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Fighting Inflation, CBN Raises Interest Rate MPR now 14% Says monetary tightening may continue if consumer price index rises further To disburse N20bn as rebates to exporters for RT200 Nume Ekeghe in Lagos and James Emejo in Abuja The Monetary Policy Committee

(MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday raised the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 100 basis points

from 13 per cent to 14 per cent, citing rising inflationary pressure across the world.

The development which was

part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 286th meeting of the MPC which took place in Lagos, came exactly two months after the

committee had at its last meeting held in May had raised the MPR by 150 basis points from the 11.5 per cent it was previously.

CBN Governor and Chairman of the MPC, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Continued on page 10

Masari: Police Still Hunting for Terrorist Turbaned in Zamfara ... Page 43 Wednesday 20 July, 2022 Vol 27. No 9962. Price: N250

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Obaseki: With Osun Now in Bag, 2023 Presidency is PDP’s to Lose... Page 42

President Gives Minister Two-week Ultimatum to Resolve ASUU Strike Varsity unions recommend use of stamp duty, GSM, alcoholic taxes to fund education We won't accept disparity in salary, SSANU warns FG University workers express divergent views over Ngige’s role in dispute resolution Deji Elumoye and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja An end may be in sight to the

over five-month old strike in Nigerian public universities as President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed the Minister of

Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to resolve the prolonged industrial action embarked upon by the four university-based unions and report

back to him within two weeks.

This was just as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the federal government

to consider mobilising funds from different sources including nonbudgetary outlets like stamp duty, GSM and alcoholic taxes to help

fund the needs of the education sector.

Continued on page 10

After 44 Years of Birthing Old NNPC, Buhari Unveils New NNPC Limited Sylva: Historical unveiling gave me goose bumps Kyari: No more monthly FAAC remittances NNPC: With net assets of $60bn, new company moves to grow retail outlets from 547 to 1500 in six months

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos Forty-four years after inaugurating the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1977 as a colonel in the Nigerian Army and Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, made history again, when he unveiled the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), an exercise, which saw the NNPC officially transit to a limited liability entity in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

With the change in structure, the company would be regulated in line with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) from today, At the event, which took place in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari, who performed the unveiling at a colourful ceremony, disclosed that with the historic development, the NNPC going forward would no longer qualify for government Continued on page 10

UNVEILING OF NNPC LIMITED...

L-R: Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari; Board Chairman, Senator Margaret Okadigbo; President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, during the official unveiling of NNPC Limited, an entity that would be regulated in line with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI

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

NEWS

DG WTO'S OFFICIAL VISIT TO NIGERIA...

L-R: Nigeria's Ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Adamu Abdulhanid; Director-General, WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Yalwaji Katagum during the official visit of DG WTO to the Ministry in Abuja...yesterday

Dangote Industries Successfully Completes N187bn Bond Issuance Goddy Egene Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), one of the leading, diversified and fully integrated conglomerates in Nigeria and Africa, yesterday announced the successful completion of its N187.6 billion Series 1 Bond Issuance.

The debt instrument which was the largest corporate bond ever issued in the history of the Nigerian capital market, represented the first issuance by DIL at Group level.

It comprised a 7-year Tranche-A bond issued at 12.75 per cent and a 10-year Tranche-B bond issued

at 13.5 per cent, under the newly established N300 billion Debt Issuance Programme.

Commenting on the significance of the transaction, the Group Managing Director of DIL, Mr. Olakunle Alake said: “DIL is delighted to have successfully conducted its debut issuance under our newly established Debt Issuance Programme.

“We are very pleased to have set this remarkable milestone, showcasing the depth and liquidity of the Nigeria debt capital market (DCM). The success of this transaction further demonstrates

investor confidence in our credit story and the appreciation of the work done by the Group across several key sectors that are crucial to the development of the continent.

“The proceeds from this landmark transaction will be used to part-finance the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project, which is the initiative by the Group to establish the largest refinery in Africa, thus positioning Nigeria as a net exporter of refined crude.

We want to specially thank the investor community for their support on this transaction, as well as our various advisors and

stakeholders.”

Also commenting, the Executive Director, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Nigeria & West Africa, Standard Chartered Capital & Advisory Nigeria Limited, which acted as the Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner on Transaction, Mr. Olukorede Adenowo, said: “On behalf of the Issuing Houses, we are proud to have led this historic transaction which reflects the strong credit quality of the issuer as well as the resilience of the Nigerian domestic debt capital markets, despite the current global market volatility.

FG Urges Synergy, Information Sharing in Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing War Alex Enumah in Abuja The federal government has called for synergy and information sharing among stakeholders in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in the West Africa sub-region.

The call was predicated on the need for effective collaboration, owing to new and dynamic methods deployed in round tripping ill-gotten wealth around the globe.

The Vice Chairman of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria, Mr. Buhari Isah, made the call at the ongoing 2022 West Africa Compliance Summit, taking place in Abuja.

The summit organised by Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) drew participants from member States of the West Africa sub-region.

Isah in a keynote address stressed the need for stakeholders in West Africa to come together and develop effective policies and mechanism that would effectively checkmate illicit financial flow not only in the sub-region but globally.

He charged participants to be open and, "share experiences and ideas on how to improve cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders for the benefit of the region."

Meanwhile, Nigeria has been commended for its leadership role in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in the West African region.

The Director General of GIABA, Justice Kimelabalou Aba, in his remarks, stated that recent steps taken by Nigeria, including the passage into law of three important legislations to address identified strategic deficiencies, clearly demonstrated Nigeria's commitments in the illicit financial flow war.

"I also wish to congratulate Nigeria for winning two awards relating to its mentorship role and contributions to enhancing the qualities of mutual evaluation and Follow-up reports during the 37th GIABA Plenary held in Saly, Senegal from May 29 to June 3, 2022.

"Indeed, this is a recognition of the country’s leadership role in the region," Aba said.

The DG however noted that there were still some challenges in the implementation of the current AML/CFT in the region.

He stated that to tackle the challenges require, "greater coordination and synergy between national authorities and private sector operators to enhance awareness of, and provide collective responses to the emerging ML/TF threats as well as leverage on the opportuni-

ties provided by technologies for effective implementation of AML/CFT preventive measures.

"It is against this backdrop that the Secretariat has organised this Summit to bring together critical players, particularly supervisory/ regulatory authorities, financial intelligence units, financial institutions and DNFBPs to discuss some of these contemporary and emerging ML/TF issues that impact on the implementation of AML/CFT regime in the region."

Earlier, Nigeria's Director, National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and GIABA National Correspondent, Mr. Mohammed

Jiya, said the theme of the 2022 Summit: ‘Current and Emerging Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Issues," was apt and timely because three out of top 10 countries in 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) were from the West African sub region.

Jiya stated that the summit was therefore aimed at, "providing a platform for participants to share experiences and foster cooperation and collaboration towards the protection and prevent of FIs and DNFBPs from ML and TF, promote awareness on emerging money laundering and terrorist risks as well as share best practices in this regard."

“We thank the Board and Management of the Dangote Group for continuously striving to develop the domestic debt capital markets and setting records through its various issuances both at the subsidiary and Group levels.

“We also thank the Securities & Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) and FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ) for their unwavering support throughout this entire process.”

The bond issuance was said to have been well received by the market and recorded participation from a wide range of investors including domestic pension funds, asset managers, insurance companies and high net-worth investors.

DIL plans to utilise the net proceeds from the Series 1 bond issuance to part-finance the Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project, an Integrated Petrochemical Complex, and the largest Single Train Petroleum Refinery in the World.

Apart from Standard Chartered, Meristem Capital, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Vetiva Capital, Absa Capital Markets, Afrinvest Capital, Coronation Merchant Bank, Ecobank Development Company, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, FCMB Capital Markets, Greenwich Merchant Bank, Quantum Zenith Capital, Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria and United Capital acted as Joint Issuing Houses.

DIL is a diversified and fully integrated conglomerate with operations in Nigeria and Africa across a wide range of industries, including

cement, sugar, salt, condiments, packaging, energy, fertiliser and petrochemicals.

Its core business focus is to provide local, value-added products and services that meet the "basic needs" of the African populace through the construction and operation of large-scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa.

DIL is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, reduce capital flight from Africa and increase local value additions.

The Group has 11 distinct business lines, with the cement, sugar and salt business currently contributing majority of the group earnings. These subsidiaries are industry leading players with strong brand values, underpinned by long operational track record, diverse customer base, ongoing investments in capacity expansion and control over their respective value chains.

DIL also has two project companies, Dangote Oil Refinery Company Limited (DORC) and Dangote Fertiliser Limited (“DFL”), located at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos State, who (together with DIL) will serve as co-obligors on the Offer. DORC is a 650,000 b/ pd integrated crude oil refinery and petrochemical plant, which is expected to be Africa's largest oil refinery, while DFL is expected to be Africa’s largest granulated urea fertiliser manufacturing facility, with a production capacity of up to 2.8 Mtpa. DIL is currently domestically rated AA+ by GCR and AA (ngr)

by Fitch Ratings.

Access Bank to Support Education with $1.7m Raised at UK Polo Tournament Access Bank has raised $1.7 million at its recent Charity Polo Tournament held at The Guards Polo Club, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom as it seeks to improve the state of education in Nigeria.

The money, the bank explained would be directed towards building and equipping of over 100 classroom blocks in the less developed areas of Nigeria, according to a statement.

These donations, according to

the Group Managing Director of Access Corporation, Herbert Wigwe, “Serve as building blocks towards achieving a brighter future for the country, while challenging the various state governments to take sustainable actions towards ensuring all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education.”

He added: “We thank all attendees and donors for buying

into our vision and assure that Access Bank will not relent in its efforts to see that every Nigerian child regardless of tribe, gender and religion is given a fair chance for a better tomorrow.”

Managing Director of Access Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna, also added that the polo event remained the greatest investment towards ensuring a great future for the vulnerable Nigerian child.

The Polo tournament, which was executed in partnership with Fifth Chukker and UNICEF in Kaduna, South Africa and the UK has been an extension of Access Bank’s efforts to support anti-poverty and anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns in Nigeria.

This was the first edition of the UK-based tournament to be held since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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NEWS

INAUGURATION OF INDUSTRY-WIDE COMMITTEE...

L-R: GM Projects & Operations NCDMB, Engr. Paul Zuhumben; GM Capacity Development, Dr. Ama Ikuru; GM, Business Development & Corporate Affairs, Nigeria, Obehi Ojeaga; Executive Secretary, Engr. Simbi Wabote; DGM Nigerian Content TotalEnergies, Cyprian Ojum; Mina Abiodu of TotalEnergies and CEO PE Energy, Daere Akobo, during the inauguration of the industry-wide committee for in-country manufacturing of pumps, valves, gaskets, flanges, bolts and nuts at the NCDMB office in Abuja…recently

Nigerians Are Treated Harshly for Ineffective Anti-money Laundering Policy, Says US-based Firm Accused of $160m Remittances Emma Okonji Promoters of Ping Express has debunked allegations that the company or its past directors were involved in money laundering or fraud.

This followed the recent 27 months jail term slammed on the founders of the Texas-based fintech firm - Anslem Oshionebo and Opeyemi Odeyale - for allegedly failing to combat money laundering on the their platform during financial remittances to Nigeria.

In a statement by Ping Express, which was released by Global Marketing Communications Professional, the agency managing the fintech’s public relation, it stated that in the last two and a half years, the company had been dragged through the US court system on unsubstantiated allegations, including money laundering.

According to the statement, "We deny any allegations that we participated in money laundering activities via our platform; and the court records are available and very clear.

“It is deeply saddening that a technology that was designed to help immigrants stay connected to their families could have been grossly misused by a few of the platform's over 80 thousand customers.”

“The company did not steal from anyone and did not know or conspired with anyone to steal a dollar from anyone. The court documents and rulings are clear.

No losses and no restitution were imposed on the company nor its founders and this validates that the US court recognised that no fraud was perpetrated within the company's platform nor was fraud aided or abetted by its founders,” the statement added.

According to the statement, Ping Express served more than 80,000 hardworking and honest Nigerians in the US and more in other parts of the world.

Ping Express operated in more than 28 countries including UK, Canada and several European countries and served immigrants from 27 African countries with consistent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that were reviewed and approved by regulators.

“It is of importance to note that some of the Ping's users that were queried by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) were customers of the top two competition.

“These users paid Ping directly from their personal bank accounts in the US. All its customers were verified and went through extensive screening before their transactions were processed.

“Internal limits, which were subject to review per the Company’s policy, are the basis for which we were non-compliant.

In essence, customers have no hard limits per the Company’s policies (not external limits).

“Ping operated strict compliance standards, and ensured users paid from their personal bank accounts.

Unfortunately, the US government insisted that Ping didn't consider

and file enough suspicious reports on all its customers despite them paying from their personal bank accounts with monies already housed by American banks who in the dynamics that Ping know are the ones responsible for the flagging of the source of the monies in their customers' accounts.”

“It was apparently expected that its owners would know every single Nigerian by name, creed, behavior and track record, as amusing as this sounds, it's

concerning and a pointer to many other things that has crystallized in this matter.

“It is depressing to view the malicious and baseless claims being reported in the Nigerian media.

“This becomes a sample case for us all to find company founders being held liable for internal control failures of their company, especially when they had no personal relationship with its users.

“However, this is what the

The All Progressives Congress (APC) will today unveil its Vice-Presidential Candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, ahead of the 2023 elections.

This is as the Tinubu Campaign Organisation (TCO), which claimed to have followed the debate MuslimMuslim ticket has generated, said the choice of the former Borno State governor was for collective good.

National Organising Secretary of the party, Sulaiman Argungu, who disclosed this in a tersestatement, yesterday, in Abuja, said the unveiling scheduled to take place at Shehu Musa Yar'dua Centre, would hold at 11 a.m.

According to the statement, "All members of the National Executive

Committee (NEC), members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, members of APC Caucus in the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), members of the Diplomatic Corps, presidential aspirants at the June 2022 Special National Convention, APC State Chairmen, APC State Secretaries and APC State Organising Secretaries, are, hereby, invited to witness this landmark official unveiling of our great party's Vice Presidential candidate."

But the Director of Media & Communication, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, in a statement stressed that Nigerians have a lot to gain in having the two tested leaders at the helm of affairs, stating that religion or ethnicity was far from the calculations of APC

40 Nigerians. History is the best judge.”

Also, the Co-founder and former COO, Odeyale, said: "Having led an extremely expensive and painful legal battle with the US regulators over the last 3 years, with the full support of my wife, it was simply time to make decision that was only in the best interest of my family.

“I stand proud of what we have achieved for the Nigerian and African community in US and other part of the world."

Airline Operators Write FAAN, Condemn Closure of Lagos Airport Runway Chinedu Eze The Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON) has condemned the decision of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to close the domestic runway, known as Runway 18L for three months.

The umbrella body of indigenous airlines in Nigeria said the closure added to additional operational cost, flight delays and disruptions, insisting that there are other alternatives instead of outright closure of the facility.

AON made its position known a letter it wrote to FAAN, dated July 15, 2022m, titled: ‘Closure of Runway 18L at Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA),’ and addressed to the Managing

Director of the agency, Captain Rabiu Yadudu.

AON said it received with surprise, the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) of July 5, 2022, informing the industry that FAAN would be closing the domestic runway (18L) of MMA from July 8, 2022, for a period of 90 days.

It added that with such short notice, the association noted sadly that FAAN closed the runway, thus causing unsustainable additional operating costs and severely inconveniencing the airlines and passengers.

“In light of this, we raise the following critical issues for your urgent attention: The AON welcomes the effort by FAAN to install runway lighting on

APC Formally Unveils Shettima Today as Tinubu Campaign Group Justifies Choice of Ex-Borno Governor Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Ping former owners are faced with,” it added.

One of the founders, Oshionebo was quoted to have said: “We focused on making the simple task of helping a family much easier. We worked very hard with integrity to develop a system that disrupted the marketplace.

“Rather than join other companies in creating customer service and relations team outside Nigeria, we were passionate about Nigeria and built one of the first outsourcing unit in Nigeria, employing over

presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in picking his running mate.

"If Asiwaju intended to cash in on ethnicity, he would have picked a running mate from the North Western part of Nigeria, which has the highest number of registered voters. If he wanted to appeal to the base instincts of religion, he would have also gone for a candidate in the Christian dominated parts of Nigeria.

"But there was no such consideration. Instead he picked a tested politician and technocrat from the minority Kanuri ethnic group from the North East," he said.

Onanuga explained further that the factors at play were issues germane to confronting the multi-dimensional crisis the nation

faces today, including insecurity, economic problems, such as the unemployment crisis facing our youths.

His words: "Our candidate canvassed on his track record in Lagos to win the APC primary last June. As governor between 1999 and 2007, he was able to transform a decadent state into the fourth biggest economy in Africa. He believes that his feat in Lagos can be replicated all over Nigeria.

"To assist him in realising this vision, he picked Kashim Shettima, who also established a track record of development in Borno State, while he was governor for eight years, despite the Boko Haram crisis. Surely, only the deep knows how to call onto the deep."

Runway 18L, at last. However, international best practice for such critical airfield infrastructure projects is for the airport operator to enter into discussions with all affected parties, to arrive at an optimal arrangement that allows the work to be done, while limiting the inconvenience, economic impact and safety implications on all concerned. In this instance, FAAN failed to do this.”

It also noted that FAAN was aware of the current existential threat of aviation fuel prices to the domestic airlines, noting that the closure of the main domestic runway of MMA automatically adds an additional 10-15 per cent more fuel costs per sector into and out of MMA, based on the additional flight and taxi time incurred as a result.

The operators also disclosed that the airlines have already felt the additional costs within the first week of the closure of the runway, stressing that this unnecessary burden was unsustainable for a three-month period on the airlines.

“The closure of Runway 18L has led to a chain of direct flight delays on a daily basis, impacting the entire system of scheduled domestic flights in the country.

FAAN is aware that most domestic flights originate from or pass through MMA at some point every day. This is an unnecessary additional negative outcome for the industry.

“AON contends that in line with international best practice, runways of airports are only closed when there is no other option. For infrastructure projects such as this one on 18L, to limit the impact on flight operations, FAAN ought to have ensured that

the contractor does the work at night, when the runway is not in use.

“If there is an absolute need for work to be done during daylight hours, then agreement should have been reached with the runway users on what time window would allow this,” AON said in the letter.

It also expressed disappointment that for the major airport in Nigeria, Runway 18L has been closed for a week now, with no evidence of any work going on; yet the airlines have been burdened with huge but unnecessary additional costs and flight delays, noting that, “surely this situation is not in the best interests of the industry.”

“Moreover, the additional taxi time due to closure of runway 18L impacts negatively on airlines schedule to sunset airports around the country leading to delays and cancellation of flights to these airports.

“Given the above critical concerns, AON implores the management of FAAN to urgently review this closure of Runway 18L and enter into discussion with the users of the runway on a procedure for the project, that limits both the cost impact on airlines as well as disruption to normal flight operations,” the operated stated.

AON therefore called on FAAN to convene an urgent stakeholders’ consultation meeting, to discuss the its decision and assured the agency of the operators’ commitment to partnering with FAAN to install the long overdue runway lighting on Runway 18L, in line with accepted international best practice.

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NEWS

NEXT TITAN BRIEFING...

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, IPNX Business, Mr. Segun Okuneye; Chief Executive Officer, Tingo Mobile, Mr. Awal Maude; Country Manager, LUNO Nigeria, Owenize Odia; Executive Producer, Next Titan Nigeria, Mr. Mide Akinlaja; Head, PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT Corporate Communications, Heritage Bank Plc, Mrs. Ozena Utulu; and Chief Executive Officer, NIKKY Taurus, Mrs. Adenike Ibirogba, at the media briefing on Next Titan Season 9 held in Lagos... yesterday

FG to Continue $3.5bn Claim against Eni, Shell Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report Nigeria will continue its $3.5 billion civil claim against Shell Plc and Eni SpA after Italian prosecutors dropped criminal proceedings against the companies, Bloomberg quoted a lawyer representing Africa’s largest crude producer to have said.

The West African country, which joined the case as a civil party in 2018, still plans to appeal the March 2021 ruling by a court in Milan acquitting the energy giants

and several of their current and former executives of corruption charges, Olabode Johnson, a lawyer for the Nigerian government told the news agency.

Prosecutors, who said yesterday that they would not challenge the decision, had alleged executives involved in the 2011 deal to acquire an offshore oil permit knew that much of the $1.1 billion paid into an escrow account controlled by the Nigerian government would be disbursed as bribes.

Shell and Eni welcomed the prosecution’s decision.

“We have always maintained that the 2011 settlement was legal and were pleased that the court found in 2021, that there was no case to answer for Shell or its former employees,” a spokeswoman for Shell said by email sent by Bloomberg.

The acquittals have become “full and final,” Eni said in a statement. The case resulted in “serious and unfair reputational damage” for the company and its management, it said.

Nigeria seeks compensation of $3.5 billion because it’s the true

value of the license purchased

by Shell and Eni, Johnson said.

Earlier yesterday, Reuters reported that Italian prosecutors dropped criminal proceedings over the oilfield deal, clearing energy majors Eni and Shell as well as managers including Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.

The Attorney General, Celestina Gravina signalled the prosecution did not plan to pursue the case at the start of an appeal hearing into one of the oil industry's biggest ever corruption cases.

"This case must finish today

because it has no basis, in fact it should have finished earlier," Gravina told the court.

The Appeal Court formally took note of the decision, meaning the criminal case will be closed and the acquittal of all defendants will become final. The appeal will now only concern civil proceedings, as Nigeria has sued for compensation.

Eni said it was very satisfied that the case had been concluded, describing it as "unmotivated and disconcerting."

While the General Prosecu-

Fuel Distributors Seek FG’s Payment of over N500bn Bridging Cost Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The Association of Transporters and Distributors of Petroleum Products (ATDIPP) has asked the federal government to settle its over N500 billion bridging cost claims of its members.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Kano after a stakeholders’ aware-

ness meeting with members of the association in the northwest, ATDIPP consultant, Dr. Maurice Ibe debunked the claim of the federal government that it had paid N70 billion to some marketers. He challenged the mainstream regulatory authority to substantiate its claims with proof, insisting that marketers would not hesitate to shut down

AfDB Board Approves over $1bn for Emergency Food Production Plan Ugo Aliogo with agency report

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s Board of Directors has approved 24, fast-track programmes to help the continent mitigate rising food prices and inflation caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

A statement by the bank said the first round of approvals were part of the bank’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, established in May, to boost food security, nutrition, and resilience across the continent.

The statement noted that the facility would provide 20 million African smallholder farmers with certified seeds and increased access to agricultural fertilisers.

It also stated that it would also support governance and policy reform expected to encourage greater investment in Africa’s agricultural sector.

It added that the African Emergency Food Production Facility would enable farmers in the continent to produce 38 million additional tons of food over the next two years, adding that this is food worth an estimated $12 billion.

“As of 15 July, the Bank Group’s Board of Directors had approved a total of $1.13 billion in mixed

financing for Emergency Facility programs targeting 24 countries: eight countries in West Africa; five in East Africa; six in Southern Africa; four in Central Africa and one in North Africa,” the statement added.

The Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Dr. Beth Dunford, said: “This is a landmark week for the African Development Bank and the African Emergency Food Production Facility. These programs will deliver much-needed climate-adapted seeds, access to affordable fertilizers and usher in policy reforms to enable the agriculture sector to supply immediate, medium and long-term solutions to challenges faced in regional member countries.”

The statement hinted that the African Emergency Food Production Facility was designing programmes to respond to requests from more countries on the continent.

“The facility focuses on staple crops that many African nations largely import from Russia and Ukraine. However, the RussiaUkraine war has left the continent facing a deficit of at least 30 million tons of food. Successful implementation of the facility will deliver 38 million tons of food, exceeding the amount imported from Russia and Ukraine.

the entire economy if the federal government continues to ignore their request.

Maurice, who lamented the high cost of running petroleum business in Nigeria, argued that the marketer also deserved concession to secure dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) similar to some other sectors considered critical.

“We are demanding over N500 billion from the federal government and we have been seeking an audience with them, calling on them to do the needful in the interest of national security.

“They have not paid even though they claimed to have paid N70 billon to some members.

We say that’s ridiculous but we challenged them to come out with proof of payment.

“These monies are owned by individual marketers but we have a situation where some individual members are being undermined and under paid on an individual basis and we want to put a stop to that in order to make a unanimous claim. This way we can have joint efforts to stop the undermine payment.

“Again, we are saying if you have paid, show us the evidence for the payment. And if our businesses are dying the way it is, it may affect the supply of the product in the country.

“For now, we are not going to shut down. We want to negotiate, but if it gets worse it may come to the level where the economy would collapse.”

ATDIPP demands came when an independent marketer in Kano, Alhaji Yahaya Maikifi insisted that marketers have not been informed about a new regulated pump price.

tor's Office at the Appeal Court sometimes asks for the acquittal of defendants at the end of an appeal process, legal and judicial sources told Reuters that the decision to withdraw at the start of a trial is unprecedented in Milan.

The Tribunal Prosecutor's Office, which is a separate body, and the Nigerian government had sought to appeal a March 2021 ruling which had acquitted the two companies and defendants after a three-year trial.

Lucio Lucia, a lawyer representing the Nigerian government, said the decision not to proceed was unusual.

He argued that the lower court had failed to properly assess the documentary proof against the defendants.

The main case revolved around a deal in which Eni and Shell acquired the OPL 245 offshore oilfield in 2011 to settle a longstanding dispute over ownership.

Prosecutors alleged that just under $1.1 billion of the total amount was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.

The First Instance Court in Milan said in March 2021 there was no case to answer and acquitted the companies and all other defendants. The next hearings for the civil case was scheduled for September.

Okonjo-Iweala: Import Restrictions on Food will Worsen Inflationary Pressures Urges FG to expedite action on new WTO fisheries subsidies agreement James Emejo in Abuja The Director-General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday cautioned member countries of the organisation including Nigeria against implementing trade import and export restrictions that could further compound existing inflationary pressures.

The WTO DG said the apex global trade regulatory body had asked members to respect some of its rules on export restrictions and prohibitions and make them transparent adding that, “even if you have them, they have to be for a very limited duration”.

According to her, trade restrictions “cause food prices to rise even higher when countries restrict the importation of food, fertilizer or improved seeds”.

Okonjo-Iweala spoke when she paid a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment as a follow-up to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC 12) which took place recently

in Geneva, Switzerland.

She said though the organisation is not an agency that finances agriculture, “but we try to make sure our members don’t add to the problem by allowing the free flow of trade in food and agricultural products, adding that, “that’s part of what we are able to do at this ministerial to get members to agree to limit that impact.”

This was just as the former minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy also urged the federal government to expedite action on depositing the Instrument of Acceptance on the fisheries agreements which were negotiated at the MC 12 in which the Nigerian delegation headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Maryam Katagum, participated actively to press for reforms in the fisheries sector.

Okonjo-Iweala said following the agreements reached by member countries in the areas of fisheries, at the Geneva meeting, Nigeria would need to ensure the deposit

of its Instrument of Acceptance, particularly the legal framework leading to acceptance.

She said the deals required two-thirds of member countries to deposit their instruments of acceptance for the agreement to come into effect.

She said, “It needs not to take time and that is what I am here to urge that this be done quickly and we are trying to urge all the countries to do it because we need two-thirds of countries to deposit their instruments of acceptance for the agreement to come into effect.

“If it (new fisheries agreement) comes into effect, it means that when you catch people doing unreported and unregulated fishing, they can be held accountable.

“WTO has a dispute settlement system and that’s what many members don’t want to be brought there for not obeying the rules. So that’s deterrence and it’s only one of its kinds that exist in the world.

“We are trying to reform it but it is in existence – and countries don’t want to be brought there by

other countries.

“From what I understand, the work and thinking on how to deposit the instrument have already begun and so I am very happy about that.”

She said she was absolutely proud of the performance of the Nigerian delegation who took an active role even though it was a difficult session negotiating the agreements with other members.

Okonjo-Iweala said the fisheries subsidies agreement was particularly exciting to Nigeria and the world at large because “for 21 years, the WTO has tried to negotiate this agreement among all the ministers in the world and it hasn’t happened.

We were able to pull it through – thanks be to God for that”.

She said the “agreement tries to stop something that is harmful to the sustainability to the world’s fisheries which are harmful subsidies that allow nations to over-fish the oceans of the world. So overfishing, illegal fishing and unreported fishing – we know it takes place on our waters.

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TEN FIGHTING INFLATION, CBN RAISES INTEREST RATE during a media briefing at the end of the two-day meeting warned that the MPC would continue to raise benchmark interest rates as long as inflationary pressure continues.

However, the Committee retained the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR, retained the cash reserve requirement (CRR) at 27.5 per cent and retained the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.

Emefiele explained that the decision to raise the MPR was reached due to MPC members’ concerns about rising inflation which had risen to 18.6 per cent in June.

He said: “MPC noted with concern the continued aggressive movement in inflation even after the rate hike in the last meeting and expressed its unrelenting resolve to restore price stability while providing the necessary support to strengthen our fragile economy.

“As regards the decision whether to tighten or hold, the committee was unanimous and so did not consider both loosening and retaining rates at existing levels at this meeting.

“On loosening, the MPC felt it would worsen the existing liquidity conditions in the economy and further dampen the money market rate necessary to stimulate savings and investments. Members also felt that loosening would trigger the weakening of the exchange rate which could pass through to domestic prices.

“MPC did not also consider

holding because it suggests that the bank is not responding to both global and domestic price development as inflation numbers continue to trend upwards.”

Speaking further, the CBN Governor said on tightening, members were anonymous that given the aggressive increase in inflation, coupled with the resultant negative consequences particularly on the purchasing power of the poor as well as retarding growth, there was need to continue to tighten monetary policy.

According to him, however, the policy dilemma was hinged around the level of tightening needed for inflation without dampening manufacturing output which could result on a higher cost of borrowing.

He, therefore said, the “committee resolved to increase the MPR by 100 basis point from 13 per cent to 14 per cent. Retain the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR, retain CRR at 27.5 percent, and retain the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.”

Shedding more light on the inflationary pressure being felt in the country, Emefiele said: “Today, the last data released just about a few days ago was 18.6 per cent.

MPC members feel we cannot just hold or continue to watch inflation grow the way it is rising. Something must be done to rein in inflation.

“We conducted a very serious analysis of data presented to us at

this meeting. And we felt that there was need, not just because we want to look at what other economies are doing, but also the fear that whereas we are seeing some output growth as a result.

“So, essentially, with what we are doing in terms of development finance, we need to do a lot more work to rein in inflation. MPC did not even take any look at the issue of whether to hold rate constant or to loosen it.”

“Some analysts say we should not continue to increase rates because we have increased cost of borrowing for the borrowers and that it may also weaken manufacturing output. We agree with that postulation “The important thing is that as long as we see inflation at the level that can retard growth, it must be dealt with while at the same time we are looking at how to use our development finance tools to do continue to push towards improved output growth.

“That is what we're doing. The MPC is very determined that if inflation continues at this rate, particularly aggressively, we will continue to tighten because that is the only thing that I can say at this time.”

Furthermore, Emefiele pointed out that: “Inflation can be a terrible scourge and what that means is that it is capable of totally obliterating the purchasing power of citizens of the country particularly the weak,

PRESIDENT GIVES MINISTER TWO-WEEK ULTIMATUM TO RESOLVE ASUU STRIKE On their part, members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University, (SSANU) have warned the Professor Nimi-Briggs Committee renegotiating the 2009 Agreement that it would not accept any disparity in university staff salary, saying it would take every legal action to ensure that such doesn’t happen.

Buhari gave the directive to end the 155-day old industrial action embarked on by ASUU as well as other university unions that later downed tools, after receiving briefings at the State House, Abuja, from relevant government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) involved in resolving the face-off with the university unions.

ASUU had proceeded on one month warning strike on February 14, 2022 and thereafter extended the industrial action, while other unions also withdrew their services after that as a result of the alleged inability of the federal government to meet up with their demands.

The three other unions that embarked on strike are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the NonAcademic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

However, the president was reported to have convened the meeting to receive briefing from the government team on while the strike had lingered for too long.

Buhari after hearing from the relevant MDAs directly involved ordered the Minister of Education to ensure that the impasse was resolved within two weeks and report back to him.

Sources at the meeting said the president also directed that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, must attend all the meetings to be called to resolve the crisis.

A sources added that the president, however, commended Ngige in his efforts so far to resolve the lingering crisis with the university unions.

Those who attended the meeting with the president included the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu; his Finance, Budget and National Planning counterpart, Dr. Zainab Ahmed and Ngige.

Others included Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami; Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had on Monday expressed its resolve to hold a two-day national

protest from July 26th and 27th, to demand the immediate reopening of the country’s public-owned tertiary institutions.

The NLC had accused the federal government of not negotiating in good faith to resolve the crisis in Nigeria’s public Universities The Labour movement had at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on June 30, 2022, threatened to embark on a nationwide protest to compel, “the federal government to conclude the ongoing negotiation with trade unions in Nigeria’s universities and be prepared to commence implementation of whatever Collective Bargaining Agreement arising therefrom so that public universities in Nigeria

can resume normal activities.”

The federal government was then given a 21-day ultimatum to resolve the dispute or face a one-day nationwide labour protest which might culminate in a full blown worker’s strike.

The federal government had said the proposal made by the Prof. Limi Briggs-led Committee in relation to the demands by members of ASUU and other unions in universities would gulp N1.12 trillion to implement.

Ngige, in a statement signed by the Deputy Director Press and Public Relations in the Ministry, Olajide Oshundun, had said having rounded off its work, the Briggs Continued on page 43

vulnerable and the poor.

“By the time it weakens the purchasing power of the vulnerable, naturally it will also lead to heightened unemployment and will ultimately retard growth. We have to be very careful about the rate of acceleration of pricing or inflation, it is a very serious matter to the policy committee because as inflation continues to trend higher it would no doubt adversely begin to retard growth.”

Emefiele noted that many economies, both developed and developing, have had to embark on very aggressive rate increases so as to dampen the size of inflation.

“Nigeria, what we have done in our own attempt to pursue a policy of price stability that is conducive to growth is that we have tried at a couple of meetings to leave rates the way they were, but at the same time we are pushing on how to improve output.

“But of course, with the aggressive acceleration of inflation rates in Nigeria, we decided in May after almost two and a half years to raise interest rate by 150bps. We need to do more work on inflation.”

Commenting on the Race to $200 Billion in FX Repatriation (RT200) programme and the ‘100 for 100’ initiative, he said both had recorded gains in increasing foreign exchange inflows into the country.

“The MPC was delighted that we are making progress with these initiatives. We are making progress for the ‘100 for 100. I think we have disbursed slightly above N50 billion to the ‘100 for 100’ which is meant to really drive support for those who want to produce goods that can be exported out of the country to earn dollar revenues.

“Indeed, we are delighted that the RT200 is yielding good results.

We found out that we had received inflows as at June this year of over $2.9 billion. You all know that during the first quarter of 2022, we disbursed N3.6 billion as rebates for those who conducted export activities.

“Hence, for Q2 2022, we have this morning just approved the release and payment of rebates those who conducted the export activities to the tune of N20 billion.

“This is because whereas we found out that, yes, there has been a lot of exports, but those exports

found to be eligible for the rebates were in the tune of over $600 million and that is the reason we are paying slightly over N20 billion for Q2. We are very happy and delighted that a lot more people are embracing exports in Nigeria.

“We had hinted that at some point, we will get to the point where the banks will not even need to come to the CBN to buy FX to meet important needs of their customers. We are delighted that we are moving gradually in that direction and I am optimistic that these numbers will improve by around the end of the year.”

Analysts React to Interest Rate Hike Meanwhile, analysts have reacted to the decision by the apex bank to further hike MPR to 14 per cent, pointing out that the resolve was not unconnected to the trend where most central banks globally have raised interest rates in reaction to the inflationary pressure caused by the Russian-Ukraine war.

They said the move could also signal panic on the part of the CBN and heighten uncertainty.

Also, the said the CBN needed to reconsider its decision on continuous interest rate increases and explore policies that could stimulate economic growth.

The analysts also predicted higher cost of borrowing, widening government deficit, slower economic growth, rising unemployment and bearish stock market in the coming months following the upward rate adjustment.

Speaking with THISDAY, the Chairman, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Abuja Branch, Prof. Uche Uwaleke said: "The hike in the MPR in quick succession from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent in May and now to 14 per cent could signal panic on the part of the CBN and heighten uncertainty.

"This policy stance may not necessarily curb inflationary pressure given that the pressure is not coming from monetary factors, but from high costs of petroleum products, electricity and insecurity. Ditto for rising Exchange rate.

"So, expect to see in the coming months higher cost of borrowing, widening government deficit, slower economic growth, rising unemployment and bearish stock market."

On his part, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Idakolo Gbolade, noted that the increase to 13 per cent last month did not have any considerable effect on inflation.

He said, "It is my believe that this recent hike will further compound the economic problems we are facing because cost of funds will rise sharply as it did last month due to the increase in MPR rates.

"The economy needs to be robust to be able to curb inflation but presently this increase in interest rate will affect manufacturers and businesses which will make the environment harsher that it was and limit economic activities.

"Lending rates will increase thereby leading to high cost of production and the cost will be passed to consumers who are already suffering the harsh economic policies of the government."

He said: "The CBN needs to rescind its decision on continous interest rate increases and look at policies that can stimulate economic growth because that is what would stem the rising inflation being experienced presently."

On his part, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Credent Investment Managers Limited, Mr. Ibrahim Shelleng, said the continuous contractionary policy by CBN was as a direct response to global inflationary pressures.

He pointed out that central banks globally have all raised interest rates in reaction to the inflationary pressures caused by the Russian-Ukraine crisis.

He said while this could be understood in the context of developed countries wanting to reduce demand pull inflation caused by supply shocks, "I am not convinced that this same stance will be effective in developing countries where the dynamics are different."

Shelleng said: "Firstly, in a country like Nigeria with a huge underbanked population, the effects of monetary policy are not as far reaching and therefore the impact on the economy tends to be minimal.

"Secondly, given Nigeria's stagflation (low growth, high inflation, high unemployment) the changes in MPR has had little effect in curtailing the situation, albeit with blame also lying on the fiscal side."

AFTER 44 YEARS OF BIRTHING OLD NNPC, BUHARI UNVEILS NEW NNPC LIMITED funding since its independence is now guaranteed.

The president noted that henceforth the new NNPC would compete favourably with its peers globally and unhinged from the traditional government-owned organisations' regulatory inhibitions.

He affirmed that the company was more than ever, now mandated by law to ensure certainty in Nigeria’s national energy security as well as operate in an environment of transparency and accountability.

“NNPC Limited will operate as a commercial, independent and viable National Oil Company (NOC) at par with its peers around the world, to sustainably deliver value to its over 200 million shareholders and the global energy community, while adhering to its fundamental corporate values of integrity, excellence and sustainability.

“NNPC Limited is mandated by law to ensure Nigeria’s national energy security is guaranteed to support sustainable growth across other sectors of the economy as it delivers energy to the world,” he stated.

Aside not relying on government funding , the president reiterated that the new company shall be free from institutional regulations such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility Acts.

According to him, the provisions of PIA 2021, have now given the Nigerian petroleum industry a new impetus, with improved fiscal framework, transparent governance, enhanced regulation and the creation of a commercially-driven NOC. ‘‘It will, of course, conduct itself under the best international business practices in transparency, governance and commercial viability,” he added.

Buhari recalled that he had on July 1,2022, authorised the transfer of assets from the NNPC to its successor company, the NNPC Limited and steered the implementation leading to the unveiling of Africa’s largest NOC.

He added that the new company would focus on becoming a dynamic global energy company of choice to deliver energy for today, for tomorrow and for the days ahead.

Describing the event as historic, Buhari noted that the country places high premium in creating the right atmosphere that supports investment and growth to boost the economy and continues to play on important role in sustaining global energy requirements.

“We are transforming our petroleum industry, to strengthen its capacity and market relevance for the present and future global energy priorities,” he assured.

In his remarks, an elated Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who later confessed while appearing on Arise television that the historical unveiling of the new NNPC gave him goose bumps, said the delay in signing the PIA into law had cost the nation a whopping $50 billion in investments.

According to him, with the new law, the international and local oil companies are now assured of adequate protection for their investments, with the nation’s petroleum industry no longer rudderless. ‘‘While the country was waiting for the PIA, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry lost about $50 billion worth of investments. In fact, between 2015 and 2019, KPMG states that only 4 per cent of the $70 billion investment inflows into Africa’s oil and gas industry came to Nigeria even though the country is the continent’s biggest producer and the largest reserves.

“We are setting all these woes behind us, and a clear path for the survival and growth of our petroleum industry is now before us,’’ he said.

Sylva described the unveiling of NNPC Limited as a new dawn in the quest for the growth and development of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, opening new vistas for partnerships.

The NNPC Limited, he said, would operate as a profitable commercial

entity and declare dividends to its shareholders as well as demonstrate higher level of performance and accountability.

In an interview after the event, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, who was responding to a question on what the fate of the monthly Federation Account remittances would be stressed that it has stopped going forward.

“We are now a private company.

Would MTN go to FAAC? We will pay our taxes, we will pay our royalties and we will deliver dividends to our shareholders,” he maintained.

With the new status, Kyari said the NNPC Limited would now be a smarter, more responsive and much more accountable company that must act within the premises of all the regulations that are in the country for private companies.

“And more than anything, it must also meet the standards of best practices in in the industry, in terms of governance in terms of making sure that all regulations are complied with and beyond this, our shareholders are expecting us to deliver value to them,” he stressed.

Promising to deliver value to its shareholders, Kyari stated that with its huge asset base, the company won’t be needing any sovereign guarantee because lenders only ask for sovereign guarantee if they are not sure of the company’s asset base.

“Today the assets are in our books, they are in our records and they have been transferred to us.

Therefore, that's what the banks are looking for,” he assured.

Also speaking on the Arise News yesterday after the official unveiling and ceremony, the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Umar Ajiya, said with NNPC’s net assets in the region of over $60bn, the new company, has positioned to grow its retail outlets from 547 to 1500 in six months.

Ajiya, who also hinted at the subsidy regime, when asked if

anything would change, however, said nothing could be done at the moment until the 18 months window provided by the PIA lapses.

NNPC Must Adopt Class-A Corporate Governance Policy to Attract International Financiers, Attain Profitability, Says Analyst

Meanwhile, policy analyst and Managing Director of KSBC Knowledge Resources Limited, Mr. Chika Mbonu has stressed the need for the NNPC Limited to adopt a Class-A corporate governance policy in order to win the trust and support of international financial institutions.

Speaking to THISDAY in a phone chat, Mbonu, said if the new NNPC Limited wants to attain the heights of Saudi Arabia's Aramco or Brazil's Petrobras and also be able to raise funds from the international markets, it must have strong corporate governance policy and structure.

"NNPC is on a journey. If NNPC wants to be like Petrobras or Aramco, to be able to raise money from international financiers to finance its own projects, there are minimum expectation of disclosures and corporate governance structures, which it has no choice but to comply.

"So, if it wants to achieve its objectives and become Aramco or Petrobras and be able to raise money from the international market, it must be transparent.

"Corporate governance must be Class-A. Recruitment policy must be the best people. The opaque policy where everything is hidden has to go.

Contracts must be on the transparent commercial terms," he said.

Going forward, Mbonu stated that NNPC would be run like the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, where the best people and most competent would be hired and where nobody would interfere with its decisions and operations.

According to him, as a company driven for profit, "NNPC must hire the best risk manager, the best treasurer,

the best financial controller, the best operations manager because it's driven for profit.

"So, the era where you write names on envelope or card and say you must hire, is gone. It should be over in NNPC, because NNPC should be looking for the best people to turn it to profitability."

Mbonu pointed out that, to avoid interference with its activities, it was expected that a non-political competent board be set up for the company.

In addition to having a new management team that has been reassessed and interviewed by top consulting firms, Mbonu insisted that the company's corporate policy, recruitment policy, promotion policy among others must be certified Class-A. He maintained that before the new NNPC can do any prospecting or project, such must be based on economics and other commercial considerations.

He, however, expressed some doubts about NNPC being able to operate and run a transparent business like its international peers without government's interference.

Mbonu further said, "It is still owned by government even though it's on behalf of the Nigerian people.

The person who appoints the board is still President Buhari and the government in power. So will the the government allow it to run a transparent business that will compete with the international market?

"Will the freedom NNPC has now be sufficient to allow it to run superior corporate governance?

Will they (government) allow it to be Class-A company?

"That's what the issues is. Will it be like Nigerian Airways Limited?

Or Nigerian Shipping Limited? They were all limited companies."

He, however, backed the position of NNPC to retain its sole importer of petrol status as well as the subsidy, saying there was no need for worry as long as the company is doing it for the government at a cost.

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NEWS

RUBBING MINDS...

Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye SAN (right) and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr Ahmed Lawan Kuru, at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Committee on the Recovery of AMCON debt held in Abuja…recently

UN Agency, NCAA Mull Fresh Measures to Checkmate Terrorists’ Threats at Airports Kasim Sumaina in Abuja Concerned by growing global terrorism threat, the United Nation Counter Terrorism office and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have disclosed that both agencies are working with member countries to begin profiling passengers’ database through the airlines to detect terrorists that are on watch list.

The development, they noted was in response to threat by criminals and terrorists who use the airline industry to conduct criminal-related activities not only in Nigeria, but in the African region and the world.

Speaking at a two-day National Consultative Workshop on Countering terrorist travel programme being coordinated by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate in collaboration with the NCAA in Abuja, the Programme Manager, UN Office on Counter Terrorism, Ms. Marie Marguerite Carpenter explained that the aim was to detect terrorists using their passport information and passenger name record data.

Carpenter maintained that the UN goal was to support countries, take passengers’ data when they check-in or crossing the border, analayse and cross check same against international and national databases of watch-list individuals Marie stressed that the UN provide comprehensive support to member countries is in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions passed in 2017 and 2019.

According to her, “the support we provide are under four pillars, the pillars include supporting countries to develop a national legal framework to be able to collect, analyse passenger data for counter terrorism and to prevent serious crimes purposes.”

She pointed out that under the operational pillar, "they build the capacity of the passenger information unit which is a multi-agency detection unit that is in charge of receiving the data from the airlines and even maritime operative such that names of passengers are cross checks to be able to detect individuals before their arrival to the country."

She further stated that they are bringing together all the different organisations, including IOM, Interpol, adding that they would also get status update on where Nigeria is at in the implementation of the passenger data regime so as to develop a roadmap on how to support the country.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Director General, NCAA, Capt.

Nuhu Musa revealed that the Advance Passenger Information and the Passenger Number Record (APIPNR) are tools for effectively managing, controlling and maintaining travel through details of passenger, adding that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) councils on standard also passed the resolution Musa disclosed that the APIPNR identifies potential criminals, terrorists, illicit drug trading, illicit human trafficking and help

improve facilitation through proper documentations.

"So, it actually verifies if the person is the actual person travelling with the passport. I am sure you have been to places where they

want to check the fingerprint, to cross-check with what is actually in the record, to match the record, to ensure that you are who you claim you are.

“And if for any reason, any

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Umo Bassey Eno has vowed to withdraw from the 2023 governorship race in the state and resign his position as a Pastor in the church if the West African Examination Council (WAEC) attests that he forged his certificates.

Eno was dragged to court over alleged certificates forgery after the party's primary by another gubernatorial aspirant who lost out, Mr. Akan Okon.

The PDP governorship candidate spoke in Uyo, during an event organised by the Pure Umo Royalty Eno Group (Sad da Initiative).

“Anything you see on social media about my WAEC certificates is a mere distraction. If WAEC says

that I, Umo Bassey Eno, have forged my certificate in 1981, or 1983 and it is proven, I will not only quit being a gubernatorial candidate, I’ll quit being a Pastor.

“Let people rant all they want to rant, but let them also know that it is emboldening me and empowering me to go on.

"Everything they do is not going to distract me, what they are doing is the fuel needed to move me to the next level. There is no other commitment anyone would give than that which I have said today; my pastoral calling is not less important to me than serving the people of Akwa Ibom state.”

According to him, his strict parental upbringing would never have permitted him to forge his certificates.

He also said there was nothing

the Nigeria Immigration Service, Comptroller Muhammed Umar, said an inventory of people coming in and going out of the country had become not only necessary but timely.

Davido Expresses Concerns over Delayed Issuance of Certificate of Return to Adeleke By INEC Your insinuation is uncharitable, commission replies singer NGF congratulates governor-elect Chuks Okocha in Abuja Popular Nigerian hip-hop star, David Adeleke, otherwise known as Davido, has expressed concerns over the delayed issuance of Certificate of Return to his uncle and winner of last Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But the commission, while replying Davido said it was uncharitable for the singer to have come up with such insinuation, because it had not contravened any law, since according to the law, it had up to 14 days from the time of the election to issue the certificate of return to the winner.

This came as the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has congratulated Adeleke over his victory during the recent governorship poll and formally welcomed him to their midst, saying they would be willing to work with him.

Davido, in some of his verified social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook,queried why INEC had yet to issue a certificate of return to his uncle, Adeleke, after he won the Saturday governorship poll.

In his post, Davido wondered why INEC had not presented his uncle with the certificate of return, 48 hours after he was declared the winner of the governorship election and jocularlyasked if INEC needed money for fuel to get to Osun State to present the certificate of return to the governor-elect.

He wrote: “48hrs after our @ AAdeleke_01 victory at the Osun Gubernatorial elections, we are yet to receive our certificate. @ inecnigeria should we send you fuel money?”

In a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, INEC said, “Those that intervene and play roles in the electoral process should

Ignore Allegation of Certificate Forgery against Me, A'Ibom PDP Guber Candidate Tells Supporters Okon Bassey in Uyo

security agency, local and international have an alert of you, you will be identified and you will be taken in for whatever processes is bound to be done."

Also speaking, focal person for

wrong in re-sitting an exam to make up for papers he had failed, saying his story was that of resilience and focus despite the situation he found himself.

He charged youths who attended the event not to be afraid of failure but be resilient enough to pick themselves up and move on.

“In 1981, 41 years ago, I never planned to be the governor of Akwa Ibom state, I was barely 17 years old and knowing the kind of parents I had, I would never have thought of forging, it never crossed my mind, it was not even in the lexicon at the time.

"There is nothing wrong in trying an exam under the circumstances I grew up in and then you go to take the exam again and pass the same subject.

“There is nothing wrong in failure,

what is wrong is staying down.

There is something good about falling and rising, that is the story every young person must learn from me; that you can fall but you do not stay down, you grow and move on.”

The PDP standard bearer urged the people to inquire what developmental plans other people seeking to lead them would bring to the table if given the opportunity to serve in any capacity.

He tasked the people of the state to choose someone who would champion job creation, eradicate unemployment and lead the state to prosperity.

Eno lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration for opening the three gateways; air, land and sea to expand the economy of the State.

try to have basic knowledge of the constitutive legal instruments that guide and regulate the conduct of elections.

“The Commission is a public trust and a creation of the Constitution and the law and must be seen to respond to public demands for transparency and openness.

“The Commission will continue to uphold the basic tenets of transparency, openness and inclusivity in the conduct of elections and the

delivery of electoral services.

“The Commission is not a political party and will not be swayed by partisan political interests. Section 72 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that a sealed certificate of return at an election in the prescribed form shall be issued within 14 days to every candidate who has been returned by the Returning Officer in an election under the Act. Continued online

Court Says NAICOM Lacks Power to Increase Insurance Firms’ Share Capital Wale Igbintade The Federal High Court in Lagos has directed the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to reverse itself on the increase in the statutory minimum capital policy for insurance companies.

Justice Chukwujeku Aneke in his judgment held that NAICOM cannot increase the statutory minimum solvency capital policy for insurance companies without the National Assembly amending the Insurance Act and Regulation 2003.

He held that the directives/ guidelines/circular on capital base increase offends Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 9 of the Insurance Act and Regulation 2003.

The court made the orders in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/1518/18 between lawyer, Tope Alabi as the plaintiff and NAICOM and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as 1st and 2nd defendant.

The suit followed NAICOM's announcement in 2018, that it planned to release guidelines for the implementation of the minimum solvency capital policy in August, 2018; while implementation was meant to take effect from January 1, 2019.

NAICOM had on August 27, 2018, released a circular with No. NAICOM/DAPCIR/14/2018, wherein it had divided the cat-

egories of business for insurance companies as provided for in the Act into tier-based respectively.

The plaintiff averred that it prescribed tier-based minimum solvency capital for insurances on the bases of their respective risks profiles and their risks management systems.

The plaintiff in his originating summons had urged the court to determine whether NAICOM could unilaterally increase the statutory minimum solvency capital policy for insurance firms, “as contained in Section 9 of the Insurance Act and Regulation 2003, by a mere circular without an amendment to the enabling statute by the National Assembly to increase such capital base.”

He also prayed the court to determine of the following reliefs: “Whether the increase in the statutory minimum solvency capital policy for all insurance companies and the short or inadequate time within which to comply was not steps taken by the 1st Defendant in bad faith,” among others.

"A declaration that the 1st Defendant lacks vires to unilaterally increase the statutory minimum solvency capital policy for insurance companies in Nigeria, as contained in Section 9 of the Insurance Act and Regulation 2003, by a mere circular without an amendment to the enabling Statute by the National Assembly.

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MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com

08033025611 SMS ONLY

How Atiku, Okowa, Saraki, Diri, Obaseki’s Intervention Ensured Victory for Adeleke

Deji Elumoye highlights the role of Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar; Governors Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Duoye Diri (Bayelsa); Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and the immediate past Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in the planning and monitoring of the decisive moments that ensured a successful governorship campaign for the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in the just concluded Osun State governorship poll

Adeleke

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nly a few persons closely involved with the strategic planning that eventually saw the emergence last Sunday of Senator Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as governor-elect of Osun State are familiar with the involvement of the immediate past Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki in the victorious story. It may be safe to say that his role as Chairman of the party’s National Reconciliation and Strategic Committee (NRSC) positioned him to have the ears and heart of many stalwarts of the PDP in every part of the country, having travelled to all nooks and crannies in the bid to mend fences and ensure that the party enters into any political contest against its arch rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC), as an unbreakable and united force.

Adeleke was already riding on a strong wave of sympathy and popularity garnered from his previous outing in the Osun gubernatorial election in 2018, in which, it was widely believed that he was robbed of victory, following a re-run, after the initial ballot was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The 2022 Osun governorship election, therefore, was another huge opportunity to show that Adeleke’s assumed victory in 2018 was not a fluke.

To be sure, the Adelekes from Ede town are a household name in the politics of Osun State. The patriarch of the family, the late Senator Ayoola Adeleke, theAsiwaju of Edeland, established this political dynasty when he became a Senator in the Second Republic. This legacy was continued by the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, better known as Serubawon (One who conjures fear). He passed on in 2017 as a serving Senator. Prior to that, he was the first civilian governor of Osun State. Before his death, he was poised to return to Government House, Osogbo as governor, for another tenure. His younger brother, Ademola rode on that sentiment to replace him in the Senate. Barely one year after, he contested the 2018 governorship election in Osun, but lost in the re-run poll by just 200 votes!

Having come so close, the last time, the Adelekes were ready to block every loophole.

One of the critical factors was getting the cooperation of experienced eminent members of the PDP who are conversant with exerting political influence. The party had lost in a similar contest in Ekiti State the previous month, therefore, scoring the top mark in Osun, became an all-important goal for the leadership of the PDP, in order to restore confidence to all its flag-bearers in the 2023 national elections, particularly to put its presidential ambition on course.

The topmost hierarchy of the PDP, therefore decided to place the task of delivering Osun in the hands of some of its most experienced

Saraki

Diri

strategists, who constituted the National Campaign Council. As it often happens with assignments like these, a few of them committed themselves beyond the call of duty, throwing in, in the last few days leading to the Osun gubernatorial election, all the time and resources necessary to prosecute a successful campaign.

In this regard, special mention must be made of the selfless disposition of Saraki, Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Duoye Diri, and his Edo state counterpart, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

Because of their critical roles, immediately he was pronounced winner last Sunday morning, Adeleke prostrated before his elder brother, Deji. He went on to give a bear hug to each of Saraki, Diri and Obaseki for their kind, muchneeded, strategic and effective last-minute interventions that ensured the Osun gubernatorial crown will be placed on his head in the next dispensation.

Diri was the chairman of the National Campaign Council for the 2022 Osun gubernatorial election. Beyond politics, Obaseki had shared some business relationship with the PDP candidate’s elder brother, Deji Adeleke, going back to their days in the financial sector in Lagos.

Therefore, he had more persuading reasons to bring forward his experience in similar elections in 2020 when he was seeking re-election and forces of the APC rose against him. Whatever Obaseki did then to come out tops was needed to help Adeleke curtail the strength of the APC. In his decision to support the Adelekes, Saraki had other compelling reasons. First, Osun State is a neighbouring state to his own Kwara State and he needs to ensure Osun State will not be used to sabotage his party, the PDP, in Kwara State in next year’s election.

Second, as the chairman of the PDP National Reconciliation and Strategic Committee (NRSC), Saraki handled the resolution of the crisis in the party in the

Obaseki

state and is very well aware of the issues, personalities, and need for unity in Osun PDP if the party was to make any good impact in the governorship polls. It thus became a challenge for him to help the Adelekes in making last-minute rallying of all forces and persons behind the candidate in order to defeat the APC, which had become fractured as supporters of the immediate past governor of the state and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola could not be persuaded to support the re-election bid of incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola.

The Sarakis and the Adelekes share an admirable political achievement. The Saraki and Adeleke families remain the only two nuclear families to have produced three members of the Nigerian Senate respectively. His late father, Dr. Olusola Saraki was a colleague of the patriarch of the Adelekes in the Second Republic Senate. Again, the former Senate President and the late eldest brother of the Adelekes, Isiaka Adeleke, were colleagues in the 7th and 8th Senate. When Ademola, the Osun State governor-elect replaced his late brother in the 8th Senate, he was a loyal supporter of Saraki who was then Senate President. Also, Deji Adeleke, the surviving eldest of the Adeleke brothers is a good friend of Saraki. For all these reasons, Saraki decided to throw in all the support for the Adelekes.

Being a neighbouring state, it was easy for Saraki and his team to move from his home in Ilorin, Kwara State where he had been since the eve of the last Eid-El- Kabir festival into Ede, the Adelekes home town on Wednesday morning (July 13, 2022).

On arrival, he went into a meeting with all the PDP polling agents. The venue of the training handled by the former Senate President was the Adeleke University, Ede. It was a very important knowledge sharing session. The agents where lectured on how to carry out their assignments on polling day. He explained in unambiguous

Saraki was already in the situation room very early on election day to start coordination. He was also joined

by Governors Diri and Obaseki to supervise the state of the play. As blow-by-blow reports from party agents, field officers, and observers across the state were being received by them, the first hint of victory for Adeleke came when the result showed that the incumbent governor had lost the Government House, Osogbo Polling Unit

terms their roles to the success of the party on Election Day. Many of these agents saw it as a big privilege to interact with Saraki at such close quarters and it brought home to them the seriousness of the assignment at hand.

From his insider knowledge of aggrieved parties in Osun PDP, Saraki had identified exgovernor Olagunsoye Oyinlola as one who needed to be appeased at all costs. Therefore, he joined PDP governors at Oyinlola’s Osogbo GRA residence to plead his indulgence to support Adeleke.

The meeting was very successful. Oyinlola was fully persuaded and the gap between him and the Adelekes was closed.

It is pertinent to reference Saraki’s role as chairman of the PDP NRSC, because it made it easy for him to revisit all the issues his committee had dealt with and ensured that those already covered did not resurge while the pending ones were quickly attended to.

Many of the stakeholders could easily identify with and listen to his pleas with them. These engagements helped the party to put a strong and united front across in the last 48 hours before the commencement of voting. By Thursday morning, Saraki and his team were in Osogbo to coordinate the PDP mega rally. He spent the whole of Thursday ensuring that the party had a successful rally aimed at sending a strong signal to the ruling APC that the PDP was set to take over in Osun State.

Much of his third day in Osun was devoted to another series of meetings with aggrieved party stakeholders from each of the three senatorial districts. The first set was the people from Osun East. This particular one took up most of the day. At the end of the day, the issues appeared resolved and the party seemed ready for a good outing on Saturday.

On Friday night, Saraki moved into the party situation room located inside the residence of late Senator isiaka Adeleke to ascertain the level of preparedness and to test run some of the facilities to be sure they were in perfect condition. He was joined by Governors Diri and Obaseki.

Saraki was already in the situation room very early on election day to start coordination. He was also joined by Governors Diri and Obaseki to supervise the state of the play.

As blow-by-blow reports from party agents, field officers, and observers across the state were being received by them, the first hint of victory for Adeleke came when the result showed that the incumbent governor had lost the Government House, Osogbo Polling Unit.

Diri, Obaseki and Saraki and their teams did not sleep until the results were announced in the early hours of Sunday morning. Finally, the ghost of the painful 2018 loss which haunted the Adelekes was buried with a convincing majority of over 28,000 votes against Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

POLITICS

As APC Unveils Shettima Today...

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is expected today to unveil the former Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in spite of the controversy and backlash from Nigerians and the christian community against the Muslim-Muslim ticket put forward by the party. Adedayo Akinwale writes

Adamu

Tinubu

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) will today at Shehu Misa Yaradu’a Centre in Abuja present to the public Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the Presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Though, the governing party has definitely gotten more than what it bargained for following the backlash from Nigerians and the Christian community as a result of the Muslim-Muslim ticket the party decided to fly in the 2023 elections.

Since party stakeholders, the Christian community and indeed concerned Nigerians got the wind of the plan by the APC to float a Muslim-Muslim ticket, they have expressed dissatisfaction against such notion, arguing that it would undermine the Christians and at the same time widen the country’s fault-lines.

Despite the stiff opposition against such an idea, Tinubu called the bluff of the Christians when he announced Shettima as his running-mate ahead of the 2023 elections.

The former Lagos State governor explained that the choice of Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate was not based on religion or to please one community or the other, saying he made the choice because he believed Shettima could help him bring the best governance to all Nigerians, regardless of their religious affiliation or considerations of ethnicity or region Justifying his decision, Tinubu said: “I am mindful of the energetic discourse concerning the possible religion of my running mate. Just and noble people have talked to me about this. Some have counselled that I should select a Christian to please the Christian community.

Other have said I should pick a Muslim to appeal to the Muslim community. Clearly, I cannot do both.

“Both sides of the debate have impressive reasons and passionate arguments supporting their position. Both arguments are right

Tinubu’s justification of MuslimMuslim ticket

Shettima

in their own way. But neither is right in the way that Nigeria needs at the moment. As president, I hope to govern this nation toward uncommon progress. This will require innovation. It will require steps never before taken. It will also require decisions that are politically difficult and rare.”

His explanation has however failed to assuage the anger of Nigerians, especially the Christian community. While the proponents of the Muslim-Muslim ticket have been fighting tooth and nail to defend the indefensible, those against it warned that there would be a dire consequences for such an act of insensitivity.

Arguments for and against MuslimMuslim ticket There have been a lot of arguments as regards why Tinubu opted for a Muslim running-mate and at the same time, there have been a lot of arguments against why the idea was insentive at this time.

In his submission, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Murtala Ajaka, said the choice of Shettima as the party’s vice presidential candidate has thrown

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) off balance. He said PDP and others would have preferred Tinubu to settle for less so as to make it easy for them to win the election.

On his part, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabena said the decision of the PDP to jettison the zoning arrangement was more harmful to the unity of Nigeria when compared to the single faith ticket of the ruling APC. He pointed out that none of those agitating against the Muslim-Muslim ticket on the basis of fairness have considered the African traditional worshippers. Nabena wondered how fair it is that they are agitating for fairness and equity to share power between Christians, while completely ignoring and alienating traditional worshippers.

Also reacting, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, said If people feel unhappy with the kind of choices that have been made, they can make their choice from other contestants.

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

Curious 2023 Political Calculations in Imo Amby Uneze captures the mood of some politicians and their parties in Imo state after the primaries where candidates for various positions were elected.

Uzodinma

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s it is a norm in every preceding year to general elections in Nigeria, political parties and politicians usually juggle for space, recognition and acceptability. That is how they try to convince the electorate to support their party and candidates. During that period, however, a lot of political gimmicks and gerrymandering became the order of the day for those political gladiators.

In Imo State, the scenario is the same especially after the primaries of the various political parties.

Expectedly though, there are skirmishes here and there as some politicians who lost primaries of their parties make effort to either remain

Ihedioha

relevant in that party or find another political party to actualize his or her political intentions. Of course, this leads to acrimony, rebellion, bad blood and crisis rocking the parties.

The two major political parties in the State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), no doubt are feeling the heat presently as some of their members that felt aggrieved after the primaries are either fighting back or joining other political parties.

In line with a popular Bob Marley song ‘when one door closes, another

Agbaso

Maduka

one opens’ philosophy, the Labour Party (LP) has become the beautiful bride of some of those politicians.

Again, what seems to be slowing down serious political activities in the state at the moment is linked to the fact that the governorship election for Imo has changed from the normal May 29 swearing in of a new governor. This is due to the fact that the Supreme Court ruling of January 14, 2020 that handed the 2019 governorship ticket to Senator Hope Uzodimma who came fourth in that election and sacked Hon. Emeka Ihedioha that legitimately won the election distorted the governorship timetable for the State.

Since the governorship election date is dif-

ferent from that of the State House of Assembly and National Assembly, it then makes it cumbersome for politicians to align and make correct permutations as to where the governorship arrow points to. It looks herculean, though, political pundits also believe that with the high level of insecurity which is allegedly pointed towards the direction of the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodimma, to have poorly managed the situation, the issue of his second term may be an herculean task.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

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FEATURES

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

Using Leadership Skills, Culture to Empower Borno Women, Girls To empower, equip and embolden underprivileged women and girls in seven rural communities in Borno State, the Gender Equality, Peace and Development Centre, GEPaDC, has employed leadership skills to bridge the cultural and religious barriers, among others for these women to realise their raw and untapped potential. Rebecca Ejifoma narrates the account of three women who realised their potentials and are now contributing their quota to society

Beneficiaries of GEPaDC empowerment programme receiving their tools

H

ajara (last name withheld) from Borno State didn't know she could be more than a sex slave. Neither did she know that life as a girl wasn't all about being trafficked. All she could think of was that her yoke was nothing close to easy, and her burden was anything but light. From being trafficked, and sexually exploited as an adolescent to early marriage twice through to prostitution and unplanned pregnancy, she recounted her torrid time.

“My story is a tragedy and I hope to share it today. My mother was divorced by my father when I was young. She remarried but the marriage failed. She got married again and then took me to the Niger Republic. She later died."

According to Hajara, 27, this marked her journey of misery and woes. "I encountered different people who molested, raped me then like some insignificant being they turned me into a lady of pleasure," she bemoaned. "In the beginning, I was forced into marriage at a young age. The preparation was done without my consent but I had no choice but to comply.

I later broke the marriage but was forced to remarry another man".

This time, however, she met co-wives, who made life a nightmare for her. "The co-wives I met tormented my life so much that I broke the marriage and decided to leave to start my journey."

And like the popular parlance, out of the frying pan into the fire, young Hajara was pleased to finally reunite with her aunt in the Northern part of Nigeria where she began to vacation in hell. "My aunt introduced me to prostitution. That was how four military men raped me one night. One soldier, who claimed he loved me, impregnated me but denied it."

Sadly for her, she felt everything fall apart and even the centre could no longer hold. "My whole life was a misery; from one tragedy to another, being deceived by different men which I find very hard to forgive now." From that moment it was a fate worse than death.

Refreshed Until at age 27 when she bumped into Gender Equality, Peace and Development Centre (GEPaDC) in Borno state. Her life began to have a meaning. She became a brand new woman, refreshed and rejuvenated and equipped with new skills.

Hasfat Mustapha: Triumph in Disability Just like Hajara, Hafsat Mustapha has had her fair share of internal adversaries. She is a person living with a disability (PWD) but tormented by her very own family. "My family discouraged me from achieving my goal – to go to school and become a lawyer. Instead, I was sent to Islamiyat (Islamic religious study)."

Although Mustapha memorised the Holy Quran, she persisted in pursuing her ambition of becoming a lawyer. "However, because of my quest to speak English fluently and to be recognised as the best in Borno State, my father advised that I should attend NCE and be a teacher instead because lawyers are involved in bribery".

After joining the National Counsellor Exami-

Beneficiaries of GEPaDC empowerment workshop

nation (NCE), the PWD leader studied the English Language instead. "Because I often scored A and B grades in my courses, my aunt got jealous and said mean words to me. 'You will never be anything in future," emphasising that her auntie had pronounced profane words on her because she can't walk.

"She said I would be nothing because I'm a cripple. I replied to her by saying I will marry a cripple, be a cripple lawyer, build a school for the cripple and invite my cripple friends to my wedding," she narrated, chipping in that "God in his infinite mercy granted me that wish."

Finally, fortune smiled at her. Today, she is a women leader for Borno State People Living with Disability. This, in itself, is fulfilling to her. "I'm still going to pursue my career once my result is out. I will further my studies till I achieve my dream".

While she is thankful for life, she has acknowledged the role of the GEPaDC. According to her, the organisation supported her with some naira to reinvest in her business. "I will make sure that I save enough money, which I know my husband will support me because he is also passionate about what I am doing".

Parsti A.: New Lease of Life In the words of 32-year-old full-time housewife, Parsti A., "Life no balance (life isn't balanced). All her marriage life, she relied solely on her husband to bring home the bacon including her every wish. "I was doing nothing and always asking my husband. This affected me a lot," she bemoaned. "I could not do anything for myself without asking for money from my husband. Even when I asked, I was not given immediately.

It may take some time before I receive the money, and it might come after I no longer need the money."

Finally, Parsti has got a new lease of life. Her progress as a woman was the establishment of a group, which she heads. She alongside other female members meets minds, table issues and challenges affecting women and empowers themselves through monthly contributions known as adashe.

While being resilient in their quest to find themselves, GEPaDC gave them a reason to smile again. "It was exactly

one year and six months doing things on our own when they came to our aid.

They gave us beautiful ideas on peace building and ways to promote peace in the community," says Parsti.

GEPaDC empowered the group extensively with different skills like cap knitting, liquid wash, local incense, and vaseline. "This solves one of our great concerns as an organisation and the members passed on the training to other community members.

"One thing I must thank GEPaDC for is the sense of leadership that they installed in us. Before in the community," she recalled, "we don’t have any say on decisions made by the leaders who are men. Instead of decisions made with us, decisions are made for us until after the training on leadership. The men now invite us for community dialogue and conflict resolution even though not all the women. But we, the leaders, partake in decisions taken in the community now."

Indeed, for Hajara, Hafsat, and Parsti among a list of others, organisations like GEPaDC came in handy. This is because it is employing strategic approaches to bridging the gap for women in rural communities in seven communities in Borno State. With the right information, education and awareness programmes these women are gradually realising and attaining their full potential.

GEPaDC: Rescuing Women in Borno GEPaDC is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, non-religious and not-for-profit organisation. Its vision is a society where women and men, girls and boys realise their full potential and participate in every sphere on an equal basis; where the rights of everyone irrespective of sex are recognised and respected and its mission is the promotion of gender equality, women and girls’ empowerment, peace, and sustainable development.

According to the Executive Director, GEPaDC, Patricia Donli, their area of focus are gender equality, women’s empowerment and leadership development, women, peace and security; violence against women and girls; non-violent peace initiatives; women’s rights including reproductive health rights; women’s health including HIV/aids and reproductive health; democracy and good

One thing I must thank GEPaDC for is the sense of leadership that they installed in us. Before in the community, we don’t have any say on decisions made by the leaders who are men. Instead of decisions made with us, decisions are made for us until after the training on leadership. The men now invite us for community dialogue and conflict resolution

governance; youth development/mentoring; environment and sustainable development.

Since its establishment in 2010, GEPaDC has been responding to the humanitarian crisis and is currently working in MMC, Jere, Mafa, Konduga, Mafa, Damboa, Biu, and Gwoza in Borno state.

Approaches to Challenges in Communities GEPaDC is familiar not only with the physical terrain but also the cultural terrain, using mentoring programmes to proffer solutions.

"We have been able to achieve results through strategic navigation of these cultural barriers and challenges.

"Also, GEPaDC has a very robust volunteering and internship and mentoring programme where the participants are taken through a learning process via understanding mentors and hands-on experience for three to six months, hence there is always a critical pool of young people that are in the field, learning daily."

For Donli, their approach to working in this highly conservative and patriarchal society has been guided by culture and conflict sensitivity.

They also employ the principle of do-no-harm and community engagement/centred approach and build alliances and linkages with those who identify with their vision and mission.

GEPaDC has an exceptionally good relationship with the traditional and religious institutions in Borno state.

With an all-inclusive approach, GEPaDC with the help of the British Council ensures community participation and inclusion through consultations, and open discussions and all activities are community-driven.

In addition, the organisation works within strategic guidelines including significance, completeness, responsiveness, collaboration, inclusiveness, integrity and plain English planning.

In the words of the ED, the organisation deals with issues of significance and ensures that the proper foundation is laid to achieve successful outcomes and sustainable results.

"We seek to understand the concerns, views, needs and expectations including views of all stakeholders. We respond coherently and appropriately to the terms of reference and the expectations of all stakeholders.

"We work with the other CSO/NGOs, Traditional and religious leaders, Government partners, Security Agencies, and oversight bodies, to build sustainable relationships. We will recognise, understand, and involve all stakeholders in the process," Donli highlighted.

Over the years, GEPaDC continues to conduct engagement in a manner that fosters mutual respect and trust while also seeing to the use of plain English in all their drafting and training to enable ease of translation into local languages and to support ease of implementation in the future security and gender-related projects.

While the world has come to terms with the fact that Emma Watson was right when she said women share this planet 50/50 and they are underrepresented – potential astonishingly untapped, organisations like GEPaDC seek to empower the girl child and women. To them, this is a critical step towards eradicating poverty and many societal ills that cripple their roles in society and their homes.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

PERSPECTIVE

Communications Lessons to Live by in 2022 and Beyond Brukeme Dickson

E

verybody wants to be heard and seen; this desire has existed since ancient times and is still quite relevant in our 21st-century, fastpaced world. On a personal level, this desire is met in relationships we build with the people in our world— parents, siblings, friends, and colleagues.

In the corporate world, it is met through communications, making the principles and strategies that pertain to this industry invaluable to every brand, regardless of size. Generally, communications is perceived as a bullhorn that aids a brand’s evangelical efforts as it courts its customers.

However, many do not realise that it is a whole lot more than that.

Beyond making public announcements on a brand’s mission statements or activities, communications, when done right, fulfils the desire of every man (in this case, the target audience) to be heard and seen— ensuring every campaign and strategy deployed ends up a raving success. From my years as a consultant at one of Africa’s foremost storytelling, public relations, media and communications agency, I have seen firsthand that listening is the first step to running a successful campaign and accomplishing communications objectives.

Without listening, you can never pick up the components needed to engineer successful campaigns or crisis management.

Listening avails you the tools you need to make a personal connection with your audience and pull on their heartstrings.

This is what made the Heineken credential ad, which aired in 2017, the huge success it was.

The ad integrated experiences that the average Nigerian can relate with— the love for titles and the culture of bearing gifts when visiting family. The results? In Nigeria, the campaign recorded major success across major media platforms— with several awards recognising the campaign’s reach and impact.

The campaign, which was tweaked in different countries to fit varying cultural contexts, recorded sweeping success across board. On the financial side, Heineken recorded a drastic increase in its operating profits, meeting its 2017 expectations after a floundering financial year in 2015 and a recovering year in 2016.

Another lesson that can be culled from the Heineken credential campaign is the organic way the brand identified with its target audience. The brand cleverly leveraged the attributes it has in common with the average Nigerian— the desire to travel far and wide, the affinity for titles, the dedication to quality and the love for family— and that caused the campaign to achieve sweeping acceptance within Nigeria.

The brand’s campaign approach was such a powerful one that establishes human connection incredibly fast, as it builds on the desire the average person has to connect with like-minded people— as a study by the University of Kansas on the “Similarity in Relationships as Niche Construction: Choice, Stability, and Influence Within Dyads in a Free Choice Environment” revealed.

After listening to the target audience to extract the data needed, due attention must be given to the mode and medium through which messaging is communicated. The general principles of communication need to be adhered to in creating messaging— it needs to be clear, concise and correct.

A survey spanning over 30 countries which was carried out by Eurostat— a Directorate-General of the European Commission, founded by the European Parliament— in 2021 revealed that the majority of people do not verify the information they see online.

This propensity of the larger populace to swallow what they see on the internet hook, line and sinker makes it imperative for messaging to be fact-checked multiple times to avoid the spread of wrong information that may be damaging to brands, eliminating avoidable crises and saving companies losses that are incidental to

Dickson crises.

Ensuring that information contained in communications messaging is fact-checked is paramount. However, in today’s world, where the average person is confronted with an obscene amount of information, and the chances of quality content getting buried in the landfill of data is incredibly high, it is not enough to have all your ducks in a row.

Your messaging must be clear and concise to stand out; this entails great attention paid to the language and the medium used. The medium goes a long way in determining how the messaging is crafted; conveying a message through video adverts is quite different from conveying it through a radio jingle or a design on social media.

In paying attention to all these, however, you must never take your eyes off the target audience— they influence every decision that you would have to make. The target audience dictates the medium used to accomplish communications objectives as well as the messaging projected. It will be foolhardy to launch a campaign targeted at youths through traditional mediums when the majority of them rely on social media for their information.

The target audience also determines how messaging is phrased. A campaign targeted at the boomers' generation has to be worded differently from one targeting millennials or GenZs. Why? The individuals in these generations do not process trends and words the same way; hence trying to use trendy

words, for instance, that GenZs are conversant with to communicate with baby boomers is a recipe for disaster as people are more likely to ignore messages they cannot relate with or they do not have a connection to.

In today’s society, which is influenced mainly by millennials and GenZs— generations that value transparency and social action— articulating a brand’s ESG stance is always a plus.

A 2021 PWC Consumer Intelligence series revealed that consumers, and employees as well, demand that companies respond to environmental, social, and governance issues. 80 percent of respondents in the series stated that they are more likely to buy from companies who have an environmental stance, 76 percent a social stance, and 80 percent governance stance; with a similar percentage (84%, 83%, and 86%, respectively) stating they are more likely to work with companies who are addressing ESG issues.

Above all, in achieving communications objectives, due attention must be given to trends. Trends are an easy way to identify what has your target audience’s attention per time in order to leverage it. In paying attention to trends, you need to identify what is trending socially and what is trending in the communications industry— if a lot of organisations have hopped on a train and more are flocking towards it, chances are it is yielding results.

A classic example of this is what obtains with the influencer marketing trend. Although influencer market-

Telling an effective story requires that you understand (and care about) your audience deeply.

Find out what makes them laugh, reflect, sad, or angry. Then take all of that information and weave a powerful story that resonates deeply with them

ing, as we know it, began sometime in the 20th century with the likes of Coco Chanel influencing the fashion world, and was only reserved for individuals with a certain level of sway, a lot has changed.

In our climes today, literally anybody can become an influencer, with mini-influencers springing up everywhere, and this has been beneficial to the communications industry.

Social proof is such a powerful tool for communications players to leverage, and statistics show that brands still have so much to gain from leveraging it. A 2021 State of Influencer Marketing report released by Linqia— a leading influencer marketing platform situated in the United States— revealed that companies who used TikTok-led influencer marketing campaigns in 2020 experienced 325 percent in interest, with more companies taking advantage of this platform and others like it.

More so, shopability in influencer marketing has increased drastically, with many influencers giving their audience the option of patronising the brands being influenced instantly.

There are many other trends to look out for, like search engine optimisation and podcasts, as highlighted by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management. Two trends that every player in the communications industry must avert their minds to, however, are virtual reality and augmented reality.

These twin trends have revolutionised storytelling and elevated consumer’s experiences, as they offer amplified immersive experiences compared to other mediums. Augmented and virtual reality have been integrated into everything from video content to data visualisation and product testings, giving each consumer a personalised experience with different brands and availing brands the opportunity to receive real-time feedback— giving room for prompt iterations where needed.

Over the years, since these two revolutionary offshoots of technology have been created, augmented and virtual reality have experienced hyper-growth and adoption.

According to various forecast reports, this accelerated growth and adoption rate is on an indefinite upward trajectory— moreso as the metaverse takes shape and evolves.

A 2021-2025 forecast report by Technavio— a leading market research company with industry-wide coverage— the global virtual and augmented reality market "is expected to grow by USD 162.71 billion from 2020 to 2025 at a CAGR of 46%."

Proactive communications professionals who wish to elevate their Communications ante need to take advantage of these technologies, or risk being caught unawares as the two tech-powered realities sweep the industry.

In leveraging trends and technologies, however, communicators must never lose sight of the importance of telling a story. Regardless of how sophisticated and in vogue a trend or technology is, it cannot ensure the success of a campaign independent of a story. Trends and technology only serve to amplify the story you tell your consumers, not replace them. “Telling an impactful story is a non-negotiable in today’s attention-fragmented world.”

“Great storytelling evokes emotion and connection. It inspires action and builds trust”— and is the foundation on which every successful campaign and communications strategy is built. People don’t want to be talked at; they want to make a connection with another human. This can only happen through effective storytelling.

Telling an effective story requires that you understand (and care about) your audience deeply. Find out what makes them laugh, reflect, sad, or angry. Then take all of that information and weave a powerful story that resonates deeply with them.

All in all, regardless of what trends and strategies you choose to adopt and what story you choose to tell, one goal you must always have in mind as a communications specialist is connecting with the consumer personally.

-Brukeme Dickson, a Communications Consultant wrote in from Lagos.

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FELIX OLAJIDE explores the changing expectations in Nigeria’s business landscape These countries are rich in resources, but poor in infrastructure. Now is the time to change that, argues N. J. AYUK

THE CASE OF SENEGAL AND MAURITANIA Beneath the coastal waters of Senegal and neighboring Mauritania lie some of the largest oil and natural gas discoveries in recent history, most occurring between 2014 and 2017. More than 1 billion barrels (bbl) of oil and 40,000 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas await extraction.

These discoveries have reinvigorated industry interest in the SenegalMauritanian basin. Despite the vast potential, though, understanding how to WXUQ LW LQWR D VLJQLÀFDQW SURGXFWLRQ KXE is still evolving. Previous attempts to PRQHWL]H VPDOOHU ÀQGV KDYH IRXQGHUHG Production levels at regional facilities have declined over the last decade.

While Senegal’s consistently low-volume Gadiaga project remains in operation, at Mauritania’s Deepwater Chinguetti project, production ceased altogether at the close of 2017.

The question of how to exploit these new reserves, especially considering that they cross international boundaries, is being answered in part through partnership.

The complexities inherent to fossil fuel ownership claims were addressed and amicably resolved in 2018 when the two countries agreed to the terms of the Inter-State Cooperation Agreement that GHOLQHDWHG HTXDO VKDUHV RI WKH RͿVKRUH resources. The governments and the local workforces are ready for progress. They DUH HDJHU WR VHH WKH YDULRXV ÀHOGV LQ WKLV zone operating at their highest capacity.

However, a lack of existing infrastructure means that developing these projects will be a considerable undertaking requiring serious investment from committed partners. Further complicating matters, timing is a factor too, and the clock is ticking. Mauritania, IRU H[DPSOH QHHGV WR ÀQG D VXEVWLWXWH for its iron mining business, which has provided for a sizeable portion of the national economy but is subject to the ebb DQG ÁRZ RI GHPDQG IURP NH\ FXVWRPHU China. A decrease in the market paired with an expected drop in the trading price would substantially impact the QDWLRQ 7KH ÀVFDO JDS FRXOG EH ÀOOHG ZLWK SURFHHGV IURP OLTXHÀHG QDWXUDO JDV /1* SURGXFHG IURP 0DXULWDQLD·V ÀHOGV but only if production can come onboard fast enough to satisfy Europe’s growing LNG needs, which are expected to peak in the mid-2030s.

The problem is, neither Mauritania nor Senegal has the means to bring RͿVKRUH JDV WR GRPHVWLF PDUNHWV RU WR export LNG to international markets.

Onshore gas-to-power infrastructure is minimal at best. Successfully monetizing this region’s resources is an objective requiring proportionate attention paid to addressing these inadequacies.

As detailed in the African Energy Chamber’s Petroleum Laws – Benchmarking Report for Senegal and Mauritania, opportunities exist for collaboration between local governments and international oil companies (IOCs) that would accelerate the development RI WKHVH RͿVKRUH UHVHUYHV $OWKRXJK it’s possible that someday Mauritania could connect with one of Algeria’s three SLSHOLQHV WR (XURSH ÁRDWLQJ OLTXHÀHG QDWXUDO JDV )/1* YHVVHOV RͿHU D PRUH LPPHGLDWH DQG DͿRUGDEOH VROXWLRQ

International pipelines, an unrivaled method of fuel delivery when completed, are accompanied by their own unique, WLPH FRQVXPLQJ GL΀FXOWLHV GXULQJ WKH planning stage. Any pipeline project must consider the potential for community displacement while simultaneously contending with the geological features and vegetation management issues.

The risk of security concerns is another factor. While Senegal and Mauritania have not struggled with security issues, it is possible that instability in other countries in the region, such as the Islamic insurgency in neighboring Mali, could spread and pose a threat to land-based infrastructure. FLNG vessels like that RͿHUHG E\ *RODU 1HZ )RUWUHVV (QHUJ\ DQG 7HFKQLS RͿHU D UHDVRQDEOH ZD\ WR negate most of these hindrances.

Despite these time-sensitive challenges, 6HQHJDO DQG 0DXULWDQLD RͿHU LQWHUQDWLRQDO oil companies (IOCs) an undoubtedly lucrative opportunity deserving of investment. If the recent volatility in the European energy market is a forecast of coming circumstances, now is the time for international operators to establish solid relationships in Africa.

Ideally, IOCs should erect infrastructure that supports every facet of African gas and oil production. LNG export terminals, maritime logistics operations, and pipeline networks would all play a role in satisfying the world’s already tremendous and growing need for energy —natural gas especially. Largescale expenditures like these are in the best interest of IOCs, and Senegal and Mauritania extend a degree of cooperation not found elsewhere in the world.

Mauritanian leadership has been proactively attracting international investment by relaxing restrictive business regulations, developing a gas master plan, and designating the port city of Nouadhibou as a gas processing, import, and export hub. In addition WR HVWDEOLVKLQJ RͿVKRUH H[SORUDWRU\ relationships with BP, Kosmos Energy, and Mauritania’s own national oil company, Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM), the nation also seeks to GHYHORS RQVKRUH UHÀQHULHV LQ WKH HͿRUW WR combat energy poverty on a grand scale.

President Macky Sall has pushed and executed a plan to improve the country’s international appeal. Outlined in 2014, the Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PES) allocates billions to industrial infrastructure across the nation. Construction of a deepwater port in the capital city of Dakar began earlier this year, as did the construction of Ourossogui-Matam Airport in the northeast. Improvement projects at airports in Kedougou, Tambacounda, and Ziguinchor have also commenced.

As of last year, high-speed, regional express rail travel is available in Senegal, and an expansion of the DakarDiamniadio-AIBD Toll Highway is currently underway.

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org/)

OF DIGITAL LITERACY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Digital literacy is fundamentally changing business models, how work is performed and managed, and the kind of skills needed in the workplace. It is also changing the expectations we have of business owners’ traditional leadership skills and models which are no longer enough to foster market-leading innovation and entrepreneurial returns.

The Digital Economy is expanding across the globe, albeit at an uneven SDFH DFURVV GLͿHUHQW FRXQWULHV ,Q PRVW countries, however, the digital economy is constantly being developed. A 2016 Report

by Oxford Economics, the global digital economy is valued at $11.5 trillion dollars or approximately 16% of the Global Economy.

The global digital economy is also projected to account for a quarter of the global economy in the next 10years. Nigeria currently does not has a large slice of the global digital economy EXW HͿRUW LV EHLQJ PDGH WR SRVLWLRQ WKH QDWLRQ to play a leading role in contributing to this economy.

The World Economic Forum predicts that over 60% of global GDP will be digitized by 2022 and that over the next decade, digital platforms will be used to create close to 70% of new value. Furthermore, according to a Report by Ericsson titled “How Important Are Mobile Broadband Networks for Global Economic Development”, 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration results in approximately 0.6% to 2.8% rise in gross domestic product (GDP).

Today we live in an information society in which more people must manage more information, which in turn requires more technological support, which both demands and creates more information. These GHYHORSPHQWV KDYH DͿHFWHG WKH ZKROH HVVHQFH of an individual’s life. Every individual uses digital devices from cell phones to digital camera and computers; they are changing our everyday lives. Computers are used for virtually every aspect of life. They are also used in banking, mass media, publishing, communicating and they bring about quality LQ PXVLF SKRWRJUDSK\ PDUNHWLQJ ÀOP making and other businesses.

Although, there have been various arguments on what digital literacy should be. It is set of skills that enables individuals RSHUDWH HͿHFWLYHO\ LQ LQIRUPDWLRQ UHWULHYDO WDVN in technology-oriented environment. Digital literacy is critical for a nation’s workforce within today’s digital world. UNESCO (2011) GHÀQHV GLJLWDO OLWHUDF\ DV WKH DELOLW\ WR DFFHVV use and disseminate information in the digital age. Digital literacy is about understanding LQIRUPDWLRQ ZKHQ LW LV SUHVHQWHG LQ GLͿHUHQW IRUPDWV DQG ÀJXULQJ RXW KRZ WR XVH LW LQ secure and productive ways.

For instance, in running their businesses, digital technologies can be used to: sell goods or services (e-commerce, including apps), VRXUFH PDWHULDOV PDQDJH WKHLU ÀQDQFHV DQG employees and market businesses online (including social media) in order to boost their entrepreneurial returns.Entrepreneurial UHWXUQV DUH WKH EHQHÀW GHULYHG E\ EXVLQHVV owners as a result of investing their time, money and education into their business.

7KHVH EHQHÀWV FRXOG EH PHDVXUDEOH LQ WHUPV of gaining more customers, having more EXVLQHVV RXWOHWV DQG PDNLQJ PRUH SURÀW In developed countries, research has shown that both large enterprises and small businesses have successfully adopted digital literacy or skills to gain competitive

advantage, transform business models and improve relationships with customers and suppliers. These skills are essential success factor for many successful small business owners (SBOs).

Digital literacy continues to be one of the major challenges faced by developing countries.

The importance of digital literacy to the successful implementation of Nigeria’s digital economy was underscored by the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mallam Isa Pantami, at the oneday virtual workshop, organised by the 1LJHULDQ 6RIWZDUH 7HVWLQJ 4XDOLÀFDWLRQV Board (NGSTQB), themed: “Role of

Nigerian educators must constantly adapt the curriculum to integrate the most recent technological developments because the components of computer literacy are changing as a result of technological advancements Software Testing in Nigeria’s Digital Economy’”. Pantami noted that, for Nigeria to achieve its ambitious target of 95 percent digital literacy level by 2030, “we will need to build the literacy of citizens, in order for them to understand and consume digital services.”

However, numerous research studies have been conducted on SBOs, and most ÀQGLQJV PDLQWDLQHG WKDW GHVSLWH WKHLU VLJQLÀFDQW LPSRUWDQFH DQG FRQWULEXWLRQ WR economic growth, SBOs across the world over, and in Nigeria in particular, are still faced with numerous challenges that inhibit entrepreneurial growth.

Regardless of each employee’s function, information and communication technologies (ICT) competencies are becoming more and more crucial for many organisations. The variety of technology tools and resources used to communicate, create, distribute, store, retrieve, and manage information demonstrates the VLJQLÀFDQFH RI GLJLWDO OLWHUDF\ (DFK WHFKQRORJ\ KDV D GLͿHUHQW potential, depending on how it is used.

Knowing how to evaluate internet sources for the accuracy and reliability of information would be considered to be good digital literacy. For instance, utilising a computer requires procedural skills ÀOH PDQDJHPHQW FRJQLWLYH VNLOOV DQG emotional-social abilities. Digital literacy is a mix of these talents (intuitively reading the visual messages in graphic user interfaces). As such, Nigerian educators must constantly adapt the curriculum to integrate the most recent technological developments because the components of computer literacy are changing as a result of technological advancements.

Felix Oladeji, oladejifelix94@gmail.com

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EDITORIAL

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

THE GROWING THREAT OF HUNGER In many states in Nigeria, hunger has become a common staple for the people

R

areas of the country. Sokoto is a major producer of beans, epeated warnings from the United Nations cowpea, groundnut, garlic, wheat, sugarcane, pepper, World Food Program (UNWFP) that the RQLRQV DQG WRPDWRHV *URXQGQXW VRUJKXP VHVDPH number of Nigerians at the risk of hunger seed, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and pepper are keep rising should be a source of concern to SURGXFHG H[WHQVLYHO\ LQ 3ODWHDX VWDWH /LNHZLVH *RPEH LV critical stakeholders in Nigeria. All the recent well known for groundnut, ginger, cowpea, sesame seed, reports from both local and international tomatoes, and pepper. Plantain, oil palm and cassava are organisations point to the fact that millions of Nigerian ODUJHO\ SURGXFHG LQ (GR 6WDWH $OVR .DQR KDV H[WHQVLYH families go to bed without any certainty as to where production of rice, garlic, sorghum, cowpea, wheat, WKHLU QH[W PHDOV ZRXOG FRPH IURP DV SULFHV RI IRRGVWXͿ pepper, onions, and tomatoes. In all these states, hunger skyrocket. Rising food prices, according to a recent World has become a common staple for the people.

Bank report, are ‘severely impacting Nigerian households’ The challenge is understandable. Insecurity in many with dire consequences. The report stated further that as RI WKH UXUDO FRPPXQLWLHV KDV PDGH LW SUDFWLFDOO\ GL΀FXOW of April 2021, food prices accounted for over 60% of the for farmers to engage in WRWDO LQFUHDVH LQ LQÁDWLRQ agricultural production across the country. With RSWLPDOO\ WKXV DͿHFWLQJ the Russian invasion of Food price inflation is not likely to improve anytime soon if the productivity and causing Ukraine and the ensuing predicaments facing parts of the country remain unresolved. market disruptions with global energy crisis, attendant food price shocks. the situation has since This is despite that Nigeria is endowed with good arable land, Therefore, a peaceful worsened. environment is a sine qua non Statistics from the weather and water supply for productive agricultural National Bureau of engagement, which results in Statistics, the annual food T H I S D AY food security.

LQÁDWLRQ LQ 1LJHULD VXUJHG WR LQ -XQH RI IURP EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU $YDLODEOH UHSRUWV LQGLFDWH WKDW IRRG SULFH LQÁDWLRQ LV 19.5% in May, due to cost of such essential commodities DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA not likely to improve anytime soon if the predicaments DV EUHDG DQG FHUHDOV SRWDWRHV \DP PHDW ÀVK HWF 8VLQJ MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO facing parts of the country remain unresolved. This is DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU a ‘cost of food basics’ analysis that compares the monthly CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI despite that Nigeria is endowed with good arable land, minimum recommended spend on food per adult and EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN weather and water supply and has the potential to be average wage in 107 countries, a United Kingdom-based MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI VHOI VX΀FLHQW LQ IRRG SURGXFWLRQ (YHQ WKRXJK IDUPHUV Institute of Development Studies, has also placed Nigeria THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE are becoming increasingly aware that much more can as the second poorest country in the world in terms of food be achieved in agriculture through technologies, most DͿRUGDELOLW\ 7KH RWKHU FRXQWULHV ZKHUH EDVLF IRRG LV OHDVW of them do not have access to them. Modern tools of DͿRUGDEOH LQFOXGH 6\ULD (WKLRSLD 3KLOLSSLQHV *KDQD T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D technology must be massively introduced as hoes and Indonesia, Algeria, Iran, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka that EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA FXWODVVHV RU GHSHQGLQJ RQ RWKHU QDWLRQV FDQQRW HͿHFWLYHO\ has for the past four months been in turmoil with their GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, feed the nation.

ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI SUHVLGHQW IRUFHG WR ÁHH WKH FRXQWU\ IROORZLQJ ZHHNV RI There is an urgent need to adopt automated systems DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, protest over skyrocketing prices of consumables. The ANTHONY OGEDENGBE which smallholder farmers can also use without breaking minimum recommended amount of food by the World DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI the bank.

The good news is that many of our young Health Organisation (WHO) for energy needs is based on SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH people are already going in that direction. They only need 12-14 basic items that together would account for 2,100 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI to be encouraged and supported. We hope that this will CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI calories per adult per day.

DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO be one of the campaign issues in the build-up to the 2023 The irony of Nigeria is that some of the states where TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com general election. food prices have gone up are in major food-producing

Letters to the Editor Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-300 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (750- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive. com along with photograph, email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LETTERS

HUMANIST CEREMONIES AND CELEBRATIONS IN NIGERIA Humanist ceremonies are performances that enable atheists, agnostics, humanists, and nonbelievers to mark occasions and milestones in their lives in ways that are consistent with their values. They provide alternatives to religious celebrations of weddings, naming, funerals, etc. Unlike religious events, humanist ceremonies are not performed in the name of any deity or some supernatural entity. They are celebrations of humans, not superhumans, nature, not supernature, this life, not afterlife, the here and now, not the hereafter. Humanist ceremonies DUH XQLTXH ÁH[LEOH SHUVRQDO DQG WDLORUHG WR VXLW WKH QHHGV RI the individual(s) in question. There is no particular script or format to follow.

Incidentally, the overwhelming impression is that religion has a monopoly on ceremony; that people must observe or celebrate milestones in their lives in a religious way. Many people are of the view that nonreligious life stance is boring, monotonous, and devoid of ways of marking occasions. This mistaken idea is pervasive, especially in southern Nigeria. Christianity is dominant in this part of the country. Apart from the southwest ZKLFK KDV D VLJQLÀFDQW 0XVOLP SRSXODWLRQ WKH UHVW RI WKH UHgion is a Christian stronghold, and Nigeria’s Bible belt. There are adherents of traditional religion, but more of those who

practice an admixture of Christian and traditional beliefs. Thus people perform ceremonies in a Christian religious way. They wed or do naming, bury the dead in the name of the christian god, or some deity.

Due to enormous pressure to profess Christianity, most nonbelievers in the region are in the closet. Millions of people pay lip service to religion. They nominally identify as Christians and theists, seldom as atheists or agnostics. People are compelled to pray at meetings, state functions, school assemblies, DQG LQ R΀FHV DQG PDUNHWV 7KRVH ZKR UHIUDLQ IURP SDUWLFLSDWing in religious worships and fellowships are regarded as demonic. They call them children of the devil, cultists, Satanists or devil worshippers. Nonbelievers are forced to mark occasions in their lives as religious believers. Religious family members oppose the organization of humanist funerals for their late relatives. Religious believers hijack the funerals and ensure that they bury nontheistic members in a religious or theistic way. In most cases, religious family members claim that these nonbelieving relatives did not totally renounce religion or that they converted shortly before they died.

However, the situation is beginning to change. Many nonbelievers are becoming assertive of their intent to wed, name their

children or have their funerals in non-religious ways. Many Nigerians want to celebrate or mark milestones in their lives withRXW *RG RU UHOLJLRQ )RU LQVWDQFH D SRSXODU WUDGLWLRQDO UXOHU LQ ,PR VWDWH DQG DQ H[ FDWKROLF SULHVW 'U (Q\HULEH 2QXRKD KDV willed that his funeral would be secular. Like many humanists, he is concerned that his family members may not abide by his wish. So, a lot of work needs to be done to educate the religious public and get them to abandon their prejudices and biases against humanism and humanist ceremonies.

To this end, the Humanist Association of Nigeria is devoting this year to humanist ceremonies. The association is organising ZRUNVKRSV LQ GLͿHUHQW SDUWV RI WKH FRXQWU\ WR FRUUHFW PLVFRQceptions about humanism and humanist ceremonies. Ignorance and mistaken ideas are often at the root of the hostility of believers towards non believers and nonreligious celebrations.

The events will be an opportunity to inform Nigerians that humanist ceremonies exist and that there are alternative ways to celebrate weddings, naming, and funerals. These workshops ZLOO VHUYH DV D IRUXP WR LGHQWLI\ DQG WUDLQ KXPDQLVW R΀FLDQWV Leo Igwe is a board member of Humanists International, UK

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

US, Ukrainian First Ladies to Meet in Washington Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska is set to meet with US first lady Jill Biden at the White House on Tuesday.

The two last met during Biden’s unannounced visit to western Ukraine in May when they visited a school and joined children making Mother’s Day gifts.

Zelenska on Monday met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Zelenska and Blinken talked about “the immense and growing human costs of Russia’s full-scale invasion” and that Blinken emphasized the US commitment to supporting Ukraine.

“Secretary Blinken commended first lady Zelenska’s work to help Ukrainians impacted by the war,” Price said. “He reiterated that the United States will continue to provide assistance to help Ukraine respond to the significant economic and humanitarian challenges it faces, including supporting the first lady’s mental health initiative for citizens affected by the war.”

Zelenska’s schedule also includes going to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to address lawmakers.

Earthquake Injures Dozens, Destroys Hundreds of Homes in Afghanistan

Putin, Erdogan to Discuss Ukrainian Grain Export Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday in the Iranian capital, Tehran, where he was due to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and discuss an agreement to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Monday there has been incremental progress with the negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, “but nothing to announce at this stage.” He said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is ready to travel to Istanbul if need be.

Guterres spoke on the phone Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the ongoing negotiations, according to the United Nations.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Tuesday for a price cap on Russian oil exports while urging countries to unite in opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Yellen said “economic integration has been weaponized by Russia,” adding that Russia has threatened to spark a global food crisis by blocking Ukrainian ports.

“All responsible countries must unite in opposition to this war and work together to end it swiftly,” Yellen said. “And that’s why the United States and other responsible allies and partners are seeking to reduce Russia’s revenue to wage its war without causing a necessary volatility in global energy markets.”

On Tuesday, youngsters took a water break in Paris, where the temperature sizzled at around 37 degrees Celsius.

But elsewhere in France, there is no reprieve from the heat.

Firefighters in the southwestern Gironde area are battling massive blazes that have decimated thousands of hectares of land and covered the wine city of Bordeaux in a blanket of haze.

A European Union report out this week finds nearly half of EU territory risks drought, with France among half a dozen countries most severely affected. The dry weather is stressing nature and is expected to dampen food and energy production — two areas where Europe is already feeling the fallout of the war in Ukraine.

Repatriation of Congolese Refugees From Angola Restarts

A $108-million US arms sale to Taiwan has cleared its most recent hurdle, but some critics say it is not enough to help the East Asian democracy defend itself from an attack by China.

The sale was approved by the US Department of Defense Friday and includes spare parts for tanks and combat vehicles and provisions for technical support, according to a statement by Taiwan’s presidential office.

Following Pentagon approval, the sale moves to the US Congress for approval. If it is passed, it will become the fifth arms sale under the Biden administration, and the fourth sale approved this year.

Taiwan Presidential Spokesperson Zhang Dunhan said Taiwan was grateful to the US government for “continuing to show great importance to Taiwan’s defence needs and fulfilling its security commitments to Taiwan.”

While the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, it is authorised to help the democracy defend itself. Much of the previous support has included arms sales and other technical assistance and training.

China’s Ministry of Defense quickly objected to the sale. A spokesperson, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, said the sale interferes in China’s internal affairs and “gravely jeopardise China’s sovereignty and security interests.”

China’s Communist Party regards Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy, as a wayward province, although the Beijing government has never directly ruled the island.

The UN refugee agency says a voluntary repatriation program for Congolese refugees wishing to return home from Angola resumed after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UNHCR says a first convoy of 88 Congolese refugees left northern Angola and is due to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo Wednesday. The agency says they will stay in a transit centre for the night before crossing the border into the DRC. UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov said more than 600 other Congolese refugees, so far, have indicated they too want to go home.

He said other convoys are scheduled to travel through the Chissanda border crossing in the coming weeks.

From there, he said, the refugees will head to various destinations in the western DRC, including Kasai, Kasai Central, and Kinshasa, the capital.

“Although conflict continues in eastern DRC, improvements in security in the West have re-opened the possibility for Congolese to return to their country in dignity and safety.

Returning refugees have told UNHCR they were excited to restart their lives in their country after years in exile,” he said. “Many have not seen family since fleeing political and ethnic violence in DRC’s Kasai region in 2017.”

At that time, conflict and violence sent some 35,000 Congolese fleeing to Lunda Norte Province in Angola. Since then, thousands of refugees have spontaneously returned to their places of origin in response to reports of improved security.

Blistering Drought Hits Europe’s Food Production

Ex-Trump Aides to Testify Before Congress Over Capitol Attack

$108m Weapons Sale to Taiwan Moves Forward

A swath of Europe is battling soaring temperatures, wildfires and a severe drought, with a new report predicting the parched conditions will shrink crop yields — including in agricultural heavyweight France — at a time when Russia’s blockade of grain from Ukraine is already hurting consumers.

US news outlets say the congressional committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 of last year will hear testimony from two aides to then-President Donald Trump about his reaction to the insurrection as it was unfolding.

Matthew Pottinger, the former president’s deputy national security adviser, and thendeputy press secretary Sarah Matthews will appear before the House of Representatives committee during Thursday’s session. It will focus on the scene in the White House as Trump’s supporters raided the Capitol to try to block lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the November 2020 presidential election.

Pottinger and Matthews are expected to testify about frantic yet unsuccessful efforts among White House staffers, as well as Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser, to get him to issue a statement in the first hours of the attack urging his supporters to stand down.

More than three hours passed before Trump finally issued a statement sympathising with the rioters over his election loss but calling on them to go home.

Both Pottinger and Matthews resigned their posts later that day.

On Tuesday, Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the investigative panel, said he had tested positive for COVID-19 but that the hearing would proceed in his absence.

Former PM Wickremesingh, Ex-Minister Alahapperuma Eye Sri Lanka Presidency

In Sri Lanka, interim president Ranil Wickremesingh and former minister Dullas Alahapperuma will be the main contenders in a presidential contest that will decide who will lead the crisis-hit country facing an economic collapse and wracked by monthslong mass protests.

The 225-member parliament will vote in a secret ballot on Wednesday, and the race is expected to be tight. The vote will be held a week after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, bringing an end to a powerful dynasty that had ruled the country for nearly two decades.

Whoever wins the race will face the tough task of winning the confidence of an angry public facing acute hardships as food prices spiral and fuel supplies run out.

“It’s tremendously important that we have a new government soon, that political stability is restored and that conversations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout come to a fruitful conclusion,” said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the head of the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo.

Wickremesinghe, a veteran politician and a six-time prime minister, has the backing of a faction of the ruling party, the largest party in parliament. But seen as an ally of the Rajapaksas, he is deeply unpopular among protestors, who held demonstrations Tuesday to oppose his candidacy.

Protestors, who burned down his residence on July 9 and occupied his office last week, have replaced cries of “Gota Go Home” with “Ranil Go Home.”

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan said Tuesday that an overnight earthquake in a remote southeastern region injured nearly 44 people and destroyed 600 homes.

The tremor jolted several districts of Paktika province, where a 5.9 magnitude earthquake last month killed more than 1,000 people, injured nearly 3,000 and destroyed or partially damaged at least 4,500 homes.

The US Geological Survey said the latest earthquake had a magnitude of 5.1, and residents have reported several aftershocks.

A provincial government spokesman, Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, told VOA that women and children were among at least 31 people injured in Paktika. Taliban officials in neighbouring Khost province, also hit by the previous earthquake, reported at least 13 injuries Monday from tremors.

The United Nations said in its latest assessment this week that the June 22 earthquake had impacted more than 360,000 people in Paktika and Khost, which border Pakistan.

Huzaifa said Paktika had suffered 30 aftershocks since last month’s quake.

War-ravaged Afghanistan is already among the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies.

The United Nations says, in part due to severe drought and economic crisis, more than half of the country’s estimated 40 million population need assistance, and malnutrition is on the rise.

The UN has appealed for $4.4 billion this year but currently faces a 70 per cent shortfall.

Judge Sets October Trial For Musk-Twitter Takeover Dispute

Elon Musk lost a fight to delay Twitter’s lawsuit against him as a Delaware judge on Tuesday set an October trial, citing the “cloud of uncertainty” over the social media company after the billionaire backed out of a deal to buy it.

“Delay threatens irreparable harm,” said Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the head judge of Delaware’s Court of Chancery, which handles many high-profile business disputes. “The longer the delay, the greater the risk.”

Twitter had asked for an expedited trial in September, while Musk’s team called for waiting until early next year because of the case’s complexity. McCormick said Musk’s team underestimated the Delaware court’s ability to “quickly process complex litigation.”

Twitter is trying to force the billionaire to make good on his April promise to buy the social media giant for $44 billion — and the company wants it to happen quickly because it says the ongoing dispute is harming its business.

Musk, the world’s richest man, pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter but now wants to back out of the agreement.

“It’s attempted sabotage. He’s doing his best to run Twitter down,” said attorney William Savitt, representing Twitter in Delaware’s Court of Chancery before the court’s Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick. The hearing was held virtually after McCormick said she tested positive for COVID-19.

Somaliland Announces Ban on BBC Broadcasts

The breakaway region of Somaliland has announced a ban on broadcasts by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Somaliland Information Minister Saleban Yusuf Ali Koore told reporters Tuesday that BBC broadcasts have reduced the identity and dignity of the self-declared independent nation not recognized by Somalia or any other country.

The minister, speaking in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa, said that after long discussions, authorities decided to ban the BBC because the network had lost its neutrality and was acting against the independence of Somaliland.

He said the ban would go into effect immediately.

Koore said the BBC fails to recognize that Somaliland is a democratic country that has stood on its feet for the last 31 years, with multiple presidential and parliamentary elections.

Somaliland is a former British protectorate and breakaway region of northern Somalia that declared independence in 1991 after Somalia descended into a civil war.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022

27

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

REPO

A T

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Email oriarehu.eromosele@thisdaylive.com

08056356325

J U L Y

S & P INDEX

1 9 , 2 0 2 2

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OPR

11.25%

CALL

10.25%

INDEX LEVEL

613.31%

1/4 TO DATE

-0.85%

N416.86/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

11.50%

1-MONTH

9.56%

1-DAY

0.16%

YEAR TO DATE

7.64%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10.52%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.44%

AMCON Levy Reduces Zenith Bank, 10 Others PBT to N3.15trn in 3 Years

Kayode Tokede If it wasn’t for the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) banking sector resolution expenses, a total of 11 banks operating in Nigeria could have reported N3.77 trillion profit before tax (PBT) between 2019 and 2021, THISDAY investigation has revealed.

The 11 banks, according to THISDAY investigation in three years reported a whopping sum of N3.15 trillion actual PBT, a difference of N617.55billion from supposed

N3.71trn PBT in three years.

AMCON charges 0.5 per cent of Banks’ total assets on and off-balance sheet items and it is a statutory levy imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on all banks operating in Nigeria.

The CBN, pursuant to Section 9(c) of the AMCON (Amended) Act 2015, informed the Bank of its shortfall in contributions to the banking sector resolution cost sinking fund for 2016 and 2017.

The rising toxic loans and the need to save the banking industry

from imminent collapse prompted the federal government to set up AMCON in 2010 with a 10-year mandate.

AMCON is saddled to recover nearly N5 trillion owed the country by debtors who for years now hide under all manners of technicalities to tie AMCON up in different courts to stall repayment.

The 11 banks are: Access Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), and FBN Holdings Plc, all Tier-1 banks.

Others include: Fidelity Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, FCMB Group Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Sterling bank and Wema Bank Plc, as the total of six are Tier-2 banks.

Analysis of the 11 banks audited result and accounts showed that Zenith Bank has the highest PBT in three years, followed by GTCO, while FBN Holdings with its total assets at N8.9 trillion in 2021 has paid the highest amount as AMCON expenses in the period under review.

A breakdown showed that Zenith Bank in three years generated PBT

of N779.53 billion and its AMCON cost was N97.52billion. Without the AMCON expenses, Zenith Bank could have reported N877.05 billion PBT between 2019 and 2021.

For FBN Holdings, it reported AMCON expenses of N138.59billion, contributing 43 per cent to its N325.65 billion actual PBT in three years.

The Holdings could have reported N464.24billion PBT amid its soaring total assets, driven by steady increase in customers’ deposits and loans & advances to customers.

However, among the Tier-11

banks, THISDAY can report that Wema bank’s AMCON expenses increased to N12.05billion and the bank generated N25.07billion actual PBT in three years. Without the AMCON expenses, the bank’s PBT would have amounted to N37.12billion in three years.

Shareholders over the years have expressed dissatisfaction with the creation of AMCON, stressing that the charges discourage investing in bank stocks with dwindling dividend Continued on page 30

FG to Spend N1.4tn on Health Insurance Premium forVulnerable Nigerians

Ebere Nwoji

To ensure effective implementation of its 22 year old National Health Insurance scheme (NHIS), the federal government would spend a whooping N1.4 trillion for the health insurance premium of about 83 million Nigerians who fall within the vulnerable group citizens of the country.

The Director General /Chief Executive Officer, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), formerly National Health Insurance

Scheme, Professor Nasir Mohammed Sambo, who stated this at the SEMPER FIDELIS Award organised for him by the Health Care Providers Association of Nigeria (HCPAN) in Lagos said out of the above figure, federal government’s annual budgetary provisions for health care needs of Nigerians accounts for only 9.6 percent of the figure.

He said the vulnerable citizens constitute about 40 per cent of the Nigerian population whom federal government needs to pay for their health insurance bills to

deep penetration of the National health insurance scheme.

This by interpretation means that the remaining 60 per cent of the population outside the vulnerable group has no provision for their health care needs annually.

Sambo said the new National Health Insurance Authority instituted by government in May 2022 to replace the hitherto National Health Insurance Scheme through the change of some clauses in section 16 of the National Health Insurance Act, is working assiduously to achieve the

Universal Health Insurance initiative of the United Nations even before the year 2030 target.

He said the problem of effective implementation of the scheme over the years has been the regulation, which failed to make it compulsory for the states to be part of the scheme.

He said with the successful change in the regulation, which has made it all-inclusive scheme its effective implementation nationwide is sure.

He said the National health insurance scheme if fully implemented would help Nigeria

to key in and achieve the United Nations Universal health initiative by the year 2030.

“We want to achieve universal health initiative of the UN before the deadline in 2030 by this singular act by the President the law has made it clear , we are promoter, regulator, integrator what we are after now is how to operationally use the law so that all issues that have to do with population will now come in our operational guidelines and what are the necessary structure to ensure that regulation is done . On top of

it, we have worked assiduously under our Digital Transformation framework whereby everything can be IT driven. These are structures that have been put in place so that by the time the guideline is very clear in line with the stipulation of the law, we are certain that we will have a very robust mechanism to control effective regulation, ”he stated.

According to Sambo, government is ready to pay for about 83 million Nigerians that are vulnerable but Continued on page 30

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T U E S D AY, J U LY 1 9 , 2 0 2 2 BILLS

BONDS DESCRIPTION Price 14.20 14MAR-2024 13.53 23MAR-2025 12.50 22JAN-2026 16.2884 17MAR-2027 13.98 23FEB-2028

10.780,00

Yield

Change (%)

903,00

-0.54

10.807,00 1.130,00

0.00

10.340,00 1.130,00

0.24

12.008,00 1.070,00

0.00

11.043,00 1.140,00

0.53

Updated Time July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022

MATURITY

Discount

Yield

OTC F X F U T U R E S

CPS

Change Updated Time (%)

NTB 11Aug-22 NTB 8-Sep22 NTB 13-Oct22 NTB 10Nov-22

11.10

11.19

-0.01 July 15, 2022

9.75

9.90

0.00 July 15, 2022

9.00

9.20

-0.01 July 15, 2022

3.90

3.95

0.00 July 15, 2022

NTB 26-Jan23

7.50

7.81

0.00 July 15, 2022

MATURITY TRBH CP V 26-JUL-22 FSDH CP VI 1-AUG-22 NENL CP I 24-OCT-22 FSDH CP VII 27-OCT-22 SIBP CP III 27-OCT-22

Discount Yield

Change Updated Time (%)

20.39 20.52

0.00 July 15, 2022

16.64 16.77

-0.01 July 15, 2022

19.61 20.73

0.00 July 15, 2022

13.85 14.41

0.00 July 15, 2022

13.05 13.55

0.00 July 15, 2022

CONTRACT Current TENOR Contract Rate ($/₦) (MONTH) NGUS JUL 27 1 429.51 2022 NGUS AUG 31 431.36 2 2022 NGUS SEP 28 3 433.21 2022 NGUS OCT 26 4 435.06 2022 NGUS NOV 30 5 436.92 2022

Updated Time

July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022 July 15, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Osho: Planned MSCI Nigeria Indexes Reclassification Warning Alarm to Foreign Investors Stephen Osho is a Co-Managing Partner at Comercio Partners Limited, an investment banking firm. As a member of the company’s executive management team, Osho oversees the Advisory and Investment Banking arm of the Comercio Partners group. In this interview, Osho highlights major developments in the global and local economy in H1 2022, with projections for the second half of the year and other issues. Eromosele Abiodun present the excerpts What is your assessment of the economy in H1’22 vis-a-vis global development, monetary and fiscal policy decisions? n the first half of the year, the global economy and market unenthusiastically hosted a barrage of headwinds, bordering around geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures, as well as the ensuing drastic policy reactions to such occurrences. Essentially, Covid-19 was dethroned as the leading global economic disruptor, as policymakers raced to manage the fallouts of the Russian – Ukraine war, while struggling to tackle the unyielding trend of inflation triggered by the accelerated cost of commodities such as food and energy.

The Eastern European war exacerbated the already worrisome global trend of inflation that trailed the Covid-19 induced policy dovishness and supply-chain bottlenecks, hence, forcing monetary authorities across major economies to embrace aggressive contractionary policy measures to assuage these inflationary forces.

In the U.S., the four-decade-high inflation level, reflected in the 8.60 per cent inflation rate in May 2022, has prompted unorthodox rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) hiking the benchmark interest rate by a combined 150 basis points in its last three policy meeting, while commencing quantitative tightening to effectively reduce its balance sheet size.

Elsewhere, monetary authorities in the Eurozone and United Kingdom have reacted similarly to the threat of inflation, as the European Central Bank (ECB) has outlined its intention to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in July 2022, while the Bank of England (BOE) hiked its interest rate for the fifth time in a row in June 2022.

Because of the far-reaching impact of the geopolitical conflict in Eastern Europe and the aggressive hawkish monetary policy response to skyrocketing inflation, the global economy struggled with the growing probability of a recession, while the financial market dramatically nosedived. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index lost 20.58 per cent in H1’2022, while the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note crossed the 3.00 per cent psychological level for the first time since 2018. Likewise, digital currencies plummeted in the half-year period, with bitcoin hovering around its two-year low.

However, amidst waning global growth prospects and looming recessionary fears, the local economy has managed to sustain a sturdy growth in the first half of 2022, posting a positive real GDP growth of 3.11 per cent year-on-year, Y/Y in Q1 2022, and on track to maintain an aggregate growth rate above 2.70 per cent in the first half of the year. The non-oil sector has been particularly instrumental in buoying economic growth in H1 2022, thanks to the outperformance of Information and Communication, Finance and Insurance, Trade, Agriculture, and Manufacturing.

Nonetheless, the resilient economic growth seen in the first half of the year offers a seemingly paradoxical image of the Nigerian economy, given the deteriorating state of the macroeconomic framework. For context, Nigeria’s oil sector has defied the elevated price of crude oil to extend its stay in the contractionary region, due to factors like oil theft and vandalism, and low oil output.

Also, the move by major central banks to raise interest rates has joined the existing legacy drivers spurring the repatriation of foreign capital, as we saw capital importation in Q1 2022 dip by 28.10 per cent quarter-on-quarter, Q/Q and 17.50 per cent Y/Y to $1.57 billion.

Regarding foreign trade, the conflict in Eastern Europe has caused the ballooning of Nigeria’s import bill, as imported petrochemicals like diesel and imported food products like wheat have soared in price. (Total imports rose by 21.04% Y/Y in Q1 2022 to N5.90 trillion). Consequently, the soaring import bill, negative net foreign flows, and the failure to efficiently leverage the elevated price of crude oil in generating FX earnings have caused FX liquidity to stay tight in H1 2022, impelling the weakening of the local currency.

In the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEX window, the exchange rate of the Naira to a Dollar has moved from an average of N414.88/$ in December 2021 to N420.98/$ in June 2022, representing 1.45 per cent depreciation, while the parallel market has moved from about N575/$ to N622/$, representing 7.56 per cent depreciation. Nigeria’s inflation is another aspect of the domestic macroeconomic landscape that waned significantly in H1 2022, as global

low-hanging fruits in the first half of the year, as the local bourse remained in the top five bestperforming markets globally for a significant part of the review period. Particularly, names in the telecommunication, industrial and agricultural sectors offered decent returns. Also, the aggressive selloffs in the Eurobond market created attractive long-term entry opportunities for the business, as yields on specific Eurobond sovereigns offered dollar returns that match and exceed the yields on corresponding maturities in the local bond market. Basically, we maintained a nimble approach this year, leveraging in-depth research to garner unfolding insights into the economy and market, which has in turn informed our strategy and kept us ahead of the curve, irrespective of the headwinds and uncertainties. We have also kept to the catchphrase of “following the money and making cash kings.” In a time of extreme volatility, it is preferable and smart to keep cash and play a lot on the short end of the curve.

I

Osho headwinds worsened inflationary pressures in the local economy. Due to the surge in energy and food prices, headline inflation surged by 2.08 per cent from the level in December 2021 to 18.6 per cent in June 2022.

On the policy end, the monetary authority has joined the bandwagon, hiking interest rate by 150 basis points to 13.00 per cent in response to the threat of inflation.

So, even with the encouraging divergence between local and global growth, challenges pertaining to inflation, foreign exchange liquidity, capital importation, and oil production, among others, have strained Nigeria’s macroeconomic landscape in H1 2022.

Rising inflation and increased government borrowing were prominent features in H1’22. How did these two factors influence the fixed income and equity markets?

High inflation and elevated government borrowing are twin forces that typically nudge both local equities and fixed income markets into a bearish region. This year, inflation has climbed to a 5-year high in June, while the government has set out to fund its revised budget deficit of N7.35 trillion. However, the equity market was able to shrug off these negative drivers in the first half of 2022, on the back of impressive Full year 2021 and Q1 2022 financial results and interesting corporate actions. Hence, the local bourse posted a gain of 21.31 per cent in the first half of the year, relying on the performance of underlying sectors like Oil and Gas (58.06% uptick in H1 2022), Industrial (7.17% uptick in H1 2022), and Consumer Goods (5.89% uptick in H1 2022).

For the local fixed income market, the impact of elevated inflation and high government borrowing has been hushed this year. The government has become increasingly reliant on the CBN Ways and Means Advances, with the borrowings from the CBN totalling N19.01 trillion in June 2022 from N17.46 trillion in December 2021. Hence, local bond sales for the first half of 2022 stood at N1.84 trillion, reflecting a growth of 29.58% when compared to the sales in the corresponding period of 2021, but relatively low when compared to the hefty budget deficit. Also, the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have bolstered demand at the bond auctions, as the total asset under management (AUM) rose to a record N14.19 trillion in May 2022, with investments in government securities accounting for 62.10%.

This implies that the growing AUM of the PFAs has slightly improved the liquidity in the fixed income market this year. Also,

the selling pressure that typically succeeds a hike in the benchmark interest rate has been limited, as the PFAs, which hold roughly 63.00 per cent of the bond market value, have about 60.00 per cent categorised as “Hold to Maturity” (HTM). Conclusively, inflation and increased government borrowing have not had a significant impact on both local equities and fixed income markets this year, as several other drivers have partly insulated the financial market from such local headwinds.

Citing low liquidity in the Nigerian foreign exchange market, the MSCI recently indicated its intention to reclassify the MSCI Nigeria Indexes from Frontier Markets to Standalone Markets status.

What does it portend for the economy and for investors?

The contemplated reclassification of MSCI Nigeria Indexes is a warning alarm to foreign investors, as the situation in the FX market has deteriorated to the point where foreign investment appetite should understandably weaken. Due to Nigeria’s abysmal oil production level and slowing foreign inflows, the supply of foreign exchange has been tight this year, with the World Bank estimating the FX backlog at US$1.7 billion, while the Investors and Exporters’ net flows stood at just $273 million from January 2022 to June 2022.

Should the MSCI go ahead in downgrading Nigeria’s frontier status on or before the set deadline of August 31, 2022, the impact on the local bourse would likely be limited, as foreign investors have been the net sellers for over a year, hence, have a limited presence in the equity market. The last NGX Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for May 2022 revealed that foreign transactions accounted for just 7.46 per cent of total transactions in the review month, and the foreign quotient used to be well above 60.00 per cent in 2019. However, there are long-term consequences of the MSCI reclassification, as the absence of a near to mid-term solution to Nigeria’s FX problems could translate to a sustained apathy of foreign capital.

As an investment banking group, what were the major challenges for Comercio Partners in H1’22 and how did you navigate these challenges to deliver value for your stakeholders?

As with many other investment organizations, the turbulent market posed a key challenge, particularly, with dollar-based assets like Eurobond and U.S. equities plummeting significantly. However, local equities were

What is your outlook for the economy, financial markets in H2’22 and your advice to investors in terms of opportunities and challenges in H2’22?

In the global space, there is a growing probability of a recession over the next two years, as drastic policy efforts to tame inflation could significantly squeeze the economy. Also, the unabating conflict in Eastern Europe remains a major caveat for the global economy in H2 2022, as the sustained progression or escalation of the war could further dampen global growth prospects for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, policymakers should continue to prioritize efforts aimed at lowering inflation, leaving the global financial market susceptible to a prolonged bearish dominance.

Back at home, we maintain a positive outlook for GDP growth, as Service-related sectors like Information and Communication, and Finance and Insurance should continue to buoy overall growth, However, we recognize the limiting impact of the spiralling inflation trend, as this could increase the cost margins of businesses at large. For the oil space, there appear to be no major tailwinds, as sectoral ills pertaining to security concerns and debilitated infrastructure remain unaddressed. Hence, Nigeria’s low crude oil output would limit the expected positive impact of soaring prices in the international oil market.

In addition, the upside risks to the trend of inflation in the coming months remain predominant, as tensions in Eastern Europe continue to run amok, while the local economy stays structurally susceptible to such headwinds. Regarding the foreign exchange market, the impact of the Russian-Ukraine conflict on energy and agricultural commodities should mount pressure on the import bill, while the hawkish policy posture of developed nations, ravaging insecurity, and election fears should act as deterrents to foreign capital inflows. Also, Nigeria’s low oil output level significantly undermines the economy’s ability to leverage the elevated price of crude oil to improve FX earnings. Putting all these together, the local currency is likely to weaken further this year, with the possibility of the parallel market exchange rate falling past N650/$ by year-end.

For the financial market, a progression of the contractionary policy efforts by the monetary authorities could force yields to trend upwards, albeit aggressive, as PFAs’ long-term investment approach denies the market adequate liquidity to sell significantly. Elsewhere, local equities are expected to be largely steered to earnings releases and corporate actions, as investors shrug off the worries concerning Nigeria’s deteriorating macroeconomic framework to focus on stocks with impressive fundamentals and positive catalysts. However, elevated fixed income yields could partly stifle the stock market performance, as activities on the local bourse are largely dominated by institutions that would typically turn to fixed income instruments when presented with attractive yields.

On a broader stage, the electioneering campaign activities towards the next year general elections will go into full swing in the second half of this year and could play a huge impact on the currency and inflation that have already been battered. It is no less fact that the Nigerian economy is in a precarious state and cannot afford the ‘typical’ excessive electioneering campaign that would lead to serious economic shock which could suppress the last gasp of breath the nation needs for survival out of stagflation.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

29

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Bogdanovic: Coca-Cola HBC Eying More Growth in Nigeria Group Chief Executive Officer, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, Mr. Zoran Bogdanovic, recently had a working visit to Nigeria. He spoke on the company’s operations and sundry issues. Goddy Egene and Dike Onwuamaeze present the excerpts: Let us begin by you telling us about yourself and your role at the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company. was born, brought up, and schooled in Croatia.

After I finished school, I started my career at Arthur Andersen for a few years before joining Coca-Cola HBC where I have spent 25 years. At Coca-Cola HBC, I have had the privilege of working in cross-functional roles. I started with Finance, then I moved to Sales before taking over as the General Manager in Croatia. Afterwards, I moved to Switzerland and Greece. I became a Regional Director, with Nigeria as one of the countries in my region, this allowed me to visit the country regularly. I have been in the role as CEO of Coca-Cola HBC for four and a half years and it is an honour and a great privilege for me. I am currently based in Switzerland where our head office is situated.

In my role, I’m privileged to work with a very strong team, with several members who have joined me on this visit. Nigeria is one of the most important markets we have in our 29 market Group. We used to operate in 28 markets, but we recently acquired Egypt.

Nigeria is one of the largest markets in Coca-Cola HBC. Due to its importance, it is part of our support for our Nigerian market to come here in person. Several of us are here to engage with our team, customers, and stakeholders over the course of three days. The purpose of our visit is to recognise the strong progress of our operations and the team here over the last several years.

How they have been able to navigate through COVID-19, how they are developing the business with all the investments we are making here and to read the market to see the current trends and how we can set priorities for our plans going forward. This visit comprises a mix of market visits, factory visits, meetings with customers and our talents.

it in our financial reporting in January. I am really pleased with how things are going even though we faced a challenge with the depreciation in the currency. We are primarily doing in Egypt what we are doing in other countries, which is prioritizing capabilities to strengthen it and increase capital investments, so the team is equipped for the competitive market. Given the current analysis, Coca-Cola HBC has significant firepower and has a strong balance sheet, so we will do more. We are not in a race to take on more countries. We have to recognize growth potential and ensure we will get some type of returns before we expand to a country. These types of opportunities come up in conversations with The Coca-Cola Company. This is how Egypt also came to us because we were asked to consider the opportunity. If they present the opportunity for us to expand into other countries, we will gladly consider it. Nigeria and Egypt, having 25 per cent of the population of Africa, gives us an avenue to understand the market and we believe that with our capabilities, we can do more, but time and strategic analysis in the future will determine if we expand.

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You have been in this role for over four years. What is your leadership style and what legacy do you intend to leave behind?

I like to believe I am very passionate and professional about my job. My purpose is to help people grow. I think that one of the most important things a leader should do is to help people realize their potential. Through this, the organisation grows and realises its objectives.

When I hand over to the next leader, these are the things I would like to be remembered for. I’m also committed to ensuring our high performance.

For us it is not only important what we want to achieve, but equally how we achieve it. We want to grow while positively impacting our people, customers, partners, and communities. With regards to achieving sustainable performance, there are three things I would like to share with you.

We at Coca-Cola HBC are passionate about our 24/7 portfolio. This means we make sure our beverages are available throughout the day. I also want to ensure that the company is recognised as best-in-class in the market in terms of customer relationships, digital commerce, revenue growth management, and market analytics, just to name a few. The second priority I have is to embed a culture that is a true catalyst for this organisation.

This means that all our people embrace a growth mindset, can realize their potential, and be their best selves.

This will mean that our current talent wants to stay and that new top talent want to join the team. Finally, I want to ensure that sustainability is strongly embedded in every aspect of this business and the decisions we make. Sustainability is not an initiative that is new at Coca-Cola HBC, we have been recognised for 11 consecutive years, with a top three global beverage company ranking by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which demonstrates that we take sustainability seriously.

It is evident in every aspect of our lives. To sum it up, my legacy would be high performance done in a good way, a 24/7 portfolio supported by top capabilities, culture as its catalyst, and sustainability embedded in every aspect of our business.

Coca-Cola HBC’s revenue for the first quarter (Q1) increased by 25.9 per cent excluding Russia and Ukraine. What was the major driver for this growth?

We were quite pleased to announce such results in the Q1, which beat market expectations. However, I need to emphasize the context of our Q1 results.

It was something we never imagined would happen, and that is the humanitarian crisis and conflict in Ukraine, which has deeply affected all our people. Our Ukrainian colleagues, as well as their families, have been distressed and displaced.

So, before any results, I need to emphasize that our focus from the 24th of February has been to support every single one of our colleagues whenever we can, whether they are in Ukraine or those who had to leave the country. We have also collaborated with the Coca-Cola Company

Bogdanovic to help people that are affected.

Globally, the Coca-Cola System has committed $15 million to various humanitarian relief organisations and we will work with our partners to ensure that this financial support is deployed where it’s needed most. Turning to the results, I would say the thing that drove our success in Q1 is a continuation of what also drove our success in previous years. We have been consistently focused on prioritizing opportunities and putting resources into them. There is a portfolio prioritization on sparkling drinks that continues to perform very strongly. This portfolio is targeted at zero-sugar products and adults. In Nigeria, it is Schweppes and in other countries it’s Kinley.

The products function as both a standalone product and one that can be mixed with other drinks – with or without alcohol.

We have been intentional about developing marketing initiatives and programmes and putting marketing investments in those, which drive significant output. The second thing in our portfolio is our energy products.

Here it’s Monster and Predator, which have been yielding strong double-digit growth for the entire Hellenic Group for the past five years. At the Group level, we started with coffee two years ago and we are very ambitious about our coffee plans.

As I earlier mentioned, we are investing behind capabilities, and I firmly believe that this makes a difference and achieves strong results. Revenue growth management is a critical capability we have. Three years ago, we didn’t have a data insight and analytics team. Today, we have a sizeable team on the Group level and in the countries. So, portfolio priority and selective capabilities are majorly driving our growth. We are employing people and investing in technology to support that growth. Also, we are very mindful that we put more investments into priority markets.

Our investments in Nigeria are very strong and we prioritize markets where we feel we can stimulate faster growth. This worked last year and in the first quarter of this year. We are super pleased that Nigeria was a strong performer in the Q1 results for 2022. We are very proud of the team’s performance.

This comes as a result of a number of things including our investments, our team, and their relationship with customers.

For a long time, Nigeria was the only market you had in the African region.

Following your acquisition of Egypt in the fourth quarter of 2021, what are your plans, and are we to expect the acquisition of more countries on the continent?

Well, I hope so. Let me start with the fact that we would want to have more business in Africa if the right opportunities come.

Having Egypt as the second country on the African continent is tremendously important.

It reflects our commitment to and belief in the continent. Our learnings and successes in the Nigerian market encouraged us to go into another country like Egypt. This acquisition is about nurturing and fueling more growth for Coca-Cola HBC. The population of Egypt is half of that of Nigeria, and they are a very youthful country. We are starting from the position of the challenger, so there is a lot of share to be gained. Our integration is going above expectations, and we started embedding

Do you think you can still expand more here in Nigeria and Egypt?

Absolutely. We are adding several lines every year. Even with the challenges of this year, our Board recommendation demonstrates the confidence we have in the Nigerian market.

So, we’ll continue expanding. In the last 10 years, we have invested over 1 billion Euros in Nigeria and especially seeing the results of the last three years, I will say that the business here would even accelerate more.

We also hope that the regulatory framework will also help us to do more and, as we invest more to the Nigerian market and our supply chain here, there is scope for Nigeria to also contribute to our other markets.

How important has the Nigerian market been to the company and its growth?

Last year was a very special year for us. It marked 70 years of Nigerian Bottling Company in Nigeria and 70 years of the Coca-Cola HBC as a business. We are extremely proud that our origins are in Nigeria and on this continent. As Nigeria is the root and cradle of the company, that drives our commitment towards Nigeria. Even though there have been challenging years in the 70 years of our existence in Nigeria, we see ourselves staying long-term in Nigeria. Coca-Cola HBC without Nigeria would not be what it is. Nigeria is deeply rooted in our DNA and identity. We hope to see more Nigerian talent taking dominant roles in the Group leadership across the globe. The best thing we can do is to build on a strong legacy in Nigeria through investments and market strategies in terms of capacity, machinery, and technology. More importantly, nurturing people and talents here, that’s what makes the business valuable and precious. We’ve met with a lot of great talents here and we are looking forward to meeting more. We are fully committed and we want to do more.

How are you able to manage your markets in Russia and Ukraine with the ongoing war? How does this influence your mid to long-term plans?

As I earlier mentioned, our top priority is making sure our people in Ukraine are as safe and protected as possible. As a reminder, on 8th March, The Coca-Cola Company suspended its business in Russia. As a consequence of that, we immediately stopped placing orders for concentrate. We have been working with The Coca-Cola Company team on how to implement that decision ever since. As we speak, we are in the process of depleting stocks of the brands of The Coca-Cola Company, and we are evaluating all options for the much smaller presence focused on local brands. We intend to overcome the setbacks through the performance of the remaining countries. This is where Nigeria comes into play, as well as Egypt. I’m really pleased that the other countries in our Group are performing well, and that’s the best testament to the strength of Coca-Cola HBC’s prioritisation of its investment. I just want to emphasize that in Ukraine and Russia we are not concerned about talks of driving profit and performance at this time as we put all our focus on our people. Our main focus is on other countries. The underlying results from other countries are what give me huge confidence that Coca-Cola HBC is going to emerge stronger from this crisis in the years to come.

Your company is committed to achieving

Net-Zero by 2040. How are the operations in Nigeria contributing to the attainment of this target?

We are all very proud of the strong commitment we made in October last year to be Net Zero by 2040. This journey did not start last year. For the last decade, we have achieved and overachieved the targets that were science-based. We felt that it’s in line with how we see our business and the impacts we need to make to the planet and society. This type of carbon-neutral net-zero commitment suits our company. Every single country needs to contribute to this commitment, and this includes Nigeria.

Nigeria, being such a sizeable country, plays a critical role in what we want to achieve and that’s why I’m very pleased that NBC has recently unveiled its energy transition roadmap. This means adopting more renewable energy sources for plant operations. From 2020, we started migrating our manufacturing plants to solar energy sources. As of now, solar energy partly powers 50 per cent of our manufacturing plants, and that journey continues to the remaining locations. So, we really want to have solar energy and renewable energy in Nigeria as we have in our other countries. We have also invested in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants, which is energy-saving technology that significantly reduces the carbon footprint of operations. We call it the CHP plant and it is in operation across many countries. This shows how committed we are to energy saving. I was super excited to see the fleet conversion trial that is going on where instead of diesel, we started using compressed natural gas (CNG gas). We are looking to have CNG stations within our facilities so trucks can be refueled with CNG there. So, that’s on the energy side. NBC has started transitioning diesel-powered forklifts to electricity powered models, contributing further to its CO2 emissions savings. 109 forklifts have transitioned, with a plan for all 200 forklifts used in the business to transition by the end of the year. Packaging plays an important role in our net-zero goals. We have a strong commitment for 2025 as well as 2030 as a Group where for every single container that would be put on the market, an equal number would be returned back. Now, that’s a serious undertaking in terms of collections and collection systems. We ask ourselves these questions: how do we pick it from the market?

How do we collect it? How do they get to recyclers?

There is an ecosystem that needs to be built and we see that, in Nigeria, that is very important and that’s why we are having discussions and collaborations with other parts of the value chain.

I’m very proud of Matthieu, the MD of Nigerian Bottling Company and his team here, who are pioneer members of the Food-Beverage Recycling Alliance. The Net-Zero Goal is important to us.

In fact, when we were on tour at the Ikeja Plant as part of this visit, we discussed sustainability, packaging, and recovery. We have reviewed the plans here and I am very proud that they follow a similar structure to the way we operate in other parts of the world. Also, in terms of packaging in Nigeria, for Sprite, we’ve moved away from the green bottle to the clear bottle which is 100 per cent recyclable. Together with the Coca-Cola Company, we have built 22 recycling banks in Lagos and Abuja. Those are various examples of our efforts toward recycling. Water is another precious resource for us at Coca-Cola HBC. Our supply chain is working on how the quantity of water expended in production is greatly reduced so we can become water neutral. Also, the water we are returning must be of good quality to sustain aquatic life. We are also supporting water distressed areas through projects and investments. A few years ago, we had the Kano State water project that enabled about one million people to have access to water. These are examples of promoting sustainability and also conducting business in a good way that assists the communities. This is because without these strong communities, there is no future for our business or anyone else.

You said earlier that Coca-Cola HBC has invested over 1 billion Euros in Nigeria over the past 10 years. Can you tell us about future investment plans?

As of today, we operate eight factories and 14 distribution centres. Through the whole value chain together with The Coca-Cola Company, we are directly and indirectly supporting about 58,000 jobs annually in Nigeria. We are positively impacting the lives of many families and I’m proud of that. We will continue investing in equipment, technology, machinery, and digital systems.

When we start developing several capabilities like Revenue Growth Management and Data Insights & Analytics, we take Nigeria as the lead market and we have important investments to accelerate growth in these areas in Nigeria.

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Fasua: Banks Should Give Out Other Currencies to Ease Pressure Dollar Renowned economist and former presidential aspirant, Dr. Tope Fasua in this interview speaks extensively on the disparity and lopsidedness of the naira to the dollar, economic trends, inflation, and other topical industry issues. Nume Ekeghe presents excepts: Nigeria’s inflation has reached a five-year high, do you think this trend would continue to steer upwards or can we expect a decline soon? o, it’s not going to come down in a while. Recall that global inflation is also going up and it is the kind of phenomenon that we also expect the world to go into another global recession. But there is every reason why inflation will continue to go up. If you look at where the inflation is coming from, part of it is demand-driven and could be hindered on a lot of money that had been spent since COVID, which didn’t go directly into productivity.

Also, with a lot of the interventions from CBN, you will see some of the farmers now saying they can’t pay back now. That means that money has just gone and those monies went to the system, but to other purposes, perhaps for consumption. And of course, some of the inflation is on the supply side as producers and retailers have to incorporate their increased costs into the prices of their products and their increased costs also are in two ways. We are still very much import-dependent and, there is what is called imported inflation, which is when you import the inflation that is on that other side you are importing from apart from your own internal inflation.

And of course, it costs so much more to produce things or to even import them these days because of the period of the shutdown we found that during COVID companies closed down, or companies shrunk their operations as some of them were finding it difficult to expand back to where they were before. Also, there are no new investments going on per se, even to find staff for many of them became a major problem.

So, inflation is multi-dimensional and is coming at us from several angles. I think that inflation would continue to go up before it comes down.

was a scenario where the naira was actually worshiping the dollar, and we solidified in such a way that it is straight to the dollar.

I am one of those who are totally opposed to the idea of BDCs in that number that we had close to 10,000 of them, and everybody had a BDC in their portfolio. BDCs are pushing to come back and their argument is that they want to be a channel. I don’t mind if they are given the opportunity to collect remittances and work for them, but the central bank giving them allocation every week I don’t agree to that.

I believe BDCs are still valid. Let’s take our eyes off the dollar, this worship of the dollar, and let them be able to stock some dollars, some Euro, and some Pounds depending on where people are traveling. That will take the pressure off the dollar. Secondly, if the BDCs will come back, they have to be like banks, with proper capitalisation, branches everywhere, and, of course, we don’t need more than 100. They can consolidate to twenty serious brands that will be online in real-time and are well connected and they would make their money.

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Electioneering has its impact on the economy, how much impact would this upcoming election have on the macroeconomy?

As usual, election season is also a time for a lot of consumption spending. Because I mean, election going on today, there is what we call vote-buying even if you don’t see it on the streets.

Big parties spend billions and if the money doesn’t go directly to the hands of voters, they go to the hands of party bigwigs at the ward level, at the local government, state level, and so on.

So naturally, that kind of money goes into the system and increases inflation as well. And a lot of that money will be used either to purchase dollars to keep, especially as Nigerians are speculating or to consume directly. And of course, devaluation itself whether the one that happens officially or on the streets in the parallel market itself is inflation. Devaluation itself is inflation; we should also expect everything that makes the lives of average Nigerians to be more difficult.

Are you saying we would see devaluation soon and can you assess the CBN foreign

Fasua exchange policy?

Well, I think they are in a fix. I support what they are doing which is what people would call heterodox policy or heterodox economic ideology as against orthodox. So, the Orthodox guys who are the liberal guys would be pushing to just devalue as quickly as possible, and float the naira. The fact that the central bank is holding it down, of course, may be expensive, but I think it’s the way to go.

I think the CBN is doing its best but how can they hold up into the future is debatable.

Whether they can continue because the pressures are bearing down on us heavily from a macroeconomic perspective. One fears that it may not be very sustainable in the future, where the central bank is intervening every time in the market, and so on.

At some point, we’ll have to ease up, especially as there is N200 gap between the official and the parallel markets as it is right now, which is unprecedented in itself. And of course, it is also a pointer to what you do with this gap.

One of areas where the pressure comes from is people traveling every day has its demand from banks and if its fulfilled, the demand that goes to the parallel market would be reduced.

Also, one of the things I proposed in the past is this Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) issue is that the CBN should direct the commercial banks that have at least five to six currencies.

Why would I be going to France and you are giving me dollars. The CBN didn’t take my idea of this, what we ended up having

Still on CBN’s policies, how would you assess the RT200 initiative so far?

If you really want to target $200 billion, which for me shouldn’t be a big issue; but at least for one, we have a scenario where we’re putting a number to target. You then have to try and break it down, per crop, tourism, and so on. But most importantly because proceed is the coming in at N420 with some add-ons, is not enough and they know that they can sell at N620. So, they will debate and find every means by which they can collect that money abroad or use it to buy something else and send it back and that’s what we’re seeing. So, there is still a need for serious thinking and brainstorming on behalf of the central bank.

So N200 billion should be achievable but if you have this N200 gap it is a big, big problem that needs to be taken out of the way first.

We are still an agricultural country, our input side the biggest import is technology, which is about $35 billion to $40 billion and it goes to that every year in this country. All of these air conditioners, all these TVs, we don’t manufacture anything, nothing. Perhaps we can force these manufacturing companies to come and establish here because Nigeria is good market. Let a Chinese company come and set up shop here that’s the next level for us.

If you look at technology, the next import is petroleum, which they’re hoping that maybe when Dangote refinery starts, but I don’t know what’s going on with that project and so on. The people can’t do much in that respect, except government gets serious. The petroleum sector seems to be dead now.

They seem to have eaten that sector dead presently. Because what we get in terms of

exports, we are also spending on the import side.

And these guys, they were running that sector as if there is no tomorrow people were paying themselves exorbitantly traveling everywhere.

It is wickedness because now there’s no sector anymore.

Now having said that, you know, on the import side, you have things like milk which is still imported into this country, about $800 million worth, fish about $900 million worth, grains about $1.3 billion as at 2020 and sugar is at about $800 million worth.

So we should roll up our sleeves on some of those things. And if you look at the export side, apart from crude oil and gas which are in the billions, the next item is in the millions which are oil seeds that is sesame seeds that they export from the north of Nigeria, in fact, most of that we don’t capture as lot of the sesame seeds from that region gets exported by land to Ghana, and then shipped out to Europe, through Ghana and that about $350 million. The rest are groundnut okro of which the importation of wheat or grains swallows our entire non-oil export.

Having ventured into politics in the past, are there plans to return to politics in the future?

I have ideas and that was the reason I ran the first time. I was thinking about everything and how to enhance the economy. I’m not even sure we have many honest economists in this country who have the kind of idea and velocity of ideas that say honestly we are thinking for our country so that things will be better. Many people will push the country in a certain direction based on their ideology. And then when we fall inside the gutter, they will laugh at us. And some of them have second addresses abroad and second passports and when things go awry, they would go.

I have a Ph.D. in public policy and analysis and when I was doing my Ph.D. I was hoping it might be relevant to use if somebody gets into government. But now, I’m sorry, I’m afraid because I see a permanent disconnect between the leaders and the followers. The followers are angry and when they are angry the best they will do when he blows over is like they did last time in #endSARS they destroy things.

So, I’m afraid that sometimes I fear that maybe we will have crossed the Rubicon and we may not be able to pull ourselves back.

So, if you are not going into politics, would you go work with an administration to provide policy directions since you are passionate about saving the country and economy?

Well, if it comes, I’ll consider but daily I get discouraged because like I said before; the link between leadership and leading is broken. I think that without that link being solid, a country may not be able to move on and move forward.

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

FG TO SPEND N1.4TN ON HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM FOR VULNERABLE NIGERIANS that for those who can afford to pay for themselves, that is those that are workers and are self employed, will pay for themselves to ensure that the National health insurance scheme is all inclusive.

In his remarks HCPAN President, Dr Jimmy Arigbabuwo said the SEMPER FIDELIS Award by the HCPAN was in recognition of Sambo’s immense contributions in repositioning the critical stakeholders

in Health Insurance Scheme and issues in Nigeria.

He said HCPAN perceived Sambo’s consistency and transparency with transformational agenda so far as worthy of emulation.

According to him, the recent achievement of Universal health coverage modalities with signage of mandatory health insurance bill into law on May 19th, 2022, by the NHIAACCT 17, remains a living

testimony of changing the narratives and gain play in Nigerian health insurance project.

He said Sambo had worked tirelessly with the National Assembly and health care providers Association

of Nigeria to see the evolution of the bill into law through serious advocacies, conferences, summits and study tours as well as intra and inter ministerial meetings and workshops.

AMCON LEVY REDUCES ZENITH BANK, 10 OTHERS PBT TO N3.15TRN IN 3 YEARS payout.

Speaking with THISDAY, the Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie said AMCON has over stayed its function in the banking sector, calling on its banks management to suspend funding AMCON as it is affecting shareholders’ profit.

According to him, “AMCON is lobbying the federal government to extend its operations. If the Central Bank of Nigeria wanted to sustain AMCON, fine but not banks funding the corporation. AMCON has overstayed its functions in the banking sector “AMCON is reporting losses despite collecting levy from banks and having challenges in selling recovered assets from debtors. The banking institution must continue to fund AMCON because it is not the bankers’ committee that form

their board but the government. If the federal government wanted to keep the board of AMCON, they must think of funding it not collecting from banks.

“What was AMCON doing when some banks were having challenges recently? AMCON has not helped our banking sector and it has not posted any profit. I still do not understand why the Senate requested AMCON to continue to exist.

“AMCON’s 10 years has ended, according to the law but they continued to stay, playing games with shareholders’ funds. AMCON is killing the industry and not helping the banks when they are in financial crisis.”

The National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Dr. Anthony Omojola said since the corporation was established by CBN, shareholders fought against it and are still feeling

the impact on returns to shareholders every year.

He said, “AMCON has been taking away shareholders’ funds freely because they are part of the regulators since they have CBN behind them.

“They explained to shareholders AMCON wanted to clear toxic debt and by now, they should have cleared those funds and let shareholders start benefitting tremendously from investing in listed banks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

“AMCON has outstayed its usefulness and the creation was not necessary in the first place. Besides the toxic assets, who are those buying them from AMCON? Unfortunately, we Nigerians hate the truth and that is why you see the present state of the nation’s economy.”

The Vice president of Highcap securities, Mr. David Adnori had said the AMCON expense was an

agreement between the CBN and the banking community.

He expressed that, “When all the banks were having challenges in 2008, the idea of AMCON came up to absorb all the toxic assets.

What was stopping shareholders from not complaining back then?

What I think is that the shareholders complaining over the establishment of AMCON are ungrateful and a set of investors who cannot understand what AMCON has done to protect the banking sector from collapse.

Perhaps, they could have been happier if all the banks had collapsed like Skye bank.”

Analyst at PAC Holdings, Mr. Wole Adeyeye explained that: “Although, banks would have recorded higher profit before tax without AMCON expenses, but the corporation plays critical roles in supporting banks and the Nigerian economy.

“The AMCON expenses isused to help pay liabilities from acquiring Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) to keep the banking sector healthy. In addition, AMCON also assist banks to track debtors that are able, but unwilling or refusing to pay.”

However, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Kuru had put the total recoveries from debtors at about N1.4 trillion.

According to him, the amount recovered so far include: cash – N681 billion; property forfeiture – N279 billion; share forfeiture – N140 billion; and other strategic assets – N208 billion.

In September 2019, Vice President, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo inaugurated an Inter-agency Committee to speedily resolve the challenges in recovering over N5 trillion AMCON debts.

Osinbajo, who inaugurated the committee, had tasked its

members to deploy their expertise in the assignment to ensure that AMCON meets its mandate within a reasonable timeline.

In a bid to tighten the noose on the obligors, President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2021, signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No.4, 2010.

The Act provides for the extension of the tenor of the Resolution Cost Fund (RCF) and grants access to the Special Tribunal established by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 2020, which confers on AMCON the power to among others… “to take possession, manage, foreclose or sell, transfer, assign or otherwise deal with the asset or property used as security for Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs), and related matters,’’ just to mention a few.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022

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BUSINESSWORLD

INSURANCE

Urgent Need to Save Insurance Industry James Emejo writes that the stalled attempt to drive the recapitalisation of insurance companies must be renewed in the interest of the nation’s economy

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ate last month, the country’s apex insurance industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), again wielded the big stick by annulling the operating licenses of two leading insurance companies – Standard Alliance Insurance Plc and Niger Insurance Plc. The revocation became effective from June 21, 2022, according to a statement issued by the commission’s Head, Corporate Communications and Market Development, Mr. Rasaaq Salami.

Almost immediately, the commission further appointed Sanya, Ogunkuade Esq as the Receiver/ Liquidator for Niger Insurance as well as Kehinde Aina Esq as the Receiver/Liquidator for Standard Alliance Insurance – both to effectively commence the process of winding down both entities.

NAICOM, however, assured all stakeholders of the safety and protection of their interests, advising all stakeholders to forward their inquiries to the respective Receiver/Liquidator for each company for their necessary action.

RATIONALE

No immediate reason was given by the regulator for descending on both insurance firms, but THISDAY however learned that NAICOM had written to Niger Insurance on March 31, 2022, allowing the company a 30-day period to convince the Commission and the Ministry of Finance that it could resolve its operational challenges.

The management had also failed to salvage the company’s fortunes, which further nosedived in 2021, after previously recording a N2.09 billion loss in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the industry. The company’s financial performance also worsened in 2021 with a deficit of N2.63 billion.

In addition, its gross premium recorded in 2021 also dwindled by half to N515.8 million, which was significantly below the N1.03 billion reported during the corresponding period of 2020. Its weak financials reportedly prevented it from paying insurance claims, which had been due to clients.

RESTORING CONFIDENCE

The rather unfortunate development came amidst recent efforts by the regulator to reposition the industry to meet the operational challenges of the post-COVID-19 era following the devastating impact of the pandemic on the industry and the economy at large.

To be fair, the regulator had been on its toes ensuring that operators abide by good corporate governance and best practices as well as providing guidance and mentorship to as many as needed in order to revive and maintain the integrity of the industry which had been smeared in the past by inability to pay claims among other unwholesome practices.

It took the most recent administrations the courage and purpose to rid insurance practice of bad habits as well as restore the public confidence needed to deepen penetration through an array of new products and services including micro insurance and takaful – all geared towards deepening financial inclusion efforts of the federal government.

No doubt the current development whereby some insurance firms are being unable to meet basic financial obligations is not unconnected with their shallow capital base, which the regulator

had made efforts in recent times to raise without success.

Some industry operators had rebuffed the recapitalisation drive that would have strengthened them to withstand the storm ahead after their capital base was eroded by the fallout of the pandemic among other risk factors.

However, analysts believed that the financial turbulence currently faced by operators is mostly self-inflicted having rejected the NAICOM’s directive to recapitalize.

JOURNEY TO CONSOLIDATION

The journey towards the recapitalisation of the industry began in January 2017, when NAICOM indicated it would verify the capital resources of all insurance companies operating in the country during the first quarter of the year.

It had explained that the probe became necessary in view of the fact that the business environment and risk profile of the companies had changed since 2007 when the last recapitalisation exercise was conducted.

The apex industry regulator had further explained that the move would further ensure the protection of policyholders and beneficiaries of insurance

contact against unexpected losses.

In January 2020, the Commissioner for Insurance/ Chief Executive, NAICOM, Mr. Sunday Thomas, while announcing the liquidation of two firms, warned that operators faced stricter supervision in 2020 and beyond.

He said the commission would enhance its supervisory roles through the strict implementation of rules, the introduction of new reforms and initiatives that are in line with international best practice.

He added that the recapitalisation programme introduced was to boost the development of the sector, stressing that it was “aimed at repositioning the sector for self-actualisation in terms of growth and development. I wouldn’t want to dwell much on this, as the paper presenters will be giving us update on this initiative.

“But let me state in clear terms that the recapitalisation process is up and running in line with the roadmap and the commission will see to its logical conclusion.”

NAICOM had in a circular in May 2019, directed insurers to increase the minimum paid-up capital for insurance and reinsurance companies.

According to the circular, life insurance firms are required to meet a minimum paid-up capital of N8 billion, from the previous N2 billion, while general insurance companies are required to raise their minimum paid-up capital to N10 billion from N3 billion.

NAICOM also raised the regulatory capital for composite insurance from N5 billion to N18 billion, while it increased the minimum capital of reinsurance businesses from N10 billion to N20 billion.

The firms were, however, directed to comply with the new directive not later than December 31, 2020, and September 30, 2021, respectively.

However, the commission in June 2020, approved an extension on the deadline issued to insurance companies to raise their minimum paid-up capital to September 2021. The recapitalisation deadline had earlier been fixed for December 31, 2020, which became not feasible following the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

EDUCATION Ali: Subjecting Training, Certification to International Scrutiny, Will Guarantee Standardisation of Curriculum In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the former president of the Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria, Kashim Ali explained why any nation desiring a rating and recognition should subject its training and certification processes to open international scrutiny to ensure the standardisation of its curriculum, among other issues

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also enjoy.

ou once championed the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) for engineering undergraduates when you were the president of COREN. Is that still in force?

It is very much so. The Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) production was part of what needed to be done to standardise our curriculum towards internationalising Nigerian engineering qualifications. Engineering standards being universal, every nation desiring a rating and recognition must subject its training and certification processes to open international scrutiny. The International Engineering Alliance (IEA) cross-matches qualifications from around the world through three basic platforms: Washington Accord for Engineers, Dublin Accord for Technologists, and Sydney Accord for Technicians. The world now knows what Nigeria is doing, and COREN is inching towards the final stages of getting Nigeria admitted into the Washington Accord in the first instance, and the others will follow. COVID-19 delayed things, but work has begun again.

How effective can engineers contribute to nation-building?

As effective as the nation will allow.

The physical infrastructures that serve as foundations and backbones for national growth are in the foray of engineering.

Therefore, a nation in need of development, and indeed all nations are, must engage its engineering manpower for sustainable growth very effectively. Nigerians complain severally of the quality of delivery of engineering infrastructure, especially roads and other works.

In your view, what are Nigerian engineers’ challenges to delivering quality and global standard infrastructure in Nigeria?

The challenges of Nigerian engineering personnel in road and other infrastructure project delivery emanate largely from an ineffective operating structure in the sector.

Do you know that the Federal Ministry of Works is acting both as a policy and implementation agency? The ministry has consistently resisted every effort at reform to bring in tandem with modern practices.

Many years ago, the Nigerian Society of Engineers proposed a reform that would see the ministry ceding its implementation functions to a professional agency - the Federal Road Authority (FRA), with a board that would be responsible for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of all federal roads; and a funding agency - Federal Roads Fund to manage the accruals from the road tax and other sources. The ministry pretended it accepted the proposal, by creating the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), at a time over 70 per cent of federal roads were unserviceable and outside the maintenance threshold.

What is your assessment of the engineering profession regarding capacity and capability?

Engineering is an enabler, and man’s level of comfort and safety on earth is to the extent that engineering infrastructure can provide; hence a nation is only as developed as the content of its engineering.

Basic engineering knowledge and applications are universal. This makes it possible for knowledge and skills acquired in one geographical entity to be applicable in another but subject to modifications to accommodate environmental peculiarities.

To that extent, a lot has been accomplished in building capacities and capabilities and the proofs abound in the physical infrastructure that dots our landscapes, utilities, maritime and aero vessels, advanced medical equipment, etc.

What does it take for an engineer to become an entrepreneur innovator?

It takes basically self-motivation and environmental influences. The truth is that every trained engineer has the ability to apply the tools of mathematics and science to solve complex problems. For some, they will wait for the problems to arise or be directed at them, but entrepreneurs go the extra mile to nose out the problems and deal with them.

For female mechanical engineers, what are the support processes available to them?

Ali There are quite a few female engineers that own mechanical workshops, the most prominent being Oduwa Agboneni.

They have carved a niche for themselves, and the Nigerian

Society of Engineers (NSE), largely through the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), supports them with advocacy and advisory. There are other support systems within the NSE system for female engineers, which they

“All nations are, and must engage very effectively, its engineering manpower for sustainable growth.”

What advice will you give to the incoming government on the improvement of the power supply in the country?

It is the business of engineers to provide solutions to complex problems. Nigerian engineers are no exception. The incoming administration should challenge Nigerian engineers, whether in-country or/and in the diaspora, to provide solutions to all infrastructure problems. Many Nigerian engineers are providing fantastic infrastructure solutions to other nations—enough of the government putting square pegs in round holes. The solutions to all our infrastructure problems are within reach, but government policies are not supportive—so much mouthing intentions without applicable action.

Day Waterman College Gets HPL Status, OrganisesValedictory Service Ugo Aliogo

As part of its commitment to continue improving the standard of education, Day Waterman College has been accredited as a High-Performance Learning World-Class School (HPL).

Speaking in Abeokuta during the valedictory service of the class of 2022, the school’s principal, Mr. Duncan Gowen, said the HPL sought to develop in members of a school community the ability to think and the mindset to behave.

He also stated that the HPL seeks to develop the advanced cognitive skills and the values, attitudes and attributes that are required for high performance and well-being.

“Some would argue that it is brave to put a school through one accreditation process in a year and positively foolhardy through two.

To surpass the most demanding standards, this is what has to be done. Two weeks before the HPL accreditation, over a three-day period, we were virtually visited by a member of the COBIS,” he said.

Gowen further explained that as part of the commitment of the school to build back, they have, over the past year, enhanced their use of educational technology by investing in Century Tech.

Speaking on the graduating

students, he revealed that they have been instrumental in helping the school build back better, adding that they are a beacon.

The valedictorian of the class of 2022 was Fakrogha Michelle, who won the award for outstanding performance during her academic years in the school.

He remarked that a review of the year revealed a proactive group of school leaders who have worked very hard and a group of students who are leaving behind a positive legacy.

“We have partially upgraded our internet infrastructure with firm intention to do more in this area. We have acknowledged the need to invest time and resources in supporting mental and physical well-being. We have

invested time and resources in collaboratively developing our teaching methodology and our enrichment programme so that we can claim with justification to be a pedagogically progressive school,” said Michelle.

He added, “We have sought to develop our partnership with students so that as a school, we are with, not to the students, in our approach. We are continuing to seek to develop our parent partnership by listening and explaining more so that a better understanding is achieved. The book Drive, EGGO (Every Girl Gets One), the bake Sale and consequent support for the Patrick Speech and Language centre are examples of how this group of students have been determined to look beyond the school’s perimeter fence to help.”

33

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

EDUCATION

International Spelling Bee Winners Emerge in 2022 Mike Okonkwo Nigeria Produces Winners National Essay Competition Uchechukwu Nnaike

Three students of Intimacy with Christ International School, Nasarawa, recently outwitted other finalists at the recently concluded ninth International Spelling Bee Nigeria, organised

by Peat Philips Foundation.

Agbo Divine Capable and David Kate Ene, senior secondary two students of the school, came first and second in the senior category. Ojochenemi Solomon Ojotumale came first in the junior category.

The third position in the senior category went to Charles David of Greater Tomorrow International School, Ondo state.

In the junior category, Fakande Ifeoluwa David of The Truth Academy, Lagos, came second, while Odunlami Temiloluwa Janet of Bopton Nursery and Primary School, Lagos, came third.

Apart from the prizes received at the end of the competition, the top three winners in both categories will represent the country at the Intercontinental Spelling Bee Competition in Dubai later this year.

The Team Lead at Peat Philips Foundation, Mr. Akinleye Olu-Phillips, said spelling enhances education by improving students’ critical reasoning skills and helps them develop poise and composure.

“It also encourages reading because if you are a reader, you will be a great speller,

and you will have depth and can contribute meaningfully to the development of any nation you find yourself in,” stated Olu-Phillips.

He said the foundation runs two literacy programmes, the spelling bee and young orators, and is focused on leadership and communication, believed to be the country’s major challenges.

While congratulating the winners, he advised them not to rest on their laurels but to study hard and prepare for the international stage.

Olu-Phillips also announced that Nigerian spellers would be participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition in the US from next season.

He added that at the 10th edition of the Nigerian competition, past winners would be invited to the foundation’s annual camp, where they will undergo training and test their speaking abilities.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Learn Africa, Alhaji Hassan Bala, said spelling bee competition would improve students’ spelling and vocabulary and boost their confidence.

He said Learn Africa dictionaries comprising Learn Africa Student’s English Dictionary for Intermediate Students and Learn Africa English Dictionary for Advanced Learners are the official dictionaries for the International Spelling Bee and Young Orators competitions in Nigeria.

Flannel Business School Seeks Revival of Reading Culture Funmi Ogundare

The Governing Council of Flannel Business School Chairman, Dr. Gbenga Olowo, has called for revamping the country’s reading culture, saying that it will help bridge the knowledge gap and boost the economy.

Olowo said this recently while briefing journalists on the school’s book roundtable discussion and 2022 awards which it plans to hold on August 16.

He expressed concern about the poor reading culture, saying there is a knowledge gap between what the employers want and what the employees know and can give value.

He explained that business leaders and investors pay little or no attention to mediocrity, attitude and unprofessional conduct of staff in the workplace, saying it is why businesses fail because they lack fresh knowledge, effective leadership and productive human capacity at every level of their management.

He said, “Flourishing industry suffers not because it lacks capital but because it lacks quality men to manage both material and human resources therein.”

Olowo added, “The consequence of this is a dearth of such enterprise, loss of job and eventual conversion of the factory facilities to worship centres and storehouses. There are many such facilities across the country being used now as religious centres.”

The business school, Olowo

noted, was dedicated to enhancing the required skills needed by students and associates.

“In a progressively changing business world, our conviction is getting business models reinvented as a tool for transformation and growth,” he stressed. “We seek to develop creative individuals who can interpret their institutions, execute new ideas, develop new products and have good grasp of processes as well as ways of doing business.”

Emphasising the programme, the Director General of the school, Mr. Lawrence Omidiora, said thought leaders would be converging on the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, for progressive discussions on the book as an agent of change, align leaders associated with books to develop solutions to problems, introduce new strategies and fuel collaborations even beyond in all matters related to books and the business of books.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is expected as chairman of the event, while Prof. Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School will be the guest speaker.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein, will also be among the panel of discussants. The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, is the royal father of the day.

The Osile Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Adedapo Adewale Tejuosho, Oranmiyan, is among those to receive an award for his compendium, ‘My 30 Years on the Throne of my Forefathers’.

Fifteen-year-old student of State Senior High School, GRA Ikeja, Lagos, Miss Oluwanifemi Ayeni; 15-yearold Roqeed Yekini of Ijegun Senior Comprehensive High School, Isolo, and 13-yearold Leila Enecha of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Ikeja have emerged as first, second and third place winners respectively of the 2022 Bishop Mike Okonkwo National Essays Competition for Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria.

In a statement, the competition’s Chief Examiner, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, while commending the organisers for discouraging handwritten entries, described the topic as

friendly, and it clearly mapped out the structural expectations for the informed students as they responded by articulating their understanding of the Nigerian situations in ways that revealed their deep immersion in socio-political issues.

The writers of the 10 best essays were invited to the second round of the competition to write on the topic, ‘2023 Election: A New Nigeria or a Descent Into Chaos’.

For their efforts, Ayeni will get a cheque for N100,000, a personal laptop, a trophy, and a plaque, while the school gets three computers. Yekini, who came second, will receive a cheque for N75,000, a plaque

and the school will get two computers. For the third position, Enecha will get a cheque for N50,000, a plaque, and the school gets a computer set. The other finalists will get a consolation price of N20,000 each.

The prices for the winners of the 17th Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition will be presented at this year’s Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture at the Zenith Shell Hall Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on September 8, 2022.

According to the Corporate Services Director, Rev. (Mrs.) Oluwayomi Uteh, the Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition was initiated in 2004 as part of activities to

celebrate the birthday of the Presiding Bishop of TREM, Dr. Mike Okonkwo, and to contribute to the development of the education sector.

Uteh said the competition has helped participating students to develop more interest in research work, reading extensively, and writing constructively.

It has also given students the opportunity to bare their minds on topical issues that are significant to the socialeconomic development of the nation.

“The essay competition has also contributed to ICT development in secondary schools, especially government-owned schools,” she said.

Winners of the 2022 Bishop Mike Okonkwo National Essays Competition for Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria.

From left: Miss. Ayeni Oluwanifemi Bright, Yekini Roqeed Abolaji and Eneche Leila, first, second and third positions respectively

Bonny School Wins 2022 NLNG Science Quiz Competition Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt The Bonny National Grammar School (BNGS), at the grand finale of the 2022 Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited Rivers State Science Quiz Competition, emerged the winner defeating Enitonna High School (EHS) and Niger Delta Science School (NDSS).

Jacob Daniel and Nazareth Igwe, who represented the BNGS, scored 68,541 points to win representatives of Enitonna and NDSS, which scored 57,777 and 55,733 points, respectively, to emerge second and third positions.

The students selected from across government senior secondary schools in the state contested in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer and Wild Card.

In his remarks, Mr. Andy Odeh, General Manager of External Relations and Sustainable Development of Nigeria LNG, explained that as part of the company’s education interventions, NLNG partnered with the Rivers State Ministry of Education to organise annual science quizzes, debates and essay competitions for students in public schools.

Odey further explained that

the goal of the competition is to inspire healthy students’ interest in science and technology, to equip young minds for nation-building and for the good of mankind.

He said the competition was open to schools in the three senatorial districts in the state: Rivers East, Rivers West, and Rivers South Senatorial Districts.

Odey noted that as part of its community social responsibility, NLNG always has focused on developing health, education, empowerment, and infrastructure for the benefit of the general society, particularly its host communities.

According to him, the company instituted the University Support Programme, Renovation of Host Communities’ schools’ projects, and the building and equipping libraries and science laboratories.

He added, “Annually, NLNG awards scholarships at the post-primary school level, undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships.”

After presenting awards to the winners, the Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Chinedu Mmom, commended the NLNG gesture on education and advised other corporate organisations to key into such projects.

Nile University of Nigeria Holds 3rd Annual Career Fair Nile University of Nigeria recently held the third edition of its annual career fair at the University Campus in Abuja. The career fair aimed at the employability drive attracted over 3,000 students and alumni.

The fair was organised by the Career Services Centre.

The centre has professional career a dvisors who guide, advise, and provide career counselling; help students plan out career strategies, skills development, and CV writing techniques; set up

LinkedIn profiles, interview preps, and search for job and internship opportunities.

The Head of Student Services at Nile University, Dr. Fausat Aleshinloye, introduced the guests and highlighted the rationale behind the career fair.

She said, “This career fair is a major milestone for us at Nile University because it is the biggest and the first to be organised since we became members of the Honoris United Universities. Employability is a key objective of Honoris, and this is reflected

in its vision to continuously invest in reshaping the delivery of education to match the needs of employers against the backdrop of the fourth industrial revolution by preparing the 21st-century African talents for a more digitalized, technologically advanced future.”

Speaking at the fair, the Vice-Chancellor of the Nile University of Nigeria, Prof.

Dilli Dogo, explained that the Career Fair is focused on bridging the gap between students, graduates, and

employers. He said, “One of our key objectives at Nile University is employability, and this Career Fair typifies our desire to expose our students, partners, and stakeholders to future opportunities. We realize that when graduates and interns apply for jobs, they compete against thousands of applicants for the same position. To that effect, we are leveraging our relationships with partner organisations to bring these employers directly to our students and alumni.”

34

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ JULY 20, 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Access Bank to Support Education with $1.7m Raised at 2022 UK Charity PoloTournament Seeking to improve the state of education in Nigeria, Access Bank has raised $1.7 million at its Charity Polo Tournament held at The Guards Polo Club, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom.

The money, the bank said, will be directed towards the building and equipping of over 100 classroom blocks in the less developed areas of Nigeria.

These donations, according to the Group Managing Director of Access Corporation, Herbert Wigwe, “Serve as building blocks towards achieving a

brighter future for the country, while challenging the various state governments to take sustainable actions towards ensuring all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education.

“We thank all attendees and donors for buying into our vision and assure that Access Bank will not relent in its efforts to see that every Nigerian child regardless of tribe, gender and religion is given a fair chance for a better tomorrow.”

Managing Director of Access

Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna, also added that, the polo event remained the greatest investment towards ensuring a great future for the vulnerable Nigerian child.

The Polo tournament, which is executed in partnership with Fifth Chukker and UNICEF, in Kaduna, South Africa and the UK has been an extension of Access Bank’s efforts to support anti-poverty and anti-HIV/ AIDS campaigns in Nigeria.

This is the first edition of the UK-based tournament to be held since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

Fitch Affirms ‘B-’Rating for Coronation Merchant Bank Fitch Ratings has affirmed Coronation Merchant Bank Limited’s (CMB) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-’ with a Stable Outlook.

According to the global rating agency, “the bank’s sound asset-quality record, adequate capitalisation and performance” are rating strengths.

“Management quality is a rating strength.

Coronation Merchant Bank has recorded zero Stage 3 and

Stage 2 loans since converting to a merchant bank in 2015 despite volatile market conditions, reflecting its prudent underwriting standards and risk controls.”

Commenting on the development, Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Coronation Merchant Bank, Banjo Adegbohungbe, stated, “The affirmation of our risk rating by Fitch validates the strength of our business

model and our capacity to continue to support our customers while playing our part in the recovery of the Nigerian economy.”

For the Chief Financial Officer, Coronation Merchant Bank, Chukwukadibia Okoye, added that “this affirmation attests to our very healthy balance sheet as we strive to deliver sustainable growth despite macroeconomic and regulatory headwinds.”

AXAMansard Insurance Collaborates With LASPARK to Plant 5,000 Trees Ebere Nwoji Insurance underwriting firm, AXA Mansard has initiated a tree-planting movement, tagged “AXA Roots Movement”, aimed at stemming the effect of climate change on the environment.

The movement kicked off during the yearly week dedicated to Customer Service Relations (CSR) activities termed “AXA Week For Good”.

One of the first activities undertaken by the insurer to introduce the initiative was in collaboration with the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency

(LASPARK) to plant queen palm trees in Victoria Island. At the event, the Chief Customer and Marketing Officer of AXA Mansard, Jumoke Odunlami, said the various solutions addressing the scourge of climate change, tree planting is the most effective means to capturing and storing carbon.

She explained that the AXA Roots Movement is part of week-long CSR activities under the global umbrella of the “AXA Week for Good”, an initiative that encourages employees in over 50 AXA entities globally to come together to give their time

and resources to act for good.

Odunlami, stressed that for AXA Mansard is more than an activity.

“We have tagged it a movement, in line with one of the two pillars of CSR agenda which are; Climate change & biodiversity and Inclusive protection”. She said beside trees being planted with the partner, LASPARK, AXAMansard is also encouraging and providing trees for all its employees to plant in their homes over trees in their various homes, in what we have tagged “AXA Roots at Home”, she stated.

New CIIN President Charges Insurers on Te chno l o g i c al innova tions Ebere Nwoji New President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Edwin Igbiti has urged insurance operators to be at the frontiers of technological innovations and trends ushered in by the new normal witnessed across the globe in order to thrive and drive their endeavors and ventures.

Igbiti who stated this in his acceptance speech as the 51st President of the institute said it was in this light that the theme and focus of his

tenure has been centered on “building sustainable legacy”.

He said his tenure, as the helmsman of the insurance institute would focus on three point agenda, which were digital reinforcement of institute’s operations.

According to him, the choice of the theme was borne out of the need for continuity to sustain and build on the works of past presidents of the institute.

According to him, this would guarantee that despite current global uncertainties, the institute would continue to meet the

needs and aspirations of its members.

Against this backdrop, my Presidency is going to unlock the potential of this approach by focusing on a three-point agenda as briefly outlined below which are Digital Reinforcement of Institute’s Operations. Igbiti explained that digital reinforcement of the institute in the area of completion of the e-library project, commencement of e-examinations, active presence and use of all available social media.

Heritage Bank, Others Win at 2022 W’Africa Innovation Awards Leading brands in the financial services sector, marketing communications and real estate market are among the top brands that win in the 2022 edition of West Africa Innovation Awards.

Some notable brands are Heritage Bank Plc, FHA Mortgage Bank, Veritas Registrar, Transkredit, Urban Shelter, GDM

Group and Brands Optimal. Others include Sea duck, Acceler8ed Marketing, XM Solution also wins at the award. The 2022 edition of West Africa Innovation Awards will take place during the third quarter of 2022.

The award dinner will bring together leaders in different sectors and countries in West Africa will celebrate the outstanding

professionalism and remarkable innovation of different brands.

According to Abidemi Adesanya, the project director during a media chat in Lagos, he said some other highlights of the above program include CEO Media Chat, Executive Talk time, product exhibition, comedy and a brainstorming session.

L-R : 1st Vice President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Oluropo Dada, 2nd Vice President, Fiona Ahimie, President, Oluwole Adeosun, Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami and Registrar and Chief Executive, CIS, Josiah Akerewusi, during courtesy visit of Principal Officers of CIS on collaboration for capacity building with FIRS in Abuja at weekend

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT THURSDAY, MAY 7

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

35

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͰ

NGX Urges Living Trust Mortgage Bank Management to Strive for Sustainability Kayode Tokede The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has urged the management from Living Trust Mortgage Bank to strive for sustainability, by upholding the highest levels of integrity in delivering value to all its stakeholders.

Speaking at the Mortgage Bank virtual “Facts Behind the Figures” event to pres-

ent its 2021 financial year reports to capital market stakeholders, the Divisional Head, Capital Markets, NGX, Mr Jude Chiemeka, noted that the capital market is driven by timely, relevant, and accurate information and interactions with the market remain vital for transparency, price discovery and overall performance of securities.

He noted that the NGX remains committed to help-

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R

DEALS

ing issuers derive great value from their interaction with the market.

“The Facts-Behind-theFigures Presentation would help existing and prospective shareholders gain a greater insight into the operations and future growth plans of the company,” he said.

Chiemeka added that NGX continues to implement policies aimed at strengthening the corporate governance of

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

listed companies.

“The Exchange provides an efficient, liquid, and multiasset securities platform, that offers investors varied options including Equities, Fixed Income, Derivatives and other Exchanged Traded Products (ETPs) including Mutual Funds.

“We are committed to developing the Nigerian capital market by providing a market that thrives on innovation and responds to the needs

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

of stakeholders in accessing the capital market”, Chiemeka posited.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Managing Director of Living Trust Mortgage Bank, Dr. Adewole Adekunle during his presentation said the bank has maintained consistency in profitability in the last five years.

“The bank’s profitability has increased by over 500per cent under the new management,

O F

1 9

making it one of the most profitable mortgage banks in Nigeria.

“This led to the gains in the bank’s share price, rising from 62kobo in Q2, 2021 to N1.20kobo at the end of Q1, 2022.

In the same vein, its total asset increased by 81per cent from N6.3 billion recorded as of the end of 2020 to stand at N11.39 billion at the end of December 2021”, he added.

/ 7 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

36

WEDNESDAY, Ͱͮ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

ʬ

ʬ

ʬ

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

7 R S * D L Q H U V T ic k er

T ic k er

P ric e C hg %

74.3

0.7%

P ric e C hg %

R T B R ISC OE

0.44

10.0%

UB A

GLA XOSM IT H

6.65

9.0%

A C C ESSC OR P

16.1

-1.1%

C OR N ER ST

0.66

6.5%

A IIC O

14.1

3.3%

C OUR T VILLE

0.50

6.4%

FB NH

12.8

1.8%

F T N C OC OA

0.35

6.1%

GT C O

8.9

0.5%

OA N D O

5.45

5.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

5.2

-0.9%

N GXGR OUP

21.90

4.0%

ST ER LN B A N K

5.0

0.0%

J A IZ B A N K

0.90

3.4%

OA N D O

4.8

5.0%

A IIC O

0.62

3.3%

M A N SA R D

4.3

0.0%

26.50

2.5%

UC A P

4.3

-0.4%

WA P C O

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

7 R S / R V H U V P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

M ULT IVER SE

1.62

-9.5%

M TNN

876.3

-0.4%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.25

-7.4%

UB A

556.8

0.7%

A C A D EM Y

1.86

-7.0%

SEP LA T

196.0

0.0%

-6.6%

GT C O

190.5

0.5%

-4.0%

A C C ESSC OR P

146.4

-1.1%

-3.7%

FB NH

140.5

1.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

83.5

0.0%

T ic k er

C A VER T ON UP D C UB N

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

Vo lum e

P ric e

1.28 1.19 5.20

UN ILEVER

15.00

-3.2%

UN IT YB N K

0.44

-2.2%

NB

65.5

0.0%

55.4

-0.4%

50.6

0.0%

N EM

3.40

-2.0%

UC A P

IN T B R EW

5.70

-1.7%

N EST LE

Investment Research

Brokerage

Asset Management

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu | dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

37

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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

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

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

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

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

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

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 18July-2022, unless otherwise stated.

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

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

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

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 196.75 197.90 17.86% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 4.97% Nigeria International Debt Fund 321.17 321.17 5.79% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 106.18 107.33 7.60% 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 8.16% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.75 3.82 10.25% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 4.77% Anchoria Equity Fund 145.85 147.48 4.74% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.20 1.20 5.27% info@anchoriaam.com ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 22.41 23.09 10.49% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 522.95 538.71 15.91% ARM Ethical Fund 43.75 45.07 12.31% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.07 1.08 -0.68% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.05 1.05 3.28% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.02% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 86.62 86.62 -10.20% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,093.67 1,093.67 9.37% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.09 2.09 3.53% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.38 2.44 17.45% CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,007.92 1,007.92 5.46% CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.05 1.05 4.63% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 0.08 0.06 7.55% Paramount Equity Fund 20.28 20.65 16.28% Women's Investment Fund 151.94 153.85 7.01% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.76% Cordros Milestone Fund 136.09 137.06 9.15% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.29 110.29 5.02% CORONATION ASSETS MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 5.96% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 7.19% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,116.05 1,131.47 0.24% EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1477.15 1477.15 10.70% FBN Balanced Fund 195.56 196.87 11.59% FBN Halal Fund 121.48 121.48 10.17% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.04% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) 124.75 124.75 6.26% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 163.97 166.18 8.08% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.91% Legacy Debt Fund 3.84 3.84 -4.06% Legacy Equity Fund 1.96 2.00 12.66% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.23 1.23 2.22% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn

Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

4,181.50 3,586.64 100.00

4,243.15 3,586.64 100.00

13.64% 6.25% 8.01%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.11 1.11 3.96% INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.61 1.64 13.72% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,153.96 1,153.96 5.17% 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 NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 101.02 101.02 1.73% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 7.77% 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 N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 126.44 128.61 5.19% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.05 1.05 8.34% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,710.47 3,753.67 -1.64% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 239.99 239.99 0.47% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.48 1.51 -0.99% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 322.76 322.77 0.77% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 274.00 278.04 -0.88% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.75% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 12,359.21 12,532.54 -2.31% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.33 1.33 0.68% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 119.02 119.02 0.46% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 110.68 110.68 1.11% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 1.00 1.03 13.08% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.36 1.38 4.02% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.17 1.19 12.91% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.07 1.07 3.95% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.90 1.90 3.51% United Capital Eurobond Fund 122.01 122.01 3.00% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.89% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith ESG Impact Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Zenith Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD funds@vetiva.com Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund 3.91 4.01 -2.54% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 6.04 6.14 3.40% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 19.24 19.44 8.73% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.39% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 20.67 20.87 3.42% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 153.49 155.49 -2.69%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

117.74 51.82

3.98% 1.90%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

15.18 143.47 113.24 17.10 16.40

15.28 146.93 115.66 17.20 16.50

8.47% -5.02% -4.75% 21.93% 3.99%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.55

12.10%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

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

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

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WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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IMAGES

L-R: Group Head, Emerging Customers and Digital Partnerships, AXA Mansard, Alfred Egbai; Co-founder/ Chief Executive Officer, Turaco, Ted Pantone; and Senior Manager, Risk Regulations, FSD Africa, Elias Omondi; at the just concluded BimaLab Insurtech Accelerator Programme sponsored by AXA Mansard to support Nigerian Insurtech startups, held in Lagos...recently

L-R: Visioner/Ambassador, Light of Faith and Joy Outreach International, Prophetess Aderonke Akinbisehin; Guest Speaker, Evangelist Bankole Adebowale; and representative of Grand Patron, Shade Adenikan-Ajose, at the fifth anniversary of IFJ Nigerian chapter, held in Lagos…recently

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Oguche Agudah; Managing Director, FBN Quest Funds, Ijeoma Agboti-Obatoyinbo; Managing Partner, VEROD, Danladi Verheijen; Partner, Udo Udoma and Belo-Osagie (UUBO), Ozofu Ogbemudia; and Executive Secretary, PEVCA Nigeria, Anna Evi-Parker; at a workshop for pension funds and private equity funds operators held in Lagos... recently

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͰ

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

Special Assistant to Ogun State First Lady, Mrs. Bamidel Abiodun, Mrs. Sade Ogundairo (representative of the first lady), presenting gifts to the children at the 2022 Ileya Children’s party held at the Ilaro Palace Garden in Ogun State...recently

L-R: National Population Commission (NPC) Coordinator for trial census, Mr. Niyi Alayaki; Coordinator, NPC Enugu State office, Ms Ngozi Onyia; South-east Zonal Coordinator, NPC, Ms Ekwi Elibe; Federal Commissioner representing Enugu State in NPC, Chief Ejike Ezeh; and representative of Chairman, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, Mr. Chijioke Oscar, during NPC Town Hall meeting with stakeholders for Enugu East senatorial zone in Isu Uzo LGA of the state…recently

L-R: Programme Manager, Flour Mills, Mrs. Olasubomi Sofowora; Chief Executive Officer, Co-creation Hub, Bosun Tijani; Chief Executive Officer, Sterling One Foundation, Olapeju Ibekwe; Head of Competence Centre of German, Olayinka Makinwa; and Director, LEAP Africa, Mr. Femi Taiwo; during the panel section at the African Social Impact Summit in Abuja…recently PHOTO: KINGSLEY ADEBOYE

L-R: Vice Chairman, British Business Committee, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Mrs. Ini Abimbola; Honourary Life Vice President, NBCC, Mrs. Theresa Ananyi; Vice President, NBCC, Mr. Seyi Adeyemi; President and Chairman of Council of NBCC, Mrs. Bisi Adeyemi; Managing Director, Unilever West Africa, Carl Cruz; Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Business Director, Unilever West Africa, Soromidayo George; and Chairman, Advocacy Committee, NBCC, Mrs. Anne Rinu, during a courtesy visit to Unilever Nigeria Plc in Lagos...recently

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022

CITYSTRINGS

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

A Global Award for Active Philanthropy, Serving Humanity At the recent Information Audit System and Control Association, ISACA, Global Gala Night and Conference held in New Orleans US and the UK, the ISACA Abuja chapter in Nigeria clinched the Outstanding Chapter Achievement Award among 200 chapters for selfless services and exceeding set goals that advance humanity and local membership in Abuja. Rebecca Ejifoma highlights the impact and the plans of ISACA Abuja for its host communities

I

t was a historic moment that changed the Information Audit System and Control Association (ISACA) Abuja chapter forever.

May 4 will remain a sensational day filled with heart-swelling pride and awe after the chapter representatives mounted the podium in New Orleans US to officially receive the plaque in front of the cheering audience both in the hall and virtually from all around the world at the 2022 ISACA Global Gala Night and Conference.

According to the association, local chapters are the fundamental building blocks of ISACA worldwide. They are often closest to members and key drivers in achieving ISACA’s mission.

The awards, therefore, recognise outstanding and altruistic contributions by chapters and individual chapter leaders in fulfilling the objectives of ISACA and the needs of its professional community.

"I felt so excited when we heard the news.

It was like a dream come true because I can remember very well that at the beginning of my career, I used to travel from Jos to Abuja to attend their meetings. So, I can categorically say that I was there when the chapter was in its bud stage. I was able to experience the aspiration and the dreams of the founding fathers and today the dream has come true," says the President, ISACA Abuja, Mr Emma Omoke.

Consequently, Omoke believes dearly that if one is passionate, tenacious, and consistent with what one believes in it would come true one day. For him, this undeniably goes a long way to show how blessed Nigerians are.

"We have the capability, the capacity, and the human resources that can spotlight Nigeria on the global stage in this digital transformation going on worldwide," he expressed with enthusiasm.

ISACA is a global association that provides IT professionals with knowledge, credentials, training and community in audit, governance, risk, and privacy. It continues to acknowledge and celebrate chapters that exceed service goals by actively supporting local membership, and thus ISACA, each year from all across the world, members of ISACA assemble in a selected country to network, build knowledge, and strengthen goals while the board tips hat to outstanding contributions that advance their professional community and exemplify their purpose and leadership.

To reward distinctively rich performances for adroit and flawless jobs, ISACA Abuja Chapter was celebrated alongside the Central UK Chapter, Manila Chapter, Singapore Chapter, Sri Lanka Chapter and Toronto Chapter at the ISACA North America Conference this year.

ISACA Abuja Chapter got a deserving plaque for its Outstanding Chapter Achievement Award, and the Director-General, Mr Kachifo Inuade, received the Inspirational Leadership Award of the year.

Omoke, who was present at the occasion with the immediate past President Abuja Chapter, Mr Glory Idehen, detailed their redeeming quality.

"What stood us out is the diversity, commitment, and passion of the Abuja chapter which is also similar to about 200 chapters we have globally," noting that they pull subject-matter experts from various institutions across different sectors of the economy.

"At our monthly webinar, which we make free to the public, we enlighten them about training issues globally, government policies, benefits, challenges, and trends."

Adding, the president and IT expert highlighted that the chapter puts together an annual conference where they converge the renowned experts globally to meet with some communities on strategies that would accelerate and help the government in the design or implementation of policies that will positively affect the general public.

Intervention Projects in Abuja From a vantage point, ISACA Abuja Chapter is building a bond amongst the society with the help of sustainable values ranging from capacity

L-R: Mr Bright Haruna; the ISACA Abuja Chapter President, Mr Emmanuel Omoke; the immediate past CEO of ISACA International, Mr Rob Clyde; and Mr Glory Idehen, the Immediate Past President of ISACA Abuja Chapter at the ISACA Global Dinner And Award Night in the US building and the creation of 119 e-learning centres to digital centres in Nigeria.

To accelerate digital inclusion capacity building, ISACA Abuja trained 200 women in ICT and entrepreneurship, equipped 80 persons with disability, adopted 565 national villages for smart agriculture, and trained 1,120 artisans to bridge the digital skill gap.

Others are setting up 11 IT community and skill acquisition centres, set up 12 IT hubs and innovation and incubation parks alongside 164 digital economy centres, two special interventions, 12 scholarships and education, awarded 74 MScs, granted 12 MScs IT law, and 12 PhD. For licensing and certifications 103 data protection compliance organisations, 75 domain names for states and local governments, 400 certifications of indigenous IT companies, certifications for local content, 172 certifications for indigenous IT contractors and service providers, 12 licensed indigenous OEMs, Capacity building and certification of 442 digital transformation and technical working groups.

Under digital literacy capacity-building programmes, ISACA Abuja created 200 ICT for women, gave 300 graduate internships, 1,142 capacity building for artisans, 1,858 phone repairs in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NDCMB), 586 executive training for public servants, 75 digital library capacity building, 6,260 digital state initiative programmes, and 85 legislators.

From 2019 to 2021, the chapter hosted World Creativity Day and Innovation challenge. It also facilitated a market-creating innovation workshop with the Clayton Christensen Institute. The chapter further hosted Digital Day Nigeria, powered the Stem Boot Camp for kids gained full membership for Network of African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA), ecosystem stakeholder engagement, Lagos and led the MT REAP workshops three

in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston.

Community Day According to the president, ISACA Abuja also introduced Community Day, which helps them consistently relate to the community around them. Omoke narrated, "I remember the first community day we observed. We did roadwork on keeping cyberspace secured. For the second edition, we went to a public secondary school and planted trees, repaired, and cleaned. We had a debate among the high school students on keeping the environment safe."

Volleyball Court to Keep Youth off the Streets With the myriad of criminal activities, and drug and substance abuse among other crimes triggered by idleness, the chapter raised funds to construct a volleyball court for public schools at the last Community Day. It was solely to ensure that "Our youth are engaged in physical activities instead of using the time to engage in negative vices. This was also our selling point".

Meanwhile, the chapter has given a big hand to Dr Kachifo Inuade, the DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Information Technology Agency for the numerous works he is doing in bridging the digital inequality gaps that existed in the rural areas.

This is because Inuade has got some mileage to his credit. He built IT infrastructure, e-libraries, and virtual libraries to make sure that these people in rural areas have access to ICT. " Indeed, the Abuja chapter has had a very strategic relationship since its inception, being our parents' organisation that supervises our activities and we are so proud of him to be dim fit to win this award among the numerous people that were nominated by the ICT Google community," Omoke chipped in.

We have the capability, the capacity, and the human resources that can spotlight Nigeria on the global stage in this digital transformation going on worldwide

Take Away If there was anything such a moment left the president with, it was to be unrestrained as a people. "The take-home for me is for us as a country to know that we shouldn't limit ourselves. We should believe in ourselves because we have the intellectual people that have the capacity and capability to put Nigeria ahead of the pack on the global map in the digital economic revolution going on."

Hence, members of the ISACA Abuja chapter, have come to terms with the fact that a reward for good work is more work. "We are doing our best to make sure that we maintain the momentum. And we contribute in the best way we can toward nation-building."

Today, ISACA Abuja boasts selfless service to its organisation and industries with exemplary achievements and noteworthy contributions to advancing technology. Outstanding IT audit, risk, governance, privacy and cybersecurity professionals are being recognised with ISACA’s 2021 Global Achievement Awards as well as through its new Hall of Fame for their accomplishments and contributions that advance the professional community and exemplify ISACA’s purpose.

Leaving a Lasting Legacy ISACA Global in a bid to give back to the society established a day every first Saturday of October to give back to the society.

It's a day to show a little kindness through community activities that will boost awareness, and create a positive impact on the environment.

Omoke further blows the organisation's trumpet. "We've had two editions in the past years; the first year, ISACA Abuja powered a 10km road walk on how to create awareness in cyberspace." For the second edition, we went to a public school in the suburb of Abuja and planted trees while creating awareness among the students on the importance of keeping our environment safe. We also organised an essay writing competition and awarded the winner top three won prizes.

With these mileage and charitable works, there is no doubt then that touching lives is in "our DNA. That is the purpose of ISACA, impacting lives positively and making the world a better place for the entire universe," he said excitedly.

That is why ISACA Abuja Chapter pledges to contribute to capacity building and public-spirited acts across the world toward the development of affordable, open and user-centric internet infrastructure.

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WEDNESDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

WELCOME RALLY...

Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu; Governor Godwin Obaseki, and Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Marcus Onobun, during a welcome rally after the governor’s annual leave, in Benin…yesterday

Obaseki: With Osun Now in Bag, 2023 Presidency is PDP’s to Lose Says party won’t take it for granted, admits there’s a lot to be done Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, boasted that with Osun State now in the bag of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the 2023 presidential election was the party’s to lose.

Obaseki, who noted that the PDP would not take the 2023 elections for granted, however, admitted that a lot of work still needed to be done

for the party to actualise its dream.

The Edo governor, who returned to Benin City, the state capital after three weeks of annual leave, amid a rousing welcome by party supporters, was received by his deputy, and acting Governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, alongside other government functionaries, leaders and members of the PDP. Obaseki had upon returning to the country joined other PDP faithful

in Osun State, where he featured prominently in the campaign of the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who won the election, defeating the incumbent, Gboyega Oyetola.

Addressing the crowd, Obaseki said, “I think the PDP victory in Osun clearly shows that the election of 2023 is PDP's to lose. We will not take it for granted. There is quite a bit of work to do; we need to go

back home to talk to our brothers and sisters and improve the spread of the party's membership.

“We are going to make sure that we come together and work together, because victory is certainly ours. If we could win in Osun State, I see us winning the 2023 elections and going to Aso Rock.”

While hailing Edo people and PDP faithful for their undying support for his administration,

Obaseki noted, “I owe PDP a lot of gratitude for letting me into the party, when they did and I believe as a loyal party member, it is my responsibility to contribute my own quota to the growth and development of the party and that is exactly what we did in Osun.

So, it's not the question of how I feel, it is a question of how we

must grow our party and deepen democracy and rescue this country.”

On his absence from governance during his leave, he said, “I did not miss anything, because I have a very competent acting governor, who was able to cope with the security challenges, issues of flooding and all the things that happened while I was away.”

Oyebanji: I Won't Consider With INEC’s Fresh Voter Registration at 10.1m, 2023 Politics, Religion to Run My Govt

Becomes Highly Competitive, Anyone’s Game We’ll deliver the best general election, Yakubu boasts Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, disclosed that its fresh registration of voters nationwide had hit 10.1 million on Monday, July 18.

With this development, however, the 2023 general election might have become highly competitive and anyone’s game with political parties now having additional 10 million voters to poach for support during the elections.

This, nonetheless, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission under his watch would deliver the best general election in the history of the country come 2023.

However, discussing the new registration breakthrough, INEC disclosed this in its weekly update, quarter four, week 13, released two nights ago on its social media platform.

According to the electoral body, 10,139,247 registrants had completed their registrations out of which 3,357,188 were done through online, while 6,782,059 were done via physical registration.

It said 5,022,392 of the registrants that completed their registrations were males; while 5,116,855 were females and 75,422 were Persons With Disabilities.

Also, the age distribution, according to the statistics from INEC, showed that 7,195,676 of the registrants were youth of ages 18 to 34; while middle aged between 35 and 49 were 2,025,258.

The elderly between ages 50 and 69 were 808,021 and the old from

70 and above were 110,292.

INEC, however, said it had received a total of 26,645,124 applications for voter transfer, requests for replacement of PVCs and update of voter information record, etc.

Interestingly, this development might have upped the ante ahead of the 2023 general election, especially given the progression of voter registration each election year from 2015, when the Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board.

In 2015, for example, INEC had projected that about 68, 833, 476 Nigerians would vote in the February general election.

Presenting the voter register to political parties and Nigerians in general, then Director of Information Communication Technology at INEC, Chidi Nwafor, said the figure was arrived at after the commission removed all anomalies in the voter registration process.

According to Nwafor, about 73. 5 million Nigerians had registered to vote in the elections, but more than 4 million did double registration, hence they were weeded.

Former INEC boss, Attahiru Jega, who commented on the development, explained that thorough work had gone into ensuring that the actual figure of eligible voters was captured.

However, in 2019, some 84.2 million Nigerians were registered to vote in the elections.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahood Yakubu, at a regular meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja, said 14.5 million Nigerians registered between April 27, 2017,when the Continuous Voter

Registration began and August 31, 2018, when the exercise ended.

Added to the 69,720,350 persons that were registered in 2015, the total number of registered voters then stood at 84, 271,832.

“At the end of the exercise, a total of 14,551,482 new voters were registered. If this figure is added to the existing register of 69,720,350 voters, it means that the nation now has a voter population of 84,271,832,” he said.

Although he then said the number of registered voters might drop after the cleaned up of the register aimed at detecting double registration and illegal registrants, he also called on Nigerians to help the commission to weed out illicit registrants.

Therefore, with the update, the current number of registered voters stand at over 94 million people, creating a large pool of voters of different leanings for political parties to poach from.

Relatedly, INEC, who pledged to deliver best ever general election in Nigeria in 2023, gave the assurance when Yakubu received delegations of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and that of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Abuja.

He said the meeting was the first that INEC was hosting after Saturday’s governorship election in Osun and assured them that it would improve on its successes in subsequent elections.

“We are encouraged by your kind words, but there is still a lot of work to do. We assure you that we will continue to work not only hard but even harder to deliver the

2023 general election.

“I have listened to some of the issues raised but perhaps, when we go into the working session, there will be an opportunity for us to respond to some of the issues,” he told the delegations.

Yakubu also spoke about the governorship elections held in Ekiti in June and that of Osun held on Saturday.

“As for the preparation for the 2023 general election, I want to assure you that we promised Nigerians that Ekiti was going to be good and Ekiti was a good election.

“We promised that Osun was going to be better, Osun was a better election. We are promising that the 2023 general election will be our best election ever and we are committed to delivering best election ever,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Frank LaRose, Secretary of State for Ohio, U.S.A and leader of the delegations, commended INEC for its various efforts at improving on the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

LaRose, who is an election commissioner in the State of Ohio, described his first visit to Nigeria as a great learning opportunity and urged INEC to keep improving on Nigeria’s electoral system.

“I lead a delegation of high level election experts from around the region, as well as from the United States. These are delegations, who share with you the common belief that the people of Nigeria deserve to continue to have free, fair, and acceptable elections, so we are working to prepare for the presidential election in 2023.

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti Ekiti State Governor-elect, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, has assured Ekiti residents that competence would form the kernel of his government, when sworn in, promising to give equal opportunities to all indigenes, regardless of political leanings, religions and backgrounds.

Oyebanji stated this yesterday during a 'thank you tour' in Ikole, Oye and Ilejemeje Local Government Areas, where he met traditional rulers, party leaders and other stakeholders and shared some of his plans and programmes for the state with them.

The governor-elect, who was accompanied by his deputy, Chief Monisade Afuye, State Chairman of APC, Paul Omotoso and other party leaders, expressed appreciation to the people for the support given to him and APC during the last election and promised not to betray the trust reposed in him.

According to him, "I made a promise during my campaign that if elected, I would come back to thank you. In particular, I appreciate our traditional rulers for their support and prayers. I know the influence and power of the Kabiyesis and I'm aware that their good disposition towards me and our party helped us win many people to our side.

"To our party members and other people of Ekiti State, I thank you because you are truthful to yourselves, God and the generation yet unborn.

As promised during my campaign, I still reaffirm here today that I will perform up to expectation. I will do everything humanly possible to make you proud."

Addressing the traditional rulers in Ikole, Oye and Eda-Oniyo Ekiti, the governor-Elect urged them to always call his attention, anytime they considered it necessary to offer advice on any lapses in his administration.

He called on party members to be magnanimous in victory by reaching out to aggrieved members and intending members and integrating them into the progressive fold.

"I am pleading with our members to extend hand of love to those that are aggrieved and even new members ahead next year elections,” he said.

Oyebanji restated his earlier promise that party leaders and various communities would have input whenever appointments were to be made, adding that it would be difficult for anybody to sail through without endorsement from party and community leaders from his or her constituency.

His words: "I promise you that you will be the one that will indicate those that will represent you. Anybody that wants appointment should go back to their leaders and get clearance and endorsement."

The Oloye of Oye Ekiti, HRM Oba Michael Oluwole Ademolaju, who spoke on behalf of all the traditional rulers from the local government, described Oyebanji as a thoroughbred politician and astute administrator, who is well prepared to consolidate on all the laudable achievements of the Governor Kayode Fayemi administration.

While congratulating Oyebanji and Afuye on their electoral victory, he expressed optimism that they would perform up to expectation, adding that the gate to the palaces of all the traditional rulers in Ekiti would be wide opened for him anytime.

Before then, Oyebanji had stopped at Ijesa-Isu with his entourage to visit a former deputy governor of the state, Chief Paul Alabi, who served betwen 1999 and 2003.

The former deputy governor, who expressed his delight over the visit, congratulated the governor-elect on his landslide victory and wished him success in his new endeavors.

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NEWS

MEDICAL OUTREACH...

LL-R: Keynote Speaker, Prof. Ayoola Olurotimi Coker; Executive Director, Boskoh HMI, Mrs. Nike Osa; Chairman, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Prof. Akin Oshibogu; and Special Guest of Honour and First PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Ibijoke Claudiana Sanwo-Olu, at the Volunteer Training to Kick Start 2022 Boskoh HMI Medical Outreach, tagged: Jigi-Bola Re-launch held in Lagos...recently

Masari: Police Still Hunting for Terrorist Turbaned in Zamfara Sad over decision by Zamfara emir, vow to arrest the criminal Says govt yet to forgiven him Bandits kill nine more farmers in Katsina community Francis Sardauna in Katsina Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, yesterday, painted a rather confounding scenario, when he said the police were still hunting for a notorious terrorists’ kingpin, Adamu Aliero, who was recently turbaned the Sarkin Fulanin Yandoto by the now suspended Emir of Birnin Yandoto, in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Aliyu Garba Marafa, by Governor Bello Matawalle.

Masari, who spoke in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, yesterday, however, expressed sadness over the development, saying his government has yet to forgive him for killing his people, stressing that the state and police were still hunting for the terror leader, who had been on police wanted list for the past two years.

The Katsina State Police Command had in June, 2020 declared Aliero wanted for masterminding the attack on Kadisau village of Faskari Local Government Area of the state, an incident that led to the killing of over 52 people.

The police further pledged a bounty of N5,000,000 on his head to anyone with useful information that could lead to his arrest – either

dead or alive.

Curiously, however, the most sought after terrorists' kingpin was recently given a chieftaincy titled of Sarkin Fulanin Yandoto

by Emir Marafa, which led to his immediate suspension by Governor Matawalle.

But Masari, during the interview, explained that the Katsina State government had not forgiven the notorious terrorist and that the government would work with security agencies to arrest the hoodlum.

He insisted that even if Aliero, has accepted to live peacefully with the farming communities in Zamfara, his government still considered him a terrorist and would do everything humanly possible to arrest him and make him face the law for the crimes he had committed.

The governor wondered why a criminal, who has been on wanted list of security operatives for years would be conferred with a chieftaincy title after killing innocent citizens in communities across Zamfara and Katsina States.

He reiterated that some terrorists recruited by Aliero were still killing, kidnapping and raping residents of Katsina State in villages and com-

Kachikwu, Condemns Killing of SevenYouths by Ebubeagu Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, has condemned the killing of seven youths allegedly by ‘Ebubeagu Operatives’ in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.

Kachikwu, in a statement by his campaign office in Abuja, described the incident as barbaric and wicked, even as he called on the police and other security agencies to swiftly arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

The youths were said to have been killed while returning from a traditional wedding in Awomama, Oru East L.G.A, while five other persons were said to be missing following the attack.

“This killing is simply unconscionable and man’s inhumanity to man. How can a security outfit purportedly set up to protect a vulnerable population from

harassment and attacks turn their guns on their own kith and kin?” he asked.

He, therefore, called on leaders of the South East, especially, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and all leaders of thought in the zone to work with communities to nip the ugly development in the bud.

He said, “The South East can ill-afford this type of bloodletting especially, when innocent youths, who are leaders of the future are being sent to their early graves in such cruel and gruesome manner.

“The challenges of survival in the country are becoming Herculean and it is time for law enforcement agencies to ensure that the people are protected from unnecessary attacks and killings of citizens especially, innocent youths by unscrupulous elements masquerading as Ebubeagu security operatives,” Kachikwu said.

munities that bordered Zamfara .

"It is surprising because Katsina and Zamfara are the same. If a neighbour doesn’t support his neighbour, do you think he would be supported in his time of travail? So, it surprised me how they looked away from the travail of their neighbor (Katsina).

"It affected them too because a traitor, when he is done with your enemy, would turn towards you.

We’ve not forgiven him and just as the police in Katsina said, they are still looking for him. For me, the one I have business with is

the governor (Matawalle).

"I tried reaching out to him but he is not around and I did not get him. The police command here (Katsina) has the responsibility to reach out to the police in Zamfara to know what’s actually going on.

"The only issue is that the police in Katsina can’t go to Zamfara and arrest him. So, if he dares enter Katsina again, we will arrest him so that he can answer for his crimes.

Even if they said he has stopped, we know that here in Katsina, he is still killing people; his boys are still killing people," the governor

maintained.

Meanwhile, terrorists, yesterday, launched fresh onslaught on Ruwan-Godiya community in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State and killed nine farmers, who were working on their farmlands.

The motorcycle-riding terrorists, who stormed the community in broad daylight, also injured no fewer than seven other farmers including their children.

A resident of the community, Ibrahim Sani, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that, the

criminals followed the victims to their respective farms and shot them dead.

"They (terrorists) attacked us around 2pm this afternoon (Tuesday) and moved to nearby farms and starting killing people on their farms. We have so far recovered nine bodies. They injured seven people also.

"We are tired of these people (terrorists), because they are killing and kidnapping our people on daily basis. We wondered what we have done to them. Government should please come to our rescue," he said.

PRESIDENT GIVES MINISTER TWO-WEEK ULTIMATUM TO RESOLVE ASUU STRIKE Committee had proposed 109 -185 per cent increase in the university wage structure.

He had explained that based on the recommendation, federal government would incur, “an additional N560 billion as salaries alone, on top of the present N412 billion, less all other allowances such as earned academic allowances and fringe benefits, teaching allowance, field trip responsibility and postgraduate supervision allowances, and hazard allowances which were to gulp another N170 billion.”

ASUU Suggests Use of Stamp Duty, GSM, Alcoholic Taxes to Fund Education

Meanwhile, ASUU has urged the federal government to utilise resources from the stamp duty, GSM and alcoholic taxes to help fund the needs the education sector.

The union also took a swipe on Ngige, blaming him of constituting an obstacle to the process of resolution of the lingering dispute with the federal government.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke said the union was of the opinion that federal government could explore the possibility of sourcing finding for the development of the education sector from non-budgetary sources.

"ASUU believes that the idea of availability of funds is a dynamic process. For instance, government can mobilise funds from different sources including non-budgetary outlets like the stamp duty, GSM and alcoholic taxes.

"These were parts of our recommendations at the National Workshop organised by the federal government on sustainable funding of education in Nigeria, held between 27th and 28th November,

2018, at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja," it said.

Osodeke said the workshop by the MDAs were also challenged to remit, for the purpose of raising budgetary profile, excesses that accrue and not accounted for.

"We insist that until and unless these sources of ‘loose funds’ are pooled and appropriated in support of education funding, Nigerian Universities will not be positioned to compete globally as well as develop and attract local and foreign grants," he added.

The ASUU president said the union was also appalled by the recent calls by top government functionaries at both federal and state levels to establish more universities at a time agencies run by same Chief Executives had been tightly squeezed of funding.

He said ASUU was restating its opposition to the proliferation of universities and other tertiary institutions merely for political gains or electoral value.

He described the intentions of establishing new universities as hypocritical and the handwork of political jobbers who dangle the carrots of siting institutions they have no intention of developing to compete with others in Africa and beyond.

Osodeke also spoke about the delay in reaching a resolution of the dispute with federal government, saying the government had been going back and forth on the issue.

He accused Ngige of deliberately misrepresenting the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention on the collective bargaining agreement and the roles of a conciliator to serve his alleged propagandist interest in this matter.

"Specifically, there have been insinuations by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris

Ngige, that there was no agreement between ASUU and the government; that ASUU sat down to fix its own members’ salaries; and that our Union asked representatives of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to recuse themselves from the negotiations, " he said.

Osodeke said ASUU participated at several meetings at the instance of the Ministry of Labour and Employment chaired by Ngige as, “Conciliator” since it began its strike on February 14.

"To our utter dismay, nothing concrete came out of the endless deliberations as the Conciliator kept approbating and reprobating. For instance, he would declare that he fully supported our demand that the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ ASUU be speedily concluded within six weeks while at the same time creating an unrealistic pathway to arriving at a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

"Similarly, Ngige kept going back and forth on concluding the integrity test for the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for replacing the discredited Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS) contrary to the letters and spirit of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of December 2021. "Matters got to a head when our Union leaders were forced to express their frustration at one of the so-called conciliatory meetings. When we expressed our frustration at the manners the engagement processes were going, Ngige went on to lampoon the Ministry of Education; saying he was not our employer.

"At a point, he directed our union to go and picket the office of the Minister of Education, who is our employer! Subsequently, he tactfully recused himself, " he said.

Osodeke also accused Ngige of

frustrating move by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and supported by the Co-chair of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Revd. Dr. Samson Ayokunle, to get the embargo placed on university workers’ salaries lifted to pave way for amicable resolution of the crisis.

The ASUU president denied that the union said the president was going to sign agreement between it and the government.

"What we said was that our draft agreement was receiving attention by the president. Our claim about a draft agreement was predicated on the fact that it was the second document to be produced by a joint Renegotiating Committee of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement comprising representatives of MDAs and the ASUU team," he said.

Osodake further questioned the rationale for granting the Minister of Labour the status of. Conciliator, adding that the Trade Dispute Act, the principal legislation for labour relations, does not empower the Minister to assume the office of conciliator.

We Won't Accept Any Disparity in Varsity Salary, Says SSANU

On its part, SSANU has warned the Nimi-Briggs Committee renegotiating the 2009 Agreement that it woulf not accept any disparity in university staff salary and vowed to take every legal action to ensure that such doesn’t happen.

It however commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his intervention in the ongoing strike embarked upon by the university based unions.

Continued online

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WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Terrorists Kill Abducted Kaduna Catholic Priest, One Escapes from Captivity

John Shiklam in Kaduna and Francis Sardauna in Katsina

One of the two abducted Catholic priests in Kaduna State have been killed while the other escaped from captivity.

The priests, Rev. Father John Cheitnum and Donatus Cleopas were abducted on July 15, 2022, shortly after arriving the Parısh rectory of Christ the King Catholic Church, Yadin Garu, in Lere Local Government of Kaduna state for a programme.

In a statement yesterday the Chancellor of the Kafanchan Catholic Diocese, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okolo said Rev. Fr. John Cheitnum was brutally murdered by the abductors while Rev. Fr. Cleophas escaped.

“Sequel to the announcement of the two kidnapped priests from our diocese, we wish to announce that Rev. Fr. Donatus Cleophas escaped from his abductors and has reunited with us.

“However, it is with a deep sense of sorrow and pains that the Bishop, Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Diocese of Kafanchan announce the gruesome murder of Very Rev.

Fr. John Mark Cheitnum,” Okolo said.

The statement said Cheitnum was “brutally killed by his abductors on the same day of his abduction, Friday 15h July,

2022”, and his decomposed corpse was discovered on Tuesday 19 July, 2022.

“Until his demise he was the CAN Chairman, Jama’a LGA as well as the Coordinating

Chairman of CAN, Southern Kaduna.

Cheitnum was also the Dean of Kwoi Deanery, Director of Communications in the Diocese of Kafanchan and the Pastor

of St. James Parish Fori, Jama’a LGA, Kaduna State.

The statement announced that the remains of the late priest will be buried tomorrow at the Cathedral of St. Peter Kafanchan.

IMPROVING MARKET SURVEILLANCE…

L-R: Operations Support Manager, African Development Bank Group Mr. Orison Mawumenyo Amu, Director General, AFDB, Mr.Lamin Barrow; Director General Securities and Exchange Commission Mr. Lamido Yuguda, and Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services, SEC Mr. Ibrahim Boyi during the Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between SEC and AFDB on Nigeria Securities Market Surveillance System Project in Abuja…recently

NEMA Receives 143 Alleged N1.2bn Fraud: Ponzi Scheme Stranded Libya Returnees Operator Remanded till September 30

Rebecca Ejifoma

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received a batch of 143 stranded Nigerians from Libya.

The returnees include 96 male adults, eight boys, and one male toddler while the female adults are 36, a girl and a female toddler.

Among them are a female and a male adult with serious medical issues. This was

according to the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed represented by the Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office of the Agency, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye.

The repatriated Nigerians arrived through the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja.

The flight with Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 registration number 5A - DMG at about1518 hours.

Cholera Kills Five in Kano, Says Commissioner

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa has said that no fewer than five persons have lost their lives, following the outbreak of cholera in the state.

Dr Tsanyawa, who confirmed this while briefing journalists in Kano yesterday, said the state recorded a total number of 189 cases out of which five lost their lives.

The commissioner noted that on the 16th April, 2022 a case of watery diarrhea and vomiting, suspected to be cholera was reported in Dambatta Local Government area of the state.

According to him, the case was promptly investigated and addressed, stressing that since then, a total number of 189 cases in 20 local government areas were recorded, out of which

184 had fully recovered, while five died.

“It will interest you to know that last year by now we recorded 12,116 cases across the state with 329 deaths. This is because of the prompt and multisectoral collaborative response by the state,” Dr Tsanyawa stated.

The commissioner, however, called on people of the state to imbibe the culture of personal and environmental hygiene to avoid the further outbreak of cholera and other diseases in the state.

Dr Tsanyawa maintained that the state government, under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was fully committed to providing adequate and quality healthcare services to the people of the state, aimed at eliminating the cholera outbreak and other diseases in the state.

Dana Air Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Abuja Chinedu Eze Nigeria’s indigenous carrier, Dana Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft with registration number, 5N DNA and 100 passengers on board, yesterday embarked on an emergency landing due to technical problem.

Statement from the airline, signed by its management said the emergency landing was due to an indication on one of its engines.

“The Pilot-in- command briefed the passengers on the incident and landed the aircraft safely at the Abuja

International airport at about 2.52pm,” the statement said.

The airline also said all 100 passengers disembarked safely and the aircraft has been grounded for immediate attention by the airline’s team of engineers.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have also been briefed on the incident.

We sincerely apologise to all our passengers onboard the flight and reassure our customers that Dana Air will continue to maintain its high safety standards,” Dana Air also said.

Wale Igbintade

Justice Lewis Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos yesterday deferred till September 30, ruling in the bail application filed by an alleged Ponzi Scheme Operator, Michael Ukiye Diongoli.

Diongoli was accused of defrauding a retired Army

Colonel, two professors, MTN Staff Co-operative Society and others of the sum of N1.286, 580, 656 billion.

Justice Alagoa while deferring ruling on the bail application, ordered the remand of the Ukiye in the facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

Ukiye, alongside his two

companies - UK-Don Group and UK-Dion Investment Limited - were arraigned before Justice Alagoa on Monday, by men of the ForceCiD, Alagbon, Ikoyi on eight counts.

The hearing of his bail application was fixed for yesterday when the police prosecutor told the court that

she was yet to receive copy of the defendant’s bail summons.

At the resumption of the trial, counsel to the defendant, Mr. B.C. Nwadiagwu told the court that the business of the day was for the hearing of the defendant’s bail application and pleaded with the court to be allowed to move it.

Akeredolu Charges Traditional Rulers to Protect Domains from Criminals Fidelis David in Akure Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has charged traditional rulers in the state to do more to secure their respective domains against criminals.

Governor Akeredolu, who gave the charge in Akure while inaugurating the State Council

of Obas led by the Chairman and Deji of Akure Kingdom, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, said his administration, since inception, has been according the monarchs their pride of place in the scheme of things and will not, in anyway, take them for granted.

The governor applauded traditional rulers in the state

for joining hands with his administration in addressing the challenges of insecurity, while he congratulated Oba Aladelusi on his appointment as the chairman of the Council for a tenure of two years.

He said the State Council of Obas has, in recent years, built for itself a robust relationship with the government through

its steadfastness, loyalty, sacrifice and commitment to its statutory roles.

Governor Akeredolu further expressed confidence that the new council would not deviate from the noble role but shall build on the foundation already laid down and the achievements made by the past councils.

Appeal Court Throws out Suit Challenging Emenike’s Guber Candidature in Abia Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia The Court of Appeal, Owerri Division yesterday struck out the suit filed by the former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Uche Ogah, challenging the candidature of Chief Ikechi Emenike, the governorship standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress

(APC) for Abia State.

In a unanimous ruling, the appellate court struck out a motion for leave to appeal as an interested party, filed by Ogah to challenge the judgement of the High Court of Abia State in suit No HUM/31/2022:High Chief Ikechi Emenike VS APC AND 2 ORS. The High Court had in its judgment delivered on June 24,

2022, affirmed Chief Emenike as the governorship candidate Abia APC for the 2023 general election.

Emenike approached the Abia State High Court to determine whether himself having emerged as the candidate of APC in the primary election conducted by the party on June 26, 2022, the party can refuse to submit his name to the Independent

PDP was Unfair to Wike, Says Group Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Ahead of the expected reconciliations within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a group, Democratic Ambassadors for Wike Nationwide (DAWN) has condemned in strong terms, the treatment allegedly meted out to Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike of Rivers State during the

presidential primaries of the party..

In a statement, the chairman and convener of the youth group, Ochekwu Morgan, said Governor Wike was not fairly treated by the PDP and other party stalwarts.

He alleged that the party internal democracy mechanism was faulty already, adding that the party still haven’t learnt its

lessons.

The group said: “The party should see Wike as a blessing to its fold, someone who deserves to be pampered and treated with utmost sense of respect.

If not for Wike’s resilience and sagacity, who knows what would have become of the PDP today. After the party conceded defeat to the APC in 2015, it was headed for oblivion but

National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the party.

He also asked the Court to whether INEC upon the party submitting or uploading his name in its portal can decline to publish his name as the candidate of APC for the 2023 gubernatorial election in Abia State, among other issues for determination.

Wike in his ingenuity came to the rescue and has stayed firm with the party afterwards.”

“Nyesom Wike has demonstrated that he is a real party man, one who can be trusted. At a time when most party members were grossly losing faith, it was him ,Wike, who stood by, showing total commitment both in terms of time and material resources.

Inflation: Delta Increases Cost of Projects for Contractors The Delta State Government yesterday announced the approval of upward review of the cost of some ongoing projects in the state following complaints by contractors about rising cost of materials. The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, announced this while briefing journalists at the end of the State Executive Council meeting presided by the governor in Asaba.

Ifeajika explained that the review became necessary sequel to sustained request by contractors who had complained of rising cost of materials and inflationary tendencies in the nation’s economy as well as additional works introduced on the projects.

According to him, the council reached the decision to approve the upward review over the projects to ensure that they were completed

as scheduled.

He listed some of the projects as Phase I and Phase II of Flood Control Measures in Uwvie and Effurun, whose values were reviewed from of the contract from N7.46billion to N8.4billion and from N7.24 billion to N9.06 billion, respectively.

“In Asaba, the council approved an upward review of the rehabilitation of Onaje Street,

Nwanze Street and Kwekeagbo Street by N899.50 million, from N334.99 million to N1.23 billion.

“The access road to Federal Housing Estate in Ugboroke in Uwvie Local Government Area has been reviewed from N525.41million to N656.45 million, and the Ekuku-Agbor and Obi-Agbor roads contract was reviewed upward, from N1.36 billion to N1.60 billion.

WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

Skills Acquisition: FG, World Bank Approves $200m Credit Facility for Youths Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The federal government and the World Bank have approved to Nigerian youths a $200million credit facility to enhance skills acquisition in the formal and informal sectors of the nation’s economy in order to reduce the high rate of unemployment.

A press statement by the Director Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Ben Bem Goong, averred that the Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, revealed this at a workshop organised by the federal government and the World Bank in Makurdi, Benue State capital.

According to the statement, the two-day workshop is part of measures to reposition technical education in Nigeria, adding that

the workshop was put together under the World Bank’s sponsored project Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEALS) has the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Board for Technical Education, Abia, Edo, Ekiti, Benue, Gombe and Kano States as implementing agencies.

In his message at the opening ceremony, the Minister, who was represented by the National Project Coordinator, Mrs. Blessing Ogwu, said that the essence of the IDEAS project is to address the current deficiencies in the education system that have made a large number of school leavers unemployed, urging Nigerian youths to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the project.

According to the minister, an estimated 40 technical colleges in the country, alongside the private sector will benefit from the project which also has a technical teacher training component.

The Minister stated that the $200million from the World Bank is for the project that would be implemented over a five-year period.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Benue State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Saawuan Tarnongu, commended the World Bank, Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders for organising the workshop, pledging the total support and commitment of the government and good people of Benue State towards the successful implementation of the project.

Jigawa is Largest Producer of Wheat in Nigeria, Says Governor Badaru Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The Jigawa State Governor, Mr. Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, has boasted that his state is the largest producer of wheat in the whole country.

Abubakar stated this yesterday at Wheat Farmers’ Yield Championship that was organised by Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), in Kano.

He attributed the feat to the commitment of the state government, under his stewardship, to agricultural development.

The governor, who was represented by his Special Adviser

on Wheat Farming, Mr. Yasa’a Wada, revealed that Jigawa had produced over 700 hectares of wheat, out of the 2,000 cultivated this year across the country.

The event was organised to honor some wheat farmers who produced larger output this cultivating season.

He also stated that his administration introduced a unique wheat seed that was named after him, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar (MBA) Merger.

Abuakar revealed that the seed, after undergoing thorough research processes at Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), has now become the best in wheat farming

in Nigeria.n He said: “Apart from our commitment in wheat farming, we have also excelled in production of all crops, aimed at positioning the state in a high pedestal of agricultural revolution in Nigeria.

“Our commitment in wheat production made us produced a unique seed, named Muhammad Badaru Abubakar Merger. It is the best in this country now,” he said.

In his remarks earlier, National Programme Manager, FMAN Wheat Development Programme, Dr. Aliyu Ismail, said that the company is committed to sustainably expand wheat production in the country.

WEDNESDAY JULY 20, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

46

NEWSEXTRA

EFCC Extradites Nigerian Fraud Suspect on FBI’s Wanted List to US Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

A wire fraud suspect, Fatade Idowu Olamilekan, who is on the wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was on Thursday July 14, 2022, extradited to the United States for allegedly stealing over $3.5 million worth of equipment in various cities across the US. His extradition was coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following a notice from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) New York, through the US Legal Attache for his role in impersonating various cities, state and academic institutions across the United States.

A statement by EFCC said Fatade was indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York for offences of wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and identity theft.

The suspect was arrested on September 30, 2021 by operatives of the EFCC and

his extradition trial commenced sometime in November, 2021, before Justice Chukwujekwu

Aneke of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The anti-graft agency

affirmed that on May 1, 2022, the Judge granted the request to extradite the suspect to the

United States to answer to the criminal charges against him.

“Upon his arrival in the

United States, the suspect is billed to appear before a United States District Court”, it said.

BOOK PRESENTATION…

L-R: Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Corporate Governance and Risk Management, Lagos Business School, Pan-African University, Professor Franklin Ngwu; former President, Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Bode Adeniji; former President, NIESV, Sir Rowland Abinta; former Managing Director/CEO, UACN Property Development Company Plc, Mr. Odunayo Ojo; author, Professor Austin Otegbulu; his wife, Mrs. Uzor Otegbulu; immediate past President, NIESV, Mr. Johnbull Amayearbo, and former President, NIESV, Mr. Emeka Eteh, during public presentation of a book by Professor Austin Otegbulu, titled, Property Development and Investment Decision Analysis in Lagos…yesterday

Divestment ‘ll Affect Nigeria’s Economy, Says ERA

Amnesty International Berates FG over South-east Killings

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Amby Uneze in Owerri

The Environmental Rights Action has said that the ongoing divestment from onshore to offshore by oil multinationals would adversely affect the nation’s economy, saying that the process was improperly done, as the economy, jobs and even host communities are not given consideration.

The Executive Director of ERA, Mr. Chima Williams, who spoke yesterday during a chat with journalists in Port Harcourt, regretted that the

ongoing divestment process was done upside down and is already creating problems to the economy.

Williams said investors who are buying the divested assets from multinationals must have the resources, the manpower, technical know-how to handle the problems that are associated with assets that they are inheriting.

He tasked the government and its agencies to thoroughly interrogate the processes of divestment to ensure that the right thing is done and the Nigerian citizens are not shortchanged.

Parthian Partners Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Parthian Partners recently celebrated 10 years of operations, where clients, friends and wellwishers from all over, joined the company led by its chief executive officer, Oluseye Olusoga to commemorate 10 years of outstanding achievements.

In his speech, the Chairman of Parthian Group, Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, said, “Today we are celebrating all those who have contributed to the success of Parthian and the industry in general.

For us, success was achievable because we had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve, and we were focused on making it work.

Parthian Partners became an interdealer broker in Nigeria at a time when the concept was alien to the region, so we had to build from scratch. It was no mean feat to introduce this vision and work with regulators and develop a framework for its regulation and operations. A vision which birthed not only a successful business but also a thriving sector.”

Imo Gov describes deceased as bandits

Amnesty International (AI) yesterday berated the federal government and the security agencies for failing to investigate the recurring killings by the South-east regional security outfit, Ebubeagu.

AI stated this in statement by its spokesman, Isa Sanusi, while reacting to the alleged killing

of seven youths by Ebubeagu in Imo State last Sunday.

The human rights group faulted the FG for attributing the killings to members of the Indigenous People of Biafra rather than carrying out proper investigations.

AI added that it has documented several cases of extrajudicial executions by law enforcement officers and

members of the Ebubeagu security outfit responding to the violence in the South-East.

The Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, said: “It is horrifying that unarmed young men who clearly posed no threat to anyone were gunned down, in utter disdain for the right to life. Such killings cannot be justified under any circumstances whatsoever.

“Nigerian authorities must end these unlawful killings.

Authorities must promptly, thoroughly, and transparently investigate the killings and bring to justice, in fair trials, anyone suspected of criminal responsibility.

“Authorities must also ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims and their families.

Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation Praises Electorate for Victory Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo The Senator Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation (SAACO) has expressed its deep appreciation to the people of Osun State for their overwhelming support during the governorship election that was held on Saturday.

The SAACO also congratulated

the Governor Elect, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, for the resounding success he recorded at the poll, which it described as a proof of his popularity across Osun State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Saturday declared Adeleke, the PDP’s candidate, winner of the

July 16 governorship election in Osun after polling an astonishing 403,371 votes to defeat his closest challenger and Candidate of the All Progressive Congres (APC), Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, who pooled 375, 027 votes.

A statement by the Director General of the SAACO, Hon. Sunday Bisi, disclosed that the

governor elect and the entire campaign team are full of appreciation for the traditional rulers, religious bodies, members of organised labour, student bodies, artisans and indeed all segments of the state for believing in Senator Ademola Adeleke’s capacity to steer the ship of the state.

Mike Igini: It’s Criminal Offence to Obtain Multiple Nomination Forms The Resident Electoral Commissioner of Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, yesterday said it is an offence under the electoral act 2022 for politicians to obtain multiple nomination forms.

Igini stated this when he featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme.

He said: “A person who signs a nomination paper or

result form as a candidate in more than one constituency at the same election Ccommits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum term of imprisonment for two years),” section 115 (D) of the electoral act 2022 reads.

According to him, by “constituency”, the electoral act 2022 refers to separate elections whether it is presidential, governorship, senatorial, the

house of representatives or that of state assembly.

He said any candidate who runs afoul of this law is liable to be jailed for two years, and that section 115 (3) even states that an attempt to obtain multiple form is an offence.

He explained: “Section 115 (D) of the 2022 electoral act stipulates that no person shall sign, obtain more than one form as a candidate for different

elections. And the offence for that under subsection K, beyond the financial, he will go two years’ imprisonment.

“Some people are claiming that they participated in one election, that they filled two forms; it’s ignorance of the law and it’s not an excuse.

“We are preventing them from being candidates for prison and they are calling our names everywhere.

Osun Poll: FIDA Challenges INEC, Police to Prosecute Alleged Vote-buyers Alex Enumah in Abuja The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), yesterday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to investigate and arrest persons suspected to have engaged in vote-buying and other electoral offences in the just concluded governorship election

in Osun State.

FIDA, in a post-election statement on the poll won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, noted that the arrest and prosecution would serve as deterrence in the forthcoming 2023 general election.

Country Vice President/ National President, Mrs Amina

Agbaje, who signed the statement, while commending INEC for conducting a free, credible and peaceful election, said when electoral offenders were prosecuted, it would further deepen the electoral process ahead of the 2023 general election.

Part of the recommendation included the prosecution of electoral offenders reported to have

committed all forms of electoral offenses in contravention to the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) to serve as a deterrent to others.

According to FIDA, the election was though free and fair in polling units “except with the incidents of vote-buying occurring in 16% of the polling units by leading political parties between the sum of N2, 000 to N5000 respectively.”

Water Resources Bill ‘ll Boost National Economy, Says Minister Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

The Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu, has said that the Water Resources Bill currently before the National Assembly (NASS) is intended to boost the national economy and not to take away authority from Nigerians.

Adamu also said that contrary to the willful misrepresentation made by those who are unfamiliar with the measure, the bill was created to handle both the country’s present and future water needs.

He made these remarks yesterday during a media chat in Abuja where he expressed

his dissatisfaction that some members of the public had deliberately turned the law into a political issue in an effort to mislead Nigerians.

He explained that the bill was a collapse of about five laws in the sector to a whole package for integrated water use.

He said: “There is nowhere

in the bill that the federal government would take over land from any community, not even an inch of land as paddled by some group.

“The bill further reduces the power of the minister and delegates them to the various commissions to manage national water resources.

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WEDNESDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Buhari, Pinnick Hail Super Falcons for Gallant Display Against Morocco Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the gallant display on Monday of Nigeria’s Super Falcons against the Moroccan female national football team in the second Semi-finals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).

Already, the Super Falcons have settled in Casablanca for Friday’s third place match against Zambia.

The President, in a press statement Tuesday by his Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, said though many will be disappointed with the Moroccan victory on penalties, there are many positive outcomes for the Nigerian team to take home and prepare better for the next tournament.

President Buhari said he's encouraged by the doggedness, resilience and professionalism of the girls, who despite playing with two players down before a home crowd of 45,000 showed their quality and class.

The President believed great things are expected from the female team and like all

WAFCON 2022 Nigerians; he will be cheering them on at future outings.

Similarly, President of the Nigeria Football Federation and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick, showered encomiums on the nine-time African champions for a valiant display despite several odds and obstacles on Monday night.

“Of course, we would have been happy to be in the Final and chase a 10th title. But I am happy with the performance of the team and the way and manner they approached the game despite all sorts of setbacks and intimidation.

“To play 50 minutes of a game with only nine players is not an easy task. The Super Falcons gave their all and were truly fabulous.

They had the ‘Nigeria spirit’ in them and showed a sense of patriotism, were dogged and refused to give up. Penalties are forever a lottery, so it could have gone either way. I commend the team for the outing,” stressed Pinnick.

He was specific in attributing

Nigeria’s defeat to the expulsion of midfielder Halimat Ayinde in the 49th minute and Rasheedat Ajibade in the 70th minute by Centre referee Maria Rivet from Mauritius.

“Our girls did a massive job on a night they were not only depleted but challenged by laser lights trained on their eyes by the

crowd. I am enamoured by their resilience and tenacity. The next step now is for the Federation to do everything possible to prepare the team adequately for the FIFA World Cup finals coming up next year.”

Already, the NFF has secured a total of four friendly matches for the Falcons in the Fall, with

the team scheduled to play the United States Women’s National Team in Kansas City and Washington D. C in September, and also to fly to Japan to take on that country’s women’s squad in Kobe in October. Both opponents offer diversity in style and approach.

Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa

and Zambia have qualified automatically for the 32-team FIFA Women’s World Cup fiesta to be staged in five Australian cities and four New Zealand cities 20th July – 20th August 2023. Cameroon and Senegal will battle for slots at a 10-team Playoff Tournament in New Zealand early next year.

...Goalkeeper Nnadozie Critical of Officiating, Laser Attacks Super Falcons first choice goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie, was very critical of the officiating in the Nigeria versus Morocco semifinal clash in the ongoing WAFCON 2022 on Monday night.

It took the sending off of Halimat Ayinde in the 49th minute and Rasheedat Ajibade in the 70th minute by centre referee Maria Rivet from Mauritius for the game to drag into penalty shootouts where the host country prevailed 5-4.

Both red cards came after the intervention of Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

According to Nnadozie who plys her trade with Paris FC in the French Division 1 Féminine, the officiating of the semi final was horrible.

"The officiating was not really OK," she noted on Monday night to BBC Africa Sport.

Nnadozie also claimed Moroccan fans "did everything to distract" her side, with Nigerian players targeted by laser pens during the penalty shootouts.

"Since I've been playing football, this is the worst match I've ever played in my life," she recalled with anger.

However, despite the defeat, Former Nigerian striker, Mercy Akide praised the Super Falcons’ performance against Morocco in a social media post yesterday.

“Proud of you ladies!@NGSuper_Falcons,” Akide tweeted .

Akide represented Nigeria at three FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1998, 2000 and 2002 before hanging her boots.

Super Falcons’ Ifeoma Onumonu who missed Nigeria’s kick during the shootouts with Morocco being consoled here by NFF PHOTO: POOJA LA Photos President, Amaju Pinnick...on Monday night in Rabat

Zambia FA Petitions CAF, Calls for Replay with South Africa Zambia's Football Association (FAZ) has requested a replay of its Women's Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against South Africa, citing complaints about refereeing decisions.

The Copper Queens were beaten 1-0 on Mondayafter Linda Motlhalo converted a contentious 94th-minute penalty, which was awarded following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR)

C O N T R OV E R S I A L VA R P E N A LT Y check.

Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafesse consulted her pitchside monitor and decided that Martha Tembo had fouled Jermaine Seoposenwe.

Zambia coach Bruce Mwape queried the purpose of VAR after the match, while the country's President Hakainde Hichilema

Amstel Malta Ultra Predicts Good Outing for Falcons at the World Cup Amstel Malta Ultra the official malt drink of the Super Falcons has hailed the brave display by the Nigeria women’s team in their semi-final clash against the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco at the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The nourishing malt drink which is one of the very few sponsors giving women’s football in Nigeria the needed push on all fronts said though missing the final ticket hurts, Nigerians and indeed global football fans are happy with the never-say-die attitude exhibited by the Super Falcons on Monday night in Rabat.

Morocco who are the host of the biennial continental tournament needed the lottery of penalty kicks to deny the Super Falcons a 10th WAFCON final appearance and by extension a chance for a record-extending 10th African crown.

Amstel Malta Brand Manager, Maire Abia-Bassey, while saluting the spirited display by the Super Falcons said the Nigerian Ladies have shown great promise, they would be more than ready for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

She said: “The Super Falcons have shown that they are worthy ambassadors and they deserve to be celebrated even though they did not make it to the final like we all wished and prayed for.

“However, beyond that, the team has shown they have great potentials that they can unlock at the World Cup if the momentum is properly built upon.”

Having missed out on the title, the Super Falcons will try to ensure they get the bronze medals when they take on the Copper Queens of Zambia in Casablanca on Friday.

said it was a "questionable penalty".

FAZ has lodged an official complaint with WAFCON organisers the Confederation of African Football, highlighting "six key incidences" as grounds for a replay.

"We wish to contest the decision of the referee to award such a penalty as we call for a serious review of the game," FAZ’s letter of appeal stressed yesterday.

"We call for the penalty to be cancelled, that a replay be ordered and that the referee be barred from handling any

(further) games."

FAZ General Secretary, Adrian Kashala, added that Zambia had also "noted with great concern the poor officiating that characterised the tournament".

Mwape was "very disappointed with the way the penalty was given" and that the VAR decision was harsh on his frustrated players.

"In the future, people will start saying it will be pointless to have referees if the cameras can decide," he told BBC Sport Africa yesterday.

"They should just be firm, because it's high time the referees improved in terms of officiating games."

Transfer: Bayern Sign De Ligt for £67.8m from Juventus

Matthijs de Ligt...dumps Juventus for Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich have signed the Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus on a five-year contract in a deal worth €80m (£67.8m) The fee equalled Bayern's transfer record, paid for defender Lucas Hernández from Atlético Madrid in 2019.

De Ligt, 22, joined Juventus from Ajax on a five-year contract in July 2019 and spent three seasons with the Serie A champions.

"I'm very happy to become a player for this great club," said De Ligt.

"FC Bayern is one of the most successful clubs in Germany, one of the most successful clubs in Europe and in the world.

"I felt the genuine appreciation

from the sporting management, the coach and the board right from the start, which convinced me. On top of that, it is a brilliantly run club with big aims.

"I'm very glad that I'm now becoming part of the FC Bayern story."

De Ligt won one Serie A title and one Coppa Italia in 117 appearances for Juventus.

Wanted by Chelsea, he became the second Dutch international to join Bayern this summer after midfielder Ryan Gravenberch's transfer to the club.

Bayern have also bought Sadio Mane from Liverpool and right-back Noussair Mazraoui from Ajax, while striker Robert Lewandowski is poised to join Barcelona.

TR

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

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Price: N250

MISSILE

Pat Utomi to FG

“Because of this transactional politics, we can see what has become of the government and in my opinion, this government is the most corrupt Nigeria has ever had. ASUU has been on strike forever, and look at what they are just asking for and it is for the sake of our children and this is what one man, called Accountant General can just take N170billion from our treasury” --- Labour Party National Leader, Pat Utomi, berating APC and PDP, as they will not produce good leaders.

SAMAMADI GUEST COLUMNIST

Religion is a Big Deal, Especially in 2023

T

he big debate in the Nigerian political landscape today is whether it matters that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is fielding a presidential ticket with a southern Muslim as President and a northern Muslim as Vice President. For sure, this ticket does not offend any clear constitutional provision, except a contestable reading of the requirement in Section 13 of the constitution mandating ethnic, religious, and social diversity in the management of the public service of Nigeria to prohibit a ticket that is not religiously diverse. Many prominent Christian leaders, especially from the north, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) slammed the decision to field a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as the height of religious insensitivity and disrespect to northern Muslims. Expectedly, opinions differ on whether religious composition of a presidential ticket should matter in Nigeria in the context of the developmental and other existential challenges that the nation faces post-buhari presidency.

The ‘religion does not matter’ camp argues that what Nigerians across religious, ethnic, and social divides care about is a leader who can work the magic of producing jobs, foods, and security. Religious sensibilities are superstructures that are dispensable in the acute situation of the perils of today’s Nigeria.

This camp is headlined by Governor El-Rufai’s memorable interrogation of whether if you were to enter a plane you would bother to find out the religious affiliation of the pilot. The logic is that if you don’t care about the religion of your pilot, you should not care about the religion of your president and his vice. What a logic.

The problem with this logic is that it hypocritically trivializes religion and misread the complexities and frailties of the Nigerian state. I use the word, hypocritically, because the same advocates of ‘leave religion out of politics’ are the architects of mainstreaming religion into the administrative framework of policymaking, whether in the executive, legislative or judicial branch. The same persons are those spending public finance to sponsor religious pilgrimages, without considering that such actions destabilize the non-establishment policy in Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution. Their bigger sin is that they don’t understand, or pretend not to understand, how much religion in politics defines the juridical order of the Nigerian state.

Something consequential happened in Nigeria in 1806. It is called the Jihad. The jihad is a religious war that swept through much of northern Nigeria. it created a religious-juridical order that has shaped the history and development of Nigeria as a nation-state. some of the effects of the Jihad have been undone or have faded away. But some remain. These effects have shaped the political and social development of Nigeria. In 1914, Nigeria came to being through some kind of incompletely theorized amalgamation. By definition, it means that Nigeria was not conceived and constructed in an original sense. Nigeria was patched together, evincing a large degree of incoherence. That incoherence has continued to bewitch the dream of Nigerian greatness. At the present moment the incoherence threatens to decompose the Nigerian state. The Nigerian state verges at the edge of a possible failure. The urgency of now is to retrieve Nigeria, redefine it, and replace it on a new path that leads to stability and development.

But Nigerians suffer from a conceit. They never like to confront their past. They also never admit that they are one step away from collapse, hence they never act urgently and sincerely. But, notwithstanding this social pathology, the crises of the moment mean that we cannot but willfully and wisely confront the past that continues to damage our present.

Nigeria has always been a nation in crisis. It did not take long after the end of colonial rule that the new nation started showing signs of instability.

Together with Ghana, Nigeria was one of the earliest countries in Africa to witness military rule. The military continued to rule in Nigeria until 1999 when

CAN President, Dr. Samson Ayokunle a successful military transition created opportunity for the consolidation of civilian administration. On the hopeful side, with the defeat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the handing over of power to the opposition leader for the first time in 2015, Nigeria is believed to have entered the phase that the eminent political scientist, Larry Diamond, called ‘consolidation of democracy’. This cheerful news should not blind us to the reality that the nation has never had a long period without crisis, crisis that shook the foundations of its existence.

Most of the crises relate to what Joseph Stalin called ‘the nationality question’, question about who we are as a people, how we will live together in one social space and how we will organize the public space to accommodate, harmonize and arbitrate our differences and similarities. The nationality question has revolved around either religious or ethnic identities or both. The civil war, the most impactful and definitive crisis in the life of Nigeria as a nation, resulted from the mismanagement of religious and ethnic identities.

I identify the crisis of the Nigerian state in three fundamental manifestations. First, it manifests as a crisis of nationality. The Nigerian does not know who he is. Nigeria struggles to structure the various religious and ethnic identities that people its hemisphere into a definitive identity. This crisis turns into a key question, namely, what does it mean to be a Nigerian. The Nigerian crisis also manifests as a crisis of production, a productivity crisis. The Nigerian state struggles to focus on productivity rather than on privilege and rent seeking.

The organizing principle of the Nigerian political economy is not wealth creation. It is wealth sharing or rent seeking. This orientation is engendered or enhanced by conceptual frameworks and stratagems

that define and sustain public performance and religious sensibilities. The last crisis is the value crisis, seen in the ethical disarray that plague our politics and the institutions that coordinate it.

I believe that the foundation of these crises and their life spring is the incoherent constitutional articulation of religious freedom in Nigeria and the state practices arising from it. This articulation builds on the patchy work of amalgamation, whose normative and functional structures were determined largely by the consequences of the event of 1806.

This incoherence depletes Nigerian citizenship of its values and therefore creates a value disorientation that hinders the institutionalization of democratic accountability and economic productivity in Nigeria.

So, religion is a big deal in Nigeria. If truly we are preparing for a redemptive politics in Nigeria in 2023, we cannot afford to leave aside the discourse of religion in Nigerian politics. It will be a clear case of delusion if anyone embarks on a journey to 2023 without paying attention to how we can recalibrate the relationship between religion and politics in Nigeria. The recent posturing by the self-styled class of ‘competence alone matters’ that we ought not to pay attention to the diverse and oftentimes contending religious traditions and practices in the Nigerian state in setting stage for transformative leadership in 2023 is nothing but pure deception, or at best deep and dangerous ignorance.

We cannot run away from the simple fact that one of the potent causes of political instability in Nigeria is endemic propensity to conflict amongst the two major religions in Nigeria. The APC conducted its primary against a national canvass of a terrorist attack on a Catholic church in Owo. The Nigerian security agency fingered the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) as the perpetrators of the attack. Several priests of the Catholic faith and many other Nigerians have been kidnapped or killed by ISWA and BokoHaram, both religious fundamentalist organizations demanding to make Nigeria an Islamic caliphate.

These sample facts of recent history are enough to convinced even the most negligent politician that Nigeria has a severe religion problem that cannot be equated with pedestrian example of flying a plane.

At the same time that the APC was holding its presidential primary, the Supreme Court handed down a decision on a contention about the constitutionality of Muslim students wearing hijab to school. This decision elicited the extraordinary reaction of a Nigerian senior lawyer who dressed in African traditional ritual dress to court, in clear violation of the dress code of Nigerian lawyers, to mock the justice of the Supreme Court. The case came from Lagos, Nigeria’s liberal and cosmopolitan heartbeat.

If people in the enlightened southwest can fight nasty about religion, how dare you say religion does not matter? Yes, the Yorubas of the southwest Nigeria are global exemplars of religious tolerance.

But today, due largely to the excessive politicization of religion, especially under the APC government of the last seven years, religion has become a dagger drawn through the bonds of cultural unity amongst the Yorubas.

So, we can no longer pretend we have religion under wrap. We have to be intentional and transparent on how we handle religion in Nigeria. The problem

“The minimum requirement for religious accommodation for a country that chooses that concept is equality of treatment. There must be balance in the public provisioning for the major religions.

Many people question the special place we give to Islam and Christianity in the constitutional order to the detriment of many other religions. That is one peril of accommodationist approach. It will always be unfair to smaller religions and non-religion”

is that each time we had opportunity to conduct a rigorous debate about the relationship between religion and politics we drew back. We never stroke the right balance. We never got to a consistent and coherent resolution. It was the case at the 1959 London Conference that birthed Nigeria’s constitutional order.

The same incoherence and incommensurability reoccurred in the 1979 Constitutional Conference.

It is now time to be more decisive about religion and politics. And it starts with clarifying what matters for religion. First, we must distinguish between the theological and sociological aspects of religion. The state should not bother about the theological aspects of religion. We should never want to promote religion in a democratic state. That is the essence of the mountain of jurisprudential exegesis by the US Supreme Court on the vexed question of church and state. The key point is that the state should not advantage or burden religion in anyway. This conception of state-religion relationship is incorporated in both Sections 10 and 38 of the Nigerian constitution.

The sociological aspect of religion addresses religion from the perspective of social community. it is not about the rightness of religious beliefs, but the fact of a religious society. This puts an obligation on public officials to recognize the reality of religion as an organizing logic for social action. Democratic societies have responded to the sociological challenges of religion by the logic of secularity. This means that the state totally abstains from getting involved with religion. Nigeria proclaims itself a secular state but continues to meddle with religion in its constitutions.

It creates an Islamic legal system and appoints Islamic judges to judicial chairs. This means that Nigeria chooses the principle of religious accommodation even as it calls itself a secular state.

The minimum requirement for religious accommodation for a country that chooses that concept is equality of treatment. There must be balance in the public provisioning for the major religions.

Many people question the special place we give to Islam and Christianity in the constitutional order to the detriment of many other religions. That is one peril of accommodationist approach. It will always be unfair to smaller religions and non-religion. But the sociological justification is that what matters is whether the religion has a significant membership as to constitute a significant social category.

Mismanagement of religion and politics can be complex and dangerous for a plural society like Nigeria.

The core principle for democratic governance in plural societies is that the state should be agnostic to the extent that it does not recognize and provide for religion or any other comprehensive moral doctrines in public policy and administrative resources of the state. The late US political philosopher, John Rawls, provided a definitive guide on how to achieve such religious abstinence. That is the logic Nigeria seems to have rejected in its incoherent constitutional order. The next logic is the accommodationist logic which provides that the state should, while ensuring that no citizen suffers discrimination or gets an advantage on the basis of religious belief or membership, structure its political power in a manner that reassures all believers of different religions that they would not suffer any disadvantage on account of non-representative in political authority.

That is what the demand for a diverse presidential ticket is all about: a sense of representation. It does not argue that public policy will turn on religious views. It is not a sword. It is a shield to protect against the possibility of a religious faction turning public policy into the promotion of its religious belief. It does not make any sense in the extremely religiously paranoid Nigeria, a country whose founding logic is wrapped around religious accommodation, to cavalierly shred this important shield for half of the Nigerian population.

Even if the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket is a winning electoral proposition, it is an ignorant and dangerous one. r%S "NBEJ B -BX -FDUVSFS JT BO "SJTF 57 "OBMZTU

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