arriving at a solution that has real commercial values in the eyes of investors.

How many times have you failed as a tech entrepreneur and what has been your motivating factor to succeed?

Failure is the breakfast of champions. It is part of the process of success in entrepreneurship. I have had

Sule several failed ventures and projects. Slow growth of our allied business lines inspired us to engage with our non-customers and healthcare merchants who gave us insights into the drivers of their non-consumption of health insurance products. These insights led us to develop the healthcare discount card product.

My motivating factor to succeed has been the persisting drive to ensure that every Nigerian has access to the healthcare they need regardless of their financial status.

Most tech startups will always say that finance is a great challenge towards achieving any form of success, but the investors who are willing to invest in startups, think otherwise. What is your take on this?

In our environment, the greatest obstacle is probably the time it takes to achieve product-market fit.

The most important resource is the idea/ product, which solves a social problem. If that product idea can solve/alleviate the problem of a significant number of people who are willing to pay partially or fully for the product, then the entrepreneur or startup has achieved product-market fit. Entrepreneurs and startups need resilience, resourcefulness and agility to press on or pivot until that product-market fit is achieved.

How will you describe Africa’s growth in startup development, when compared with startups in developed countries of the world?

The development of the startups in Africa has been phenomenal. The rise of several unicorns in Nigeria and across Africa in the last five years attests to the development of the African startup ecosystem. These African unicorn startups are solving social problems and creating jobs and wealth at scale. Given that most countries in Africa are low-income economies, the average African startup is nimble, agile, and cost focused to serve the most people at the least cost. These startups have attracted a significant flow of foreign direct investment into the African economies as well. The African startup ecosystem might be nascent, but it is creating impact comparable to those in developed countries.

How can startup like CarePay contribute towards job and wealth creation of a nation?

Our goal at CarePay is to ensure that people stay healthy or are restored to a state of good health with the most effective and efficient financial and payment means. We therefore help people to conserve their income by avoiding catastrophic expenditure on sickness.

Our customers can be more productive at work, or they can earn more through investment of their financial resources and time which they might have otherwise spent on ill-health. We also work with healthcare merchants to grow their businesses through our demand aggregation products and liquidity products which provide them with access to working capital and asset financing. When the healthcare merchants earn more, they hire more medical and non-medical employees.

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

28

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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

A Collaborative Fight against Drug Abuse, Human Trafficking Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that for the sixth year running, crime reporters in Nigeria have taken up the gauntlet in championing the cause against drug abuse and human trafficking. This year, to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Use And Trafficking, Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria sensitised 180 students drawn from nine schools under Mushin and Oshodi Education District on the dangers of drug abuse and its attendant consequences

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he International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is a United Nations campaign against drug abuse and its illegal trade. It has been observed annually on June 26, since 1989. The observance was instituted by General Assembly Resolution 42/112 of December 7, 1987.

In commemoration of this, the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN), for the sixth year running held sensitisation talk to take a stand against the menace. To mark this year’s 2022 drug day, they took stakeholders and guests to Oshodi Grammar School, Lagos, to talk about the menace in the society.

Themed ‘Addressing Drug Challenges in Health and Humanitarian Crisis’, the panel attracted the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) Lagos State Command; Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin; ,National Agency For The Prohibition Of Trafficking In Person (NAPTIP), Lagos State Command; Founder of Action Now Against Drug Abuse, Madam Yewande Iwuoha; and Dr. Isaac A. Olatunde Project Manager, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA).

Representative of Tutor General, Mushin and Oshodi Education District 1; SP Benjamin Hundeyin; CRAN President, Lekan Olabulo; the winners of the competition; Principal of Oshodi Grammar School and a teacher

SCHOOLS INVOLVED Schools involved were nine Secondary and Junior Schools under the Ikeja, Mushin and Oshodi LGAs (Education District 1) in continuation of CRAN’s bid to catch them young and educate them on the ills of the menace.

The schools involved include Ikeja Junior Grammar School, Ikeja Senior Grammar School, Ikeja Junior College, Bolade Senior Grammar School, Bolade Junior Grammar School, Oshodi Senior Comprehensive School, Oshodi Junior Comprehensive School, Oshodi Senior High School and Oshodi Junior High School.

CRAN’S DECISIVE POSITION Unanimously, CRAN took a stand against drug abuse and its attendant vices. They pointed out that drug abuse, particularly, among the youths has gone to a state of emergency, as it now gives serious concern to security agencies, parents, teachers and those in authorities.

Calling for more collaborative efforts to check drug abuse amongst the youths, the President of CRAN, Mr Olalekan Olabulo, said the wave of drug addiction has tipped the nation into a boiling conundrum as the youths, especially students and pupils, now abuse drugs everywhere daily.

Olabulo said that CRAN stance in keying into the United Nations programme was to stem the underlying fact that drug abuse and human trafficking have become a horrifying menace that were tearing the fabrics of the society, with attendant effect on the youths.

He said: “The wave of drug addiction that is pervading Nigeria has tipped the nation into a boiling conundrum. The reason is not far-fetched.

Youths, especially students and pupils, now abuse drugs. Most of them imbibe substances like cough syrups, Indian hemp and off-the-counter drugs like rophynol, tramadol, diazepam and lexotan, which are controlled drugs that should only be sold after a doctor’s prescription.

“The consequences of these menace have been far reaching across board as it has led to the prevailing cases of banditry, kidnapping, unwanted pregnancies, burglary, broken homes and an upsurge in crime.

“Although the crises is not new, it has become worse, exacerbating into economic, social and physiological crisis, which if unchecked, portends grave danger to the society at large. “Consequently, the menace is more worrisome to all and sundry because the victims and traffickers of drugs live in the society as neighbours, children, friends, students, siblings and spouses or even parents.

“Today, the disturbing global phenomenon to which no nation is immune, has spread to many homes as even children are getting increasingly involved in illicit drugs and substance abuse.”

While thanking all the stakeholders that supported this talk, he hoped that all must continue the fight against Drug Abuse beyond this panel discussion.

PANEL SESSION In a panel session moderated by Mrs. Evelyn Usman, CRAN first female Vice President and Assistant Crime Editor for Vanguard Newspapers, the panelists drawn from the police, NDLEA, NAPTIP and NGOs harped on the dangers of hard drugs and its effects, especially on youngsters.

While speaking, the Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Lagos State

Cross section of the students

Panel moderated by Mrs. Evelyn Usman, CRAN first female Vice President and Assistant Crime Editor for Vanguard Newspapers with panelists- Lagos PPRO, SP Benjamin Hundeyin; NDLEA Assistant Commander, Asset and Financial Investigations, Oke Semai; National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mr Taiwo Adeboyega, Dr Isaac Olatunde of Global Initiative on Substance Abuse; and Mrs. Yewande Iwuoha, founder of Action Now Against Drug Abuse Command, Mr Ayinde Aileru, said that hard drugs was s posing a great threat to the nation.

The commander, who was represented by Mr. Oke Semai, Assistant Commandant, Asset and Financial Investigations, said that the youths must know the dangers involved in engaging in drugs, urging parents to watch out for some signs in their children, with a view to detect if they were into drugs or not.

“Some of the signs are withdrawal from friends, physical appearance, bloodshot eyes, poor performance at school, changes in physical appearance, sudden wearing of perfume, licking sweets among others.

“Drugs are any substance that get to your body and changes your thinking, behavior, they are controlled drugs and should not be taken without medical prescription,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos

State, CP Abiodun Alabi, represented by the command’s spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, lamented that that drug intake was a major contributor to crime.

“Taking drugs can get you mad, destabilise your future. Students should shun crimes, remain focus, so that you will not end in prison. Be careful, don’t try to engage in drugs, do not fall for peers pressure, when you start engaging in drugs, it will truncate your future and you will become a nonentity.

“When a minor or teenager commit a grievous offences, he or she will be jail in the juvenile prison except when it is a minor offences,” he counseled.

An official of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mr Taiwo Adeboyega, said that human traffickers take drugs to sexually abuse their victims.

“The wave of drug addiction that is pervading Nigeria has tipped the nation into a boiling conundrum.. the consequences of these menace have been far reaching across board as it has led to the prevailing cases of banditry, kidnapping, unwanted pregnancies, burglary, broken homes and an upsurge in crime”

“Sometimes, drugs are added to victims’ drinks to make them do what they don’t want to do.

Some packaged drugs in their belongings and move them from one location or country to another,” he said.

Dr Isaac Olatunde of Global Initiative on Substance Abuse said taking hard drugs can affect the central nervous system and brain, adding that “when taking drugs, it affects your reasoning faculty, sense of judgement that will make you misbehave. Be determine to make your future bright, do not be involved in drug so that your tomorrow can be great”.

For Mrs. Yewande Iwuoha, founder of Action Now Against Drug Abuse, many destinies have been derailed for taking drugs, thus, she charged the students not to join them in taking drugs, rather “get involved in sports, paintings and other vocations that can even fetch you money.

“Do not be tempted to taste it because if you do, you will get deeper and even become addicted to it.”

At the sidelines, the event which was compered by THISDAY’s Chiemelie Ezeobi with assistance of New Agency of Nigeria’s (NAN) Moses Omorogieva as co-compere, had several highlights including the First Aid Training

by South-west Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, who sent a team to represent him. The students who answered questions were also given several gifts to motivate them to stay true to their resolve to say no to drugs.

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

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NEWS

Ethiopian Wheat Value Chain: What Nigeria Can Learn Dr Tiberio Chiari

million tonnes per annum, about 25 per cent of total national consumption. The government is not relenting in its growth effort yet. It keeps ploughing development funds into the wheat development programme.

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uch of the 750 million tons (MT) of wheat produced globally is under threat due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the two top wheat-producing countries.

The disruption is taking a heavy toll on the global food value chain as the two countries are also top exporters of wheat. Africa is one of the hardest hit regions by the disruption as the continent still relies mainly on wheat imports to bridge its production shortfalls.

The United Nations Food Agriculture Organisation in a recent report, stressed the need for Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for a mere 1.4 per cent of the total wheat produced in the world, to ramp up its food production levels to stave off hunger and recession arising from food shortages/price hike occasioned by the ongoing supply chain disruption.

Especially, Nigeria, the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, has to put in some work to ensure its 200 million population is fed consistently.

The country will have to act fast to bridge the huge gap between wheat import and local production since a large part of its population relies on quick meals such as bread and pasta.

The gap between wheat import and local production stands roughly at over 4.5 metric tons. Improved government intervention is necessary to arrest the widening production gap. Essentially, wider government support for smallholder farmer cooperatives and the millers is critical to achieving a quick turnaround along the value chain.

Interestingly, the country can look to Ethiopia, the leading wheat-producing country in Africa and the second-most populous country on the continent, to learn what works and what may not work in the development of a robust wheat value chain.

Having worked in a managing role in the Ethiopian wheat value chain for some time now, I quite understand the terrain. I also strongly believe that Nigeria can adopt a series of measures to improve its wheat production and to reduce its import level.

Below are a few points to consider. Like Nigeria, Ethiopia has not attained total wheat production sufficiency for demographic reasons and new consumption habits in urban areas.

In Ethiopia, wheat consumption is customary since centuries with its cultivation diffused across quite all the territory. Total demand is over 6.5 million tons per year, exceeding local production by about 1.5-2 million tons. Like in Nigeria, importation is therefore a common practice in that country.

For decades, the Ethiopian government has promoted structural interventions for increased in-country wheat production and the effectiveness and efficiency of its value chain. The government strategically continues to deepen its partnership with the farmers’ cooperatives and the millers association to achieve the wheat production expansion agenda. Below are the highlights of government intervention in the Ethiopian wheat value chain: LAUNCH OF SUITABLE GROWTH POLICIES AND FOLLOW-THROUGH EXECUTION The government keeps working harder to ensure the country’s current dependence on wheat importation (of about 1.7 million tons) is fully nullified. After years of field experimentation, in

WHAT CAN NIGERIA LEARN FROM THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT? Although Nigeria has unique topographic and climatic conditions that are quite different from what is obtainable in the top wheat-producing countries, by working closely with the farmers’ cooperative unions, providing necessary input support for the members of the unions, as well as providing incentives for the millers, it can reduce the current burden on millers, the farmers and the consumers.

2021, the Ethiopian government launched a new plan it tagged “Irrigation-based Wheat Production: A transformation from Import to Export”.

The objective of the plan is to cut down the import of wheat by producing during the cold season in pastoral dry areas currently available in the Awash, Omo and Shebelle river basins. The approach includes the cultivation of 400,000 hectares of land and the deployment of a large-scale commercial Support for local farmers and establishment of cooperatives across production levels The international purchase of fertilizers and pesticides, including distribution to farmers at subsidized prices; the promotion of mechanized farming (mainly ploughing, spraying and harvesting), and the multiplication and distribution of certified seeds are some of the valuable areas where the government has consistently stepped in to enhance the performance of the wheat production/processing industry.

The government identified the farmers’ cooperatives, comprising 4.7 million smallholder farmers, as strategic players for achieving the desired economy of scale both in the delivery of services (promotion of innovative technologies, distribution of input, hiring tractors and harvesters) and in the collection of produce/marketing (storing and cleaning of the product, bargaining with intermediate and final buyers).

Essentially, the Ethiopian government has a long track record of policies formulation specifically addressing the establishment and improvement of cooperatives at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This is because the cooperatives reinforce social stability, link young and elder generations (i.e. innovative and conservative aptitudes), dialogue with local authorities and other stakeholders, and are able to internally absorb economic

and climatic shocks.

SUPPORT FOR MILLERS Interestingly, to ensure millers produce wheat derivative foods at affordable prices for the Ethiopian populace, the government usually counteracted food price spikes by importing huge tons of wheat and delivering them to registered mills at a subsidized price.

In this scheme, the millers take the obligation to provide bread loaves to the population at a fixed reduced price, with authorities acting for any needed control.

The financial burden for wheat import is particularly high for the Ethiopian treasury and its hard currency reserves. Therefore, massive wheat imports are emergency strategies for preventing social suffering and possible civil disorders.

Other areas where the government has continuously intervened are the wide provision of storage facilities and market information systems to smallholder farmers across the country. The government also provides tax exemption for the import of agro-processing equipment for milling, pasta making, and bakery for players. Also among the government intervention efforts are the establishment and recurrent strengthening of the wheat research centres, both at central and local levels.

THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS IN THE ETHIOPIAN WHEAT VALUE CHAIN So far, remarkable results have been achieved in the Ethiopian wheat value chain, recording significant increases in yield from about 1.3 tonnes per ha in the nineties to 2.8 at present. The country’s annual wheat production since 2020 has reached around 5.1 million tonnes and above. Wheat import currently is at 1.5

INCREASED SUPPORT FOR FARMERS’ COOPERATIVES AS PART OF THE WHEAT DEVELOPMENT PLAN Worthy of note in the Ethiopian case study is that the farmers’ cooperatives are strategic in any wheat production development plan. Cooperatives demonstrate their commercial reliability in taking and duly respecting contracts of production. For guaranteeing a win-win strategy, industries and cooperatives must agree that at the obtainment of quality raw material a premium price is paid.

Cooperatives manage all aspects of field production, duly coordinating the individual farmers: training and assisting on-field management practices; distributing the certified seed, fertilisers and pesticides as needed for achieving the expected level of production (both in quantity and quality); storing the harvested product; dialoguing with the agro-processors and agreeing on a final price; collecting the money and distributing it to individual members by quota for their contribution.

EFFECTIVE MONITORING OF POLICY EXECUTION Also, an enabling institutional environment is fundamental. Local authorities ought to watch for possible breaches of contract agreement by the key value chain players in the wheat development programme. The public control bodies could intervene, as a third party, to analyze samples and certify their quality.

PROVISION OF WAREHOUSING/STORAGE FACILITIES Facilities like warehouses for the temporary storage of produce must be provided as a critical asset to enable cooperatives to fulfil their engagements with the final buyer. The provision of wider storage facilities in the wheat farming belts in the country will reduce field losses. This effort will also help smallholder wheat farmers maintain the quality and a high nutritional value of wheat derivative foods sourced from local produce.

In sum, Nigeria has a huge population that consumes over 10 million loaves of bread besides pasta daily. Current realities are exposing this population to suffer needless hunger, and this scenario is unlikely to abate soon, on the contrary it is worsening. Jointly with emergency measures, the government needs to review its wheat development plan as to improve its effectiveness and impact on food security of people. t%S $IJBSJ JT GPSNFS .BOBHFS PG UIF "HSJDVMUVSBM 7BMVF $IBJOT 1SPHSBNNF JO 0SPNJB &UIJPQJB XJUIJO UIF &UIJP *UBMJBO %FWFMPQNFOU $PPQFSBUJPO 'SBNFXPSL

GET Consortium Canvasses for Bio-secured Africa, Strengthened Health Systems Precious Ugwuzor Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium has intensified its campaign for a Bio-secured Africa.

This was at the centre of their message at its recently organised dinner in Lagos themed “Partnership for a Bio secured Africa”.

At the dinner, the Lagos State government urged professionals and stakeholders across health, agriculture, security, environment, civil society and development sectors to strengthen their health systems for effective deployment

responses against Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID).

Speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi said: “The best policy that will protect the health system is to recognise and value the role of nature in reducing systemic risks and mitigate the risk of future zoonotic disease outbreaks by addressing their root causes.

“EIDs have led to pandemics and pandemics cause havoc. The intensity of EIDS is on the increase and as the African population quadruples in the next 50 years, Africa will be a continent of mega

cities with major health, toxicity and biosecurity threats.”

Chief Operating Officer of GET Consortium, Dr. Ayodotun Bobadoye, who disclosed that drought, flooding, desertification and sea level rise are biosecurity threats in Nigeria, noted that “Infectious disease outbreaks are inevitable, but we can mitigate their effect through prevention and preparedness. “The government does not have finances and technology and that’s why there’s introduction of the private sector “A robust and vibrant private sector is vital for research and

development against emerging and re-emerging bio-security threats.”

He re-affirmed commitment to address challenges of emerging disease in partnership with the state government and private sector using a strategic framework.

Established in August 2014, the vision of GET is to tackle emerging threats of infectious disease outbreaks, which while admitting are inevitable, posited butter that mitigation of their effects can be done by investing in prevention and curative methods.

GET was involved in the

treatment of Ebola in 2014 in Sierra Leone and through this it opined they learnt some techniques and processes which was brought back to Nigeria and put in place certain things as a form of preparation for the next infectious disease.

This, they credited as why despite the high population of Lagos that underwent three forms of COVID-19 strands, the impact was not as high.

Given that the Biosecurity space is opening the space for Bio-economy, food security and energy are threatened due to

economic war in foreign countries like Russia and Ukraine, which automatically has a diverse effect on Africa. The consortium noted that for every threat there’s an opportunity even though Bio security threats like COVID, Monkey Pox, Lassa Fever, PathogenX exist.

For increased infectious diseases and bioterrorism threats, the effects are mortality and morbidity plus economic digression, hence why GET intends to respond quickly to biological shock, find pathogens and stop it.

30

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Mines Ministry Records Improve 74.5% Rating in Anti-corruption Compliance Kasim Sumaina ÓØ ÌßÔË The ministry of Mines and Steel Development has hinted that it has achieved a major improvement in the Anti-Corruption Compliance rating from 26.5% to 74.5%.

The Permanent Secretary, MMDS, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade who made this known while delivery her speech on the 2022 African Public Service Day Celebration in Abuja, noted that the 2022 celebration is particularly remarkable because of its theme: “Performance Management System (PMS): Impact on productivity in the Nigeria Public Sector.”

According to her, In the context of the passion of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF) for improved productivity and welfare of Civil Servantsthere

could not have be en a better theme for this celebration.

The theme she noted could summarizes the vision of the HCSF to make the Service a world-class system that drives optimum productivity through effective and efficient Performance Management.

Akinlade maintained that, “in MMSD, we have also made efforts within the limits of available resources to provide facilities that would enhance productivity and welfare of Staff.

“To the glory of God, we now have a clinic that can provide basic health services to all staff to ensure that our health is given the priority that it deserves. Many may be unaware that within these few months of operation of the clinic, health crises have been averted for some staff just through routine check by the medical team

in the clinic.”

The Mines Ministry Perm Sec, further said: “Also, we can easily see the massive deployment of ICT infrastructures within office complex aimed at achieving the full automation of the work processes in the Ministry as MMSD is among the first set of MDAs to receive these facilities and efforts are on to ensure that we blaze the trail in the service-wide project of work-process automation.

“We have achieved a major improvement in the ACTU rating from about 26.5% to 74.5% compliance and have also surpassed our revenue projections. On the other hand ladies and gentlemen, this occasion also affords the opportunity to specially acknowledge members of staff that have distinguished themselves through outstanding performance.”

Infinox Capital Records $10m in Transactions in 3 Years Nume Ekeghe Infinox Capital, which is a globally recognised FX and Contracts for Differences (CFD) broker has stated that since setting its footprint in Nigeria three years ago, they have recorded $10 million in transactions.

Speaking at a media parley in Lagos, the Country Manager Infinox Capital, Mr. Oluwaseun Oyeleke said: “Nigerian market is still a baby in the Forex industry, this is an industry that we have close to $7 trillion every day. So as much as we hear about forex a lot in Nigeria, we are still very tiny in the Forex markets because a lot of Nigerians don’t really understand how this whole thing

works, so we are here to provide education to educate people on how these are done properly.

“In deposits, as of 2019, we were around $1 million in transactions, and as we speak, we are relatively between $8 million to $10 million in transactions,” he said.

He noted that his firm trade CFDs on forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, equities, commodities, and futures and is regulated by the Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB), Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), and Financial Services Commission (FSC) which is a global authority and stamp of approval to ensure they guarantee customers funds.

On the Nigerian market,

Oyeleke added: “ CFD trading in Nigeria has seen triple-digit growth in the last 5 years. Nigeria is the fastest-growing CFD or forex nation in Africa.

The number of Nigerian Forex traders is estimated to be at 800,000 to 1,000,000. With approximately 25 percent of these active traders, with trade volumes estimated between 10 to 20 billion per month.”

On his part, the Marketing Manager Infinox Capital, Mr Petrus Okegbu noted that the firm in its bid to ensure minimal losses of their clients’ constantly does training and sends daily and weekly insights and trends on tradable assets.

Aba Firm to Resume Production of Household Goods 13Years After Closure Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo ÓØ ×ßËÒÓË Indications have emerged that the International Equitable Association (IEA), Aba would soon resume production of its popular household products that disappeared from markets and households 13 years ago after the firm was engulfed in management crisis.

IEA, which was among the industrial giants Aba, commenced operations in 1954 at Umuokeyibe Umungasi Aba and became popular with its premium brands of detergent and soaps such as Truck soap, Appolos detergent, Palmolive soap among others.

However, production activities came to a halt in 2009 after the

company was shut down due to ownership tussle.

After the ownership issue was eventually settled, the firm encountered another hurdle on its way to resumption of production as a rift ensued with the host community.

But the Abia state Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu has now intervened and paved the way for the IAE to resume manufacturing following the resolution of the rift between the management of the company and its host community.

Speaking during the meeting he brokered between the feuding parties at the Governor’s Lodge Aba, Ikpeazu applauded members of the community and their forebears for their foresight

in donating their land in 1952 for the establishment of the manufacturing firm.

“We are happy that our collective efforts to reinvigorate this company is yielding positive results and I am optimistic that production activities will soon start again at the factory which is one of the landmark organizations that made Aba an industrial hub,” the Governor said.

The spokesman of the host community, Prince Enyinnaya Ubani and the chairman of the community, Mr Chris Ubani, pledged to abide by the agreement and thanked Governor Ikpeazu for his efforts to create enabling environment for revival of moribund industries in Aba.

NSSF Announces 2022 Award Winners Kayode Tokede Nigerian Solidarity Support Fund (NSSF), a privatesector led institution with a vision to transform Nigeria’s healthcare system to support its most vulnerable citizens, announced winners of its 2022 NSSF Awards.

The award held recently in Lagos is the first in a series of awards to recognize remarkable changemakers for their efforts in creating measurable impact across NSSF priority areas: to supplement efforts to mitigate the adverse economic efforts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerians, strengthen the country’s healthcare system, and re-skill the Nigerian

workforce for a post-pandemic world.

The event also serves to accelerate progress in healthcare system strengthening by securing more funds from partners across the country.

The Chairman of NSSF, Mr. Tunde Folawiyo in his welcome address noted that, “Our target goal is to reach 500,000 citizens in Nigeria and diaspora.”

He revealed that the health sector was most hit by the covid-19 pandemic therefore NSSF’s focus is to see the health sector fully recover.

He emphasized the need to draw from global best practices with a focus on creating awareness and enhancing healthcare

systems and infrastructure.

The General Manager of NSSF, Dr. Fejiro Chinye-Nwoko in her presentation on health sector gaps indicated that education, economic stability, access to quality healthcare and basic infrastructure continues to impede our right to health in Nigeria.

According to her, “With the staggering statistics that lay the groundwork to improve health outcomes for Nigerians, we seek to address the healthcare system and the broader socioeconomic challenges with a strategic focus in 2022 is to reduce maternal and child deaths through improving access to quality healthcare for vulnerable Nigeria.”

L-R: Executive Secretary Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) Mr. Victor Olannye; Publicity Secretary RIMAN, Mrs. Eneni Odewole; President RIMAN, Mr. Ezekiel Osení; Chairman Access Bank, Mrs. Ajoritsedere Awosika; Chairman Board of Trustees RIMAN, Ms. Folakemi Fatogbe; General Secretary RIMAN, Ms. Laurine Ubanozie and 2nd Vice President RIMAN, Mr. Adesoji Olasoko, during the RIMAN’s 21st Annual International Conference held in Lagos...recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT MONDAY MAY 30, 2022

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $118.84 a barrel on Friday, compared with $116.50 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

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

31

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

MARKET NEWS

NGX Signs MoU with BOI to Deepen Capital Market Kayode Tokede Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and Bank of Industry (BOI), yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen capital market reach, build the capacity of stakeholders through financial literacy programs, facilitate market advocacy initiatives and promote listings.

The announcement was made

during the signing ceremony led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NGX, Mr Temi Popoola and the MD/CEO, BOI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, in Lagos.

The MoU will have NGX, and BOI collaborate on driving capital market solutions through the promotion of retail participation and listings, enhancing information flow to stakeholders and supporting market development that further deepens capital

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

market advocacy initiatives.

Speaking about the MoU, Poopola noted that, “in furtherance of The Exchange’s aim to promote the interest of stakeholders operating in the capital market, the collaboration will support various advocacy initiatives to develop the Nigerian capital market, promote information flow to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) about the capital market

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

listing procedures and facilitate training for potential issuers on the various product initiatives.”

He added tha, “NGX will work closely with BOI to create a seamless avenue for divestments through the listings of any of its investee companies on the Boards of NGX.” On his part, Pitan noted that the signing ceremony will enable BOI and NGX to jointly develop programs that will educate all

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

stakeholders, especially Large Enterprises and Small & Medium Enterprises on how to access alternative financing options.

According to him , “Through this partnership with NGX, BOI will encourage companies in which it has equity holdings as well as its pool of current and past borrowers to approach The Exchange for initial public listings which will serve as a veritable window for divestments and

O F

access to wider funding options”, he added.

BOI’s mandate to promote capital market inclusion supported the expansion of over 3 million enterprises and created over 7 million jobs.

Additionally, capital base expansion saw the bank making successful forays into the international market and raised about $3.8billion in the last 4 years.

2 9 / 0 6 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

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32

THURSDAY, ͻ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

Thursday, June 30, 2022

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Current Price

Ticker

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

2436.44

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC 3 BUA Cement Plc 4 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC

Price Previous Price Current Change Price Change Weighting Index to Change YTD Date

0.00%

ROE

31.4% 143.6%

ROA

P/E

5.4x

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

P/BV

21.9%

4.9%

1,732.40

0.0%

45.7%

81.4%

81.4%

18.2%

6.2%

0.8x

6.4%

11.6%

230.00

-0.1%

7.9%

16.8%

16.8%

105.6%

13.9%

14.5x

17.9x

5.7%

71.90

0.0%

6.0%

7.2%

7.2%

23.3%

12.1%

27.0x

6.1x

4.0%

3.7%

20.50

-1.0%

4.2%

-21.2%

-21.2%

19.8%

3.2%

3.4x

0.7x

14.6%

29.6% 36.6%

1.2% 6.9%

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5 Zenith Bank PLC 6 Dangote Cement PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC

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8 FBN Holdings Plc 9 Lafarge Africa PLC

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10 Access Holdings PLC 11 United Bank for Africa PLC

7.45

-0.7%

1.7%

-7.5%

-7.5%

15.6%

1.4%

2.1x

0.3x

13.3%

46.8%

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12 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC 13 Nigerian Brew eries PLC

33.55

0.0%

1.3%

-6.8%

-6.8%

15.6%

2.1%

7.1x

1.1x

9.0%

14.1%

59.00

0.0%

1.5%

18.0%

18.0%

10.5%

3.9%

25.4x

2.6x

2.8%

3.9%

14 SEPLAT Energy PLC 15 Ecobank Transnational Inc

1,290.00

0.0%

2.6%

98.5%

98.5%

7.5%

3.6%

13.2x

1.0x

3.2%

7.6%

10.70

-2.7%

1.4%

23.0%

23.0%

18.4%

1.0%

2.3x

0.4x

6.3%

43.8%

ƐƚĞƌĞĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůůͲ ŝŶ & E, ;нϭ͘ϴйͿ͕ &/ >/dz ;нϰ͘ϵйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ E'^h' Z

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǀĂůƵĞ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ϯϮ͘ϰй ƚŽ ϰϭϲ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐůŝĚ ϳϯ͘ϭй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϱďŶ͘

ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ dZ E^ KZW ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ & E, ;ϭϭ͘ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ K E K ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕ DŝdžĞĚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ E' D ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ ĐƌŽƐƐ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ

ĂůďĞŝƚ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϯ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͕ Ϯ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐͲ

ƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ 'ĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ // K ;нϰ͘ϴйͿ ĂŶĚ ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ t W/ ;нϮ͘ϱйͿ ƉƵƐŚĞĚ ƚŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚĞdž ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϱй ƚŽ

16 International Brew eries PLC 17 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 18 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 United Capital PLC 24 Guinness Nigeria PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 26 Presco PLC

21.70

0.2%

4.2%

-13.7%

-13.7%

20.6%

2.6%

2.7x

0.5x

14.3%

275.00

0.0%

3.9%

7.0%

7.0%

37.7%

16.4%

12.4x

4.5x

7.7%

8.0%

1,400.00

0.0%

2.6%

-10.1%

-10.1%

112.8%

16.1%

24.3x

28.3x

3.6%

4.1%

11.40

1.8%

2.8%

0.0%

0.0%

20.1%

1.9%

2.5x

0.5x

3.1%

40.6%

26.95

0.2%

3.0%

12.5%

12.5%

15.5%

11.1%

7.3x

1.1x

7.4%

13.7%

9.25

0.0%

2.2%

-0.5%

-0.5%

17.9%

1.6%

2.0x

0.3x

7.6%

49.5%

6.30

0.0%

1.2%

27.3%

27.3%

-9.9%

-3.4%

216.90

0.0%

1.4%

52.7%

52.7%

43.6%

25.5%

11.3x

4.8x

3.8%

8.8%

32.00

0.0%

0.9%

12.9%

12.9%

15.9%

4.5%

4.9x

0.7x

6.7%

20.4% 38.2%

1.2x

-8.5%

3.44

4.9%

0.7%

34.9%

34.9%

13.3%

1.2%

2.6x

0.3x

10.7%

2.00

0.0%

0.4%

-13.8%

-13.8%

2.9%

0.9%

19.1x

0.6x

12.5%

5.2%

16.30

1.9%

0.4%

-6.3%

-6.3%

16.7%

6.6%

8.8x

1.4x

6.1%

11.4%

10.7%

1.1%

3.30

0.0%

0.4%

10.4%

10.4%

12.60

-1.6%

0.4%

27.3%

27.3%

90.50

0.0%

0.7%

132.1%

132.1%

1.23

-1.6%

0.3%

28.1%

28.1%

17.8%

8.1%

13.5x

0.3x

6.1%

3.2x

11.9%

2.2x

0.5%

0.5x

1.6%

7.4%

165.00

0.0%

0.5%

87.9%

87.9%

7.7x

4.6x

4.1%

27 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 28 AIICO Insurance PLC

11.75

0.0%

0.2%

-11.0%

-11.0%

18.5%

5.7%

11.8x

2.1x

3.4%

8.5%

0.66

4.8%

0.2%

-5.7%

-5.7%

21.1%

3.6%

26.8x

0.6x

3.0%

3.7%

'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ Ϭ͘ϭй ĂƉŝĞĐĞ ĐŽƵƌͲ ŝŶĚĞdž ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ

29 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 30 Custodian and Allied Insurance

234.50

0.0%

0.2%

5.7%

5.7%

1.7x

8.0%

7.00

0.0%

0.2%

-11.4%

-11.4%

19.5%

5.5%

4.1x

0.8x

7.1%

24.3%

ƚĞƐLJ ŽĨ ďƵLJ ĂŶĚ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ E'^h' Z ;нϭ͘ϵйͿ͕ d ZE Ğƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ

31 Vitafoam Nigeria PLC 32 Unilever Nigeria PLC

22.50

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

0.0%

50.3%

19.0%

4.2x

2.1x

7.2%

23.9%

14.80

0.0%

0.1%

2.1%

2.1%

8.8%

5.4%

28.9x

1.3x

3.4%

3.5%

;нϰ͘ϰйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ : W h>'K> ;нϯ͘ϱйͿ͘ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚͲƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> ;Ͳ

33 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 34 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

26.90

0.0%

0.2%

20.4%

20.4%

18.1%

2.3%

6.0x

0.8x

9.3%

16.7%

6.1%

0.7%

9.3x

ĂŶŬŝŶŐ &ZͲ/ d ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ϳďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϰďƉƐ ϵ͘ϭйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ hE/> s Z ;Ͳϯ͘ϱйͿ͕ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚĞĚ >/E< ^^hZ ;Ͳϲ͘ϰйͿ͕

35 Oando PLC 36 Wema Bank PLC

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ

ďĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ĚĂLJ͘ dƌĂŝůŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ͕ ϭ ŝŶĚĞdž ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &ZͲ/ d

ĂŶĚ D E^ Z ;ͲϮ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ d/ ;ͲϮ͘ϳйͿ͕ h ;Ͳ ŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĨĞůů ďLJ Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲ Ϭ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ DdEE ;ͲϬ͘ϭйͿ͘ ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K ;ͲϬ͘ϴйͿ͕ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͘

37 NEM Insurance PLC 38 Sterling Bank PLC 39 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

KƵƚůŽŽŬ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂͲ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ͕ Ğƌ͕ ƵƉ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ϭ͘ϴй ĂƐ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ ďLJ ƉƌŝĐĞ

ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƟŽŶ ŝŶ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͘ ƚŽ Ϭ͘Ϭϰdž ;ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ ͲϬ͘ϭϯdžͿ ĂƐ ϭϳ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͕ ϭϰ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϳϳ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ /Ŷ ƚŽĚĂLJ͛Ɛ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ

ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ŵŝůĚ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ ŚƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶƐ͘

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ Ăƚ ϭ͘ϲdž

ŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ ŝƐĐůŽƐƵƌĞ

ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

dŽĚĂLJ͕ >ĂĨĂƌŐĞ ĨƌŝĐĂ WůĐ ;͞t W K͟Ϳ ĂŶĚ 'ƵĂƌĂŶƚLJ dƌƵƐƚ

5.90

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

5.70

0.0%

0.1%

29.0%

29.0%

0.6x

10.8%

#N/A N/A

-157.8%

3.15

0.0%

0.0%

337.5%

337.5%

15.7%

0.9%

11.6x

1.7x

7.9%

8.6%

3.80

0.0%

0.1%

-15.6%

-15.6%

22.3%

12.9%

3.9x

0.8x

5.8%

25.5%

3.0x

0.3x

6.5%

32.9%

1.54

0.0%

0.1%

2.0%

2.0%

10.3%

1.0%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-17.7%

-4.1%

6.25

0.0%

0.0%

16.2%

16.2%

P ric e

1.8x

-9.5%

1.0x

1.1%

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

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

-21.5%

12.9%

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg % -4.0%

IKEJ A H OT EL

1.21

10.0%

M B EN EF IT

212.5

R OYA LEX

1.03

7.3%

GT C O

42.2

-1.0%

NP FM CRFB K

1.77

7.3%

UB A

24.0

-0.7%

F ID ELIT YB K

3.44

4.9%

FB NH

23.2

1.8%

GLA XOSM IT H

6.50

4.8%

A C C ESSC OR P

22.5

0.0%

A IIC O

0.66

4.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

12.7

0.2%

R T B R ISC OE

0.47

4.4%

WA P C O

7.1

0.2%

ET ER N A

7.10

4.4%

F ID ELIT YB K

6.3

4.9%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.30

3.4%

OA N D O

6.3

0.0%

WA P IC

0.41

2.5%

T R A N SC OR P

4.6

-1.6%

ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϭϱ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ͘ DZ^ ;нϵ͘ϵйͿ͕ D zͲ

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

,ŽůĚŝŶŐ ŽŵƉĂŶLJ WůĐ ;͞'d K͟Ϳ ĂŶŶŽƵŶĐĞĚ ƚŚĂƚ ƚŚĞ < Z ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ,KEz&>KhZ ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ

ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƉĞƌŝŽĚ ĨŽƌ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƐŚĂƌĞƐ ǁŽƵůĚ ĐŽŵͲ ǁŚŝůĞ dZ E^ ;Ͳϴ͘ϯйͿ͕ > ^ K ;Ͳϲ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ >/s Ͳ

ŵĞŶĐĞ &ƌŝĚĂLJ͕ ϭƐƚ :ƵůLJ ϮϬϮϮ ƵŶƟů Ϯϰ ŚŽƵƌƐ ^dK < ĨƌŽŵ ;Ͳϰ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ WƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ĚĂLJ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ ĂŌĞƌ ƚŚĞ ƚŚĞŝƌ hŶĂƵĚŝƚĞĚ ;t W KͿ ĂŶĚ ƵĚŝƚĞĚ ;'d KͿ &ŝŶĂŶĐŝĂů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ ^ƚĂƚĞŵĞŶƚƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ƉĞƌŝŽĚ ĞŶĚŝŶŐ ϯϬƚŚ :ƵŶĞ ϮϬϮϮ ĂƌĞ ŐƌĂĚƵĂůůLJ ǁŝŶĚƐ ƵƉ͘ ƌĞůĞĂƐĞĚ͘ dŚŝƐ ŝƐ ŝŶ ůŝŶĞ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛Ɛ /ŶƐŝĚĞƌ dƌĂĚͲ

ŝŶŐ WŽůŝĐLJ ĂŶĚ ZƵůĞƐ ŽĨ dŚĞ džĐŚĂŶŐĞ͘

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

UP L

2.35

-9.6%

GT C O

867.5

-1.0%

CHA M S

0.23

-8.0%

N EST LE

424.3

0.0%

LIN KA SSUR E

0.54

-6.9%

Z EN IT H B A N K

275.1

0.2%

266.2

0.0%

T ic k er

P ric e C hg %

C UT IX

2.25

-6.2%

SEP LA T

F T N C OC OA

0.33

-5.7%

FB NH

262.2

1.8%

M TNN

236.0

-0.1% 0.0%

M B EN EF IT

0.24

-4.0%

PZ

10.65

-3.2%

A C C ESSC OR P

208.5

-2.7%

WA P C O

189.9

0.2%

1.23

-1.6%

UB A

179.0

-0.7%

12.60

-1.6%

M B EN EF IT

53.1

-4.0%

ET I T R A N SC OR P UC A P

10.70

33

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022 • 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 28June-2022, 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 N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Dollar Fund 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 N/A N/A N/A AIICO Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 4.14% Anchoria Equity Fund 146.34 147.98 5.09% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.21 1.21 5.41% info@anchoriaam.com 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 22.09 22.75 8.88% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 513.52 529.00 13.82% ARM Ethical Fund 43.72 45.04 12.24% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.06 1.07 -1.49% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.04 1.05 3.00% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.52% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 105.96 105.96 8.82% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,118.79 1,118.79 11.88% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.09 2.09 3.98% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.40 2.45 20.73% CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.05 1.05 4.23% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.11% Paramount Equity Fund 19.9 20.26 14.09% Women's Investment Fund 150.50 152.38 5.99% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.79% Cordros Milestone Fund 136.05 136.97 9.10% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.04 110.04 5.12% CORONATION ASSETS MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.04% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.05 1.05 8.67% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.06 1.06 16.37% Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 102.65 102.65 4.59% FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1468.87 1468.87 10.63% FBN Balanced Fund 194.55 195.91 11.01% FBN Halal Fund 120.83 120.83 10.17% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.86% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) 124.38 124.38 5.85% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 165.19 167.41 8.79% 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 Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

4,169.64 3,575.12 100.00

4,229.81 3,575.12 100.00

14.48% 6.28% 7.75%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.11 1.11 3.93% 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 N/A N/A N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A 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 1.59 1.62 12.41% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,175.00 1,175.00 4.79% 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 12.52 12.59 14.60% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 8.43% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 102.83 102.83 8.63% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 8.60% 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 1.68 1.71 6.84% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.87 11.91 6.29% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 5.87% PACAM Equity Fund 1.50 1.52 5.41% PACAM EuroBond Fund 115.42 118.44 1.44% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 127.86 130.69 6.26% 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 1.05 1.05 8.54% 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 3,692.02 3,734.18 -2.14% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 239.50 239.50 0.27% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.47 1.49 -1.99% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 321.59 321.60 0.40% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 275.64 279.65 -0.29% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.67% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 12,404.14 12,575.74 -1.96% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.32 1.32 0.41% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 118.78 118.78 0.25% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 110.19 110.19 0.66% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Wealth for Women Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Sukuk Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Eurobond Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 Balanced Strategy Fund 13.98 14.11 6.02% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 16.23 16.41 11.07% Zenith Income Fund 22.79 22.79 3.81% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.82% VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD funds@vetiva.com Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund 3.92 4.02 -2.24% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 6.20 6.30 6.02% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 19.11 19.31 8.02% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.31% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 21.45 21.65 7.32% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 154.30 156.30 -2.19%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

117.13 51.68

3.47% 1.63%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

15.18 144.42 114.52 17.10 16.40

15.28 147.92 116.98 17.20 16.50

8.48% -4.39% -3.67% 22.05% 4.28%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.55

12.10%

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

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.

34

THURSDAY, ͻ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

TRUCE MEETING BETWEEN LABOUR AND OGUN STATE GOVERNMENT...

L-R: Chairman, Joint Negotiations Council, Isa Olude; Secretary to Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi; Chairman, Ogun State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Emmanuel Bankole; Governor Dapo Abiodun; his Deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele; Chairman, Trade Union Congress (Ogun State), Akeem Lasisi; Head of Ogun State Civil Service, Nafiu Aigoro and Chairman, Ogun State Council of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Akionla Abiodun after a truce meeting between the organised Labour and Government at the Governor’s Office on the industrial action embarked upon by workers in the State ...yesterday

Rumpus in PDP, over Ayu's Continued Stay in Office I'm still in charge, national chair replies; party polarised into camps Chuks Okocha in Abuja The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might be quietly courting a crisis of leadership, following the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, as its 2023presidential candidate, while Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, another northerner, has remained the party’s national chairman.

However, the simmering crisis followed the 'infamous agreement’ had before the emergence of a presidential candidate, that Ayu would resign as chairman once the party’s presidential candidate comes from the north.

Ayu is from Benue State in the North Central geopolitical zone, while Atiku is from Adamawa State, in the North East zone.

The party, it was gathered, was already polarised into two groups, one led by the National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and the other

by Ayu, respectively.

According to PDP members,

who should know, the National Organising Secretary, Bature Umar, was said be loyal to the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal, who nominated him.

The National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), was said to be loyal to a former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who nominated him. However, the organising secretary and the national legal adviser, that are the engine room of the party, and were loyal to the national chairman.

Anyanwu, who was said to be leading the other camp, was believed to have been nominated by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, whose camp was said not to be happy over the choice of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa over Wike.

Another major point of disagreement was the need for Ayu to resign since Atiku, a northerner, emerged PDP presidential candidate. There is also the allegation of personalising

the party and mismanagement of funds.

A party source said some members were not happy over release of funds.

Yet, a member of the National Working Committee (NWC), who pleaded anonymity, told THISDAY that, "even if Ayu is to resign because Atiku Abubakar is from the north, it has to be after the PDP has won the presidential election.

"For now, those agitating for his resignation are not fair. You don't have to move from the known to the unknown. It is unknown because the outcome of the presidential election is not known," it added.

Insiders were largely said to be angry with Ayu over the mismanagement of the PDP. For instance, THISDAY learnt that the party never raised any campaign team for the just concluded Ekiti State governorship election.

According to the PDP stakeholders, they expressed their anger

that there was no funding for the Ekiti governorship election, except for the $100,000 handed over to the governorship candidate, Bisi Kolawole, who also returned the money back to the party.

Some of the stakeholders, have however accused Ayu of running the party as a personal state.

In a related development, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, has said Ayu remained the party's national chairman In a statement, Ologunagba said, “Such report is completely false and a product of the imagination of mischief makers with the intent to destabilise our party, create an impression of crisis within our ranks and mislead the unsuspecting members of the public.

"It is clear that the false report is the handiwork of vicious antipeople forces, who are agitated by the stability, unity and soaring popularity of our party under

the cohesive Senator Dr. Ayu-led National Working Committee as well as the intimidating statures of our Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar and His Excellency, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, respectively.

“For clarity, our National Chairman, Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, is on a short vacation outside of the country and he officially transmitted power to the Deputy National Chairman (North), His Excellency Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum, to perform his duties in acting capacity, pending his return, in line with the provision of the Constitution of the PDP 2017 (as amended), " he stated.

The PDP spokesman said it was instructive to state that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was duly informed on the absence of Ayu and that Damagun would be performing his duties in acting capacity pending Ayu’s return.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the

ORTOM UNDECIDED ABOUT SUPPORT FOR ATIKU, WANTS WIKE PLACATED policy of the rotation & zoning of party & public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness.

"The current President of Nigeria is a 2-term Northern Presidency, thus implying that it MUST be a Southern Presidency in 2023 or NOTHING. Awa ‘South’ lo kan’. Nigerians should await details soon."

Fayose, who didn't mention the party and candidate he would be supporting in the 2023 election among the array of presidential candidates from the South, urged Nigerians to await the detail soon.

When contacted, Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, said his principal and the party would continue to appeal to aggrieved persons within their fold to embrace dialogue.

“Because the bigger challenge is winning the election, kicking out the APC and stopping them from the many years of impoverishing our people. It is normal for our people to be aggrieved but the PDP has a way of resolving issues like this and that will be done and we all shall be happy,” he said.

Ortom: FG Complicit in Nigeria’s Security Challenge, Tacitly Backing Criminal Herdsmen

Meanwhile, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday, returned to the trenches, with a salvo of accusations against the federal government for its alleged caginess in the face of worsening insecurity in the country.

Ortom accused the federal government of complicity in the country's security challenge, saying it was giving tacit support to criminal Fulani herdsmen.

He said the felonious herders had been terrorising Nigeria on purpose to gain illegal control over the country.

Ortom condemned the government of President Muhammadu Buhari for complacency in the midst of serious security challenges, even as he said he had proof to back up his claims, maintaining that the federal government was unwilling to address security challenges in the country.

The governor insisted that the federal government could put an end to insecurity across Nigeria if it wanted to, noting that, he was worried about the hidden agenda of some Fulani people, who were conniving with foreign Fulani elements from countries like Cameroon, Niger Republic, Chad, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Senegal, to terrorise and forcefully take over and control Nigeria.

He advised Nigerians to rise up against such illegal control to avoid being slaves in their own land.

He stated, “I will continue to speak against the insecurity and killings in Nigeria perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen, because I do not want to be a salve in Nigeria, my country. I will rather die than being a slave in my own country. We are in a country, where propaganda and deceit are flying all over, instigated by the federal government, which is already dividing the country.”

Ortom said he had resorted to prayer to seek the face of God for divine intervention in the state of insecurity across Nigeria.

According to him, “I have consistently accused the federal government of being complacent in the face of insecurity in the country and I have proofs to show to the entire world that the federal government is complicit. With the level of insecurity in Benue State and in other states of the country, nobody is free in the country.

“As a governor, they have even attempted to assassinate me over a year ago and up till today, not a culprit has been brought to book.

Even those that were arrested have long been released and these are Fulani herdsmen. The person currently being prosecuted is my

cousin, who is a fisherman, who knows nothing about the attempted assassination of my life.

“This is the situation we have found ourselves. The day that the federal government wants to put an end to Fulani killings in Benue State and other states, it will do so, but the government is not willing to stop the killings across the country.”

Ortom said he had suggested a security summit for the country, where people would give security reports from their various states, to enable the federal government take a holistic view of the situation and come up with a lasting solution, but the federal government had refused to call such summit.

He said, “What I am telling Nigerians is the truth, and if anyone thinks otherwise, let the person come out to prove me wrong. I still insist that the federal government is complicit in our insecurity challenges and I stand by my position because I have proofs, and I am ready to provide documents to support my position about the federal government in the area of insecurity in Nigeria.”

Ortom said the insecurity perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen affected states across the country.

He explained, “In Zamfara State, the Fulani people have taken

over the land; in Kaduna State, where the majority of the people are Christians, the Fulani people have taken over the state. In the South-east, South-west, Middle Belt, killings are rampant and there is insecurity all over the country.”

He quoted former President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying that the Buhari government was bent on Islamising and Fulanising Nigeria, stressing that this is their hidden agenda, and as a people, Nigerians must take Obasanjo very seriously.

“Some of us have chosen to say the truth and we must stand by the truth, even if it means sacrificing our lives for the truth, so that tomorrow can say well of us,” Ortom said.

On the alleged failure of his government to pay salaries of workers in Benue State, Ortom said the news that he owed salaries of workers was an attempt by the federal government to blackmail him because of his vocal stance against insecurity in Nigeria.

Ortom stated, “In other states of the federation, the federal government is offering financial bailout, but has refused to do so in Benue State, simply because the federal government is not happy with me.

Continued online

PDP and the NWC are united and Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, remains the National Chairman,” he reiterated, even as he urged all members of the party, “our teeming supporters, the media and the general public to disregard the said report as FAKE NEWS."

Choice of Running Mate, Atiku’s Prerogative, Says Group

The Centre for Integrity and Good Governance (CIGG), has said the choice of who becomes the running mate to the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Atiku, was his constitutional prerogative.

The Centre, in a press statement issued yesterday in Lagos by its Convener, Mr. Waheed Aderibigbe and Co-convener, Mr. Obinna Ukariaku, said it was shocked that some Nigerians would jettison the provision of the constitution of the federal republic and choose to play to the gallery or even base their argument on sentiments.

The CIGG, which, said one of its goals was to promote democratic and electoral literacy, explained that the most any political party could do was to present names of probable candidates to a standard bearer from which he or she could pick the vice-presidential candidate of his or her choice.

Citing Section 142 (1) of the 1999 constitution as amended, the group stated: “In any election to which the foregoing provisions of this part of this chapter relates, a candidate for an election to the office of president shall not be deemed to be validly nominated unless he nominates another candidate as his associate from the same political party for his running for the office of President, who is to occupy the office of Vice-President and that candidate shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the office of Vice-President if the candidate for an election to the office of President, who nominated him as such associate is duly elected as President in accordance with the provisions aforesaid.”

The group said Atiku in fidelity to the extant law, exercised this power and privilege, which the constitution vested in him, stressing that any input from the party stakeholders, including the National Working Committee, the Board of Trustees (BoT), elders of the party, among others, was advisory.

35

THURSDAY, ͻ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

6TH NATIONAL ANNUAL HOUSING FAIR...

L-R: National Coordinator, African Youth Leadership, Mr. Innocent Okafor; Managing Director, Bstan Group, Dr. Becky Olubukola, and Managing Director, Kinective Inclusive Health Initiative, Dr. Ayodele PHOTO: KINGSLEY ADEBOYE Adewumi, during a press conference on the 6th National Annual Housing Fair in Abuja...yesterday

Our Men Have Never Had It So Good, Says Nigerian Army Denies plan by personnel to storm Abuja over unpaid emoluments Moves to commence celebration of 159th anniversary Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Nigerian Army Headquarters, yesterday, said the army has never had it so good, given the quantum of combat and logistics equipment injected into the theatres of operations, a circumstance it said turned the tide against the complex array of threats facing the nation.

It, therefore, denied reports that officers and soldiers were planning to storm Abuja, the nation’s capital, over unpaid emoluments, saying no personnel of the military service was involved in any such plan.

It said the army leadership, led by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, had always ensured that there were positive changes in

the moral and physical components of the force.

This is as the army, has announced plans for the celebration of 159 years of its establishment.

A statement by its spokesman, Brig-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, stated that the army had never had it so good, given the quantum of combat and logistics equipment injected into the theatres of operations, a circumstance which it said turned the tide against the complex array of threats facing the nation.

"The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to yet another mischievous report peddled by some online media, alleging serving officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army are planning to

storm Abuja, to protest over unpaid emoluments, poor working conditions and other unsubstantiated allegations.

"Judging by the unprofessional and irresponsible manner in which the release was made, citing faceless persons, it could have been ignored.

However, the weighty nature of the claims demands some clarification for the sake of well-meaning Nigerians," it said.

The statement explained that, the army leadership had ensured prompt payment of salaries and operational allowances while welfare flights were inaugurated, which significantly reduced the burden of troops travelling in and out of the theatres to see their loved ones.

"It is on record that officers and soldiers of the NA under the leadership of Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, like never before, have witnessed exceptional positive changes in the moral and physical components of the force.

“It is, therefore, crucial to state in very clear terms, that the NA has never had it so good, given the quantum of combat and logistics equipment that have been injected into the theatres of operations, a circumstance that has evidently turned the tide against the complex array of threats facing the nation.

"This is in addition to welfare packages introduced by the current leadership of the NA. More also, aside prompt payment of salaries

Oyetola Inaugurates Multi-billion Naira SDG Projects in Osun Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola yesterday inaugurated four major projects in the state.

The projects, worth over a billion naira were facilitated by the State Government and financed by the federal government through the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Headed by Mrs. Adejoke Adefulire.

The projects included the 1000 Capacity Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Dagbolu, Osogbo; the 200- bed abused women transit home; Type A Skill Acquisition Centre and 80-Bed Mother & Child/ Multipurpose Hospital, all in Iragbiji, Osun State.

The 1000 Capacity Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Dagbolu, Osogbo was handled by Dedicom International Associates Limited as the Project consultants.

In a statement, the Representative of Dedicom, Mr. Mojeed Jamiu, commended President, Muhammadu Buhari, the State Governor and Adefulire on the successful execution of the project.

Jamiu congratulated the host community and commended them for providing the enabling environment and support which enabled the project to be delivered on time and within the specified timeframe.

The projects according to the governor were initiated and completed in line with the

development and empowerment agenda of his administration.

The Skill Acquisition Centre was equipped with training tools and equipment for artisans, tailors, fashion designers, computer technicians, bricklayers, plumbers, barbers and welders.

“Two hundred and fifty sewing machines, 100 computer sets, 50 HP colour printers, 20 sets of hair dressing equipment and other accessories were ready for takeoff at the Skills Acquisition Centre Dagbolu, Osogbo.

“The 200- bed abused women transit home has a transit home equipped with with a 100-capacity canteen and Type Skill acquisition centre where they could be trained in several vocations and crafts while not being idle at the Centre.

“The centre, specifically built for abused women has facilities for a Skill Acquisition centre equipped with training tools and equipment for tailors, fashion designers, Computer Technicians, barbers and cosmetologists,” the statement added.

According to Oyetola, youth, women empowerment and skill acquisition remain a critical pillar in the agenda of this administration.

Speaking at the ceremony, Adefulire commended the state government for providing the enabling environment for the successful execution and completion of the Projects in the state.

All the projects are 100 per cent completed, equipped and ready to use.

We're Not Intimidated by Obi's Supporters, Says APC Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dayo Israel has said the ruling party was not intimidated by the growing support for the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi on social media.

Israel stated this yesterday, in Abuja while inaugurating the national task force for registration and revalidation of youth and students' support groups.

He noted that the task force was put in place to ensure a proper structure for all youth and students’ support groups and the success of the party in the 2023 elections.

Israel said: "We are all in the mood for victory as we are going to the 2023 polls from the standpoint

of a winner. We are sure that with the support of the over 120 million Nigerian youth and students in addition to other votes that comes from other angle, the traders, bankers, educators, politicians and so on, the victory is certain for our presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu and every other flag bearers representing our party at different levels."

The youth leader noted that the taskforce had been mandated to coordinate the registration and revalidation exercise of all youth and students' support groups into a recognizable structure in line with the objectives and strategic imperatives of the National Working Committee of the party.

According to him, the revalidation of the affiliated youth/student

support groups would be opened for a period of one month, starting from Friday, July 1, through July 31st, and would also enable effective coordination, disciplined harmonisation of activities in alignment with the party’s goals, aid provision and accountability, as well as efficient management and enhanced operations."

Israel explained that to streamline the submission process and enable easy access, sorting, and verification, interested groups would be able to register digitally and submit all relevant documents and information required for the revalidation exercise from the comfort of their homes at Asked if the youth wing of the party was not intimidated by the supporters of Obi, Israel added: "A lion is not threatened by the

noise of a rat in its backyard. We are not threatened because we are not sitting on our arms. We are setting up this task force to mobilise the youth.

"The APC youth wing is like a lion that is ready to roar and we will not be defeated. We're going to be inaugurating another special committee next week that is going to focus on the introduction of e-Membership for the APC youth wing. We're going to start registering young people by the grace of the Almighty into our youth wing of our party."

Speaking, the Chairman of the Task Force, Mr. Ben Duntoye said the committee has a great task ahead, while assuring that it would do its best to work within the time frame and terms of reference.

and operational allowances, welfare flights have been inaugurated, which significantly reduced the burden of troops travelling in and out of the theatres to see their loved ones.

"This is also in addition to huge commitment on the medical needs of wounded-in-action officers and soldiers and the barracks communities. Scholarships are also being awarded to children of officers and soldiers killed in action in the ongoing operations.

"It is worthy of note, that across all NA Barracks, there are deliberate efforts at providing conducive working and living conditions for troops and their families. These interventions in the form of massive barracks construction and renovation works, with visible footprints are bringing succour to NA personnel nationwide.

"The allegation is nothing but an inglorious attempt to woo unsuspecting members of the public with bigotry bargains, laced heavily with evil intent. It must be made crystal clear that the NA remains a symbol of national unity and therefore, cannot afford to be divided along ethnic or religious lines.

"Suffice to state that the NA

under the current leadership has remained resolute in carrying out its constitutional role and will vigorously continue to implement welfare programmes for the benefit of all personnel.

"Troops deployed in ongoing operational engagements are putting in their best for the nation and should be encouraged, rather than plotting disaffection amongst them. All personnel are urged to remain steadfast and unswayed by the antics of unpatriotic elements, who for selfish gains want to plunge the nation into chaos," he stated.

On the celebration of its 159 years of formation, the Nigerian Army said the event slated for Owerri, Imo State would enable the army authorities review its performance over the years.

Speaking in Abuja, the Army Chief said the 2022 celebration marked 159 years since its formation.

Represented by the Chief of Policy and Plan, Maj Gen Anthony Omozoje, he disclosed that the celebration takes place on July 6 every year to commemorate the day the unfortunate Nigerian civil war broke out.

Continued online

HOUSE BEGINS PROBE OF DUPLICATION OF MDAS’ DUTIES, MAY RECOMMEND MERGERS President of the AfDB Group, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina at the conclusion of the 2022 Annual General Meeting of the African Development Bank in Accra Ghana, disclosed that the bank had embarked on the design of youth entrepreneurship investment banks in African countries, including Nigeria.

"A closer look at the operational modalities of the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) would show that there is no clear-cut intention and support for indigenous small businesses owned and run by youth.

Commercial and microfinance banks are not even feasible options for indigenous small businesses.

“This is the gap which the contemplated bank would fill.

There is need for a specialised bank which would target the youth at different levels and scopes with emphasis on harnessing abundant potentials for economic growth and greatness of the nation.”

Thereafter, the bill was referred to the Committees on Finance and Industries.

However, some members of the House of Representatives yesterday faulted the lukewarm attitude to work by some of their colleagues

who chair various standing committees.

At yesterday’s plenary, Hon. Jimoh Abdulraheem raised a point of order 18, rule 3, sub-section G, lamenting that till today nothing has been done about the motion he sponsored in 2019, which was referred to the Committee on Tourism.

He said, "I want to refer us to a motion that was sponsored by him dated 15, July 2019, in respect of Nigerian tourism development authority. I have written letter to chairman business and rules, Hon. Hassan Fulata on this issue and he has written letter to Chairman of the Committee on culture and tourism (Hon Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama) and up till now nothing has been done. “The motion was committed to the committee 7th November 2019 and up till now nothing has been done."

Another lawmaker, Hon. Awajiinombek Dagomie Abiante said some members of parliament never consider responsibilities as important as it should be.

Making reference to a Bill he sponsored two years, he lamented that he had tried to reach out to the Chairman National Security & Intelligence Committee, Hon. Ibrahim Sharada, but to no avail.

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NEWS

DAY WATERMAN VALEDICTORIAN CLASS OF 2022...

L-R: Head of boarding for Girls, Mrs. Modupe Agbolahor, Michelle Fakrogha and The Principal, Day Waterman, College, Mr. Duncan Gowen, during the Valedictorian Class of 2022

House Probes Petroleum Subsidy Regime, Oil Spills, Abandoned Wells in Niger Delta Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives at plenary yesterday resolved to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the Petroleum Products Subsidy regime on Nigeria from 2017 to 2021.

The resolution of the lawmakers was sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Sergius Ose Ogun.

Earlier, a member Hon. Osita Chidoka had appealed to the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila that the prayer of the motion was in tandem with the ongoing

probe by the adhoc committee investigating assets and liabilities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), hence should be stepped down or directed to that already existing ad hoc committee.

However, some other lawmakers countered his assertion, saying the motion was entirely different from the one head made reference to.

Moving the motion, the sponsor, Ogun noted that Section 32 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, saddles the Petroleum Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority with the task of regulating and monitoring technical

200 Youths Begin Paid Apprenticeship in Edo The Edo State Government has announced its commencement of the Stream Seven of the Edo Skills Development Agency (EdoJobs) Paid Internship and Apprenticeship Programme for 200 youths in the state.

The Managing Director of Edojobs, Ukinebo Dare, was quoted in a statement by the state government to have said 200 youths had been deployed to different organisations to acquire firsthand knowledge of how organisations operate and gain soft skills and technical experience in a real work environment.

She said the programme would help beneficiaries gain knowledge and enhance their competencies and overall employability, noting that the programme was being organised in partnership with the German development agency, the Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Internationale

Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).

According to her, the project is an arm of the Rural Youth Employment (RYE) to tackle unemployment in rural areas, adding that, “having done other streams since 2018 which has impacted more than 1,700 youths, we thought it necessary to continue so that other youths can get the opportunity to become relevant in the workforce.”

Dare added, “As it stands, we are currently in stream seven. The target for this phase is to engage 200 interns and apprentices for a period of three months.”

The scheme, she noted, which began in June and ends in August targets youths residing in Edo North, Edo Central and Edo South, including returnees and persons living with disability.

and commercial midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria.

He said as of 2002, the NNPC’s purchase of crude oil at international market prices stood at 445,000 barrels per day in order to enable it provide petroleum products for local consumption.

He also said the House was aware that due to the decline in the production capacity of the refineries, the NNPC found it more convenient to export domestic crude in exchange for petroleum products on trade by barter basis described as Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement.

He expressed concerns that the consumption rate of petrol was between 40 to 45 million litres per day, alleging that the NNPC uses 65 to100 million litres per day to

determine subsidy as discoverable from NNPC's monthly reports to the Federal Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Ogun said, "Also aware that component costs in the petroleum products subsidy value chain claimed by the NNPC Limited is highly over-bloated while the transfer pump price per litre used by the NNPC Limited in relation to PPMC is underquoted as N123N128 instead of N162-N165 and this fraudulent under-reporting of N37-N39 per litre translates into over N70 billion a month or N840 billion a year.

"Also worried that the subsidy regime has been unscrupulously used by the NNPC and other critical stakeholders to subvert the nation's crude oil revenue to the tune of over $10 billion, with

records showing that as at 2021, over $7 billion in over 120 million barrels have been so diverted.

“Disturbed that there exists evidence that subsidy amounts are being duplicated, thus subsidy is charged against petroleum products sales in the books of NNPC as well as against crude oil revenue in the books of NAPIMS to the tune of over N2 trillion action."

Adopting the motion, Gbajabiamila said the ad hoc committee whose members would be announced at plenary today, would be given eight weeks to carry out the assignment and report back to the House for further legislative action.

Meanwhile, The House of Representatives at the plenary, Wednesday mandated its Committees on Petroleum Resources

(Upstream) and Environment to investigate the actual cause of the oil leaks at OML 18, OML 29 and OML 63, and the status of idle, abandoned wells in Niger Delta, in order to avert hostilities in the region.

Members of the Committees are also to determine the magnitude, scope, and effect of the leaks on affected hast communities, examine the scope and liability for required relief and compensation, inquire the nature and details of the JV agreement between Aiteo and NNPC to determine veracity of ownership of percentage stake and financial obligations and as well confirm the claim by Aiteo of engagement of a foreign company to stop the leak, the cost of doing so and the financial claim made by Aiteo to NAPIMS in this regard.

Sanwo-Olu Unveils Digitised Container Classrooms Rewards 13 teachers with SUVs Segun James Lagos State Government has unveiled a set of technologydriven modular learning spaces, introducing an innovation to the design of a modern classroom.

This was as the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented 13 teachers with SUV cars for their commitment to the teaching profession.

The governor yesterday inaugurated a nine-classroom block built to replace decrepit concrete structures in Vetland Junior Grammar School, a government-owned model college in Agege Local Government Area.

The interactive modular classrooms, according to him, were improvised using standardised reusable freight compartments, known as containers.

Each of the classroom compartments were adequately insulated to give comfort and create a conducive ambiance for hybrid learning for children in the public secondary school.

The project was completed with three laboratories and four staff rooms - all made from containers.

It is also made up of recreational facilities, including a five-a-side football pitch, and a multi-purposebuilt court, which can be used for a variety of games, such as

volleyball, long tennis, badminton, and basketball.

The classrooms and their ancillary facilities have their dedicated energy source, off the grid; they are powered by solar panels, which guarantee a constant power supply to enable teaching and learning.

The entire project was conceived and delivered by the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools (SCRPS) set up in 2019, by the Governor to implement interventions designed to improve access to basic education.

Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu, at another event held at Alausa, rewarded 13 outstanding teachers

selected across the six education districts in Lagos.

The teachers were presented with brand-new vehicles for their passion and deployment of modern techniques to teach pupils.

The recipients were part of the finalists nominated for the Year 2021 Teachers’ Merit Award by the Screening Committee led by the chairperson of the Association of Private Educators in Nigeria, Mrs. Lai Koiki.

Unveiling the school project, the Governor said the IT-enabled modular interactive classrooms would make a lasting impact in the state’s effort to make basic education accessible.

and the naira component is N5,141,924,927.2.

The aggregate of the projects approved for the Ministry by Wednesday's Cabinet meeting came to N23,047,974,090.

Also, FEC approved new revenue base that would see the country generate N3.8 trillion from non-oil and N160 billion from oil sectors annually.

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the Media Assistant to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, who briefed on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said a memo on increasing revenue base of government was approved by the Council.

He said: “Among several of the memos presented today, was the one by the Minister for Finance,

Budget and National Planning on accelerating revenue mobilisation reforms, which is a derivative of the federal government's strategic revenue growth initiative.

“The significant progress that have been made in this initiative includes the raising of the VAT from five per cent to seven per cent and other measures since 2019. “This particular initiative is something that is meant to address some of the fiscal challenges of the federal government as it is intended to raise Nigeria's non-oil revenue potential and oil revenue potential so it is estimated, but with the implementation of this reform, it could result in a potential additional non-oil revenue and oil revenue generation of N3.8 trillion and N160 billion annually.

FG BLAMES TERRORISTS FOR PERENNIAL NATIONWIDE POWER OUTAGE takes weeks or months to restore because it's in the bush.

"So, as it is now even the one that we have installed, we have been doing hide and seek. Sometimes they will pull one two poles, we will repair and this is why we are doing this endeavour by the roadside. It is this to keep on restoring back.

"But currently, we have returned the contractor to restore the main 330 that was vandalised some time back. So, in order to have enough electricity for Damaturu and environs, from that substation Damaturu, and take some to Maiduguri, this project seeks to boost the capacity of Damaturu substation."

He said the project, which would cost $6,717,673.13 in offshore component and N1.313,323,271.25, has been approved for award to

Messers Six Rix Management.

According to the minister, other power projects approved by the FEC in the two memos he presented on behalf of his ministry were for design supply and installation of 1x60MVA, 132x33 KV transmission substation with associated 4x132 KV line bay extension at Hong Local Government and Adamawa state in favour of Messers associate power solution engineering limited in the sum of N6,529,589,637.28 consisting of two components one is offshore and onshore.

He said while the offshore was $6,932,289.20 and the onshore was N3,337,250,789.77 at the CBN prevailing exchange rate and 7.5 per cent VAT with delivery period being 24 months.

The minister further said: "This seeks to raise the capacity of the

supply around that area and it's going to affect so many towns and villages. There’s a very important local government headquarters around that area. It is going to affect Hong which is a local government headquarters in Adamawa state.

"Gombi is also another local government Headquaters. Garkida town and then Hong. Hong is also a town along that road. Then Mudi, Woba, Michika, Madagari. There is an existing 132 that passes through this area. So what we're doing now is to drop a substation there.

"The hope is by the time all these interventions we are making on the grid, reach up to 11,000 or there about that it will be able to withstand and take it off. So this is the intervention.

"And the second memo also is to procure power transformers and

associated spare parts for the TCN to be deployed to six locations as follows: One is to Aiyede in Oyo State to Messers T and D Technologies Limited. Offshore component $1.8 million, the onshore is N98 million.

"The second one is Gusau in Zamfara State, same project to Messers Basharri Limited. The third one is Kankia in Katsina State, which is to enjoy the same project to be supplied by Messers Farmamade energy limited.

"The next one is Minna, Niger State is also to enjoy some project to Messers Crossworld global technology limited. Then the fifth one is to Okearo in Ogun to enjoy the same transformer."

He gave the total amount approved for the project made up of dollar component of $22,670,416.33

Continued online

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NEWS

Police Kill Two Kidnap Suspects in Anambra David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka Police in Anambra State have killed two persons alleged to be kidnappers in a gun duel.

The state Police Spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, who revealed this in a statement yesterday, said the incident happened last Tuesday midnight.

Ikenga said: “Anambra State Police operatives while on patrol on Obosi Nkpor road

by Obosi town hall at about 11:39p.m. on June 28, 2022, accosted a gang of armed men in a white Toyota Hiace bus, a red Toyota Corolla car and a motorcycle.

“The operatives engaged the armed men in a gun battle; neutralised two of the hoodlums, and recovered one pump action, one locally fabricated pistol and red Toyota Corolla with registration number: AKD 303 DW. “During the gun duel with the hoodlums, the superior fire power of the operatives made the assailants to flee the scene with the Toyota Hiace bus and a motorcycle.

“Meanwhile, the police have

intensified patrol in the area and improved operational positioning to respond to distress calls specially aimed at arresting other fleeing gang members.”

Ikenga said on the

same day, the same set of operatives had earlier on, while patrolling on Central School road, Umusiomen Nkpor in Ogidi recovered a white Mercedes Benz 350 with registration number: RSH

836 BE suspected to have been abandoned by criminals.

Another exploit by men of the state Police Command was the rescue of two suspects from mob action along Zik’s Avenue in Awka.

He said: “The suspects were caught armed with a locally made pistol as they attempted to dispossess a young lady of her cash, after withdrawing money from an ATM point.

“The suspects were already beaten to stupor by the angry mob before the police rescued them. The operatives also recovered the locally made pistol and one live cartridge from the criminals.”

DISCUSSING INSECURITY AND TOURISM…

L-R: Director, Travelogue Communication Ltd, Charles Ukomadu; Group Chief Executive Officer, August Eye Limited, Dr. Roy Okhidievbie; Edo State Commissioner for Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs, Bamidele Obaitan; Head, Trust Legal Services, Tewo Jegede; Founder, Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF), Yemisi Shyllon, and Director, South-west, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Rotimi Aiyetan, during a seminar on insecurity and tourism in Nigeria in Lagos…yesterday Abiodun Ajala

I-WASH Project: UNICEF Court Restrains Oyo Assembly from Impeaching Deputy Gov Urges Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara to Pay Counterpart Funds Ismail Adebayo in Birnin Kebbi UNICEF Chief for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria, Ms. Jane Devan, has urged the governments of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States to pay up their counterpart funds for the successful implementation of the “Improved Water Sanitation Hygiene Project” in their respective states.

Devan, who addressed virtual participants at a meeting to review the WASH project in the three states, tasked the stakeholders to redouble their efforts and commitment to sustain the successes of the project in their respective states.

She also called on the states’ legislators to improve on the budgetary allocation for WASH projects in their states and assured them of UNICEF’s prompt funding for the projects in their states.

Devan commended the three state governments for their commitment to improving sanitation, hygiene and safe drinking water projects in their states.

Earlier in their remarks, the Secretaries to the State Governments of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi, said that the project that is in its first year of implementation has been successful in their respective states.

Amnesty Programme Alumni Disown Scholarship Student’s Union Boss over Attack on Dikio programme as a cheap blackmail.

Blessing Ibunge inPort Harcourt

The Presidential Amnesty Scholarship Alumni (PASA) has disowned the President of the National Association for Presidential Amnesty Students Worldwide (NAPASW), Mr. Lucky Ukueku, over alleged attempts to undermine achievements of the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dikio (rtd).

PASA described Ukueku’s remarks in a statement that all was not well with the amnesty

The scholarship alumni said that it was unacceptable, illegal and irresponsible for Ukueku to be parading himself as the leader of NAPASW despite completing his scholarship programme with PAP. A statement that was signed yesterday by the Coordinator of PASA, Mr. James Warigo, insisted that Ukueku had no locus to speak for the amnesty scholarship students as he was no longer part of them.

2023: Gov Sule Retains Deputy Gov, Akabe, as Running Mate

Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

The Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, yesterday announced the retention of his Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, as his running mate in the state’s 2023 governorship election.

A press statement that was issued by his Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Addra, said that Sule announced the choice of Akabe

during a courtesy call on him in the Government House, Lafia, by leaders of the Alago nation.

Sule was quoted in the statement to have described his deputy governor as a professional who is loyal and very honest.

The statement added that the governor charged the Alago nation to stay with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and support the party at all times.

The Oyo State High Court in Ibadan yesterday ordered the state House of Assembly to suspend the impeachment move against the Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan.

Justice Ladiran Akintola ruled that the lawmakers should maintain the status quo pending the hearing of the application for

interlocutory injunction filed by Olaniyan’s counsel, Chief Afolabi Fashanu (SAN).

Akintola, thereafter, adjourned the case until Tuesday, for the hearing of the respondent’s reply.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Olaniyan instituted the suit against the

House of Assembly, the Clerk and the Speaker, Mr Adebo Ogundoyin, over the impeachment action against him by the lawmakers.

Fashanu had earlier filed an application for an interim injunction restraining the Assembly from taking any step pursuant to

the impeachment of the applicant.

He prayed the court to rule that status quo should be maintained, pending the hearing, so that the application would not be defeated.

Counsel to the respondents, Mr A. A. Olabiyi, orally applied to the court for extension of time to respond to the motion.

Osun 2022: Adeleke Dismisses Alleged Negotiation with Tinubu

Yinka KolawoleinOsogbo

A business mogul and the elder brother to People Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke, Dr. Deji Adeleke, has denied a purported remarks that he had

traded away his brother’s ambition in a negotiation with Senator Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement issued and signed

by Mallam Olawale Rasheed on behalf of Adeleke dynasty, which was made available to THISDAY in Osogbo yesterday, remarked

that the story, “which contained all manners of evil concoctions, were not only fictitious lies but they are figment of a demented mind faced with road block in political progress.”

According to the business mogul, “It is unbelievable that any reasonable writer will concoct

such deceitful piece without any iota of truth. The said platform has demonstrated that fake news should not only be sanctioned and criminalised but all purveyors of fake news should be judicially punished.” He posited that he, Deji Adeleke, at no time had any meeting with Tinubu.

Senator Oloriegbe Faults Conduct of APC Primaries in Kwara Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, who represents Kwara Central senatorial district of Kwara State at the National Assembly, Dr. Yahaya Oloriegbe, has faulted the just concluded conduct of the All Progressives Congress

(APC) primaries in the state.

He said the party primaries lacked democratic tenets in comparing with other APC states primaries as the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, allegedly fiat the composition of the delegates list at the night of the primaries.

Oloriegbe, who lost out to

the former National Chairman aspirant of the APC, Mallam Saliu Mustapha, at the primaries, stated this on Channels Television yesterday, which was monitored by THISDAY in Ilorin.

He also described the party primaries as a charade lacking in good conduct.

According to the senator, “The governors decided what happens with fiat, without any semblance of democratic tenets being followed in virtually all the states in Nigeria.

“In almost everywhere, there was no proper election of delegates. The governors only selected those they fancied.

House Urges FCCPC, NAFDAC, SON to Enhance Capacity to Combat Fake Products JulietAkojeinAbuja

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria

(SON) to simplify the process of laying complaints on suspected producers and importers of fake products as well as provide an enhanced enforcement capacity to combat the menace.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on the ‘Need to Eradicate Fake Products from the Nigerian Market and Stores’ moved

by Hon. JimohAbdul Raheem Olajide at yesterday’s plenary.

The lawmaker, while presenting the motion, noted that over the years, Nigeria has become a major dumping ground for fake products, and their proliferation has led to sicknesses and eventual deaths of unsuspecting Nigerians. He noted that fake products include but not

limited to unauthorised or illegally manufactured, reproduced and altered products associated with abuse of recognised intellectual property rights, such as trademark, design or copyright for various products, including currencies, clothing, electronics, automotive parts, building materials, medical supplies, foods, drinks and chemicals among others.

Nigeria Needs Special Courts for Corruption Cases, Says CIFCFEN Nigeria has been urged to establish special courts to handle corruption cases for speedy hearing and adjudication.

This was one of the recommendations of the

Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) in its Review of the National AntiCorruption Strategy (NACS).

The Country Report was recently presented to the public

at EFCC Academy, Abuja.

The NACS was designed by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Presidential Advisory Committee on Ant-Corruption (PACAC) as a response to combating corruption in 2017

in line with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) member State parties’ obligation.

The report assessed the Implementation of NACS goals for the period 2017-2021.

Veritas Kapital, NBSC Partner on Blood Donation As part of activities to commemorate the annual World Blood Donor Day, tagged: ‘Donating blood is an act of solidarity’, Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc has partnered with the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) to improve

the availability of safe blood in the country.

The company, in a statement made available to THISDAY, said in line with activities to mark this years event, it organised a special blood donation drive at its corporate

head office located in the Central Business District of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as part of its corporate social responsibility activities.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Kenneth Egbaran,

commended the high turnout of staff while stating that “as a responsible corporate citizen, Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc is humbled by the opportunity given to us to save lives by contributing to the efforts of the NBSC.

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Buhari to Receive Report on Harmonised Salary, Wages in August

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari will most likely receive the report of the Technical Committee on the Harmonisation of Salary and Wages in Public Service in August this year.

The Permanent Secretary Service Policy and Strategy, Office of the Head of Service of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Emmanuel Meribole dropped this hint at a recent chat with the media.

Meribole said the consultant that was contracted to look at salaries across board in both the civil service and public service would submit his report for the consideration of the Presidential Committee on Salary and Wages in the next two months.

“What we are trying to do is look at wages and salaries within public service and use the productivity index to be able to arrive at a suitable wage and salaries across the country. We are trying to look at the indices for computing salaries. We got a consultant to look at salaries across board and we are using the indices to determine where we can get the civil servants’

salaries up to and where the others could also pay. I can report that the consultant is already working and we hope and in the next two months there will be a report for the consideration of the Presidential Committee on Salary and Wages,” Meribole said.

Yiaga Africa and the Nigerian Bar Association Young Lawyers Forum (NBA-YLF) are to provide pro-bono legal services to young Nigerian adults participating in the electoral process during the forthcoming elections.

The service is also to be extended to other young persons with disabilities who require pro bono legal advice.

A statement yesterday signed

by Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo and Chairman, NBAYLF, Muntasir Adamu read: “As

preparations for the 2023 General Elections begin in earnest, Yiaga Africa in conjunction with the NBA-YLF have announced a call for young lawyers who are interested in specialising in election law to express their interest to join the Election Law Clinic, which is a cohort of young lawyers who will provide pro bono legal services to young Nigerian adults participating in the electoral process , and other young persons with disabilities who require pro bono legal advice as a way of supporting the electoral aspirations of young Nigerian candidates.”

During the hand-over ceremony, the Registrar of Mudiame University, Mr. Johnson Akorede described Okpebholo also popularly known asAkpakomiza as a promise keeper who is not like other politicians.

Okpebholo has few weeks ago during the university’s maiden matriculation ceremony, pledged to donate brand new computers as part of his contribution to the university for its take-off.

Ortom’s Chief Press Secretary Loses Mother The Chief Press Secretary(CPS) to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Mr, Nathaniel Ikyur, has announced the passing of his mother, late Mama Rachael Mbawuhen Ikyur.

Mama Mbawuhen died on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022 at the age of 78 after a brief illness.

A press release on the itinerary for the funeral indicates that Christian wake-keep will take place on Friday July 1, 2022. On Saturday,

July 2nd, 2022 the remains of Mama Mbawuhen will be laid to rest at 8.am according to Christian rites at Tse-Atoh, kilometer 37, Makurdi-Gboko Road, Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State.

She is survived by five children, grandchildren, 23 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren among them is Nathaniel Ikyur, the CPS to Governor Ortom.

Tayo Balogun Buries Mother–in-law Today The remains of Deaconess Cordelia Araba Hayford Adebowale, the mother-in-law of veteran sports journalist, Tayo Balogun will be laid to rest today, Thursday, June 30, 2022 in Ibadan, Oyo State.

She died on May 31 at the ripe age of 91 years after a brief illness.

According to the funeral programme, the wake-keep held yesterday at her residence, 7, Adegoke, Off Joyce B, Ring Road, Ibadan.

A farewell service is to hold this morning at her residence at

resolved to get a consultant to harmonise the salaries because what was computed was rejected.

“There is something left out and I feel I should mention because it is important. One of the reasons why we got the consultant was that what was

computed was rejected; most of the committee members thought on the suggestion as to how to raise the salary from the lowest and to what point.

And it is on just that point that the initial group said we should stop but that was still too low.

L-R: Guest Speaker, Mr. Jean Marc; Non-executive Director, FREEE Recycle Limited, Mr. Akin George-Taylor ; Regional Manager, South-west, Bank of Industry Limited, Mr. Michael Oye; Managing Director, FREEE Recycle Limited, Mrs. Ifedolapo Runsewe; Chairman, Ambassador Modupe Quist-Adebiyi; Group Head, Commercial Banking Division, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Ralph Opara, and Non-excutive Director, FREEE Recycle Limited, Mr. Temitope Runsewe, at the unveiling of the company’s new name FREE Recycle Limited in Lagos ABAYOMI AKINYELE

Varsity Commends APC Senatorial Candidate for Support in Edo The management of the Mudiame University, Irrua has described the All candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for Edo Central Senatorial district, Monday Okpebholo, as a promise keeper.

The university management team made this known when Okpebholo, delivered a set of computers to the university as part of his contributions to the development of the institution.

harmonisation of salaries of both public and civil servants in the Federal Service. The committee is chaired by the Minister of Finance.

Also the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan clarified that they

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Yiaga Africa, NBA to Provide Pro-bono Services to Candidates

MichaelOlugbodeinAbuja

It would be recalled that President Buhari had during the recent Civil Service Week hinted that the administration was considering the possibility of a salary increase for civil servants.

The President had in January constituted a committee on the

8.00am with interment following immediately at Catholic Cemetery, Car Wash, Bodegbo. The late Deaconess is the mother to Mrs Subuola Tayo- Balogun, wife of veteran broadcaster and sports administrator, Tayo Balogun.

She is survived by a brother and two sisters, nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren amongst whom are Rotimi Okpaise, Bolanle Adamolekun and Nchekube Owairu

Crisis Hits NRM, Northern Politicians Quit Party

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The crisis rocking the National Rescue Movement (NRM) has assumed another dimension following the decision of the politicians from the northern part of the country to leave the party.

Their decision stemmed from the allegation that politicians of

South-east extraction dominated the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

It was a against this background that Deputy National Chairman of of the party, Mr. Abubakar Jikamshi, tendered his resignation letter with immediate effect.

Addressing a press conference

yesterday Abuja, Jikamshi described conventions and primaries conducted by the party to elect party leaderships and the party flag bearers as kangaroo elections.

His words: “It is my honor and privilege to address you today to announce to you of my resignation from the National

Rescue Movement, the party of which I am one of the founding members.

“NRM conducted its kangaroo elections and produced both the Chairman of the party and its Presidential candidate from the South East Zone which automatically portray the party as undemocratic.”

Alleged Invalid Nomination: Lawyers Ask Court to Bar INEC from Recognising Atiku, Tinubu, Obi’s Presidential Candidacy Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, guiding the procedure for the recently.

Alex Enumah in Abuja Citing alleged invalid nomination, three Abuja-based lawyers have approached the Federal High Court for an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting the nomination of Senator Bola Tinubu, Alhaji

as presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) and Labour Party (LP) respectively in the 2023 general elections.

The plaintiffs predicated their case on the grounds that the candidates breached the laws

election of candidates for the office of president when they contested for their respective party’s tickets without their running mates.

Tinubu, Atiku and Obi had picked their respective vice presidential candidates after emerging as candidates at their various party’s conventions held

However, plaintiffs in the suit dated and filed June 29, are claiming that the actions of the presidential candidates violated both constitutional and electoral provisions, hence INEC should be restrained from recognising them as candidates in the 2023 presidential poll.

PVC Collection: Niger Declares Thursday, Friday Work-Free Days Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State Government has declared Thursday and Friday this week as work free days to enable eligible people of the state collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

A government statement made available to newsmen yesterday said that those of 18 years and above should seize

the opportunity to collect their PVCs which will enable them vote in the 2023 general elections.

The statement that was signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Matane also directed all Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of government agencies to return to their local government areas of origin to monitor the

collection of the PVCs. before the closing date announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The statement added that the public functionaries should at the end of the exercise “render reports on the outcome of the exercise in their respective local government areas.”

Since the registration exercise started last June not less than

229,000 eligible voters have been registered while 20,000 registrations were voided on account of double registration.

Head Voter Education of INEC in the state Mr. Arthur Adzape, told THISDAY on Wednesday that new registrations was 39,994 adding that more materials have been received from the headquarters and sent to the local governments.

Court Remands BDC Operator in Custody over Alleged N144m Fraud Wale Igbintade A Federal High Court in Lagos State has ordered the remand of a Bureau De Change (BDC) Operator, Mr. Ibrahim Butali Abdulmumin, in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) till November 21, when his trial over alleged N144 million fraud would

commenced.

Justice Yellim Bogoro ordered the remand of the BDC operator after he pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge filed against him.

The charges bothered on obtaining by false pretense and unlawful conversion of the sum of N144 million.

During arraignment of the

41-year-old defendant, the prosecutor, Mr. Henry Obiaze, from the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) Ikoyi, Lagos, told the court that the defendant on January 20, 2022, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N144 million, under the pretense of exchanging it to the sum $250,00 at N576 per dollar.

Obiaze, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), also told the court that the defendant converted the said sum of N144 million, derived directly by participating in criminal activity of obtaining money by false pretenses, with the aim of either concealing or disguising the origin of the illicit money.

A’Ibom Accord Party Denies Being Sponsored by Government Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Akwa Ibom State Chapter of Accord Party has identified itself as alternative party to address the problems of the state if voted into power come 2023.

The State Chairman of the Accord Party, Rt. Hon Martins Inyang Ansa, addressed journalists in Uyo yesterday denying

insinuations that the party is being sponsored by the state.

The party also declared as false and malicious the rumour that its Governorship Aspirant, Mr. Emem Coffie, holds a substitutive candidate position.

Ansa said: “I would want to use this medium to inform the general public that Accord Party in Akwa Ibom State is a product

of self-sacrifice by committed members who have shown unflinching loyalty in their believe to produce the next governor of our dear state come 2023.

“I would also want to use this medium to debunk insinuations, claims and rumours making rounds in the state, that our great party is being sponsored by the state.

“I want to state here unequivocally that Accord (Party) in Akwa Ibom State has never received a dime from the State Government nor an individual or group of individuals.

“Therefore, Accord Party, Akwa Ibom State Chapter, is open for all Akwa Ibomites irrespective of their political platform and affiliations,” he said.

39

THURSDAY, ͻ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Super Falcons Beg Pinnick Not to Abandon Nigerian Football Yet

DuroIkhazuagbe Super Falcons who are chasing Nigeria’s 10th continental title at the 12th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco are rooting for Amaju Melvin Pinnick to continue in office as President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) beyond September 2022.

The Elective Congress of the NFF is scheduled to hold in September where a new helmsman is expected to emerge to lead the country’s football for another four years.

Pinnick who also doubles as both CAF and FIFA Council member is believed to be seeking to continue in office to see through most of the reforms he has in works despite initially agreeing to step down after his second term.

At the send forth dinner organised for the Falcons at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos on Sunday night, members of the senior national women’s team were unanimous in asking Pinnick to continue on the job due to the great transformation he has brought

to bear in the team.

In an exclusive interview with ARISE TV Sports to be broadcast this weekend, Super Falcons Captain, Onome Ebi and Barcelona Femeni forward, Asisat Oshoala pleaded with Pinnick to continue in office as President of NFF. First to speak was Oshoala. “ President (Pinnick) has done so much for us as a team if we really want to be honest with ourselves,” began the Barca star. “ I remember when I was at Arsenal Ladies a couple of years ago, my teammates were always going home for international friendlies whenever there were FIFA windows. But I was always staying back, training alone because there was nothing back home. It is no longer so and we don’t want this new development to stop for Falcons players to go back to starting line again. I think we are following through the right path and really want this continue,” observed the multiple times African Player of the Year.

Similarly speaking, Ebi begged Pinnick not to leave the team now.

“We want to beg you not to leave us now because if you leave us, we are going to start all over again like my teammate (Oshoala) has spoken.

We want you to think about this and how your continued stay will help the team.”

Chairperson of the Nigerian Women’s Premier League who also doubles as the Chef de Mission of Falcons to Morocco 2022, Aisha Falode, described Pinnick as father figure to the team and that the players have enjoyed the relationship.

“This team (Super Falcons) is your baby. You have pampered them (players) like your babies. When there are problems, you solved the problems for them. That is true hallmark of leadership.”

Falode insisted she did not understand why Pinnick will decide to abandon the team now when he’s needed most now. “I don’t know why you are insisting you don’t want to contest at the next election when you are needed most now for the national teams and the country to benefit from your vantage position in CAF and FIFA now.”

She recalled how Super Falcons and other national teams have qualified for all continental and FIFA competitions “It was not your making that Super Eagles didn’t qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. The players really wanted to go to the World Cup. But football as we know it

is anybody’s game. There is no point now crying over what has happened. Better days are ahead for Nigerian football,” concludes Falode, a respected voice on the game in the continent.

The Super Falcons are in Morocco for the Women AFCON with supreme confidence, having beaten Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in qualifying series, and holding Canada to a draw during their two-match tour in April.

There has however been a remarkable turnaround for the different national teams since Eagles failed to get the ticket to Qatar 2022 .

Super Eagles have won their

opening two games in the qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON against Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Principe.

The Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets emerged champions at the WAFU B U-20 and U-17 Championship respectively. The Flamingos have also qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The Super Falconets bulldozed their way through the African qualifying series and are already getting set to dazzle the world at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

The Flamingos also decimated African position and will participate in the 7th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India later this year.

Lukaku Returns to Inter in Season-long Loan Deal Romelu Lukaku has returned to Inter Milan on a season-long loan, just a year after leaving for Chelsea.

Chelsea paid Inter a club-record £97.5mfor Lukaku, 29, last summer but, before Christmas, he said he was "not happy"and hoped to rejoin the Italian side.

Inter have agreed to pay a loan fee of about 8m euros (£6.9m)for Lukaku, who helped them win Serie A in 2020-21.

The Belgium striker was not

a regular starter for Chelsea last season but scored 15 goals in all competitions.

It is understood Lukaku was willing to take a pay cutto seal a move back to Inter, but the club's financial situation meant it was impossible for them to match his wages or buy the forward outright.

However, president Steven Zhang got involved personally in the negotiations last week, which was viewed as significant.

L-R: Onome Ebi, Amaju Pinnick and Asisat Oshoala at the send forth dinner before Super Falcons departure to Morocco on Sunday night

Former Eaglets Captain, Muhammed, Joins FK Sarajevo

Romelu Lukaku...back to Inter Milan in a season-long loan deal

Raducanu, Rudd Out, Djokovic Through to Next Round Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon is over after she was outplayed

by France's Caroline Garcia in a second-round match that left Centre Court deflated.

The 19-year-old Briton was beaten 6-3 6-3 by the world number 55, who has now won seven grass-court matches in a row.

Raducanu has not won successive matches at a Grand Slam since her remarkable triumph at last year's US Open.

Garcia was always going to be a tough opponent and Raducanu was unable to cope with her aggressive play.

Third seed Casper Ruud was stunned by Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the Wimbledon second round, while defending champion

WIMBLEDON 2022 Novak Djokovic advanced with ease.

Norway's Ruud, runner-up at the French Open earlier this month, was beaten 3-6 6-2 7-5 6-4 by Humbert, who arrived on court without a racquet.

Three of the vital pieces of tennis equipment were soon brought to court two and Humbert put them to good use.

Top seed Djokovic, meanwhile, beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1 6-4 6-2.

The 35-year-old Serb is aiming to win a fourth successive title at SW19, where he is a six-time winner.

Nigerian right back and former Golden Eaglets Captain, Musa Muhammed, said yesterday that the prospect of playing on the European continent with FK Sarajevo necessitated his transfer to the Bosnian Premier League.

The 25-year-old pacy defender on Tuesday completed a two-year deal to the Liga 12 side as a free agent from HNK Gorica where he spent some four years with the Croatian side.

“I have signed a two-year deal with the option of plus one with FK Sarajevo which is a very big club here in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” explained Muhammed who led Nigeria to her fourth FIFA U-17 World Cup title in the UAE in 2013.

“The current club President (Ismir Mirvi ) of FK Sarajevo wants to change things positively and bring the club back to where they belong after missing the league title in the past few seasons and I’m happy to be part of this dream.

“This is the kind of thing that I like; I'm ready to face the challenges and bring out my best,” Muhammed noted with optimism.

Fudbalski Klub Sarajevo ( FK Sarajevo ) is one of the most successful clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina but last won the m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2020.

But Muhammed reckoned the club is destined for greater things under the current dispensation, adding his career would enjoy further boost with the self-styled “The Giants” (Divovi).

“We want to win the league here so that we can have the chance of playing in the Champions League or Europa Cup,” he further stressed.

“I’m here because the club has great

TRANSFER NEWS plans of returning to Europe.

“FK are a very ambitious club and they match my ambition too and I'm so happy because it would give me the opportunity to achieve my own dreams too.”

Noted for his defensive versatility and apart from successful campaign at HNK Gorica, Musa has also starred for stanbul Basaksehir; FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo as well as Lokomotiv Plovdiv of Bulgaria since his arrival in Europe from Kano-based FC Heart Academy in 2015.

Musa Muhammed...dream big after sealing two-Year deal with FK Sarajevo

Crisis in Niger State Sports Council, Tornadoes, Two Associations Spoil for Showdown Laleye Dipo in Minna The Niger State Sports Council has been hit with crisis leading to the suspension of activities by two major associations in the state.

The suspension of activities by the State Basketball Association and the state’s darling football team, Niger Tornadoes FC, is indefinite and is feared may ignite similar action by other associations.

The major crux of the disagreement between the two groups stems from non payment of allowances and other emoluments.

THISDAY gathered that the players of the Niger Tornadoes FC of Minna have not been paid their ‘sign-on fees’ since the 2020/2021 season.

In addition, it was also learnt

that the ‘sign-on’ fees agreed with majority of players has not been paid.

"The players are being treated like amateurs, whereas they are professionals,” it was further learnt.

The case became worse when the players learnt that government released some funds to settle part of the indebtedness yet the money did not get to any of the players.

As a result, the players have vowed not to train ahead of the remaining matches in the NPFL league matches even as the face the prospect of being relegated to lower division.

The same poor condition is affecting the state’s handball players who have also vowed not to honour all their national engagements.

Efforts to douse the tension

created by the action of the two groups hit the rocks on Monday when a meeting with the leadership of the groups did not arrive at an amicable solution The Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Alhaji Abbas Kabiru Musa, pleaded with the players to allow him sometime to see the state’s Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello on the issues raised at the meeting held at the Sports Council conference hall.

The Director of Sports, Mr Habibu Sheshi, when contacted on telephone, confirmed that "Yes we have some problems but will be resolved.

"Presently, we are in a meeting with officials of Tornadoes. We will reach an amicable and acceptable solution," he said.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

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MISSILE

Sam Ortom to PDP Leadership

“Why do you just make calls to Wike? You have to go to him. When people left the party, Wike was on ground. It was Wike that brought me back to PDP when I was treated unjustly. He brought me back to PDP in 2015. You have treated Wike badly. The party at the national level should go to him and appeal to him. He came second to Atiku”—Benue State Governor accusing the PDP leadership of treating the Rivers State Governor unfairly

OLUSEGUNADENIYI Palace ‘Coup’ at the Apex Court THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

J

ustice Tanko Ibrahim Muhammad, who resigned as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on Monday, is a living proof that it’s always difficult for anybody in the public space to get a second chance to make a first impression. Right from the unfortunate spectacle of his Senate confirmation hearing on 17th July 2019, many Nigerians had lost faith in his capacity to lead a judiciary that would advance the rule of law and public good. That perhaps explains why when his colleagues went to town last week with an unprecedented public letter that was, for all practical purposes, designed to oust him from office, Justice Muhammad received little or no sympathy.

After raising several welfare issues they claimed were left unattended while the former CJN reveled in luxury with his family, the aggrieved 14 Supreme Court Justices then called to question the integrity of their senior colleague in a rather aggressive tone: “We demand to know what has become our training funds, have they been diverted, or it’s a plain denial? Your lordship may also remember that the national assembly has increased the budgetary allocation of the Judiciary. We find it strange that in spite of the upward review of our budgetary allocation, the Court cannot cater for our legitimate entitlements.

This is unacceptable!”

It is instructive that all the 14 Justices, without any exception—and representing all ethnoreligious divides in a country where the elite hardly agree on anything except their personal privileges—signed the protest letter. And for effect, they also adopted the Obasanjospeak of ‘with all due respect’ (whenever the former president wants to assail someone) to drive their point home: “Your Lordship, with all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the court; it is the height of decadence, and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude…this act alone portends imminent danger to the survival of this court and the judiciary as an institution which is gradually drifting to extinction.”

From the moment that letter became public, it was almost certain that Justice Muhammad’s days in office were numbered. It was not only an indictment on the character of the former CJN but also a vote of no-confidence in his continued leadership. So, what followed exactly a week later was quite predictable. In most countries, including where powerful people can easily get away with all manner of infractions, judicial officers who stray out of line hardly survive such mutinies, especially when in this instance it was from within. It was therefore very convenient that Justice Muhammad needed to go and attend to his health, as we were told.

Given his embarrassing performance at the senate hearing in July 2019, it had always been clear that Justice Muhammad was incapable of providing any credible leadership for the Supreme Court. Now that he has resigned, the critical public interest is the future of the apex court whose reputation is now tainted and the judiciary in Nigeria that has lost public confidence. On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari swore in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the acting CJN, pending senate confirmation whenever his name is sent. But Justice Ariwoola

Justice Ariwoola must know, as we all do, that he bagged the elevation not on account of any landmark judgement he has ever delivered but rather because he is the most senior of the remaining Justices of the court. That he is a beneficiary of the joint ‘coup’ against Justice Muhammad will also not be lost on critical observers.

Shortly before he developed the “health grounds” that ended his stewardship, Justice Muhammad described the behaviour of his colleagues as “akin to dancing naked at the market square”. In debunking the allegations against him, he also made the critical point that Judges “in all climes are to be seen and not heard,” which he then claimed informed why he refrained from joining issues with his colleagues “until a letter, said to be personal, is spreading across the length and breadth of the society.” That is a very important point that we should not miss in the euphoria of the moment, no matter how we feel about the stewardship of the former CJN. The 14 Justices of the Supreme Court who signed the protest letter that upended the tenure of Justice Muhammad may feel that the end has justified the means. But in private moments, they must also ask themselves whether they could not have achieved the same purpose without bringing the apex court into disrepute as they have collectively done. If they could not resolve their own internal dispute without resorting to what can be described as mob action, then they call to question their own temperament and capacity to resolve complex public issues. Besides, if they will be honest with themselves, the challenge of the apex court or the judiciary in Nigeria today goes beyond the welfare of people on the bench. Nor can

we put the blame for all the problems at the apex court solely on Justice Muhammad. All the other Justices are complicit in whatever we can accuse the former CJN or the Supreme Court of regarding the (mal)administration of justice in Nigeria. That of course does not exonerate the former CJN from what we can describe as an uninspiring legacy.

Under Justice Muhammad’s watch, the Supreme Court delivered some controversial judgements that have not advanced our democracy and the rule of law. For instance, at the 2019 general election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate won the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State. But he was sacked by the Supreme Court 24 hours before swearing-in ceremony just because his running mate presented questionable credentials and was therefore disqualified. The state was then awarded to the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate on account of the infraction committed not by the candidate but by his running mate.

That judgement, based on legal technicality, could not have been more contemptuous of the votes cast by Bayelsa electorate. There was also the case of Imo State where the governor elected on the platform of the PDP was removed by the Supreme Court after seven months in office. In its ruling, the apex court declared the APC candidate who came fourth in the election as the winner, resorting to some ‘Wuruwuru’ arithmetic without recourse to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that till today stands by its original (and evidently credible) result.

However, whatever may be our misgivings on those judgements and few others that are equally contentious, they were not, and could not have been, the act of just one man. They were collective decisions of the Supreme Court whose Justices must begin to deliver substantial judgements that are rooted in justice and equity as in the past. But to the extent that the competence of Justice Muhammad had been called to question right from his confirmation hearing, critical stakeholders have also been advocating a reform in the manner appointments are made to the bench. And there can be no better time to institute such reforms than now.

We have reached a situation in which ethnic and religious considerations as well as political affiliations and family ties are now being used to determine suitability for appointments into, and promotions in, the bench. This is not only sad, but it also bodes ill for the rule of law in Nigeria. In the interest of our country, we must begin to enthrone meritocracy, especially in the appointment of judicial officers.

The role of the courts as the interpreter of the law, resolver of disputes and defender of the Constitution, requires that those appointed to the bench be knowledgeable and above board.

This same point was made in October 2020

by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at a webinar with the theme, ‘Selection and appointment of judges: Lessons for Nigeria’ organised by Justice Research Institute (JRI). “If we leave it to the system that is going on at the moment; we are clearly headed in the wrong direction because interest—whether the private, political or group—influences how judges are appointed”, said Osinbajo. “We must agree to an objective

process to rigorously examine, test and interview all of those who want to come forward as judges.” Sadly, the administration Osinbajo serves has not gone beyond preachments on the issue.

Meanwhile, despite the resignation of Justice Muhammad as the CJN, the Senate on Tuesday resolved to go ahead with their inquisition into the circumstances that warranted the public letter by 14 Supreme Court Justices against him. “Seeing that petition on social media and eventually in the mainstream media, I was taken aback because it is unprecedented,” said deputy senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege. But I don’t know how the Opeyemi Bamidele-led committee will handle their assignment without running into a constitutional problem given the principle of separation of powers on which the presidential system of government rests.

But I agree with the senate president, Ahmad Lawan that the problem of the judiciary goes beyond the issue of funding.

There is a growing concern that this Supreme Court is relying too much on technicalities to decide important cases. Yet, even from the definition of the term given by the late Justice Niki Tobi who also sat at the court, it is obvious that legal technicality neither promotes the end of justice nor advances the good of any society.

That was the import of the question bungled three years ago by Justice Muhammad at his senate confirmation hearing. “A technicality arises if a party quickly takes an immediately available opportunity, however infinitesimal it may be, to work against the merits of the opponent’s case. In other words, he holds and relies tenaciously unto the rules of court with little or no regard to the justice of the matter,” according to Justice Tobi who, like other distinguished former Supreme Court Justices, including the late Christopher Aniagolu, frowned at using technicality to pervert the course of justice.

As I stated earlier, the letter writers at the Supreme Court knew that by assailing the integrity of Justice Muhammad, they were dealing him a mortal blow. But in an unintended manner, they have also raised the bar of public probity on themselves and others who man the temple of justice in Nigeria. That may be good for the system. In upholding the compulsory retirement of a District and Sessions Judge of Madhya Pradesh in 2004 on what would ordinarily be dismissed as a minor infraction, the Indian Supreme Court held that the standard of conduct expected of a judge is much higher than that of an ordinary citizen. “A judge, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion. The credibility of the judicial system is dependent upon the judges who man it. For a democracy to thrive, every judge must discharge his judicial functions with integrity, impartiality and intellectual honesty,” the Indian apex court held.

While 14 Supreme Court Justices may have used ‘Aluta’ to oust their senior colleague as CJN, they must also now know that they have set a precedent. If they don’t mend their ways by beginning to deliver judgements that advance the course of justice and public good, the next career-ending letter about their conduct may not come from within!

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