MONDAY 6TH JULY 2020

Fidelity Bank Appoints Chike-Obi Board Chairman Ebi, Adetu step down Obinna Chima Fidelity Bank Plc yesterday announced the appointment of Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi as the new chairman of its Board of Directors.

The bank, in a statement, said the current Chairman, Mr. Ernest Ebi, having successfully completed his tenure in accordance with its internal governance policy would be stepping down from the board.

Ebi is, however, expected to continue in the role until the in-coming chairman assumes office, as part of the process of ensuring a smooth and successful transition.

Also, the bank announced

that another member of its board, Mr. Seni Adetu, who had been serving as an Independent NonExecutive Director, having also successfully completed his tenure in accordance with

its internal governance policy would be stepping down from the board.

“Under the chairmanship of Mr. Ernest Ebi, the bank Continued on page 10

Chike-Obi

Aig-Imoukhuede Establishes ‘Adopt-a-Health-Facility Programme’ Initiative... Page 10 Monday 6 July, 2020 Vol 25. No 9219. Price: N250

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COVID-19 Raises Nigeria’s e-Payment Transactions to N11.7tn, Says Report FG cautions churches against reckless confidence over virus 544 new cases move tally to 28,711 with 11,655 discharged, 645 dead Jonathan, Kenyatta rally support against pandemic, terrorism Reopening schools unsafe, dangerous, ANAP insists Ghanaian president self-quarantines after exposure to patient Obinna Chima, Martins Ifijeh in Lagos and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The value of electronic payment transactions through the point of sale (PoS) terminals, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Instant Payment (NIP) and Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) increased significantly by 82

per cent to N11.676 trillion in May 2020, compared with the N6.421 trillion recorded in April 2020.

The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, attributed this to the impact of COVID-19 in a report he presented at the Lagos Continued on page 8

APC Govs, Tinubu to Meet to Plot Ize-Iyamu’s Victory PDP carpets ruling party over Hushpuppi Davidson Iriekpen in Lagos, Iyobosa Uwugiaren and Chuks Okocha in Abuja Ahead of the September 19 governorship election in Edo State, governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a national leader of the party, Senator

Bola Tinubu, and other leaders are billed to meet soon to strategise on how to ensure victory for the party's governorship candidate, Mr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a source close to the party’s hierarchy told THISDAY at the weekend.

Continued on page 8

WE SHARE YOUR GRIEF...

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi (left), and Senior Pastor, Trinity House, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, during the governor’s visit to the pastor on the death of his wife, Ibidunni, in Lagos…recently

Anxiety over Fate of Ondo Dep Gov as Assembly Reconvenes Today... Page 5

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

Anxiety over Fate of Ondo Dep Gov as Assembly Reconvenes Today

James Sowole in Akure Speculations were rife at the weekend that the Ondo State House of Assembly has set the stage for the removal of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, following an ‘unusual’ newspaper advertisement placed by the legislature directing all members to resume from their recess today for legislative duties.

There has been controversy in the state on whether Ajayi should be removed from office following his defection from the ruling All Progressives

Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The embattled deputy governor has also secured clearance to contest the July 22 governorship primary of the PDP. However, political analysts told THISDAY that since it is unusual for the lawmakers to place an advertisement simply to announce resumption from recess, doing so was a sign of a plot to impeach Ajayi.

The Assembly leadership, in the advertisement signed by the Clerk of the House,

Again, Buratai Vows to Flush out Bandits in Katsina

Francis Sardauna in Katsina and Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

The Chief Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Tukur Buratai, has again vowed to flush out bandits in Katsina State in order to end the upsurge of insecurity confronting the state.

He said the Nigerian Army was leaving no stone unturned in combating banditry and other criminal activities orchestrated by bandits in the state and the nation in general.

Buratai spoke at the weekend while distributing COVID-19 palliatives to over 5,000 vulnerable persons in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The disbursement of the palliatives is part of the week-long activities lined up for 2020 Nigerian Army Day Celebration, ongoing in the state.

He assured Katsina residents that ending banditry and other heinous crimes in the state remained the key priority of Nigerian soldiers currently fighting the hoodlums in communities across the state.

Buratai, represented by the General Officer Commanding 3 Division Jos, Maj-Gen Nuhu Angbazo, said the Special Army Super Camp IV in Faskari, was established to serve as a platform for troops in theatre of operations to deal decisively with bandits terrorising communities in the state.

Consequently, he urged the people of Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger States to continue to support the Nigerian soldiers towards surmounting the challenges of insecurity in the region.

He said: "May I use this opportunity to inform you that the Nigerian Army is leaving no stone unturned in curbing criminal activities and ensuring the general security of the country.

"I call on you to support our troops by providing all the necessary information they may require to support our information gathering so as to curb the spread of banditry

and other criminal activities in Katsina State and beyond."

He, however, said the distribution of palliatives to vulnerable persons was done simultaneously across the 36 States of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to cushion the effects of the pandemic and support the civil populace.

He said the Nigerian Army has over the years through its corporate social responsibility programmes, taken deliberate steps towards ensuring that it gives back to the society, hence the donation.

Buratai added that the gesture was also aimed at supporting the federal government’s efforts in cushioning the effect of the global health crisis on vulnerable households across the country.

Meanwhile, Buratai at the weekend also assured the people of Doma community in Nasarawa State of the Nigerian Army’s readiness to defend and protect their lives and property.

Buratai gave the assurance in Doma, the host community to the 4 Special Forces Command Headquarters of the Nigeria Army, when distributing palliatives to 300 vulnerable persons of the community in commemoration of this year's Nigerian Army Day celebration.

The Chief of Army Staff, who was represented at the event by the Commandant of the 4 Special Forces Command, Maj-Gen. Moundhey Ali, said: "The host community should take it and understand that the Nigerian Army has the community at heart to defend, protect their lives and property, as well as maintain good neighbourliness."

The commandant distributed the palliatives to the lessprivileged on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff at the palace of the Andoma of Doma in Doma town.

Speaking to journalists shortly after distributing the palliatives, the commandant said the palliative comprised bags of rice, beverages, and condiments which the Chief of Army Staff directed should be distributed to touch their lives.

Mr. Bode Adeyelu, and the Speaker, Hon. Bamidele Oleyelogun, urged the lawmakers to resume today.

THISDAY gathered that the leadership of the Assembly has met and arranged to commence the process for the removal of the deputy governor this week.

A member of the House of Assembly, who spoke off the record, said members of the APC in the House had been meeting on how to oust Ajayi.

He added that the leadership of the APC had met with some of the lawmakers to fine-tune the plot.

He said he could not confirm if the members of

the opposition in the House of Assembly had been briefed on the development, adding that the House, however, has not received any formal notice for the commencement of the removal of the deputy governor.

“We have not been informed of any impeachment process by the leadership of the House and let us just consider all these we are hearing as ordinary speculation for now.

When we get to the bridge we shall cross the river and we will know how to handle the situation," he stated.

All efforts to get the reaction of the leadership of the House on the matter proved abortive

as calls put to the House spokesman, Hon. Gbenga Omole, did not connect as the line was switched off.

But reacting to the matter, the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor, Mr. Babatope Okeowo, said there was no anxiety in the camp of the deputy governor.

He said: "The House has the right to hold its session any time the leadership deemed fit. The only suspicion about it is the placement of advertisement recalling members from the recess, which had never happened.

Moreover, there are several platforms available for communication among

members and the leadership of the House.

"Apart from this, the resumption of the House may not be ordinary for now in view of the COVID-19 pandemic which had entered community transmission level.

"It is known to all that many of the legislators related with the governor in recent time and according to information none of them has gone through the COVID-19 test to determine their status.

"So the directive for the resumption and the mode of communication is very unusual. But at the level of the deputy governor, there is no anxiety."

FOR MARITIME SAFETY...

Flag Officer Commanding, Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Fredrick Ogu (left), and Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, during the visit by the military chief to the Agency...weekend

PDP Committee Clears Ajayi, Six Others for Guber Poll The committee set up to screen governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming election in Ondo State, has cleared seven aspirants, including the state’s deputy governor, out of the nine aspirants in the race for the party's ticket.

However, the main opposition party has set up an appeal committee to review the cases of the two disqualified aspirants.

The PDP screening committee, headed by a former House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, cleared the aspirants at the weekend.

Among those cleared is the state’s Deputy Governor, Alhaji Agboola Ajayi, who recently defected to the PDP from APC. THISDAY gathered that besides Ajayi, other aspirants that will participate in the party’s primary are Chief Eddy Olafeso, Chief Olusola Nehemiah Ebiseni, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, (SAN), Mr. Okunomo Benjamin, Dr. Bode Ayorinde and Senator Kunlere Boluwaje.

A source close to the committee, who spoke with THISDAY, gave the names

of the disqualified aspirants as Chief Bamidele Akingboye and Mr. Goddey Erewa.

According to the source, Akingboye was disqualified over issues relating to his certificates, while Erewa was disqualified on the ground that he did not register as a voter in Ondo State.

It was also learnt that both aspirants have rejected their disqualification and are ready to go on appeal.

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has, however, constituted an appeal committee to consider appeals from the disqualified aspirants.

The committee is headed

by Senator Istifanus Dung.

Other members are Mr. Dayo Ogungbenro, Chief Austin Maho, Chief Dan Orbih, Mr. G.T. Kayaks, Hon. Theophilus, Mr. Daka Shan, Senator Ibrahim Kazaure, Senator Kola Balogun, Princess Bolanle Ogundiran, Hon. Rima Shawulu, Ms. Hassana Dikko, Mr. Christine Akpan, and Mr. Uzoma Abonye, who will serve as secretary of the committee.

According to a statement by the National Organising Secretary of PDP, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), the appeal committee will meet today in Abuja to consider the appeals.

PDP Heads to Supreme Court over Kogi Guber Poll The PDP has rejected weekend’s Court of Appeal judgment on the Kogi State governorship election, affirming Governor Yahaya Bello of the APC as being duly elected.

PDP said the judgment did not vitiate or detract from the fact that it won the November 16, 2019 governorship election.

The party expressed shock that the Appeal Court in its judgment decided to discount the merit of the evidence before it, which showed that the PDP candidate, Mr. Musa Wada, scored the highest valid votes in the election.

He said the party was optimistic that the Supreme Court would reverse the injustice done to the party,

especially, given the evidence laid, as affirmed by the verdict of Justice Ohimai Obiageli at the Election Tribunal.

A statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the judgment of the Appeal Court would be a major setback to Nigeria's democratic process if left unchallenged.

"Our party holds that discounting of hard evidence of over-voting, massive thumb printing, voter intimidation, thuggery, and other irregularities and malpractices used by the APC and compromised INEC officials to manipulate the results of the election would be reviewed at the Supreme Court.

"Justice on any matter is based on the weight of evidence before a court. The failure by the Appeal Court to consider key and essential ingredients of evidence before it on their merit, as already admitted and upheld by a judgment of a preceding court, amounted to a frustration of the course of justice in the matter," PDP said.

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OPS Backs CBN on Exchange Rates’ Unification The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has commended the recent step by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) towards unifying the exchange rate by adjusting the rate at the official Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) to $380/$1 from $360/$1.

OPS said the development would allow the exchange rate to reflect the market fundamentals and avoid distortions in the economy.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) hailed the adjustment, describing it as a positive development.

The Director-General of the (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, described the unification of the rates as an important move to stem the looming liquidity crisis in the foreign exchange market.

Yusuf stated that multiple exchange rates were a major source of distortion in the foreign exchange market as the system complicated the management of the

foreign exchange market and perpetuated a rent economy that created opportunities for arbitrage, which engendered resource misallocation.

He added that the recent adjustment of the SMIS rate from N360 to N380 is consistent with the objective of exchange rate unification, elimination of multiple rates in the foreign exchange market and the proposition in the Economic Sustainability Plan of the federal government.

“It is imperative for the exchange rate to reflect the market fundamentals in order to ensure sustainability and promote efficiency in allocation mechanism. This is also critical for investors’ confidence. This should, however, be complemented with appropriate trade policy regime, fiscal policy measures and institutional strengthening to achieve the objective of heightening self-reliance and economic diversification,” Yusuf said.

He added that the disadvantages of the multiple exchange rate system are the impediments it posed “to the attraction of investment as well as inhibiting the inflow of foreign exchange and creation of transparency

NNPC Makes New Appointments, Redeploys Top Staff Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday announced new appointments and redeployments of top management-level staff of the corporation.

The national oil company noted that the move was part of ongoing efforts to strengthen and reposition the corporation for greater efficiency, transparency, and profitability in line with the aspiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

In the latest redeployments, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD), Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye, has been appointed the new Chief Operating Officer (COO), Upstream.

NNPC also appointed the Managing Director of the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC), Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, the new Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, following the recent retirement of Mr. Farouk Sa’id.

A statement by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated that the Chief Operating Officer, Upstream, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, has now been redeployed to the Ventures and Business Development Directorate as COO, a position vacated by Mr. Roland Ewubare, who voluntarily resigned last week.

Top-level staff affected by the reshuffling included Mr. Billy Okoye, who has

been redeployed from the NNPC downstream company, NNPC Retail Limited, as Managing Director, to replace Tombomieye as the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division.

Similarly, Mrs. Elizabeth Aliyuda, the General Manager, Sales and Marketing, NNPC Retail Limited, takes over from Okoye as the Managing Director of NNPC Retail Limited.

Also, Mr. Usman Farouk, Executive Director Asset Management and Technical Services at the NGMC takes over from Mr. Ahmed as managing director.

The statement explained that Buhari has accepted the resignation of Ewubare, who was the immediate past Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and New Business Directorate of the national oil company.

It added that the retirement of the immediate past Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, Sa'id, had also received the approval of the president who thanked the two former COOs for their meritorious service to the corporation.

Speaking on the development, Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Mele Kyari, said the new appointments would enable the corporation to live up to the expectations of shareholders.

He noted that it would also give an impetus to the ongoing restructuring within the corporation, which he said was in line with the corporate vision of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE).

issues in the allocation of foreign exchange.”

Yusuf's counterpart in NACCIMA, Mr. Ayo Olukanni, said the adjustment, to attain convergence at the foreign exchange market was a step in the right direction.

According to him, NACCIMA has always championed the merger of exchange rates in order to ensure predictability and proper planning in the economy.

“But the adjustment at this period will likely lead to inflation since private sector operators will most likely pass on the additional cost of sourcing foreign exchange to consumers.

Therefore, steps should be taken to ensure stability in the foreign exchange regime to avoid unnecessary and continuous changes,” he stated.

Similarly, NECA viewed the exchange rate adjustment

as a welcome development.

A press statement by the Director-General of NECA, Dr. Timothy Olawale, agreed with the adjustment but stated that the timing left much to be desired.

Olawale said: “We are aware of the positive impact of unifying the exchange rate, as we are in full support of shunning multiple currency practices, which we believe have not demonstrated the true reflection of the naira in

the market. Nevertheless, we are wary of the implication of the sudden unification of the exchange rate to the economy at this time. We believe this will be counterproductive, as the nation depends hugely on the importation of raw materials, equipment, fuels (most especially). We are sure this will imply a higher cost of all imported products, with increased potential for reintroduction of the subsidy regime.”

PRAYERS FOR AJIMOBI...

L-R: Widow of a former governor of Oyo State, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi; and her daughters, Mrs. Abiola Kola-Daisi and Miss Ajijola Ajimobi, during the eight-day Fidau prayers for the late former governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in Ibadan... yesterday

FG Raises Nigerian Content Intervention Fund to $350m

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The federal government has approved the expansion of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF), instituted in 2017 and managed by the Bank of Industry (BoI), from its current $200 million to $350 million.

The Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said yesterday that the fund would facilitate on-lending to qualified stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry on five loan product types.

The NCI Fund is a portion of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF), aggregated from the one per cent deduction from the value of contracts executed in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

About 94 per cent of the NCI Funds has been disbursed to 27 beneficiaries as at May 2020 while the board has received new applications from 100 firms for nearly triple the size of the original fund.

Guidelines for the NCI fund provide that beneficiaries of the manufacturing loan and asset acquisition loan can access a maximum of $10

million respectively.

Also, beneficiaries of contract finance loan can access $5 million, while those interested in the loan refinancing package can access $10 million, with beneficiaries of the community contractor finance scheme limited to N20 million.

In April 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governing council approved the reduction of the interest rate from eight to six per cent per annum for all four of the loan products and extended the moratorium for all loan products.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said yesterday that the enlargement of the fund by $150 million was part of the decisions taken at the NCDMB governing council meeting which he chaired.

"During the meeting, the council approved that $100 million from the additional funds would be deployed to boost the five existing loan products of the NCI Fund, which include manufacturing, asset acquisition, contract financing, loan refinancing and community contractor financing.

"Similarly, the council approved that $20 million

and $30 million respectively should be deployed to two newly developed loan product types - the Intervention Fund for Women in Oil and Gas and PETAN Products, which include working capital loans and capacity building loans for PETAN member companies," he said.

The NCDMB has also given its assent for the establishment of a $50 million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund (NCRDF) for sustainable funding of the board’s mandate on research and development.

It said its decision was enshrined in Sections 37 to 39 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, which empowers it to superintend over research activities in the oil and gas industry.

According to the organisation, the move will help institutionalise a robust R and D ecosystem that will lead to the continuous development of technology, materials, and process for industry applications from indigenous research efforts.

“Nigeria spends about 0.2 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on R and D and this indicates a poor

commitment, resulting in over-dependence on foreign technology for critical economic development activities, including oil and gas operations”, it said.

It added that the fund is expected to close the gap and will be applied in four broad intervention areas, namely: research, the establishment of centres of excellence in academic and research institutes, sponsorship of commercialisation of research and sponsorship of endowment of a professorial chair.

“The operating model has been designed to ensure a transparent and well-focused application of the fund and it includes a governance structure to leverage experienced researchers and industry experts in the decision-making process of selecting activities to be funded from the fund which will be domiciled in a TSA Sub-Account in CBN. “The NCDMB will put in place an outcome-focused performance metrics that will measure success in the application of the fund and form part of the reporting template to the governing council on an ongoing basis,” it noted.

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PAGE NINE COVID-19 RAISES NIGERIA’S E-PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS TO N11.7TN, SAYS REPORT Business School’s executive breakfast session for July at the weekend.

He stated that the figures were obtained from Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).

The spike in e-banking activities in the month was necessitated by the lockdown in the country then, as part of efforts by both the federal and some state governments to contain the spread of COVID-19.

According to the report, the value of PoS transactions in May was N358 billion, which was a 31.63 per cent increase from the N245 billion recorded in April; while NIP transactions increased by N10.405 trillion, up by 48.44 per cent when compared with the previous month.

Similarly, NEFT transactions stood at N912.29 billion in May, which was an 11 per cent increase, compared with the N811.76 billion recorded in April.

“Cheque transactions surged post-lockdown.

The volume and value of transactions increased in May compared to April, except NEFT volume. The velocity of money in circulation was five times. Online payments and transactions will continue to rise in the near term as more customers and banks acquaint with the new normal for bank operations,” Rewane stated in the report.

Cheque transactions within the period stood at N178.12 billion.

Further analysis of the cheque transactions showed that three out of the five states with the highest transactions were from the South-west region, while five states with the lowest transactions are in the northern region.

“There is an inverse correlation between the velocity of circulation and inflation rate. States with the highest volume of transactions – Lagos and Abuja- have lower inflation rates compared to the bottom five.

“The higher the value of money transactions, the richer the state,” he said, adding: “It is also an indicator of transactions and reflective of high business activities and job creation. The level of unemployment is mixed across states. For example, Rivers has a high

unemployment rate despite a high volume of money transactions. Emphasis on unemployment as a function of available job opportunities and the data reflects high rural-urban migration to states like Lagos, Abuja and Rivers.”

Reviewing recent economic activities, he said the petrol price was adjusted upwards by 18 per cent to N140.8 – N143.8 per litre. The average oil price in May was $32 per barrel while in June it was $41 per barrel (up by 28 per cent). Inflation inched up marginally to 12.4 per cent in May, from 12.34 per cent in April, but was expected to spike further in the coming months.

Food inflation is at 15.04 per cent while allocations to the three tiers of government from the Federation Account fell by 9.71 per cent in June to N547.31 billion. Also, the proposed new electricity tariff was postponed to 2021.

According to Rewane, there is “still some ambiguity about subsidy (underrecovery) existence or levels.

Determination to move towards market reflective pricing seems entrenched and the economy still wallowing in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contraction and recession.”

He listed some of the challenges facing the economy to include a looming negative GDP growth due to exogenous variables, pandemic healthcare crisis, falling oil prices and fiscal strokes, security challenges, unemployment, and rising inflation.

“Poverty map reveals income and opportunity inequality now pervasive.

Money supply growth shows an underlying threat of high powered money on price inflation. Inflation increases at a much slower pace than anticipated. Naira trading at artificially low levels. External reserves buoyed by IMF loan,” he added.

FG Cautions Churches against Reckless Confidence over Virus In another development, the federal government has cautioned church leaders to avoid unnecessary show

of confidence and reckless statements, which tend to cast doubts on the actual dangers posed by COVID-19 pandemic.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, said the actions of some church leaders could put the citizens at serious health risk.

The SGF, at an interdenominational church service organised by the Nigerian Interreligious Council (NIREC) and the Christian Association of Nigeria yesterday in Abuja, said so far non-pharmaceutical interventions remained the most potent measures to protect oneself against the disease.

Incidentally, Nigeria recorded 544 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing to 28,711 the number of confirmed cases in the country.

Announcing this yesterday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lagos recorded 199 new cases; Ebonyi, 65; Oyo, 47; Ondo, 46; Ogun, 31; Edo, 30; Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 28; Katsina, 25; Plateau, 15; Bayelsa, 11; Kaduna and Adamawa, 10 each; Akwa Ibom, eight; Gombe, seven; Kano, four; Taraba, three; Abia, and Rivers, two each; while Ekiti recorded one case.

It said: "Nigeria has recorded 28,711 cases of COVID-19.

11,655 persons have been discharged, while 645 have died."

Mustapha warned: "There is no vaccine and there is no cure in sight. COVID-19 has come to stay with us; scientists said that it takes about 18 months to produce any vaccine.“There hasn't been any established treatment protocol. This virus has confused the entire world and has brought democracies on their knees.

"The church should stop the exhibition of reckless confidence and tell their congregations to stay safe for themselves, their families and for the body of Christ."

He added that COVID-19 is real and that 80 per cent of the carriers do not exhibit symptoms.

"Stay at home; maintain physical distancing; wear a face mask because the virus is emitted either through sneezing or coughing, ensure personal hygiene," he said.

In his reflections at

the interdenominational prayer session, the Catholic Archbishop of the Abuja Metropolitan See, His Grace Ignatius Kaigama, admonished Nigerians to always offer prayers when there are challenges like COVID-19.

While commending CAN for hosting the prayer event, Kaigama said he was impressed and edified that the leadership of NIREC inspired and encouraged Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, each according to their faith tradition, to fast and pray to seek God’s intervention for the defeat of the COVID-19 disease.

He said the positive intervention was what the adherents of the two major religions needed to do more often, to always seek areas of collaboration to promote social harmony, progress and peaceful co-existence.

Kaigama prayed that God will help researchers to find a cure for COVID-19.

capacity for local production of health equipment and to strengthen our local manufacturing capacity more generally," he said.

He also observed that African leaders had for the first time, extended their cooperation and collaboration by taking joint actions with nations of the Caribbean community.

Earlier, Jonathan as chairman of the forum had said African leaders must come together to collectively confront the challenges facing the continent, especially social, economic and governance issues.

He said: “The COVID-19 pandemic places urgency of actions on African leaders to move from plans to implementations of the different developmental strategies. I am particularly optimistic that conversations such as this will chart a new course towards building a new world; an interdependent peaceful and just nations of Africa."

Jonathan, Kenyatta Reopening Schools Rally Support against Unsafe, Dangerous, Pandemic, Terrorism ANAP Tells FG Kenyan President, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, and former Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, have called for closer collaboration among African leaders to deepen Africa’s post-pandemic recovery efforts and find answers to the continent’s growth and development challenges.

Both leaders recognised the prominent role played

by Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the Africa COVID-19 Fund and the joint Africa procurement platform in COVID-19 response as a demonstration of the continent's potential to overcome its development challenges.

They spoke during a webinar on post-COVID-19 reconstruction organised by the African chapter of the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP-Africa).

Kenyatta urged African leaders to continue working together in crafting interventions and solutions that would enhance the resilience of the continent's vulnerable populations.

"We should work in collaboration with our development partners to build

The ANAP Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank has cautioned the federal government against the reopening of schools amid rising COVID-19 cases, describing the move as unsafe and dangerous to pupils, families and the society.

In a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday, and signed by the Chairman, ANAP Foundation, Mr. Atedo Peterside, the body said most schools, especially the public ones, did not have the resources to moderate the behaviour of children during school hours.

It said: "We view with great concern the proposal to reopen schools for graduating students. Science and data reveal that the pandemic is currently at the community transmission phase and is still approaching its peak. Having school children from different homes gather in enclosed classrooms and interacting closely for long hours at this stage of our epidemic will, in our opinion, portend great danger for the pupils, their teachers and their immediate families.

"Though the Presidential

on Student as Undergraduate

read Political Science, but later changed to law and did not graduate until 1986 because of the rustication.

He explained: “When I was in the university, I was a member of the Pyrates Confraternity. At that time, we didn’t look at it as a cult arrangement, but some people were already coming in with tendencies that created problems. We had this very confrontational group and one evening, somebody reported to us that they beat up a final year student who was also close to us and they mentioned the names of those involved, and we said no, this is bad.

“Don’t also forget too that I was a student union leader, very prominent in the students’ union congress. So, I and some persons who heard about this complaint said let’s go and see the people concerned and talk to them.

“We went there and met with the people concerned,

Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF) has specified appropriate protocols as safeguards, we are aware that most schools, especially the public ones, will not have the required resources to put these in place, nor the wherewithal to moderate children's behaviour."

It appealed to the government and other stakeholders to exercise caution and follow the science of the disease as established, to avoid exposing the population to large-scale COVID-19 infections.

Ghana President Selfisolate after Exposure to COVID-19 Patient President of Ghana, Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo, has embarked on a 14-day self-quarantine after exposure to someone within his circle who has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to a statement weekend by the country's Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Nkrumah, the president will take two weeks off on the advice of his doctors and as part of COVID-19 protocol.

Nkrumah said: "He has, as at today, tested negative, but has elected to take this measure out of the abundance of caution. He will continue to work during the period in compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols."

The statement did not say if the close person was a staff or a family member.

Madagascar Re-imposes Lockdown as Cases Surge Madagascar has placed its capital, Antananarivo, under a fresh lockdown following a new surge in COVID-19 infections, two months after the restrictions were relaxed, the presidency said yesterday.

This is despite the country claiming its COVID herbal mixture treats the virus.

The statement said: “The Analamanga region (under which the capital is situated) is returning to full lockdown.

No traffic will be allowed in or out of the region starting Monday (today) until July 20.

A strict curfew will be imposed on street movement by people.

“Only one person per household is allowed to go out into the street between 6:00 am and 12:00 pm.”

APC GOVS, TINUBU TO MEET TO PLOT IZE-IYAMU'S VICTORY One of the governors, who is also a member of the newly-constituted caretaker committee of the party, told THISDAY at the weekend that the expected meeting is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive - immediately after the last National Executive Committee’s meeting of the party recently in Abuja for the party to work towards reclaiming Edo State it lost to the PDP with the defection of the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

“At our National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the Villa recently, we ratified the candidature of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu – based on President Muhammadu Buhari’s recommendation.

And the president also directed that we should mobilise all the party’s organs and ensure we deliver Edo State for APC. “And in line with that, we are consulting all the APC governors, party’s leaders, especially our national leader,

Bola Tinubu, and other party’s stakeholders on the need for us to meet very soon. Already, the campaign council has been constituted and members will be inaugurated this week,’’ the governor stated.

He added that the party has a little job to do in Edo State because of the popularity of the party’s candidate.

“Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is a grassroots politician. He is at home with the politics of the state. As the leader of the opposition in Edo State in the last two general elections, he made things very difficult for us. Now, we are happy he has come back home. And with our full support, he will deliver Edo State to APC,’’ the governor stated.

Responding to the plans by the caretaker committee to dissolve some troubled states executives of the party, he said the committee was yet to take a position on the issue.

Meanwhile, one of the spokesmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

Presidential Campaign Council in the 2019 general election, Prince Kazeem Afegbua, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, expressed optimism that Ize-Iyamu will win the election. ‘’Pastor Ize-Iyamu's comportment, diligence at delivering responsibilities, sense of organisation and marksmanship are direct opposite of Governor Obaseki's combative style, laced with blackmail, pretentiousness and over sanctimonious.

“Democracy talks about constructive engagement and collective bargaining.

It preaches inclusion, not exclusion. It reinforces participation, involvement, and collectivity. Governor Obaseki is the opposite of what an ideal democratic situation should be. His politics is destructive, exclusive, and demonising,’’ he stated.

Ize-Iyamu Denies Pouring Acid

Ize-Iyamu has denied pouring acid on a fellow student when he was an undergraduate at the University of Benin.

During the 2016 governorship campaign, a former governor of the state, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, had alleged that Ize-Iyamu, who was the candidate of the PDP in that election, poured acid on a student.

But in an online television programme monitored in Benin City yesterday, IzeIyamu said he drew the attention of the then UNIBEN administration to the plight of the student.

Ize-Iyamu, who said he ensured the student got first aid treatment, however, added that he and others linked to the incident were rusticated because the identity of the culprit was never known.

He said he entered the University of Benin in 1980 to

Continued on page 10

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MONDAY, ;˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Aig-Imoukhuede Establishes ‘Adopt-aHealth-Facility Programme’ Initiative Obinna Chima The founder of the Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has established the Adopta-Health-Facility Programme (ADHFP), a private sectordriven initiative to provide universal health access for low-income citizens residing in rural and urban areas in Nigeria.

The initiative is in collaboration with the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN).

Speaking in an interview with the management of GBCHealth, a New York-based leading private sector coalition on health on ongoing plans in Nigeria recently, Aig-

Imoukhuede, former Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, expressed optimism that the initiative would help Africa to win the battle for better healthcare.

Aig-Imoukhuede reiterated how unacceptable it was for Africa to continue suffering the effects of diseases like HIV, AIDS and Malaria long after the rest of the world has tamed them.

“Advanced countries built their capacity to solve their own problems. It is time for us to do the same,” he added.

With the recent scourge of COVID-19, Aig-Imoukhuede is seeking to bring Nigerians and other stakeholders into what he described as “the business of saving lives.”

According to him, the initiative primarily entails

delivering, one Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in each of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) at global standards.

ADHFP would be sponsored by a group of Angel Investors and other institutions. These “Angels” would each take responsibility for one or more PHCs as they are expected to build and operate the PHCs for the period of adoption under strict rules and guidelines.

The ADHFP is a multiimpact initiative with several benefits which includes saving lives; improvement in health outcomes; job creation and gender empowerment.

Others include a reduction in mortality rates; improved public sector accountability; female gender empowerment;

increased uptake of microhealth insurance and successful health policy reform.

“The ADHFP is driven by my belief that the African continent will continue to carry the painful and the shameful burden of high disease mortality long after the rest of the world has overcome such challenges unless we address the poor state of healthcare systems at the primary level.

“The ADHFP was conceived early in 2019 well before I had ever heard of the word ‘Coronavirus’. Interestingly, whilst championing the Global Citizens global goal live campaign in Davos this January, I made the case that it is unacceptable for Africa to continue suffering the effects

of pandemics like HIV/AIDS and Malaria long after the rest of the world has put them to bed.

“I said Nigerians and other stakeholders must launch a movement to revive our ailing healthcare sector starting by fixing the 80 per cent of our 30,000 primary healthcare facilities, which are currently comatose.

“COVID-19 is a burning platform for change and reform in Africa’s health sector.

"With COVID-19 beaming a spotlight on the weaknesses and inadequacies of our health system, the pandemic has simply reinforced, with devastating effect, the reasons ADHFP was conceptualised in the first place. As the pandemic spreads, it has become evident to Nigerians

that our primary health system must be fixed with urgency, otherwise, our people will continue to die needlessly,” Aig-Imoukhuede, who is also, the Vice-Chair of Global Citizen said.

The design phase of the initiative would involve the participation of notable development-focused organisations including Global Citizen, ABCHealth, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), MTN Nigeria Plc, Dangote Group, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Stanbic-IBTC Bank, PwC, Cisco, Ford Foundation, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Flying Doctors Nigeria, among others.

INEC: AAC Did Not Submit Nomination for Edo Guber Election

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the weekend stated that the African Action Congress (AAC) did not submit its nomination for the Edo State governorship election, using the dedicated portal, even though the access code was given to the party.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye disclosed this to journalists in Abuja.

Okoye gave the clarification while fielding question on the accusation by the AAC that the INEC, in spite monitoring its primary, omitted the party on the commission’s published list for candidates for the Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 19, 2020.

He said though the AAC conducted its primary election which was monitored by the commission, the party did not submit its nomination to INEC using the dedicated portal designed by the commission

for political parties to submit their nominations.

Okoye said all the 15 political parties that conducted primaries for the purpose of nominating candidates for the governorship election gave INEC the mandatory 21days notice of their intention to do so in compliance with section 85(1) of the Electoral Act 2010(as amended).

The INEC chief noted that by section 85(2) of the same Act, the commission may, with or without prior notice to a political

party, attend and observe any congress or convention convened by it for the purpose of nominating candidates for an election at any level.

He noted that INEC monitored the party primary elections conducted by all the 15 political parties that gave notice of their intention to conduct primaries, including the AAC. According to him, “In compliance with section 87(4((b)(ii), political parties that conducted valid primaries are expected to forward to the INEC

the name of the aspirant with the highest number of votes at the end of voting, who shall be declared as the winner of the primaries.

“The submission of the name of the candidate is the exclusive preserve of political parties. A political party may conduct primaries and decide not to field candidates for election.

“The Commission is not permitted to force any political party to sponsor candidates for any election or to query a party for non-submission of the list

of its candidate(s).

“In line with our supplementary regulations and guidelines, the commission created a dedicated portal for the submission of the names of candidates and made available an access code to the chairmen of the 15 political parties that conducted primaries.

“The commission also established a help desk and dedicated a number of staff and telephone lines to a cluster of the political parties in case of challenges.”

members with fabricated charges.

The party described the statement by the APC as part of a heinous design by certain power mongers close to the APC administration to commence a fresh clampdown on perceived political rivals within and outside the opposition circles, ahead of the 2023 general election.

It said: "Nigerians should not be surprised when the APC will begin to list the names of innocent political leaders, including those who are now being persecuted in their party, on trumped-up charges, for political interests.

"While our party has no link whatsoever with Hushpuppi, as the APC also acknowledged, Nigerians are aware that his pictures with some prominent Nigerians, such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, which the APC is frenzied

about, do not suggest any affinity beyond the usual jostling by people, the world over, to be photographed with leaders.

"Of course, such happens to all prominent individuals, especially leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari.

"It is, therefore, unfortunate that a ruling party, which is now led by a sitting governor, is spending its energy to frame innocent Nigerians instead of confronting the myriads of economic and security problems it caused the nation, in addition to finding a solution to the serious demands of COVID-19 pandemic."

It added that if the APC is indeed fighting corruption, it should have called for the investigation of its leaders who, as state governors, ministers and even APC national chairman have

been indicted for stealing and treasury looting.

It said the APC should be calling for the investigation of one of its governors, who was seen on a viral video, stuffing his robe with dollars, being proceeds of gratification, as well as its candidate in a forthcoming election, who has been declared by a former APC national chairman as a treasury looter, who is only good for "night meetings" and not fit to be state governor.

The PDP said: "Having been exposed, the PDP cautions the APC to steer clear of our members and other hard working Nigerians, in various fields of endeavour, who are perceived to be opponents of the APC. "Our party will not be distracted by the APC, which has gone into panic mode over its imminent electoral loss in Edo as well as Ondo States."

office, as part of the process of ensuring a smooth and successful transition. The changes being announced further attest to Fidelity Bank’s high governance standards and best practices in compliance with internal succession policies,” the statement added.

The outgoing chairman expressed delight in the results that the bank achieved under his stewardship.

He said: “I feel that the management team has consolidated on our plans to become one of the fastestgrowing banks in the country strongly rooted in technology

only comparable with the best in the world. I am confident that my successor will continue on that path to take the bank to its next stage of growth and advancement.

“I wish my successor, the management team, and the entire staff of Fidelity Bank the very best for continued success.”

Adetu said: “It has been an honour to be part of the board over the last few years. Throughout this time, I have been humbled by the commitment and hard work of the board and management, and their passion for creating a

truly global bank. I am very grateful to them, as I am to Fidelity Bank’s many other stakeholders, with whom we have worked to build a long-term, sustainable business.”

The Managing Director/ CEO, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, commended the contributions of the outgoing board members, saying the board and entire staff of the bank benefited immensely from their experiences and looks forward to continuing the bank’s upward growth trajectory with the incoming chairman-designate.

APC GOVS, TINUBU TO MEET TO PLOT IZE-IYAMU'S VICTORY they opened the door for us and we were discussing the matter under a very cordial atmosphere only for some people to come in and before we knew it, there was smoke in the whole place and somebody shouted acid and somebody was shouting and screaming.

It was then I realised that somebody has poured acid on somebody and I quickly rushed to the security post. I brought them in and we took the young man to get first aid treatment.

“Of course, the school set up an inquiry, and the person that was affected admitted that I was the one who brought security agents and that I was able to take him in for medical attention. I asked who poured it and he said he didn’t know.

“He said he knew the face but does not know his name and nobody appeared to know the name and the university

said since you people don’t want to mention the name, we are going to sanction all of you involved and before we knew it they expelled us.

But the reason they gave was that they were expelling us for belonging to a proscribed organisation. But the long and short of it is that we were on it for two years till 1986 when the Senate held a meeting and said these guys have been punished enough, that if you look at the records, they were not the one that committed what happened, so, we were called back, graduated and then went to the Law School,” he stated.

PDP Carpets APC over Hushpuppi Meanwhile, the PDP has described the statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) linking prominent

opposition members with the accused fraudster, Raymond Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, as reckless and irresponsible.

The party said the fabrications have exposed how the APC administration has been using agencies under its control to frame innocent opposition members, dissenting voices, rival political parties and perceived opponents of the government on trumped-up charges under the guise of fighting corruption.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that the desperate bid to frame innocent Nigerians not in any way involved with Hushpuppi, even after a broad investigation by prominent investigators, including the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), showed that the APC government has been victimising opposition

FIDELITY BANK APPOINTS CHIKE-OBI BOARD CHAIRMAN recorded significant growth across key financial metrics with both Ebi and Adetu playing significant roles, complementing management efforts in the delivery of these milestones; in service of the long term vision of the bank. The bank’s market share position has also been materially strengthened over this period.

“The board is also pleased to announce that the retiring chairman will be succeeded

by Mr. Mustafa ChikeObi who is currently the Executive Vice-Chairman at Alpha African Advisory,” it stated.

Chike-Obi has over 40 years of experience in investment banking and the financial services sector, working with reputable global investment banking and asset management firms.

He provides overall leadership at Alpha African Advisory and has direct oversight over the capital raising division.

Prior to joining Alpha African Advisory, he was the inaugural Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), a federal government-backed institution, established to

resolve the problem of non-performing loan assets of Nigerian banks after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Chike-Obi was Founding President at Madison Advisors, a financial services advisory and consulting firm in New Jersey, specializing in hedge funds and private equity investment advice.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Lagos (First Class Honors) and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

“Ebi will, however, continue in the role until the in-coming chairman assumes

MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˞ ˜ ʹ˜ 2020

COMMENT

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

THE AKK GAS PIPELINE

The gas pipeline has the potential to catalyse industrialisation and job creation, writes Idris Bugaje

T

he Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline is a 40-inch diameter, 614-km long natural gas pipeline recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, marking a very significant infrastructure thrust with great potential to create petrochemical industries, power generation plants and millions of downstream jobs. Anchored by the NNPC, it aims to produce a steady and guaranteed gas supply network between the northern and southern parts of Nigeria by harnessing Nigeria’s vast gas resources, a good part of which is currently flared and wasted.

It has taken three years to get to this ground -breaking level since the project proposal was submitted to the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in June 2017 and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval of the pipeline project in December 2017. The $2.8bn project represents phase one of the 1,300km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project, which is being developed as part of Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan.

AKK Pipeline will transport up to 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day from various gas gathering sites in Southern Nigeria.

The wet gas will be processed at Ajaokuta to produce Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) used largely for domestic cooking, while the remaining dry gas will be transported to supply feedstock for new power plants and petrochemical plants at Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.

Since the project is likely to take two years to complete, it now gives good time for Nigerian and foreign investors to start planning the relevant downstream industries to utilize the dry gas (largely made up of methane). While electric power plants are major consumers of gas, an even greater value addition industry is the petrochemical industry. The states of Kano, Kaduna and Niger and the FCT should immediately set out committees to pursue investors in these sectors.

Petrochemicals that can be produced from natural gas are many and include Urea Fertilizer, Ammonia, Methanol and other alcohols, Formaldehyde, Ethylene Glycol, various liquid transport fuels, etc. All these can be produced from synthesis gas (made from natural gas) by using carefully selected catalysts and appropriate reaction conditions. Synthesis gas (sometimes shortened to Syngas) compositions must therefore be well controlled during processing in order to achieve high quality final products.

Syngas contains a gas mixture of varying amounts of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and is produced by the controlled combustion of natural gas in a very limited amount of air. Of great significance to the development of agriculture is Urea Fertilizer. It is a colorless and odorless solid that is highly soluble in water. At the moment, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) is erroneously restricting the movement of Urea Fertilizer especially in the North East for fear of its falling into the hands of Boko Haram, who it was thought, could use Urea to make Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Urea, also known as carbamide, is never a potential IED raw material because its

THE AKK GAS PIPELINE IS A MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURAL BOOST AND A FULFILMENT OF MR. PRESIDENT’S PROMISE ON JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION

chemical formula of CO(NH2)2 does not contain enough oxygen for the rapid combustion associated with explosives. The danger could be with Urea Nitrate, CH5N3O4, not Urea itself. In other words you must digest the Urea Fertilizer with Concentrated Nitric Acid to produce Urea Nitrate and surely Concentrated Nitric Acid, which is in liquid form at room temperature, is not easy to come by. The conversion reaction is exothermic (heat releasing) and the product has a destructive power similar to another well-known fertilizer-explosive, ammonium nitrate.

Northern states have great agricultural potential and as such we should expect a number of Urea fertilizer plants to come on board to be fed with natural gas from the AKK Pipeline.

Urea absorbs moisture from the atmosphere and therefore is typically stored either in sealed plastic inner bags or, if stored in bulk, under tight cover with tarpaulin. NOTORE in Port Harcourt is presently the only producers of Urea Fertilizer which they largely export. Kaduna, Kano and Niger should endeavor to establish their own Urea Plants and be able to feed other Northern States.

The good thing about Synthesis Gas as feed stock in Urea production is that any time there is any problem in gas supply, one can easily switch to Coal as feedstock. In other words, the vast coal fields of Okaba, Kogi State, Obi, Nasarawa State and Akko and Ashaka in Gombe State can be mobilized as raw materials. The process of converting coal to syngas is called gasification and is the dominant technology used in South Africa, with its large coal reserves, to not only produce petrochemicals but transport fuels using the Fisher-Trope process. In fact any liquid transport fuel you buy in any fuel station in South Africa is a blend with two thirds produced from coal syngas while one third is from crude oil.

Another significant industrial use of the AKK gas would be in the production of process heat for many industries. Textile mills in Kaduna and Kano, for example, collapsed partly due to the very high cost of black oil (a whopping N140 per litre in those days, two decades ago). Natural gas can be connected to appropriate burners in water tube boilers to produce both low pressure steam and process hot water to meet the requirements of many manufacturing industries.

The AKK gas pipeline is a major infrastructural boost and a fulfillment of Mr. President’s promise on job creation and economic diversification. It is now left for the private sector to play their part to complete the value chain. AKK Gas shall soon be readily available for electric power generation and on our door steps, raw material for vast petrochemicals production. Our investors (Dangote inclusive) must now rise up to the challenge, dot the i’s and cross the t’s, to create the badly needed jobs that will ensure economic revitalization, reinvent a secure North and produce a united Nigeria.

Professor Bugaje is Rector, Kaduna Polytechnic

A NEEDED SHAKE-UP AT LAWMA Michael Oke ĂĄĂœĂ“ĂžĂ?Ă? ÞÒËÞ ÞÒĂ? Ă?ÞËÞĂ? Ă?Ă’Ă™Ă&#x;Ă–ĂŽ Ă?Ă˜Ă?Ă&#x;ĂœĂ? Ă?ĂžĂœĂ?Ă?Ăž Ă?ĂĄĂ?Ă?ĂšĂ?ĂœĂ? Ă‹ĂœĂ? ÚËÓÎ ÞÙ Ă•Ă?Ă?Ăš Ă‹Ă‘Ă™Ă? Ă?Ă–Ă?Ă‹Ă˜

A

s a student at the Delta State University, Abraka, we were always afraid when our lecturers threatened or went on strike. As a university student in the late 90s, any strike meant a postponement of your graduation date. I saw the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the most important group of workers in the university community. I would later change my mind on an occasion I experienced a week of strike by members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU).

The NASU members comprised some junior staff like the secretaries, drivers, porters, gardeners and cleaners. These categories of workers were often seen as inconsequential in the daily scheme of things.

However, it didn’t take long before I started realising their importance during their strike. Some classrooms and offices stayed locked even as students managed to have lectures. But the classrooms got untidier with each passing day. And by the third day, the popular male hostel, Abraka Hall, which people often ‘condemned’ as being dirty, for the first time, was actually filthy. All sort of organic and inorganic wastes piled over the trash area till they overflowed, blocking passage ways. The bathrooms and toilets were beginning to be no-go areas and some students deposited faecal matter in the surroundings.

Everywhere stunk. Ditto for Ethiope Hall, the popular female hostel. Rubbish on the whole campus was beginning to stifle regular activities. Hence, it was with relief that the strike was resolved after a week and the environment was clean again.

Worldwide, waste disposal is very crucial to any city. Without that plain but noble work, cities would

literally drown on their own wastes. It is for that reason that governments all over the world take waste disposal seriously. The introduction of street sweepers in Lagos was a welcome development.

Every morning, these set of workers can be seen on Lagos roads, decked in their overalls and armed with brooms, packers, cutlasses and other small tools necessary to do their work - keeping our environment clean. And just like cobwebs in our houses, the street sweepers are there but many of us hardly pay them regular attention. It is only when dirt has overrun our roads do we remember there are people supposed to clean them.

But all that changed recently when a viral video of them protesting was all over the internet. In the video, on June 23, they were seen pulling their overalls in protest. Their grouse was that they were being owed three months’ salary. When the news broke that street sweepers were protesting nonpayment of salaries, I was aghast. Why would they be owed? However, as details came in, I realised that, yes, they were being owed three months salaries, but not directly by the state government but by some ignoble contractors. I would have been shocked if it was the state because Lagos State government workers receive credit alerts for their salaries by the 23rd of every month. Rather, what transpired was that in a PSP arrangement, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) contracted out refuse collection, including street sweeping to contractors.

According to Reuben Abati, LAWMA’s ‘wage bill rose from N540 million per month to N1 billion’ and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu suspended the former LAWMA boss, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin. An audit was instituted and some nefarious practices of

contractors appointed by LAWMA were discovered.

The agreement saddled the sweeping of 600 routes in the state to 652 contractors. These contractors also employed 15, 498 workers. According to LAWMA, a street sweeper is meant to be paid a monthly salary of N25, 000 while a supervisor is paid N40, 000 monthly. But it was discovered that many of the contractors cheated their workers and do not pay the agreed amount to the street sweepers and supervisors. A moniker, ‘Iron Lady’, referring to one of the contractors, was bandied around as being one of those chiefly responsible for the plight of the underpaid and owed street sweepers. It was discovered that ‘Iron Lady’ alone controlled 66 routes.

In a press statement by LAWMA on June 19, the offending contractors with cases of unethical behaviour, including ‘Iron Lady’, were axed. Surely, no one in their right mind would support such situations in which the street sweepers, largely dominated by aging women, are exposed to such malpractices.

I mean, the amount (N25,000 for a sweeper) is not even up to a minimum wage and for the majority of them, that might be their only source of income.

Hence, I welcome the intervention of the state government. However, I would advise that the state government should henceforth, deploy a strategy whereby it can ascertain that the workers get their dues. When we say ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’, it does not augur well to treat the people responsible for the ‘cleaning’ in such a dirty manner.

On the cusp of the last administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, a ‘sophisticated’ waste disposal company, Visonscape, was introduced.

While the firm came with all its fancy gear and all, it failed. Lagos became dirtier and the vestiges of that

decision is what has emboldened some elements to begin to dump waste indiscriminately in some parts of the state hitherto free of such nasty behaviour.

But I believe Lagos State is more proactive now and would not allow such mistakes again.

In his maiden press briefing, the acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni, said that over 12,000 metric tonnes of waste is generated in Lagos daily. For a cleaner Lagos, Odumboni should think and work like a technocrat. He should ensure that disgruntled workers are not made to sweep the streets because there would be little chance they would put in their best effort. And the eyesore will be for all to see.

It’s a good thing that Odumboni sounded ready to combat Lagos’ waste. For the sweeping contractors, he wants to ensure prompt payment of their monies.

He also wants to encourage the use of bins and proper refuse disposal to promote recycling, stating that each of the 57 LGs and LCDAs in Lagos would have two recycling points. Turning waste to wealth is a good and timely move.

I believe Odumboni is set to deliver as he also praised Olamide Sulaiman, the street sweeper who made the viral video, for highlighting the gap in the system. Odumboni also appealed for the street sweepers to come and have their biometrics taken so as to enable LAWMA to absorb the ‘real workers’ into the system and ensure impostors don’t get in.

Lagos State is positively reacting to appease the disgruntled street sweepers. We need them to keep Lagos clean. But the government should never do everything alone. As private citizens, we must lend a supporting hand to the government in ensuring a cleaner environment with our behaviours. We also owe ourselves that.

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 6, 2020

EDITORIAL PIRACY AND NIGERIA’S SECURITY FAILURE The authorities could do more to make our waters safe

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recent statement by the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is revealing. He said last January an informant showed him a picture of a suspected pirate who currently works with Shell. The informant said that if the suspected pirate could be arrested, much information regarding maritime insecurity in our waters would come to light. The “suspect” is also known to a naval officer. “What we are doing now,” said Jamoh, “is investing so much on intelligence gathering.”

What the foregoing suggests is that the authorities are aware of those who are sabotaging not only our economy but also the national security.

Yet they refused to take concrete action against them. It is therefore little wonder that Nigeria is now in a security bind. The number THE SPATE OF ATTACKS HAS GIVEN NIGERIA AND of lives that have OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE been lost to piGULF OF GUINEA A VERY racy drives fear into shipping practiNEGATIVE IMAGE IN THE tioners, especially COMITY OF MARITIME ship captains. Apart NATIONS from reducing the number of vessels calling at the nation’s seaports due to the fear of attacks, it has helped in no small measure to increase the cost of doing business in Nigeria as ship owners and the consignees now charge higher than they do for other countries. These costs are eventually passed off to the final consumer. While there is unanimity among shipping practitioners that sea piracy cannot be totally eradicated, stakeholders believe the menace can be minimised in our country.

While Nigeria has for several years been a

hotspot for piracy incidents, recent report is encouraging. It indicates that in the first quarter of 2019, Nigeria experienced a decrease in reported piracy incidents in comparison to the number of incidents in the first quarter of 2018.

These results, according to the report “confirm the Nigerian Navy’s increased efforts to ‘actively respond to reported incidents by dispatching patrol boats,’ the report notes”. But the report also said: “Despite these efforts, Nigerian waters remain risky for vessels, especially the port of Lagos where four incidents have been reported.”

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T H I S DAY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI AJAYI, DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS PATRICK EIMIUHI, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT PATRICIA UBAKA-ADEKOYA

e commend the Navy for their efforts as we urge the Nigerian authorities to do more to make our waters safe and rid the country of what has become another emblem of shame. According to a recent International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) report, the Gulf of Guinea represented a high number of piracy and armed robbery attacks at sea, with 22 incidents reported in the first quarter of 2019.

It also said the region accounted for all of the worldwide crew kidnappings as 21 crew members were kidnapped across five separate incidents.

Incidents were reported in the coastal countries of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo in the first quarter of 2019.

The spate of attacks has given Nigeria and other countries in the Gulf of Guinea a very negative image in the comity of maritime nations.

It has also led to the high cost of freight as ship owners and crew members often demand high insurance premium before embarking on any voyage to Nigeria. For most of last year, according to the EOS Risk Group, there were dozens of Nigerian pirate attacks on merchant and fishing vessels in the Gulf of Guinea. We hope the federal government will assist NIMASA to put in place necessary measures so that the Nigerian territorial waters will not continue to harbour criminals.

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Keyamo, NASS And Jobs Seekers

The Trial Of Hushpuppi

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he Nigerian-born international scamster and Instagram celebrity, Ramoni Igbalode Abbas’ (otherwise known as Hushpuppi) arrested by the E-police unit of the Dubai Police a week ago, might come to his admirers as a bolt out of the blue. But to the well-meaning Nigerians, it was long expected. Reason being that, despite the fact that his source of opulence was questionable, he would still go on social media to make noise. It was from him, most of his social media followers did see the latest designer clothes, expensive watches and costly cars.

The Police upon his arrest discovered that Hushpuppi and his accomplices had accumulated N168bn through corporate mails and sending fake messages to clients, and redirecting their financial transfers to their own accounts. And that 1,926,000 persons from different parts of the world fell victims. Some 13 luxury cars worth 3.7bn, 150 million dirham, computers, storage devices and hard disks containing data were recovered from the flat where they were arrested.

I was surprised that he was living such opulent lifestyle until his arrest, even though he knows his source of wealth is unclean. Proverbs 11:21 has it that: “The evil person will not go unpunished,

but the children of the righteous will escape.” My people also say lies may never be discovered in 20 years but one day the truth will surely be revealed.

He might’ve been arrested in the past, and had his way. However, with the look of things, this one will not be business as usual. He has been extradited to United States, where he is now being indicted for money laundering and other cybercrimes. Hushpuppi’s extradition to US has been revealing what he thought he had swept under the carpet. The Department of Justice of the United States published it on its website that he is accused of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars from business emails compromise (BEC) frauds and some other scams, which include targeting a U.S law firm, an English Premier League club and a foreign bank. However, if he is found guilty of the allegations, he will spend 20 years of his life in the US prison.

Meanwhile, chances that he will not be found guilty are very slim. If he is not lucky, once he is found guilty, all the wealth he fraudulently amassed will be confiscated. And that will end the reigns of his opulent and luxurious lifestyle. I hope his trial will serve as deterrent to other scamsters and potential ‘hushpuppies’.

Aremu Lukman Umor, Lagos

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he minister for state of labour and productivity, Festus Keyamo, had a brawl with National Assembly on the ongoing plan to recruit 774,000 unemployed people across the 774 local governments under the public social workers program. The minister was invited by the joint senate committee on labour and productivity to explain the modalities for the recruitment. However, the chairman senate committee on labour and productivity, Godiya Akwashi, accused Keyamo of lopsided appointment of states committee. While the minister was trying to defend or clear the air on the allegation, Akwashi insisted on close door session which Keyamo turned down. The joint senate committee directed the minister to apologise for his rudeness. The altercation angered the senate and postponed the meeting. Keyamo, while answering questions from journalists, accused the leadership of the senate of trying to hijack the recruitment exercise. Keyamo’s accusation came at a time when the leadership of the senate was under attack on the alleged allocation of 50,000 N-power slots from the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development.

There is no gainsaying that the exchange

between Keyamo and NASS has opened the Pandora box on job racketeering that continues to rock the National Assembly. Since the return of democracy, NASS has been accused of cornering the jobs meant for the common man. Recently, the recruitment in FIRS, NTA and other agencies have left so much to be desired. The recruitments which were secretly carried out without advertisement were also hijacked by the senate.

Amidst the rising cases of unemployment in the country, the struggling and frustrated graduates are left to their fate. One would have expected that given the ad-hoc nature of the government social investment programs, senators and other top politicians will overlook them and allow the children of the poor to benefit. Alas, indications have continued to prove otherwise. Sad! Our universities have continued to churn out millions of graduates with the hope that both the formal and informal sector of the economy will absorb them. These hopes are dashed. Now, the scarce jobs are being chased between the poor jobs seeker and the senate. In view of this emerging trend, there is the need for government to draw up a clear boundary between National Assembly as an institution for making laws and as recruitment body.

Ibrahim Mustapha, Pambegua, Kaduna State

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Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG

POLITICS

Email: nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E

Enter a New Attempt to Change the Direction of Politics in Nigeria Nseobong Okon-Ekong and Segun James write that the latest intervention to change the direction of politics in Nigeria needs to present concrete evidence of enduring beyond the initial fanfare

Buhari

Agbakoba

Falana

Na’Abba

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Studies (CIAPS). His previous intervention with the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) painted in similar colours did not quite yield the expected fruits and quietly slipped into oblivion.

His co-travelllers like Agbakoba and Utomi too have either championed groups like this or worked with others. And this is not excluding bodies like the Save Nigeria Group formed by Pastor Tunde Bakare. Not too long ago, there was the Revolution Now group spearheaded by Omoyele Sowore, who had clear support from the likes of Falana. With the presence of members like Na’Abba, Nwanyanwu, Ezekwesili, Utomi, Mailafia, Aremu and Soyode, it can’t be exactly said that the composition is free from political colouration, as some of them have canvassed partisan opinions in the past. It would be interesting to see how their different widely advertised political stance is fused into sustainable common group goals The NCF said the forum came together against the worrisome background of the continued slide of Nigeria into political anarchy and unabated bloodletting and deaths, owing to the incompetence and failure of the present political leadership of the country in dealing with the national democratic question of Nigeria as a diverse multi ethnic, multi religious and multi cultural entity, “We, a select group of National Leaders of Conscience, Social Democrats and Revolutionary Ideologues, have been in consultations under the auspices of a new Pan Nigerian Consultative Political Front with other like-minded fresh breed

political Ideologues and Stakeholders, beginning from Wednesday, 27th May 2020 to Friday, 12 June 2020 trying to agree on a new political intervention for rescuing our dear country from the exploitative grip of a lacklustre leadership and the manipulation of a bickering, factionalised ruling political elites in Nigeria.”

They stressed that “our nationwide consultations, essentially, motivated by patriotic concerns of stakeholders regarding the chaotic and insecure state of Nigeria, an unfortunate situation basically induced by the country’s self serving politicians and rulers, were held largely within the prevailing ambience of the new Webinar communications technology, with a clear vision of building a new disciplined/competent political leadership for the liberation of Nigeria’s muzzled democracy and hijacked State powers “Therefore, we of the new patriotic association of select Leaders of Conscience and Stakeholders in Project Nigeria, having undertaken thorough and painstaking deliberations and dialogue on the agenda to save our country from imminent political collapse and civil strife.”

When the final whistle for political activities in the country is blown, the consultative forum may not be among the parties jostling for relevance and power, but the forum surely would have jolted the system and forced a rethink among the political leadership and the elite. Perhaps, this is its intention, but how it goes about achieving this goal will be an interesting spectacle, given the fact that these same persons, acting individually

or in concert with others have embarked on a similar mission but failed.

For many of the forum members, most of whom never bothered to venture into active politicking until recently, politics really resumed when they found that their political leaders today were the never-do-wells they ignored when they left the political space.

These set of people ended up being the ones that determine the political direction and future of their respective states and the nation. It was a rude awakening.

No doubt, recent political events in the country prompted the formation of the NCF. To these distinguished persons who came together to save the country, Nigeria is on the verge of overheating, politically. Everybody seems to be pretending that all is well within the polity, but they lamented that when the eruption comes, the reverberation will be devastating, the consequence of which is better imagined than experienced.

To most of them, in a country full of both ambition and frustration, President Muhammadu Buhari has been a disaster in the handling of state matters. He is not a role model for those who dare to dream and he could not be the change the nation was looking for. The NCF thinks, he has not only fallen short of expectation, but has indeed become an unmitigated disaster.

Some of the accusations against President Buhari is that he has stoked ethnic strives among the several nationalities that make up the country. He is also said to be responsible for creating religious disharmony, a situation which led to sectarian wars among the various religions, especially between Christians and Muslims.

Kila and Jibo in their statement said that the “facilitating secretariat of the National Consultative Front is mandated to immediately facilitate an interim steering coordinating council made up of experienced leaders of conscience and Democratic Ideologues to drive a new popular political intervention for urgently save Nigeria from the precipice of political anarchy and civil strife. The provisional leadership shall be inclusive and collegiate in structure, capturing the critical segments and crucial essence of the Nigerian diversity, in inspiring substantial confidence, trust, sense of belonging and ownership from all Stakeholders aligned within the new initiative notwithstanding social, cultural, religious and gender differences; such that every Nigerian can easily become a stakeholder and automatically imbibe a common sense of commitment

igeria’s intellectual and professional class have often wondered how it got the short end of the governance stick in the country. With the start of political cycle, some of them are recruited to write the body of rules guiding political parties. Unfortunately, these egg heads who served in the engine of these political parties at their formation are often manipulated out from holding key offices that can realise and sustain the set objectives of these political parties. More often than not, the political environment does not favour them to become relevant in the scheme of things.

Last week the number of political groups seeking visibility increased with the emergence of the National Consultative Forum (NCF), a new Pan Nigerian collision of intellectuals and professionals who are determined to chart a new political course for the country.

In Nigerian politics, it’s usually not hard to tell when a war has started. The battle line is drawn when members of a party, may be, out of frustration or ideological differences, cross the political divide into another party.

However, this is a different scenario. This time, it is the professionals and the intellectuals who have decided that the ship of state is too important to be left in the hands of persons whose competence is suspect.

They are working on the theory that Nigeria may be the better for it if the ship of state is intellectually driven instead of leaving it to people who may run it aground. But their argument may be countered with the fact that the major political parties are not lacking in members with intimidating intellectual capacity.

The members of the forum include former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Ghali Umar Na’Abba; Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN; Prof Pat Utomi; Dr Obadiah Mailafia; Barr Femi Falana SAN; Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Prof Jibo Ibrahim; Col Umar Abubarkar Dangiwa; Comrade Isa Aremu; Prof Chidi Odinkalu; Barr Dan Nwanyanwu; Dr Osagie Obayuawana; Alhaji Shettima Yerima and Dr Chris Ekiyor.

Others are Mr Jude Feranmi; Saadatu Falila Hamu; Mallam Hamzat Lawal; Hajia Khadijat Abdullahi; Mr Alistair Soyode and Prof Anthony Kila who is the facilitator. To be sure, this is not the first time Kila who runs a policy and governance tink tank, Centre for International Advanced and Professional

NCF’s willingness to collaborate with existing groups with set objectives renders its overall aims suspect and further lends credence to the confusing times in Nigerian politics. Barely one year after the 2019 general election, the polity seems to be falling apart. If recent events are anything to go by, but what manner of redeeming intervention can the NCF bring?

Could it be that the NCF is only riding on the prevailing sentiments?

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MONDAY DISCOURSE

Ezekwesili

Kila

Nwanyanwu

Aremu

and duty towards mass support, ownership and control of the new movement slated for launching this month as a counter force to the current politics of moneybags, highest bidders and the cash and carry harakiri prevalent under the mercantilist ruling elites in Nigeria” They insisted that a new ideological mass movement shall be initiated to embark on an immediate mass mobilisation of the nooks and crannies of the country for popular mass action towards political constitution reforms that is citizens-driven and process-led in engendering a new Peoples’ Constitution for a new Nigeria that can work for all.

“The new movement shall also, without delay, mobilise for the economic wellbeing and prosperity of all Nigerians by demanding and ensuring that Chapter 2 of the present Constitution i e; Fundamental Objectives & Directive Principles of State Policy becomes justiceable once and for all, while also mounting an articulate and vigorous campaign to deconstruct and reconstruct obnoxious election laws which have provided leeway for opportunists in the corridor of power to subvert the will of the electorates making voting irrelevant in determining who actually becomes elected in NIgeria.”

They stressed that due to the critical deficiency identified in the governance structure of Nigeria, especially as regards the question of competence, discipline, cohesion and lack of democratic best practices among the present ruling class; a problem emanating from the dearth of principled, disciplined and ideologically motivated Political class and the absence of democratically birthed and ideologically inspired Political parties in the country; currently breeding factional and chaotic political emissions within the country’s ruling political parties; the new Movement shall undertake, as its key mandate, the conscious cultivation/building of a new ideologically disciplined alternative Political class as well as the formation of a new formidable ideologically driven, democratic mega political platform through popular Mobilisation to provide a reliable ideological leadership for the country, while positioning the masses for electoral power as was done by ANC in South Africa.

“Consequently, the Secretariat of the National Consultative Front has been mandated to review and tease out lessons from certain past initiatives and interventions, so as to enrich & strengthen the new initiative in such a way that mistakes are not repeated and risks can be easily mitigated in the growth and expansion of the new Movement.

“Similarly, it was also resolved that the Secretariat should create massive awareness and sensitization about the bankrupt political and economic situation of the country vis a vis the historical mission of the new movement’s agenda to deliver the country from its present comatose state and stem its fast decline into a failed state. To this end, the Secretariat shall engage in conscious mass mobilisation and careful recruitment of revolutionary and true Change Agents in the media, academia, grassroots; among the Women, Youths, Artisan, Vulnerable Nigerians for the purpose of organising to engender a new Nigeria that works for all.”

They said that the new mass movement shall deploy a dual approach in its national and public engagement by expounding a

combination of ideological and pragmatic perspectives, especially in its communications in the mass/social media and its outreach to the grassroots and the everyday Nigerians. This is with the aim of clearly exposing everything wrong with Nigeria’s current governance system and its political architecture, while providing viable and workable alternatives and simplifying our new ideological mission and agenda for the country so as to make it easily understandable and interpretable for effective buy-in of every Nigerian.

“That the emerging mass movement shall constantly consult with credible fraternal political elders for their solidarity, while consistently slating policy issues for debate & engagements at the grassroots in developing the political consciousness and culture of the ordinary people on the street for them to realize and understand how to collectively change the demoralising and demobilising narrative and situation in Nigeria without having to give up but instead take ownership of the country through solidarity with like-minded Stakeholders, based on a new conviction and confidence motivated that the country can work in the hands of a new principled and disciplined leadership.”

To them, this is not the time of the season when politicians get top billing. After all, the political season is not here, but surprisingly, some of the leaders of the movement are politicians like Ghali Na’Abba. A situation which begs the question, who determines the professional and who identifies the intellectual?

To show the seriousness attached to the Project Save Nigeria, the NCF initiated “a 30 persons Interim Steering Coordinating Team of Eminent National Leaders of Conscience based on the diversity of Nigeria to henceforth pioneer and supervise the agenda, mission and engagements of the National Consultative Front towards the agenda for a new Nigeria.

“The Interim Steering Council shall operate as a collegiate leadership within the frame of a Rotational Chairmanship based on Geo

Politics, Gender etc of its membership and shall have the responsibility of leading and supervising the planning and mobilisation process of our Political Agenda until the end of January, 2021, when the new political initiative shall be expected to transform fully into a major mass “Movement in Nigeria enroute the birth of a revolutionary super mega Political Party by the adoption of an existing allied Political Party or the registration of a new electoral platform to be formally launched by June, 2021 at a major National Political Summit/ Convention, where its first substantive National Executives shall be elected and inaugurated.”

Most of what is said about Nigerian politics these days could be true or false, depending on your angle or school of thought. And that may be because Nigeria is too complex or too diverse to be described usefully by blackest statement.

This is because the Nigerian constitution was specific on the criteria for seeking political office and the minimum requirement.

Although the professionals believe that they could be the difference, but the truth remain that most of them are not only far from the grease roots, they are alienated from it.

In order to bridge this gap, the NCF mandated its secretariat to immediately initiate a grand plan for the purpose of institutionalizing a formidable foundation for the new organization by setting up of veritable offices in the six geo political zones of Nigeria.

“To this end the National Secretariat is to urgently engage and interface with Rt Hon Ghali Umar Na’Abba, Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sanni and Dr Obadiah Mailafia to facilitate suitable temporary Secretariats in the Northern Zone and in the FCT, just as it has also been mandated to meet with Prof Pat Utomi, Barr Femi Falana, SAN and Barr Bolaji Ayorinde SAN for suitable Secretariats in the Southern Axis and Lagos within the next one month, to immediately rally and harmonise the interests and structures of all identified credible Allies and Stakeholders

in solidifying the base of the new movement.

They identified platforms and constituencies for further engagement and alignment including “NIM anchored by Olisa Agbakoba, Fix Politics Initiative anchored by Oby Ezekwesili, ASCAB anchored by Femi Falana, CVL anchored by Pat Utomi, Yes Movement anchored by Alistair Soyode, ADP anchored

by Yabagi Yusuf Sani, LP anchored by Joe Ajero /Isa Aremu, Zenith Labour anchored

by Dan Nwanyanwu, CUPP – Peter Ameh, Women4Women – Nkoyo Toyo, Not too Young to Run – Samson Itodo/ Saadatu Fali, TBAN – Kingsley Moghalu, PT – Hashim, ANN – Fela Durotoye, Northern Progressives – Col Umar/Shehu Sanni/Yerima, Organised Civil Society – Jibo Ibrahim/ Chidi Odinkalu, Coalition For Revolution, CORE- Sheni Ajayi, among others.

NCF’s willingness to collaborate with existing groups with set objectives renders its overall aims suspect and further lends credence to the confusing times in Nigerian politics. Barely one year after the 2019 general election, the polity seems to be falling apart.

If recent events are anything to go by, but what manner of redeeming intervention can the NCF bring?

Could it be that the NCF is only riding on the prevailing sentiments? When the group writes everybody is complaining about the dysfunction in the political system, it is only saying the obvious. It is true that Nigeria now has a government divided against itself; with a ruling party that is not coordinated and a people that are exasperated by a President that is totally distant to the reality of things in the country.

“Our Political Coalition wish to assert that the current factionalisation and imbroglio rocking dominant political parties in Nigeria as well as the heightening political tension in the country, especially within the Nigerian ruling class have further given credence to our resolve and intervention to provide a credible alternative political class and leadership for Nigeria as most of those who pride themselves as Leaders of our country in the last twenty one years of civil rule have proved to be huge failures and burden to the wellbeing of our people “To this end, we decry in categorical terms, the ongoing mindless massacre and kidnappings in the North West, North East, Southern Kaduna, the Middle Belt, Southern part of Nigeria and in fact the country at large by armed bandits and insurgents, who invade our communities, especially at night to inflict terror and murder on hapless residents and unsuspecting indigenes. We hereby call on those presently in charge of our Federal Government, military and security apparatus to immediately wake up and do everything to stop the ongoing senseless pogrom against the masses of our people.”

At the end of the day, if all that the NCF is able to do is to awaken Nigerians from a deep slumber that may have led them to forget the past, thereby saving the country from the doom of repeating past mistakes, a mighty achievement would have recorded in the march towards a society thriving on the dreams of its founding fathers. This is the direction the NCF is determined to help drive the leadership of the country, assuming it does not succumb to the usual Nigerian malaise, that rendered previous efforts stillborn.

The new mass movement shall deploy a dual approach in its national and public engagement by expounding a combination of ideological and pragmatic perspectives, especially in its communications in the mass/social media and its outreach to the grassroots and the everyday Nigerians. This is with the aim of clearly exposing everything wrong with Nigeria’s current governance system and its political architecture, while providing viable and workable alternatives and simplifying our new ideological mission and agenda for the country so as to make it easily understandable and interpretable for effective buy-in of every Nigerian

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Quick Takes PwC Nigeria Admits New Partners

BUSINESSREVIEW

L-R: Chairman, Ecobank Nigeria, John Aboh; Immediate past Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Emmanuel Ikazoboh, and Managing Director,EcobankNigeria,PatrickAkinwuntan,duringETI’sAnnualGeneralMeetingheldinLagos‌recently

‘Illicit Trade Accounts for 3% of Global Trade’ Ugo Aliogo The Acting Director, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD) Public Governance Directorate, JĂĄnos BertĂłk, has revealed that illicit trade accounts for three per cent of global trade and also causes huge revenue losses in excess of billions of dollars for governments and the private sector globally.

BertĂłk, who disclosed this while speaking during a recent webinar organised by The Economist, that was sponsored by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) with the theme: ‘Global Illicit Trade- Profiteering From Pandemic,’ also stated that illicit trade doesn’t only impact the economy, but also raises serious safety, health, and leads to production of fake pharmaceutical products. “The new evidence released just months ago, estimates the total

MARITIME at ₏4 billion for pharmaceutical products. Data analysed and quantified shows that the most frequently encountered products are antibiotics, lifestyle, and pain killer drugs. What is interesting is that many of these specific drugs especially those that are anti-malaria, are linked to COVID-19 as a treatment,� he said.

On his part, the Global Senior Director, Anti-illegal Trade, (JTI), Ian Monteith, said it was important to recognise that illegal trade was being driven by criminals whose only concern was to make money, adding that customers are going to be driven towards such because of lower incomes, “and an increasing number of them are going to be exposed to that.�

Monteith noted that strong enforcement with reasonable and

moderate taxation are key drivers that would reduce the supply of the illegal commodities.

According to him, “Because none of the money from the illegal activities of the criminals goes back to the government and it does not benefit society and individuals. Rather, it benefits criminals, and individuals involved in terrorism, smuggling and other related crimes. “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) actually described the current situation as waning of income inequalities. These are very desperate situations, which require a very careful partnership controlled approach with governments, law enforcement agencies, private sector, and society working together. “Information is the lifeblood of law enforcement agency. We can bring quality intelligence forensic analysis, transportation, reach and everything that will assist

law enforcement to initiate or to continue with their investigation. “Law enforcement agencies can be restricted by international boundaries and different government regulations. But private sector is not restricted; therefore, we work in one continent or in one country and provide that information to another country where the illegal activity is taking place. “The point here should be better understanding of the vulnerability of ecommerce, and also its impact on the global supply chain. There is need for closer collaboration between the public and the private sector in sharing data, and standardisation.�

Speaking on the changing nature of illicit trade, the Director of Organised and Emerging Crime, Interpol, Paul Stanfield, said an obvious trends would the restric-

PwC Nigeria has admitted eight professionals into its partnership. A statement described the development as a record number for the professionalservicesďŹ rm.Itfurtherexplainthatitdemonstratesitscommitment to diversity, inclusion, and developing the future leaders of the ďŹ rm.

ThenewPartnersare:AkinyemiAkingbade,ChiomaObaro,TosinLabeodan, Rukaiya El-Rufai, Wura Olowofoyeku and Yinka Yusuf of its Assurance practice; while Kunle Amida and Olusola Adewole were admitted from the ďŹ rm’s Advisory practice.

Regional Senior Partner, West Africa atPwC Nigeria, Uyi Akpata, said: “Our investment in new partners reects our optimism for the future, and the need to bring the diversity of thinking and experience that our clients demand. “EachmemberoftheClassof2020isahighlyaccomplishedprofessional par excellence.They have reached this career milestone from continually ďŹ ndinginnovativewaystosupportourclientsandprovidingqualityservice.â€?

According to Akpata, the stormy socio-economic climate across the globe has underscored the need for us to stay true to our purpose while continuing to contribute to the growth and development of our country and continent. “I am conďŹ dent that these new partners - the Class of 2020- will help to reimagine the future, and bring their wealth of experience to bear towards achieving sustainable growth for both our clients and the society at large,â€?

Akpata further said.

The eight new partners are among 24 new partners admitted across the ďŹ rm in Africa, of which 25 per cent are female.

FirstBank’s FMAP Graduates Associates

First Bank of Nigeria Limited has graduated 28 successful candidates in its inaugural FirstBank Management Associates Programme (FMAP).

Theeventtookplacevirtuallyrecently.Theprogrammewhichcommenced in 2018 had a total of 48 candidates selected from thousands of entries and applications received nationwide.

FMAPisa24-monthfast-trackcomprehensivedevelopmentalprogramme targetedatyoung,dynamic,self-motivatedandhighlydrivenindividualsthat possess the right skill set and excellent leadership potential among Junior and entry-level cadre sta. Entries and applications for the programme enrolment was also extended to the public Speakingabouttheprogramme,theCEO,FirstBank,Dr.AdesolaAdeduntan, said“Itisanintensiveskilldevelopmentprogrammestructuredtoenhance acute thinking, ďŹ nancial, methodical skills of sta.â€? “The bank would continue to reinvest in its human capital to create a kind of leadership needed for future growth and development. “This is part of the bank’s strategic objectives of infusing and developing leadership at requisite levels across its sta hierarchy, aimed at building the next generation of leaders who will be groomed to drive the bank’s vision of being Africa’s bank of ďŹ rst choiceâ€?, he concluded.

At the end of the programme, successful candidates are moved to middle management, becoming management associates irrespective of their grades at the point of entry.

Cross country postings and secondment opportunities is also oered to such sta to provide them with global exposure and network.

Oputa Assumes New Role at EY

Anthony Oputa has assumed oďŹƒce as EY’s Regional Managing Partner (RMP) for the West Cluster in Africa as well as the oďŹƒce of the Nigerian CountryManagingPartner/LeadersinceJuly1,2020.AsRegionalManaging Partner, he is also a member of the EY Africa Executive Leadership.

Oputa, joined EY as the Financial Services Sector Leader and Chief Operating OďŹƒcer for West Africa in August 2018. “SincejoiningEY,hehasdemonstratedhispassionandabilityforgrowing Continued on page 22 andenhancingtheEYbrandinthemarketandcontributedalottotherecent successesrecordedbytheďŹ rmwithclientpursuits.Heisahighlyrespected professionalwithover20years’experienceprofessionalpracticespanning dierent sectors,â€? a statement explained.

He took over from Henry Egbiki, who recently retired from the ďŹ rm after 33 years of service. Egbiki, as the Regional Managing Partner was pivotal to the growth EY enjoyed in Nigeria and in the West Cluster, the statement added.

Company, as companies work to protect their workforce and maintain profitability during and after the Covid-19 crisis, they need to switch from using empirical models to AI in day-to-day management and operations decision making.

In addition, they need to move from relatively rigid production planning using long-term budgets to short two-week-horizon planning and increased agility across the value chain; shift from single-recipe, plug-and-play tools to multiple value-driven, built-

Report Highlights Role of Artificial Intelligence in Mineral Processing During Uncertain Times Operators in the mineral processing sector have started utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI), not to only resolve their short-term challenges, but also enhance operational resilience as a longterm competitive advantage, a report by McKinsey & Company, a global management consultancy services company has stated.

The firm stated this in a report titled: “How artificial intelligence can improve resilience in mineral processing during uncertain times,� obtained at the weekend.

McKinsey & Company revealed that even before Covid-19, some mineral processing companies

ECONOMY were already taking steps to build their capabilities to cope with fluctuations inherent in commodities markets. “Several pioneering operators are starting to harness AI to not only resolve the short-term challenges but also enhance operational resilience as a long-term competitive advantage,� it added.

It pointed out that in recent years, frequent changes in market prices have buffeted fertilizer companies, requiring new oreprocessing strategies in order to

maximise long-term profitability.

This integrated player had already started building AI tools and agile-operations capabilities in its processing, stated while citing an example with a company.

It explained that for some companies, the pandemic offered a chance to test new skills. “Agile teams that were focused on reducing bottlenecks or optimising production pivoted to support the COVID-19 response. In one instance, a cross-functional agile team focused on how it could dramatically reduce the exposure risk for its haul-truck operators.

According to McKinsey &

“Pay TV business is one that demands long term investment. You cannot invest today and expect returns tomorrow. If you invest with a short-term view, you will fail Chairman, MultiChoice Nigeria

Continued on page 22

Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ 2020

22

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

‘ILLICIT TRADE ACCOUNTS FOR 3% OF GLOBAL TRADE’ tion of the movement of people, noting that as people go online to commit massive amounts of frauds taken advantage of the situation, they become savvier as a result of using online.

He further explained: “Because of the motivation to make money, criminals see the opportunity where there is a real demand for public protection equipment and other medical pharmaceutical goods, and they seize the opportunity. “However, people still want to move across borders by whatever means possible.

So we also see an increase in risk. And because it’s an increasing risk, it is more difficult, the cost also rises. “We see this as a significant problem across the world.

As the police one of our priorities is around public safety, and attention is being drifted away towards safety elements, and therefore less opportunity to tackle some of these new and emerging threats.�

Stanfield, said law enforcement agencies weren’t prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic especially on how pharmaceutical companies could help protect themselves and members of the public.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MINERAL PROCESSING DURING UNCERTAIN TIMES

for-purpose methods tailored to specific requirements; and turn from rigid workforce planning to more agile models, with a multidimensional team focusing on the highest-priority areas.

It explained: “Processing companies that are just beginning digital transformations have an even stronger incentive to move quickly to build their agility and AI muscle because doing so is essential to managing the crisis. “They can begin by setting up a team with new skill sets required for implementation.

This team would include data scientists to build the machinelearning tool, data engineers to structure and clean the data, and an agile coach to accelerate agile deployment.

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

CBN, GBfoods Complete N20bn Tomato Processing Factory Raheem Akingbolu

Eromosele Abiodun Terminal operators operating at the nation’s seaports are beginning to feel the effect of the Covid-19 on their operations as one of them, Josepdam Ports Services (JPS) has allegedly sacked five of its senior staff members.

Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Eromosele Abiodun (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor ((Energy) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT)

Josepdam Terminal is the operator of terminal A at the Tincan Island Ports Complex. It also operates three berths totaling 484 meters in length.

Josepdam also serves as a multipurpose terminal and her business activities include cargo discharge and handling, Ports

Management and warehousing.

Sources disclosed that those affected were three managers and two senior executives.

According to a reliable source, those affected were the company’s commercial manager; human resource manager; senior accountant; business development manager

and audit manager.

The source added: “13 other junior staff members were sacked on the 15th of June but reinstated by the intervention of the PresidentGeneral of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Com. Adewale Adeyanju. We are not sure of the cause of the sack while some called

it restructuring, others said it’s due to Covid-19, but all is not well in Josepdam anymore.�

Effort to get the reaction of the terminal operator proved abortive as test messages sent to the managing director, Simon Travers, were not responded as at the time of going to press.

WAFA’s New Partnership to Boost W’Africa Fertilizer Market Oluchi Chibuzor The West African Fertilizer Association (WAFA) has entered into a partnership with Arab Fertilizer Association (AFA) targeted at increasing the supply of high-quality affordable fertilizer in the region.

The new agreement would enable both regional associations work together to leverage West Africa fertilizer demand gap from about 3.5 million tonnage (tons) to its 12 million tons market potential.

Speaking on the partnership after the signing of memorandum of understanding recently, the Vice President of WAFA, Dr. Innocent Okuku, said the collaboration with AFA and AFRIQOM, a Dubaibased firm was important to his association and its 60 members who account for about 90 per cent of fertilizer supplies in West Africa.

He said: “Since AFA members represent over 30 per cent of global fertilizer production, WAFA will leverage that capacity to fast track one of her key

objectives of increasing supply of high-quality affordable fertilizers across West Africa while in return AFA members will have improved access to the relatively untapped 12 million tons of fertilizer market potential of the region. “The involvement of AFRIQOM in the relationship will bring increased transparency of the market. Overall, this collaboration will contribute significantly to helping Africa increase its agricultural production, decrease its dependence on food imports

and create wealth among her rural populations. We at WAFA are therefore very excited to announce this collaboration.�

On his part, the AFA SecretaryGeneral, Engineer Raed Soub, stressed that “AFA is seeking to support Arab market status and presence in African markets on a wide range through future plans that will ensure broad presence in the African continent, guaranteeing greater opportunities and more significant expansions provided

by AFA for its members to iden-

tify such a promising continent development.�

The association which is a group of companies aim to promote access to availability, affordability, timing and efficient use of quality and appropriate fertilizers among the farming population in West Africa, while engaging authorities and policy makers in the development of regional agricultural policy in terms of agronomy, infrastructure, trade environment and financing with transparency in the overall interest of improving agriculture.

Adelusi: MIPAN to Pursue Conducive Advertising Environment The newly elected President of Media Independent Practitioners of Nigeria (MIPAN), Mr. Olufemi Adelusi, has stated that he will utilise his tenure to promote media advertising, motivate performance and facilitate a conducive environment for the advertising industry in Nigeria to thrive and grow to a new level.

Adelusi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Brand Eye Limited, made this statement recently, when he gave his acceptance speech as the new president of the

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising)

and agronomists are ensuring that the Nigerian farmers benefit from the technology transfer of our best practices and know-how built through over 40 years of successful tomato operations in Italy and Spain.�

Speaking during opening of the factory, the Country Manager, GBfoods Nigeria, Mr. Vincent Egbe, said: “The opening of this processing factory is a great milestone for us. It further demonstrates the company’s commitment towards helping Nigeria achieve its food security ambitions, in this case, of self-sufficiency in tomato concentrate production.

Anxiety as Terminal Operator Sacks Workers

Comms/e-Business Editor Senior Correspondent

tomatoes,� he said.

Bosch commended the federal government for encouraging and supporting GBfoods to engage with CBN, Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure the successful completion of the factory. He also expressed gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investments, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Kebbi State Government and the Ngaski Local Government Authorities for their tremendous support towards the actualisation the project.

Bosch added: “Our team of extension workers, consultants

50THANNUALGENERALMEETING

Dike Onwuamaeze

Emma Okonji

host communities by providing and maintaining 16 boreholes of drinking water, a first for some of the surrounding villages,� he said.

He also added that the factory is fully backwardly integrated to the company’s farm and dedicated out-growers. “In the coming tomatoes season, the plant will also source most of its raw material from out-growers who will grow the tomatoes on their own farms and from GBfoods’ owned and operated farm. The factory is engaging over 5,000 small holder farmers as out-growers, in the coming tomatoes season, to grow fresh

GBfoods, a culinary product manufacturing, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kebbi State Government and the Emirate of Yauri, recently built a N20 billion Tomato processing factory, in Kebbi State.

The factory was said to be the second largest in Nigeria and the only fully backward integrated plant in ECOWAS – and has the largest single tomatoes farm in Nigeria.

According to the partners, when all phases of the project are finished, the factory would be the largest fresh tomatoes processing factory in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It was further stated that the investment in the factory and adjoining farm, included a drip irrigation and fertigation infrastructure, greenhouses, seed planting robots, an incubation chambers and a plethora of agricultural machinery.

The CEO of GBfoods Africa, Mr. Vicenç Bosch, was quoted as saying the farm would serve a dual purpose of producing industrial tomatoes in the dry season and soya beans in the raining season. “The tomato factory will convert fresh tomatoes into tomato concentrate used for producing Gino Tomatoes Paste and Gino Tomato Pepper Onion Paste while L-R:ManagingDirector,PrestigeAssurancePlc,Mr.SarbeswarSahoo;Non-executiveDirector,Mrs.FunmiOyetunji;Chairman,Dr.DoyinSalami;andCompany the soya bean will be used to Secretary,Mr.AbayomiOdulana,atthe50thAnnualGeneralMeetingofPrestigeAssuranceheldinLagos‌recentl ETOPUKUTT

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

process soya-bean oil which is a critical ingredient for GBfoods’ Bama and Jago Mayonnaise. “The project created over a 1,000 jobs including: 500 farming jobs, 150 factory jobs and 150 construction jobs. GBfoods also engaged many small holder farmers as out-growers. Apart from training the out-growers on good agricultural practices, GBfoods provided them with tomatoes seedlings, agrochemicals and various equipment such as water pumps and hose pipes, enabling the farmers access to water in the dry season. “GBfoods also supported the

association during the 2020 Annual General Meeting of MIPAN. He said he would accomplish the above objectives by paying close attention to the pursuit of disciplined professional practice with a view to offering quantifiable value to the industry.

He also stated that MIPAN, under his leadership, would encourage the entrenchment of merit based reward systems in the media advertising in order to sustain continuous improvement in the industry. The newly elected president encouraged members of the association not to be discour-

aged by the current harsh economic environment that was occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic disease that has disrupted the way we live and enthroned a new normal. “We, therefore, must face the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing consumers’ and marketing landscape by finding new insights and pivot continuously to leverage and new opportunities “As a nation we must face these changes boldly and creatively leveraging our intellection capital, creativity, youthful population, technology adoption, resilience, hard work and

can-do-spirit as we know, ‘Naija no dey carry last,� Adelusi said.

He said his vision for MIPAN is summarised in the short acronym ‘THINC,’ which stands for technology, human capital development, industry thought leadership, inclusiveness for effective collaboration and commercial stability for media ecosystem.

The new MIPAN President said that the time has come for the industry to apply technology in its audience measurement and encourage human capital development in the digital and marketing communications industry through

training and webinars seminars.

He challenged members of the association to “actively contribute to the building of a knowledge economy that help to shape policies, strategies and regulations and to break all barriers, both real and imagined that has limited optimal exploitation of opportunities and resources available to the industry. “We must reach out to the digital agencies to join us in building a robust association and actively contribute to the building of a knowledge economy that help to shape policies, strategies and regulations.�

23

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ 2020

BUSINESSWORLD

MONDAY INTERVIEW

Obabori: Why Govt Must Remove Hindrances to Export of Agric Produce TheGroupManagingDirectorofRedStarExpress,Dr.SolaObabori,inthisinterviewsaysadvisesthefederalgovernment tofocusonrebuildingtheeconomyfollowingtheCovid-19lockdown.Inordertoboostrevenuefromexport,headvises the government to remove hindrances to export of perishable goods. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts: What is your take on the impact of the pandemic on the cargo sub-sector?

When the government said passenger transportation was halted, that we could do cargo, my first response was that the lifeblood of an economy is about people who are moving. There is a big role that movement of people has to do in terms of creating activities. So you have people, you have the goods and you have the services that must interplay permanently before you can have robust economic activity.

So it is the level of the interplay you have between people and goods and service that determine whether an economy is growing or slowing down. Which means that by virtue of the fact that the closure of the airports didn’t permit human beings to move any more, it tells you a lot of story that the diminution on the quantity of goods and services that could happen. So to answer you very straight forwardly, there was a big impact, and there is still a very big impact in terms of the amount of cargo that can come into the country. That is a very massive impact. The supply chains of most companies was disrupted because when you have lockdown of people in China who can’t go to work, that means they don’t go to their factories and they don’t produce. So when they don’t produce there is nothing for the aircraft company to bring to Nigeria. So it is the human beings that must be at work for all of these other elements to be able to function and produce value. So in Nigeria they say cargo can move but people can’t travel from Lagos to Abuja. Who goes to Abuja to buy some of the things, who goes to Kano to bring things to Lagos to come and sell?

So that interplay of people and goods and service will determine whether an economy is slowing down or is growing. We are heavily impacted by the activities of the lockdown. So even if the activities of the e-commerce side are there, that is dependent on some other factors. Production must take place in some of these factories, which must be run by human beings before you can now have movement of goods and service from place to place.

But as people were not moving during the lockdown, they were ordering goods and other services online, which boosted online marketing and distribution of goods, especially consumables to home. How do you assess that?

The courier service is a response to the essential part of what people will need to survive when they are in lockdown. For example if you were ordering things online, what were they ordering?

To a large extent they were ordering food and those types of things. I am not sure anybody was ordering for shoes or ordering for bags, suits during lockdown. So if you check the economy of Nigeria you will see reflection of that. What is the relationship between what we consume on a daily basis, which you now call essentials, and the things that are luxury or that are just semi luxury? Because the woman who sells clothes now, what has happened to her in the last three months? She hasn’t made a sale. Look at the hotels that are just around the corner, they have been in lockdown since March 31st; they haven’t made a dime in terms of income. I drove in front Sheraton the other time and I saw that for the first time, I have been going to Sheraton since 1987, this is 2020, that is almost 30 years, so for the first time in my life time I saw that Sheraton Hotel was locked.

So what will the motorcycle that is delivering do for such businesses? So if 90 per cent of your economy is not working and only the agro or food related part of the economy is working, it shows you the amount of revenue that is also lost, that the courier companies are struggling to share among themselves. And these other fellows you mentioned now are new entrant into the business who are trying to fight with us to partake in the little cake that is left for us to share.

Let’s look at the logistics industry, what do you think the government should do and what should be the new drive in terms of

Obabori government policies?

You know I have argued this on many other occasions trying to ask government to do what they can call creating stimulus for the industry. I have argued that on some other platforms, saying that the government needed to support our industry to ensure that we can have some kind of stimulus to help the sector. Don’t forget that government is supporting the pharmaceutical industry; even the medical diagnostics now can go to CBN and have access to some kind of loan to help their industry. By the time the aviation people will be coming back with their aircraft most likely they will get some palliatives as well or some stimulus package that will help them to come back otherwise many of them will have to go away. Because if you check across Europe and America you find that government is beginning to give them money, Lufthansa for example government has given them money and they are buying about 30 per cent of that company. That is what will happen globally; in fact, IATA (the International Air Transport Association) is also pushing and trying to ensure that governments across the world can help the aviation industry to come back.

For our own industry, believe me honestly, I am very reluctant to ask for stimulus at this time from the government of Nigeria. Reason?

You will kill the government. So if agriculture people who are working on the farm are asking for stimulus to enable them plant whatever they want to plant, to enable them get resources such as fertilizer, equipment to enable them work during this raining season or during this planting season, the airlines are going to ask, and yet we know that the government revenue has gone down.

Revenue from oil has disappeared as you can see; it has gone really terrible in the last one month or two, when even a barrel of oil in the global market went down to zero dollar. We have never seen it like that before. So the government doesn’t have money from oil substantially right now, all their income from customs duties has leaned because goods are not coming into the ports as they used to come. That means their income will also go down. The money from aviation, which is the passenger charges and all of those things that you have on your ticket, those things are not coming right now. And companies that are supposed to manufacture and pay tax to government they are also not getting those incomes. Should I add more trouble to the government? I think I am not going to do that, so everybody should go back and do his or her job and try and make the little impact that we can make around this time.

I read one article with one caption that was said to have been written by Jack Ma that says, “This is not a year to make profit, this is a year to stay alive�. He says, if you stay alive this year, you have already made profit. There is a lot of depth in that statement. This year is not a year to make profit, but companies are still struggling to make profits; we want the profits because I can’t tell my shareholders that we are not going to pay them money.

We want to pay them but the reality that we are dealing with right now is that we have to stay alive and survive so that next year we will be back again to make profit and life can go on. So I am not asking for anything from government, what I can ask from the government is that things that makes our lives easier, what we call enabling environment for businesses, which is what they must put in place now. If there are waivers that the government can give in terms of time for us to pay our taxes, if there are things that they can do to make life easier for those who pay, pay as to earn taxes, those are the types of things the government should look at, at this time. In other countries they are doing that, I am sure you know that in some countries of the world they are even telling banks to reduce the taxes or interest paid on loans around now. There are some parts of Africa that are saying that you don’t have to pay rents, even on power, we are asking for them to do some rebate on power so that the pricing favours all of us right now.

Do courier companies have strong association?

Absolutely we have, there are two major ones: Nigerian International Air Courier Association (NIACA), that is where we belong, and there is also Association of Nigerian Courier Operators (ANCO). So the first one constitutes most of the big organisations like Red Star, UPS and DHL. We are in that first category and a few other companies that have chosen to associate with us. ANCO is also very big, most of the indigenous companies that you we have are also in that category. And the two of them are really strong and we keep having meetings and engagements to talk about the industry from time to time.

Would you say the major hindrance to export of perishables from Nigeria is government policies and government agencies, how can we eliminate those hindrances so that Nigeria can export more perishable goods?

Part of the biggest issues we have had to enable countries like Nigeria export to other parts of the

world, some of them have to do with the issues of what happens at the airports and what happens at the sea ports. You remember there was a time Nigeria was trying to send some containers of yams abroad, and they became rotten by the time they were arriving at the other side. The Minister was involved in that export and they were at the sea port to do some kind of ceremony around the export of yam from Nigeria and by the time the yams were getting to the destination they were all rotten. What does that tell you - bureaucracy of how this thing will go from here to there?

So if you are going to send something from Lagos airport, for example, you have more than six or seven government agencies asking questions about the same item. The Customs is a law enforcement agency arm of government, whatever the police can do at the airport, Customs can do it, if they catch anything in your item that is not to be exported, and they can arrest and hand you over to police later. But at this airport you have more than seven agencies of government that are doing the same different things at different times asking question on the same thing.

So you will have anti-bomb agency, quarantine, customs, police, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and you have all those agencies there. So if you go to another country like Ghana, she is doing what Nigeria has been trying to do which is called one window outlet for export. That is what they should do. In my opinion, once you have Customs at the airport to enable government get its revenue that is due to them and you have the quarantine services there to ensure quality, which is all you need, export can be done. But for as long as you have this layer upon layer of checks and all kinds of things happening there, you will kill the trade. And beyond that; even the cost of exporting from Nigeria is not comparable with what you have cross West Africa. Go to Ghana, how much does it cost you ship things out? What kind of waiver is the government putting in place to ensure that there is a special treatment for agricultural produce? Because if you are producing yam in Benue State where you have the largest area for production of yam, across the world, I am told that Benue State probably has the largest amount of yam in the whole world.

But how much of that are we able to export? If you go to London, I travel a bit and I see on the streets of London, in some of the shops, you will see all those African shops and Nigerian shops there, you will see Ghana yam (which is actually Nigerian yam) on the shelve, you will see Ghana palm oil, and they will put produce of Ghana, how do those things get there, that we can’t send them from here?

Sometimes people argue that those things go Ghana before they are exported. I don’t know how much that is true because with the difficulty you have from the border point to get there, I don’t know how easy it is. But what government can do is to ensure that all of these agencies of government ought to vacate that place and reduce the process of exporting agric products. Also charges on those perishable goods will have to be substantially reduced.

Kenya exports flowers and all kinds of things from Kenya into the European market; they make a lot of money from agriculture. But in terms of production capacity we have it more than them, so it is to straighten those policy issues that maybe hindrances to export and once you can tackle that our lives can be made easier. I am aware that there are many efforts going on right now. We belong to all kinds of associations that are also doing advocacy with the federal government to ensure that we can export.

We have members of our team working with the government to suggest recommendations as to what we need to do at this airport. I am sure that in another short time from now, maybe hopefully in another one or two months, a paper will be made public to the Nigerian government.

Because we will not keep quiet until these things are resolved.

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

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ Ͱ͎Ͱ͎

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FMBN Reiterates Pledge to Provide Affordable Housing to Nigerians Dike Onwuamaeze The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Ahmed Dangiwa has said the bank remains optimistic in its push to achieve access to affordable housing for more Nigerians are on course.

This includes the N500 billion recapitalisation; review of the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme and FMBN establishment Acts and the overall automation of all FMBN business processes.

Dangiwa, stated this in his remarks to mark the third-year anniversary of the current FMBN executive management team recently.

A statement by the Group Head, Corporate Communications, FMBN, Ahmed Abubakar, quoted him to have said this in a statement.

He noted that while FMBN has in the last three years

surpassed all key corporate performance indicators such as the size and speed of mortgage loan disbursements, refunds to retired contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme, housing stock construction amongst others, the overall goal was to fundamentally turnaround the bank by increasing the size of its capital, restructuring its legal framework and putting technology at the heart of its operations. “We are proud of what we have achieved in the past three years. Our performance shows the potential of FMBN to make a difference in affordable housing delivery if properly empowered. “However, our goal is to leave a legacy of a structurally transformed, financially robust and highly efficient FMBN that is leading in the delivery of affordable social housing to Nigerian workers. “We are making progress in our advocacy to the Federal

Government to increase FMBN’s capitalisation from the current N5 billion to N500 billion. This will give the bank the financial resilience to leverage additional financing to tackle the rising housing deficit. With the support of the Honorable Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola SAN we believe this is realisable,� the FMBN boss added.

Regarding the review of the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme and FMBN establishment Acts pending at the National Assembly, the FMBN MD/CEO stated that the bank was working closely with relevant stakeholders toward resolving the issues that caused the Presidency to withhold assent. “Since then, we have consulted with key stakeholders to fix all issues of concern that were raised and are happy to observe that we are making good progress. This ground-

work that we are doing we hope will hopefully ensure that the emerging provisions in the bills will be acceptable to all parties and we will not experience the delay that occurred before,� Dangiwa said.

Dangiwa also said that he was hopeful that the bank’s Core Banking Project would be implemented as a foundation for a total migration of the bank’s business operations from manual to digital thus improving efficiency and service delivery.

He noted that the proposal is currently awaiting presentation and approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

In a related development, the Bank has stated that the transparent and progressive leadership of its board within the past three years has helped to significantly shore up industry stakeholder confidence in the operations of the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme, a contributory program that sup-

ports the provision of affordable housing to Nigerians.

Dangiwa, said this during a recent Webinar organised by the Housing Advocacy Network (HDAN) on housing development in the country and the challenges posed by Covid-19 to the housing sector.

He noted that many states that had stopped participating in the NHF Scheme have re-joined and are actively contributing to the scheme and the bank has witnessed an increased number of private sector participation in the scheme.

He also added that commercial banks and insurance companies, who are required by the NHF Act to invest 10 per cent of their loans and advances portfolio and 40 per cent and 20 per cent of life and non-life funds respectively in the scheme are showing more interest in playing their statutory roles. “With the cooperation of our stakeholders and our strategic

reform initiatives, we are happy to say that we have reset FMBN and the NHF scheme on a stronger, more progressive footing than we met it. When we came on board three years ago, the confidence level was low. “Most states had withdrawn from the NHF scheme and were no longer contributing. In the past three years we have reengaged them and convinced them to do a rethink. The result is that seven of those states are now back and contributing to the NHF scheme. Only two states, Kano, and Oyo, are remaining and we are engaging them. “We have also increased the number of employers including large and small private sector businesses that are registering to the scheme by an additional 1,629 to the NHF scheme because of our strong business focus. In the same vein, we also increased the number of cooperatives participating by an additional 111,� he added.

Caverton’s Q1 Revenue Drops by 5% Chinedu Eze Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, (COSG), a provider of marine, aviation and logistics services to local and international oil and gas companies in Nigeria, has announced its unaudited first quarter end results for 2020.

The results showed profit before tax of N585 million and an after-tax profit of N427 million, while the company’s revenue dropped by five per cent, from N8.34 billion in the comparable period of 2019, to N7.84 billion in the period under review.

Commenting on the recent events, COSG’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bode Makanjuola said, “Coming off the back of a good year end we were looking forward to the next decade with immense optimism.

Our Maintenance, repair and Overall (MRO) facility was due

for completion and we were to take delivery of the first ever helicopter flight simulator in sub Saharan Africa. “We also anticipated good fortunes for our marine business, as we had been pre-qualified for a number of contracts. Unfortunately the Corona virus pandemic sweeping across the globe has turned 2020 to an annus horribilis which has seen project dates pushed back and potential contraction and indefinite suspension of some contracts. “As we all come to terms with the unprecedented effects of the pandemic and its negative impact on our economy, financial prudence is our watchword. We are mindful these are extremely challenging times but we remain resolute to maintaining the same level of service our clients are accustomed to whilst preserving shareholder value,� he said.

Firm to Develop Tech Talents in Africa Ingressive for Good (I4G), a subsidiary of Ingressive Capital, has said it will be training one million African tech talents.

The IG4, a non-profit organisation is dedicated to empowering African youth with microscholarships, technical training, and talent placement, said it will help place 5,000 youths in employment.

A statement explained that I4G mission is to create and increase the earning power of African youth through tech training and resources.

It’s Director of Communications, Blessing Abeng, said: “We believe it is our responsibility to empower, inspire, educate, and connect the next generation of African tech talents in need of opportunities, through education and the power of work. More specifically, our core programs include - microscholarships, technical training, talent placement, and community: I4G circles, where we provide resources to empower them�.

The IG4 Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Sean Burrowes, said: “The three core goals of Ingressive For Good are to create 5,000 jobs through partnerships, connect 1,000,000 African youth to technical skills training and award partial scholarships to qualified individuals studying computer science courses, in line with our overarching mission to leverage need-based resources, learning, and the power of work to empower African youths in tech.�

The emerging digital/tech ecosystem is particularly crucial as a multiplier of growth because access to technology enhances consumer information, networking, job-creating resources, and even financial inclusion.

Interested participants can register on the company website to be part of the I4G network and also access opportunities like the micro-scholarship, technical training and access growth resources the website.

Nigeria, Others Urged to Ratify Africa Disability Protocol Judith Obazee Some civil society leaders and government officials have advised Nigeria and some other countries in Africa to work towards adopting and ratifying the Africa Disability Protocol (ADP).

They made the call during a recent two-day virtual conference that brought together key stakeholders in Africa.

The ADP is a development that is expected to lead to considerable improvements in the lives of African people with disabilities.

The Protocol addresses some of the urgent issues that have the most disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, such as

poverty, systemic discrimination and harmful practices.

Six countries such as Central African Republic, Rwanda, Togo, South Africa, Gabon and BurkinaFaso have adopted and ratified the Protocol in their countries.

In her opening remark, the Chair, Africa Down Syndrome Network and Convener Mrs. Rose Mordi, stressed the need for all African countries to adopt and ratify the African Protocol.

According to her, her network was mandated, in 2019, to ensure that all African Nations adopt the African Disability Protocol especially Nigeria.

She emphasised the fact that the

main reason for the convention was to pave the way for the ratification and adoption of the ADP, after which governments in the continent would be encouraged to adopt and ratify it.

On her part, the United Nations Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Comfort Lamptey, in her keynote speech, stated that it was important to amplify the voices of women with disability, saying their inclusion in decision making could serve to develop a more inclusive and sustainable response and recovery plan from the Covid-19 pandemic for the whole nation.

The Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari

on SDGs, Mrs. Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, said there was need for supervision through proactive community and voluntary measures. According to her, if the measures are put in place, they would help support people with disabilities. Also, Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, pledged her support to the disability community and assured the organisers of the event that her door was always open for continuous engagements to ensure that the rights of women and girls with disabilities are not trampled upon. She also assured that she would help in getting the support of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

Agba:26th EconomicSummitto ExplorePartnershipAmidstCovid-19Impact James Emejo in Abuja The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clem Agba has said the 26th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit will focus on forging effective partnerships to build resilience for the economy amidst the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The summit is scheduled to

hold between October 26 and 27, 2020, according to both the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) who are the organisers of the annual event.

Speaking at the formal virtual inauguration of the Joint Planning Committee (JPC) for the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#26), over the weekend, the

minister said the event would explore emerging trends so that the country could capitalise on new opportunities and chart a path to sustainable growth.

He added that the summit would be unique due to the impact of the pandemic on the global economy.

The JPC joint which is responsible for the summit

planning process is made up of members drawn from the public and private sectors.

The minister described this year ’s submit theme: “Building Partnerships for Resilience� as apt in view of the current economic reality and the need to work towards averting an impending recession unless efforts are sustained in stimulating the economy.

MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 • T H I S D AY

25

26

IMAGES

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ Ͱ͎Ͱ͎

Photo Editor ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ ÔËÖË Email Ă‹ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜Ë›Ă‹Ă”Ă‹Ă–Ă‹ĚśĂžĂ’Ă“Ă?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ù×

L-R: Surgical and Research Resident, University of Witwatersrand, Dr Stanley Boniface; IG Mohammed Adamu; and Deputy Inspector General of Police in Charge of Training, Lawan Shehu, during the inauguration of Cancer Screening and Treatment for oďŹƒcers and men of Nigerian Police of forty years and above in Abuja...recently

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya; State Project Coordinator, APPEALS Project, Mrs. Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo and Lagos State Acting Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, during acting Commissioner inspection tour to ministry of Agriculture at Oko Oba Agege in Lagos...recently

L-R; Team Leader, Rotary International District 9142 (RID9142), Mr Chibuzor Asogwa; representatives of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) Parkland Hospital, Chief Nick Ozioko; and Assistant Governor of RID9142, Mrs Chinwe Ejim, during the donation of medical items to ESUT to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, in Enugu...recently

Commisioner for Diaspora, Anambra state, Mr Christian Madubuko (left), and Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, during the commisioner’s visit to NiDCOM headquarters in Abuja...recently

Commander, 063, Nigerian Air Force Hospital, Abuja, Group Capt. Muzzammil Muhammed (right), conducting the representative of the Chief of the Air Sta, AVM Isiaka Amao (3rd, left) and his entourage round the Dialysis Centre at the hospital, during the inauguration of the Centre, in Abuja...recently

L-R: Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Prof. Abiodun Otegbayo; Commissioner of Police in Oyo state, Mr Nwachuckwu Enwonwu; Chairman of Police Community Relations Committee, Mr Peter Omofoye; Nigerian Police OďŹƒcer, Mrs Janet Salami; and others, at the inauguration of a Police station at UCH, Ibadan...recently

L-R: Director of Planning and Policy, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mrs Nouyen Onyechi; Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna; and the representative of the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Mohammed Bello, during their meeting with members of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja...recently

L-R: APC Publicity Secretary in Kebbi State, Alhaji Sani Dododo; Chairman , Mr Bala Kangiwa; and Financial Secretary, Alhaji Ali Bature, during a press conferencei on the dissolution of the party National Working Committee (NWC) and setting up a caretaker committee headed by Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State...recently

T H I S D AY Ëž JUNE 29, 2020

27

CITYSTRINGS

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 08038901925

Laying Foundation for Peace, Security of North-central Igbawase Ukumba writes that states of the North-central Zone would soon experience peace and security in the country with the movement of the Nigeria Army Special Forces Command to Doma in Nasarawa State to checkmate the menace of cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping, farmers/herders clashes and other forms of criminalities

Gov Sule lays foundation of Special Forces Headquarters, Doma

Gov Sule (r), Gen Adeosun (m), Gen Ali (l) at the event

T

he North-central geo-political zone of the country, whose major occupation is farming; with good climatic condition, in which over 80 per cent of the population engages in one agricultural activities or the other, had witnessed competition for scarce land between the farmers and herders.

Hitherto, the situation has made the zone vulnerable to many security challenges ranging from communal crisis, clashes between herdsmen and farmers, kidnapping, banditry, cattle rustling, among other socio-economic security challenges. This, no doubt, has continued to threaten the fragile peace and security in the respective states of Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Kogi, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) with attendant effects on the security of the zone.

Consequently, it was imperative to come up with holistic measures to address those plethora security challenges in order to avert the likely breakdown of the seemingly peaceful and harmonious co-existence among diverse ethnic nationalities, as well as maintenance of law and order in the society.

It was against this background that Governor Abdulahi Sule led some top military brass of the country to lay a foundation for the construction of a headquarters for the Nigeria Army Special Forces Command at Doma in Nasarawa State to checkmate the menace of cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping, farmers/herders clashes and other forms of criminalities in the zone.

Speaking earlier before he laid foundation for the construction of the Special Forces Headquarters at Doma, Governor Sule said in addressing the aformentioned menace bedeviling the North-central states, the federal government had set-up different military operations in the zone. These include: a Special Joint Military Operations which was codenamed Ayem Akpatuma or Cat Race with the operation headquarters in Nasarawa State to take care of the entire North-central zone.

Other military operations set up in the zone according to Sule were "Operation Whirl Stroke Special Force, with its Command Headquarters in Makurdi, Benue State and operational bases in the states to address farmers herders conflict in the zone. Establishment of 123 Special Force Battalion in Doma. The establishment of two Military Super Camps at Mararaban-Udege in Nasarawa Local Government and Kanyehu in Toto Local Government Areas of the state.�

In furtherance to the Nasarawa State government's commitment to complement the efforts of Nigerian Army in the fight against crime and criminality in the state, Sule said: "The state government has constructed four bedroom flat and boys’ quarters as commander’s residence, as well as five bedroom semi-detached for other senior officers. This is in addition to the provision of three brand new Toyota Hilux Pick-up Vans; brand new motorcycles; solar-powered boreholes;

Some military top brass at the event 100 eight-spring mattresses; generating sets, as well as provision of perimeter excavation round the two camps."

This was even as the governor informed that, in 2018, the state government donated the sum of N200 million as part of its contribution to support the construction of the project. This was in addition to the approval by the state government of the sum of N10 million as monthly allocation for the sustenance of the two Super Camps.

In his speech, Sule appreciated the Chief of Army Staff for his doggedness and resilience in fighting insurgency in the North-east; farmers/herders conflict in the North-central and kidnapping/banditry in the North-west.

To this end, THISDAY findings showed that as part of measures to combat crime and criminality, the Nasarawa State government had signed the Kidnapping Act Prohibition Law; Community Volunteer Guard (Vigilante); Executive Order for the Implementation of the Child Right Law of Nasarawa State and Street Begging.

All these measures were aimed at ensuring security and peaceful co-existence with the view to providing enabling environment for socio-economic activities to thrive.

Speaking at the epoch making event, Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Yusuf Buratai, raised the alarm that the terrorist threat ravaging some parts of the country was shifting its base to the North-central part of Nigeria.

Buratai, who spoke through the Chief of Plan and Policy, Lt Gen Lamidi Adeosun, however said constant evolving nature of threats in the country underscores the need for Special Forces troops with requisite skills to operate under all weather, conditions and terrains to be established if the threats are to be nibbled.

To this end, the Chief of Army Staff said: "The

establishment of 4 Special Forces Command to be domiciled in Doma, but covering the entire country operationally. Since I assumed command as the Chief of Army Staff, I have always viewed that the Nigerian Army required force enablers and multipliers, and not just brute numbers, to effectively combat the plethora of security threats being faced by Nigeria.

"This is why I, among other actions, pushed for the establishment of Special Forces units and formations that are motivated, empowered and resourced to go where others dare not to go and do what others thought was impossible.�

He was optimistic that with the Special Forces' commendable performance in the field and having set up a Training School for the Special Forces, it was only natural for the Nigerian Army to establish a Formation Headquarters to administer, guide and deploy Special Forces assets wherever the need may arise.

"Although the four Special Forces Command was statutorily established on 26 March 2020, the force has been functioning in different Theatres of Command in Nigeria with excellent results.

Today, we are marking the beginning of its physical establishment upon this ground," he said.

Buratai continued by restating the commitment of the Nigerian Army to the peace and security Nigeria.

"We are all aware of the danger of dropping our guard, particularly during this pandemic period where the standards of safety and personal security have been significantly raised. I therefore urge everyone, not only to keep safe, but also to take the message of individual and collective safety, to our respective domains. I equally want to use this opportunity to plead for your cooperation and understanding during this period of lockdown across the country, as the Nigerian Army assists civil authority to maintain law and

order," the Chief of Army Staff added.

Of equal importance was the need for all people to realise that they were all stakeholders in the onerous task of national security and nation-building, hence Buratai urged all who represented at the event to offer credible intelligence to the security agencies and Armed Forces so that security operatives' operations could be more effective and impactful.

"On our part, we will not rest on our oars but will continually carry out our defence and security roles in a professional manner, and with the cooperation of other services, paramilitary organisations, traditional institutions, government, civil society, non-governmental organisations and the entire citizens of Nigeria,� he said.

For the Commander 4 Special Forces Command, Major General MG Ali, the evolution of the command was indeed historic as it was the first of its kind in Africa, which was established on 26 March, 2020 and tasked with the responsibility of tackling unfolding threats of insurgency, terrorism and other security threats to the country both internally and externally desirous of Special Forces employment.

The command with a division and corps status of four Combat Brigades, four support Brigades and an Integrated Logistics Command according to Ali, "the command was graciously approved and established by the Chief of Army Staff in his wisdom to tame the changing security threats in the country.

"The choice of Nasarawa State and indeed Doma for this great fate is key due to its centrality for quick response to the nooks and crannies of this country. Doma also has the ideal environment for Special Forces training with multiple linkages to most areas with unfolding security threats in the country."

The 4 Special Forces Commander reiterated that the establishment of the command in Nasarawa State has not only been received with open arms by the leaders and people of Nasarawa state, but taken as a personal project by Governor Sule, his Chiefs and the good people of Nasarawa.

"I believe this act of generosity by Sule and the good people of Nasarawa in supporting the Chief of Army Staff’s proactive acts will implore great minds to do same if the blowing wind of insurgency and terrorism facing is to be nipped," General Ali maintained.

The people of Doma were filled with appreciation for the choice of their Local Government Area as site for the very important project. Executive chairman of the Local Government, Hon Rabo Sani, gave the appreciation on behalf of the Doma people, in his welcome address on the occasion of the foundation laying/flag-off of the construction of the Special Forces Command Headquarters, Doma.

According to Rabo, "the siting of the Special Forces Command Headquarters in Doma would help in addressing security challenges in this part of the country."

28

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ 2020

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

$14million Debt: Sahara Group, Ecobank Opt for Settlement Davidson Iriekpen The Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned till July 10, for hearing or report of settlement in a $14million debt lawsuit between Sahara Group Limited and Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

Justice Rilwan Aikawa adjourned the case at the instance of the parties, which prayed to be given time to explore possible amicable settlement of the case out of court.

As soon as the case was called in court on Friday, Sahara Group Limited’s lawyer, Mr. Bode Olanipekun, told the judge that he had been in discussion with Ecobank’s lawyer, Mr Kunle Ogunba, towards possible amicable resolution of the dispute. “We agreed that the court should grant a short adjournment to see if we are able to reach an amicable agreement between the parties,� Olanipekun said.

Confirming the development to the judge, Ogunba said, “That is very accurate.�

Consequently, Justice Aikawa adjourned till July 10 for either report of settlement or hearing of pending applications, in case

the parties fail to agree Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Isle of Man, and Sahara Group Limited had dragged Ecobank to court seeking an order to stop the bank from carrying out a “unilateral review of interest rates� on loans obtained by the oil firms.

But Ecobank filed a counterclaim, insisting that it “reserves the right to review its interest rates from time to time in line with prevailing market conditions.�

The bank claimed that based on computation, Sahara Energy Resources Limited and Sahara Group Limited were indebted to it in the sum of $14,069458.30 “being the principal sum and interest due to the counter-claimant as of 21st August, 2019.�

Ecobank said though the oil firms had offered to pay it $9,125,119.34 “as full and final settlement of their indebtedness,� it remained firm in its demand for $14,069,458.30 as their debt as of August 21, 2019.

However, the bank urged the court to, in the meantime, order the oil firms to immediately pay the $9,125,11934, which they had allegedly admitted “after the

joint reconciliation carried out by parties.�

It then further prayed the court to compel the oil firms to pay it another $5,069,458.30 “being the outstanding correspondence to the defendant in tandem with the offer letters of the 1st of May, 2016 and other subsisting agreements between the parties.�

But Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Isle of Man, and Sahara Group Limited, through a motion on notice, urged the court to strike out the bank’s motion on notice and other processes on the basis that the bank wrote Sahara Energy Resources Limited, instead of Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Isle of Man, as the first plaintiff in the papers it filed.

Counsel for the oil firms contended that by omitting to include Isle of Man, in the name of Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Ecobank had “unilaterally introduced a new party to this suit that is not a party to the originating processes, without the express order of this court to do so.�

He insisted that the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the papers filed by Ecobank.

Citibank Boss Tasks FG on Reforms to Increase FDIs Nume Ekeghe The Cluster Head in Sub-saharan Africa (SSA), Citibank, Mr. Akin Dawodu has advised the federal government to initiate reforms that would increase foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Nigeria in order to avert perennial economic volatility. He, however, applauded recent moves such as the removal of petroleum subsidy, reforms around transparency in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), reforms around ease of doing business in Nigeria, among others, describing them as steps towards achieving a more viable climate to attract FDIs into Nigeria.

He also insisted that there are a lot of business and investment opportunities in Nigeria and Africa despite the disruptions caused by the Covid-19.

He said this recently at Citi Bank’s Virtual Global Media Summit with the theme: ‘Navigating the Future: What’s Next in a Post-COVID-19 World.’

On Africa’s business climate, he said: “I think there are lots of opportunities despite the crisis and economies are well diversified and the net importers have not as badly during the crisis as the net exporters which is not a surprise. “And I think there has been a general realignment across the continent over a decade or two towards a more business friendly and investment friendly environment and those countries I think would recover and they have been doing well over the past five to six years. And you see especially in the more balanced and mixed economies like Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire post conflict, Senegal and Ghana.�

However, for Nigeria he said: “For the commodity exporters such as Nigeria, it is little more challenging because the structures of their economies are quite different given the recent volatility in oil prices. “You have started to see reforms since 2015/2016 when oil prices dropped from $100

per barrel necessitated some reforms and in using Nigeria as an example, such as the single treasury account coming to play over the past years as a way of managing liquidity and revenues more efficiently and you have seen the removal of petroleum subsidy over the past few months which was something that was considered politically impossible a year or two ago. “You have seen the opening of the NNPC in terms of financial disclosure and all these things are responses actually to the change in the environment and the realisation that in the future, oil prices would not be as it were in the past and there is a need to adopt and compete in the market with every on else.� “For Nigeria, you already see that reaction and for other countries who are less dependent on natural resources had already made such adjustments before and as a result the outlook would be better because of this.�

FCMB Organises Training on Digital Technology, Logistics for SMEs Business owners in Nigeria have been advised to leverage on the opportunities provided by digital technology to boost productivity, service delivery and overall performance of their organisations despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19.

This was the submission of guest speakers at the second edition of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) organised virtual capacity building programme for SMEs with the theme, “Leveraging Digital Technology & Logistics to Grow Your Business,� held recently.

The initiative was organised under the auspices of the bank’s

free comprehensive capacity building programme, tagged, “Business Empowerment and Sustainability Training (BEST)’’ Masterclass and was put together by FCMB’sTraining Academy and SME Advisory Unit.

A statement explained that the online seminar, which recorded over 2,016 registered participants, focused on various topics, ranging from innovation, digital technology solutions, business model opportunities and adapting to the new normal.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic has continued to pose alarming economic, business and commercial

impact globally. It has adversely limited the ability of businesses to meet high demand of goods and services due to the restrictions and other safety measures put in place by Governments and health authorities to contain the pandemic. However, experts are of the opinion that these challenges can be overcome with the adoption of effective digital technology solutions and logistics.

In his presentation, an Associate Partner with Mckinsey & Company, Mr. Chika Ekeji, said, though, Covid-19 is disrupting the structure of businesses across Africa, the continent can respond to disruptions with four actions.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

SEPTEMBER 2019 Money Supply (M3)

35,029,779.72

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

7,374,356.91

Money Supply (M2)

27,655,422.82

-- Quasi Money

116,533,891.21

-- Narrow Money (M1)

11,121,531.60

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,625,047.69

---- Demand Deposits

9,496,483.91

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

13,911,335.83

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

21,118,443.89

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

35,918,179.45

---- Credit to Government (Net)

10,452,199.38

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

11,007,422.79

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

25,465,980.07

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-14,799,735.56

--Other Assets Net

7,000,253.07

Reserve Money (Base Money

2,005,600.83

--Currency in Circulation

4,677,530.81

--Banks Reserves

317,121.43

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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

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OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ Ͱ Ͱ͎Ͱ͎

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $42.89 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $42.66 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), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

29

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ 2020

MARKET NEWS

Vetiva Fund Managers Rebalances Exchange Traded Funds Goddy Egene Vetiva Fund Managers Limited has rebalanced its exchange traded funds(ETFs) following the bi-annual review of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indices last week.

According to Vetiva, they noted that the weights of the security components of the NSE Banking Index and NSE Consumer Goods Index were adjusted with no changes to

the individual securities.

However, in addition to the weight adjustments of the individual security components, the NSE 30 Index and NSE Industrial Index saw some changes.

The NSE 30 Index saw the coming of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and exit of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria. The Notore Chemical Industries Plc joined NSE Industrial Index, while Premier Paints Nigeria Plc. Vetiva’s equity ETF Suite is

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

typically rebalanced half yearly in line with the NSE Indices review, as changes to components and weights of the underlying indices will typically require corresponding adjustments to the ETF portfolios, to ensure the objective of tracking the price and yield performance of the relevant indices.

ETFs are securities that replicate/track the performance of an underlying index, commodity or basket of assets. Vetiva has various

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

ETFs tracking the performance of NSE indices.

For instance, there is the Vetiva Griffin 30 ETF which tracks the performance of the NSE 30 Index, the Vetiva Banking ETF, which tracks the performance of the NSE Banking Index, the Vetiva Consumer Goods ETF, which tracks the performance of the NSE Consumer Goods Index, the Vetiva Consumer Goods ETF which tracks the performance of the NSE Consumer Goods

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

Index, the Vetiva Industrials ETF, which tracks the performance of the NSE Industrials Index among others.

Speaking on the ETFs and the equities market, the Director, Asset Management at Vetiva, Mrs. Oyelade Eigbe, said: “ETF returns in first half (H1) 2020, largely mirrored the performance of the respective indices they track and the broad sentiments of the equities market during the

O F

period�. She noted that the equities market was bearish in the first half of the year losing 8.80 per cent on the back of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the twin shocks of reduced demand and price wars in the global oil market that led to a significant dip in oil prices.

Despite recovery seen in oil prices and gradual reopening of world economies, investors are still cautiously trading in the equities market.

0 2 / 0 7 / 2 0 2 0 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

˾ MONDAY, JULY 6, 2020

30

േ

േ

േ

േ േ

േ

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 R O X P H T ic k er

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

GUA R A N T Y

29.1

0.5%

IKEJ A H OT EL

1.02

9.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

27.2

3.0%

R OYA LEX

0.26

8.3%

T R A N SC OR P

8.9

4.7%

WEM A B A N K

0.55

5.8%

FB NH

8.3

-1.0%

T R A N SC OR P

0.67

4.7%

F ID ELIT YB K

7.2

1.2%

UN IT YB N K

0.52

4.0%

ST ER LN B A N K

6.9

-7.3%

Z EN IT H B A N K

15.25

3.0% 2.3%

UB A

6.4

-1.6%

FCM B

1.80

R OYA LEX

3.4

8.3%

F ID ELIT YB K

1.67

1.2%

J A P A ULOIL

3.0

-4.3%

GUA R A N T Y

20.80

0.5%

R ED ST A R EX

2.9

-10.0%

0.20

0.0%

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

Vo lum e

7 R S * D L Q H U V

UN IC

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 D O X H

7 R S / R V H U V

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

GUA R A N T Y

607.0

0.5%

T ic k er R ED ST A R EX

P ric e 2.97

P ric e C hg % -10.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

416.8

3.0%

UA C N

7.20

-10.0%

D A N GC EM

78.7

0.0%

J A IZ B A N K

0.54

-8.5%

M TNN

47.2

0.0%

N EIM ET H

1.50

-8.0%

FB NH

42.0

-1.0%

C A VER T ON

NB

41.9

-5.7%

J B ER GER

UB A

39.1

-1.6%

ST ER LN B A N K

GUIN N ESS

28.0

0.0%

NB

J B ER GER

24.8

-7.6%

F LOUR M ILL

19.9

-0.3%

1.83

-7.6%

18.35

-7.6%

1.15

-7.3%

34.05

-5.7%

NA HCO

2.00

-4.8%

M B EN EF IT

0.21

-4.5%

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Ayodeji Ebo | aebo@afrinvest.com

Ola Belgore | obelgore@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Oluwarotimi Ashimi | oashimi@afrinvest.com

Adedayo Bakare | abakare@afrinvest.com

31

MONDAY, JULY 6, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

BUA Cement to Establish Ultra Modern Cement, Power Plant in Adamawa Goddy Egene

BUA Cement, one of West Africa’s largest cement companies, is set to establish a three million metric tonnes cement plant and 50 megawatts power plant in

Guyuk and Lamurde local governments of Adamawa State in the North-eastern region of Nigeria.

The Chairman of BUA, Abdul Samad Rabiu, disclosed this when he led the BUA Cement management team on

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

a courtesy call to the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri in Yola.

According to Rabiu, preliminary findings show that the two local governments are reputed to have good quality of limestone deposits, stating that BUA Cement is

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 02Jul-2020, unless otherwise stated.

ready to begin the investment in the state. He added that the BUA will use new technologies to supply power to the proposed cement plant and communities of Guyuk and Lamurde in addition to providing three thousand direct and five

thousand indirect jobs.

The chairman stressed that the Guyuk Cement Plant will be the major investment in the North East by BUA and solicited for support of Governor Fintiri to set up the factory.

Rabiu said the company made a decision to source its raw materials locally and it has invested billions of dollars in various sectors across Nigeria and therefore urged the state government to support BUA to actualise the Guyuk Cement project.

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 113.29 114.75 -7.34% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.05% Nigeria International Debt Fund 333.72 333.72 13.22% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.91 0.92 1.45% ACAP Income Funds 0.78 0.78 9.56% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.42% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.83 2.89 15.01% info@anchoriaam.com ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 90.87 91.51 -5.42% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.14% 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 2.12 2.12 22.26% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 1.81 1.83 -12.73% 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 0.07 0.05 6.59% Paramount Equity Fund 10.99 11.20 -12.15% Women's Investment Fund 108.17 108.90 -2.13% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.04% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 98.33 98.56 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 100.28 100.51 Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 101.24 101.24 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 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 100.00 100.00 3.98% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 4.14% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,215.21 1,225.80 9.33% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,350.51 1,351.83 10.88% FBN Balanced Fund 147.42 148.45 0.41% FBN Halal Fund 105.69 105.72 5.69% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.85% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 117.22 117.97 1.01% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 113.93 115.36 -12.45% 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 Growth Fund 3,032.05 3,064.57 -0.30% Coral Income Fund 3,181.37 3,181.37 3.44% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 4.43% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.60% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.32 2.36 6.04% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 9.31% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 146.48 147.04 2.14% 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 1.22 1.24 4.53% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,136.44 1,136.44 5.37% 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 N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 1.38 1.40 13.03% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.96 12.01 6.10% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 3.67% PACAM Equity Fund 0.99 1.00 PACAM EuroBond Fund 106.87 109.21 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 122.61 115.46 -7.12% 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 1.02 1.02 5.06% 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 N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.13 1.15 -5.79% United Capital Bond Fund 1.83 1.83 5.32% United Capital Equity Fund 0.64 0.66 -9.30% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.57% United Capital Eurobond Fund 115.61 115.61 3.33% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.07 1.07 -2.12% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 10.01 10.14 -2.54% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.72 11.84 0.88% Zenith Income Fund 23.90 23.90 7.43% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.31%

REITS NAV Per Share

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund

Yield / T-Rtn

115.88

3.43%

53.01

1.84%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

9.12 86.50 66.41

9.22 88.28 67.60

4.70% 1.75% 0.61%

Union Homes REIT

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.29

16.90%

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.

32

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ Ͱ͎Ͱ͎

FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 08038901925

Abandoned to Fate

Omolabake Fasogbon in this investigation, brings to light the helpless plight of widows and the elderly in South-west Nigeria, as they wait endlessly for government palliatives just as the sick ones battle stigmatisation

Elders queuing for palliatives

6

5-years-old Mrs Sola (not real name) worked in a private primary school in Lagos. She is among the 20 per cent underemployed Nigerians whose means of livelihood suffered sudden disruption as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria, that put all sectors of the economy, including education on hold.

No doubt, Mrs Sola, her sick husband and two grown up unemployed children had looked up to both federal and state governments palliatives that was shared during the lockdown, at least, food items, that never came.

She is not alone. For Mrs Ganiyu who lost her husband to kidney infection early last year, she and her four children had been living on the daily returns from the tricycle that her husband left behind. However, the ban placed on tricycles by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos pushed her into hawking of eggs in Ile-Epo market at Agbule-egba, Lagos.

These women’s hope for survival became dashed once President Buhari announced a total lock down in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, while other state governments followed suit.

But their hope was revived as soon as President Buhari announced that the lockdown would be eased with some palliative measures which included food items and cash relief.

According to the president when announcing the initial lockdown in March, government would put in place measures to preserve livelihoods of workers, business owners and the vulnerable, to ensure their families get through the difficult time of COVID-19 pandemic in dignity.

His words read in part, “For the most vulnerable in our society, I have directed that conditional cash transfers for the next two months be paid immediately. Our internally displaced persons will also receive months of food rations in the coming week.�

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, equally promised that food rations would be distributed to vulnerable households, which the widow and elders belong.

As a result of the lockdown too, many organisations, foreign bodies and well to do individuals rose up to support the government so it can reach out to as many Nigerians as possible.

Indeed, the federal government fulfilled

Food palliatives in Nigeria this promise as reported by the dailies but the question remains who and who benefitted from the social arrangement while many have continued to question government transparency and accountability on COVID-19 stimulus.

According to a report by The ICIR, the Northwest region received the highest Conditional Cash Transfer in the country, with 561,758 households benefitting from an allocation of N500billion.

Others are North-central, 321,434; Northeast, 109,442; South-south, 67,696; South-west, 37,904; and South-east, 27,977.The report further revealed that Katsina State has the highest number of beneficiaries at 133,227.

Other states with the highest number of beneficiaries were:Zamfara, 130,764; Jigawa, 99,044; Kano, 84,148; and Plateau, 78,430.

Mrs Sola, Mrs Ganiyu and many other widows and elders that THISDAY talked to in the South-west part of the country said that they only heard about the fund on TV and have waited endlessly for their share.

As to the food ration distributed by states in the region, not only were Nigerians embittered by the quantity of the food items which was not sustainable for the two months target period, the selective distribution process was also marred with several inadequacies leaving many people not catered for.

THISDAY investigation revealed that not just

that the conditional cash transfer, which had been in existence before COVID-19 outbreak did not go round its target, the real COVID-19 palliatives did not also spread evenly.

Mrs Sola’s plight doubled as a widow and a furloughed employee who looked up to the government for relief. In the absence of none, she took up alms begging for survival. “I needed to do this to put food on the table for myself and my four children�, she narrated with tears when this reporter interviewed her at the spot she was begging for alms.

Asked what intervention was provided by her employer, she said “Ever since the lockdown began, my proprietor called to inform me that my N10,000 is automatically on hold till situation normalises. Out of frustration, I visited him one day, hoping that he could help with some rations of food items, sadly, I left there the same way I got there. He told me to continue to pray that school should resume� Hearing her story, this reporter was moved to tears that she blessed her with the last N2000 on her.

A 2015 World Widow Report by the Loomba Foundation put the total number of widow around the world at 258 million out of which 3.5 million are Nigerians. A report commissioned by the United Nations submits that poverty rates tends to be higher among older people than other age groups across the globe. Studies

have equally shown that some widows and elders in developing countries are economically vulnerable while others are not.

In developing countries like Nigeria, lack of social protection programme has caused most widows and older persons to look up to family members for support. Sadly, traditional supports from families are currently breaking as recent survey claimed.

No wonder these ones often take up menial jobs like gate man, cleaners and messengers while some resort to petty trading.

Although, many Nigerians had lost faith in government palliatives even before it came, this was not the case with Iya Basirat who had pinned her hope on government support as her only option for survival during the lockdown.

Iya Basirat like Mrs Ganiyu is among the 3.5 million widows in Nigeria who could not bear the long wait on government promise.

Sighted at a filling station in Osun State, this reporter approached Iya Basirat where she was offering her body for sale to interested motorists who were refueling their car. In a dramatic way while flaunting her back side, she chanted in her yoruba native language, “obo re o, ta n fe ra, ebi ni pa n mi� meaning “here is my private part, who cares to buy , I am hungry�.

Iya Basirat in her late 40s’ is a pure water hawker whose livelihood depends on her daily proceeds. As a total lock down was announced in Osun State, her livelihood was automatically placed on hold. Certainly, she cannot hold her stomach and that of her three children, hence devised a survival strategy. ‘I waited for government’s promise but it didn’t get to my area. I was lucky to find a man who distributed one kongo of rice in my area but that only lasted my family for two days. My children and I can’t bear the hunger again, that is why I am doing this,� she opened up.

Sick Elders Battle Stigmatisation, Denied Healthcare Away from hunger, the health system has equally failed the elderly this period.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has expressed that older people are facing the most threats and challenges this time. According to the global organisation, while all age groups are at risk of contracting COVID-19, older people face significant risk of developing severe illness

33

T H I S D AY ˞ ʹ˜ Ͱ͎Ͱ͎

FEATURES if they contract the disease due to physiological changes that come with ageing and potential underlying health conditions.

As a result, it implored nations to make health-care services available for senior citizens, including emergency and primary health care.

"Health-care workers, social service providers, family members and community members who provide care for older people must also be supported with the resources they need", it added.

Unfortunately in Nigeria, not just that health workers are not provided with resources to cater for the old, elders who sought medical attention are being denied. The pandemic has brought about panic among health workers leading to distortion in the health system. This has taken a huge toll on the elders and not just the children as UNICEF recognised.

Visiting Orile Agege General Hospital, this reporter was sorry for the elders in sight as doctors walked passed them, leaving them to their fate.

The elders numbering about 30 were rather told to visit nearby health centre to lay their medical complaint while those on appointment were told to re-purchase and continue with their drugs without investigating or hearing their complaints.

THISDAY met with one of the elders, Mr Babalola, 73, who has diabetics. In his explanation, a drug was prescribed to him on his previous visit. Once he noticed that his right leg was swelling, he rushed back to the clinic but left disappointingly.

"I worry that I'm developing another ailment .My effort to see the doctor since 6:00 am has been abortive( This was exactly 2:30 pm) .Now they are telling me to go and continue with my drugs. Which drugs! Do I even know what is wrong with me? I don't even have money to visit a private hospital. I am finished my daughter," she mumbled as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Earlier, the nurse who addressed the elders at the General Out-patients Department mentioned that doctors cannot see them because they are vulnerable to COVID-19 and may be carrying the virus unknowingly.

While the nurse may be right afterall, this act of neglect has been widely condemned, more over that the president had promised to care for the vulnerable that the elders belong.

In another scenario, 75 year old was Mr John (not real name) was a gateman of one of orthodox churches. Baba as he his fondly called was having his breakfast when he aspirated, the situation went out of control that he had to be rushed down to hospital. Unfortunately, up to five hospitals rejected him. As at when he was taken to the sixth hospital who accepted to treat him, he passed away just before doctor commenced treatment on him.

According to the Founder of Live Abundantly, Dr Ama Onyerinma, WHO intervention to nations is being jeopardised by many factors in Nigeria.

She said, "Even with WHO plea to support the vulnerable, along with the funds dispersed for awareness and preparedness campaigns, application is hindered by the lack of adequate infrastructure, thorough assessment of needs, data, actionable implementation, accountability and reporting.�

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in one of its briefings stated that it has recorded more death of COVID-19 among the elders. This has been partially linked to this neglect.

Plight Fueled by Policy Lacuna According to the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the proportion of older persons aged 60 years and above make up 12.3 per cent of the global population, which by 2050, the proportion will rise to almost 22 per cent.

In Nigeria, data from the National Council on Aging shows that the elders make up 3.1 per cent or 5.9 million of the country's total population. Sociologists submit that the ageing population poses numerous social and economic challenges that can only be corrected by right set of policies.

Regrettably, functional policy on the care and welfare of older persons has always been lacking in Nigeria. This is compounded by a break up in family structure and lack of social security system.

The above situation means that the over 5.9 million elders in Nigeria are in for a hard time during and post COVID-19, safe for urgent intervention.

Palliatives being served to elders Just like the elders, widows have no special place in government plan, a situation that has heightened their sufferings this period.

As stated in World Widows Report, they are rarely mentioned in the reports on women’s poverty, development, health or human rights published in the last 25 years.

A 2020 report put the number of widowed person globally at 350 million with 80 percent of them being widowed women.

A woman rights activist, Mimidoo Achapka argued that women were the most hit during the pandemic and lock down because of the responsibility that society has entrusted on them.

She said, “Women hold society together while many are breadwinners and the economic force of many homes. COVID-19 is no exception.

They are caregivers in Nigerian society. The pandemic has had an economic, social and cultural impact on women�.

Given the exclusion of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development from the COVID-19 Nigerian National Response Inter-Ministerial action, the effect will be tougher on widows.

To Achapka, “Including the Women Affairs Ministry will synergise angles on social development and home-front issues of salience with our response efforts. Women are natural coordinators and should be included for more robust and effective outcomes in this pandemic�

This perhaps would also lessen the burden of these vulnerable ones this period such that Iya Basirat may not have to compromise her dignity by offering her body for men while 62 year –old Mrs Florence Onuobodo may not have to die untimely while struggling for food palliatives in Rivers state as widely reported in the media.

Fear, Pride Scare 'Group' Away from Gestures The plight of widows and elders this period has been mostly helped by non- governmental organisations, NGOs whose objectives are driven around these groups of individual.

But considering the 1,094 NGOS in Nigeria as compiled by The World Association of NonGovernmental Organisation (WANGO), of which few of them focus on widows and elders, help coming from this quarter would only capture a minute fraction of these vulnerable groups.

Some of the specialised NGOs attested to the level of impoverishment that COVID-19 has brought upon already helpless widows and elders.

While narrating her experience with these groups, Founder of one of the NGOs, Atinuke Owolabi said that the organisation had to carry out emergency food distribution seeing how hunger has dealt with these groups.

"Widows and several old people besieged our place when they heard that we have begun the house to house distribution. But we dispersed them because of the social distancing rule and told them to wait for us in their homes.

"Some of these old people are lonely and poor, some of them are abandoned because

they have lost their spouses and their children live far away,’’ she said.

Also worthy of note are interventions coming from well-meaning community members and corporate bodies. But again, fear of stampede, disorderliness and rush that characterised free gesture as well as self-pride has left many in hunger and despair, even when help is right at their finger tip.

Mrs Arowona, 65, is a landlady of a four- room old-fashioned bungalow apartment in Lagos state. Despite being hard bitten by hunger, she refused to join the long queue when a co well- to-do landlord distributed food items to the needy in his community.

Her reasons " Not that I don't need the food items, as a matter of fact, I need it more than anyone else. But I fear that being a landlady, people will make mockery of me, once they see me join the queue of the needy."

Mrs Ganiyu while recounting her experience during an encounter with an NGO, said, "You will be sorry to see the elders even with their frail body struggling for free foods. I also struggled but at the end, I was only able to get a bag of pure water. I eventually sold the water and used the money to buy half Derica of rice" Only a social protection system where older persons and widows are placed on monthly allowance institutions could save the situation of Mrs Sola and Mrs Ganiyu, as well as many others in their categories.

South Africa and Namibia are good examples of countries in Sub Saharan Africa pursuing this cause for their older persons, having established a social security system where persons aged 60years and above are entitled to a monthly pension.

A woman focused bank like the Zimbabwe Women Micro Finance Bank would also help widows greatly during the pandemic and beyond. The bank is committed to offering loans, advice and skills training to help women get the funding and access to markets that traditional banks often deny them.

Getting it Right Lack of existing policy for elders and widows has been fingered to have worked against these groups during and even before pandemic, the presence of which is believed would improve their living conditions. Such policy, experts said, should consider restructuring the pension scheme and other social policies in Nigeria in favour of the elderly, widows and those who never worked in any government establishments.

Away from policy, Ama recognised an absolute abuse of the rights of widows and ageing that needs to be addressed.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, raised concern about the fact that women have the least access to food, health and education, e t c in situation of poverty.

CEDAW equally identifies the right of widows for protection alongside their children and the right to be empowered

The Convention also called on states to ensure that right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness, invalidity, old age and other incapacity to work, are being protected.

Ama noted that the event of COVID-19 has exposed the inefficiency of government to cater for citizens in times of emergency, including how human rights have been violated on for so long.

She said, "It is most unfortunate that people, particularly the vulnerable widows, elderly and many others, have lost their lives because their human rights were violated. Ensuring the availability of food, shelter, safety, health care for all citizens during a crisis should be priority for all stakeholders - government, corporations, civil society and citizens. This pandemic is a humanistic call to action, for which the government must be in the forefront and demonstrate its commitment to the people’s welfare. We must value each life, therefore we must ensure we have an entrenched functioning system to safeguard each and everyone’s human rights."

It is imperative the government re-evaluate its role and responsibility to Nigerians. This is the time for actionable, long-range initiatives rather than ‘in-the-moment’, short-term and temporary actions for just a handful�.

She added that availability of up-to-date data would be of great assistance during the pandemic and post COVID-19.

She posited, “The most essential task is creating a data driven culture in Nigeria.

Data is key to designing and implementing a transparent and functioning social welfare system. A robust welfare system accountable for the maintenance of the vulnerable - widows, elderly, victims of violence as well as those with physiological differences. It is also important to create partnerships with food producers to establish sanctioned food banks which can distribute much needed palliatives for the needy on a scheduled basis as well as support the government during such critical incidents.

"What is apparent is the urgent need to return to the drawing board and strategically identify the achievable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The government and all stakeholders must seize this opportunity to address Poverty, Education, Health, Equality, Inequality and Climate Change. Regardless of how many roads, buildings and the likes are provided, if welfare, health, education and environmental issues are neglected, then you have a failed system".

To the President of International Women Society (IWS), Mrs Margret Olaide Sasegbon, governments at all levels should give more attention to widows in the society, by investing more in Nigeria’s educational sector and make education affordable.

She said, "If governments would invest more in the nation’s education system and reduce the cost of education, widows would be able to sponsor their wards through school, and indigent children would have the opportunity of being educated".

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Boat Mishap Claims 21 Lives in River Benue George George OkohinMakurdi No fewer than 21 persons were feared dead in a boat mishap on River Benue in Makurdi, the Benue State capital yesterday afternoon.

According to a source who witnessed the incidents, the victims were some members of ECAN Church, Ijaha, Makurdi Local Government Area who

were going for a conference across River Benue.

Benue State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene who confirmed the incident in a statement on behalf of the Police Commissioner, Mr. Mukaddas Garba, said the accident was reported to the Police at about 2:30pm yesterday.

The statement added that two

of the victims were rescued alive while 21 others were still missing and were feared dead at the time of this report.

“On 05/07/2020 at about 1430 hours, information was received

that twenty-three members of ECAN Church Ijaha, Makurdi Local Government Area boarded a boat to attend a conference across River Benue.

“At the midstream, the boat sank into the river.

Marine Police search party was deployed to the scene where two persons were rescued alive while 21 persons are

still missing,” she said.

The Police spokesperson said further search and findings were still going and promised to communicate further development.

Over 2,000 COVID-19 Patients Avoiding Isolation Centres, Says Lagos Govt Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has raised the alarm that more than 2,000 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have not turned up at the isolation centres.

The Cable stated this yesterday while giving an update on the COVID-19 situation in the state.

Abayomi provided details of how the state has fared so far, adding that the state’s COVID-19 response team is monitoring more than 6,000 patients in communities.

“6,259 of the cases monitored in communities by #COVID19Lagos response team have either fully recovered or positively responding to treatments,” he wrote in a tweet.

“365 of the cases are currently under isolation in public and private care centres.

However, 2,430 active cases in the communities are yet to turn up for admission in care centres either due to fear of stigmatisation or preference for home care treatments.

FG Evacuates 324 Stranded Nigerians from Turkey Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The federal government has evacuated 324 stranded Nigerians, including an infant from Turkey.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed this yesterday in a tweet in his verified Twitter handle.

He said that the evacuees whose estimated time of arrival was 9p.m yesterday would proceed on 14 days compulsory self-isolation.

Onyeama twitted: “Turkish Airlines conveying 238 Nigerian evacuees and an infant from #Cyprus, has departed for Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

“Air Peace Airlines conveying 86 Nigerians is also airborne from Ankara, #Turkey to Lagos and Abuja.

“Estimated time of arrival 9.00pm. All evacuees will then Self-Isolate for the mandatory 14 days.”

RENEWED FIGHT AGAINST PANDEMIC...

Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Raji Razaq (left), and Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, during the inauguration of two new Mercedes-Benz ambulances to strengthen the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, at the Government House, Ilorin... weekend

LASTMA Operative Stabs Lover, Commits Suicide An operative of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr. Emmanuel Mekuri, has committed suicide, after stabbing his live-in lover, Miss Patricia Ogunshola, during an argument at their place of residence in Araromi, Morogbo area of the state.

Emmanuel was said to have stabbed the victim in her right thigh following an allegation of infidelity, and when the attack became unbearable, she reportedly fled the house.

Thereafter, Emmanuel allegedly stabbed himself in the stomach.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Bala Elkana, said an alarm raised

by Patricia’s daughter drew neighbours’ attention to the incident and the police were contacted, adding that when policemen got to the house, Emmanuel’s remains were found and the knife used in perpetrating the crime was also recovered.

He stated that Patricia was taken to hospital for treatment, while Emmanuel’s corpse was evacuated and deposited in a mortuary for autopsy.

Elkana said, “On July 5, 2020, around 1pm, the Morogbo Police Station received a distress call from the Zoo area in Araromi that one Emmanuel Mekuri, 47, a LASTMA personnel, stabbed his lover, Patricia Ogunshola, 37, on her right thigh, with a Jack knife. An alarm was raised by the 13-year-old daughter of the

woman, who she had from a previous marriage, which drew the attention of neighbours to the scene.

“In her statement, the girl stated that the deceased person, whom she referred to as her stepfather, made further attempts to stab her mother in the head but she quickly ran out of the room. She reported that he subsequently stabbed himself in the stomach, with his intestines gushing out and he died on the spot.

Cult Group Planning to Overrun Ogun, Say Police

Brian Tracy, Others Brainstorm on Leadership for Success In the bid to prepare leaders to handle the challenges of the post-COVID-19 era, renowned leadership expert, Mr. Linus Okorie convened the GOTNI Global Leadership Training with the theme: “Facing the Future Without Fear: Leading in Uncertain Times.”

The well-attended two-day training saw leaders and aspiring leaders, business professionals and entrepreneurs join the class from across Africa, Europe, America and more.

It featured talks on leadership, effective followership, networking, business and nation building, as well as personal effectiveness and other relevant insights needed to thrive in today’s world and beyond.

Speakers at the landmark virtual event included acclaimed public speaker and selfdevelopment author, Brian Tracy; renowned American business executive and Chairman of FraserNet, Inc., George Fraser; Executive Coach and Behavioural Change Catalyst, Mr. Lanre Olusola; Investor and Real

Estate Broker, Kristen Cripps; President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Toki Mabogunje.

Underscoring the essence of the training, Okorie charged delegates to be deliberately committed to effecting change and providing solutions to problems in these times.

“If leadership does not exist, institutions will lose individuals who drive success.”

He said. “The world will not give anything to you until you prove that you can sustain your vision’’ “Regardless of the various titles in leadership, a major title every leader should answer is problem solver” said keynote speaker, Tracy.

“The words you choose to use in a crisis, determines the amount of control you have in that crisis,” he said.

Olusola noted that critical among the leadership values that will transform organisations is the mindset of service and a desire to create an atmosphere that is devoid of paranoia and fear.

Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta The Ogun State Police Command yesterday raised the alarm, that a certain cult group had designed a plan to launch unexpected attacks on residents of the state, tomorrow (Tuesday).

A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer ((PPRO), Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, a deputy superintendent of police, said intelligence report at the disposal of the command revealed that members of the group were planning to unleash terror and cause violence across the state, to mark the group’s festival

called 7/7.

“The report further revealed that members of the group are also planning to use the said date to initiate new members into their fold, after which they will engage their rival cult group in a supremacy battle, which may lead to loss of lives and wanton destruction of property.

“In view of this, the command wishes to warn those having such devilish plan to have a rethink and retrace their steps, as such will be met with serious resistance from security agencies,” Oyeyemi said.

The police spokesman added that the command’s tactical squads

namely SARS, anti-cultists, antikidnapping, as well as all the Divisional Police Officers and Area Commanders had been put on red alert, to nip the proposed attack in the bud.

“Anybody who involves him or herself in such an act will be made to feel the full weight of the law, because the command will not fold its arms while some unscrupulous elements make life difficult for law-abiding citizens of the state,” he further cautioned.

Oyeyemi, on behalf of the command, similarly urged parents and guardians to warn their wards to steer clear of any

unlawful gathering on, before and after the said date, to prevent an ‘had I known’ situation.

Also, the police authorities warned hoteliers against allowing their facilities to be used for any cult-related gathering, as the owner of such facilities would be liable to prosecution.

While urging members of the public “to go about their lawful business without fear of harassment or intimation”, the command said it had rolled out all in its arsenal, “to deal decisively with anybody who tries to breach the relative peace being enjoyed by the good people of the state”.

Enugu APC Rejects State’s Public Works Selection Committee Peter Uzoho

Enugu State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the composition of the 20-man selection committee for the extended special public works programme of the federal government in the state.

Citing unfairness and sidelining of APC members in the composition of the committee, which will select 1,000 people from the state for the public works, the party called on the Minister of Labour and Employment,

Dr. Chris Nigige, to review the committee’s composition and approve that an APC member become the chairman of the committee.

In separate letters written to the minister by the Deputy State Chairman of APC in Enugu, Mr. Gilbert Chukwunta, and the Zonal Organising Secretary, South-East APC, Mr. Timothy Amah, which were made available to THISDAY, the party said the committee was dominated by non-APC members.

According to them, the head of the public works selection

committee in the state, Chief Gbazuagu Nweke was a staunch candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2019 election and a loyalist of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Enugu APC said: “Employment scheme which is a federal government’s programme has a list of 20 members headed by Chief Gbazuagu Nweke for Enugu State. The list has no known APC member as member while APGA and PDP members were selected apart from traditional rulers, and

NDE state coordinator.

“The chairman of the committee is the APGA senatorial candidate in the 2019 general election who worked against the interest of our party just like the PDP in Enugu State.”

The party leaders however prayed the minister to among others, “approve that APC leader should be nominated to chair and lead this very important committee that will not only help our youths but will strengthen APC presence at the ward level.

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Wadume: Court Martial Lacks Power to Try Soldiers, Falana Tells Malami Davidson Iriekpen Human rights lawyers, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has faulted the

claim by the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) that until the soldiers

Buhari Condemns Attack on UN Helicopter By Boko Haram Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday condemned the Saturday attack on United Nations (UN) aid helicopter in the North-east by the Boko Haram terrorists.

The attack, according to presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement, left two people dead, including a five-year- old child.

Describing the attack on the humanitarian helicopter as cowardly, Buhari said the incident was yet another desperate move by the terrorists, whom he claimed had been under intense pressure from the Nigerian military in recent times.

Threatening that the attack would not go unpunished, Buhari lamented that Boko Haram had increasingly launched attacks on innocent civilians, including UN humanitarian workers in recent times.

According to him, such attacks are mere expressions of their desperation to portray themselves to be strong in order to cover up their shortcomings.

“Let me reassure the international community and Nigerians that this latest cowardly attack on a UN helicopter which claimed the lives of two people, including a five year old baby, would not go without severe consequences.

“Boko Haram terrorists are clearly on the back foot and their increasing attacks on innocent civilians, including UN humanitarian workers, was part of their desperation to prove that they are strong in order to cover up their dwindling fortunes,” he said.

He said “the security of foreigners and Nigerians remain the top priority of this administration, and we shall leave no stone unturned until we eliminate these remorseless enemies of humanity.”

The statement added that the president highlighted the need for all humanitarian and other aid workers in the region to, at all times, properly coordinate movements -- air or land, with the theatre com m a n d e r and other military authorities.

Ajimobi Family Bars Oyo Deputy Gov, Others from Fidau Prayer Apologises over incident Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The crisis between the family of the late former governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and the state government, over the handling of the burial of the two-term governor, has refused to abate as a delegation of the state government to the eighth day fidau prayer for the deceased, was turned back.

The family has however, apologised to the deputy governor, saying the event was meant to be a family affair, adding that they did not know that the deputy governor would be at the ceremony.

The delegation led by the deputy governor, Mr. Raufu Olaniyan, which include: Abiodun Abdul-Raheem and Seun Ashamu, commissioners for Land and Energy, respectively; was turned back from entering the Yemoja Street, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan residence of Ajimobi.

THISDAY learnt that the security details at the venue were said to have resisted efforts by the delegation to enter as they almost engaged in open confrontation with the security details attached to the deputy governor.

It was gathered that Olaniyan thereafter left after making frantic calls to people believed to be close to the family to register his

displeasure on the treatment meted out to him and others on the delegation.

But in a swift reaction, theAjimobi said in a statement that the event was announced as strictly a family affair.

The family however, noted that some dignitaries arrived for the event prior to the commencement of the prayers and were permitted entry.

“There was a need to comply with the Covid-19 protocol as established

by NCDC - Social distancing, not more than 30 people in a place and seats arranged, accordingly. Once we reached capacity, the gate was locked. No one was aware that the deputy governor was coming as neither the advance team nor the protocol informed us. The deputy governor arrived after the prayers had started and once the protocol team was informed they proceeded to the gate.

“By the time we got to the gate to usher him into the sitting room, he had left. Everything happened within a few minutes.

“Through a serving Senator and a former Attorney General we tried to get in touch with him that it was not to slight him and he could sit in a private sitting room provided by the family.

Unfortunately, he had left.

We however apologise to his Excellency,” the statement explained.

who allegedly freed suspected kidnap kingpin, Bala Hamisu, better known as Wadume were court-martialled in line with the rules of the military, they cannot appear in court.

Falana said a general courtmartial does not have the competence to try the soldiers.

Last August, some soldiers attached to the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Takum, Taraba State, had attacked policemen who had come from Abuja to arrest Wadume.

Three policemen and two civilians were killed in the process as Wadume was set free.

The soldiers were led by Captain Tijjani Balarabe.

But Malami whose office took over the case said the soldiers had not been taken to a civil court

because they were still being court-martialled in line with the rules of the military.

A court-martial is a military court where members of the armed forces are tried using military laws.

Reacting to Malami’s claim yesterday, Falana said the soldiers were charged with terrorism and only the Federal High Court is empowered by the law to handle such matter.

“With respect, the offence of terrorism allegedly committed by the indicted soldiers is not provided for in the Armed Forces Act. To that extent, a general court-martial or special courtmartial lacks the jurisdictional competence to try the offence of terrorism committed against police personnel and other members of

the public by soldiers who are subject to service law,” he said.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 32 of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 as amended by the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013 provides that the Federal High Court located in any part of Nigeria, regardless of the location where the offence is committed, shall have jurisdiction to (a) try offences under this act or any other related enactment; (b) hear and determine proceedings arising under this act.’

“Hence, the indicted soldiers were properly charged with terrorism along with other suspects in the only competent court in the land. However, since the military authorities did not release the suspects to the police for the purpose of arraigning

them in court the learned trial judge, the Honourable Justice Binta Nyako rightly ordered the Chief of Army Staff to produce them to answer to the heinous charge of terrorism and allied offences. Even though the attorney-general withdrew the charges against the indicted soldiers the order that they be produced in court for arraignment has not been vacated or quashed either by the trial court or the court of appeal.”

He added that the AGF is duty bound to ensure full and unconditional compliance with the valid and subsisting order of the federal high court in accordance with section 287 (3) of the constitution.

ALL HANDS ON DECK AGAINST PANDEMIC...

Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde; Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Temitope Alonge; Deputy Governor, Mr. Rauf Olaniyan; and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Bashiru Bello, during the inauguration of Agbami Isolation Centre, Jericho, Ibadan...weekend

Fayose Asks Presidential Spokesman Not to ‘Wake a Sleeping Lion’ A former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has warned a presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, not to “wake a sleeping lion”.

Reacting to Adesina’s latest piece, Fayose said failure to heed his warning could attract consequences that Adesina would be unable to cope with.

The presidential spokesman had said that President Muhammadu Buhari would have “dealt with” Fayose and Rivers Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike over their “combative remarks” but chose to tolerate the duo as a father of the nation.

But in a series of tweets yesterday, Fayose said he decided not to comment about issues

relating to Buhari because he has realised that “Buhari’s presidency is deaf and dumb”.

“On the comment by my brother and friend, @ FemAdesina, on the President not “dealing with myself and Gov. Wike,” President Buhari, in my opinion is an “Accidental President,” who is not only clueless but unconscious

of happenings in his own Presidency.

“A man who can’t defend or protect his immediate family is not in any way better than an effigy. If not, those around him won’t be talking about a President “punishing” serving governors or even ordinary Nigerians as if they are his servants.”

HEDA Asks Court to Void Legislative Houses Privileges Act A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has asked the Federal High Court to nullify the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act of 2017, insisting that it confers undue advantages on lawmakers at the expense of the citizens.

The landmark campaign seeking to remove self-made privileges of the National Assembly was launched at the weekend and Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption group has hired a prominent human rights lawyer, Mr. Kunle Adegoke to lead the legal fireworks.

HEDA said since it was passed in 2017, the self-serving law had made it more difficult for Nigerians to hold the lawmakers to account.

According to HEDA, among others, the law shields lawmakers from facing criminal and civil lawsuits by demanding that anyone who wants to sue a lawmaker must serve a 90-day pre-action on the Assembly.

The Chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, argued that these provisions of the law were distasteful and run contrary to the Public Officers Protection Act and Section 6(6)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) which guarantees right of access to court.

The group is, in the suit, is praying the court to declare the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017 invalid because its Section 21 is in conflict with sections 6(6)(b) and 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

HEDA said, “While the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) has delimited the powers of the National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly, the National

Assembly has exceeded its legislative powers in enacting the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017 by even conferring the same privileges on Houses of Assembly of states and has taken away the constitutional right of Nigerians to access any court for that matter to seek redress to their grievances.

“While the Act empowers lawmakers to probe Nigerians, it at the same time disempowers the electorate from prying into the activities of the lawmakers.

It’s like building a fortress for themselves while leaving those who elected them helpless and down in the cold.”

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Five Persons Still Missing in Ebonyi Communal Crisis Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki

Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Philip Maku, has disclosed that the five persons declared missing over the Erel palm plantations communal crisis between Ekoli Edda Afikpo South in Ebonyi State and Biasie Local Government Area in Cross River State have not been found.

Briefing journalists in Abakaliki, the new police commissioner noted that the state police command was not relenting in unraveling their disappearances.

According to him, “We are on top of the matter, and hopeful, their disappearances will be unraveled. We are also relying

on those in the Cross River State axis for any useful information, but since we have not seen any of their dead bodies, we believe they are still alive.

“The National Boundary Commission should come here and do a proper demarcation of the disputed area and other disputed areas across the state.”

Maku further stressed on the cooperation from the people through community policing, noting that the communities have a vital role to play in combating crime.

He noted that his command has put in place all the necessary strategies needed to flush out criminals from their hideouts,

noting that his men are battleready for the task.

Maku maintained that there was no room for criminals in the state, adding that anyone caught

would face the wrath of law.

He pledged the support of the people and assured them of their safety as well as their properties, noting that his gallant men are

more equipped now with the reality of the time and will make the state unlivable for criminals.

The CP said his command would also the give full backing

on the programme, noting that the scheme will enable communities to be fully in charge of policing their community and assisting the command in combating crime.

Gunmen Abduct Delta NLC Chairman Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

The Chairman of Delta State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Goodluck Ofobruku, has reportedly been abducted by unidentified gunmen near Asaba, the state capital.

Ofobruku was said to have been abducted while driving on the Ibusa axis of the AsabaOgwashiuku-Ughelli Road last Saturday night near Asaba.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, while confirming the kidnap of Ofobruku yesterday in Asaba, disclosed that the state police command has already spread its dragnet in an effort to rescue the victim unhurt and possibly apprehend the criminals.

Rescue efforts by the police included the combing of the bushes in the area and security surveillance across Asaba/Kwale/ Ughelli axis, Inuwa added.

The NLC state chairman was reportedly kidnapped last Saturday night by unknown gunmen who intercepted his official Toyota Sienna van with registration number: ‘NLC 01’ along the Ibusa Road portion of the Asaba-Ughelli road.

The state labour leader was said to have driven out of his house behind the Immigration Office off Ibusa Road in Asaba,

when he was abducted near a drinking joint in the area by the hoodlums who reportedly had a free time robbing customers at the joint with guns.

They criminals were said to have been immediately attracted to Ofobruku’s vehicle as he drove out of his street and immediately swooped on him, forcing him out of the car and leading him away to the nearby bush.

The state NLC Secretary, Innocent Ofuonyeadi, who also confirmed the abduction, explained that the NLC state chairman drove out to buy drugs when he was ambushed.

“Ofobruku’s car was intercepted by the hoodlums along his street,” Ofuonyeadi said, noting that the abductors were yet to establish contact with the family of the victim as at yesterday afternoon.

The victim’s phone has be switched off since his abductors, who are suspected to be herdsmen, forcibly took him into the surrounding bush, with family and friends unable to speak with him, he added.

Nevertheless, the state police boss, Inuwa, cautioned residents, particularly VIPs, to be conscious of their movement, and advised for more discreet use of official vehicles in order to ward off unnecessary prying eyes of kidnappers and other criminals.

70-year-old Tailor Arrested for Raping Nine-year-old Girl in Minna Laleye Dipo in Minna A 70-year-old tailor, Mohammed Sani, has been arrested for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl in Minna, the Niger State capital.

The incident took place at the Kasuwan Dare area of the state capital.

According to police report, the suspect lured the girl to his shop for a gift, when she arrived at the shop, it was gathered that Sani allegedly dragged the girl into the inner part of the shop where he had carnal knowledge of her.

However, the cry from the girl attracted people to

the scene of the incident, which led to the arrest of Sani.

Sani has already confessed to committing the crime, blaming it on the devil.

According to him, “I can’t say how it happened, all I know is that I took her into the inner shop and had sex with her. It is the work of the devil,” Sani confessed at the state police headquarters where he was paraded before journalists.

He, however, did not plead for leniency.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the story saying: “The suspect has already confessed to the crime.

We will charge him to court soon.”

PHYSICAL DISTANCING...

L-R: Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma; state Chairman of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Austin Chilakpu; and state Chairman of Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Dr. Josiah Ugochukwu, during a courtesy visit to the governor at the Government House, Owerri...weekend

Benue Loses Vice Chairman of COVID-19 Committee to Pandemic George Okoh in Makurdi The COVID-19 pandemic has killed the Vice Chairman of the Benue State Action Committee on COVID-19, who was also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) of the Benue State University(BSU), Prof. Godwin Achinge.

Achinge, it was gathered, died yesterday afternoon

at an undisclosed hospital in Jos, Plateau State, due to complications arising from the virus.

A member of the Benue State Action committee on COVID-19, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the death of the professor yesterday by telephone.

He said: “Yes, we lost Professor Achinge, the vice chairman of the state action

committee on COVID-19 this (yesterday) afternoon.”

When journalists spoke to the state Commissioner for Information and member of the state action committee on COVID-19, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi, she said she was yet to confirm the report from the chairman of the committee on COVID-19, who is the state Deputy Governor, Benson

Abounu.

The state Governor, Samuel Ortom, had last Saturday named Prof. Achinge among the over 30 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the state in the last few days.

Last week, the vice chancellor of the Benue State University also disclosed that he was infected by the virus.

NECA Distances Self from Suspension of NSITF’s Management Dike Onwuamaeze The Nigeria Employers Consultative Forum (NECA) has distanced itself from a purported board meeting of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) that empowered the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, to suspend the top management of the NSITF. A press statement signed by the Director General of NECA, Dr. Timothy Olawale, and made available to THISDAY yesterday, clarified that “there was no deliberation at any time at the board on matters bordering

on alleged financial infractions by the management. These issues were never brought up, referred to the board or tabled for consideration, not to talk of any correspondence from the board to the Honourarable minister for actions.

“The records are there for verification and members of the board including representatives of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the board are also alive to verify the truth. The NECA is not against the minister as head of the supervising ministry taking whatever actions he deemed right in his

capacity but takes exception to misrepresentation and misleading information to the public.”

Olawale said that it would be in the public interest to divulge the identities of the board members behind the said petition.

“Some stakeholders may be fooled by misinformation and misrepresentations, but NECA refuses to fall for illegality as we owe contributors to the fund, who are employers of labour represented by us and the citizenry, the duty of due diligence and forthrightness,” NECA said.

The employers association said that although it had no argument

against any investigation or probe of NSITF management, it wished to put it on record that NECA “is against being used through impersonation to give credence to illegality of circumventing due process of doing what is right through the governing board of the fund.”

The NECA also noted that the alleged complicity by past representatives of the association on the board of NSITF has been investigated by government agencies and “is currently a subject of litigation in the courts. We will not dwell on it as it is subjudice.”

Landlords, Landowners to Pay Mandatory Property Tax in Ekiti Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

As part of the efforts to shore up its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for more infrastructural development, the Ekiti State Government has introduced mandatory payment of Property Tax by landlords and landowners across the 16 local government areas of the state.

To achieve the policy under the Land Use Charge Law, the government has begun aggressive enumeration of all buildings and landed property across the 130

towns in the state for hitch-free implementation of the tax policy.

The Chairman of the Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Muyiwa Ogunmilade disclosed this yesterday in a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.

Ogunmilade said the Ekiti State Property Tax Law backed by the State Land Use Charge Law No. 3 of 2013 , which comprises payment on ground rent, tenement rates and neighbourhood improvement levy, has been neglected for long, saying time has come for it to

be put to full use in view of the low revenues from the federal allocation to the state .

He said Governor Kayode Fayemi was uninterested to impose double taxation or obnoxious tax policy on residents , clarifying that the new measure was just an implementation of an existing, but abandoned law.

“The LUC is an annual tax, payable in respect of all real estate property situated in Ekiti State, including ordinary parcels of land and with improvement except those exempted under the Law.

“Owners are expected to pay the LUC for their respective properties , or alternatively the tenants may pay and get reimbursement from the owners of the properties.

“For accurate charges to be arrived at, property identification officers or assessors have begun the process of enumeration of all properties in our state and this will provide proper guide for the government, because you have to pay based on the property owned.

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Dogara Denies Link with Hushpuppi Chuks Okocha in Abuja A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, has described as infantile, rash and fatuous the statement issued on behalf of the All

Progressives Congress (APC)

by Mr. Yekini Nabena, which desperately sought to link him to a suspected cybercriminal, Hushpuppi, on the basis of a group photograph taken at a public event.

SERAP Gives Buhari 14 Days to Probe N300bn Missing Public Funds Udora Orizu in Abuja The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given President Muhammadu Buhari 14 days to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to urgently investigate the allegations that more than N300 billion of public funds were missing, mismanaged, diverted or stolen, as documented in the 2017 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF).

The SERAP also urged President Buhari to ask Malami and the anticorruption agencies to promptly investigate the extent and patterns of

widespread and endemic corruption in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as indicted in the audited report.

A letter dated July 4, 2020, and signed by the Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, said that the 2017 audited report revealed grim allegations of mismanagement, diversion and stealing of public funds as well as unaccounted spending.

The letter was copied to Malami; the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye; the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Mustafa Magu and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (South-west), has threatened to stop loading petroleum products in all depots in the region in protest against the recent increase in the price of petrol.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had on July 1 announced a new price band of N140.80 to N143.80 per litre of petrol, up from N121.50 to N123.50.

The Zonal Chairman, IPMAN, South-west, Mr. Dele Tajudeen, said yesterday that the price hike came as a surprise to the association, adding that the PPPRA did not engage marketers before taking the decision.

“I wish to state that the recent pronouncement of

PPPRA/NNPC of increase in ex-depot/pump price of PMS is not acceptable to IPMAN Southwest. The decision, without consideration of corresponding increase of our profit margin, is unfair and inhuman.

“The increase translates to almost a million naira on every 45,000 litres while our profit margin was reduced, leaving us worse than before.

As a responsible association, we demand the NNPC to revert to the earlier ex-depot price of N130.72 sent to us or we boycott supply of petroleum products”.

According to Tajudeen, the ex-depot petrol price of N111.78 per litre was increased to N130.72 on Tuesday last week and then to N133.72 on Wednesday.

A statement signed by the Media Aide to the Former Speaker, Mr. Turaki Hassan, said: “Nabena should have known that it is share mindlessness to attempt to execute mischief and blackmail in plain sight before the public some of whom are better informed. Who is that fool that links people to criminal activity simply because they appeared in a group picture at a public event comprising of people from different walks of life?

“If appearing in a group photograph is what Nabena is now using to establish a link or connection to crimes or alleged criminals then why didn’t he issue such a statement in the wake of the arrest of a suspected money launderer by name Mr. Ismaila Mustapha (AKA: Mompha) whose pictures with notable personalities including some APC governors are all over the social media? Is Nabena guilty of selective amnesia

or share perfidy? Who is Nabena scared of? Who is he trying to fool?

“For the records, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has agreed to waive his right to a trial and go to jail if Nabena establishes any form of links or connection between him and the alleged cybercriminal before the event where the picture was taken and after the event until now. For Hon. Yakubu Dogara, that picture was just another picture among the

thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of such pictures with Nigerians from all walks of life.”

Dogara challenged Nabena to speak on issues affecting the welfare of Nigeria union, adding that there is no honour in speaking about group pictures taken at public events “when the nation is bleeding and most Nigerian families are struggling and hurting.”

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION...

L-R: Assistant Director, Agricultural Service Department, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs. Olabisi Lewis; Lagos State Acting Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya; and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya, during the commissioner’s inspection of agriculture facilities at Songhai, Badagry...weekend SUNDAY ADIGUN

CACOVID Donates N1.4bn Medical Equipment, South-west IPMAN Kicks 26,400 Test Kits to FG against Petrol Price Hike To boost COVID-19 testing Presenting the test kits and test kits and medical supplies Extraction Kits; Well PCR Tube

PDP to Inaugurate Edo Campaign Council Tomorrow Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced that it would hold a virtual inauguration of its National Campaign Council for the Edo State’s governorship election on Tuesday in compliance with COVID-19 protocol on social and physical distancing at public gathering.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Edo State PDP Campaign Council and the secretary of the campaign council would be physically present for the event slated for June 7 at 10

a.m., alongside the national chairman of the party, the state governors of our party, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) as well as Board of Trustees (BOT) members who are also members of the campaign council.

In addition, the members of the campaign council, who are currently in Abuja, are also expected at the venue of the inauguration.

Members of the campaign council, who would not physically participate at the inauguration, were directed to register in advance for participation via Zoom by clicking on the link that has been communicated to them.

across the country, the private sector-led Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has donated N1.4 billion worth of medical supplies and additional 26,400 test kits sufficient to set up six fully functional COVID-19 medical laboratories in the fight against the pandemic.

medical equipment at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Lagos office, the Chief Executive Officer, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou commended the efforts of the public health institute in the fight against the virus and expressed optimism that the

provided would further expand the testing capabilities across the country to meet critical health infrastructure need to combat the virus.

“On behalf of COCAVID, we are delighted to hand over the following items to you – MicPCR Realtime PCR Systems; RNA

Strips; Well Semi-skirted PCR Plates; Pipette Tips; Oral and Nasal Swab Sets; Tongue Depressors, Viral Transport Media; Disposable Latex Medical Gloves etc. These items can sufficiently set up 6 medical laboratories and collect samples for over 26,400 people,” Zouera said.

Kwara Gov Decries Spike in Reported Cases of COVID-19 Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has decried the ongoing spike of reported cases of COVID-19 in the country.

This is coming as the state government recorded 15 more COVID-19 cases over the weekend

to push up the number of active cases in the state to 138.

Four more patients were however discharged after testing negative for the dread virus.

The total confirmed cases in the state stands as 284 out of which 146 have been discharged and five deaths recorded AbdulRazaq said at the official donation of two ambulances buses

by the BUA Group to the state government in Ilorin that the decision to allow gradual easing of lockdown, reopening of businesses and students return to school does not imply that the pandemic has been defeated.

He, however, urged residents in the state and other Nigerians to observe COVID-19 guidelines and protocols.

The governor said described the fight against COVID-19 as everybody’s business, which every citizen should take responsibility for its success.

He commended the BUA Group for donating the ambulance buses to the state government and acknowledged the company’s earlier donation of N100 million to the state government

HURIWA Condemns EFCC’s Inaction on Alleged Fraud in NSITF Miffed by what it described as the temerity displayed by the suspended management staff of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), in rejecting the suspension slammed on them to enable the authority conduct an unfettered investigations of alleged heist of public fund, a prominent civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA)

has expressed disappointment that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is slow to arrest, and investigate the affected officials over the alleged scam.

HURIWA condemned the apparent stubbornness of the suspended management of NSITF in challenging the authority and powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and

for doubting the veracity of the claim by the supervising minister, Dr. Chris Ngige that the President duly sanctioned their suspension for alleged financial misconduct.

“Why did the minister of Labour and Productivity not follow the right step to deal with this sort of alleged scandal by handing these persons over to the Economic and Financial Crimes

Commission (EFCC) for thorough forensic investigations and prosecutions since he is so sure that over N3 billion of public fund was blown away in suspicious circumstances?

Why is the Minister of Labour treating this grave case of heist of public fund as if it is a mere family disagreements of All Progressives Congress?”

HURIWA queried.

Ugwuanyi Offers Scholarship to Brutalised 10-year-old Child In furtherance of the Enugu State government’s contributions to the wellbeing and quick recovery of Miss Nneoma Nnadi, the 10-yearold female househelp, who was brutally injured and maltreated by her guardians, Mrs. Ifeoma Ozougwu and her husband, Mr. Jude Ozougwu, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has approved the award of scholarship, up to

university level, to the little girl.

In a statement issued yesterday by the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chidi Aroh, the state governor also directed the state scholarship board to implement the approval with immediate effect.

Aroh disclosed that the governor “in addition to the

earlier directive to the State Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development to provide and fully pay for the best available medical care for the child, the governor has further directed the immediate release of financial support to the family of the child for their upkeep”.

The information commissioner added that Ugwuanyi expressed

appreciation to the Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police “for their timely and professional intervention” and equally directed the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Miletus Eze to “liaise with the Nigeria Police and ensure that the suspects are brought to justice timely”.

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Dangote Did Not Endorse Any Guber Candidate in Edo, Says Spokesman Group Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, Mr. Anthony Chiejina has refuted an allegation that his boss, Africa’s richest businessman and industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has endorsed the incumbent Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki for a second term in office.

Reacting to a report in an online medium that Dangote told journalists in Abuja that he “shall continue to support his good and reliable friend, Mr. Godwin Obaseki known to have handled stocks and investment portfolios for Dangote Group,” Chiejina said the report was an outright falsehood and a figment

of the imagination of the writers.

According to Chiejina: “Our attention has been drawn to an online publication titled “Edo Guber: Dangote endorses Godwin Obaseki for second tenure”.

“This is the first time that I have seen people publicly campaign for electoral office, using the name of my boss and I have to stop it immediately so that others will not try it in future”.

“The said interview allegedly granted by Aliko Dangote in Abuja is an outright falsehood, a malicious, irresponsible and mischievous act aimed at tarnishing my boss’s reputation. Aliko Dangote has not travelled out

of Lagos since March 19, 2020.

“In fact, he said he has not crossed the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge since that date. His name and personality should not be drawn into any political campaign.”

“Aliko Dangote is an entrepreneur and business leader whose focus is on development, job creation and philanthropy. He has not endorsed anyone for electoral positions in Edo or any other state of Nigeria.”

“We caution the public to ignore claims from any quarter that associate the Dangote name or brand with partisan politics,” Chiejina added.

Fayemi: I Don’t Perceive Ojudu, Adeyeye as Enemies Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has assured that he would not treat any party members as an enemy despite the attacks being launched against him by some leaders in the ongoing crisis rocking the State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This came as the party’s stakeholders in the state passed a vote of confidence on the governor and party executives from the ward to the state level on account of their impressive performances and strict adherence to the party’s vision.

It should be recalled that the former Minister of Works, Senator Dayo Adeyeye; the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu; the Former Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr. Adewale Omirin and 12 others members of the party last week accused Fayemi

of dictatorship and vindictiveness..

A statement jointly signed by the 15 APC chieftains alleged that Fayemi has been dictatorial, sectional and brutish in the running of the party, thereby turning the party organs into instruments of suppression and victimisation.

But speaking at an the APC stakeholders’ meeting that was held on Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Ado Ekiti, Fayemi was quoted to have said that his crisis with Adeyeye, Ojudu and others is a family affair.

A statement on what transpired at the meeting, which was issued on Sunday by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ade Ajayi, quoted Fayemi to have said that “whatever disagreement we have in Ekiti APC is a family affair. I’m not an enemy to anyone and neither is anyone an enemy to me.”

Ajayi said that issues affecting the party were deliberated upon

before the meeting’s vote of confidence was passed on Governor Fayemi after a review of the many projects carried out by his administration, which include road and water projects, schools’ renovation and sinking of boreholes across schools.

Other notable achievements of the governor, according to Ajayi, include the airport project, investments in agriculture and health, social investment, attraction of foreign and domestic investments, making Ekiti proud as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum as well as his quality leadership role at the national level.

Ajayi added: “Avote of confidence wasalsopassedonthepartyexecutives fromthestatetowardlevelforwinning allelectionsconductedsofar,including the presidential, national and state assemblies, as well as local government elections.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Elders Expel Former Chairman Peter Uzoho The Elders’ Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State, has expelled its former Chairman, Chief John Uche, from its fold following what they described as direct plot to tannish the good image and reputation of the incumbent President, Chief Solomon Ogbonna and the entire body for selfish gains.

This came after the chairman of the body was alleged to have accused Ogbonna of rising to the highest position of the famous Igbo social, cultural organisation

with a fake academic certificate.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Elders announced the expulsion of its former chairman in a communique signed by its leaders, including the President, Chief Oliver Akubueze and the President-General of the Igbo Speaking Community, Lagos State, Chief Sunday Udeh.

“It is most unfortunate that we have been confronted recently with the publications of mischief makers and enemies of progress concerning the academic certificate of the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos state, Chief Solomon Ogbonna (Aguene).

“Ordinarily, we would have

overlooked the publication because the points raised by the mischief makers were inconsequential, baseless and illogical. More so, their allegations were sentimentalised; not founded on proof and or evidence of facts,” the elders said.

According to them, “we decided to react because it is always good to set the records straight for purpose of history and also to let the general public know the simple truth about (1) the Certificate allegation and (2) who actually the principal mischief maker is in Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State”.

Stakeholders HostVirtual Conference on Post-COVID-19 African Tourism A rich array of stakeholders in African Tourism and Creative Industry will on Thursday, July 9 converge to deliberate on how best to revive tourism on the continent and how creative and entertainment contents can serve as catalysts for the needed revival after four months of covid-19 pandemic.

The new coronavirus pandemic has triggered an unprecedented

crisis in the tourism economy in Africa.

However, finding immediate recovery and sustenance will be the task of the stakeholders assembled across Africa in a Zoom Webinar designed in honour of the former Commissioner for Tourism Arts and Culture in Lagos State, Mr. Steve Ayorinde.

A journalist, author and

culture aficionado, Ayorinde clocks 50 on the day of the conference.

According to a statement issued on Monday by PRM Africa, the Lead Organiser, the virtual conference is designed as a Pan-African event tagged “Close the Gap Conference” with the theme: “Post-COVID-19: For African Tourism to Revive, Reboot & Refocus.”

MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

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Malabu Oil Deal: Adoke to Sue Italian Prosecutor over Alleged Defamation

Denies ownership of N700m Abuja property The statement noted that because it was not performing.

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has indicated his intention to commence legal action against an Italian prosecutor, Dr. Sergio Spadaro, for linking him with the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 scam, otherwise known as Malabu Oil. Adoke in a statement issued by his solicitors in the United Kingdom, specifically accused the prosecutor of engaging in deliberate lies in order to implicate him in the ongoing criminal trial of Shell and ENI in Milan, Italy.

In the statement issued by one Femi Oboro of GROMYKO AMEDU Solicitors in London, the former AGF also denied ownership of a property in Abuja which the prosecutor had claimed was purchased with his (Adoke) alleged share from the Malabu Oil deal.

In the statement titled, “The Many Lies of the Milan Prosecutor,” Oboro stated that, “although, our client is not on trial in Italy, it would appear the Italian prosecutors, in their bid to get Shell and ENI convicted, no longer have any regard for the truth and are ready to destroy anyone just to achieve their aim”.

Spadaro in his submissions to the court, on July 2, was mischievous when he said that a property valued at N700 million was sold to Adoke by Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, owner of Carlin International Nigeria Ltd, for N500 million.

“He also said our client paid only N300 million with a mortgage from Unity Bank for the property. He said the difference of N200 million was a gift to our client, suggesting that it was a proceed of crime. It is our client’s contention that these allegations are completely false. The facts have been twisted and material facts have been hidden from the court in the most unprofessional manner.”

Oboro explained that Adoke had obtained a mortgage of N300million to purchase the property which was offered to him for N500 million but the deal could not sail through because he could not raise the balance of N200 million.

“However, as the Italian prosecutors also discovered in their forensic investigation, our client could not come up with the N200 million equity contribution to Carlin International Nigeria Ltd. Indeed, he had to pay interests and penalties on the mortgage

“With our client’s inability to pay, Carlin International Nigeria Ltd sold the property to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and refunded the N300 million mortgage to Unity Bank.

“Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar then retrieved the Certificate of Occupancy from Unity Bank and our client’s mortgage account was closed. Most of the facts were confirmed by the prosecution witness, Mr. Ferri Alessandro, in the Milan court.

“To our client’s surprise, the Italian prosecutors, led by Dr Fabio De Pasquale, continue to create the false impression that the property belongs to him, thereby concealing the material fact that he never took possession of the house.

This lie has now been repeated

by Spadaro. This is very unprofessional. Our client has instructed us as his lawyers to report them to the Italian bar for professional misconduct”, the statement read.

The statement however alleged that the Italian prosecutor, is not in this alone but has a Nigerian collaborator in the person of Mr. Olanrewaju Siraj, a human rights activist and anti-corruption campaigner in Nigeria.

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632 Candidates Fail Law School Bar Final Exams Alex Enumah in Abuja The Council of Legal Education has said that 1,864 students of the Nigerian Law School passed the Bar Final Examinations conducted in January, while 632 candidates failed.

The council made this known in a statement signed by the Director-General of the School, Prof. Isa Chiroma yesterday in Abuja.

The council said that a total of 2,515 students participated in the examinations.

Chiroma, who described the performance as outstanding, said that among the 1,864 students who were successful, only five made First Class while 632 others failed the examinations.

“Candidates graded in First Class are five; Second Class Upper, 77; Second Class Lower are 633; those who got pass marks are 1,067 and those with Conditional Pass are 82.

“632 candidates failed the examination, 17 were absent and two results are withheld.”

Chiroma further explained

House Investigates 24 Banks, 14 Oil Companies over $30bn Revenue Leakages Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives will today commence investigative hearing on 24 commercial and non-commercial banks as well as 14 international oil companies (IOCs) over an alleged loss of over $30 billion revenue annually due to leakages.

The investigative hearing which would be conducted in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols would be in phases.

The House joint Committees on Finance and Banking and Currency, which is chaired by Hon. James Faleke and Hon. Victor Nwokolo, will grill officials of the banks and the IOCs during the investigative hearing, with the first phase of the hearing spanning three weeks.

The mandate of the joint committee is to determine in a statutory and professional manner the revenue amount involved in the malpractices by each organisation based on every revenue line item collectible by the government agencies for the purpose of timely recovery into the government accounts.

The oil companies include Nigeria Agip Exploration (NAE); Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC); PAN Ocean Oil Nigeria Limited,

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Producing Company Limited; Esso Exploration and Producing Nigeria Limited, and Mobile Producing Nigeria Limited.

Others are Statoil Company Limited; Shell Petroleum Development Company; Star Deep Water Petroleum Nigeria Limited and Total E and P Nigeria Limited; Total Upstream Nigeria Limited; Sterling Oil Exploration Energy Limited; Addax Petroleum Development Company Limited and Addax Exploration Limited.

The House had on March 5, 2020, passed a resolution mandating the two committees to carry out the investigation following the adoption of a motion by Faleke.

The lawmakers had expressed concern that the billions of dollars revenue leakages may have been due to tax evasion, malpractices, misuse and diversion of foreign exchange allocations by companies and other entities.

In adopting the motion, the House said it would also investigate the disbursement of foreign exchange by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other agencies to determine the exact amount that the government may have lost in the process.

that only 0.2 per cent made First Class, 3.06 per cent made Second Class Upper, 25.17 per cent made Second Class Lower and 42.42

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have vowed to mobilise workers to fight the ‘unfair’ labour practices being meted out to Nycil workers in Sango Ota, Ogun State, by their management.

This is even as the two unions representing the workers; the National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and

Non Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), and Chemical and Non Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) have accused the federal government of allegedly supporting the management of the company in its bid to sack the workers without recourse to industrial relations law of the country.

The workers, who have been picketing the company since last

Chinedu Eze Major Nigerian carrier, Arik Air, has announced that it would resume domestic flights on July 8, 2020.

The airline said it would resume flight service following the federal government decision to re-open Lagos and Abuja airports for flight operations.

The airline said it would be operating three times daily from Lagos to Abuja in the first phase of the restart, while Port Harcourt

Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, has disagreed with the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, for describing the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as a non performing and failed party.

Adeyemi had while contributing to a motion last Wednesday on the

urgent need for the completion and take off of the federal government aquaculture project at Idah, Kogi State, moved by Senator Isah Jibrin, accused the PDP of squandering available resources between 1999 and 2015 when it controlled the government at the centre.

Abaribe, however, was quick to tell Adeyemi to confine himself to the motion in question, saying he knew and could mention names

and Call to Bar ceremony dates for the successful candidates would be communicated in due course.

would be added to the schedule from July 11, 2020, when the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, would reopen for operations.

“Passengers have been assured of their safety and well-being at every stage of their flight as the airline has put various measures in place in line with COVID-19 health protocols as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Federal Government

of Nigeria.

“Passengers are advised to arrive at the airport three hours before scheduled departure time so as to have ample time to undergo all security and health protocols before flight.

Furthermore, all passengers are required to come properly kitted with their face masks,” the airline said.

Arik Air Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, also explained that: “We are ready to fly our esteemed

customers again. All preparations have been made to make flying in this extraordinary period in the world safe and pleasurable. Arik has worked actively with aviation agencies for an effective re-start of the industry and also ensure that agreed health measures are effectively implemented.”

Arik Air suspended flight operations on March 27 following the escalation of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

We Didn’t Engage in Contract Splitting, NSITF Mgt Replies Ngige Onyebuchi Ezigbo The suspended management of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has denied being culpable of the allegation of impropriety level against it by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The ministry, while giving reasons for suspending the NSITF management, said some of the infractions uncovered at the Fund included N3.4 billion squandered on non-existent staff training split into about 196 different consultancy contracts in order to evade the Ministerial Tenders Board and Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.

According to the ministry’s statement signed by the Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, Charles Akpan, non-existent unexecuted contracts worth N2.3 billion was documented and paid while N1.1 billion is awaiting payment without any job done, all totaling N3.4 billion.

However, the suspended management said in a statement yesterday that all training, contracts and rehabilitation carried out by NSITF received

Monday due to the lockout by the management, got the cheering news from their leaders yesterday of the support from other Nigerian workers.

The President of NUCFRLANMPE, who is also the head of National Trustee of the NLC, Goke Olatunji, said the union has the assurance of the labour organisations for the total shut down of the company until the management follows due process.

Abaribe Tackles Adeyemi over Attack on PDP Deji ElumoyeinAbuja

cent failed the examinations, 0.7 per cent were absent and 0.8 per cent results were being withheld.

He also said that screening

Arik Air to Resume Domestic Flights on July 8

NLC,TUCVow to Defend Nycil Workers Ugo Aliogo

per cent passed.

He said other performances include a 3.26 per cent for those with conditional pass, 25.12 per

of those who benefitted under the PDP administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to Abaribe, “I will like to make this very small contribution.

While we commend this motion, the rest of the members of the Senate know that some people benefited by going in the night to the Presidential Villa every time as member of the inner caucus of the President Jonathan government.”

the approvals of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and the National Assembly.

The suspended management of the Fund, which stated this in Abuja yesterday, also denied the allegation of contract splitting made by Ngige.

According to it, “There was no contract splitting as claimed by the minister. The various training referred to were budgeted for in 2017, 2018 and 2019 appropriations

for over 5,000 staff nationwide, and Procurement Planning Committee meetings were held for the procurement of goods, works and services to commence the procurement activities. All these details were included in the budget for these years, taken for budget defence in the supervising ministry; it was officially endorsed by the minister, approved and transmitted to the National

Assembly for necessary approval during the budget defences for these years.”

Another allegation the minister levelled again the suspended management was that the project of the construction of 14 zonal/ regional offices in 14 states running into billions of naira was a policy that was done without the knowledge of board or ministerial let alone approval.

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Seven Persons Dead, 16 Rescued in Lagos Boat Mishap Sunday Ehigiator The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has revealed that seven persons have lost their lives, while 16 others were rescued in a capsized boat incident, which occurred along Ebute-Ero waterway in Lagos, on Friday, July 3.

In a signed statement issued yesterday by the Chief Executive Officer of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, “the boat capsized at the aforementioned location around 8p.m on Friday, July 3, having departed EbuteEro enroute Ikorodu in violation of night-time restrictions.

“Search and rescue operations, alongside the

LASWA dive team commenced under extremely challenging nightfall conditions and have been concluded as at today, Sunday, July 5.

“Final tally revealed a total of 21 passengers and two crew members were aboard the capsized vessel. A total of 16 (inclusive of crew) were rescued

alive while seven (female) were recovered having lost their lives.

“Members of the public are reminded to abide by the

safety regulations of the state, including appropriate usage of life jackets and restrictions on timing and plying of the waterways.”

DHQ: Military Clashed with Insurgents 17 Times in June Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) at the weekend said troops clashed 17 times with insurgents in the North-east in the month of June.

The clashes resulted in the death of 75 insurgents and an army officer while 35 captives were liberated.

Giving an update on the war against insurgency, the Directorate of Defence Media Operations (DDMO) said the encounters also led to the capture of assorted arms and large cache of ammunition, including one anti-aircraft gun, 13 AK 47 rifles, one sniper rifle, 21 locally made guns, two dane guns and one Rocket-Propelled Gun (RPG).

Others include three hand grenades, five Rocket Propelled Gun (RPG), bombs, 205 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition; 1,018 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and two Boko Haram flags.

“In their resolve to end BHT/ ISWAP menace in the North-east region from June 1 to 30, 2020, the gallant troops of Operation Lafiya Dole had a total of 17 encounters with the marauding criminals, neutralising 75 of them in the process.

“Regrettably, one officer paid the supreme price, while one soldier was wounded in action. The wounded personnel has since been evacuated to a military medical facility where

he is recuperating,” it said.

The update issued by Coordinator of DDMO, Major General John Enenche, said troops rescued 35 captives from the captivity of Boko Haram and ISWAP terror groups.

“Amongst those rescued are 18 women, 16 children and one adult male. The rescued children were promptly administered with polio vaccine in line with the Buratai Intervention Initiative, while the women were administered with first aid as required,” it said.

Enenche said four terrorists, including two women namely Aishatu Manye and Kelune Mate were captured and later identified to be the wives of the local Boko Haram commander at Gajingi in Madagali LGA of Adamawa State.

Also, the troops arrested one Boko Haram spy named Kawalu during a Jumaat prayer at Michika Central Mosque and one Boko Haram fighter captured in the aftermath of an encounter at Miyanti general area in Bama LGA of Borno State.

He said the period under review also witnessed the surrender of four Boko Haram fighters while the trio of Mohammed Babagana, Modu Jugudun and Alhaji Usman surrendered to troops of Delta Company at Strong Response Area Pulka in Gwoza LGA of Borno State even as one Mustapha Kori surrendered to troops of Army Super Camp 11 Gamboru in Ngala LGA of Borno State.

Physical Distancing Impossible on Flights, Says Aviation Minister The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has said it is almost impossible to achieve physical distancing on flights without hurting the revenue of airlines.

He said this during a webinar attended by stakeholders in the aviation sector. The webiner focused on the status of the industry restart.

Sirika was responding to a question from the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi, who wondered if social distancing would affect the prices of airfares.

The minister said total social distancing was impossible to attain in the airplanes.

He said, “The person sitting beside or behind you is not two meters away from you.

“When people say they would block one seat between passengers, what of the guy behind you and the one in front of you? The guy in front of you is in danger, should you

sneeze or cough, you are actually coughing over his head.

“It is very difficult to achieve because it means you have to take a sit on my left, right in front and behind to achieve at least 0.5 meters.”

Sirika said achieving social distancing on flights would mean that airlines stick with 40 per cent of their carrying capacity.

He argued, “To achieve that you are saying 30 or 40 per cent capacity should be allowed.

I think we should research more between today and over the weekend to come up with something that we can announce soon.

“I cannot see us achieving physical distancing within the airplane and make money.”

He challenged stakeholders to come up with some ingenious way of achieving safety within the cabin rather than physical distancing.

COURTESY VISIT...

L-R: Governor of Yobe States, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni (left), and his Gombe State counterpart, Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, during a courtesy visit to Buni at Government House in Damaturu ... weekend

Lagos Discharges 45 More COVID-19 Patients Martins Ifijeh The Lagos State Government has discharged 45 additional COVID-19 patients from its isolation centres, bringing to 1740 the number of successfully treated persons in the state.

Announcing this yesterday, the state Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu said 27 of the patients are males, while 18 are females, including four foreign nationals.

He said: “19 of the patients were discharged from Eti-

Osa, 11 from Onikan and 15 from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) isolation centres.

“With this, the number of COVID-19 cases successfully managed and discharged from L a g o s i s o l a t i o n c e n t re s

has risen to 1740.

“Remember, it is now a criminal offense in Lagos State to go out without using a facemask.

Let’s adhere strictly to public advisories given by government,” he said.

Senate to Honour Osinowo on Wednesday Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate will on July 8, 2020, honour its late member, Senator Bayo Osinowo, with a valedictory service.

Already, the leadership of the Senate has formally invited the immediate family of the deceased and Lagos State Government to the session scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Senate chambers.

Sources told THISDAY at the weekend that the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, last Friday led a seven-man team not only to commiserate

with the wife and children of the late senator at his Lagos home, but to also inform and invite them to the valedictory session next Wednesday.

The Senate delegation was also at the Marina, the residence of the state Governor, Babajide SanwoOlu, to commiserate with the state government over the death of the Lagos East senator as well as to also invite the state government to be part of the valedictory session.

The last port of call of the

team was the Bourdillion, Ikoyi residence of former state Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, where the team leader, Senator Abdullahi, took time to pray for the repose of the soul of Osinowo, a known member of the inner caucus of Tinubu until his death.

Other members of the delegation were Senate Deputy Leader, Robert Boroffice; Senators Tolu Odebiyi, Opeyemi Bamidele, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, Sandy Onor and Olamilekan Adeola.

The upper legislative

chamber had last Wednesday postponed the valedictory service for Osinowo, due to the absence of his family members, friends and associates.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Ajibola Basiru, had said the valedictory session for Osinowo, who died in Lagos on June 15, could not hold as scheduled on Wednesday because the family members were held up in Lagosdue to COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Buhari Commended for 2nd Niger Bridge, New Zonal Police Command David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka President Muhammadu Buhari has been commended for the pace of work at the second Niger Bridge, the ongoing work at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu and the establishment of new zonal police command in Anambra.

Notable philanthropist and oil magnate, Prince Arthur Eze in a press statement issued by his media consultant, Mr. Oliver Okpala, in Awka, quoted Eze as thanking the president for “showing love to the people of the South-east” through the

projects.

Speaking on the creation of Zone 13 Police Command sited in Anambra State, Eze said, “President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police have demonstrated uncommon goodwill towards the people of the South-east geo-political zone and should now be rest assured of our unalloyed support and loyalty.

“The president has continued to endear himself in the hearts of Igbos through the massive provision of economic and infrastructure facilities to the zone.

“The second Niger bridge

project at Onitsha and the modernisation and uplifting of the Akanu Ibiam Airport to an international standard with modern runway and facilities that can compete favourably with any airport in any part of the world, are steps worthy of commendation.”

Eze commended Buhari for the fight against insecurity and insurgency in the country, while also stating that the approval of the zone 13 Police Command will further help ensure security in the South-east.

“This demonstration of good faith by the president which

includes the appointment of notable Igbo sons and daughters into top positions in government are so legendary in the annals of the history of the Igbo race.

“I also commend the Inspector General of police for the appointment of a new Assistant Inspector General of police AIG, to take charge of the zone immediately in his recent posting of AIGs.” The new zonal police command sited in Ukpo, Dunukofia LGA, near Awka, the Anambra State capital, will be inaugurated on Wednesday.

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MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 •T H I S D AY

MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Former Barca President Wants Oshoala, Other Femeni Stars Out of Camp Nou Femi Solaja with agency report Super Falcons’ Captain and current African Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala’s bolstering career at Barcelona Femeni may be short-lived should the current board of the club decide to toe the suggestion put forward by former President Sandro Rosell.

Rosell, who was one of the best leaders the Spanish outfit ever had, proposed a quick fix solution to the club’s dwindling financial problems by suggesting that other sports units like the Barcelona Femeni, basketball and the rest arms of the Catalan sports club be scrapped to improve the situation at Camp Nou. Nigeria’s Oshoala is one of the leading figures of Barcelona’s female football team. The Barca Femeni just retained the league and are still in contention for the UEFA Champions League this season. They were runners up last season after a painful 1-4

loss to Lyon in the final match.

But Rosell, in an interview with Spanish media, Diario Sport said: “Barcelona have too many things at hand at the moment. We have to sit down and analyse in-depth if we really need all the professional teams across all sports, the amateur teams, the Foundation,� observed the former chief of the Catalan club.

Rosell went further: “If we don’t, we will lose out. We cannot cover everything, and everything that is not football causes us to lose competitive capacity with the big clubs in Europe, who are only dedicated to football. Someone has to be brave enough to do it,� stressed the former president.

Barcelona are a multi-sports club consisting of several sports entities: including men’s football team, two Barcelona’s reserve teams, women’s football team, women’s football reserve team, men’s basketball team, women’s basketball team, futsal team,

handball team, hockey team, ice hockey team, rugby team etc.

Apparently, the former Barca chieftain wanted FC Barcelona to only consist of men’s football teamwhich sounds totally unfair to other sports entities.

Unfortunately, Barcelona’s

basketball team is the oldest club in the Spanish league.

They have won 18 Spanish championships since 1926.

While Barcelona Femeni, the club’s women’s football team, are one of the most successful sides in Spain. They have won

the league title on five occasions.

And pundits are already condemning the suggestion as been too harsh to get rid of other sports sections only because Barcelona’s men’s football team have been struggling recently.

The football team which is the flagship of the Barcelona project, has been struggling lately with coach Quique Setien’s men four points behind rivals, Real Madrid after three consecutive La Liga tittles.

Osimhen Will Become a Super Star with Napoli, Says Lille’s Lopez Lille President Gerard Lopez has given the strongest hint yet that Victor Osimhen is headed for Napoli after predicting the striker will become a super star at the Italian club and that he also advised him to move to the club. “Napoli is just below Juventus and Barcelona, but is on the same level as AtlĂŠtico Madrid. If he goes there he will become a superstar,â€? predicted the Lille president who is keen on cashing on the youngster’s red hot value in the transfer market.

The Lille boss revealed he also chose Napoli for Osimhen. “We have received several bids for Victor. We have exchanged many opinions,� Lopez told French media La Voix du Nord. “He asked me (where to move) and I gave him the name of the

club that I think is best for him, based on his playing style, the coach and planned progress. “He has the quality to play under pressure and I believe he would have a city like Napoli at his feet, which would be a unique thing in the career of a player.

Osimhen returned to France after his trip to Naples, where he met manager Gennaro Gattuso and held contract talks with President Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Though Osimhen has yet to agree personal terms with Napoli, the Italian and French clubs are thrashing out a fee for the former Wolfsburg starlet.

Osimhen, 21, scored 18 goals and provided six assists in 38 games for Lille this past season.

He was voted the best African player in the French topflight.

Footballer Electrocuted in Betting Shop in Lagos It was a sad end to one Taiwo Akinlusi, popularly known as Sir Tee among his football fans as he was electrocuted on Saturday, when his head mistakenly came in contact with a naked electric wire.

Akinlusi was said to be disembarking the staircase of a plaza where he went to stake in football betting at Ile-Epo Bus-stop in Ejigbo area of Lagos State when his head touched the naked wire.

According to www.bsnsports. com, an eyewitness, Mr. Abiodun Adaranijo explained that, while coming down from the stairs after betting at the plaza, the deceased touched a naked electric wire dangling above his head.

Adaranijo said he (the deceased) ought to have bent his head to avoid the wire but he did not take note of the clumsily dangling wires.

According to Adaranijo, it was not the first time Akinlusi would pass through the staircase and bypass the wire even on that fateful. He was said to be in a hurry to

go back home after placing the bet.

The deceased was said to be a footballer playing for Ejigbo All Stars FC. His corpse was later deposited in the mortuary at the Isolo General Hospital.

The Chairman of Ailegun Community Development Association (CDA), Mr. Bimbo Olawale, who confirmed the incident, said it was unfortunate, stressing that the residents have always be warned to be cautious of their electrical wiring to avoid such incidents. “We always warn people to be security conscious. We tell them that security include anything that can affect human life such as electricity in terms of wiring. “The incident was an unfortunate one and we pray not to experience such again but we must always be conscious.

The incident has affected the power supply in the community, the supply to the area has to be switched off but we have contacted Ikeja Electric to come and fix it,� he said.

Asisat Oshioala (left) in jubilant mood after one of her many victories with Barcelona Femeni during the 2019/20 season

Iheanacho Hails Vardy on Premier League Century Feat Nigeria and Leicester City forward, Kelechi Iheanacho, has congratulated his teammate, Jamie Vardy, after the Englishman scored his 100th and 101st Premier League goals as Leicester got their hunt for UEFA Champions League ticket back on track with a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Vardy, stuck on 99 goals since his double in a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa in the final match before the lockdown, netted Leicester’s second and third in a 3-0 win after Iheanacho

had opened the scoring.

The former Fleetwood striker, who became the first ÂŁ1million signing from a non-league club when he joined the Foxes in the summer of 2012, finally reached the milestone in his 205th game. “Back to winning ways.

Congrats to @Vardy7 on reaching the 100 club,� Iheanacho wrote on his Twitter handle yesterday.

It marks Leicester’s first win since the resumption of the Premier League after drawing with Watford, Brighton and

Hove Albion before losing to Everton.

The Foxes remain in third place as a result of the victory, but will need to be watchful of Chelsea and Manchester United who are just one and three points behind, respectively, on the table, which is making for an intense race to finish in the lucrative Champions League places.

Leicester are due to travel to London on Tuesday to confront Arsenal – who saw off Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 on Saturday.

Jamie Vardy‌scores century goals

Super Falcons’ Ogebe to be Unveiled by Polish Club Today Polish Ekstraliga side Sportis KKP Bydgoszcz have completed the signing

Alice Ogebe to be unveiled by Polish Ekstraliga side, Sportis KKP Bydgoszcz, today

of Nigeria international Alice Ogebe on a one-year contract.

Ogebe is expected to be unveiled by Bydgoszcz today and will likely make her debut against Medyk Konin in a preseason warm-up match at Sielska Stadium on July 8.

The Bydgoszcz-based outfit secured the Super Falcons striker as a free agent after she parted ways with Spanish Primera Iberdrola side Real Betis following the expiration of her one-year contract.

According to Goal.com, Ogebe, who arrived from Nigerian side Rivers Angels last September, made eight appearances for the B

team, scoring five goals in seven starts before being promoted to the A team in January.

With the A team, the 25-yearold only featured twice, against Deportivo La Coruna and Madrid CFF, before suffering an injury in January and she was unable to return due to the coronavirus cancellation.

Ogebe’s exit means four Nigerians have left Spanish top-flight outfits this summer after Osinachi Ohale, Peach Efih and Uchenna Kanu quit Real Madrid, Sporting Huelva and Sevilla, respectively.

After finishing 11th with just four points from 12

matches before the coronavirus cancellation last season, they will seek to challenge for domestic glory in their 2020-21 Polish Ekstraliga campaign.

She could prove to be a huge bargain with experience, having enjoyed a brief stint with Red Star Belgrade in Serbia and also featured at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France last summer.

Having arrived from Spain in the Polish city on Saturday, Bydgoszcz has made the Nigerian striker their first major signing since the renaming and merger of the Polish outfit early last month.

Premier League: Saints Humble Man City Che Adams scored his first Premier League goal yesterday in spectacular style as Southampton withstood a Manchester City barrage to earn 1-0 victory in a lively encounter at St Mary’s.

Adams, who joined Saints from Birmingham City for ÂŁ15m last July, lobbed goalkeeper Ederson with a first-time strike from 40 yards out after Oleksandr Zinchenko had surrendered

possession in midfield.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made six changes to the side that thrashed champions Liverpool 4-0 at Etihad Stadium on Thursday, with key playmaker Kevin de Bruyne among those initially rested.

The goal drew an intense reaction from City, as Fernandinho hit the post and

the in-form Alex McCarthy kept out David Silva’s header in the aftermath.

The visitors rarely let up thereafter but were repeatedly left frustrated by Saints goalkeeper McCarthy, whose one-handed save from Gabriel Jesus in the second half was the pick of several superb stops.

Southampton had chances of their own amid the increasing

City pressure but neither Nathan Redmond nor Danny Ings could convert rare opportunities, while Ederson was alert to Stuart Armstrong’s swerving shot.

There was to be no repeat of City’s comeback to win the reverse fixture 2-1 in November and defeat leaves Guardiola’s side 23 points behind Liverpool, who beat Aston Villa 2-0 earlier yesterday.

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MONDAYSPORTS PREMIER LEAGUE

Champions Liverpool Add to Aston Villa’s Relegation Worries Liverpool marked their first home game since becoming Premier League champions with victory, scoring twice in the second half to see off a stubborn Aston Villa.

The Reds, who were beaten by Manchester City 4-0 on Thursday, were far from their best with the opening goal coming from just their second shot on target, Sadio Mane lashing Naby Keita’s cross in via the underside of the crossbar.

Until then Villa had looked like earning a precious and unexpected point and had even had chances to go ahead themselves, with Alisson parrying away Anwar El

Ghazi’s fierce shot early in the second half.

Mane’s strike clearly deflated the visitors and they fell further behind just before full-time when Curtis Jones celebrated signing a new long-term deal by volleying home his first Premier League goal.

The victory means Liverpool have now won all 17 Premier League games at Anfield this season and extends their winning run at home to 24 league games, stretching back to a 1-1 draw with Leicester in January 2019.

Defeat for Villa means they remain in the relegation zone in 18th, one point

adrift of safety and still searching for their first win since the Premier League was restarted.

Liverpool now have 89 points from 33 games and can still break Manchester City’s top-flight record of 100 points in a season with

five matches remaining and 15 points available.

This was a welcome return to winning ways for Liverpool in their first Anfield game since a first league title win in 30 years was confirmed.

After the thrashing at

Etihad Stadium, boss Jurgen Klopp said that his side had not lost any focus after achieving their main objective, but they were distinctly below par in a scrappy opening half against Villa.

After being given a guard

of honour by the visitors before kick-off, Liverpool struggled to get into any sort of rhythm and did not register a first shot on target until shortly before half-time when Mane’s snapshot was comfortably saved by former Reds keeper Pepe Reina.

BUNDESLIGA

Bayern Want to Keep Alaba, Liverpool-linked Thiago Bayern Munich Head Coach, Hansi Flick, has said that he is determined to keep defender David Alaba and midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who has been linked to a move to Liverpool. “I will do everything I can to ensure that we can keep two such quality players,� said Flick after the Bundesliga champions completed the double with a 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final on Saturday. “I’m trying to keep the squad together as it is at the moment.�

Both Alaba, who scored the opening goal in Berlin, and Alcantara, a second-half replacement in the cup final, only have a year left on their contracts.

Alcantara, 29, is of particular concern as the Spanish media has linked him to a move to Liverpool, but Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says no offer has yet been received. “We have negotiated with him seriously and granted all his wishes, but it looks like he wants to do something

new at the end of his career,�

Rummenigge told Germany’s dailynewspaper Bild.

However, Flick hopes to persuade Alcantara, who joined Bayern in 2013: “I’ll do my best to make sure he stays. “You could see that he identifies 100 per cent with the club,� Flick added after the Spaniard enthusiastically took part in the cup final celebrations.

Flick also thinks Robert Lewandowski, the man-ofthe-match after scoring twice in Berlin to leave him on 51 goals this season, is a Ballon d’Or candidate. “When you see that he has scored 34 times in the league, it’s quite enough to make you think that a player from the Bundesliga could be world footballer of the year,�

Flick said as Lewandowski was crowned German league top-scorer last weekend for the fifth time.

Bayern, who are chasing the treble, are among the favourites for the Champions League knock-out stages to be held in Lisbon next month.

Ramos’ Penalty Gives Real Madrid Vital Win at Bilbao Sergio Ramos scored the only goal for a second consecutive game as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 to go seven points clear at the top of La Liga.

Ramos slammed home a penalty - just as he did on Thursday against Getafe after Dani Garcia fouled Marcelo in a decision given

by VAR. He has scored five goals in seven matches - all wins - since the restart.

Defending champions Barcelona visited Villarreal last night looking to bring the gap back to four points.

Real Madrid’s win over Athletic Bilbao was a game of few goal-scoring chances, with Thibaut Courtois making only one save.

Courtois became the first goalkeeper to keep 17 clean sheets for Real in a single La Liga season since Francisco

Buyo in 1994/95.

Zinedine Zidane’s side only need to win three of their remaining four games to secure a second La Liga title since 2012.

Sergio Ramos up in the air celebrating his Real Madrid’s lone goal against Athletic Bilbao‌yesterday

Liverpool players celebrating Curtis Jones’ last-gasp second goal in the Reds 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa‌yesterday afternoon

Blow to Barca as Xavi Extends Contract at Qatari’s Al-Sadd Barcelona fans will have to wait another year for Xavi to take over at the Nou Camp as he has signed a new contract at Al-Sadd.

The 40-year-old has signed a new contract with the Qatari side for the 2020-21 season.

The former midfielder responded to the announcement saying he is ‘happy’ to renew his contract and that he is working with the club’s management ‘on a number of issues, including the renewal of Akram Afif’s contract, and signing foreign players to replace Gabi and Marco Fabian.’ Xavi took over at Al-Sadd

in 2019 in what is his first managerial role. During his first season, he won the Qatari Super Cup and the Qatar Cup. Though, he has previously admitted that it is his ‘dream’ to return to Barcelona as their manager.

Xavi even claimed that he and his coaching staff are preparing to take charge of Barcelona in the future.

Xavi had been touted as the next manager to take over the club, given current manager Quique Setien’s recent form.

The 61-year-old has endured a tough tenure at the helm of the Catalan giants since replacing

Ernesto Valverde in January.

Under his tutelage, Barcelona have been knocked off the top of the table in Spain. They restarted their campaign two points clear of Real Madrid but now sit four points behind their rivals, that is if they defeated Villarreal in their late Sunday night game.

Setien has even been forced to deny that he has lost the dressing room following reports of rising tensions between staff and players.

It was believed that Xavi would be called in to take over from Setien next season but such a move will now have to

be postponed.

The midfield maestro is regarded as a legend at Barcelona, making 767 firstteam appearances for the LaLiga giants, and joining the club aged 11 years before progressing through their world-renowned La Masia academy system.

He won eight La Liga titles alongside three Copa del Rey crowns and four Champions League trophies in his total of 25 titles with the club.

Given his success at the club, fans would be more than happy to see their former captain return to the Nou Camp as their manager.

Serie A: 10-man Bologna Fight Back to Stun Inter Milan The 10 men of Bologna staged a stunning comeback to deny Inter Milan the chance to move within a point of second-placed Lazio in Serie A. Former Super Eagles winger, Victor Moses was not listed in Inter’s line up for the game.

Musa Barrow struck the winner from inside the box late on, just six minutes after Musa Juwara equalised.

Romelu Lukaku had opened the scoring when he tapped in the rebound after Lautaro Martinez’s header hit the post.

Martinez missed the chance to double his side’s lead from the spot, after Bologna’s Roberto Soriano was sent off.

Both sides finished with 10 men as Alessandro Bastoni was shown a second yellow card

with the score poised at 1-1.

Antonio Conte’s Inter remain third in the table, four points behind Lazio, while Bologna move up to ninth.

Speaking after the game, exasperated Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte blamed himself after watching his team collapse again on Sunday. “There’s a great, indeed enormous, disappointment,� said Conte whose side were leading 10-man Bologna when they missed a second-half penalty and conceded twice to go down 2-1 to late goals

by Gambian pair Musa Juwara and Musa Barrow. “We managed to lose a match that we should have brought home comfortably.

I’m angry with myself as

the coach and responsible for what happens on the pitch,� said Conte. “The players must also be angry with themselves although they only have a small part of the blame.�

There was a long delay before Conte spoke to the press and some Italian media reports said he was involved in a meeting with club directors. “It’s right to question all of us, first of all me because I was called to bring Inter back to victory after so many years,� he said. “Of course, it won’t happen overnight but this situation brings a lot of bitterness. “We have not reached the standard we set ourselves.

Everyone has to show they want to rise above the past years, otherwise it’s right to make other decisions�.

Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was happy with the result but also frustrated that his team, who are ninth, took so long to get going. “We were poor in the first 20 minutes, we were afraid and there were too many wayward passes,� he said. “We really looked a completely different team in the second half. “It wasn’t easy to be a goal down with ten men; this is a great victory, with character and conviction. However, we’ve sometimes waited to concede before we start to play.

That’s not okay – we need to play from the off.�

Monday July 6, 2020

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Price: N250

MISSILE

Saraki to APC

“The statement credited to the APC, the ruling party in our country, is one of the ways by which our anti-graft agencies are weakened and why the fight against corruption in the country is often viewed with suspicion by the international community. This is because when these cyber-crime suspects were operating freely and openly displaying wealth, the APC saw nothing bad in their activities” – Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, attacking the All Progressives Congress for linking him with a cyber-crime suspect, Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi.

OKEYIKECHUKWU

EDIFYING ELUCIDATIONS

okey.ikechukwu@thisdaylive.com

Katsina State as Metaphor I

t is the home state of the President and Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces.

But it appears to be neither safe, nor capable of guaranteeing the safety of its chiefs and their subjects. It is one of the most raided, most vandalised and most traumatised by bandits and sundry miscreants.

Local economies have collapsed, in the face of the relentless, unchallenged and barefaced onslaught of opportunistic criminality. It is the state where a traditional ruler who is related to persons holding the highest offices in the land was kidnapped and held hostage for months, until he was finally let go after a ransom was paid. It has been a long tale of very depressing references, amidst claims that much of the current problems should be blamed on the immediate past governor.

Then, just two weeks ago, a group known as The Indigenous People of Katsina called on the federal government to “urgently declare a state of emergency in the state, following the high level of insecurity in Katsina State.”

Interestingly, the group in question is said to be based in Abuja. Baffling, isn’t it; that Katsina Youth Vanguard should float an “indigenous” platform in Abuja, complain about wanton killing of innocent people in the state and aver that the state government could no longer guarantee the safety of the people; and of the environment? Perhaps they use correspondents and liaison officers to maintain their indigeneship, while operating from their base in Abuja. This is all so untidy and clearly indicative of a socio-political quagmire that is replicated in nearly every state of the federation.

It is not about region, zone, or political party affiliation. It never has been anyway. Look wherever you may, the story is the same.

Public office holders are heavily weighted in entitlements and privileges, but barely have anything to show in terms of service to the people. Have you heard anyone talk about cutting down the confounding entitlements of our lawmakers, to save money because of the COVID pandemic? Has the dispute with doctors and others been resolved? What are the real issues in the FG/ASUU controversy?

How much is involved in the ongoing trade disputes that the federal government cannot afford, if only it will prioritise appropriately?

Whose life has been impacted for the better because of the hundreds of billions of naira miraculously distributed to the allegedly poor?

What has improved in medical services, after four full months of a global emergency? Which hospitals have improved? Why are medical personnel yet to be properly provided for at a time like this? Has power supply, internal security, public transportation, or anything whatsoever, improved commendably?

And our state governments have been preparing and “implementing” budgets since 1999. Pray, what do we have on the table?

Who says that the PDP has any exceptionally elevated moral right to criticise the current government that is running its tried and tested template for leadership irresponsibility? Well, we must admit that the current government is a little tad more robust in the display of incompetence. Its inability to operate smoothly and successfully deceive us into believing that it is doing a lot, is one area in which it has clearly underperformed when compared with the PDP. Thus, the APC’s public bungling

Masari puts its to shame for reasons other than the presumed superior capacity of the PDP. But we are digressing.

Let us recall that the Government of Katsina State reached a ceasefire agreement with bandits some time ago. What are the dividends of that agreement, if any? I think nothing. It should have been obvious from the start that nothing would be achieved, anyway. This very point was made on this page on November 20, 2019, under the title: “Masari’s Appeal to bandits.” The question asked in the above article, which can also now be addressed to Mr. President and many others is: “Can national security be guaranteed by an agreement with bandits, marauders and sundry predatory forces operating outside the bounds of rationality and preying upon the state?” The point made then, which is also still valid is: “It is good governance, an enlightened citizenry and strong institutions of state that could create the right mix of variables to ensure sustainable national security. Wherever these variables are missing, the state is forced to invest more in the instruments of coercion than in real developmental projects. It is in such situations that public office holders are forced to measure their success as leaders

by looking at their respective expenditure headings, rather than actual improvement in the things that matter. Once ad-hoc, jaundiced and puerile engagements are celebrated as feats of uncommon achievement, leadership is in grave and conspicuous decline.”

The last quote above captures our national circumstance today. The appeal, late last year,

by Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State to bandits in his state, to keep to the terms of their peace deal, was at once a puerile, empty and roundly incomprehensible approach to statecraft.

It all sounds like the equally embarrassing and repetitive “directives” of the president to the armed forces and security agencies, instructing them to end the insurgency in the land. It is like the repeated reports of how Mr. President is “saddened” by the killings and wanton brigandage everywhere. As I asked in the aforementioned article: “Should a state governor negotiate with bandits and make such negotiation public? Should pictures taken during such negotiations be proudly displayed, to show that the government is “working”? Is law and order, or belief in the supremacy of the state, likely to be strengthened by a public display of armed criminals wielding banned assault rifles and cheerfully posing in a photograph with the supposed chief security officer of a state? How will the bandits who have agreed to suspend operations sustain themselves, other than by scaled down banditry or state ransom? And is this a sustainable template for survival and development?

As things stand today, Katsina State has become a metaphor for the helplessness, unclear trajectory and reprehensible in competence of the Nigerian State. Like the federal government, the state is rumoured to be doing a lot. Like the federal government, the state government has made several appeals to the people and also called on the armed forces and security agencies to “fish out the miscreants” and end the nonsense going on everywhere. The challenge, however, is how to move from speech making to concrete action. Again, as I said on this page “…Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Dr. Michael Opara, as leaders of the erstwhile three regions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria… came in with a sense of purpose that was largely focused on the people and

This is what you get when limited, and sometime jaundiced regime programmes and propaganda take the place of national development plans. Celebration of unearned income is the new goal of almost every aspiring public office holder, or politician today. Fraud now walks the land as a national philosophy of leadership, relevance and survival; while the nation is under the sway of people who without ideas talk about development

the living environment. They had a certain sense of personal dignity, which is perhaps painfully lacking in most of our leaders of today; …. They also had the right indices for measuring the purpose and impact of public expenditure on the people. That is why, even with a fraction of the humongous funds now at the disposal of our current leaders, the older generation of leaders managed far bigger administrative units and achieved much more than what we are seeing today.” I shall conclude by reaffirming the submissions in the following five paragraphs, as noted in the aforementioned article.

“Further still on the inanity of leadership in many states today, once you take away some gestural engagements, a few outing here and there, as well as the photo opportunities associated with them, most of our leaders are on a perpetual, publicly funded trip of debauchery, self-inflation and aggrandisement.

That is why state responsibilities are seen as favours whenever, as is not often the case, official duties are carried out at all. It is no longer a question of which political party is in power, or whether a road was tarred or not. It is now a question of our collective humanity: the fact that debauchery has become the norm. It is the fact that the growing insecurity and sectionalism is more due to undeveloped human capital, elite ignorance and consumption, and the abiding practice of living of phony money. Is it not phony wealth for all the banks in a country to be posting huge profits in billions of Naira while they have no record of investment in the sectors that promote growth, job creation, industry, agriculture, etc.? The problem, or at least part of it, lies in the dominance of a progressively less enlightened elite that has lost every capacity to distinguish between “evidence, or at least records, of government expenditure” and “proof of the impact of government policies, programmes and activities on the welfare of citizens.”

This is what you get when limited, and sometime jaundiced regime programmes and propaganda take the place of national development plans. Celebration of unearned income is the new goal of almost every aspiring public office holder, or politician today. Fraud now walks the land as a national philosophy of leadership, relevance and survival; while the nation is under the sway of people who without ideas talk about development.

Ceremonies and conspicuous consumption are being mistaken for prosperity here, just as many more people now mistake the mere possession of money for happiness, peace of mind, long life, wisdom, a happy home, well brought up children, or even personal dignity.

Wealth unaccompanied by knowledge is the best template for self-destruction. Desire for leadership unaccompanied by the right ideas and plans leads to missed opportunities and degeneration. We cannot say what our national values are today, because we cannot point to the positive developmental focus of our national political leadership across all the existing political parties. We are simply expanding avenues for plunder. Thus, the Nigerian State stands diminished today; and the people with it. But one thing is clear: our problems are more fundamental than democracy and elections.

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