MONDAY 25TH JULY 2022

For 13th ConsecutiveYear, Zenith Retains Position as Number One Bank in Nigeria James Emejo Zenith Bank Plc has been ranked as the number one bank in Nigeria by tier-1 capital in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine.

For the 13th consecutive year,

the bank retained its position as the number one tier-1 bank in Nigeria with a tier-1 capital of $2.75 billion, emerging as the 460th bank globally.

The ranking, which was published in the July 2022 edition of The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group, United

Kingdom, was based on the 2021 year-end Tier-1 capital of banks globally.

Zenith Bank's financial performance for the year was underpinned by double-digit growth of 10 per cent in gross earnings, with an improved market share in both retail and

corporate sectors despite a very challenging macroeconomic environment aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks’ Ranking, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said: "This ranking

is a testament to our resilience and doggedness as an institution despite economic headwinds and a persistent challenging macroeconomic environment.

“Indeed, being ranked as the number one bank in Nigeria by tier-1 capital for the 13th year in a row underscores our

commitment to sustaining the superior performance we are renowned for and creating value for our highly esteemed customers.”

He expressed appreciation to the Founder and Chairman Continued on page 5

Labour Set for Nationwide Protest over Closure of Universities...

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Atiku to Tinubu: Your Memory No Longer What It Used to Be Chuks Okocha and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

OSINBAJO DISCHARGED...

L -R: CEO of Duchess International Hospital, Dr. Tokunbo Shitta-Bey; Wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and his Chief Personal Physician, Dr. Nic Audifferen, at the Duchess International Hospital where the vice president underwent surgery nine days ago and was discharged from the hospital in Lagos… yesterday

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said the Continued on page 5

In a War Crime, Kidnappers of Kaduna Train Passengers FlogVictims, Abduct More People Kuje escapee reunites with terrorist gang, alleges failed plan to exchange him with victims Threaten Buhari, el-Rufai, Osinbajo, others Presidency: Our security is not clueless or helpless Turbaned Zamfara bandit claims he was begged to be made chief Deji Elumoye, Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja, John Shiklam in Kaduna and Francis Sardauna in Katsina Setting a new record in war crimes, the terrorists, who attacked and

kidnapped the Kaduna-bound train passengers on March 28, 2022, yesterday, became more impatient and vicious with their remaining Continued on page 5

YAR’ADUA'S SON TIES THE KNOT...

Shehu, son of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his bride, Yacine, daughter of Hon Mohammed Nur Sherrif, after their wedding in Maiduguri on Saturday

With Rising Debt Service Cost, Economists Urge FG to Reprioritise Expenditure...

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Biden’s Health Improving, Suffering from Sore Throat, Says President’s Physician Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report United States President Joe Biden's health has improved considerably and his predominant symptom now is a sore throat, his physician said yesterday.

Biden's cough and body aches have diminished since he tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday and he is not experiencing any shortness of breath, the physician, Dr. Kevin

O'Connor, added.

"His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature all remain normal," the physician said in a memo released on Sunday. His predominant symptom now is a sore throat .... His voice remains a bit deep," he noted.

Earlier, White House Covid-19 coordinator, Ashish Jha, said none of Biden's 17 identified close contacts had so far tested positive for the coronavirus, a Reuters report said.

Biden, 79, had mild symptoms, according to the White House.

His diagnosis came as a highly contagious subvariant of the coronavirus drives a new wave of cases in the United States.

It is coming even as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) warned of a possible fifth wave of the virus in the country, disclosing that about 1,332 cases were recorded in one week.

“In the last eight weeks, the test positivity ratio has continued

to increase,” the NCDC stressed at the weekend.

It was learnt that as of July 22, 2022, Nigeria had recorded about 260,339 confirmed cases.

While 253,566 cases had been successfully discharged, 3,147 lost their lives to complications arising from the virus.

Also at the weekend, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that there were over 565 million cases globally, out of which over 6.3 million persons

had lost their lives.

In addition, about 9,181,118 cases had however been confirmed in Africa, stressing that over 12 billion doses of vaccines of the virus, covering first, second and booster jabs, had been administered as of July 19.

On Sunday, Jha told CBS News that Biden had the BA.5 subvariant and that he had an upper respiratory infection.

The White House has sought to underscore Biden's ability to

work through his illness. On Thursday, it released a video of him reassuring Americans he was doing fine, and on Friday he participated in virtual meetings with White House staff.

The White House has not said where Biden contracted the virus. He recently returned from a trip to the Middle East and held public events before the trip in which he had close personal interactions with scores of people.

IN A WAR CRIME, KIDNAPPERS OF KADUNA TRAIN PASSENGERS FLOG VICTIMS, ABDUCT MORE PEOPLE 43 victims as they flogged them mercilessly in a new video, as an expression of their dissatisfaction with the government, which is yet to accede to their requests.

However, in what seemed like a confirmation of suspicions of nefarious deal gone wrong, one of the escapees during the recent attack on the Kuje Correctional Centre, who has just reunited with his terrorist gang, has alleged that the prison break was actually a plannedexchange deal for the kidnapped Kaduna train passengers, which failed after the terrorists attacked the correctional facility and freed members of their gang.

In a new and trending video, the terrorists, including the one, who claimed to have recently escaped from the Kuje prison, have threatened to abduct President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and

members of the National Assembly.

But the presidency has replied the terrorists, saying it would not play into its bait, because its security was neither clueless or helpless on what to do, both to tame general insecurity and rescue the victims in their den.

This nonetheless, Ado Aleiro, the notorious bandit, who was recently turbaned as Sarkin Fulani, in Yantodo Emirate of Zamfara State, has said he did not beg for the title bestowed on him by the Zamfara State Emirate Council but the council begged him to take it instead.

However, one of the terrorists, who claimed to have just escaped during the Kuje prison attack, said God rescued him, but was quick to add: “They wanted to exchange me with these trashes. God has freed me.

“With this gun I am holding, we will bring down this country. If you want to follow religion come

and join. This religion must spread to everywhere.

“We will catch you (President Buhari) and El-Rufai and bring you here and slaughter. The whole of Kaduna will not be spared. Know that I am in this bush now, look at me very well.

“You told the entire world that I should be arrested anyway they see me. Look at me very well, anywhere I see you, I will also catch all of you”.

Another terrorist, who also spoke in the video, declared that they would abduct President Buhari and El-Rufai to humiliate them like the victims.

“I swear it is now that this country – Nigeria – is in trouble.

Like Yende said earlier, insha Allahu, these people will not be the only one that will be held in this place, you Buhari and that one by name El-Rufai and your senators and the vice-president, all the lawmakers and councillors, you will come here

and be humiliated like these people.

“Therefore, be ready. If it is fighting God, you are not fit to fight against God. I hope you understand...” one of the terrorists said.

Also speaking, another of the criminals, said, “This is a message to the Nigerian government concerning its citizens. It is not our intention to do this. They set up one committee for drinking tea in Kaduna with a view to discuss and secure the release of these people, but they are busy drinking their tea.

“The should know that we know that the committee is not doing anything to secure the release of these people. We know that they are planning to secure their release by force. You are bragging of guns. We have been seeing your planes and guns, which are not even up to...

“We are doing this for God, we are not afraid of anybody. We promised God that we are ready to

sacrifice our blood to do everything.

This is just nothing to what we intend to do if our demands are not met...”

But, in the five minutes and 30 seconds video, recorded in the Hausa language, two of the young terrorists, were seen beating their victims mercilessly with sticks, amid crying and wailing.

After about a minute of the beating, one of the terrorists ordered the boys to stop, saying, “Ali, Ali, it’s ok”.

Four of the victims, who spoke in the video lamented that the Nigerian government had failed in meeting the demands of the terrorists and called on the international community to intervene.

One of the victims said they had spent 120 days in captivity without the government showing concern about their plight, adding that, their relations had indicated interest in securing their release, but

prosperity and peace – the very mantra of our anthem, adding: "We should not reward the APC for their failures and we should reject a discredited leadership with no clear agenda."

statements stating that the company is owned by/affiliated with HE Atiku Abubakar. This disclaimer is a notice to the general public that the news does not represent the true facts as it concerns Mikano International Limited.

“Please be informed that Mikano International Limited is not owned, affiliated, associated, authorised, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with HE Atiku Abubakar. Members of the public are therefore advised to disregard the news,” the power firm stated.

The latest round of accusations is also coming about five years after Atiku similarly personally pushed back on the allegation that he owned the generator manufacturing company and therefore wouldn’t fix the power sector in the country even if elected due to a conflict of interest.

“Young friend, this is not true, but you tweeted it all the same. I own bigger companies and they’re known publicly, why would I deny this one?” he had queried.

He also went to list all the companies he had interest in, and further dispelled rumours that the companies only became active, when he was Nigeria’s number two man, stressing that some of the firms had been running since the 80s.

“Intels was already Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil & gas logistics firm before 1994. This is why the military government tried to seize it,” he told a tweep, who accused him of deploying government funds to promote his businesses.

ATIKU TO TINUBU: YOUR MEMORY NO LONGER WHAT IT USED TO BE allegations from his main rival in the election and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, were indications that his memory was no longer what it used to be.

Atiku, however, citied multiple sources to show that it was Tinubu who was the architect of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2007, when he contested on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Tinubu had Saturday, in a statement by his media aide, Tunde Rahman, refuted claims

by Atiku that the former Lagos State governor was the architect of a Muslims-Muslim ticket.

However, in a statement by Atiku's media aide, Paul Ibe, the former vice president said, "The major accusation made

by Asiwaju Tinubu is that the Waziri Adamawa offered him the opportunity of being his running mate in 2007, which means that the former vice-president was not then mindful of Nigeria’s religious and ethnic diversity, making his statements during the Arise TV interview hypocritical.

“We would not say that Bola Tinubu has lied. Rather, it is our desire to give him the benefit of the doubt, and believe that his memory may not be what it used to be.

"Nigerians may want to note that on 14 September, 2005, the then US Consul General, Brian L. Browne, drafted a memo, leaked via Wikileaks, wherein he stated that Bola Tinubu was scheming to be a running mate to either Atiku Abubakar or Muhammadu Buhari.

"This is further historically corroborated by the subsequent political history of Nigeria.

Biographers of President Muhammadu Buhari, have variously recounted how Bola Tinubu made the same request of then presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

"In his 2016 authorised biography of President Muhammadu Buhari titled ‘Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria’, Professor John Paden, an American, wrote about the issue as follows: “Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State and political ‘godfather’ of the South-West geopolitical zone, felt he should be the vice-presidential candidate.”

"The above clearly shows a behavioural pattern here. So, if anyone is “unhinged from the truth” (to borrow Asiwaju Tinubu’s words), it certainly is not Atiku Abubakar.

"In any case, if Bola Tinubu can forget the name of his own political party, why will he not also forget what transpired in 2007 and 2015?

We do sympathise with him.

"The fact remains that in a fragile and ethnically diverse nation, such as ours, religious and ethnic balance must be observed at the highest levels, and from there flow downwards.

"That is what Atiku Abubakar said during his interview with Arise TV on Thursday, July 21, 2022, and he stands on that principle and will continue to so stand without apology to anyone.

"From the forgoing, it is clear that His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar’s memory and recollection of the event has been corroborated by multiple, independent, and unconnected third parties, and if this were a court of law, this issue would have been regarded as proved beyond reasonable doubt," the statement added.

Atiku, however, urged Nigerians to remember that even though multiple sources have testified that Bola Tinubu desperately lobbied to be made Buhari’s deputy in a MuslimMuslim ticket, Bola Tinubu himself denied this on June 22, 2022, and instead accused President Buhari of offering him the position of Vice President.

Accordingly, Atiku added: "Which is exactly the same false allegation he has made against Atiku Abubakar. This is a pattern of behaviour. Not owning up to his actions."

On need to be moderate and use temperate languages, the statement said, "The issue of Atiku Abubakar offering to make Bola Tinubu his running mate in 2007, the Waziri says as a statesman, which he believes Asiwaju Bola Tinubu also is, or should be, it is pertinent that they use temperate language at all times. It not only shows that they are seasoned and mature, more importantly, it is a good indicator of fitness for the office."

Atiku said even though he had read Tinubu's denial, "It was replete with indiscreet language, the

former Vice President has elected to respond to the claims made by Asiwaju, adding he has chosen the route of a friendly riposte, in the hope that his gesture will be reciprocated by the Asiwaju in future.”

The statement explained that much as Atiku would respond to Tinubu, but not in the rather impolite manner that he dealt the PDP presidential candidate, but in measured to agenda, we hope this settles the matter, and that cordiality can be expected henceforth from the opposing camp."

In yet another statement, Atiku said, "I have said this before and I am repeating it here: the next year’s election is a national rescue mission. As citizens of this great country, we owe Nigeria a duty to vote in the election and every ballot cast in that election should count as a referendum on the ruling All Progressives Congress.

"My idea about politics is that it is a system of processes that seeks to organise a society towards a common good. But what the APC has done with us as a country in the past seven years is a direct opposite of that.

"In the 16 years that our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party governed this country, not a single day came with a nightmare that the APC has continued to make us live through," he explained.

Atiku noted that, taking Nigeria out of the cesspit that the APC has thrown her would require a leadership with forthrightness and a clear vision to chart a new direction into a future of

Ex-VP not owner of Mikano, says management Meanwhile, the management of Mikano International Limited, promoters of Mikano Generators, yesterday, refuted reports that the candidate of the PDP owned the company.

Recently, there had been several posts circulating, especially, on social media claiming that Atiku was the key sponsor of the firm.

Mikano was established in 1993, as a Nigeria-based company that deals in power generating products, sales and servicing, maintenance, overhauling and rentals of gas power generating sets, among others.

The company’s documents also indicated that Nidal Karameh, Muneer Nassr and Abou Fadi were the current directors of the firm.

In a brief statement yesterday, signed by the Managing Director of the company, Firas Mamlouk, the company explained that Mikano International Limited, was not in any way affiliated to the presidential candidate.

“The attention of the management of Mikano International Limited, promoters of Mikano Generators (amongst other products), has been drawn to numerous articles and press

the government prevented them.

“Our relations wanted to rescue us, but the government prevented them. For this reason, we are calling on nations across the world, like America, England, France, the International community, SaudiArabia to intervene in this matter.

“These people (terrorists) didn’t even have the intention of keeping us for seven days if their demand were met. But the Nigerian government did not show concern over this issue.

“That is the reason why we are calling on big nations of the world like America, England, France, the International community, the United Nation, African Union, to intervene so that we will be freed and be reunited with our families,” he said.

Three other victims, who identified themselves as Mukhtar Shuaibu, Mukhtar Bala Mohammed and Sani Abdullahi, also spoke along the same line.

Spokesman of the Kaduna State police command, Mohammed Jalige, and the Coordinator of families of the abducted train passengers, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh, did not respond to telephone calls when contacted.

Presidency: Our Security is Not Clueless, Helpless The presidency, yesterday, reacted to a trending video on the social media showing the remaining Kaduuna train passengers in captivity being beaten by terrorists and insisted that the military, has the wherewithal to bomb the location but was only concerned about the attendant civilian casualty.

In a release by presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, the presidency averred that the dilemma in dealing with the specific case of train terrorists was manifold.

According to it, “punitive action like the popular call for carpet bombing of the known locations might assuage the desire of an angry public for revenge, but what about the hostages? They have committed no offence. All they did was to board a train.”

While stressing that President Buhari had provided necessary moral and financial backing to the security agencies, it added that the presidency expected positive result on the issues at stake "The Presidency, in the meantime, wishes to reassure the public that the president has done all, and even more than what is expected of him as Commander-in-Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military and expects Continued on page 51

FOR 13TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR, ZENITH RETAINS POSITION AS NUMBER ONE of Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, for his guidance and for laying the foundation and building the structures of an enduring and successful institution; the board for the outstanding leadership they provide; the staff, whose drive and commitment sustains the exceptional performance; and the bank’s customers for their unflinching loyalty to the Zenith brand.

Tier 1 capital describes capital adequacy which is the core measure of a bank's financial strength from a regulator's point of view.

According to the ranking, tier 1 capital, as defined by the latest

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) guidelines, includes lossabsorbing capital, i.e. common stock, disclosed reserves, retained earnings and minority interests in the equity of subsidiaries that are less than wholly owned.

Zenith Bank's track record of excellent performance has continued to earn the brand numerous awards, with this latest accolade coming on the heels of several recognitions, including being recognised as the Best Bank in Nigeria for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World's Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the

World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance 'Financial Services' Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards; and Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker's Bank of the Year Awards 2020. Also, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021,

and the Retail Bank of the year at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards 2020 and 2021.

Similarly, Zenith Bank was honoured as Bank of the Decade (People's Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020 and emerged winner in four categories at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021, carting home the awards for "Best Company in Reporting and Transparency", "Best Company in Infrastructure Development", "Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment", and the coveted "Most Responsible Organisation in Africa.

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NEWS

Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 08074010580

NEW CAN EXECUTIVES VISIT FAYEMI...

L-R: Vice Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ekiti State, Joseph Olubusoye; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Chairman, CAN, Ekiti State, Dr. Emmanuel Aribasoye; Secretary, CAN Ekiti State, David Fabusuyi; and Director Legal and Public Affairs, Oludayo Olorunfemi, during a courtesy visit by the new CAN executives to the Governor in Ado-Ekiti...recently

With Rising Debt Service Cost, Economists Urge FG to Reprioritise Expenditure Want government to cancel tax reliefs Rewane urges government to boost economic growth Utomi advises FG to unfold austerity programme to cut costs drastically Obinna Chima Following last week’s revelation that Nigeria’s debt service cost presently outweighs its revenue with clear signs of economic dangers ahead, some notable economists in the country have stressed the need for the federal government to reprioritise its expenditure, drastically reduce the cost of governance and block all avenues of fiscal leakages.

The economists who gave their advice in separate interviews with THISDAY at the weekend included: Member, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council/CEO, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane; Director-General of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Dr. Baba Musa; Founder, Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof Pat Utomi, and a former Member of the Monetary Policy Committee/ former WAIFEM DG, Prof.

Akpan Ekpo.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, last week

sounded the alarm bells as she revealed that the country’s debt service cost in the first quarter (Q1) 2022 was N1.94 trillion, N310 billion higher than the actual revenue received during the period.

Also, Ahmed projected a total of N6.72 trillion as full-year budget for petrol subsidy payment in 2023, if the country decides to continue with the policy that had been identified as a drain on the economy.

But speaking with THISDAY, , Musa pointed out that Nigeria’s biggest challenge has always been the debt service cost for its domestic debts, compared to the external debts.

He noted that the interest rate the federal government pays on its domestic debts is twice as much as what it pays on external debt and they are short-dated instruments.

“When you look at the redemption profile of our debts, that of domestic debts are much higher. And the bonds, the government keeps rolling them over and when they roll them over, they do so at higher cost.

So, the issue is that there is some money kept aside in sinking fund;

Buhari Sympathises with Muazu, over Killing of Brother, Sister’s Abduction Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has sympathised with a former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Muazu, over the killing of his brother and the abduction of his sister by bandits.

President Buhari, according to a release yesterday by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu,said, "I am shocked and outraged by the story of the killing of your brother and the abduction of your sister by bandits.

“This double tragedy is particularly, moving. I know it's hard to cope with the weight of this tragedy in your family.

I feel your pain.

"Let me use this opportunity to re-assure you and other Nigerians currently facing threats from the atrocities of the bandits that I will leave no stone unturned to ensure these enemies of humanity are finally crushed and decisively defeated.

"Security is my constant concern and I have kept the service chiefs on their toes to ensure that they come up with a decisive solution to end this menace."

He, however, prayed to God "to forgive the soul of the deceased and grant the family thefortitude to overcome this double tragedy."

if I am to advise the Minister of Finance, I think this is the right time to use the sinking fund to pay off all the domestic debts rather than rolling them over.

That will reduce our debt burden.

“Another thing is to do what is called debt re-profiling, so that for those that have two to three years maturity duration, we can elongate the tenor, so that it can mature in five to 10 years or beyond. This will enable government have breathing space. Otherwise, our debt service cost would continue to dwarf our revenue, which is a mis-match.

“The second thing is that we need to bring in innovative way of increasing our revenue.

For that, if I am the federal government, I would cancel any tax relief that relief that I had given to people. For now, you don’t need to give any tax relief because the government is in dire need of revenue. Our biggest problem has been expenditure; we need to re-prioritise our expenditure and only spend on essential items until our revenue profile improves. Unfortunately, we are going into an election year and naturally in an election year in every government in Africa, you spend more than what you had budgeted. But I pray that we would have that fiscal discipline.

Eventually, I see us going back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support. We have to do that because that is the only way we can get support, at least in the medium term.”

In his contribution, Rewane explained that the country’s rising debt service cost was because interest rates had increased, therefore making debt refinancing costs more expensive.

According to him, “we have some debts that are maturing and we have to refinance them to raise more money. Treasury bills rates have increased and the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) has gone up to as much as 14 per cent. Some of the debt instruments are marked to the MPR. So, what do you do? You have to increase your revenue.

“It is not about cost management; it is about raising revenue. But how do you do that?

You have to increase the tax net and the efficiency of collection.

But those things don’t work in a low growth environment. When there is growth and people are making money, then you can comfortably tax them. If there is tepid growth and companies are just struggling, the tax revenue would not improve. So, you need to go back to the fundamental of growth.”

To Utomi, there is need for the government to unfold an austerity programme that would cut costs drastically.

“There is so much waste in governance and too much stealing in the system. We need to reform the civil service. Most of the people who have been directors of finance in Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been in an elaborate web of corrupt scamming of the system today. So, we must go after those

places and reform them, reduce corruption and cut down the leakage.

“But the more important part is increasing production. How do you increase production? Right now, the confidence level in the world is very low; so even though there is abundance of capital in the world, very little of that capital come to Nigeria because of the low confidence level. That is why there is a need for a dramatic change in leadership.

“If a leadership the world perceives as more serious, more prudent comes up, there would be a surge of new investments into Nigeria. In my mind, there is need to build production. And part of the strategy of our third force movement is to use limited industrial policy, focus on our factor endowments and try to dominate value-chains in which we have factor endowments,” he explained.

He cited an example of the seseme seed as a commodity that the country can benefit tremendously through its value-chain.

Responding to a question on the drain being cause by fuel subsidy which the labour unions had been resisting, Utomi said: “I was one of those who protested the 2012 so-called subsidy removal. Was I in support of subsidy? No. The truth of the matter is that a very significant per cent of the subsidy is part of a big scam between the bureacrats in government and those who import petrol.”

On his part, Ekpo advised the

Debt Management Office to be transparent about the country’s borrowing and debt profile.

“I say this because as at today, we don’t know whether they are borrowing to finance infrastructure or to pay salaries and other recurrent expenditure.

A lot of these monies come from Eurobond where you do not have much scrutiny like the IMF, World Bank or AfDB loans. So, they are not transparent about it. If they transparent about it, people would have advised the government to stop borrowing to refinance recurrent expenditure, but to finance capital projects.

“The other thing is that we need to increase internal revenue.

We have to look at our tax regime again and has the Finance Act been fully implemented to raise the desired tax revenue. Another issue is that over the years we have been advising them to be calculating debt-to-revenue ratio and use that to decide whether to borrow or not, instead of using debt-to-GDP ratio. GDP does not pay debts, it’s your revenue that pays debts.

“In the Nigerian case, the source that you are sure of is crude oil and the oil you don’t control the price and output. That is what is called exogenous source of revenue and you cannot use that to finance development. So, if you are using debt-revenue to calculate, you will know that it is not healthy to borrow, except it is really important. The third issue is that we need to look at the expenditure side of our fiscal profile.”

Osinbajo Leaves Hospital Nine Days After Surgery Thanks Nigerians for their prayers Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday left the Ikeja, Lagos private Hospital nine days after undergoing a successful thigh operation there.

He was discharged from the hospital in the afternoon after the medical team had certified him fit to leave the hospital.

Osinbajo, who was in white long sleeve shirt atop black trousers and white slippers and walking stick left the hospital premises in the company of his wife, Dolapo and few relations.

He has, therefore, expressed his deep gratitude to Nigerians for their prayers and everyone especially the medical team following the recent successful surgery on his thigh.

The appreciation which was contained in a letter personally signed by the Vice President came nine days after the operation was carried out in an Ikeja, Lagos hospital.

Osinbajo underwent a surgical operation on Saturday, July 16, at the Duchess International Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.

The vice president in the

statement said: "My deep gratitude to everyone for your get-well wishes and prayers following my surgery.

"And special appreciation to the amazing team of surgeons, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and the management of the Duchess International Hospital, Lagos, for providing such excellent care.

"God bless you all."

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DISTURBING IMAGES OF KIDNAPPERS FLOGGING ABDUCTED VICTIMS… Terrorists flogging abducted Kaduna train attack victims

Nigeria Disagrees with Global Fund's Alleged Misappropriation of HIV Grants NACA: It's mere audit query, not an accusation Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The federal government has rejected the alleged misappropriation of money obtained as grants from the United States-backed Global Fund to support HIV-AIDS related health interventions in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.

An audit report by the Global Fund had revealed $19.6 million worth of procurements funded from the COVID-19 Grants provided by the Fund to the federal government were awarded to contractors with unregistered businesses and without financial statements.

The periodic audit report published by the Office of Inspector General of the Global Fund, had noted the, "non-adherence with eligibility requirements for 67 per cent (six out of nine) of sampled procurements totalling $7.5 million, where vendors were awarded contracts without providing bank/

performance guarantees, despite this being a pre-condition for contract awards."

According to the report, “A joint venture was awarded two contracts worth $3.5 million without being legally registered, and without providing the bank/performance guarantee.

“In addition, eight of nine sampled vendors were awarded contracts amounting to $8.6 million despite not providing certified financial statements.”

Global Fund audit report further faulted the procurement evaluation process by the National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) which is the principal partner and major recipient of the Funds grants in Nigeria.

Currently, the total grant to Nigeria between 2021-2023 amounts to $900 million with proposal for additional funds.

However, speaking in an exclusive

Divestments: Conoil Director Tackles NNPC, Kyari

Peter Uzoho

A Director at Conoil Plc, Dr. Ebi Omatsola, has tackled the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mallam Mele Kyari, for allegedly doing illegal "stuffs" in the nation's oil and gas industry in the last four years.

Omatsola launched the attack on NNPC and its GCEO while speaking in Lagos, at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists’ (NAPE) divestments workshop with the theme: "The Big Sale: Opportunities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry from Assets Divestments."

Kyari was appointed the Group Managing Director of NNPC in June 2019, by President Muhammadu Buhari following the retirement of the then GMD, late Dr. Maikanti Baru.

Recounting how the national oil company, especially under Kyari had been allegedly doing illegal things in the oil sector around assets divestments and acquisitions, Omatsola accused the NNPC of denying Conoil Producing, the right to acquire Oil Mining Lease (OML) 86 and 88 from Chevron, after the company had emerged the preferred bidder and had done

all the due diligence.

He also cited how NNPC allegedly acted illegally recently by blocking Seplat Energy from purchasing ExxonMobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU)'s offshore shallow water assets in the country after the company had completed negotiations with the American oil major in a deal worth $1.28 billion.

"I was hoping he (Mele Kyari) would be here, I would challenge him. He's been doing illegal stuffs for the last four years. You have no right like you have done for Seplat on ExxonMobil. You have no right like they did for us on OML 86 and 88 of Chevron," Omatsola said.

The Seplat transaction involved the acquisition of the entire offshore shallow water business of ExxonMobil in Nigeria including OMLs 68, 69, 70 and Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 94, and was expected to deliver 186 per cent increase in production from 51,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 146,000 bpd among other attractive facilities.

Penultimate week, the NNPC had doubled down on its effort to block the ExxonMobil-Seplat deal, as it won a court decision temporarily blocking the parties from continuing with the transaction until all the contending issues were resolved.

interview with THISDAY, the Director General of NACA, Dr. Gambo Aliyu denied report that the country had been indicted for mismanaging the grants provided by the Global Fund to address COVID-19-induced challenges as it affects people living with HIV-AIDS. He said the Global Fund's report was a mere routine audit report, in which about 27 questions were raised and out these, NACA disagreed with four.

Aliyu said: "The report in question was a routine audit report. In that report 27 questions were raised. We agreed with Global Fund on 23 that is the office of the Inspector General.

We disagree on four and we still stand our ground. They have their view of the way we should do certain things and we also have the way we do things in government.

"It is not abnormal when there are queries or audits, to get disagreements. In fact, if you don't get disagreements, an audit query which is 100 percent agreed may even be queried itself because there must be areas where the auditors or the partners involved responding to it disagree, it is natural so we have had that area of disagreement,"

he said.

Regarding the faulting of the procurement process for the award of contracts amounting to $19.6 million, Aliyu said that every procurement was carried out under the strict supervision of the Global Fund. and that an audit firm within the agency endorsed every stage of the procurement process.

"NACA handles global fund money on COVID 19 and we did all the procurements under the supervision of Global Fund. There is a cooperative that supervise it in Geneva. There is an audit firm that is embedded in NACA that approves every step of the procurement.

All we did, we did together with Global Fund, there was no fraud, there were no collision and no one has accused us that there was no value for money for the work that we have done," he said.

Aliyu who was angry about the report of indictment of the organisation by the Global Fund said there was nowhere in the audit report where Nigeria was singled out for indictment.

"There was nowhere in that audit report that the government of Nigeria was indicted or NACA

was indicted, Lagos state government was indicted or global fund accusing the government of Nigeria or the Lagos state government of misappropriation, we haven't seen.

"However, this individual just chose to write without having the courtesy to call us and give us that benefit of doubt. I think your profession requires a balance," he said.

The NACA DG however acknowledged that Global Fund has the largest investment in Nigeria, adding that 30 per cent of its grants to Nigeria were being disbursed by the federal government through NACA. He added that there are safeguard policy that requires Nigeria to work hand in hand with Global Fund in virtually everything Nigeria does with the grants.

When asked if NACA approved procurement evaluation for unregistered firms within the period covered by the audit report, Aliyu said nothing like that happened.

"It didn't happen at all. How can we award contracts to companies that are not registered? By the time we finish evaluation, we do what is called due diligence. During this

due diligence we look at the record of each company with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

"Not only that the company is registered, we also make sure that there are no two companies that share directors. If we have a bid and two or three companies bided and they share same directors then we know they are coming from the same source, they automatically disqualified.

"Yes we do business with Global Fund and the fund has the largest investment in Nigeria. Out of the investment that Global Fund has only about 30 percent of the investment is with government, the remaining 70 percent is with the private sector. Also people should know that Nigeria is under what we call additional safeguard policy.

"Additional safeguard policy requires Nigeria to work hand in hand with Global Fund in virtually everything Nigeria does. NACA in particular works with Global Fund in every procurement activity.

"There is no procurement that NACA does that Global Fund isn't aware of, that Global Fund didn't review and that Global Fund didn't approve, " he said.

Management: ABMH Performs Six Kidney Transplants, Says Organ Merchandise Illegal Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Management of the Afe Babalola Multi-system Hospital (ABMH) has counseled Nigerians against embarking on medical tourism abroad, saying patronage of competent and well-equipped home- grown hospitals would strengthen the country’s healthcare sector.

The hospital management, which warned against human organ merchandise, said it has been discouraging the practice, by ensuring that only those who are blood relations or socially-related to patients make organ donations in the hospital.

The ABMH's Chief Medical Director, Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, said this in Ado Ekiti at the weekend, while revealing the breakthrough recorded by the hospital in kidney transplantation and the general management of renal disease.

Disclosing that the hospital has competent experts and facilities to offer dialysis and treat other chronic kidney diseases now on the increase, Ogundipe, said a total of six successful kidney transplants had been performed in the hospital.

"In all, we have performed six kidney transplants between October and now, and they were all successful. The three most recent included a pediatric kidney patient involving a 15-year old girl and two middle aged men.

"No hospital in Nigeria has the number of dialysis facilities and experts that we parade. The machines run 400 sections of dialysis monthly. We even have specific machines to treat renal patients with HIV or hapatisis B or C to prevent risk of infection.

"The major challenge has always been how to get the donors. We are always careful to ensure that donors are blood relation or related socially to the patients, so that there

won't be reason for the people to do it for financial benefit. People should not sell their organs; it is against the law.

"Our citizens, especially people of means should stop unnecessary medical tourism abroad, ABMH is a perfect destination of choice that can offer affordable and efficient medical treatments", Ogundipe said.

Reeling out further medical exploits already recorded by the hospital, Ogundipe disclosed that it had performed over 200 interventional and open heart surgeries within a spate of four years it began operations.

A Consultant Nephrologist and Coordinator of Kidney Transplant Programme at ABMH, Dr. Stephen Oguntola, said the operations were performed by a 10-man team of experts in the hospital.

Oguntola stated that post -transplantation observations of all the patients showed that they are all in stable medical conditions

and responding well with good prognosis of full recovery from the renal disease.

Oguntola said: "The 15-year old patient started treatment for systemic Lupus in 2017, which is common in female. She was on medication for five years, after which she developed evidence of kidney disease.

"She had visited many hospitals before being referred here. We did the transplant successfully and she is now making a litre of urine daily.

"The two others are above 40 years. Their renal problems were traceable to long years of hypertension. They have been treated and one of them can now excrete 4.7 litres of urine daily".

The patients, who interacted with newsmen, applauded the experts for their proficiency and compliance with international best practices, describing their relationships with them as superb and the that the cost was highly affordable.

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NEWS

STAKEHOLDERS' ENGAGEMENT… R-L: Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko; Executive Director Finance & Admin, NPA, Adenrele Sussana Adesina; National President NARTO, Alh. Yusuf Lawal Othman, and President General Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Adewale Adeyanju, at the NPA meeting that culminated in the suspension of planned strike action by the maritime and transport workers in Lagos… yesterday

LCCI: Nationwide Ban on Mining Activities will Send Negative Signal to Foreign Investors Says it’s blow on FG’s economic diversification as sector earned $1.75bn in five years OPS faults MPR hike, urges CBN to sustain intervention schemes Dike Ownwuamaeze The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned the federal government that the proposed banning of mining activities in all part of Nigeria would send a wrong signal to foreign and local investors.

The LCCI stated this in a statement it issued at the weekend titled: “LCCI Statement on the Proposed Nationwide Ban on Motorcycles and Mining Activities,” signed by its Director General, Dr. Chinyere Almona, noted that the move to ban mining activities would also deal a big blow on the federal government’s avowed commitment to diversify its sources of revenue away from oil and gas sector.

The federal government had considered after a recent National Security Council (NSC) meeting to impose a nationwide ban on motorcycles and mining activities in the country as part of its strategy to curb terrorist activities and disconnect them from their sources of funding.

But the chamber described the move as an attempt to blame and punish all legitimate mining operators for the activities of bandits and terrorists operating in Nigeria and therefore urged the government to be wary about the unintended consequences this ban would have on the country’s mining sector and the business environment.

The LCCI stated: “This announcement has further validated to foreign and local investors that it is unsafe for them

to invest in Nigeria's mining sector.

Furthermore, the existing local investors who have secured loans to finance their mining projects across Nigeria are at the risk of losing their investments of several years.

"The proposal has further damaged the diversification plans of the federal government to pursue a non-oil exports-based economy. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria's economic reports between 2015 to 2020 the total value of solid minerals exports within that period was $1.75 billion.”

The chamber also warned the federal government that the country, “cannot afford to jeopardise the fortunes of mining in Nigeria with a blanket ban on

mining activities when we should be able to isolate illegal miners and demobilise criminals from mining sites.

“We urge the government to reconsider ways to demobilise criminal activities from mining sites and create a safe environment where mining can thrive.”

It argued that duly licenced mining companies should be clearly differentiated and distanced from the activities of bandits and terrorists whom the National Security Council (NSC) based their proposal upon.

The chamber also emphasised the need to enforce all the necessary laws and policies that would guarantee security of local and foreign investments in the solid minerals sector and ensure that

investors would get best returns on their investments.

The LCCI, therefore, “urges the government to empower the solid minerals and mining sector through the deployment of Geographic Information System (GIS), automation of application and processing of mining licenses, leases and permits all through a one-stop-shop platform. The Integrated Automation and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP) should truly be a go-to portal for real time information on the sector.

“We should also finalise the plan to build a national electronic geo-data archiving management system to be called the Nigerian Geo-Data Center at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency

(NGSA). All of these would make it easy to access information on mining by investors across the globe.”

OPS to CBN: Increasing MPR to Fight Inflation is Counterproductive Meanwhile, operators of the organised private sector (OPS) have said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest increase of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) would not be effective to curb inflation but would pernalise industrialist and other private enterprises.

The members of the OPS that shared their views were the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, the National Association of

Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (NACCIMA), the LCCI and the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE).

The members of the OPS noted that the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of July 19, 2022, that increased the MPR from 13 per cent to 14 per cent was unexpected, but not desirable even though the decision was in line with the policy tightening trend by most central banks around the world.

According to them, the decision failed to reckon with Nigerian domestic peculiarities since the key drivers of inflation in the country are largely supply side variables that are not driven by demand.

Unpaid Gratuity Remains Major Headache of My Govt, Says Fayemi Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has described the inability of his government to defray backlog of unpaid gratuity as the major worry of his administration.

Fayemi restated his administration’s commitment to addressing workers' welfare in particular by looking into the issue of deductions and promotion arrears in the state public service before the end of his tenure in office.

The Governor who stated this in Ado- Ekiti at the weekend, during a courtesy visit by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ekiti State Chapter, led by

its chairman, Kolapo Olatunde, said the government would also look into minimum wage adjustment for workers on grade level 14 and above, as well as payment of promotion arrears for 2019 and 2020.

On gratuity, the governor expressed displeasure that this was one issue he was unhappy about, saying: "Unfortunately, our pensioners allowed themselves to be deceived when opposition elements distorted the objectives behind our promissory note and bonds scheme which would have enabled us clear a good number of pensioners' gratuities by now.

“So, we have had to continue with our N100 million monthly commitment for payment for gratuities to pensioners. Even that has now become difficult for us in our current economic circumstances.

“On promotion arrears, we’ve cleared 2017/2018, we have 2019/2020 that we have to come to terms with. Equally, I know minimum wage adjustment for level 14 and above is one of the issues on your table.

“We would keep trying to make sure that we make our workers happy and put the leadership of the workforce in a place where they can also hold their own heads high.”

Fayemi, however revealed

that current cash crunch being experienced by many state governments, including Ekiti was as a result of the global down turn which he said had resulted in zero- remittance by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to the Federation Account in the last six months.

"Despite this difficult economic situation, my government had kept its promise not to owe workers’ salaries, hence the regular salary payment to workers in Ekiti," he added.

He said government would continue to do everything possible within available resources to address issues concerning the welfare and

wellbeing of the workers, urging them to show understanding with government.

The governor commended the leadership of the NLC for their solidarity, support and commitment to workers’ welfare.

According to him, even though there were times both labour and government disagree on some issues which is inevitable, he commended the labour leadership for not being disagreeable at any time.

“So your point about deductions and promotion arrears is well taken and I believe we would do something before this administration completes its tenure in office,” he added.

After Aero, Dana Exit, Shrinking Flight Services Worry Travellers Chinedu Eze Air travellers have expressed concern that the shrinking number of airlines in the country may hinder flight operations in the coming days.

There are indications that while two of the notable airlines have stopped flying, the existing ones are also being threatened by the high cost of operation due to increase in the price of aviation fuel and more may also go out of service in a matter of weeks.

THISDAY investigations revealed that at the beginning of this year, airlines operated about 43 aircraft, but these have shrunk to about 32 and due to lack of funds to maintain these aircraft when they break down, the airlines

may have to park them until they are able to source forex to take them overseas for maintenance.

Last Monday, Aero Contractors suspended its scheduled flight services due to high cost of operation and lack of equipment and two days later, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) grounded the operations of Dana Air over poor liquidity.

The airlines that are still operating currently include Air Peace, Arik Air, Ibom Air, United Nigeria Airlines, Green Africa, Azman Air and Max Air. Former CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi said the reduction in the number of airlines would further shrink the number of operating aircraft and with increase in demand and

NEWS REVIEW limited supply of equipment, airfares will continue to rise.

“The impact of removing two airlines out of already depleted sector will definitely impact on the capacity and lead to increase in the price of tickets. Demand will increase in the face of shortage of available seats.

“This may give rise to panic buying, as airlines with the knowledge that two airlines are down would increase their prices and force people to start booking ahead. So NCAA should ensure that it effectively regulates the industry. It should look at the health of the airlines, their finances and also protection of

the consumers,” Sanusi said.

THISDAY investigation also revealed that if the cost of aviation fuel remains high; some of the existing airlines might not continue to operate and instead of waiting for their flights to be grounded

by NCAA, they would suspend operation like Aero Contractors.

Travellers are already facing the challenge of high fares, whose base price was put at N50, 000 in March, but the cost of economy class ticket has risen to between N70, 000 and N90, 000 or even more, depending on the nearness to the date of travel.

“If the fares continue to rise people will boycott the airports, airlines will be forced to reduce their frequencies and this will adversely affect the economy

of the country,” said industry insider and former airline operator.

Besides the high cost of aviation fuel, airlines are facing a critical challenge of sourcing forex to maintain their aircraft, acquire spares and even renew the insurance of their aircraft.

THISDAY learnt that airlines cannot ferry their aircraft on AOG (aircraft on ground) overseas for maintenance because they cannot source forex and the operator who spoke to THISDAY said airlines would not be able to sustain their operation if they source forex from the parallel market.

Reacting to the high fares charged by airlines, the Chief Commercial Officer of Green Africa, Obi Mbanuzuo, told THISDAY that as the cost of

aviation is increasing, airfares would also be increasing and noted that international insurance companies have also taken advantage of the operational environment (described as hostile by industry experts) to increase premium for aircraft insurance.

“With the rise in the cost of aviation fuel, prices inevitably have to rise and air travel will become even more unaffordable.

Foreign insurance providers have already ‘priced in’ the operating environment in Nigeria so a couple of emergency landings (referring to recent emergency landing recorded by Dana Air and Max Air) I don’t think will change anything. There are emergency landings all over the world on a daily basis,” he said.

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY JULY 25, 2022

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Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE

POLITICS

Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com 08033025611 SMS ONLY

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

2023: Issues Before Tinubu

As the campaign for the 2023 general elections approaches, Adedayo Akinwale writes on some salient issues that require the attention of the presidential torch bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Buhari

B

y September, 2022, political campaigns will start in earnest nationwide according to the timetable and schedule of activities released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2023 polls.

The campaign period will also afford political parties and gladiators to roll out their campaign promises and manifestoes towards canvassing for votes from the electorate.

Following the official unveiling of the former two-term Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima, as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party is now set to name its campaign Director-General.

Although, it was gathered that the former National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, was preferred by Tinubu to head his campaign team, but the APC governors are against it because they do not feel comfortable working with him.

As the ruling party and its presidential candidate prepare for the campaign season, there are issues that may make or mar the presidential ambition of Tinubu. These issues include: The overall performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration; Defections of members of the party in some states; and the all Muslim ticket of the ruling party.

All Muslim Ticket After much suspense, Tinubu on July 10, 2022, announced Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election, despite stiff opposition from the Christian community who had warned that all Muslim ticket would undermine the Christians in the country.

However, the presidential candidate said the choice of Shettima was not based on religion or to please one community or the other, adding that he chose Shettima because he believed he could help him bring the best governance to all Nigerians, regardless of their religious affiliation or considerations of ethnicity or region.

At the unveiling, Tinubu pointed out that while he has read and listened to all that has been written and said about his choice of Shettima, he remained steadfast and unwavering in his belief that Shettima was best person to run for office and to, hopefully, govern by his side.

Nevertheless, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has resolved not to support the ruling party for floating an all Muslim ticket. The Christian body decided to draw the battle line after APC and its candidate called the bluff of christians in the country.

Similarly, APC christian leaders described the selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate as insensitive to the Christians in the country. The leaders were of the opinion that the fear of the Christians in the north and the nation in general was that the APC party would be viewed as an Islamic party.

Adamu

But the APC National Vice Chairman, North West, Dr. Salihu Lukman, said the decision of the ruling party to float an all Muslim ticket was not to exclude any religion or ethnic group.

According to him, “I think we need to be very honest to ourselves.

It is true that people have concerns and those concerns are not being dismissed. To the best of my knowledge, all party leaders have acknowledged the concern. When you take decision, certainly there are people who would be at the receiving end of such a decision.

Our party, APC, is not working to exclude any category, whether in terms of religion, ethnicity or any other group”.

Defection by party members In spite of the frantic effort by the party and its candidate to explain the reason for flying a Muslim-Muslim ticket, some members of the party have expressed their dissatisfaction by resigning their membership of the party.

For instance, a former federal lawmaker who represented Rivers South East Senatorial District on the platform of APC in the NationalAssembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has resigned his membership of the party.

Abe, in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, said he resigned because of the refusal of the presidential candidate of the party to negotiate his continue stay in the party with him.

The letter read in part: “I wish to tender my resignation of membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC). My decision to quit is not unconnected with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s seeming unwillingness to negotiate with me since he expects me to remain in the APC. Hence,

Tinubu

Shettima

my resolve to seek an alternative platform to actualize my Gubernatorial Ambition in Rivers State.”

Another chieftain of the party and a former governorship candidate in Rivers State, Tonye Princewill, resigned his membership of the party over all Muslim presidential ticket. He said he can’t argue for equity in his state and defend inequity in his country, hence his decision to resign as a member of APC. Princewill said: “I cannot defend the decision of my party, in fielding a Muslim Muslim ticket, especially at a time like this, against all protestations from well meaning Nigerians, across religious and political divides. It sets a very wrong precedent, it is totally insensitive and even if you win, will prove bad for good governance. Under these dire circumstances, I find no justification to still remain, in good conscience, a member of a political party that subordinates electoral victory, over the safety of lives and the peace of mind of its citizens.

“By doing this, Tinubu is saying that a Northern Christian has no electoral value.

My staying means I agree. I wish you well.

And I remain grateful to our Leader, but I can not defend the indefensible. And to be totally honest, neither should you.”

Commenting on the issue, a Professor of Cyber Security and Information Technology Management, Ojo Ademola noted that the decision of APC to field an all Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential race has drawn heated reactions from many Nigerians.

To him, this is because, so far, APC is the ruling party, the most formidable party and the most likely party, with the most significant structure to win the election.

He posited that religion is a spiritual affair that should not become a political tool. He said the time has come for all Nigerians to rise to the urgent imperative to detoxify the religious content wrongly built into politics and governance by ignoring every effort to interpret apparent political and governance issues along religious lines.

Ademola explained that there should be clear boundaries that separate politics from religion, and this must be clearly adhered to if Nigeria must record progress, insisting that there is no linking chain between them.

He said, “So we should stop the penchant for using the religious microscope to examine clearly political issues and offer interpretations that continue to divide us and eventually pull the country down.”

Political pundits believed that the not too impressive performance of Buhari’s administration is already a cog in the wheel of Tinubu’s presidential ambition.

They posited that the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have been the greatest beneficiary of APC’s below average rating, but its decision to zone the presidential ticket to the North may work against the party

Rating of Muhammadu Buhari Govt The issue of all Muslim ticket and the defections of some party chieftains aside, the absymal performance of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will always make a Tinubu presidency a hard sell.

In 2015, the APC campaign centred on threepont agenda namely corruption, insecurity and the need to revive the economy.

As at today, APC has failed woefully on the three-point agenda under which Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for the party in 2015 and 2019.

The security situation in the country is the worst of its kind. While the security agencies are trying their best, it has gotten to a point that they’ve handed the security of Nigerians and property over to God. The Commanderin-Chief appears helpless and has decided to pray to God to touch the heart of the criminals.

For instance, there has been a resurgence of insurgency – terrorism in the North-East, banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling in the North-West and North-Central; farmersherders clashes in the South-West and other parts of the country, attacks on government buildings, offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security formations in the South-East.

Under the Buhari administration, as much as 17 jailbreaks have been recorded from 2016 to date. The nation’s capital, Abuja that is supposed to be the safest is now sorrounded by terrorists and crisis states.

Additionally, the country’s economy has taken a turn for the worse under the APC-led federal government. The country’s currency has maintained its free fall since Buhari assumed office. The exchange rate in 2015 was N198 to Dollar, but now the exchange rate in 2022 is N700 to Dollar. Also, a bag of rice in 2015 was N6,000 and now it is N33, 000. The inflation rate in 2015 was 9.01 per cent and in 2022, the inflation soared to 18.6% in June, 2022. A litre of petrol in 2015 was N87 and in 2022, it is now N175 with acute scarcity.

If the economic indices of the APC administration was anything to go by, there is no gainsaying that the present administration has successfully eliminated the middle class in the country. The two classes of people at the moment are the extremely rich and the extremely poor class.

Political pundits believed that the not too impressive performance of the Buhari’s administration is already a cog in the wheel of Tinubu’s presidential ambition.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY JULY 25, 2022

MONDAY DISCOURSE

Much Ado About Umahi’s Senate Bid Benjamin Nworie writes on fresh hurdles before Governor David Umahi to clinch APC’s Ebonyi South Senatorial ticket after losing the party’s presidential ticket

Umahi

Austin

I

n November 2020, Ebonyi state governor, Mr David Umahi started restrategizing on how best to position himself for another political aspiration, after the expiration of his two-term as governor.

He felt that one of the best ways to set the ball rolling was to quit his former political party, the Peoples Democratic Party to join the ruling All Progressives Party.

Umahi cited many unfair treatments against the people of South east by the PDP as his reasons for quitting the party. Umahi’s departure from PDP fuelled agitations for the Presidency of Igbo extraction.

It started like a selfless agenda to score a high point on why the people of the south east zone should be considered as flag bearers of the two dominant political parties.

First of all, Umahi said he was not defecting from the PDP because of his presidential ambition. And at many fora, he reiterated that whether his new Party, APC, gave ticket to any person from his zone or not, he would not have any grudge against the Party, with the conviction that if the people of the south east had invested in APC like they did to PDP since 1999, the APC ought to have considered the zone for the presidential position.

Months after his defection to APC, Umahi

declared his intention to fly the presidential ticket of the party in his vigorous campaigns and agitations.

He consulted wifely principally on the sentiment of addressing Igbo marginalization.

Indeed, Umahi’s presidential ambition became a tall agenda and near realization, especially as many Nigerians commended his transformational strides in Ebonyi state. It appeared from testimonies of people that if the South east should be considered for the exalted seat, Umahi should be the topmost capable and competent person to lead the nation.

Technically, Umahi received one of the loudest ovations to clinch the APC ticket. In less than six months in the All Progressives Congress, he became too powerful in the party with his popularity soaring unhindered, even outshining old members of the party.

These elevations almost came to a nought when the entire five states in the zone abandoned him and voted massively for the former Lagos State

Agom-Eze

Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu during the presidential primary. Out of the 39 delegates from Ebonyi state, Umahi got 38, showing that other states in the zone didn’t vote for him or any other contestant from the zone.

Enraged by this humiliation and sabotage, as he described it, Umahi said it was crystal clear to him, that the greatest enemy to the emancipation and growth of the South east zone are Nidgbo.

The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was not exempted from Umahi’s wrath. Consequently, he announced the disownment of the apex sociocultural group led by Professor George Obiozor for his alleged inability to use the organization to rally around his presidential ambition, or to an extent, champion the Igbo presidency.

Like a wounded lion, especially as he has activated an elaborate contacts across the Niger on how he would garner support from Northern politicians, Umahi said he has abandoned the “Igbo agenda”.

However, his sincerity on Igbo presidency became doubtful to critics who viewed the governor’s outburst against Peter Obi’s Presidential ambition in Labour Party as mischievous, selfish and diversionary. Umahi declared openly that Ebonyi people wont vote for Labour Party in

the presidential election.

Many people started wondering why Umahi who had been an advocate of Igbo Presidency can surreptitiously oppose Obi’s ambition instead of pulling his weight behind him to succeed in the spirit of his “Igbo Agenda”.

Though, the State Government via a statement by the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Mr Uchenna Orji further exonerated Umahi, adding that what the governor actually meant was that, as a loyal APC member, that he would support and vote for his party in the elections.

Orji said: “Umahi never said that Obi was going nowhere and that he (Umahi) does not believe in the nation’s president of Igbo extraction.

“The governor is a member of the All Progressives Congress and shall support the party in all their state and national elections as a good party man.

“He beliefs that political party members should defend their parties during elections and people will freely vote for candidates of their choice,” NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

How Ex-Oyo Deputy Governor Ran into Trouble

Kemi Olaitan writes on the various events which culminated in the impeachment last Monday of Rauf Olaniyan, as Oyo State Deputy Governor

T

he frosty relationship between Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and the immediate past Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, which though denied by the two sides but had been on for over two years came to an end last Monday with the impeachment of Olaniyan by the state House of Assembly based on the recommendation of the panel set up to investigate the allegations levelled against him.

With the two political gladiators denying any rift between themselves, Olaniyan was to set a stage for his impeachment when on Sunday, June 5, 2022 while addressing journalists at his private office in Ibadan, formally announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under which platform he and Makinde were elected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Igboho-born retired civil servant and businessman said he took the decision after consultations with his supporters across the 33 local government areas of the state, vowing not to resign his position as the deputy governor.

According to him, “I am bold to inform you clearly that as from this moment, I am porting to the All Progressive Congress (APC).You have been asking me what next politically because everybody is already taking positions, what to contest for, under what party and like I had always told you, when the time is ripe, I will make it public.

“Even as at this morning, some political parties still called me to come and take their tickets to come and contest with, I don’t want to mention any name because I don’t want to de-market any party because we meet to part and part to meet. Not less than three parties have called me today (Sunday) alone and as at yesterday (Saturday) I had about eight political

Olaniyan

parties offering me their platforms to contest, but is that what I wanted?

Am I looking for governorship by all means? No. Do I want to contest governorship at just any party? No. “So, if that is not, then my aim remains the same, that I am into politics not because I want to make name or any pecuniary gains. I am there because in the society of today, if you know you want to make meaning to your people, you have to make meaning through political process by joining a party.

“Some people will say, you don’t have to join a political party, to make impact; yes, but you should not complain when some people are ruling and you cannot rule without joining a political party.

“I have considered the pros and cons, I have seen it all. I was elected as a deputy governor, sworn in May 29, 2019 to run up to May 28, 2023, so the time is still there but as you can see, everyone has already showed interest in the position they aspire to contest for.

“I had told you ab initio that, God will show us the way to go. For a journey of one thousand kilometres, it starts with a step. First and foremost, I, Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan, I am porting to the APC. “I am not resigning as the deputy Governor, I am still the deputy Governor of Oyo state, Engineer Seyi Makinde is still my Governor, but there is no aspect of the constitution that says the governor or his deputy cannot part ways politically.

“This aspect, I am interested in the law court.

It came down to be a hard fact, that it is possible for us to part ways. For the act of governance, I am still the deputy Governor of Oyo state, under the leadership of the Governor of Oyo state. It is only the party maters that changed.

“And I am not going alone, I am going with my teeming supporters in all the 33 local governments. They have been asking me what next and I kept telling them to wait. As at today, they just finished a meeting in Iseyin, the Oke Ogun caucus and they wanted to know what next. And I also asked them to go and decide the next thing too.

“Before I joined the PDP, they all decided that we should join PDP and so if I am going to do anything otherwise, I asked them to decide and get back to me. People have been coming from all parts of the sate asking me what next, what I keep telling them was that they should let consultation go round and wide because, in politics, you don’t have to go all alone.

“Few minutes ago, some leaders were here

in my office and we decided to do what we are doing now. So, that is the update and I have already ported to the APC.” The move against Olaniyan was to start immediately when the leadership of the PDP in the state in a statement by the Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, refused to take what it regarded as effrontery on the part of the deputy governor, urging him to resign his position.

The party charged him to resign honourably stating that it is nothing but a political fraud for him to defect to an opposition party with a mandate he jointly got with the governor and then steal it through the back door.

According to him, “Oyo people did not vote for a PDP/APC joint ticket; they voted entirely for a PDP mandate, while section 40 of the Constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of association of any person, the deputy governor ought to be enlightened by the same constitution when it stipulated that the ticket upon which he (Olaniyan) contested the 2019 governorship election alongside Governor Makinde as a deputy was not an independent candidate ticket.

“It is only when you contest election as an independent candidate and win and decide to move to any political party of your choice that you become the owner of the votes cast by the electorate. Unfortunately for Olaniyan, he wants to eat his cake and still have it. The Oyo PDP, which is the rightful owner of the mandate, will retrieve it back in no distant time using every available legal means if Olaniyan fails to humbly resign as a gentleman with his new move.”

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

20

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY JULY 25, 2022

FEATURES

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

CVR: Dogged by Controversy, Allegations of Disenfranchisement As the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration is about wind up after several extensions, David-Chyddy Eleke in Anambra reports that it has been dogged by controversy including allegations of disenfranchisement, bribery, and even discovery of stacks of buried printed voters card

I

n February 2023, Nigeria is expected to hold a general election to elect a new set of leaders in the states, state assemblies and national assembly, including a new president for the country.

Preparatory to it, the continuous voters registration has been on for people, including those who just attained voting age to get their permanent voters card (PVC). Also, people whose cards were lost or damaged will also be applying for new ones, while some voters will be transferring their voting points to new locations.

The exercise has however been dogged by controversy as there has been allegations of request for bribe, plot to systemically disenfranchise some people in some areas through shortage of manpower, deliberate setting of the registration machines to accommodate only few persons per day, among several others.

Anambra has also had its fair share of such allegations too. Early this month, a video surfaced on the social media, of intending registrants who were at Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State for registration, but were turned down.

The intending registrants, who were mostly young people, resorted to making a video of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials who denied them registration. They alleged that only a few people had been registered in a day, yet the officials stopped the exercise.

The intending registrants also complained that they were being asked to pay as much as N20,000 before they can be registered. They protested the decision, while also panning their camera around to show a huge crowd of persons who had also come to register, but were abandoned.

For the registrants, the disenfranchisement can be tied to the widespread fear following the growing popularity of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, which led to the recent quest by millions to get their PVCs. Some people have linked part of the plot to the recent discovery of already printed PVCs, which were said to have been found buried in the home of an undisclosed politician.

Recall that in Anambra State, some people had previously expressed worry over the difficulty in collecting their already printed cards, while there have been allegation of seamless distribution of such in northern parts of the country, including delivery to their very doorsteps.

Lending credence to fears of plot to rig the forthcoming presidential election, a group, International College of Democracy and Human Rights in a recent letter to INEC, signed by principal officers of the group, including Emeka Umeagbalasi, a human rights activist, and made available to THISDAY in Awka, listed 20 ways prospective voters are being allegedly being disenfranchised and 10 ways of plans to rig the forthcoming election.

The group listed the disenfranchisement plot to include: "Shrinking of delineation of constituencies, registration and voting centers targeted at a particular ethno-religious group or groups on the grounds of their tribe or religion, provision of inadequate manpower and machines for registration and their deployment in non Muslim areas especially South-East and South-South.

"Among the strategy are also malfunctioning of voters’ registration machines targeted at a particular ethno-religious group/groups in the Northern and Southern areas, discriminatory programming of registration machines using computer command languages or instructions with limited number of registration per day, Non-issuance or discriminatory issuance of PVCs to registered voters."

The group further alleged that it uncov-

Stranded prospective registrants at Onitsha North Local Government Area, Anambra State ered secret programming of the registration machines, such that after a certain number of persons are registered, the machine shuts down, and also deliberate and discriminatory policy of capturing minors and other underage in the North.

The group also alleged that the commission plans to heavily militarise some zones during the election, as well as instigation of group violence and other coordinated attacks against members of a particular voting population on the grounds of their faith and tribe.

The group called on the INEC to address the areas noticed, saying that Nigerians need to be assured of a free, fair and transparent poll in 2023. "We call on INEC to respond to all the issues raised and outlining how

to tackle them headlong including reversal of the 20 citizens’ disenfranchisement and 10 election rigging plots outlined."

As at the time of filing this report, no reaction from the commission has addressed the concerns raised by the group. But the INEC Public Relations Officer in Anambra State, Mr Reginald Onyeukwu speaking on the allegation of inducement for registration described the video as unreal.

Onyeukwu said, “That type of thing, we don’t hold it so serious. Those people involved there like the reporter (the person who reported the issue) supposed to grab somebody, one person, get the name of the person, that person’s details and forward it to us, so the management will invite that person and discipline that person.

"Now, they generalised the issue to all the staff in Onitsha North. How can we accuse and punish all the staff? If you are doing so, you will punish an innocent person.

“Somebody Ikenna called me and I told him to go back there and get somebody’s details

Every eligible Nigerian who registered as a voter is entitled to his/her PVC. The constitutional right to vote in any election must never be suppressed or abridged in any way

and forward it to me or to the management so that they will look into it.

“Don’t say staff in Onitsha North did this or that, be specific, know the person.

That video can be formulated. It can be a planned crew, like, “if I video you, say that these people said we should pay N20,000.

That thing is a planned crew. That is why I don’t want to make any comment on it.

"How can you tell somebody, mainly a student, 20% of the people registering there are students and you tell a student to bring N20,000 for you to register him, is it possible? That video is a planned crew.

If I will make comment on that, I will say it is a planned deal, it is not real."

The commission however reacted to allegation of the discovery of buried printed PVCs. National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye in a press release said: “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to videos trending online of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) allegedly buried underground in some locations, including the compound of a high-profile Person.

"The Commission is not taking these allegations lightly. We have commenced immediate investigation and anyone found culpable in this diabolical scheme clearly intended to disenfranchise Nigerians will be sanctioned under the law. Every eligible Nigerian who registered as a voter is entitled to his/her PVC. The constitutional right to vote in any election must never be suppressed or abridged in any way.

“As far as the record of the Commission is concerned, PVCs have been printed for all valid registrants in Nigeria up to 14th January 2022 and delivered to all the states of the federation for collection by voters.

We will not allow retrogressive elements to sabotage our efforts.

"The issues of voter registration, compilation of the voters’ roll and issuance of PVCs are at the heart of any democratic elections and the commission won’t fail to ensure that every eligible citizen who appears in person at the registration venue is registered. We assure Nigerians that the matter will be pursued to its logical conclusion.

“Already, the Commission is reviewing the procedure for collecting PVCs to make it less cumbersome and more transparent. This will be a major topic at the INEC regular quarterly meeting with stakeholders so that working together we can find a lasting solution to the issue.

"Meanwhile, we appeal to those who found the allegedly buried PVCs to deliver them to our nearest state or local government office.

This will be their patriotic contribution to the consolidation of our electoral process."

Despite the assurances, many believe that the commission must do more to gain the confidence of the people, including reacting to allegations of programming registration machines to register limited number of people in states in the south east.

A public affairs analyst, Mr Eze Leonard said: "We need INEC to assure us that the election will truly be transparent. I must confess that I live in Onitsha, but I'm not aware of extortion of people for registration, but what we regularly witness, especially in Onitsha North Local Government Area is that after registering some people, the officials will say they can not continue.

"That is why we think there is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise some people. That was what happened on that day in Onitsha.

I have visited that registration centre and pretended to try to bribe them for registration, but they rejected. I have even heard that those boys who made that video live in the neighborhood, and INEC plans to arrest them to prove their allegation. But INEC must also deal with other claims," he said.

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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22

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

23

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

2 2 , 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%

Amid Plunge in Nigeria’s Eurobond Prices, Yield Hits 13.76% High

Kayode Tokede Data by the Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that yield on the 13 tracked Nigeria Eurobond prices has continued to dwindle as yield continued to skyrocket, hovering around 8.33 per cent and 13.76 per cent.

A Eurobond is a bond issued offshore by governments denominated in a currency other than that of the issuer’s country. Eurobonds are usually long-term debt instruments and are typically denominated in US Dollars (USD).

The yield on bonds has risen lately, driven by the increase in interest rates

by the United States Federal Reserves.

The US Fed commenced rate hikes in response to record-high inflation rate experienced in the world’s largest economy.

Inflation rate in the US has increased from 7.5 per cent in January to 9.1 per cent as of June 2022.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this year has increased MPR from 11 per cent to 14 per cent, in a move to curb rising inflation rate.

As gathered by THISDAY from the latest data by DMO as at July 21, 2022, the highest bond yield was the 8.747% $1.0 billion JAN 2031 Eurobond (matures in about nine years), trading

at a yield of about 13.76 per cent.

The same bond was trading at a yield of 7.86 per cent as of December 31, 2021.

The 2031 Eurobond price opened trading in 2022 at $105.087 and has dropped to $74.785, representing a decline of $30.30 or 28.8 per cent.

Also, Nigeria’s Eurobond Yield with a maturity of 2023, and lowest yield as of July 21, 2022 at 8.328 per cent had opened trading at 1.481 per cent.

The Eurobond has a total face value of $500 million and was priced at about $103.473 when it was initially issued and closed July 21, 2022 at a price of $97.607.

According to data from the DMO, the 6.375% $500m JUL 2023 Eurobond yield has increased to 8.328 per cent from 3.672 per cent as of December 31, 2021.

According to analysts, the hike in interest rates tends to affect emerging markets as such Nigeria is one of them, stressing that it is expected to impact on the cost of borrowing.

They noted that a rise in yield occurs when investors sell Nigerian Eurobonds forcing prices to drop and bond yields are inversely proportional to bond prices.

Speaking with THISDAY, the vice president, Highcap Securities,

Mr. David Adnori, said, “The drop in prices and hike in yield on Nigeria’s Eurobond is following a trend at the global economy and action monetary authorities have taken in advanced countries to tackle inflation rate due to Russia-Ukraine war. Eurobond is issued in the international market and subscribed by foreign investors in US Dollars.

“The interest rate hike by the US Fed means debt assets in US have increased and consequently, the yield on all debt instruments including Eurobond, among others denominated in Dollar will also increase. That is why the price of Eurobond is falling

all over the world and the yield is rising. We have also seen the scenarios playing out in local interest rate recently increased by CBN to 14 per cent. The prices of bonds are failing with the yields are rising.”

A debt analyst who pleaded anonymously attributed the hike in yield and decline in prices of Nigeria’s Eurobond to factors of demand and supply.

According to him, “A lot of central banks around the world are increasing their rates. The US Fed has increased the interest rate this year and when Continued on page 25

As CBN Tackles Inflation, Currency in Circulation Dips by N72.5bn in June Nume Ekeghe Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to manage exchange rate, currency in circulation dropped by N72.5billion or 2.2 per cent from N3.33trillion as at the end of May to N3.26trillion at the end of June

2022, the latest statistics from the CBN has revealed.

This is on the back of several monetary policies adopted by the apex bank to mop-up liquidity in the economy to tackle inflationary pressure.

The CBN defined currency in

circulation as currency outside the vaults of the apex bank; that is, all legal tender currency in the hands of the general public and in the vaults of the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

According to figures from the CBN, the currency in circulation

has witnessed second consecutive decline since April when it hits alltime high over political spending, hike in inflation, among other factors.

The CBN’s “Money and Credit” statistics revealed that currency in circulation in April 2022 stood at N3.35trillion from N3.25trillion in

March.

Findings by THISDAY revealed that currency in circulation dropped

by N19.75billion or 0.59 per cent in April, third highest decline this year.

The apex bank in January reported N3.28trillion currency in circulation and it dropped by N37.8billion or

1.15 per cent to N3.25trillion in February 2022.

Analysts attributed the drop in currency in circulation to CBN’s hike in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 13 per cent in May from 11.5 per Continued on page 25

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT F R I D AY, J U LY 2 2 , 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

Yield

Change (%)

104.87

10.86

1.87

104.77

11.39

0.00

103.38

11.30

-0.14

115.70

11.79

0.07

110.43

11.40

0.00

Updated Time July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 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

11.17

0.00 July 22, 2022

9.75

9.88

0.00 July 22, 2022

9.00

9.19

0.00 July 22, 2022

3.90

3.95

0.00 July 22, 2022

NTB 26-Jan23

7.50

7.80

0.00 July 22, 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 (%)

18.99 19.03

1.45 July 22, 2022

15.15 15.21

1.20 July 22, 2022

17.19 17.99

-2.73 July 22, 2022

11.41 11.76

-2.65 July 22, 2022

10.59 10.90

-2.65 July 22, 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 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022 July 22, 2022

24

MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

NSC, Stakeholders Move to Support Export, Economic Competitiveness Oluchi Chibuzor For Nigeria to transit from its debt challenges, the need to quickly reverse balance of trade through massively diversifying export profile remains the panacea to making the nation’s economy competitive in the face of global crisis, experts has reiterated.

However, for these to happen the imperativeness of engaging in production activities, adding value to agricultural products and curtailing the monopolistic tendencies of active stakeholders in the port sector through effective regulatory activities of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) remains critical stakeholders equally noted.

This is as maritime stakeholders welcomed the federal government renewed Initiatives to empower NSC as Port Economic Regulator within Port Industry under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

They stated this at a one-day sensitization programme on the mandate of shippers’ Council as port economic regulator.

Harping on its port economic regulatory mandate, as the economic gateway to the nation, the Executive

Secretary, NSC, Emmanuel Jime, acknowledged that maritime industry plays an important role in the development of any economy.

He pointed out that as a catalyst to the nation’s economic development, maritime transportation and its related activities influence the growth of industries directly or indirectly and exerts great influence on the general price of goods and services.

One of the reasons for the trade imbalance, Jime observed, was the composition of Sub-Saharan African Trade, which according to him is about six percent of global trade.

He maintained that about 70 per cent of export cargoes are primary commodities while the majority of imports are consumer goods.

According to him, “Therefore, there is the need to develop the nation’s industrial base so as to balance trade and boost the nation‘s economy. The port as a critical infrastructure needs to be made competitive, guard against monopoly and free for numerous players to enter and exit in order for its users to enjoy the benefit of lower prices and efficient service delivery usually associated with competition.”

“It is against this backdrop, that the Federal Government of Nigeria, pursuant to the Nigerian Shippers Council Act Cap N133 LFN 2004 appointed NSC as Ports Economic Regulator. The aim is to create an effective regulatory regime at Nigerian ports for the control of tariffs, rates, charges and other related economic services.”

On his part, the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Mrs Magdalene Ajani, stressed that they would continue to play its role to ensure that all agencies under the ministry work in synergy according to the law of the country.

Speaking, a Development Economics and Data Analytics with Lagos Business School, Professor Bongo Adi, explained that the country must begin to improve its export profile to counter its negative balance of payment.

According to him, the capacity to supply the rest of the world grows the economies of the world, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria monetary policy has become sterile to solve the country’s economic challenges.

How Employer Employees Can Enhance Retirement Benefits Under CPS

Despite FG Borrowing, Experts Assure on Pension Fund Safety Ebere Nwoji Both stakeholders and pension experts have said that on going fears expressed by contributors into the Contributory Pension scheme on safety of their funds due to rumors that federal government borrowed pension fund to service its debts is unnecessary and uncalled for.

The stakeholders said this is because the CPS and its funds was sacrosanct and contributors’ funds were even guarded against effects of inflation.

They however said fears by the contributors were understandable given pensioners’ past experiences.

Recently, news of federal government borrowing large chunk of pension fund for the purpose of servicing its debts went viral making contributors into the CPS jittery over safety of their fund and hope of pensionable retirement.

The National Pension Commission (Pencom), in its defense went into

battle of convincing and reassuring them on the safety of their funds by denying the reports.

Pencom’s Head of Corporate Services, Abdulqadir Dahiru, at a Stakeholders Forum/Interactive Session organised by the Public Complaint Commission with the theme: “Effective Administration of the Contributory Pension Scheme in Nigeria: Challenges and the Way Forward,” clarified that instead of the government borrowing pension funds, it was the investment team of pension fund administrators who invested the funds in government bonds.

Earlier, the Secretary, Public Complaint Commission, Mr Philip Enyali, explained that the dissatisfaction of many retirees and the need to address their many petitions to the Ombudsman, regarding their entitlements necessitated the interactive meeting with Stakeholders in the pension industry.

In his reaction, the founder, First Guarantee Pensions, Nze Chidi Duru, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that the contributors’ fears were uncalled for as government did not and could not borrow pension fund as they thought.

Also, Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights Advocacy, Ivo Takor said contributors should stop peddling rumors about government borrowing from pension fund or not because the over N13 trillion they contributed was not with PenCom and was not with the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) or Pension Fund Custodians(PFCs) .

He told THISDAY in a telephone chat that since the money was not in one particular place, lending it to any body or government was not possible.

He said what was causing the rumor was because people were being cynical and found it difficult to believe whatever government or PenCom told them.

CIBN President Inaugurates Board Committees, Tasks Them on Innovation Nume Ekeghe The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has charged members of the governing council committees to continue to innovate and remain relevant due to major transformations and uncertainties in the industry.

President and Chairman of Council, CIBN, Ken Opara, said this recently, during the inauguration of the governing council committees of the institute.

In a statement, the CIBN said the committee members with the likes of former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro; Chairman of THISDAY Newspapers, Nduka

Obaigbena, and immediate past president of CIBN, Bayo Olugbemi, among other eminent personalities, are made up of members and nonmembers, who have the pedigree to continually contribute to the institute, banking industry and the economy at large.

According to him, the committees must work and look into the vision of banking services without banks in the 21st Century.

Noting that the CIBN prides itself in the area of ethics and professionalism, Opara noted that the inauguration was imperative for the growth and development of the institute.

“As we constitute these committees, we believe they will bring to the fore ideas that will take the board and institute to the next level. They are people who have a proven record and have the opportunity to think wide and outside the box.

“As you deliberate and begin to review the agenda, there might be some oversight, however, it will still be smoothening as all is to make the institute a better place,” he said.

In his remark, Pedro, who spoke on behalf of the newly inaugurated board committee members, pledged to put in their best for the growth of the institute.

PayForce, WellaHealth Partner to Provide Health Cover for 1m Nigerians Ugo Aliogo and Ijeoma Okonji Agency banking platform, under the umbrella of CrowdForce, Payforce has partnered WellaHealth, a health tech business to provide health coverage for over one million Nigerians through its 30,000 agents working across the country.

This covers people in the informal sectors and rural areas including the unbanked and underhanded living in these communities and using Payforce’s services.

WellaHealth noted that about 97 percent of Nigerians pay from their pocket when they fall sick.

This puts an undue burden on the finances and disposable income of Nigerians. PayForce believes that this partnership will help

provide agents with the benefits that ensure that their monthly income working with The Head of Business Development and Partnership, CrowdForce, Nurudeen Habu, stated that the partnership would show its agents and numerous customers that the firm is committed to a healthy workforce, and committed to designing ways to protect agents and customer’s earnings, by partnering with WellaHealth, to provide this health plans.

He said, “WellaHealth Plans are retailed to the public at 1700 Naira and 2300 Naira for the quarterly Basic and HospiCash plans which covers common illness like malaria, typhoid, chronic care management and cash back for

funds spent when an enrollee is hospitalised. PayForce understands the importance of access to quality healthcare for its agents and has fostered this partnership as part of its commitment to a better quality of life for its agents.”

WellaHealth’s Marketing and Communications Lead, Joseph Okoroafor, said: “Our teams have done an outstanding job working on this partnership working through all touchpoints to provide quality healthcare for all. This partnership is part of WellaHealth’s roadmap to work with firms and businesses interested in bringing quality health cover to their employees and customers so as to reduce out-of-pocket payment for healthcare at a very low cost.”

PENCOM DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar

Pension administration in Nigeria has a chequered history due to weak structures and financial inadequacy. To solve the challenges, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004. The CPS represented a radical departure from the Defined Benefits Scheme, which was the primary pension arrangement before the reform initiated by the FGN in 2004. The primary purpose of the Pension Reform is to introduce a sustainable pension system that can achieve the ultimate goal of providing a stable, predictable, and adequate source of retirement income for each employee in Nigeria.

The CPS is an arrangement where both the employer and the employee take responsibility for the employee’s pension contributions. It was established by the Pension Reform Act 2004, which was later repealed and re-enacted as the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014). The design of the CPS is holistic and directs key elements at specific issues. Firstly, the Scheme is financially sustainable as both the employer and employee make monthly contributions of 10% and 8% of the employee’s monthly emoluments, respectively. The contributions are paid into a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) opened by the employee in a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) of the employee’s choosing.

The PFAs professionally manage and invest the contributions for the employee until the end of his working life when he is paid his retirement benefits. As of May 2022, the total pension funds standing to the credit of RSA holders was N14.2 trillion. These pension funds have been transparently invested by the PFAs thereby promoting the economic development of Nigeria. The funds are also facilitating the development of the mortgage and capital markets and the insurance industry.

Secondly, the CPS facilitates retirement planning. Therefore, a worker can envisage his life at retirement and start to plan to make it happen. Conversely, employers can provide enhanced retirement benefits to their workers and attract workers with the right skills and competencies.

Against the above background, one can opine that the recent agitation by some groups seeking to exit the scheme

results from inadequate knowledge of the CPS. The common thread in the agitation is the grievance about pension inadequacy or low pensions under the CPS. Indeed, the PRA 2014 only set minimum contribution rates to ensure that every person who worked for the FGN, the Federal Capital Territory, States Government, Local Government, and the Private Sector gets paid his retirement benefits as and when due.

However, under the CPS, an employer can elect to contribute more than the 10% minimum stipulated contribution rate.

Furthermore, the employer may bear the entire contribution burden as long as what he contributes is not lower than 18%. In addition to the above, the employer can institute an additional employee benefits scheme, which can be in the form of gratuity or other similar arrangements.

Therefore, employers in public or private sectors have ample opportunity within the CPS’s ambit to increase their workers’ retirement benefits.

Section 4 (3) of the PRA 2014 allows the employee to make voluntary contributions in addition to the total contributions being made by him and his employer. To make voluntary contributions, the employee must notify his employer in writing of his intention to make voluntary contributions and the amount to be deducted from his monthly emoluments. Voluntary Contributions are made from an employee’s salary and must not exceed 1/3 of the month’s salary in line with the Labour Act, 1990.

Employers and employers are urged to explore the options discussed above to mitigate the challenge of low pensions under the CPS. Seeking to exit the Scheme and return to the Defined Benefit arrangement will be counter-productive. Lessons and the experience of other countries validate this fact.

The CPS has gained acceptance nationally and internationally and has recorded tremendous achievements, which continue to date. Within the eighteen years of its implementation, the CPS has stemmed the growth of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government.

The CPS has also reduced fiscal costs to FGN, stimulated domestic savings, generated a pool of long-term funds for developmental projects, and increased private investments in Nigeria.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

25

BUSINESSWORLD

STATUS REPORT

Finance Cost, Others Slowdown Unilever’s Profit

Kayode Tokede

U

nilever Nigeria Plc unaudited half year (H1) ended June 30, 2022 showed a significant increase in finance cost, cost of sales, and operating expenses that weaken profit before tax to N2.98billion.

The multinational consumer goods company had reported N434.12 million profit before tax in H1 2021 amid steady increase in revenue.

The H1 2022 results showed N628.6million finance cost from N4.47million in H1 2021, driven by N122.5million interest on third-party bank loan and N430.35million exchange difference on bank accounts.

Unilever closed the H1 2022 under review with 22.3 per cent increase in cost of sales to N29.61billion from N24.2billion reported in H1 2021, while total operating expenses rose by 36.4per cent to N11.17billion in H1 2022 from N8.19billion in H1 2021.

The cost pressures is connected with the heightened inflationary pressures on key raw materials, logistics issues and foreign currency constraints faced by companies in that sector.

However, the revenue performance that gained 35.11 per cent to N43.81 billion from N32.42 billion reported in H1 2021, was buoyed by sustained broadbased increase in the Home and Personal Care (HPC) (+31.7 per cent) and Food Segment (+39.5 per cent) respectively.

Sales generated from Home and Personal Care moved

to N23.93billion in H1 2022 from N18.18billion in H1 2021, while Food segment sales moved from N14.24 billion in H1 2021 to N19.87 billion in H1 2022.

Unilever’s H1 2022 PBT margin moved to 6.8 per cent from 1.34 per cent in H1 2021.

The company had recovered in its 2021 financial as the global and domestic economy emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company emerged from 2020 losses to impressive performance in 2021, driven by significant increase in revenue and dividend payout to shareholders but cost of sales and operating expenses remained a threat, calling for caution.

The Directors recommend to the shareholders the payment of a dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December, 2021 of N2.87billion that is, 50 kobo gross per share.

Unilever Nigeria grew its revenue by 35.07 per cent to N70.52billion in 2021 from N52.21billion in 2020, primarily driven by the company’s HPC that gained 47.1per cent, while the Food segment dropped by 10.6 per cent.

Suitably, the HPC segment in 2021 contributed 56 per cent to revenue from 43.6 per cent, while that of the food segment contributed 44 per cent from 56 per cent in 2020.

Unilever with 93 distributors in 2021 as against 102 in 2020, the company reported a domestic

revenue (within Nigeria) growth of 37.1 per cent to N69.8billion in 2021 from N50.89billion in 2020, while Export (outside Nigeria) revenue dropped by 42.7per cent to N756.5million from N1.32 billion reported in 2020.

The company’s revenue growth might be supported by higher volumes from its tier-4 products launched in 2020, increased investment in its distribution network and marginal price increases in some products.

With the growth in revenue, the company closed 2021 financial year with profit before tax of N1.88billion from N4.54billion loss before tax reported in 2020. Unilever Nigeria’s profit for the year migrated from a loss of N3.97billion to N3.41billion in 2021.

As Unilever Nigeria grew total assets by 9.9 per cent to N118.99billion as of June 2022 from N108.3billion reported in full year ended December 31, 2021, as contribution from trade and other payables played a critical role.

Although the company’s long-term assets dropped by 2.8per cent to N21.76billion inn H1 2022 from N22.4billion in 2021, short-term assets grew by 13 per cent to N97.24billion as of June 2022 from N85.91billion in 2021.

Trade and other receivables from short-term assets rose by 27 per cent from N18.99billion as of June 2022 from N14.99billion in 2021.

Unilever Nigeria disposed of its tea business

to Unilever Tea MSO Nigeria Limited, a related party within the Unilever Group, for a considerable amount of N5.4 billion in 2021.

The Unilever tea business was included in the discontinued operations segment of the financial statement, which revealed that the company had also disposed of property, plants and equipment as well as long service award obligations.

Before the company’s business was discontinued in October 2021, it had a turnover of N9.05 billion from January – to September 2021, a 7.17per cent decline from what it generated in the corresponding period of 2020. However, the tea business moved from a loss position to rake in a profit of N2.72 billion in the nine-month period of 2021.

According to analysts at InvestmentOne research, “Going forward, we opine that that the ability to further increase the prices of product offerings may be constrained due to the intense competition in that space and declining purchasing power of the consumer.

“However, we think that some positivity may be reaped from election spending and volume growth due to management strategy to focus on the mass segment.

“We are less optimistic about the bottom-line performance due to the increased cost pressures emanating from heightened commodity prices locally and globally, high finance cost and FX illiquidity and depreciation, thus, earnings should remain pressured in the near term.”

AS CBN TACKLES INFLATION, CURRENCY IN CIRCULATION DIPS BY N72.5BN IN JUNE cent it was September 22, 2020.

Speaking with THISDAY, Head, Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto & Co, Mr. Ayokunle Olubunmi said: “The CBN is trying to manage the exchange rate and there is an assumed correlation between the amount of liquidity in the system and pressure on the exchange. That’s why whenever the CBN believes that there is excess liquidity in the system, they use various tools to mop up the amount of currency in circulation.”

Commenting on the decline in currency in circulation for June analyst at PAC Holdings, Mr. Wole Adeyeye, “The recent increase in interest rate, which was triggered by the rise in MPR, encouraged people to invest in risk-free securities and place their money with banks.

“In addition, the weak spending by consumers and improved electronic banking patronage may

have also contributed to the drop in currency in circulation.”

In the same vein, currency outside banks (COB) dropped to N2.72trillion in June, representing a decline of N42.04billion or 1.52 per cent from N2.76trillion reported by the apex bank in May. COB reached N2.83 trillion in April, the highest in 2022 from N2.78 trillion reported by CBN in January.

COB had reached an all-time high of N2.94 trillion in December 2021, according to the CBN’s “Money and Credit” statistics.

In 2021, the size of COB rose by 17.7 per cent, from N2.49 trillion recorded in December 2020. From the end of 2019 to December 2020, currency outside banks increased by a similar magnitude, from N2 trillion to N2.5 trillion, translating to 23 per cent expansion in the fund.

The growth of COB (which reflects social-cultural practices,

low access to banking services and a huge underground economy) in recent years, underlies the amount of work required to win the war against financial exclusion.

Money held outside the banks is not available for financial intermediation.

In addition, the demand deposits account (DDA) also dropped by N184.98billion or 1.04 per cent to N17.67trillion in June from N17.85trillion reported in May 2022.

DDA is a bank account from which deposited funds can be withdrawn at any time, without advance notice. DDA accounts can pay interest on the deposited funds but aren’t required to. Checking accounts and savings accounts are common types of DDAs. The statistics by CBN revealed that DDA has increased by N1.86trillion or 11.8per cent in Year-till-Date (YtD) to N17.67trillion from N15.81trillion in January 2022.

AMID PLUNGE IN NIGERIA’S EUROBOND PRICES, YIELD HITS 13.76% HIGH the lending rate in US increases, you will have to compensate investors in your local market.

“The Eurobonds are bought by international investors and these investors have options where to put their money. When the interest rate in their local market starts to move up, they prefer to keep money in emerging markets.

“If the demand for emerging market starts to reduce because interest rates at their local market are increasing, then, the price will starts to drop and overall yield will starts to increase. Interest rates are increasing in international markets.

“Even in Nigeria, the CBN has

increased interest rate twice. The hike in yield is meant to drive demand and supply in the Eurobond market.

If the demand is slow, the price will drop and if the price comes down, yield goes up.”

Analysts at Cordros Securities in a report titled, “heightened uncertainties amid great policy unwind: domestic economy H2 2022 Macroeconomic Outlook”, said, “Like in previous years, we believe the FGN’s ability to mobilize debt is crucial to achieving a meaningful budget implementation rate. On foreign borrowing, we highlight that the FGN already borrowed $1.25 billion or (N518.75 billion)

through Eurobond issuance in March.

“The amount borrowed leaves a gap of N2.05 trillion in relation to the budgeted foreign borrowings (N2.74 trillion). In May, the finance minister stated that Nigeria is unlikely to patronise the Eurobond market again this year, given that external financing condition is no longer favourable given increases in global interest rates.

“Accordingly, we expect the gap to be channelled to the domestic debt market. Elsewhere, we are conservative with other financing sources as we assume that the government will meet its target from privatisation proceeds (N90.73

billion) and multilateral/bilateral project-tied loans (N1.16 trillion).

The firm noted that, “Given the substantial amounts of borrowings made by the FG in 6M 2022, we imagine that growth in expenditure must be running ahead of the increase in revenue, leading to a widening fiscal deficit.”

The Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed in July 4 had said the government had abandoned plans to raise about $950 million selling overseas bonds, owing to unfavorable market conditions during the time frame approved for the fund raising.

She had said in April that the

government planned to sell as early as May its second external debt this year to help plug fiscal deficits.

The planned $950 million bond sale would account for the balance of $6.1 billion overseas borrowing planned for 2021, after it raised the second tranche of $1.25 billion in March.

“We were not able to do that because the market pricing was not good and also the approval period for us has closed,” Ahmed said in an interview on the sidelines of Islamic Development Bank meetings in Egypt. “The approval period was up to May 31, 2022,

so we are not going to be able to take that one any more.”

Africa’s biggest crude producer was one of the first sovereigns to tap the Eurobond market after the start in late February of Russia’s war on Ukraine, which stoked commodity prices and inflation just as the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates.

The nation plans to curb borrowing costs this year by using the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) general allocation of reserves known as special drawing rights to fund projects, then reducing external borrowings, the minister explained.

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MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

NBC Investment in Nigeria Hits €1bn in 10 Years Gilbert Ekugbe The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has stated that its investment in Nigeria has reached over €1 billion over the past ten years, noting that the move demonstrates its confidence in the nation’s investment climate.

The Managing Director, NBC Limited, Matthieu Seguin, stated that the investment helped to boost its production capacity, build warehouses, invest in eco-friendly businesses that has provided job opportunities to thousands of Nigerians across the country.

The Managing Director at the

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony with its implementing partners of its recent €1 million donation announcement, said the donation reflects the Company’s commitment to enriching communities and will be targeted towards empowering youth and women, the provision of water and sanitary facilities, as well as scaling its PET recycling initiatives in Nigeria.

“This donation underscores our commitment to improving the lives of our communities, and it will be directed towards areas we believe we can have the most impact - empowering youth

and women, and the provision of water and recycling facilities.

I would like to particularly thank our partners in these initiatives, who have been selected based on their strong track record and will work with us to ensure that this investment is directed where it’s needed most, “Matthieu added.

Key partners for the programmes covered under the €1 million donation include Karis &Eleos Hand of Hope Foundation, West African Vocational Education (WAVE), Organized Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (OPS-WASH) and Chanja Datti Limited.

OPS-WASH will deliver state of the art toilet facilities across identified communities in 5 states in Nigeria, reaching about 5 million people annually. The intervention will also support the Federal Government’s efforts to end open defecation by 2025.

Similarly, WAVE Academy will undertake the upskilling of youths in Abuja, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Edo, Rivers and Kaduna in Digital and Hospitality skills and connect them to job opportunities.

Karis and Eleos Hand of Hope Foundation will focus on empowering vulnerable women across 8 states with relevant skills

to support economic inclusion of women.

The MoU provides a formal framework for the programmes based on shared values and further demonstrates NBC’s commitment to contribute to the uplifting of communities and socio-economic development in Nigeria.

In her remarks, Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Cecilia Bolaji Dada,who was represented by the Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Funmi Raji, said: “The Ministry commends the Nigerian Bottling Company on

their laudable impact in alleviating poverty amongst the citizenry and the state in general, by empowering vulnerable women and young girls in the society through their various programmes. I encourage women everywhere to continue to avail themselves to various opportunities to become empowered, self-reliant, and independent financially.”

Jande Tarfa, a representative of one of the partners, WAVE, said the donation would enable the organisationto expand the scope and impact of its youth empowerment initiatives and reach even more beneficiaries across the country.

Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, (second right) flanked by the Executive Director, Marine & Operations, Adenrele Adesina (2nd left); National President, NARTO, Yusuf Lawal Othman, (left) and the President General, MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju (right) during a meeting between the NPA Management and officials of both MWUN and NARTO in Lagos… recently

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

27

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

NIPC Boss Vows to Make Nigeria Top Destination for Global Private Capital James Emejo in Abuja The newly appointed Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mrs. Saratu Umar, has promised to actualise the commission’s mandate of positioning the country as a top destination for global private capital.

Umar, who assumed office for fresh five-year tenure over the weekend, was first appointed to

head the NIPC in 2014.

She said she still stood by her 2014 vision “to transform NIPC into a gold standard of excellence on the African continent and a world-class investment promotion agency that is comparable to any in the world”.

Speaking during her assumption of office at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, Umar said she was still fully committed to excellence and professionalism, adding that her vision still remained

necessary due to the fact that as the gateway to the Nigerian economy for investors, NIPC should be a strong and a role model public institution with a private sector orientation.

She said, “It should be an African industry leader at the forefront of the investment ecosystem, and it should play a central role in our national development, as contemplated by its Act. “Today, I still stand firm on this

vision and I want to stress it with an even stronger voice. I reiterate that NIPC will be a strong public institution, with a private sector orientation that delivers effective and efficient services that exceed the expectations of all stakeholders in the investment ecosystem and indeed, in Nigeria.”

She listed the main pillars of the vision to include, sound corporate governance practices; corporate accountability, and

institutional discipline; operational excellence and administrative effectiveness through standardized processes, policies, and systems, among others; risk management framework that supports the internal operations, service delivery, mandate, and functions of NIPC as well as certification by the International Standards Organization [ISO] to attain process maturity and enhance NIPC’s service delivery, reliability,

and efficiency.

Others are to achieve robust and effective stakeholder communication and engagement; and structured, systematic, and expanded National Investment Promotion Strategy; deployment of a best-in-class Information Technology system across our functions and processes, and a robust human resource management system that addresses and prioritises staff welfare, training, development, reward system, and motivation.

M in ist ry Advi s e s R e g i s t e r e d Expert Calls for Enforcement of Mandatory Miners to Continue Operation Human Rights Disclosure in Key Sectors Relations, Mrs. Etore Thomas, noted “The Nigerian Minerals and Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, has advises duly registered miners across Nigeria to continue with their operations, while adhering to safe mining protocols and ensuring that security is given priority in their various sites.

The advice is coming on the heels of proposed ban on mining activities by the federal government to curb insecurity.

The ministry in a statement signed by the Director, Press and Public

that mineral resources remain on the Exclusive Legislative list as enshrined in the 1999 constitution (as amended).

The statement read in part: “Section 44(3) states, The entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in, under or upon any land in Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone of Nigeria shall vest in the government of the federation and shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly

Mining Act of 2007 is very clear on issue of minerals ownership and exploitation – Section 1(1). The entire property in and control of all Mineral Resources in, under or upon any land in Nigeria, its contiguous continental shelf and all rivers, streams and water courses throughout Nigeria, any area covered by its territorial waters or constituency and the Exclusive Economic Zone is and shall be vested in the Government of the Federation for and on behalf of the people of Nigeria.”

Codedable Launched to Bridge Technological Gaps Among Youths Oluchi Chibuzor Codedable, a technological innovation programme designed to tackle inequality among those with intellectual disabilities in the country, has been launched to help them acquire in-demand tech-skills for modern-day employment and be independent in life.

Speaking at a formal launching of the programme in Lagos recently, between SeamlessHR and Special Olympics, the Co- Founder SeamlessHR, Deji Lana, reiterated the need for the country to use

technology to drive inclusion with keen interest to those with peculiar challenges.

He maintained that as a technology company they understand the importance of tech skills in the labour markets and “hopes that with the programme participants will be exposed to necessary technological skills to become great in life irrespective of their status.”

He said, “Codeable helps us give back to society in a significant way, adding that the project is very dear to us. Modern workplaces depend

on technology to drive business operations, and employers across industries and roles are looking to hire people with essential tech skills.

Commending on the partnership, the National Director, Special Olympics Nigeria, Naomi Ejobe, said the initiative will promote the participation of vulnerable youths into the digital economy.

“The uniqueness of ‘Codeable’ is the provision of unified technology training that allows people with and without intellectual disabilities equal access to skills that enable self and economic empowerment.”

Coalition Urges Policymakers to Aid Passage of Digital Rights Bill James Emejo in Abuja The Digital Rights and Information Partnership (DRIP), has called on policymakers to support the representation and passage of the Digital Rights and Freedom Bill (DRFB) which will be represented to the National Assembly for passage into law.

The legislation seeks to safeguard Nigeria’s digital space against unlawful shutdowns, guarantee freedom of expression and assembly online as well as enhance citizens’ demand for

accountability and good governance.

DRIP, a consortium of organisations, at a media briefing over the weekend, reiterated its commitment to driving home the importance of the digital rights and freedom bill.

The bill was passed at the National Assembly in 2019 but not signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari who declined assent on the basis that the bill covers technical subjects that other policies seek to address.

The promoters, however, pointed out that Nigeria is currently a signatory to the United Nations (UN)

resolution, instituted in 2016 which affirms that civil, political, economic, and social rights offline must also be protected online. In effect, the federal government had officially acknowledged that digital rights are enshrined in human rights.

The consortium, nonetheless, argued that the 2023 general elections presented the most opportune time for Nigeria to live up to its commitment to upholding digital rights by safeguarding the right to freedom of expression, association, and sharing information online.

Passengers Commend Air Peace on Second China Flight Chinedu Eze Some passengers on Air Peace’s second flight to its recently launched Guangzhou, China destination on July 20, 2022, have commended the airline on its commencement of flight operations to the Asian country.

The passengers, in an interview shortly before their Guangzhou flight departed on Wednesday, from the new International Terminal in Lagos, expressed delight that a Nigerian airline could now operate a scheduled flight

to China, a development that has taken off the connectivity burden which the flying public faced on the route.

Mr Clark Wang, one of the Chinese nationals on the flight, stressed that the Chinese community was excited over the launch, adding that it signalled a great stride in strengthening the commercial ties between Nigeria and China.

He noted that the flight connectivity between both nations would foster development and boost both economies.

Wang also applauded the Air Peace

Management for the strategic decision to make a foray into the route.

Another passenger, Mr. Emmanuel Okereke, expressed happiness over the China launch and felicitated with Air Peace and urged the airline to sustain the feat and be consistent in providing best-in-class services.

Similarly, Timothy Ose, another passenger on board the service, said he flies Air Peace to Dubai and when he learnt of the new China route, he was delighted. He said the expansion into Asia is a huge respite to Nigerians.

Jumia Nigeria Recognised as e-CommerceWebsite of theYear Leading e-commerce platform, Jumia, has been recognised for its innovation and service delivery at the prestigious GAGE Awards. The company was awarded e-commerce website of the year, a category that reflects the best e-commerce brand in Nigeria that provides an

excellent platform for customers to perform seamless shopping.

Commenting on this feat, CEO Jumia Nigeria, Massimiliano Spalazzi said, “We would like to thank everyone who voted for us as the best e-commerce platform at a time we are most proud of as we

celebrate a decade of e-commerce in Nigeria. It further reinforces our commitment and ambition to improve people’s lives through the internet whilst enabling our vendors and logistics partners to grow and reach more consumers across the country”.

Emma Okonj

United Nations Independent Expert and African member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Professor Damilola Olawuyi, has called for the mandatory nonfinancial reporting on human rights performance of business enterprises, as an essential requirement for addressing adverse environmental, social and governance impacts of business operations on human rights across Africa.

Olawuyi who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), made the recommendation during a courtesy visit to the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (NHRC) recently in Abuja, where he was warmly received by the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Anthony Ojukwu SAN) as well as key members of the Nigerian business and human rights community.

Olawuyi was recently appointed

by the President of the UN Human Rights Council as Africa’s representative on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, a position most recently occupied by former Attorney General of Kenya, Mr. Githu Muigai.

The Group has the mandate to promote the effective and comprehensive dissemination and implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights through country visits, capacity building and dialogue with governments and all relevant actors, especially business enterprises.

While commending the NHRC for its innovative programs and efforts aimed at spearheading awareness and empowerment on business and human rights in Nigeria, Olawuyi said the courtesy visit to the NHRC, his very first visit since appointed to the Working Group, was a clear statement on how much the global community expects from

Nigeria in terms of pioneering legal innovations that will advance the business and human rights agenda. He pledged to work collaboratively with the NHRC to advance the important work of deepening a culture of human rights in business activities and investments in Nigeria and across Africa.

He also emphasised that implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, will require more targeted efforts to monitor and track the level of compliance by business enterprises in key sectors.

In response, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Anthony Ojukwu, SAN, congratulated Olawuyi on his well-deserved appointment and emphasised the Commission’s readiness and commitment to collaborate with the working group in accelerating the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Nigeria.

28 T H I S D AY MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 TR

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Monday July 25, 2022 Vol 27. No 9967

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opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

ALFRED LEMMY argues that the controversy over the proposed Water bill is needless

BETWEEN EMOTION AND ECONOMIC VALUE The current hot exchange between the sponsors of the proposed National Water Resources Bill (NWRB) and the antagonist of the bill is very interesting. It is like a battle pitching emotion against economic value. Each side believes it is driven by the patriotic zeal to defend the best interests of the country. While the sponsors say WKH\ DUH ÀUHG XS E\ WKH GHVLUH WR PLGZLIH a legislation that will bring massive social DQG HFRQRPLF EHQHÀWV WR WKH FRXQWU\ WKH antagonists are determined to shoot the bill down because they see it as a weapon for Nigeria’s physical destruction.

The latest and most powerful submission which best summarizes the viewpoint on the Water Resources Bill by the opposing VLGH FDPH IURP 5W +RQ 0DUN *ELOODK PHPEHU UHSUHVHQWLQJ *ZHU *ZHU :HVW Benue State. He said in an interview: “Agreed that the Federal Government would be involved in monitoring and development in rivers across waterways WKDW WUDYHUVH VHYHUDO VWDWHV SDUWLFXODUO\ OLWWRUDO VWDWHV WR FHGH ODQGV ZLWKLQ WKHLU WHUULWRULHV LQ DQ\ ZD\ LV WR FXW WKHLU QRVH WR spite their face.”

Gbillah said the re-packaged National Water Bill is yet another route to introduce the Rural Grazing Area policy (RUGA) the widely rejected human settlement policy RI WKH )HGHUDO *RYHUQPHQW VWHHSHG LQ GLVWUXVW DQG D FDOO WR DUPHG FRQÁLFWV DQG a sure way to increased refugee and IDP PHQDFH LQ WKH FRXQWU\ ´,W LV DGYLVDEOH WKHUHIRUH WKDW WKH 0XKDPPDGX %XKDUL OHG $3& JRYHUQPHQW VKRXOG LQ FRQMXQFWLRQ with advocates of this ill-conceived Water 5HVRXUFHV %LOO ZLWKGUDZ LW IRUWKZLWK WR avoid the evil wind that is likely to blow across the country by reason of its continued hearing and possible passage in the House of Representatives.” %XW WKH 0LQLVWU\ RI :DWHU 5HVRXUFHV RQH RI WKH VSRQVRUV RI WKH ELOO VD\V WKDW contrary to the position held by Gbillah and other opponents of the bill now before WKH 1DWLRQDO $VVHPEO\ WKHUH LV QR FDXVH IRU DODUP %XW WK -XO\ 6XOHLPDQ $GDPX WKH 0LQLVWHU RI :DWHU 5HVRXUFHV VDLG WKDW WKH ELOO KDYLQJ JHQHUDWHG FRQWURYHUVLHV RYHU WKH \HDUV KDV EHHQ UHYLHZHG E\ PDQ\ water experts and highly skilled legal professionals. Some of the innovations captured in the review includes the institutionalization of independent body to help reposition and regulate the water sector. “The bill has answers to some of the questions on the governance of water resources. We must not be made a laughingstock at the international level. Let common sense prevail.” ,QGHHG H[SHUWV ZKR KDYH SHUXVHG WKH :DWHU 5HVRXUFHV %LOO KDYH LGHQWLÀHG QXPHURXV VRFLDO DQG HFRQRPLF EHQHÀWV WKDW will accrue to the country when eventually SDVVHG 7KH\ OLNHQ WKH SRWHQWLDO EHQHÀWV RI

Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu the proposed legislation to the investment and business boom which the reform of the communications sector has been enjoying VLQFH DERXW WKH \HDU ,Q WKLV OLJKW the Nigerian Integrated Water Resources Commission (NIWRC) is envisioned to be the water sector’s equivalent of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

7KH 1,:5& ZKLFK LV DOUHDG\ LQ SODFH requires only the legal backing of the proposed Water Resources law to become operational. It is mandated to regulate ZDWHU GHYHORSPHQW GHÀQH ZDWHU IRRWSULQW standards and water Resources planning and development which is hanging in the balance. The National Water Resources is also being fashioned after the Companies

and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) which UHJXODWHV DOO DVSHFWV RI &RPSDQ\ DͿDLUV LQ 1LJHULD LQFOXGLQJ LQYHVWPHQW RZQHUVKLS FRUSRUDWH JRYHUQDQFH FRUSRUDWH DFFRXQWLQJ PDQDJHPHQW PHUJHUV DQG DFTXLVLWLRQV FRUSRUDWH WD[DWLRQ FRUSRUDWH VRFLDO UHVSRQVLELOLW\ HWF $V D OHJLVODWLRQ CAMA was an amalgamation of hitherto existing separate laws of Nigeria.

6LPLODUO\ DFFRUGLQJ WR D 3URIHVVRU RI ODZ 2ODQUHZDMX )DJERKXQ 6$1 the Water Resources Bill is an omnibus and consolidating document.

“It amalgamates several legislation relating to water resources and governance; creates DVVRFLDWHG $JHQFLHV $XWKRULWLHV 2΀FHV and Institutions; and spells out elaborate

Experts who have perused the Water Resources Bill have identified numerous social and economic benefits that will accrue to the country when eventually passed. They liken the potential benefits of the proposed legislation to the investment and business boom which the reform of the communications sector has been enjoying since about the year 2000

administrative details and interagency collaboration at federal and state levels.” $SDUW IURP WKH EHQHÀWV RI DQ HQDEOLQJ OHJDO IUDPHZRUN PDQ\ RI WKH RWKHU EHQHÀWV H[SHFWHG IURP WKH SURSRVHG ODZ LQFOXGH WKH HVWDEOLVKPHQW HͿHFWLYH ZDWHU sector governance in Nigeria in line with global best practice; provision for equitable and sustainable development of Nigeria’s surface and ground water; enhancement of a greater participation of farmers in irrigation management and improvement in food security; and provision of the regulatory framework for private sector participation in water supply delivery in the country.

The bill also provides for the establishment of a Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) )81' IRU WKH SXUSRVH RI ÀQDQFLQJ WKH development of water resources as well as for expanding access to Water Supply and Sanitation facilities and for the promotion of Hygene practices across Nigeria.

The Fund is conceived to be a basket of funds to promote Federal-State partnership towards achieving national targets for XQLYHUVDO DFFHVV WR :DWHU 6XSSO\ 6DQLWDWLRQ and Hygiene (WASH). The monies of the Fund are to be sourced from budgetary DOORFDWLRQ IURP WKH )HGHUDO *RYHUQPHQW allocation from the Development of Natural Resources Fund from the Federation Account and contribution by state Government as counterpart funds RQ DSSURYHG 3URMHFWV 2WKHU VRXUFHV RI funding for the WASH Fund are loans and grants from Multi-Lateral Financial LQVWLWXWLRQV GRQRU DJHQFLHV GHYHORSPHQW SDUWQHUV GRQDWLRQV DQG EHTXHVWV IURP other sources; as well as special Taxes and Levies as may be approved by the National Assembly.

The Water Resources Bill will provide the required legal instrument to support H΀FLHQW PDQDJHPHQW RI WKH QDWLRQ·V ZDWHU resources and accelerate the contribution of the water sector to national development in accordance with Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles. It will also promote equitable DQG DͿRUGDEOH DFFHVV WR ZDWHU DQG UHGXFLQJ poverty as well as accelerate foreign direct investment opportunities and job creation in the Water Sector.

Since both the sponsors of the bill and its antagonists are patriotic citizens who are out to defend the best interests of the FRXQWU\ LW EHKRYHV RQ WKHP WR GURS WKHLU arms. They should come to the round table and resolve any lingering grey areas standing in the way of the passage of the bill VR WKDW 1LJHULDQV FDQ KDUQHVV LWV LGHQWLÀHG EHQHÀWV Lemmy writes from Jos, Plateau State

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The attack on Kuje prison by terrorists called to question the seriousness of relevant authorities, argues UZOMA AHAMEFULA

The federal government should copy the model adopted

by Edo State Governor for the power sector, argues INWALOMHE DONALD

BEFORE TERRORISTS OVERRUN NIGERIA

POWER SECTOR AND THE OBASEKI MODEL

Terrorists are at the verge of overrunning Nigeria. That is the unfortunate sad truth nakedly before all of us. Evidence VXJJHVWV WKDW WKH\ DUH LQ VWUDWHJLF R΀FHV and everywhere in the country – no bush in any part of Nigeria is save for farming anymore. We must acknowledge these facts without bringing in any sentiments of politics, religion or tribe so that we could in unison genuinely try to redeem the already hopeless situation. Above all, President Muhammadu Buhari must fairly and justly act now and decisively too, because it does appear that the security of this country has been compromised.

The manner terrorists successfully attacked the Kuje prison in Abuja and released their captured members is an international embarrassment and a disgrace that has exposed Nigeria to global ridicule

The tragic irony of it all that made the embarrassment and the disgrace so scary is that the ugly incident happened in no other place than the Federal Capital Territory Abuja – not far away from Aso Rock, the place President Buhari and his kitchen cabinets reside as unserious country. The situation is inexplicable and unacceptable. When the implication will begin to manifest, it will be extremely devastating and too costly to this nation, economically and security wise.

How can a sane mind explain that a sovereign country with army, air force, police, DSS etc. and many secret security agencies at its arsenal did not get any tip when this evil of attack was even at its elementary stage of hatching, to talk of it being successfully executed? Where is the intelligence-gathering unit of this country?

Reports have it that this bunch of terrorists operated for more than “2 hours 45 minutes” trying to release their captured members.

This is intolerable and despicable, and it is a heavy indictment of accomplice on the part of perhaps some security agents/chiefs DQG VRPH OHDGHUV RI WKLV FRXQWU\ ,V WKLV QRW terrible?

The tragic irony of it all that made the embarrassment and the disgrace so scary is that the ugly incident happened in no other place than the Federal Capital Territory Abuja – not far away from Aso Rock, the place President Buhari and his kitchen FDELQHWV UHVLGH ,I WKHVH WHUURULVWV FRXOG KDYH a successful operation in Abuja, the message simply means that nobody is safe anywhere in Nigeria. Just a few days ago the convoy of President Buhari was attacked. Thank God that he was not in the convoy and that QR OLIH ZDV ORVW ,I WKH FRQYR\ RI D SUHVLGHQW with all the military forces attached to him can be attacked: who is safe?

According to reports, the Permanent 6HFUHWDU\ RI WKH 0LQLVWU\ RI ,QWHULRU 'U Shuaibu Belgore said that the attack did not “come to” him “as a surprise because the

security architecture in the entire country is very weak, especially in the Northwest, many amongst the security personnel operating on Abuja – Katsina/Zamfara URXWHV DUH LQIRUPDQWV WR WHUURULVWV µ ,W ZDV also reported that when President Buhari visited the attacked Kuje prison he was shocked and asked many questions. “How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty?

How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work? How can terrorists organize, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”

The questions the president asked are the right questions, however they are the same questions Nigerians, and the entire world are expecting to get the answers from him and his security chiefs. , DOVR KDYH PDQ\ TXHVWLRQV LQ P\ PLQG Who were those on duty at the time of the attack? The attack was reported to have lasted nearly three hours; were the security forces like army and air force etc. informed? ,I WKH\ ZHUH LQIRUPHG ZKR LQIRUPHG WKHP" ,I WKH\ ZHUH QRW LQIRUPHG ZK\" ,I WKH\ GLG UHVSRQG ZHUH WKH\ RQ WLPH and also with enough military and right weapons? Are the Nigerian air force and PLOLWDU\ ZDU MHWV QRW IXQFWLRQLQJ" ,I WKH\ are not functioning; why? And if yes, why have they not been used to aerially attack and follow the terrorists until they have no place to hide? And why is the Nigerian JRYHUQPHQW QRW ÀQGLQJ LW QHFHVVDU\ WR make it as a routine policy to use the Nigerian air force to aerially comb all the bushes that are hiding kidnappers, bandits and terrorists etc. – and also, as a policy of response to any distress call of bandits, heavy armed robbers and terrorists’ attack? ,I WKLV DSSURDFK FDQ EH DGRSWHG DURXQG 80 % of this nonsense would have been taken care of. But this is not possible in a place like Nigeria, and not because that the money is not there but because events have made it evidently clear that some highly privileged animals are secretly behind this pain of Nigerians. Meanwhile billions are mapped out monthly by both the state and the federal government in the name of security votes, which they actually use to secure only themselves and their immediate families.

A country where terrorists and kidnappers use mobile phones to negotiate how much should be paid to them for the release of their victims without being traced is a country where the security system is compromised or has collapsed.

President Buhari must do the needful now E\ ÀUVW VDFNLQJ WKH 0LQLVWHU RI ,QWHULRU Rauf Aregbesola and the Controller General for Nigeria Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa. Equally, he must fairly and justly investigate the security agents on duty on this day of the attack to ascertain the role they played and take the right action. ,I WHUURULVWV FRXOG DWWDFN D SUHVLGHQWLDO convoy, and also a place like Kuje prison for nearly three hours and successfully free WKHLU PHPEHUV ZLWKRXW VXͿHULQJ PDQ\ casualties, it tells it all that Nigeria is indeed a joke.

Ahamefule writes from Vienna, Austria

The Edo State House of Assembly has passed a bill to repeal the Rural Electricity Board Law of 1972 to re-enact a new law that makes provision for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity for residents of the state, paving way for the establishment of an electricity market in the state. The Assembly unanimously adopted all six parts of the bill during a session of the committee of the whole on Tuesday, 19th July 2022.

The passed bill provides for the liberalization of the electricity market in the state, allowing for a PRUH SUDJPDWLF DSSURDFK WR UXUDO HOHFWULÀFDWLRQ and expansion of distribution infrastructure in the state. The passing of the bill spells better days for electricity consumers in the state, who ZLOO QRZ EHQHÀW IURP SURSHU UHJXODWLRQ RI the electricity sector in the state, which would

allow operators a more predictable business HQYLURQPHQW ,Q WKH QHZ UHJLPH HOHFWULFLW\ providers in the state with Generation License, ,QGHSHQGHQW (OHFWULFLW\ 'LVWULEXWLRQ 1HWZRUN License and Eligible Customer (willing buyerwilling seller) approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) ZRXOG UHDS WKH IXOO EHQHÀW RI D OLEHUDOL]HG electricity market.

The new regime will usher in by the new bill ZLOO FUHDWH URRP IRU H[SDQVLRQ RI WKH RͿ JULG operations of operators such as Ossiomo Power Company which enjoys a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the government. “A lot is going to change. We will have a lot more certainty in the market as there is a state-level regulation for power operations. With this, the likes of Ossiomo Power Company which is already powering public utilities and industrial clusters would be assured of better regulation DQG ZRXOG KDYH WKH FRQÀGHQFH WR H[SDQG :H expect to see more players in the industry.”

There is need for President Buhari to adopt Governor Godwin Obaseki’s power model of power distribution in Edo State. There is competition between Ossiomo and BEDC in Edo State. There is alternative electricity in Edo State today. Nigeria needs this model to solve the electricity challenge. The electricity market in Edo State is taking a turn for the better as increased competition among players has created options for reliable power supply to residents, who credit Obaseki for opening up the state for investment that has now improved their living standards.

Checks in the Benin metropolis have revealed that the two major power distribution companies in the state, Benin Electricity Power Distribution Company (BEDC) and Ossiomo 3RZHU &RPSDQ\ DUH LQ D ÀHUFH EDWWOH IRU WKH customers with the competition assuring better SRZHU RSWLRQV WR UHVLGHQWV ,W ZDV GLVFRYHUHG that with the improvement of distribution infrastructure by Ossiomo Power in select areas in the Benin metropolis, residents are opting for the company’s power solution with the supply averaging 22-24hrs/day. The industrial areas

are even better served because they need electricity to keep the machines running, which is not what you get everywhere in Nigeria.

Right from the inception of his administration, Governor Obaseki had disclosed that Edo State has developed plans to help overcome the challenges of power distribution to industries, residential buildings and other users.

BEDC has misunderstood this and trying WR IUXVWUDWH WKH HͿRUW RI WKH JRYHUQRU LQ providing electricity to the people of Edo State. Obaseki is setting new boundaries for power generation in Edo State which Benin Electricity DisCo (‘BEDC’ or ‘Benin Disco’) which is one of the successor distribution companies (DisCos) created following the unbundling and privatization of the state-owned Power Utility, Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc highly misunderstood. BEDC misunderstood Obaseki who has introduced systems approach to quantifying the value of power generation and energy storage technologies in future electricity networks.

A new approach that required to determine a technology’s value to the power systems of the 21st century. The centrepiece of the system value (SV) concept is a whole electricity systems model on a national scale, which simultaneously determines the ideal power system design and unit-wise operational strategy.

Obaseki had accused the BEDC of writing petitions against the deal sealed for the SXUFKDVH RI ÀYH PHJDZDWWV RI HOHFWULFLW\ WR OLJKW XS JRYHUQPHQW R΀FHV LQ %HQLQ City. The governor, who said the petitions have hindered the success of the purchase agreement, decried the poor supply of electricity to the state, the company’s resolve not to supply pre-paid meters to electricity consumers and its culture of over-billing its clients.

According to the governor, “195 communities have never seen electricity as BEDC is not ready to extend electricity to these communities. 128 communities have issues of collapse of infrastructure ZKLFK %('& LV QRW SUHSDUHG WR À[ transformers purchased by the state government and the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as replacements for faulty transformers are yet to be installed by BEDC.” He added: “The people are over-billed with the estimated billing system of BEDC. We lost a student due to the negligence of BEDC, for refusing WR À[ D SROH WKDW ZDV NQRFNHG GRZQ DIWHU UHFHLYLQJ PRQH\ WR À[ LW , KDYH LQVWUXFWHG WKH $WWRUQH\ *HQHUDO RI (GR 6WDWH WR ÀOH charges of criminal negligence against the senior management of BEDC.” The electricity sector in Edo State is undergoing an unprecedented transition which BEDC has failed to utilize. Today, 2VVLRPR SRZHU LV SURYLGLQJ DͿRUGDEOH secure and reliable electricity by attracting investors with low risk, stable returns.

BEDC has not taken advantage of the liberal investment incentives here and improved power supply from Ossiomo. BEDC cannot provide electricity for industrial customers, for processing, producing, or assembling goods including diverse industries such as manufacturing, mining, agriculture.

Donald, Benin City inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com

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EDITORIAL

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

AVERTING LOOMING ECONOMIC CRISIS That Nigeria spends more than it earns indicates fiscal irresponsibility that should be urgently addressed

T

education free when it is primary and secondary he time for spin seems over with the VFKRROV ZH VKRXOG EH IRFXVLQJ RQ :H QHHG D tacit admission last week by the federal PRUDWRULXP RQ R΀FLDO MXQNHWV D IUHH]H RQ IXUWKHU government that the national economy is capital commitments, an engagement with all foreign QRZ HͿHFWLYHO\ LQ GLUH VWUDLWV $FFRUGLQJ and domestic creditors for some reprieve on existing to the Minister of Finance, Budget and GHEWV HWF %RUURZLQJ WR SD\ VDODULHV DOVR PDNHV QR 1DWLRQDO 3ODQQLQJ =DLQDE $KPHG WKH VHQVH EXW WKDW LV ZKHUH ZH DUH WRGD\ FRXQWU\·V GHEW VHUYLFH FRVW LQ WKH ÀUVW TXDUWHU RI $GGUHVVLQJ RXU LQIUDVWUXFWXUH GHÀFLW LV LPSHUDWLYH H[FHHGHG UHYHQXH E\ D ZKRSSLQJ VXP RI 1 ELOOLRQ :H FDQQRW HQMR\ WKH QHFHVVDU\ JURZWK ZLWKRXW LW %XW 7KDW ÀJXUH LV DOUHDG\ KLJKHU WKDQ WKH SURMHFWLRQ E\ JLYHQ RXU SRSXODWLRQ PRVW RI WKHVH GHÀFLWV FDQ EH the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which had in ÀQDQFHG WKURXJK 3XEOLF 3ULYDWH 3DUWQHUVKLS 333 LWV $UWLFOH ,9 ODVW )HEUXDU\ ZDUQHG RI WKH GDQJHU :LWK WKDW LQ PLQG ZH PXVW DOZD\V UHPHPEHU WKDW DKHDG :KLOH RXU R΀FLDOV PD\ KDYH MDUJRQV WR H[SODLQ there is competition for capital, so we need a clear the challenge at hand, the word on the streets is that IUDPHZRUN ,Q PDNLQJ Nigeria is gradually decisions, investors going bankrupt and that FRQVLGHU WKH ULVN DGMXVWHG should worry all critical There is nothing wrong for a country to face temporary economic setback UHWXUQV <HW DOO WRR RIWHQ VWDNHKROGHUV Nigeria does not scale so long as the managers of the economy are capable and indeed able to fix $V ZH KDYH DUJXHG LQ this hurdle because of the the past, there is nothing it. What will be tragic is for us to live in denial and resort to unrestricted high level of uncertainties wrong for a country to ZKLFK HTXDWH WR KLJKHU ULVN face temporary economic borrowing to falsely prop the economy as we continue to do without commensurate setback so long as UHWXUQV :H QHHG WR DOVR the managers of the WDNH WKH QHFHVVDU\ VWHSV WR DGGUHVV WKH SRZHU VLWXDWLRQ T H I S D AY HFRQRP\ DUH FDSDEOH DQG LQGHHG DEOH WR À[ LW :KDW $OWKRXJK WKH IHGHUDO JRYHUQPHQW KDV NHSW EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU will be tragic is for us to live in denial and resort to DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA FRPSDULQJ RXU GHEW *'3 UDWLRV WR RWKHU FRXQWULHV unrestricted borrowing to falsely prop the economy MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO and saying we were within normal limits, revenue DV ZH FRQWLQXH WR GR 7KLV ZDV ZKDW EURXJKW *UHHFH DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU WR *'3 LQ 1LJHULD ZDV PXFK ORZHU DQG WKHUHIRUH ,WDO\ DQG 3RUWXJDO WR WKHLU NQHHV DQG WKH FRQVHTXHQFHV CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI RXU GHEW VHUYLFH UHYHQXH XQVXVWDLQDEO\ KLJK 1R are still with those countries despite strong institutions EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN company would expect to stay in business in the MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DQG PRUH DFFRXQWDEOH OHDGHUVKLSV THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE PLG WR ORQJ WHUP LI LW GHSOR\HG WKH VDPH ÀQDQFLDO 7KH PDMRU SUREOHP ZLWK 1LJHULD LV ÀVFDO PDQDJHPHQW DSSURDFK DV RXU QDWLRQDO JRYHUQPHQW irresponsibility at all levels of government and the (TXDOO\ QR FRXQWU\ VKRXOG H[SHFW WKDW WKHUH ZRXOG EH over dependence of on an unpredictable source of QR FRQVHTXHQFHV IRU FRQWLQXDOO\ VSHQGLQJ DERYH LWV LQFRPH UHQW IURP RLO :LWK PDVVLYH WKHIW WKURXJK T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D PHDQV EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA illegal bunkering and the inability of the government GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, *RLQJ IRUZDUG JRYHUQPHQW DW DOO OHYHOV PXVW OHDUQ to remove fuel subsidy, it is easy to understand ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI WR YLHZ WKLQJV KROLVWLFDOO\ )RU H[DPSOH ULJKW QRZ WKH\ ZK\ WKH QDWLRQDO DFFRXQW FDQ QR ORQJHU EDODQFH DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, will be tempted to raise taxes to cover their ballooning :KDW 1LJHULDQV WKHUHIRUH GHPDQG DQG GHVHUYH DW D ANTHONY OGEDENGBE costs without due thought to the potential negative WLPH OLNH WKLV LV QRW VXEWHUIXJH %H\RQG WKH VXEVLG\ DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI LPSDFW RQ RWKHU DVSHFWV RI WKH HFRQRP\ 7KH\ VKRXOG SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH TXHVWLRQ WKDW KDV EHHQ KDQJLQJ IRU GHFDGHV WKHUH DUH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI KDYH D KDQGIXO RI FRUH REMHFWLYHV VXFK DV HFRQRPLF RWKHU LVVXHV WKDW QHHG WR EH DGGUHVVHG ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI growth that far surpasses population growth, and For our size and needs, we are not generating CONTROLLERS DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO VLJQLÀFDQW UHGXFWLRQ LQ XQHPSOR\PHQW DQG XQGHU HQRXJK UHYHQXHV DQG WKHUH DUH WRR PDQ\ OHDNDJHV TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com XQHPSOR\PHQW DPRQJVW RWKHU FRQVLGHUDWLRQV 7KHUH LV VWLOO D À[DWLRQ ZLWK PDNLQJ SXEOLF XQLYHUVLW\

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

AFFIDAVIT ON MY RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC RIGHTS It has come to my knowledge that some person(s), groups and associations have been making public VWDWHPHQWV UHJDUGLQJ SROLWLFDO D΀QLW\ DQG SURFODPD tions on behalf of my religious faith and ethnic na WLRQDOLW\ 7UDXPDWLFDOO\ LQ WKH ODVW FRXSOH RI GD\V P\ sensibilities have been assaulted, battered, raped and undermined by person(s), groups and associations fraudulently claiming to espouse political position on EHKDOI RI P\ HWKQLF QDWLRQ DQG UHOLJLRXV IDLWK For the umpteenth time, I am being forced to come out and state my position as a Nigerian, Christian and D <RUXED PDQ LQ RUGHU WR VHW WKH UHFRUGV VWUDLJKW )RU the attention of the general public, my name is Nelson (NXMXPL DQ DGXOW D PDOH OHJDOO\ PDUULHG DQG D &KULV WLDQ IURP WKH <RUXED HWKQLF QDWLRQDOLW\ GRPLFLOHG LQ WKH )HGHUDO 5HSXEOLF RI 1LJHULD I hereby state as follows, that based on the above stated parameters of my religion as a Christian and <RUXED HWKQLF RULJLQ WKDW , VWDWH ZLWK DOO HPSKDVLV DQG sense of responsibility, that I have never at any time

SAGAMU-BENIN EXPRESSWAY IS DEPLORABLE

and under any circumstances, appropriated or surren GHUHG P\ ULJKWV DV D &KULVWLDQ RU D <RUXED PDQ WR DQ\ person(s), groups or associations to speak or represent PH RQ P\ SROLWLFDO D΀OLDWLRQ DQG SURFODPDWLRQV I am capable of making my political decisions as a 1LJHULDQ D &KULVWLDQ DQG <RUXED PDQ P\ IXQGD mental and democratic rights to pledge support, mo bilize and vote for a political party and candidate of P\ FKRLFH UHPDLQV P\ LQDOLHQDEOH DQG QRQ QHJRWLDEOH ULJKW $Q\ SHUVRQ JURXSV RU DVVRFLDWLRQV SXUSRUWLQJ WR assert, speak or represent on a political position on be KDOI RI &KULVWLDQV DQG <RUXEDV LQ 1LJHULD RI ZKLFK DP a part without my individual consent, is an impostor, a fraudster who ought to be arrested and prosecuted ac FRUGLQJ WR WKH ODZV RI WKH )HGHUDO 5HSXEOLF RI 1LJHULD $V WKH JHQHUDO HOHFWLRQV GUDZV , PDNH WKLV SXE OLF GHFODUDWLRQ IRU UHFRUG SXUSRVHV

The deplorable state of Nigerian roads is akin to GULYLQJ RQ D URDG WR KHOO LW LV VDG WKDW GHVSLWH WKH LQYHVWPHQWV RXU URDGV DUH QRW SURSHUO\ PDQDJHG , UHFHQWO\ GURYH RQ WKH 6DJDPX %HQLQ H[SUHVVZD\ DQG , ZDV VKHOO VKRFNHG DW WKH OHYHO RI QHJOHFW DW VRPH SRLQW , ZDV ED΁HG DW WKH ZD\ WKH URDG IHOW OLNH GULYLQJ RQ TXLFN VDQG EHFDXVH , ZDV WU\LQJ WR DYRLG SRWKROHV $Q\WLPH , KHDU WKH 0LQLVWU\ RI :RUNV WDON JORZLQJO\ DERXW 6DJDPX %HQLQ URDG , ZRQGHU ZKDW LV KDSSHQLQJ 7KH 6DJDPX 2NXQRZD VWUHWFK RI WKH road has been totally neglected and it’s a nightmare GULYLQJ RQ LW , ORVW FRXQW RI WKH EDG VSRWV DV WKH URDG ZDV XQHYHQ DQG GDXQWLQJ 7KLV LV D FODULRQ FDOO RQ WKH authorities to resurface the roads probably and make LW EHWWHU IRU VDIH GULYLQJ $V ZH VSHDN LW LV QRW VDIH WR GULYH RQ

Nelson Ekujumi. nelekujumi@gmail.com

Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@gmail.com

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

HOMES&DESIGN

JULIUS BERGER’S HIGH-RISE:

Big, Bold Beautiful Investors in multi-floor real estate are beginning to wise up to change the usual trend of sole house types to mixed-use facilities. It is no surprise that Julius Berger, a foremost construction company in the country, decided to create one of its own in Lagos. Bennett Oghifo writes

J

ulius Berger is a big player in the nation’s construction industry, and wherever it operates, the company leaves an indelible landmark. So it is with its mixed-use high-rise facility in Lagos. In its usual style as a savvy investor in Lagos, Julius Berger constructed a high-rise representing the highest technological standard in every respect.

According to its promoters, the mixed-use high-rise building is elegant,

sustainable, and of the highest technological standard. The building comprises a 33,000m2 gross floor area on 15 floors, including a basement level for technical equipment fitted with office space, conference areas, a canteen and apartments. An integrated car park also offers 230 spaces and a helipad on the roof.

A curtain-type glass facade envelops the concrete frame construction on a pile foundation

for an elegant external appearance.

A light-coloured horizontal panel construction covers the car park that cuts into the building at the rear.

In addition, the building is characterised by outstanding sustainability and has received the LEED “Core and Shell” silver certification.

Special attention was paid to energy and water efficiency, renewable energies, and the high-rise LEED-

compliant with sustainable materials during the planning and award of contract phases. The latter include low VOC emissions, locally-sourced and recycled materials.

Specifically, the 15-storey exquisite building has 33,000 m2 gross floor area, 2,250 m2 residential space, 9,850 m2 office space, 230 car park spaces, 10,500 m2 aluminium-glass facades, 20,000 m3 concrete 3,600t concrete steel, and 66 bored piles.

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MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSSPECIAL

Editor: Obinna Chima obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08024557078

Broad Street

Living in World of Rising Interest Rates Obinna Chima writes on the rising inflation rates globally, which has forced central banks of many countries to hike their interest rates with the Central Bank of Nigeria following similar path.

G

lobal geo-political risks have risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early this year. Clearly, the five-month war is exerting a drag on the global economy, as it has led to the surge in energy and food prices, currently driving galloping inflation rate and weighing on economic growth.

Owing to this, many countries including the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Ghana, India, among several others have all raised interest rates to fight rising inflation.

For instance, the United States Federal Reserve’s rate increase in June 2022, was the highest since 1994, and analysts are predicting that the Fed may raise interest rates again at its meeting on Wednesday. That would be the fourth rate increase in five months.

Similarly, the European Central Bank had last Thursday increased interest rates for the first time in 11 years, by pushing its benchmark rate up by 50 basis points, in an attempt to cool rampant inflation in the euro zone.

In the same vein, in South Africa, the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by threequarters of a percentage point to 5.5 percent last Thursday, the highest in a decade. The move was the fourth rate hike in a row, as the South African Reserve Bank voiced concerns over high inflation and weak economic growth.

Ghana’s central bank had also raised its main interest rate by 200 basis points to 19 per cent to control inflationary pressures, just as India’s central bank had raised its key interest rate to 4.9 per cent, also to contain inflation.

Generally, it is expected that higher interest rates would affect cost of borrowing for banks, which is then passed onto businesses, consumers and households. But it is also anticipated that higher borrowing costs would eventually slow borrowing and economic activity, which would ultimately slow inflation.

THE NIGERIA SITUATION

In Nigeria, the Central Bank of (CBN) also toed the same path last week, as it 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 came exactly two months after the committee had at its last meeting held in May, raised the MPR by 150 basis points from the 11.5 per cent it was, previously.

Inflation in Nigeria climbed to 18.6 per cent in June.

CBN Governor and Chairman of the MPC, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had warned that the MPC would continue to raise benchmark interest rates

as long as inflationary pressure continued.

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, 2022.

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.”

The CBN governor noted that on tightening, members of the MPC were unanimous 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, the policy dilemma was hinged around the level of tightening needed for inflation without dampening manufacturing output, which could result in a higher cost of borrowing.

Emefiele explained, “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 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.”

While pointing out that inflation could be a terrible scourge, he said it was capable of totally obliterating citizens’ purchasing power, particularly the weak, 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,” he added.

ANALYSTS REACT ON RATE HIKE

The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said there was nothing Nigeria could do to alter the Ukraine – Russia War and the resultant international price of wheat or energy price.

Rewane said, “The things you can do are the things within your reach, which are your interest rate movement and the structure of your interest rate. When the MPC increased interest rate by 150 basis points the last time, what happened to the general level of interest rate in Nigeria? It remained flat.

“If you look at every other market like Ghana, Kenya, the policy rate is always lower than the one-year treasury rate. In our case, the treasury bills rate for three months is 3.7 per cent, one-year about seven per cent, while inflation is about 18.6 per cent and policy rate at 14 per cent. So, the MPR is double the one-year treasury bills rate.”

While noting the rising cost of diesel and exchange rate depreciation as drivers of inflation, Rewane argued that interest rate hike would not be enough to tame inflation.

“Interest rate is a limited tool to deal with surprise shocks, so it will go a long way, but it is not a silver bullet,” he added.

Managing Director/Chief Economist, Africa and Middle East Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, opined that she expected that inflation in Nigeria would continue to rise until the rates in the various forex markets harmonises.

“In the absence of forex policy moves, the read on monetary policy intentions becomes more difficult. However, we think that in tightening now, the CBN is reacting both to

current pressures, as well as potentially preparing the ground for eventual (maybe post-election) FX policy reforms,” Khan added.

Lending his voice, Managing Director, Optimus

by Afrinvest, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, noted that high inflation in the country was due to structural issues such as insecurity.

He urged the federal government to tackle insecurity in order to boost food production as well as provide necessary infrastructure.

On its part, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), stated that the CBN MPR hike alone would not yield the desired result of lowering inflation.

Director General, LCCI, Chinyere Almona, stressed the need for a corresponding boost to supply-side factors of inflation to accompany the monetary policy instruments by the apex bank in order to tackle inflation.

She said supply-side factors like forex scarcity, insecurity, rising costs of fuels and weak infrastructural support for production must be addressed.

However, Almona admitted that CBN’s rate hike was seen to be a necessary option considering that many other economies were raising rates for the same reason of taming inflation.

According to her, a comparatively low-interest rate could make the country’s portfolio assets less attractive to asset buyers and offshore investors.

“We note the gloomy outlook of the global economy, which has a direct link to our domestic economy with pass-through effects of imports. The persistent war in Ukraine and other disruptive factors may present as risks into the end of the year.

“Tightening of rates may have been a good decision by the MPC as that was necessary to tame the rising inflation rates in the past months,” she added.

The LCCI boss, however, urged the CBN to maintain its targeted intervention schemes for agriculture, manufacturing, industries, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, exports, and Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

“While it is expedient to curb inflation rates, we equally risk a contracted economy that may go toward a recession,” she added.

In his intervention, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, said, “lending situation in the economy is already very tight. The new MPR hike means that the cost of credit to the few beneficiaries of the bank credits will increase, which will impact their operating costs, prices of their products and profit margins. The equities market may be adversely impacted by the hike.”

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

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BUSINESS SPECIAL

ANALYSIS

Waiting for the Revived National Theatre Dike Onwuamaeze writes that the ongoing renovation of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, which has reached advanced stage will no doubt deliver a landmark creative and entertainment city capable of attracting massive investment inflows into Nigeria’s creative industry and ultimately support the federal government’s economic diversification drive.

National Theater in Lagos

W

ith few months to the completion of the renovation of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, there are high expectations that the facility would help to attack more investments into the nation’s creative sector and by extension, support the federal government’s drive to improve the country’s non-oil revenue.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and members of the Bankers’ Committee have been upbeat about the ongoing transformation of the facility owing to its immense benefits to the larger economy when it comes back to life.

Nigeria is a country with over 250 ethnic groups, which showcase in diverse ways, the country’s rich cultural heritage. Through music, movies, writing, food, fashion, dancing among other genres of arts, the country’s cultural treasure is being continuously showcased to the world.

The Nigerian music industry had been estimated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.4 per cent by 2021, estimated at about $73 million.

However, one of the factors that have hindered the growth of the sector is the poor state of infrastructure. For instance, the National Arts Theatre reputed to be the primary centre for the performing arts in Nigeria, has lost its glory and potential as a means of non-oil revenue generation for the country.

This national asset, built in 1976 as one of the four main venues of the historic Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) that took place in 1977, popularly known as ‘FESTAC 1977’, has completely lost its splendour.

Just like the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, this facility had been turned into a meeting point for town unions and indigenes from other tribes resident in Lagos State.

One rarely hear of any cultural event taking place at this edifice that once hosted all Nigerian state government functions and musical extravaganzas such as the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Roy Ayers, Skyy, Shalamar, Whispers, Third world and Dynasty; stage events like Wole Soyinka’s adaptation of D.O Fagunwa’s Langbodo and even Stevie Wonder, who received one of his numerous Grammy Awards at the National Theatre.

The sorry state of this national monument and the desire to aggressively ramp up activities in the non-oil sector forced the Bankers’ Committee, in collaboration with the CBN to intervene in the National Theatre and the creative sector at large.

Under the intervention, the project would be funded through the Creative Industry Funds Initiative (CIFI) of the Bankers’ Committee.

The CBN and other members of the Bankers’ Committee had set up the Creative Industries and Financing Initiative through which banks are expected to set aside, on an annual basis,

Emefiele five percent of their profit after tax (PAT).

However, as a reflection of the level of work done at the facility, last week, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, embarked on a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, ahead of the maiden United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Global Conference on Tourism, Culture and the Creative Industries, to be hosted at the Art Theatre between November 14 and 16, 2022.

The minister said the conference would mark the fifth time the UNWTO and its member states demonstrated confidence in Nigeria by giving the country the hosting right of major international events.

Mohammed said the choice of the National Theatre was most appropriate for the conference, because the monument remained the hub of arts and entertainment in the country, and would return the edifice to its role.

He said, “The conference provides socioeconomic benefits among other opportunities, where we will showcase Nigeria’s tourism, culture and creative assets, project the country’s image as a safe and desirable destination for leisure and business, and consolidate on our relationship with the

UNWTO and its member states.

“The conference will also generate foreign exchange and create direct and indirect jobs, while highlighting the restart of travel and tourism in a safe and seamless manner after the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a near-collapse of the sector.

“There will be interaction and exchange of ideas and best practices with key industry players, while creating opportunities for the training of public and private sector tourism officials.”

Emefiele had said the exercise by the Bankers’ Committee was a, “a total rejuvenation of the National Theatre by really redeveloping this masterpiece right at the centre of Lagos that will be linked with the rail to ensure this project works.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this project is costing the Bankers’ Committee, by the last estimate, about $100 million, and I must say that, yes, $100 million or more will be invested in this project, but it is going to be business where the monies will be realised again.

“I am happy that foreign investors are already showing interest and I want to place it on record that we have received inquiries from investors in the United States, who have said that they are interested in taking a look at not just the National Arts Theatre, but also the creative opportunities that we are developing around here. So, I must say that this is exciting for us at the Bankers Committee and also at the Central Bank of Nigeria,” Speaking on the completion of the project, Emefiele noted: “Our target is that by the special grace of God, Mr. President will commission the new National Arts Theatre

by November. And we are hoping also on the day he commissions the new National Art Theatre; he is also going to lay the foundation for the four verticals – the music, the movie, IT as well as the fashion hub.”

He added, “By the time the president is about bowing out by May next year, he would come again and now re-commission not just the national asset, but the entire edifice comprising the four vertical hubs so that there will be immense business opportunities, enough of tourism, enough of creative sector businesses that will be generated, not just for Nigeria but particularly for our youths who have shown a lot of creative talents, and we think we need to use this opportunity to harness it.

“I’m getting excited because we are hoping that sometime by the end of this year, there will be some programmes and global activities will be hosted in this complex. We would be talking to ArtX gallery and hopefully, by this year, we can

bring the ArtX exhibition into this complex because we know that by November, this place will be ready, so that we can begin to bring this place back to us again and then put life into the tourism life in Nigeria and particularly in Lagos State.”

Mohammed had also promised that the National Theatre would be inaugurated by President Buhari in November to open the venue for reputable international events, guaranteeing that the full completion would happen before the president’s tenure elapses.

“It seems very hopeful now that the new National Theatre will host the United Nations, World Health Organisation sometime in November this year and also some other global events. From what you see, you may not appreciate half of what has gone on. I think we have crossed the Rubicon and by the time we come back in two months we will all see that a lot of work had been buried under,” he added.

On his part, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, had said he was, “excited about this and we look forward to November when it will be completed.”

Sanwo-Olu promised that the state would be extending its warmest hospitality to visitors that would be attending the UNWTO event across the world while giving assurance of Lagos’ readiness to collaborate with the federal government to use the event to create lasting positive impression for the country.

The Lagos State Governor had previously said the renovation of the National Theatre was all about creating an enabling environment for investors.

The federal government and the CBN as well as banks under the aegis of the Bankers’ Committee had previously signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formally commence the renovation of the National Arts Theatre.

Also, the Bankers’ Committee and Cappa and D’Alberto Limited, the contractor handling the project had signed an agreement to commence the first phase of the renovation, which was expected to end in 15 months’ time.

Additionally, in order to ensure that the National Theatre and the adjoining entertainment hubs retain their ambience upon completion, the Ministry of Information and the CBN/ Bankers’ Committee had also signed an MoU with a facility manager to manage the building complex.

While Cappa & D’Alberto Limited is the main contractor, the Electrical sub-contractor is Nairda Limited while the mechanical sub-contractor is VACC Limited.

According to the promoters, when completed, the National Theatre would be the number one event centre in Africa. There would also be the development of clusters to support the creative industry.

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MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ DAY JULY 25, 2022

CITYSTRINGS

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

Collaboration in Countering Terrorism As part of measures to counter terrorism while beefing up its defence technology, the Nigerian Air Force recently sought stronger collaboration with its Turkish counterpart. Amongst other things, Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that the recent visit of the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao to Turkey buttressed the need for both nations to share their experiences on the use of unmanned aircraft systems in counterterrorism operations

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao with Chief of Logistics, Air Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya; and Director of Operations, Air Vice Marshal Nnamdi Ananaba

CAS with Commander, TurAF, General Hasan Kucukakyuz

CAS onboard a Turkish simulation aircraft

The quarter quard in honour of the CAS

I

n its quest for boost its defence technology to sustain the ongoing way against terrorism, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), recently sought stronger collaboration with the Turkish Air Force.

This was the crux of discussion between both Air Forces when the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao and his entourage recently visited Turkey.

In fact, the CAS and the Commander of the Turkish Air Force (TurAF), General Hasan Kucukakyuz expressed the willingness of the two air forces to collaborate on defence technology in order to enhance their operational efficiency in the fight against terrorism currently being experienced by both countries.

According to NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, this was made known when Air Marshal Amao recently paid a courtesy call on the Commander TurAF during his five-day official visit to Turkey.

Air Marshal Amao was accompanied on the visit by the Chief of Logistics, Air Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya and Director of Operations, Air Vice Marshal Nnamdi Ananaba from Headquarters Nigerian Air Force.

He said both also emphasised the need for Nigeria and Turkey to share their experiences on the use of unmanned aircraft systems in counterterrorism operations.

This, according to them would enable strategic synergy and enhance proficiency with renewed commitment to wipe out terrorism.

While appreciating Turkish military experience in counter-terrorism operation which spanned over a decade, Air Marshal Amao stated that Turkey was able to achieve operational successes against terrorists due to the usage of right military equipment.

“Turkey has succeeded in developing a robust defence industrial sector capable of meeting up to a significant percentage of critical requirements of her armed forces and other security agencies”, he said.

Air Marshal Amao therefore called for greater collaborations with the Turkish Air Force Command, even as he said, the NAF appreciates the existing cooperation in the areas of training and extension of invitation for NAF personnel participation in some of the TurAF international military exercises.

He then requested for more support from the TurAF in the areas of upgrade and modernisation of platforms, air defence training, special forces training as well as training slots in information communication technology for NAF personnel.

Speaking further, Air Marshal Amao noted that the two countries could greatly benefit from military student exchange training programmes as the consideration would enhance critical understanding of the two countries’ security environments and deepen greater cooperation.

While reiterating the need for strong

collaboration in defence technology, the CAS stated that the signing of Defence Industry Cooperation Agreement by the two countries offered greater opportunity for the NAF and TurAF to work more closely together.

In his remarks, the Commander, TurAF, General Hasan Kucukakyuz noted that Turkish Air Force is willing to deepen cooperation with the NAF by assisting the Service in any area that could ultimately strengthen its operational capabilities.

He stated that the NAF would, from now, fully participate in its international military exercises, including ANATOLIA Eagle. General Hasan promised to liaise with the NAF and assist in all areas of military cooperation with other services in Turkey as well as defence procurement concerns.

The two air chiefs agreed to fashion out modalities that would enable a meeting between officers of the two air forces to outline areas of comprehensive cooperation that could be of mutual value to both sides.

During the five-day visit, the CAS toured some prominent Turkish defence companies

Both also emphasised the need for Nigeria and Turkey to share their experiences on the use of unmanned aircraft systems in counterterrorism operations. This... would enable strategic synergy and enhance proficiency with renewed commitment to wipe out terrorism

for identification of possible defence products that could be required by the NAF. These include Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Aselsan, Havelsan, Manatek, BNW Group, Fly BVLOS and Airways Group and Express Technics.

He also paid a courtesy call on the Nigerian Ambassador Extraordinaire Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Republic of Turkey, His Excellency Ismail Yusuf Abba.

For those in the know, this partnership is very strategic bearing in mind the current security situation in the nation. Which is why Air Marshal Amao is living up to his mission, "To enhance and sustain critical airpower capabilities required for joint force employment in pursuit of national security imperatives".

Also, this aligns with his five main key drivers which lays emphasis on doctrinal development and application of airpower in joint military operations; purposeful training and human capacity development; platforms and equipment serviceability through innovative maintenance methods and logistics support systems; disciplined workforce essential for combat readiness and bolstering troop morale by improving personnel welfare.

In terms of defence technology, the NAF has witnessed tremendous improvement in the past seven years, especially in the provision of modern equipment either through acquisitions or Research and Development.

Therefore, given that sustaining a service like the NAF that derives its potency from technological assets, which is a capital-intensive responsibility, such collaborations are needed.

Already, such huge capital investments in the NAF are helping turn the tide against terrorists and other violent non-state actors in the nation.

But as always, there is need for more, hence the drive towards collaboration in operations and technological defence.

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ JULY 25, 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Constrained by Scarce FX, Agro-allied Firm Resorts to Backward Integration James Emejo ÓØ ÌßÔË Amidst the current challenges of foreign exchange accessibility as well as the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, PET Agro Limited, said it has resolved to embrace backward integration which is more beneficial to both the company and the Nigerian economy in general.

It said it also planned to fully set up a local vegetable oil plant to be sited in the oil palm and cashew producing areas in Kogi State by 2023.

The Managing Director, PET Agro Limited, Ms. Rehab Danladi, told THISDAY in an interview that 80 per cent of the refined products will be for export and 20 per cent for the local market.

She said the firm was already in talks with the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) to help facilitate the former’s exports adding that discussions were also ongoing with the Bank of Industry (BoI)

towards the setting up of the proposed factory.

Danladi explained that the backward integration efforts will not only position the company to compete favourably with products being imported into the country in terms of quality and pricing but also help the country generate the muchneeded foreign exchange.

She said, “We were importing before the outbreak of COVID-19, then the problem came of the dollar between the CBN rate and the black market and availability was a problem. So I felt there was a need for us to go to backward integration. Enough is enough for imports into Nigeria and foreign exchange going out.

“So let’s now produce in Nigeria, promote Nigeria and earn the foreign exchange into Nigeria and that has been my focus. We started on a good note but COVID-19 came and messed up everything both in India and Nigeria.

“India just opened March

this year after so many months of break. And the good thing is that the waste of these processed products can be converted to poultry feeds and nothing is wasted; and the kernel for soap making.

Small industries can also come out from the residue of those processed seeds.”

She also said that the firm had received necessary certifications from NAFDAC to commence local manufacturing of vegetable oils mainly for exports.

He said, “The next thing now is to site the factory and then make use of Nigerian produced 100 per cent – palm kernel, cashew nuts, and soya beans – to convert them from seeds to oils.

“At the moment, the seeds go out from here, processed out, and come back again here.

So I will process it here and send it out directly and I get a lot of value for it- India is number one as far as the purchase of raw seeds is concerned.”

L-R: Deputy Governor Lagos State, Kadi Obafemi Hamzat; Executive Governor, Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo- Olu and Managing Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Abubakar Suleiman during the Relaunch of Lagos State Residents Card in Lagos...recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

ACCA Grants FCT-IRS Approved Employer Recognition Olawale Ajimotokan ÓØ ÌßÔË The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) has been awarded the status of Approved Employer Recognition by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in recognition of its efforts at building a competent and durable workforce.

ACCA presented the

certificate to the Acting Executive Chairman FCT-IRS, Mr. Haruna Abdullahi in Abuja during a visit by its members.

Earlier in his remarks, the ACCA Country Manager in Nigeria, Mr. Tom Isibor said the Approved Employer Recognition is an outstanding achievement packed with vast benefits, which the service should and must explore.

He highlighted that this feat

is an investment in Human Capital Development which gives the Service access to a robust network of members and communities across the world.

He also affirmed that the certification provides the service access to ACCA collateral content and intellectual property, all in a bid to build a productive, competent and efficient workforce.

Access Bank Set to Empower Women Entrepreneurs Nume Ekeghe Access Bank in its continuous bid to empower female entrepreneurs with financial and business skills has called on women entrepreneurs globally to apply for its Womenpreneur Pitch-a-Ton Africa season four.

The Group Head, W Initiative, Access Bank Group, Mrs. Abiodun Olubitan, made the call at a media roundtable for the unveiling of Access Bank W Initiative: Pitch-a-ton season 4 in Lagos over the weekend.

She noted that the competition

is open to Nigerian business owners from age 18 to 55, whose businesses are legal and registered in Nigeria.

This year’s edition is slated to have 27 winners emerge with the top seven receiving financial grants of N5 million and the additional 20 will be consolation prizes which would include free website development, and free advertisement, and a mini MBA in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC) She also added that female-owned businesses across Africa have an opportunity to access finance,

world-class business training as well as mentoring opportunities.

Olubitan said: “ This initiative was designed to create an enabling environment for female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.”

Olubitan said that the bank was expecting 40,000 applications as against 30,000 received last year and noted that four thousand applications since it opened. She explained that those who had applied and were not lucky to be selected as one of the top 100, would be harvested into the W Community.

ACAMB Conference: Banks,OPS to Brainstorm on Collaboration for Economic Growth Nume Ekeghe Nigerian banks and the organised private sector (OPS) are set to address critical areas of concern and strategies to create sustainable synergy between the financial services sector and other businesses at Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) conference The 1st National Stakeholders Conference on Synergy between the Nigerian Banking Industry and the OPS, top financiers; economic experts and industry chieftains will proffer lasting solutions to the constant discord between the banking industry and the OPS. Speaking at a pre-event media briefing in Lagos, President, Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) , Mr Rasheed Bolarinwa said the Nigerian economy would be the major beneficiary of the

conference as far reaching strategies would be taken to tap into the nascent economic benefits through the expected synergy.

According to him, the conference would bring together the best players on both sides to act as think tank for the nation’s macro economic growth.

“The Organised Private Sector is a valued stakeholder of the banking industry. Both the banking industry and the organized private sector play major roles in growing the economy. The need for the two sectors to work closely cannot be overemphasized.

ACAMB is therefore reaching out to secure the participation of relevant speakers at the conference,” Bolarinwa said.

He said the conference, which holds on Wednesday, 3rd August 2023 at the conference hall of the Bankers House in Victoria Island, Lagos, will have the

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the keynote speaker while Presidents of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), NACCIMA and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) as major speakers.

Chief Executive and Registrar Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Dr Seye Awojobi said the main focus of the event is to bring together the main sectors for the benefit of the national economy.

He said the conference will correct any perceived misunderstandings between the two sectors have to be examined critically to proffer common grounds that would foster understanding and progress.

He added that the forthcoming ACAMB conference is expected to chart the course for effective areas of collaboration for the growth of the national economy at this challenging time.

(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).

45

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͳ˜ ͰͮͰͰ

H1 2022: Africa Prudential Reports 19% Increase in PBT to N1.16bn Kayode Tokede Africa Prudential Plc has reported 19per cent increase in profit before tax to N1.16 billion, according to its half year (H1) unaudited results for the period ended June 30, 2022 compared to N972.3million reported in the corresponding period.

The business solution and share registration service

provider company listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) also grew profit after tax by 13 per cent to N935.8 billion in H1 2022 from N827.64million in H1 2021.

A gain of 19 per cent in gross earnings to N1.99 Billion in H1 2022, compared to N1.67 billion in H1 2021 and revenue from contracts with customers to N928million in H1 2022, compared to N517million in

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

H1 2021; a growth of 79per cent, contributed primarily to profits growth in the period under review.

According to the company, interest income declined by eight per cent in H1 2022 on account of a nine per cent decline in the interest on loans and advances and a 53per cent decline in interest on short-term deposits during the period.

On the other hand, Interest

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

earned on bonds increased 22per cent year on year cushioning the effect of the significant decline from other interest income sources.

Despite the 10% increase in total operating expenses, our cost-to-income ratio reduced by four percentage points to 43 per cent relative to 47per cent in the corresponding period.

The Managing Director/ CEO of Africa Prudential, Mr.

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

Obong Idiong, in a statement said, “Our results remain a testament of the impact of our deliberate efforts at diversifying and strengthening our revenue lines to multiple income lines, innovating new ways to deliver value, and adopting cost efficiency in every facet of our operations.

“The 355per cent growth in digital technology income highlights the success of our

O F

2 2

switch to a technology-oriented business and we remain positive about the potential growth from this revenue stream in the medium to long term.

“As we venture into the second half of the year, we will continue to deploy value to our customers leveraging on innovation and technology to transform their experience and increase shareholders’ wealth.”

/ 7 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

46

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

Monday, July 25, 2022 ŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƋƵŝƟĞƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ ĞĂƌƐ WƌĞǀĂŝů͘​͘​͘ ^/ ĚŽǁŶ Ϭ͘ϱй ǁͬǁ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

dŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ benchmark index fell 0.5% w/w to 51,979.92 points.

Consequently, YTD return weakened to 21.7% from

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

Current Price

Ticker

ϮϮ͘Ϯй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĚŝƉƉĞĚ േ126.8bn

to േϮϴ͘ϬƚŶ͘ DĞĂŶǁŚŝůĞ͕ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ϵ͘ϭй ĂŶĚ ϭϴ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ ϭϴϯ͘ϰŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϯ͘ϬďŶ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ h (128.1m

units),

'd K

;ϲϱ͘ϰŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ

>/s/E'dZh^d ;ϰϬ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ DdEE (േ2.0bn), E (േ1.8bn), and ^ W> d (േ1.7bn) led trade by ǀĂůƵĞ͘

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

2515.83

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ Ϯ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͘ dŚĞ Kŝů & 'ĂƐ and /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ϯ͘ϴй ĂŶĚ ϭ͘ϴй

ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ ^ W> d

20.1%

4.1%

48.4%

99.5%

10.0%

18.2%

6.2%

229.00

0.0%

7.7%

16.2%

-0.4%

105.6%

13.9%

69.30

0.0%

5.6%

3.4%

-3.6%

23.3%

12.1%

20.75

-0.5%

4.1%

-20.2%

1.2%

19.8%

3.2%

0.8x

6.4%

ot Applicable

1.1%

14.5x

17.9x

6.0%

26.1x

5.9x

4.2%

3.8%

3.4x

0.7x

14.5%

29.3% 38.3%

3.9%

-17.5%

-4.4%

20.6%

2.6%

2.6x

0.5x

14.2%

3.6%

3.1%

-3.6%

37.7%

16.4%

12.0x

4.4x

7.6%

8.3%

24.10

-7.3%

2.6%

0.6%

-8.7%

15.5%

11.1%

6.5x

1.0x

8.3%

15.3%

8 FBN Holdings Plc 9 Nestle Nigeria PLC 10 SEPLAT Energy PLC

11.20

0.4%

2.5%

-1.8%

-3.4%

20.1%

1.9%

2.4x

0.4x

3.1%

41.3%

1,400.00

0.0%

2.5%

-10.1%

0.0%

112.8%

16.1%

24.3x

28.3x

3.8%

4.1%

1,430.50

0.0%

2.8%

120.1%

10.0%

7.5%

3.6%

14.5x

1.1x

2.9%

6.9%

9.10

0.0%

2.1%

-2.2%

-2.2%

17.9%

1.6%

2.0x

0.3x

7.7%

50.3%

11 Access Holdings PLC 12 United Bank for Africa PLC 13 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 14 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

17 International Brew eries PLC 18 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Guinness Nigeria PLC 21 Presco PLC 22 Wema Bank PLC 23 FCMB Group Plc 24 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC

ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϭй ĂŶĚ Ϯ͘Ϭй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ hE/dz E< ;-6.7%),

31 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 32 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

E/d, ;-ϲ͘ϱйͿ͕ ,KEz&>KhZ ;-ϭϰ͘ϱйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ E ;-

33 Custodian and Allied Insurance 34 Unilever Nigeria PLC 35 Jaiz Bank PLC 36 Oando PLC 37 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 38 Sterling Bank PLC 39 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

7.30

-0.7%

1.6%

-9.3%

-2.0%

15.6%

1.4%

2.1x

0.3x

13.7%

47.8%

49.75

0.0%

1.2%

-0.5%

-15.4%

10.5%

3.9%

21.4x

2.2x

3.2%

4.7%

216.90

0.0%

1.4%

52.7%

0.0%

43.6%

25.5%

11.3x

4.8x

4.1%

8.8%

10.00

-5.7%

1.2%

14.9%

-5.7%

18.4%

1.0%

2.1x

0.4x

6.7%

47.5%

6.7x

1.1x

9.8%

15.0%

0.8x

6.5%

19.8% 42.4%

31.55

0.0%

1.1%

-12.4%

-6.0%

15.6%

2.1%

5.40

9.1%

1.0%

9.1%

-14.3%

-9.9%

-3.4%

33.00

-2.9%

0.9%

16.4%

1.5%

15.9%

4.5%

5.1x

-9.9%

3.10

0.3%

0.6%

21.6%

-9.4%

13.3%

1.2%

2.4x

0.3x

11.3%

0.0%

0.7%

132.1%

0.0%

17.8%

8.1%

13.5x

2.2x

0.6%

7.4%

158.40

0.0%

0.4%

80.4%

-4.0%

7.3x

4.4x

4.4%

13.8% 6.8%

3.99

0.0%

0.5%

454.2%

25.1%

15.7%

0.9%

3.02

0.0%

0.4%

1.0%

-12.7%

10.7%

1.1%

1.93

-1.5%

0.4%

-16.8%

-3.5%

2.9%

0.9%

12.70

0.0%

0.4%

28.3%

-0.4%

14.7x

2.1x

6.0%

0.2x

6.6%

18.4x

0.6x

13.0%

5.4%

6.1x

2.9x

11.8%

16.5%

8.6x

1.4x

6.3%

11.6%

0.5x

1.7%

16.00

0.0%

0.4%

-8.0%

-1.8%

1.19

-0.8%

0.3%

24.0%

-3.3%

10.40

0.0%

0.3%

70.5%

8.3%

7.9x

1.2x

2.7%

12.6%

17.10

0.0%

0.2%

94.3%

-0.9%

12.1%

4.1%

18.3x

2.1x

3.1%

5.5%

11.20

0.0%

0.2%

17.9%

0.9%

5.2%

2.3%

12.6x

0.7x

5.9%

7.9%

234.50

0.0%

0.2%

5.7%

0.0%

1.7x

8.3%

16.7%

6.6%

27.10

0.0%

0.2%

21.3%

2.3%

18.1%

2.3%

6.0x

0.8x

9.2%

16.6%

7.00

-4.1%

0.2%

-11.4%

0.0%

19.5%

5.5%

4.1x

0.8x

7.1%

24.3%

15.00

0.0%

0.1%

3.4%

1.4%

7.2%

4.3%

46.7x

1.3x

3.5%

2.1%

0.85

0.0%

0.1%

51.8%

-6.6%

17.4%

1.3%

6.6x

1.2x

4.7%

15.2%

5.14

-0.8%

0.1%

16.3%

-9.3%

5.10

0.0%

0.1%

-13.6%

-17.1%

6.1%

0.7%

8.0x

0.6x

1.50

0.0%

0.1%

-0.7%

-1.3%

10.3%

1.0%

3.0x

0.3x

-17.7%

-4.1%

62.50

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

6.25

0.0%

0.0%

16.2%

0.0%

-21.5%

-174.9% 12.4% 6.7%

1.8x 1.1%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o lu m e P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

M ULT IVER SE

1.95

9.6%

GT C O

33.8

-0.2%

C OR N ER ST

0.72

9.1%

UB A

14.2

-0.7%

R EGA LIN S

0.27

8.0%

UA C N

12.5

0.9%

A IIC O

0.64

4.9%

A C C ESSC OR P

10.4

0.6%

LEA R N A F R C A

2.60

4.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

9.5

0.0%

A C A D EM Y

2.10

2.9%

F ID ELIT YB K

9.2

-0.3%

C WG

0.91

2.2%

IN T B R EW

8.2

-9.2%

performing stocks of the week while E , K (-

C H IP LC

0.67

1.5%

T R A N SC OR P

6.3

-1.6%

UA C N

11.20

0.9%

WA P C O

3.5

-1.9%

20.5%), s ZdKE (-16.8%), and ,KEz&>KhZ (-

C UT IX

2.27

0.9%

ST ER LN B A N K

3.3

-2.6%

unchanged. KZE Z^d ;нϮϲ͘ϯйͿ͕ ^ W> d (10.0%), and >/E< ^^hZ ;нϵ͘ϰйͿ ĞŵĞƌŐĞĚ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ

T o p 10 L o s e r s

ϭϰ͘ϵйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƵŶĚĞƌƉĞƌĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ͘ EĞdžƚ week, we expect the market to post marginal gains

T ic k er IN T B R EW

ĂƐ ŵŽƌĞ ,ϭ͗ϮϬϮϮ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ƌĞƐƵůƚƐ ĂƌĞ ƌĞůĞĂƐĞĚ͘

C A VER T ON

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

P ric e C hg %

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

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

4.95

-9.2%

GT C O

707.7

-0.2%

1.14

-8.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

207.9

0.0% 0.0%

R T B R ISC OE

0.44

-8.3%

M TNN

176.5

CHA M S

0.25

-7.4%

A IR T ELA F R I

148.5

0.0%

1.01

-7.3%

NB

141.4

0.0%

N EM

3.17

-6.8%

UA C N

139.3

0.9%

J A IZ B A N K

0.85

-6.6%

UB A

105.4

-0.7%

LA SA C O

33.7% -9.5%

1.0x

P ric e

ĂƐ ϭϴ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ͕ ϯϯ ůŽƐƚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϭϬϭ ǁĞƌĞ

T ic k er

1.0x

90.50

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ͕ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ Ăƚ -0.1x from the prior week

6.9%

0.0%

29 Cadbury Nigeria PLC 30 UAC of Nigeria PLC

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ

11.1%

-5.5%

27 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

5.5x

20.75

;нϵ͘ϰйͿ͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ and ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ indices

and &Z-/ d indices down 0.5% and 0.2% w/w

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

P/BV

265.00

;нϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ KZE Z^d ;нϮϲ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ >/E< ^^hZ

6.8%) and MTNN (-Ϭ͘ϲйͿ ĚƌŽǀĞ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ

P/E

5 Zenith Bank PLC 6 Dangote Cement PLC 7 Lafarge Africa PLC

25 United Capital PLC 26 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

ϭϬ͘ϵйͿ͘ >ŝŬĞǁŝƐĞ͕ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ t W K ;-

35.7% 151.6%

ROA

0.0%

3 BUA Cement Plc 4 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC

-0.48%

ROE

1,905.40

15 Ecobank Transnational Inc 16 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

ĐƌŽƐƐ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ

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

UN IT YB N K

0.42

-4.5%

A C C ESSC OR P

94.1

0.6%

SOVR EN IN S

0.27

-3.6%

WA P C O

91.6

-1.9%

GLA XOSM IT H

6.45

-3.0%

N EST LE

44.6

0.0%

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe |akeripe@afrinvest.com

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

Damilare Asimiyu | dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

47

MONDAY, JULY 25, 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 21July-2022, unless otherwise stated.

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

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

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

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.12% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.74 3.80 9.96% 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 4.78% Anchoria Equity Fund 144.95 146.57 4.09% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.20 1.20 5.05% 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 22.36 23.04 10.24% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 522.59 538.34 15.83% ARM Ethical Fund 43.76 45.08 12.32% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.08 1.09 0.47% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.05 1.05 3.33% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.49% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 88.48 88.48 -8.37% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,094.64 1,094.64 9.46% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,008.11 1,008.11 5.48% CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.06 1.06 4.68% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.85% Paramount Equity Fund 20.19 20.56 15.77% Women's Investment Fund 151.46 153.36 6.67% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.78% Cordros Milestone Fund 135.64 136.61 8.81% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.34 110.34 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 N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 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 1478.33 1478.33 10.71% FBN Balanced Fund 195.23 196.53 11.39% FBN Halal Fund 121.58 121.58 10.17% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.85% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) 124.81 124.81 6.26% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 163.18 165.38 7.62% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn

Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

4,163.65 3,588.26 100.00

4,223.98 3,588.26 100.00

12.57% 6.25% 8.29%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.11 1.11 3.97% 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 13.69% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,154.18 1,154.18 5.19% 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) 101.15 101.15 1.77% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 7.71% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.66 1.70 5.68% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.80 11.82 5.51% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.96% PACAM Equity Fund 1.50 1.51 5.20% PACAM EuroBond Fund 117.39 120.22 3.07% 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 8.31% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 13.15% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.36 1.38 4.00% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.17 1.19 12.90% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.07 1.07 4.01% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.90 1.90 3.56% United Capital Eurobond Fund 122.06 122.06 3.04% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.68% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.94 14.07 5.71% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 16.15 16.32 10.50% Zenith Income Fund 22.87 22.87 4.18% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.01% 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 3.86 3.96 -3.82% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 5.95 6.05 1.80% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 19.15 19.35 8.26% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.38% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 20.68 20.88 3.47% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 152.68 154.68 -3.20%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

117.74 51.82

3.98% 1.90%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

15.15 143.56 113.19 17.10 16.40

15.25 147.03 115.61 17.20 16.50

8.28% 10.37% 10.39% 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.

48

MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

Zelensky Blasts Russia for Striking Odesa Port Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted Russia, jeopardising a deal that both Russia and Ukraine signed to allow Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain out of its Black Sea ports. The deal was signed by both nations Friday, but on Saturday, Russia launched a missile attack on the port of Odesa.

Zelenskyy said late Saturday in his daily address, “Today’s Russian missile attack on Odesa, on our port, is a cynical one, and it was also a blow to the political positions of Russia itself. If anyone in the world could still say that some kind of dialogue ... with Russia, some kind of agreements are needed, see what is happening. Today’s Russian Kalibr missiles have destroyed the very possibility for such statements.”

A spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed military infrastructure Saturday in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, a site that is vital for the exportation of Ukrainian grain.

Maria Zakharova posted on her Telegram account, “Kalibr missiles destroyed military infrastructure in the port of Odesa, with a high-precision strike.”

Russia earlier denied involvement in the Saturday strike that came a day after Russia and Ukraine had signed agreements allowing Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain out of its Black Sea port..

UK PM Candidates Promise to Get Tough on Illegal Migration

Britain’s two contenders to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister promised on Sunday to tackle illegal immigration as a priority, with both backing the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda.

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss are battling to become Britain’s next prime minister after a revolt over Johnson’s scandal-ridden administration forced the prime minister to say he would stand down.

The two candidates have so far clashed over the timing of any tax cuts at a time when Britain is facing rising inflation, stalling growth and an increasing number of strikes.

Sunak, on Saturday, described himself as “the underdog” after Truss topped opinion polls among the Conservative Party members who will appoint their next leader, and Britain’s prime minister, with the result due on September 5.

On Sunday, both candidates set out their plans to press ahead with the government’s policy of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda, though the first deportation flight was blocked last month by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Truss, who is tipped as a favourite to win the leadership contest, said she would look to pursue more “third country processing partnerships like Rwanda,” which would increase the border force by 20 per cent and strengthen Britain’s Bill of Rights.

“As prime minister, I am determined to see the Rwanda policy through to full implementation as well as exploring other countries where we can work on similar partnerships,” Truss said in a statement.

Mediterranean Ships Find 5 Dead, Rescue Over 1,100 Migrants

Italian vessels have recovered five bodies and rescued 674 people packed on a fishing boat adrift in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard said Sunday, while European charities reported saving more than 500 more.

Some survivors had to be plucked from the sea in the Italian operation Saturday that was carried out 120 miles (190 kilometres) off the coast of Calabria by a Navy mercantile ship, three Coast Guard patrol boats and a financial police boat. All of those rescued were brought to ports in Calabria and Sicily.

The causes of death for the five dead were not immediately known.

The Coast Guard said it was just one in a series of rescues in recent days in the Italian search and rescue area of the central Mediterranean, as desperate people fleeing poverty or oppression seek a better life in Europe. In one case, a helicopter was called to evacuate a woman in need of medical treatment from a migrant boat in a precarious condition, the Coast Guard said.

In separate operations, the German charity Sea-Watch said it rescued 444 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean on overcrowded, rickety smugglers’ boats. The Sea-Watch 3 vessel carried out the five operations over 24 hours and said the rescued included a pregnant woman and a man who had suffered severe burns.

The charity is asking for permission to bring the rescued people to a safe port, as the rescue ship cannot accommodate so many people.

In addition, the European charity SOS Mediterranee said its rescue ship Ocean Viking saved 87 people, including 57 unaccompanied minors, from an overcrowded rubber boat off the Libyan coast. None had life jackets, the charity said.

Pope Heads to Canada Over Indigenous School Scandal

Pope Francis left Rome on Sunday for Canada for a chance to personally apologise to Indigenous survivors of abuse committed over a span of decades at residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics at Edmonton’s international airport.

The pope’s plane took off from Rome shortly after 9:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT).

The 10-hour flight constitutes the longest since 2019 for the 85-year-old pope, who has been suffering from knee pain that has forced him to use a cane or wheelchair in recent outings.

The pope was in a wheelchair on Sunday and used a lifting platform to board the plane, an AFP correspondent accompanying him said.

Francis’ Canada visit is primarily to apologise to survivors for the Church’s role in the scandal that a national truth and reconciliation commission has called “cultural genocide.”

Before he left, the pope said on Twitter he was making a “penitential pilgrimage” that “might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken.”

He will be joined on the visit by his diplomacy chief, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s second most senior official.

Israeli Forces Kill 2 Palestinians

Israeli forces on an arrest mission killed two Palestinians in the West Bank Sunday and wounded several other people.

The Palestinian Red Crescent identified the two victims as Aboud Sobh, 29, and Muhammad Al-Azizi, 22.

Local officials said the Palestinians were killed in a house in Nablus.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the

suspects had been wanted for a series of shootings.

“We won’t sit and wait for Israeli citizens to be harmed,” Lapid told his Cabinet.

“We strongly condemn this crime, and we hold the occupation responsibility for its repercussions,” Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, posted on Twitter.

No Israeli forces were wounded in the fighting, according to media reports.

In recent months, Israeli forces have often raided the West Bank to force Palestinians to stop their attacks on Israelis.

Several of those raids have turned deadly.

China Launches Second Space Station Module, Wentian

China on Sunday launched the second of three modules to its permanent space station, in one of the final missions needed to complete the orbiting outpost by year’s end.

A live feed on state broadcaster CCTV showed the 23-ton Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) laboratory module launching on the back of China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B, at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan.

Space agency staff, seen on the live feed observing the progress of the launch from a control room, cheered and applauded when the Wentian separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after the launch.

The launch was “a complete success”, CCTV reported shortly after.

China began constructing the space station in April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe module, the main living quarters, in the first of 11 crewed and uncrewed missions in the undertaking.

The Wentian lab module, 17.9 meters long, will be where astronauts can carry out scientific experiments, along with the other lab module yet to be launched - Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heavens”).

Russian Lavrov Visits Egypt, Part of Africa Trip Amid Ukraine War

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri in Cairo Sunday for talks focusing on efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, moves to resume grain exports from Russia and Ukraine, joint trade agreements, regional conflicts and a nuclear power plant which Russia has begun to build on Egypt’s north coast.

The first leg of Lavrov’s Africa visit, Cairo, centred on major issues facing Russia and Egypt on both the economic and political fronts. Both countries do between $4 and $5 billion in annual trade, and the Ukraine conflict and COVID-19 have caused disruptions

to tourism, grain sales and energy exports.

Lavrov and Shukri indicated in a joint press conference Sunday that both sides were working to overcome issues of mutual concern: Shukri said that the Ukraine conflict had affected Egypt’s food security, energy needs, and trade with the outside world and created inflation and supply chain issues that need to be resolved.

Shukri said that Egypt “would like to see a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict based on common sense and dialogue” and “ending military hostilities and settling political differences.”

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that he thinks President el-Sissi’s visits this past week to France and Germany may have been part of an effort to mediate a diplomatic solution between Russia and Ukraine.

“I think that the visit by [el-]Sissi to Europe had to do with mediating the Ukrainian crisis, regardless of what the [cover story] may be because if you look, he went to Germany and France. They are the ones leading Europe regarding the Ukraine crisis -- after the Americans, of course -- and Serbia, which is very close to the Russians.”

Man Opens Fire on Philippine Campus, Killing 3 People

A gunman opened fire on a university campus in the Philippine capital region on Sunday, killing a former town mayor and two others in a brazen attack ahead of a graduation ceremony, police said.

The suspect was armed with two pistols and was captured in a car he commandeered, trying to escape the Ateneo de Manila University in suburban Quezon City, police said. He was blocked by witnesses and authorities outside the university gates.

The sprawling university was put under lockdown, and the graduation rite at the law school on campus was cancelled, police said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who was supposed to be a speaker at the ceremony, was advised to turn back en route to the event, officials said.

Newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised to have the attack swiftly investigated, and those behind the killings brought to justice.

He is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress at the House of Representatives on Monday also in Quezon city, where police and other law enforcers had imposed a gun ban and heightened security before the shooting.

“We are shocked and saddened by the events at the Ateneo graduation today,” Marcos Jr. said.

“We mourn with the bereaved, the wounded and those whose scars from this experience will run deep.”

49

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

NEWS

37TH AGM OF MAN… L-R: Ogun State Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Kikelomo Longe; newly inaugurated Chairman, Ogun State Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. George Onafowokan; Governor Dapo Abiodun; former Chairman, MAN, Ogun State, Mr. Seleem Adegunwa and the Director General, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir, at the 37th Annual General Meeting of MAN held in Abeokuta…recently

Labour Set for Nationwide Protest Over Closure of Universities

SSANU, NASU, NUEE back planned demonstration Falana urges FG to respect democratic wishes of Nigerian workers, mobilises lawyers to provide legal services

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Wale Igbintade in Lagos Barring any last minute intervention by the federal government, members of the organised labour under the umbrella of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress would go ahead with their two-day national protest beginning from tomorrow.

This was just as human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana has call on the federal government to respect the democratic wishes of Nigerian workers to identify with the striking university lecturers.

THISDAY gathered from sources in the labour movement that they have issued mobilisation letters to all their affiliates and allies across the country to commence the protest at all the state capitals and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The Senior Staff Union of Nigerian, (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) have mobilised their members to team up with NLC and other allies to ensure the success of the nationwide protest.

Both unions at a joint press conference in Abuja at the weekend said their members would fully take part in the nationwide solidarity protest being organised by the NLC and the TUC in support of the university workers who have been on strike for over five months over the non-implementation of agreement with federal government.

The National President of SSANU, Mr. Mohammed Haruna Ibrahim who spoke at a media briefing held at the union’s new headquarter building in Abuja, said their members have been fully mobilised for the protest.

On the fear expressed by the government that the protest might be hijacked by politicians and hoodlums, he said, “for any government to imagine that a protest organised by universitybased unions under the umbrella of the NLC will be hijacked by hoodlums or political parties is unbelievable.”

Ibrahim said the unions have decided to be on their uniforms during the protest to avoid possible infiltration by persons with negative plans.

He said all the government needs to do is to deploy security agents to protect the protesters and ensure that it maintains peace "We are all affiliates to the NLC and all our members pay check-off dues, so we have every right to seek the support of the NLC and other affiliates to help achieve demand,” he added.

According to SSANU President, the unions sought the intervention of the NLC when the dispute was becoming intractable.

Similarly, another union, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has expressed its readiness to participate in solidarity protest against the continued closure of Nation's tertiary institutions scheduled for 26 and 27 July.

In a letter written to all its branches nationwide, signed by its General Secretary, Mr. Joe Ajaero, the union urged the branches to mobilise members to join the national protest jointly led by NLC and TUC. NLC had at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on June 30, threatened to embark on a two-day nationwide protest to compel, "the federal government to conclude the ongoing negotiation with trade unions in Nigeria’s universities.”

In a mobilisation letter sent to all the state branches of NLC and the Federal Capital Territory FCT, the congress directed them to activate all the mechanisms to implement the decision of NEC to organise a national protest beginning from July 26 to July 27.

Among the resolutions reached at the NEC meeting were the condemnation of the alleged unserious attitude of government to negotiations as well the activation of, “no work–no pay,” policy on striking university workers.

The NEC described the stoppage of salaries of striking university workers as draconian.

The NEC went on to resolve to organise a one-day solidarity action in support of Congress affiliates in the education sector.

In a statement issued yesterday

by NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, he said the decisions of the NEC have been activated accordingly with a circular to affiliates and state councils for compliance.

The NLC lamented the delay

in resolving the dispute between the federal government and members of the ASUU and other non-teaching staff unions in universities despite the setting up high-powered negotiating team headed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari for that purpose.

It also recalled that a tripartite plus meeting was convened by the federal government on May 12, 2022 at the instance of the organised labour and well-meaning Nigerians to resolve the crises in our tertiary institutions.

According to the NLC, negotiations were held and the meeting was adjourned for three weeks to allow the Prof.

Nimi-Briggs Committee to turn in their report and also to allow the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to subject all the proposed university payment platforms to integrity test including IPPIS. On the other hand, the federal government has been making frantic efforts to stave off the planned protest by workers.

It has pleaded with the NLC to cancel the planned protest over

the prolonged ASUU and other university-based unions’ strike. It also urged the organised labour not to mobilise support for Labour Party as it would amount to a violation of the Trade Union Act. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had made the appeal last Thursday at a meeting with the leadership of NLC in his office.

The Minister said he incorporated NLC into the tripartite conciliation going on in his Ministry, adding that being very much aware of efforts of the government to resolve the impasse, they cannot embark on any rally or protest.

A statement issued by the Head, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, quoted Ngige as having told the labour leaders that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) mandated him to notify them of the serious security implications of the planned protest.

According to Ngige, a security report also sent to his office by the Department of State Services (DSS), strongly had warned against holding the protest.

The ministry had also said having rounded off its work, the Prof. Limi Briggs Commitee proposed 109 -185 percent increase in the university wage structure.

Falana: FG Should Respect Democratic Wishes of Nigerian Workers, Says Strike Constitutional Meanwhile, Falana in a statement entitled, 'The legality of the planned protest by NLC in solidarity with ASUU,' issued yesterday contended that the fundamental right of the people of Nigeria to protest for and against the Government was upheld by the Court of Appeal in the celebrated case of the Inspector-General of Police v All Nigeria Peoples Party (2008) 12 WRN 65.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria argued that the proposed protest cannot be said to be illegal since it would be an expression of the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of Nigerian workers guaranteed by sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution of

the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and articles 39 and 40 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Ratification and Enforcement Act Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

Furthermore, Falana, who is the Interim Chair, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), stated that since the protest by the NLC was just and legitimate the ASCAB has mobilised lawyers in the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 States of the Federation to provide legal services for the protesters.

The statement added: "A rally or placard-carrying demonstration has become a form of expression of views on current issues affecting government and the governed in a sovereign state. It is a trend recognised and deeply entrenched in the system of governance in civilised countries.

“It will not only be primitive but also retrogressive if Nigeria continues to require a pass to hold a rally. We must borrow a leaf from those who have trekked the rugged path of democracy and are now reaping the dividend of their experience.

Group to Obaseki: Stop Threatening Peace in Benin Kingdom Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City A pressure group, with the name, the Coalition of Benin Socio-cultural Organisations at the weekend accused the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki of “threatening the peace existing in Benin Kingdom” with his proposed plan to build the Edo Museum of West African Arts (EMOWAA) to house the expected return of the stolen Benin artefacts as against the planned Benin Royal Museum which the Oba of Benin had planned to house the treasured works and trustees like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prince Nduka Obaigbena and others already named.

Obaseki had last Thursday, while addressing participants at a stakeholders’ engagement and unveiling of Phase one of EMOWAA in Benin City, said there was no dispute between the state government and the Palace of the Oba of Benin on the issue of artefacts.

He had noted that Edo as a people have a lot of assets from their past and as such it was imperative to recreate them.

"So, it is beyond just several pieces of artwork; no, it’s beyond that. It is about using that as the contact point to bring out the best of who we are.

“There is a whole lot of research that still needs to be done. We can’t have things about us being explained to us from Europe. Nobody is going to do it for us," he had declared.

But addressing a press conference, the Coordinator General, Mr. Osazee AmasEdobor flanked by other members and leadership of the group, said the proposal of the governor was a negation of the initial plan of the Benin Palace which he supported and pledged the commitment of the state government in building the structure, adding that his present action was an indication that he has issues with the palace contrary to his claim

that he has no issues with it.

According to the group, the artefacts belonged to the palace and would be the rightful place for the works to be returned.

“During the 1897 invasion, the entire Benin people defended that palace and once again the entire Edo race is ready to defend what pertains to that palace and anything contrary to the Benin Royal Museum is tantamount to trying to re-loot the looted artefacts and that will not be allowed.

“Sincerely, we were shocked that His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki asserted that he doesn't have any issue nor quarrel with our revered Oba of Benin Kingdom whereas when he organised a Stakeholders engagement meeting regarding his proposed EMOWAA phase 1, he didn't involve our revered Palace.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the word EMOWAA is alien to us as Benin people. We also would

like to inquire why you reneged on your earlier promise regarding the Benin Royal Museum in 2018, when you supported the idea of a Benin Royal Museum before the EMOWAA idea came from the blues.

“We had expected His Excellency to be a man of his words because EMOWAA wasn't what you discussed with our revered Monarch and other prominent Benin Elders in 2018.

"Reneging on your words is tantamount to betrayal of public trust. We would like to point out to His Excellency that irrespective of reneging on your words in support of the Benin Royal Museum, we have nothing against your plans to build Museums or set up privately owned ventures like Legacy Restoration Trust LTD, building Museums as long as the Artifacts that will constitute the proposed Museums are not part of the stolen Historical Benin Artifacts," the group stated.

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NEWS

AJISAFE FOUNDATION LAUNCH… L-R: Vice Chancellor,University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe; CEO/MD, Post Assurance Brokers Ltd, Mr. Lekan Ajisafe; Recipient of Alice Ajisafe Foundation's donation, Mr. Ibrahim Masoyi ETOP UKUTT Bitrus; and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, at the 10th Year Remembrance Anniversary of Madam Alice Ajisafe and the Official launch of Alice Ajisafe Foundation held in Lagos ...Saturday

Leadership Tussle: A'Court Strikes Out Suit Seeking Nullification of Labour Party's Election Alex Enumah in Abuja The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has struck out a suit seeking the nullification of the primary elections of the Labour Party that produced Mr. Peter Obi and other flag bearers of the party contesting various elective offices in the 2023 general elections.

A three-man panel of the appellate court led by Justice Abraham Goergewill, in a judgment delivered last Friday, struck out the suit for want of jurisdiction.

According to the panel, the internal matters of a political party are outside the jurisdiction of courts in the country, hence the suit right from the lower

court lacked merit and ought to have been dismissed.

The Federal High Court, Abuja had in a ruling in the suit filed by an aggrieved former Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party, Callistus Okafor, ordered defendants, including the Labour Party, which was the 6th defendant to file their replies to the suit within seven days.

Okafor by the suit is challenging the election of the National Executive of the Labour Party.

At the Federal High Court, Abuja, where it was filed, Justice Inyang Ekwo, after assuming jurisdiction ordered defendants to file their replies within seven days.

Delegates Who Sold Votes at APC Presidential Primary Now Regretting, Says Amaechi Declares clerics that attended Shettima’s unveiling may not be bishops, but are Christians Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt One of the presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi for the first time yesterday spoke about the process that led to the emergence of his party’s presidential candidate, saying delegates who were induced with money at the special convention held in Abuja, to vote a certain candidate are now regretting their actions.

Amaechi who spoke during the 60th birthday of the General Overseer of Abundant Life Evangelical Mission (ALEM), Mr. Eugene Ogu, in Port Harcourt, said some of the delegates who collected money at the party's presidential primary held in Abuja, are now regretting that they made mistake in their decision.

"Those who voted at the APC primary, who are they? The ordinary Nigerians. The small money they got, solved their immediate problems. Now, oh we made a mistake or we didn't make a mistake, we are hearing different things.

“If Nigeria problems is to be solved, the ordinary Nigerians must be at the forefront. So if you are praying for us, pray for the leadership of the country but also pray that the ordinary Nigerians should choose the right president

to govern the country."

He stressed that giving out free money to woo people into supporting one’s political ambition was not the solution to the many problems facing Nigeria as a nation.

Amaechi, who was a former Governor of Rivers State pleaded with the clerics to continue to pray for the ordinary Nigerians to stand against any form of manipulation by politicians seeking for electoral position and vote in a credible president who would lead the country rightly.

The former Transport Minister regretted that ordinary Nigerians prefer the immediate money they get than rejecting such offer and seeking for a leader that would change the situation of the country for good.

Amaechi said: "I am the kind of person who do not give out that kind of money. This is because I believe that is not the solution to Nigeria’s problems by giving money. I give you N10 million now, when it finishes what happens?

"The solution to Nigeria problems is that all of you must rise. When I was governor, they said Amaechi was a wicked man, he does not give out money, Wike gives them money in millions and was giving contract. They were calling me wicked governor till I left government, now what am I, A saint?

Dissatisfied, the 6th defendants approached the appellate court to challenge the order of the lower court.

Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Georgewill, held that the subject matter before the Federal High Court in Abuja was an internal affair of the political party and did not fall under the disputes that require court's intervention.

"The claim of the 1st Respondent (Okafor) from his own showing and as endorsed by him on his Originating Summons is clearly one involving the internal affairs of the 6th Respondent, Labour Party, a registered political party in

Nigeria. The claims do not at all fall within any of the ambit of the provision of the law providing for intervention by the courts," he said.

The panel subsequently declared the claims as nonjusticiable, incompetent, and without jurisdiction.

The panel added that, "In law, neither are the internal affairs nor decisions of a political party, regarding strictly, the appointment or even election of their leadership the business of the courts."

Subsequently, the appellate court set aside the ruling of the Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja

Division, in suit no. FHC/ABJ/ CS/1636/2021 on June 16, 2022, wherein he assumed jurisdiction in the matter, abridged time for filing of processes to seven days, and ordered the executive of the party led by Julius Abure to file a counter affidavit in respect of the suit brought by Okafor.

The appellate court further struck out the entire suit pending before the lower court for being incompetent.

A member of the National Executive Committee, NEC, Mr. Salisu Mohammed had rushed to the Court of Appeal, through the party's lawyers Alex Ejesieme, C.S. Uzodike, E.C. Eze, and Marshal Abubakar, to file

the appeal against the ruling of the high court on grounds of jurisdiction.

Okafor had earlier, through his counsel, C.J. Edemeke, sought the lower court's order nullifying the LP national conventions of October 9, 2018; June 10, 2019; and March 29, 2021, where the new executive officers were elected.

He had sought an order appointing him as the acting National Chairman "in the absence of a national chairman," being the duly appointed Deputy National Chairman.

Other members of the panel were Justices Olabisi Ige and Ugochukwu Ogakwu.

Adeboye Explains Why He Doesn’t Vote, Urges Members to Support Their Choice Candidates Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye , yesterday told his congregation to vote any candidate of their choice as the race for the 2023 general elections intensifies.

The cleric who explained that he doesn’t vote during polls, explained that he would be seen to be unfair if he prefers one candidate to the others since he has members that cut across all political divides.

He therefore cautioned his church members against distracting him from his calling to pray for everyone, but told them to go get their Permanent

Voter Cards (PVCs) and vote any candidate they wish.

The cleric’s comments came against the backdrop of the raging controversy surrounding the MuslimMuslim ticket adopted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) visà-vis the position of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

A presidential candidate of one of the political parties was also recently reported to have visited the general overseer for his blessings. This has, however been refuted by the church.

In a video that has now gone viral on social media, Adeboye, during a sermon told his congregation that his assignment had nothing to do with partisan politics.

He said: “My assignment is to pray for you, including Nigeria. My assignment has nothing to do with partisan politics. Don’t distract my attention.

“You will bear me witness, those of you who are genuine members of Redeemed Christian Church of God, I have never told you this is the person you should vote for.

“Have I ever told you that whether in secret or in open? Never! I have never said this is the party you should belong to, I have never said it and I will never say it. And you know why? Because in Redeemed Christian Church of God, every party is heavily represented. Everyone of the parties, including the APC, PDP,

APGA, Labour Party, etc” According to the respected pastor, all his members have a duty to the nation to exercise their civic rights, urging them not to complain if other Nigerians eventually pick their leaders for them.

He added: “The only reason I have never voted is that if I vote for anyone, I will be unjust to the rest of my children. I am the father of all and I like it that way. “ All I am saying and I am saying it loud and clear, as a Nigerian, everyone of you, you are Nigerians before you became a Christian, because nobody is born a Christian.

You are a true Christian because you gave your life to Jesus Christ.

Bayelsa Seeks Heritage Bank's Support on Youth Devt The Bayelsa State Government has indicated interest in partnering Heritage Bank Plc on youth empowerment and sport development.

Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo disclosed the interest of the State Government during a courtesy call with the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Daniel Igali and others on the management of the Bank in Lagos recently.

According to a statement, Ewhrudjakpo expressed the state government’s readiness to collaborate with Heritage Bank to empower youths and develop sports at all levels with the intent to put measures in place to play-up their socio-economic wellbeing

and for the identification and development of budding talents.

He also commended Heritage Bank for its pivotal role in enhancing youth development and supporting the entrepreneurial spirit for economic growth.

“We believe with that, there is going to be first, removing our youths from drugs dependency and we are also using them to win.

“We really want to see how Heritage Bank can partner with us or support of which we have adequate publicity,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Ewhrudjakpo affirmed that Governor Douye Diri-led administration would do everything within its reach to foster a mutually beneficial partnership.

Whilst responding, the Executive Director of the Bank, Jude Monye who welcomed the delegates assured the Deputy Governor of Heritage’s readiness to support the Bayelsa Government on youth empowerment and sport development.

He noted that the bank’s feats toward empowering young Nigerians and sport development showed it has strong desire towards developing and positioning youths to become world-class citizens equipped and ready to be absorbed into an increasing competitive professional skills and endeavours.

Monye further disclosed that Heritage Bank had been at the forefront of supporting good

courses involving youth and sport, whilst reiterating the bank’s MD/CEO, Ifie Sekibo’s readiness to partner with Bayelsa State Government.

“On behalf of the CEO and the Board, I want to say, we will support the course of Bayelsa State as far as sports in concerned.

Whether it is wrestling, athletic, football, soccer, we will be part of it,” he assured.

Speaking further, the ED said, “We have always supported good courses; we are a small bank and relatively new. We will support the Bayelsa state government because we want to see the youth brought out of drug peddling and drug consumption to where their life can be useful.”

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NEWS

THANKSGIVING SERVICE… Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State (left) with the Imo State Chief Judge, Justice Theresa Chikeka, during the thanksgiving service to mark one year of the death of Justice Chikeka’s husband held at St. John Beloved Catholic Church Umuna Ahu Uratta, Owerri....yesterday

Obi: Govs Must Work to Save Nigeria, Avert Looming Anarchy Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has said governors have crucial roles to play in the ongoing movement to save Nigeria and avert the possibility of anarchy in 2023.

He stated this at Mater Dei Cathedral Umuahia, where he was a guest at the prayer meeting organised by the Catholic Action Group, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Abia State and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in conjunction with the Alex Otti Foundation.

Obi, who has been going round the states to meet governors, explained that he undertook the mission of visiting the governors in order to make them understand the need to subsume their

personal interests and political affiliations and join hands to save Nigeria.

"I am meeting all the governors to tell them a simple thing: If you don't do the right thing, there will be anarchy and everybody will be consumed, whether you're a governor or not. We must fix this country," he said.

The LP presidential hopeful, whose visit attracted a huge crowd of supporters to Mater Dei, lamented that a vast majority of Nigerians had continued to wallow in poverty and deprivation despite the abundant resources in the country.

He stressed the need for Nigerians to verify the presidential candidates being paraded by the various political parties to determine their capacity to fix the ailing Nigerian nation.

According to him, by verifying the backgrounds, history and intentions of the presidential candidates, the Nigerian voters would be able to make the right choice in 2023.

"Go and verify is the fundamental thing in this (2023) election," he said, adding: "We must fix this country now".

The former Anambra governor, had paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, at his country home in Umuobiakwa Obingwa Local Government, before coming to Mater Dei Cathedral in the capital city.

Obi said political office holders should stop indulging in opulence and make good use of public funds to improve the welfare of the people instead of looting the public treasury and subjecting

the masses to untold hardships.

"We must stop abusing the grace of God in this country and use public money for the people," he said, adding that it amounted to sheer wickedness for people already blessed to keep dipping their hands into public treasury.

In his address, Mr. Alex Otti, who is the governorship candidate of Labour Party in Abia State, said the tand time had come for Nigerians to take concrete action and "take back and rebuild" the nation.

He said in Peter Obi, Nigerians have renewed their hope for a better tomorrow, adding that, the LP presidential stndard bearer believed and practices frugality, which is what is needed to get the country back on its feet.

"If we want to fix this country we must cut down the cost of

governance," he said.

Earlier the Administrator of Umuahia Diocese, Most Rev Michael Kalu Ukpong, in his remarks explained that the prayer meeting was aimed at asking God to intervene in the affairs of Nigeria and to encourage the people to play their own role in the ongoing movement to rescue the nation.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Abia State chapter, has hit hard on Governor Ikpeazu for presiding over the collapse of state institutions inherited by his administration, saying "Abia has continued to degenerate under an incompetent government".

Chairman of Abia APGA, Rev Augustine Ehiemere, voiced the anger and frustration of his party over the deplorable state of affairs

IN A WAR CRIME, KIDNAPPERS OF KADUNA TRAIN PASSENGERS FLOG VICTIMS, ABDUCT MORE PEOPLE media consultant to the Islamic was the community that begged passengers were also kidnapped by Nigeria, Turkish cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, said him to receive the title. the terrorists and some sustained Air Force Chiefs “Honestly, I didn’t solicit for varying degrees of injuries while to Collaborate on was achieved “following a series of robust engagement with the the title, I was summoned by the scampering to safety during the Counterterrorism, terrorists and with the approval Emirate, which initially, I rejected incident. it. After consultations with our of the federal government.”

General Manager of the KTSTA, Drones

nothing short of good results in the immediate."

"Terrorist activity using propaganda and the use of violence to force governments to accept or submit to political demands is not new all over world. The country’s security and defence forces are not clueless or helpless. They have their plans and ways of doing things, which they will not display in the media.

"It suffices to say that the security forces are not relenting. They are acutely aware of their duties, responsibilities and what the nation expects of them. Whenever they embark upon those actions, they expect that the public should provide them with the needed support.

"Terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought by all actors – the military, the civilian population and the communication service providers.

This is the only way safe havens of terrorists are eliminated in every part of the world.

"To help the nation against ongoing situation, the media must increase their support for the fight against the exploitation of the internet and social media for terrorist purposes."

Terrorists had attacked a AbujaKaduna train on March 28, killing eight and kidnapping no fewer than 61 passengers.

They had initially freed a Managing Director of the Bank of the Agriculture, Alwan Hassan, after allegedly paying a N100 million ransom on April 7. Seven more victims were later released after allegedly also paying N800 million ransom.

The terrorists further freed 11 persons, which according to Tukur Mamu, the negotiator and

The remaining 43 victims were told to pay N100 million to secure the release of their loved ones.

The terrorists had recently attacked the advance convoy of President Buhari in Kastina, ahead of the recent Eid-el-Kabir and attacked Kuje Correctional Center, where they released 64 Boko Haram suspects, among some 600 other inmates, who were also forcibly let loose.

I was Begged to Take Chieftaincy, Zamfara Terrorists Says Ado Aleiro, the notorious bandit, who was turbaned as Sarkin Fulani, in Yantodo Emirate of Zamfara State, has said he was beg for the title to be bestowed on him by the Zamfara State Emirate Council.

The Emir Yantodo, Aliyu Garba and elders of the community had honoured Aleiro with a chieftaincy title, an idea designed to prevent future attack by his men.

He was turbaned the Sarkin Fulani in the presence of the State Commissioner for Internal security and home Affairs, and other Government functionaries.

The development, however, generated criticism, which led to the suspension of the Emir.

Also, the Katsina Police Command, had said Aleiro had been on the wanted list for kidnapping and killing of innocent souls.

But speaking with Deutche Welle (D.W) Radio, Aleiro said it

leaders over the development, they suggested that I shouldn’t turn down the offer since the new emir insisted it had to happen in his emirate; that was how I accepted it,” he said.

He also denied being the mastermind of killing of over 100 people in Kadisau village in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, adding that he did not know the person responsible for the attack.

Katsina: Driver, Passenger Killed as Terrorists Open Fire on Vehicle A driver with the Katsina State Transport Authority (KTSTA), Nasiru Yushau and one passenger, were yesterday killed, when rampaging terrorists opened fire on a 30-seater bus of the agency along the KatsinaJibia highway.

The incident occurred at Farun Bala community at about 11am yesterday, when the driver of the commercial bus was conveying the passengers from Jibia Local Government Area to Katsina, the state capital.

Sources said the deceased upon sighting the terrorists, who were crossing the ever-busy road at the community, tried to reverse the vehicle back to Jibia, when they opened fire on the vehicle, shot him dead and one other pessanger.

The sources claimed that many

Haruna Musa, while confirming the incident to THISDAY in a telephone interview, said the terrorists killed only the driver.

The general manager explained that the other person killed was not among the passengers that boarded the KTSTA vehicle with registration number 145-58KT. According to him, the terrorists didn't kidnapped any of the passengers after killing the driver but left with some cash and telephones belonging to the survived passengers.

"He (Nasiru Yushau) conveyed the passengers he took from Katsina to Jibia. Then, from Jibia also, he took passengers to Katsina that was when the incident happened at Farun Bala community.

"The driver was trying to turn the vehicle with the passengers, when he saw the four bandits crossing the road at that particular community.

They shot him dead. Maybe they thought that he would go back and give information to security agencies.

"There was no kidnapping intention by the bandits, because they didn't kidnap anybody. They only shot the driver and collected some cash and phones of the passengers. It wasn't a target.

"I went to the scene and I was among those that took the corpse from the scene to General Hospital Katsina now to Musawa, the hometown of the deceased, for burial".

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao and the Commander of the Turkish Air Force (TurAF), General Hasan Kucukakyuz, have expressed the willingness of the two military forces to collaborate on defence technology in order to enhance their operational efficiency in the fight against terrorism being faced by both countries.

This move was made known when Air Marshal Amao recently paid a courtesy call on the Commander TurAF during his 5-day official visit to Turkey.

They also emphasised the need for Nigeria and Turkey to share their experiences on the use of unmanned aircraft systems in counterterrorism operations.

The duo said it would enable strategic synergy and enhance proficiency with renewed commitment to wipe out terrorism.

While appreciating Turkish military experience in counterterrorism operation, which spanned over a decade, Amao stated that Turkey was able to achieve operational successes against terrorists due to the usage of right military equipment.

“Turkey has succeeded in developing a robust defence industrial sector capable of meeting up to a significant percentage of critical requirements of her armed forces and other security agencies,” he said.

Amao, therefore, called for greater

in Abia following the loss of accreditation of the Abia State Polytechnic (Abiapoly) and the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) all in Aba. In a statement made available to the media in Umuahia, Ehiemere noted that it was worrisome that the affected institutions were shut down by federal regulatory bodies due to non-payment of staff salaries running into 30 months.

"These developments become even more intriguing to human understanding, when weighed against the fact that even PDP governments in other states of the federation that took office at the same time or even later than the PDP government in Abia, have initiated and completed gigantic multi-billion naira Institutions," he said.

collaborations with the Turkish Air Force Command, even as he said the NAF appreciated the existing cooperation in the areas of training and extension of invitation for NAF personnel participation in some of the TurAF international military exercises.

He said two countries could greatly benefit from military student exchange training programmes as the consideration would enhance critical understanding of the two countries’ security environments and deepen greater cooperation.

While reiterating the need for strong collaboration in defence technology, the CAS stated that the signing of Defence Industry Cooperation Agreement by the two countries offered greater opportunity for the NAF and TurAF to work more closely together.

In his remarks, Kucukakyuz noted that, Turkish Air Force was willing to deepen cooperation with the NAF by assisting the service in any area that could ultimately strengthen its operational capabilities.

He stated that the NAF would henceforth fully participate in its international military exercises, including Anatolia Eagle.

The Turkish general promised to liaise with the NAF and assist in all areas of military cooperation with other services in Turkey as well as defence procurement concerns.

A statement by NAF said the two air chiefs agreed to fashion out modalities that would enable a meeting between officers of the two air forces to outline areas of comprehensive cooperation that could be of mutual value to both sides.

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Fashola: Let’s Test Muslim-Muslim Hypothesis in Polls Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday waded in on the controversial choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, insisting that if the current hypothesis is true, it should be allowed to reflect in the coming polls.

Speaking on a wide range of issues on Channels Television last night, the former Lagos state governor maintained that there is currently too much religion in government and in the public space, stressing that religion should remain a private affair.

“I think that sometimes we need to test some hypotheses.

And the opportunity to test this hypothesis is here. My position about religion has been made known on different platforms.

I think religion should leave the public space and go back to where it belongs, to the homes and the religious centres.

“There is too much religion in our public life. And there is no nation that I know that we want to be like, that is promoting religion, it is a private thing.

Praying in the public and others, I think we should just stop them and get down to the

real business where you do your work,” Fashola stated.

He urged Nigerians to understand that democracy is an undertaking of numbers essentially, arguing that democracy is not necessarily always rational, but about what will yield the best results at a particular point.

“It’s the tyranny of the majority that has replaced the tyranny of the minority, because democracy was created to stop one man or woman from dictating to the majority,” he explained.

He maintained that everybody will make his political calculation about what he thinks will best serve his objective, noting that to break it down to a religious decision was to miss the point.

“I think sometimes, we should stop being afraid of fear itself.

You know, if this is something that is real, the votes will show it eventually. And that’s my take, really. At the end of the day who cares? People want to drink water.

People want good schools. People want good healthcare. People want infrastructure, they want to be secure.

“So if you go on both sides, you know, there’s been a Christian Vice President under a Muslim president, sadly, people were killed in a church, sadly, priests are murdered, the same way

Muslims have been murdered.

“Neither the president nor the vice president loves those things too. But it has very little to do with our faith. Those who do it in the name of our faith are not members of our faith. They

don’t profess our faith, good faith preach peace “So what are people afraid of? We even assume that there are only two faiths. So this is about representation. We haven’t represented everybody. There are

some people, minorities there who don’t belong to both faiths. They have a voice too. So let’s find a second vice president for them.

“I’m just saying that let us demystify this thing.

And that’s why my starting

position was leave religion where it belongs, in the hearts of people, in the churches or mosques and places of worship, and in the homes and not the public space,” he argued.

PLEASURE HOSTING YOU…

President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic (right), and Chairman, BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, when President Bazoum hosted Rabiu in Naimey...recently

Trial Census: NPC Begins Gunmen Kill Three Policemen, Cart Away Two AK-49 Rifles in Delta the police men were attacked at patrol men, but as the patrol to be identified, sustained fatal Enumeration in Sokoto Sylvester IdowuinWarri about 5 a.m. shortly after driving team drove out of the station, injuries and is receiving treatment.

Onuminya Innocent inSokoto The National Population Commission (NPC) has begun the enumeration of persons in Sokoto State for trial census as part of preparation for the 2023 headcount after the completion of the numbering of buildings and listing of households.

Enumeration exercise was being carried out in nine local government areas selected from the three senatorial districts in the state.

The selected communities in Shagari Local Government Area included Tunga Rana , Tudun Shibkau and Kajiji.

About 80 enumerators and nine supervisors were designated to

carry out the enumeration exercise.

Speaking at Shagari the State Federal Commissioner of NPC, Mr. Chiso Datijo, described the trial census as a full “rehearsal” of the main census stressing that the enumerators would canvass all questions that needed to be asked in 2023.

According to him the questions would cover age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, work status, migration, disability, mortality and housing while religion and ethnicity would be excluded.

Datijo further disclosed that the actual enumeration for the trial census would offer the opportunity to test the full data production system for the digital census

NBS, CBD MediaEdge Partner on Public Enlightenment CBD MediaEdge Communications Limited, an integrated media company based in Abuja, has engaged with the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) on opinion poll surveys and public enlightenment programmes.

The Director General (DG) of NBS, who is the StatisticianGeneral (SG) of the federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran confirmed this when he received the Chairman of CBD MediaEdge Communications, Chief Akogun Isiaq Ajibola and his team on a courtesy visit to his office recently.

According to Ajibola, in statement, the partnership with

the statistical office is to promote a better understanding of data information as released by the NBS every quarter which impacts the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

The pact is also to promote the participation of MDGs in consumer research and market surveys in Nigeria.

“In this undertaking, the media company will play a significant role in simplifying statical data in a storytelling expression rather than in raw figures that may not be interesting to read. A sort of “boil it down” interpretation engagement to the public,” Ajibola said.

Another Top Oyo Monarch, Aseyin, Dies at 62

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Adekunle Salawudeen, has joined his ancestors.

The death of the first class monarch occurred yesterday.

Iseyin is an ancient Yoruba town in northern part of Oyo State and about 91 km to the state capital, Ibadan.

Oba Salawudeen, is the fourth of the senior

traditional rulers in Oyo State that have joined their ancestors in the last eight months.

The Soun of Ogbomosoland, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi died in December 2021, followed by the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, who, joined their ancestors, in January and April 2022, respectively.

Suspected gunmen yesterday killed three policemen at Okpanam in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Also, another policeman is critically injured and his is receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in the area.

Sources told THISDAY that

out of Okpanam Police Division in response to a distress call.

It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer of Okpanam Division, identified as Gambo, a CSP, dispatched the team in response to a report by one Ruji that vigilantes in his street were being attacked.

“The DPO detailed four

gunmen suspected to be IPOB members opened fire on them and killed three on the spot,” the source said.

The three deceased policemen were identified as Eke Francis, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP); Inspector Joshua Akengbo, and Corporal Perekedo Unene, while Bassey Wisdom, rank yet

Sources disclosed that two AK-47 rifles were carted away by the suspected gunmen allegedly led by a man popularly known as ‘Okputo’ in the area.

Effort to get the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Edafe Bright’s reaction proved abortive as he refused to answer his phone calls.

NDLEA Arrests Eight in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu for Cocaine Importation Michael Olugbode in Abuja Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested six men and two women over attempts to import hundreds of cocaine pellets into Nigeria and export thousands of tramadol 255mg tablets among other illicit drugs to Europe via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Akanu Ibiam

International Airport, Enugu, and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the arrests and seizures began on Sunday 17th July when a 52-year-old father of three, Okwo Okechukwu, was arrested upon his arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via an Ethiopian airline flight at the

Abuja airport for ingesting 76 pellets of cocaine.

Babafemi said during preliminary interrogation, Okechukwu said he was into selling women’s wigs and hair attachment before veering into the drug trade.

Okechukwu excreted all the 76 wraps of the drug he swallowed while under observation at the NDLEA’s facility in Abuja.

In the same vein, another

father of three, Lawrence Chijioke, 42, was arrested at the Abuja airport same day in an operational synergy between NDLEA and Nigeria Customs Service at the airport, Chijioke, was arrested during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight from Addis Ababa with 529 pellets of cocaine weighing 11.70 kilogrammes concealed in his bag.

Group Raises Concern over High Poverty Rate, Insecurity in Nigeria Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP), Edo State Chapter, has raised concern over the plight of the masses toiling under excruciating economic condition in the country.

The CRPP also said that the rate of poverty in the country is frightening as over 70 million Nigerians are unemployed.

The Edo CRPP Chairman, Dr. Samson Isibor, raised the alarm at the weekend when the body conferred awards of honour to a journalist and other political figures for outstanding performance in their various endeavours.

Isibor also called on the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to sign the anti-grazing bill into law to help

stem the rate of kidnapping and curtail the activities of herdsmen in the state.

He added that the state government should also ban the various service providers’ associations, unions and middlemen which, he said, are contributing to high cost of food and services in the state.

He said: “The unemployment market is over 70 million, where

are we going in this country, insecurity is becoming a daily occurrences, killer herdsmen are everywhere in our forests and we cannot travel anyhow, anywhere because the fear of the herdsmen, kidnappers is the beginning of wisdom. Our farmers cannot assess their farm, which is leading to high cost of food, the insecurity in our state needs to be tackled head long.”

Families of Deceased Police Officers Receive N20.8m under Welfare Scheme Okon Bassey in Uyo

Fifty family members of deceased police officers who served in the Akwa Ibom State Police Command have received the sum of N20.8 million under the Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) Family Welfare Scheme.

The State Commissioner of Police, CP. Olatoye Durosinmi, handed over the cheques to the beneficiaries at the weekend.

Durosinmi, who presented the cheques on behalf of the IGP Usman Baba Alkali, noted that the monumental loss of the fallen heroes were incomparable

to the value of the cheques.

He said the donation was the IGP’s way of saying that he felt their pains, adding that the welfare package was aimed at ameliorating the hardship being experienced by the families of those who died in active service.

The commissioner of police, who condoled with the deceased families, urged them to reciprocate the kind gesture of the IGP by making judicious use of the money for the benefit of their families and be assured of the support of the Command at all times.

Okada Ban May known Inflict Hardship on 98m Nigerians,million Group Warns people in the country, tackle security challenges. as Okada, nationwide.

Segun Awofadeji in Gombe A youth pressure group known as the North East Youth Transformation Forum (NEYTF) has condemned the plan by the federal government to ban commercial motorcycles, popularly

The Minister of Justice and Atorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, recently disclosed that the federal government was considering banning okada throughout the country as part of measures to

However, a press release that was issued by the President of MEYTF, Mr. Abdulrazak Albani, faulted the decision, saying that it would subject about 98 million Nigerians to hardship.

According to him, of the 200

about 98 million, close to the half of the population suffer from abject poverty and do not have vehicles of their own pointing out that the “okada” ban would further make them vulnerable and miserable.

MONDAY JULY 25, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

53

NEWS XTRA

BudgIT Raises Concerns over Poor Performance of 2022 Budget BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation leading advocacy for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s public financial management, has expressed concerns over the poor fiscal performance of the federal government’s 2022 budget and the growing subsidy payments.

According to BudgIT, the most pressing concern is the debt service-to-revenue ratio, which has reached alarming levels within the first four months of 2022.

The country’s current debt service, which stood at N1.94 trillion from January - April 2022, is over 100 per cent of the nation’s revenue, which was N1.64 trillion, within the same period.

“This is in spite of warnings given by the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria would be spending over 100% of its revenue on debt service in 2026. Unfortunately, those predictions are Nigeria’s current realities,” it said.

BudgIT, in a Consultation Memo released in February 2022 titled: “Leveraging Budget Reforms for Economic Development”, had articulated several reform issues bordering on Nigeria’s public financial management regime that affect the very core of governance, separation of powers, expenditure efficiency, and the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians; 83 million of whom live in extreme poverty.

The organization said that four months later, some of those same challenges exist, with additional

ones that-if not properly managed, spell fiscal crisis for an already impoverished nation. In particular, the debt service spending is only N93.6 billion less than the combined total personnel and capital expenditure for the period under review.

“Also alarming are the expenditure targets for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which have only been 15 per cent (of the total N5.10 billion) for the period under review.

There is no gainsaying that the fortunes of the most populous black nation on earth, Nigeria, have worsened in the last 8 months after the 2022 budget was passed,” it said.

UN Group Backs Ortom’s Call for Release of Nnamdi Kanu George Okoh in Makurdi

The United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has backed calls by the Governor of Benue State, Mr. Samuel Ortom, for the immediate release of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

The group also indicted both Nigeria and Kenya Governments for the arrest and extraordinary rendition, torture and continued detention of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, without due process.

Recall that Governor Ortom had last week called for the immediate release of Kanu to enhance the peace process in the country.

He made the call when a group

under the aegis of American Veterans of Igbo Origin (AVIO) paid him a courtesy visit in Washington D.C., USA. He stated that Kanu’s issue is a social-political challenge that must be dealt with politically.

The governor argued that even members of Boko Haram who pose a greater threat to the country’s unity have often been freed, resettled and some integrated into the armed forces.

Ortom maintained that the South-east of Nigeria must be given a sense of belonging to erase the impression of persecution of a section of the country.

He tasked the AVIO to believe in one Nigeria, pointing out that no country on earth is without its challenges and assured them that

power shift to the South-east is possible, if the people of the region could put their differences aside and pursue the objective with one mind.

Ortom said his call for freedom of worship was not only to protect the rights of Christians, but that all Nigerians would be free to practice their faith without intimidation or molestation in any part of the country.

Meanwhile, the UN has asked Nigerian government to ensure “immediate release of Kanu unconditionally” and pay him adequate compensations for the arbitrary violation of his fundamental human rights.

It also recommended that government officials responsible for the torture meted to the IPOB’s leader be investigated and punished.

NGO Seeks Support for Human Trafficking Survivors in Edo Kayode Tokede The Pathfinder Justice Initiative (PJI) is working with stakeholders to create a Coordinated Care Mechanism (CCM) for survivors of human trafficking in Edo. The Executive Director (PJI), Ruth Benson-Idahosa, said this on the sideline of a Stakeholders’ Roundtable on “Enhancing Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Coordination for Trafficking Survivors.”

Benson-Idahosa said that with CCM, support for survivors of

human trafficking would be well tailored, monitored efficiently and coordinated.

She said that coordinated support for trafficked survivors would tackle the challenge of discrimination against some survivors. ”The issue where some survivors don’t benefit from certain support while others benefit from different interventions will be resolved.

“Stakeholders are trying to provide services for returnees and survivors of trafficking but we are doing without coordination, so the

efforts being put are disaggregated.

‘This programme is to create a system that is similar to our national mechanism but for local Edo service providers so that we are coordinated, transparent and efficient in the way we care for survivors,” she said.

The Permanent Secretary, Edo Ministry of Gender and Social Development, Mrs Barbara Osobajo, stated that creating CCM was laudable and needed to have a functional support system for survivors of human trafficking.

ASR Africa Donates $3m for Devt in Niger Republic The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), brainchild of Industrialist, philanthropist and founder of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has donated a three million US Dollars development initiative to Niger Republic from its ASR Africa Fund for Social

Development & Renewal. This donation was announced when President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic hosted the Chairman of BUA Group and ASR Africa, Abdul Samad Rabiu, at the State House in Niamey over the weekend.

Speaking at the reception hosted

in his honour, Abdul Samad Rabiu thanked President Bazoum of Niger Republic for the warmth, hospitality, and honour accorded him in Niamey.

According to him, the $3 million, which will be drawn from the ASR Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal, would be channeled towards interventions in the areas of health, education, or social development that the government of Niger Republic will identify for implementation.

In his response, President Bazoum thanked Rabiu for the gesture, stressing the importance of pan-African cooperation in various areas from business to infrastructure development, social development and economy. He further added that partnerships in business and development such as this, are critical in building an economically prosperous Africa for the future. President Bazoum later hosted a state dinner in honour of Abdul Samad Rabiu which was attended by the Nigerien Prime Minister and other senior members of Government.

monday july 25, 2022 • T H I S D AY

54

NEWSextra

I‘ll Expose You if You Derail as Governor, Deji Adeleke Tells Brother The senior brother to the Osun state governor-elect and Pro Chancellor, Adeleke University, Dr. Deji Adeleke, has vowed to expose Senator Ademola Adeleke, if he fails to develop the state as he(Ademola) promised the people.

The business magnate stated this while speaking at the 8th undergraduate and 4th postgraduate convocation of the University, noting that Ademola has no reason to fail the people that trusted him with the mandate.

According to him, he has counselled the governor-elect and his team against steaking the state resources.

“I told the governor-elect and his colleagues that they are lucky because they do not have any godfather to refund any money to, so whatever people contributed for the election is contribution and it’s a sacrifice for a better Nigeria, for a better State, so the governor-elect and his colleagues are not under any pressure, the only thing they need to do out

there is to go and serve the people.

“And I threatened them that I will be the first to call the press conference if I see things going wrong with his government, I will be the first to alert the world that your governor has derailed.

I’ve also told him and his team not to allow anyone that is not ready to serve, anyone that his focus is to come and look for money to steal from the poor people (Osun is a very poor state) into the team, ” he said.

While counselling the new graduates, he urged them to live an accountable life in order to hold leaders accountable for their acts in public offices.

According to him, we just held an election in Osun State, 45 polling units disappeared, young NYSC presiding officers did not show up in their designated polling units, meanwhile people were waiting to vote but the material, result sheet and BIVAS machine was taken to somewhere else.

“Untill a Director started

calling to make sure that those people reported to where they are supposed to, otherwise my brother wouldn’t have been

the governor-elect today. And those who allowed themselves to be used were NYSC young people, it’s not Commissioners

in INEC, people blame INEC but forgotten that it is the young ones that have been entrusted in this responsibility are the one wrecking

their (your) own future. Because if you cannot hold a government accountable then we don’t have any future in this country.

COURTESY VISIT…

Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeniran Adeyemi(left) and Chairman, CBD MediaEdge Communications Limited, Chief Akogun Isiaq Ajiibola, when the latter paid a courtesy visit to the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) in Abuja…recently

EFCC Arrests 74 Suspects for Driver, Passenger Killed as Terrorists Attack Katsina Transport Vehicle Internet Fraud in Rivers Francis Sardauna in Katsina

BlessingIbungeinPortHarcourt

Operatives of the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 72 suspects allegedly involved in internet fraud.

According to Head, Media and Publicity of the anti-craft agency, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the suspects were arrested early hours of Thursday, at various locations in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Uwujaren disclosed that 48 of the suspects had incriminating items in their possession at the time of arrest.

He disclosed the suspects as: “Promise Sunday, Ukala Goldman, Isaac Golden, Peter Ikechukwu,

Bankole Olamide, John Chiemela, Thomas Martins, Dr Victor, Emmanuel Owuma, Emmanuel Sekun, Philip Abaku, Emmanuel Egwuanumku, Thompson Charles Lekia, Ken Anelele Marvel, Kelechi Prince, and Ugochukwu Ukaigwe.

Others are Ake John, Victor Madu, Moses Jubril Akrah, Jonathan Jeffery, Noble Lot, Success Umukoro, Precious Michael, Christabel Enoch, Desmond Ogu, Louis Abbas, Donaldson Ugbo, Kelvin Dickson, Henry Messiah, Godwin Egwelike, Timinepre Esuku, Mathew Kelvin, Alfred Friday, Nyderson Mufisa Nwogu, Boyle Edward, Ifeanyi Elum and Richard Welle Chikodi.

A’Court Pallies Donor Agencies over 2023 Polls Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal as part of efforts at ensuring a credible, safe, free and fair general elections in 2023, is collaborating with donor agencies and institutions such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

Speaking when he had in audience, a joint pre-election assessment mission of the NDI and IRI in Abuja, President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem hinted that such collaborations would greatly enhance on the quality of the election.

Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, Justice H. S Tsammani, who received the guest on behalf of the Court of Appeal President, said the collaboration would impact positively on the polls.

“Indeed, the cooperation and collaboration of donor agencies and institutions such as yours with rich knowledge and experience of electoral processes will be greatly required in the areas of training and other forms of partnership so as to ensure the conduct of not just a free and fair election but also safe and secure election in Nigeria come 2023.

Ogun Declares Tuesday Workfree Day for PVC Registration As the deadline for registration of voters for the 2023 general elections comes to a close this Sunday, Ogun State Governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun has declared Tuesday, 26th July, 2022 as a work-free day in the state.

In a statement issued in Abeokuta yesterday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, the Governor said the, “one-day public holiday is to provide a window for all workers in the state, who have either lost their cards, not registered or who might need to travel to their wards, local government areas and constituencies to perfect their Permanent Voters Registration or transfer their cards,

where necessary, to enable them participate in the next general elections.”

“As an inclusive, participatory and accountable government, the role of PVCs to the citizens cannot be over-emphasised,” the statement added.

The governor therefore urged all eligible adults to seize the opportunity of the holiday to go home to their different wards and constituencies to search for their Registered Voter Cards (PVCs), fill the claims and objections forms and transfer the PVCs where necessary, the statement concluded.

A driver with the Katsina State Transport Authority (KTSTA), Nasiru Yushau and one passenger were shot dead yesterday when rampaging terrorists opened fire on a 30-seater bus of the agency along the Katsina-Jibia highway.

The incident occurred at Farun Bala community at about 11am when the driver of the commercial bus was conveying the passengers from Jibia Local Government Area to Katsina, the state capital.

Sources said the deceased upon sighting the terrorists who were crossing the everbusy road at the community,

tried to reverse the vehicle back to Jibia when they opened fire on the vehicle, shot him dead and one other passenger.

The sources claimed that many passengers were also kidnapped by the terrorists and some sustained varying degree of injuries while scampering for safety during the incident.

But the General Manager of

the KTSTA, Haruna Musa, who while confirming the incident to THISDAY in a telephone interview, said the terrorists killed only the driver.

The general manager explained that the other person killed was not among the passengers that boarded the KTSTA vehicle with registration number 145-58KT.

Police, Military Kill Two Gunmen in Anambra, Recover Arms, Vehicles David-Chyddy Eleke inAwka

The joint security operatives of the police and the military operating in Anambra State on Saturday killed two gunmen in Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area.

There had been news of gunshots in the early hours of Saturday, as criminals operated at Okija Junction, blocking the

Onitsha-Owerri Expressway, and causing chaos among travellers.

They were, however, countered by joint operatives of the police and Nigerian Army, who confronted the criminals after a tip off.

The Anambra State Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP. Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the confrontation in a statement made available to newsmen in

Awka, the state capital on Sunday.

Ikenga said that four automatic pump action, four vehicles, four motorcycles, and other items were recovered from the suspects, adding that police operatives in the state had intensified and improved operational positioning to respond to distress calls.

He said: “Anambra State Security Forces comprising of the

military and police, neutralised two gunmen, recovered four automatic pump action, one cutlass, one ash colour Lexus 350 with reg. nos KJA- 666HE, one white Toyota Hilux without reg nos., one white Toyota Corolla with reg. nos. HAL- 732RF, one sliver Highlander jeep without reg nos, four motorcycles without reg. nos.

Why Community Policing Failed in FCT, Minister Explains Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Mohammed Musa Bello, has said previous efforts to introduce community policing in the capital territory failed, because the communities over-relied on the FCT Administration to provide all

the necessary logistics.

He made this disclosure in Abuja, when a delegation of Council of Chiefs of the Pai Chiefdom in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, led by the Magajin Pai, Alhaji Bawa Yahaya, paid him a visit.

He urged the traditional and political leadership in the Area Councils to show

more commitment to ensure the success of the programme, noting with adequate community policing, a lot of the security challenges currently being experienced in the FCT could be surmounted.

“The reality is that security now is everybody’s business.

We have tried as much as possible to encourage

community policing in the FCT but we have not had success. The challenge we faced, especially, with the community policing issue, is that many of the communities were just waiting for the federal government or maybe the state and in our own case, the FCT Administration to pay for everything.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket Won’t Take APC Anywhere, Says Cleric

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

A cleric with Unconditional Love of Christ, Rt. Rev. Olusola Akanbi, at the weekend, said Christian faithful in the country would not support the idea of Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next elections.

He, however, said such move was against the unity, peace and

progress of the nation.

Speaking at the 2022 celebration of the 2nd Session of the 8th SYNOD of the Diocese of Offa, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Kwara State, Akanbi stated that, the recent development in the ruling APC would not lead the party anywhere in the political calculations of the next poll.

At the event attended by the

Kwara South senatorial candidate for 2023 poll, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, Akanbi said, “I want to call on the Christian faithful to mobilise for PVC collection to exercise their civic duty in the coming elections.”

He said the collection of their permanent voters cards would also assist them to elect credible leaders that would foster peace and religious balance in the

political space of the nation.

The priest also called for tolerance and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians, irrespective of religious and tribal differences.

Akanbi lamented the various socio-economic and political challenges facing the country including insecurity, national economic downturn, and poor management of the education sector.

Delta Community Vows to Continue to Protest Agip’s Neglect

Ijeoma Okonji

After 19 days of protesting against the gross neglect by Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC), the people of Idheze Community in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday vowed to continue with the agitation until the company

accedes to their demands.

The community women had started the protest on Wednesday July 6, 2022 by barricading the road leading to the oil wells being operated by NAOC, saying until their demands are met, they would not allow the company to have access.

Almost three weeks of

being in the bush under the rain and without any meaningful response from NAOC, the people have declared that they would sustain the protest and blockage of the company’s access to the oil wells in Idheze Community.

Giving update on the protest, the Public Relation

Officer (PRO) of Idheze Community, Mr. Power Okpure, said in a statement that the attitude of NAOC has vindicated the community which has insisted that the Italian firm is only interested in getting oil and gas without thinking about the development and welfare of the community.

55

MONDAY, ͺͽ˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

MONDAYSPORTS Amusan 100mAfrican Hurdles4x100m World BreakingBreaks 30-year-old Record, Wins Gold in Oregon 2022 Record, A Big Deal, Says Ofili

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Ese Brume caps beautiful night for Nigeria with a silver medal in the long jump

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Duro Ikhazuagbe Nigerian athletes may not have

recorded appreciable impact at Sprint hurdler,Championships Oluwatobi the World Athletics Amusan, early won Nigeria’s concluded hours of first this World in Championships gold morning Eugene, Oregon, USA, the Africanand record in the women’s medal a world record 4x100m relay erased, appears enough of 12.12secs early hours of consolation forthe theOregon young ladies Monday at 2022 that made it happen. in USA. Nigeria ran the a new 42.22secs to Also on final day of finish in fourth position behind the who Championships, USA stunned Jamaica Ese and Brume, towon a long Germany take the gold. jump silver medal for Nigeria with The previous African record of a 7.02mwas jump.

It was a step 42.39secs set by the Christy Opara-Thompson, up for BrumeBeatrice who Otondu, won a Faith Idehen andlast Mary Onyalibronze at the edition of Omagbemi at Barcelonain Olympic the Championships Doha, Games inin1992.

Qatar 2017.

On August 7, 1992 inside the TheOlimpico petit barrier runner, Estadio in Barcelona, the Amusan, in theUtondu, final race, quartet of Beatrice Faith furtherChristy lowered the 12.12 secs Idehen, Opara-Thompson sheMary clocked in the semi final and Onyali-Omagbemi ran an incredible raceworld to put Nigeria with another record on podium. was Nigeria’s ofthe 12.06 secs. ItHowever, she second medal at the Olympiad was relay unfortunately denied after Innocent led the the new time Egbunike as it was 4x400m men’s quartet had done thethelegal soachieved eight yearsabove earlier at 1984

wind recorded at +2.5.

O RinE G O N that 2 0 2Championships.

2 FA L LO U T Running a field comprised some of the Speaking shortly after for that."

Los Angeles Games. biggest sprint hurdlers in the World Before theRecord, quartet’sAmusan record What made Nigeria’s feat more the world, Amusan burst gushed: “I wanted to getrelay, out spectacular at the Barcelona Games breaking race in the sprint fromthe themanner block same andAmusan, go," said Amusan.

"I did posted 12.40 seconds was Onyaliway and Tobi as she did in the semi towhat do. Now I'm set aI had new to African women’s teammates celebrated that bronze final Pictures to hit from the that finish line 100m looking forward to to thesurprise finals." hurdles record medal. celebration even herselfbefore in the heat of made news around the world. in 12.06secs.

Jamaica’s Even thestage final event.

It is against this backdrop that the Britany Anderson (12.23) gold medal race which was Amusan said after posting despite the quartet Camachoof Rosemary and Jasmine Amusan’s main target of the the to qualify for the semi final of Chukwuma, Favour Ofili, Quinn (12.23) settled forGrace the time night in Oregon, she was the Oregon 2022 concluded early Nwokocha and Joy Udo-Gabriel silver anditbronze medals guaranteed a bonus of this morning that$100,000 she was not making to the podium in hours respectively. forreally the World Record. expecting it to happen. perhaps their first major competition not The 12.12secs by "I really wasn't expecting that together, breaking clocked the African Amusan4x100m in the relay semi record, final (the African record),". "My coach women’s was a big obliterated deal. earlier USA’s "Breaking the African record Kendra Harrison’s 12.20secs isworld a big record deal for set us, in because 2016.we didn't practice until two weeks ago," The 25-year-old Nigerian gushed Ofili whogiving last April send lady has been signals Blessing Okagbare’s four-old national of herrecord readiness to become 200m to archive reporters the focal of the sprint early hourspoint of yesterday. hurdle with racing The starting 19-year-old sprinter to an African record aofpodium 12.40 however admits missing appearance would have been to win herthat heat on Saturday. icing her the cake. fastest firstIt on was "It's sad time missingin the podium, but round the heat breaking record? I'm grateful of the theWorld Athletics

always says execute and let the timeThe take25-year-old care of itself. Amusan’s I'm happy, healthy and competing."

Road to greatness started with Having finished fourth at both erasing Glory Alozie's 12.74 the last Olympics and World seconds Africanshe Games record Championships, prayed to setat in Johannesburg, South go least one better in Eugene.

"It would be a dream come Africa in 1999. true,She because I've always in broke the been Games championship finals, getting record twice inand 2019 in on the podium is goingShe to beran a Rabat, Morocco. reward for all my tears and pain 12.69 seconds to win her over the years," the Nigerian petit semifinal heat before running sprint hurdler explained. a Amusan’s hundrethtime of aissecond faster two hundreth final to win gold ofina the second faster than the the 12.44 seconds Glory Alozie ran to win a silver medal in the event 23 years

ago in Seville, Spain. has alsoGames. smashed four atAmusan the African of the six records Alozie set before Next was the 12.68 seconds switching allegiance to Spain after Alozie ran twice to win a the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. silver medal Amusan at thestarted 2000 The 25-year-old Olympics Sydney, Australia with Alozie'sin 12.74 seconds African Games set her in Johannesburg, whichrecord made the fastest South Africaininthe 1999.

Nigerian history of the She broke the Games record twice quadrennial event. in 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. She Amusan smashed thatran in 12.69 seconds to win herher semifinal 2021 in Tokyo with 12.60 heat before running a hundreth of performance which aseconds second faster in the final to win fetched a fourth place the gold ather the African Games. finish in the the12.68 event.

Next was seconds Alozie ran twice to win a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney,

Australia which made her the fastest of TheNigerian in the history reigning the quadrennial event.

Commonwealth Games Amusan smashed that in 2021 consigned inchampion Tokyo with also her 12.60 seconds to history the 12.44 seconds performance which fetched her a Alozie ranfinish at in thetheMonaco fourth place event.

The reigning Commonwealth Diamond League in 1998.

Games consigned Thechampion time, also which also todoubled history the seconds Alozie as 12.44 the African record ran at time the Monaco at the was the Diamond fastest by League in 1998. The time,history which any Nigerian the also doubled as theinAfrican record of the event until September at the time was the fastest by 2021 when Amusan ran 12.42 an Nigerian in the history of seconds to achieve a treble. the event until September 2021 when Amusan ran 12.42 seconds to achieve a treble.

ITTF AYC: Nigeria Edge Egypt to U-19 Title Nigeria’s U-19 team to the 2022 ITTF Africa Youth Championships secured their slot at the World Youth Championships after beating Egypt 3-1 in the final of the team event on Saturday.

The win helped Nigeria to halt the dominance of Egypt in the team events of the 2022 ITTF Africa Youth Championships as Taiwo Mati became the hero for Nigeria at the expense of the North African.

The continental youth championships is making a return since the last edition held in Accra, Ghana in 2019 following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic with Tunis hosting some of the best youngsters in Africa.

According to the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), the tournament serves as qualifiers for the World Youth Championships taking place later in the year in the same venue in Tunisia.

On the final day of the team event, Egypt had dominated the girls’ U-19 and U-15 while they also avenged their group stage 3-1 loss to Nigeria as they were at their best against the trio of Matthew Kuti, Mustapha Mustapha and Musa Mustapha in the boys’ U-15 final.

In the boys’ U-15 final, Egyptian trio of Gaber Yassin, Abdelaal Anas and Elsayed Abdelmalk played their best game against the Nigerian youngsters as spirited effort by Kuti was thwarted by Yassin in the fourth game for the Egyptian side to claim a 3-1 win.

With three gold medals already in their kitty on the final day of the team event, Nigerian trio of Taiwo Mati, Boboye Samuel and Muiz Adegoke ensured that the Nigeria made a clean sweep with a convincing 3-1 win over the Egyptian.

It was Mati that started the campaign on a winning note against Egypt’s GAMAL Marwan with a 3-1 (11-1, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10) win while Boboye failed in his quest to increase the tally for Nigeria when he fell 2-3 (5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-13) to AZZAM Mohamed.

Adegoke restored Nigeria’s lead with a 3-1 (8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8) win over ELSHAWA Ziad.

The star of the Nigerian team Mati completed the 3-1 rout for the West African side with a 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9) win to halter Egypt’s medal sweep in the team event.

SNEPCo Junior Tennis Masters to Kick off Tuesday The SNEPCo National Junior Championship will this year hold as the SNEPCoo Junior Tennis Masters featuring the best four players in the Boys and Girls’ 12s and 16s.

The tournament will take place at the Luik Tennis Recreation Centre - a country club in the heart of Lekki Phase One in Lagos.

According to the International Tennis Academy (ITA), organisers of the championship, the players are selected based on their performance in the recently concluded MTN Junior Tennis League Championship with wild cards for the No.1s in the 10s and 14s.

"The aim is to isolate the top players in the age categories and motivate them to aspire for excellence at the senior level at

the shortest possible time. We also hope that it will challenge those who did not qualify, when they see the special treatment given to these ones, to work harder to improve their skill level - " a statement from the ITA said.

The highlights of the SNEPCo Junior Masters is expected to come in the Boys 16 which will feature Mubarak Ganiyu and Seun Ogunsakin winner and runner-up of the MTN Juniors, the Girls 16s which has fast improving Itoro Emmanuel from Akwa Ibom and Khadijat Mohammed from Abuja and the Girls 12 which will showcase Benin City based, super talented Lorelay Holzendoff who easily won the MTN Junior Girls 12 title but will have to face Fego Ayetuoma from Rivers State who missed out due to school exams.

L-R: Nigeria’s 4x100m relay quartet of Grace Nwokocha, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Joy Udo-Gabriel shortly after setting a newstanding African atbythe Athletics Championships concluded this morning in Eugene Oregon, USA Tobi Amusan herWorld new 100m hurdles world record...early thisearly morning

Ajibade is Joint Top Scorer in S’Africa Dominated WAFCON 2022 Award List Super Falcons’ Rasheedat Ajibade was listed as joint top scorer of the just concluded 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Ajibade, South Africa’s Hilda Magaia and Moroccan Captain, Ghizlane Chebbak, emerged top scorers of the 12th WAFCON in Morocco. The three of them scored three goals each to jointly share the top honour of the championship.

With Falcons as defending champions losing the third place match to Zambia’s ShePolopolo on Friday night, the Nigerian contingent would have returned

from Morocco empty handed but for Ajibade’s top scorer award.

The Banyana Banyana edged hosts Morocco 2-1 in the WAFCON final on Saturday night in Rabat in a highly contested tie that brought out the best of both teams.

At the heart of this success was goalkeeper Andile Dlamini who kept three clean sheets in the six games that Banyana Banyana played at this tournament.

Her efforts were rewarded when she walked away with the Goalkeeper of the Year Award - an award that she dedicated to her

Rasheedat Ajibade...joint top scorer of WAFCON 2022

family for their enormous support.

“In 2018, I was watching from the bench and I told myself that I want to play next time. As a team, we have worked hard to achieve this and this means so much,” Dlamini said while biting her gold medal.

South Africa, who were named the National Team of the Year, also won the Fair Play Team award.

The Moroccan Captain Chebbak whose performance consistently wowed everyone during the tournament was named as the Player of the Tournament.

...NFF Salute Ajibade, Mimi Calvin-Onwuka

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), yesterday congratulated Super Falcons’ forward, Rasheedat Ajibade, for emerging as joint top-scorer of the just-ended 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, where the Super Falcons earned a ticket to the FIFA World Cup finals even as the team failed to realise its ambition of a 10th triumph.

NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said: “We rejoice with Rasheedat Ajibade for her emergence as joint top-scorer of the tournament and we implore her to continue to show even more prolificity and commitment in the jerseys of club and country.

“Her three goals surely helped the Super Falcons to win a World Cup ticket. Our team would certainly have been in the Final if not for the incident that led to her expulsion in the semi-final match against the host nation.

“She probably would have won

the award outright if she finished the game and played one more match.”

Ajibade was ejected after 70 minutes of the semi-final against Morocco at the Complexe Prince Moulay Abdellah, with Nigeria already one woman down, and the Falcons played the next 50 minutes (of regulation and extra time) with only nine players, losing in the ensuing penalty shoot-out.

Sanusi also congratulated Mimisen Calvin-Onwuka, who played the role of Assistant Referee 1 in the Final match between Morocco and South Africa on Saturday, saying her stellar performance alongside referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda did not go unnoticed by the global football community.

He urged her to continue to develop herself with available top-level courses and programmes in order to continue her rise to global reckoning.

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MISSILE Olanipekun to FG

“If we placed premium emphasis on education, how much is ASUU requesting that we cannot give? These lecturers are not just fighting for themselves, they are fighting for the future of public education in the country. This is the time for all prominent Nigerians including alumni associations to fight for the education of our youth” – Legal Luminary, Wole Olanipekun, calling for ASUU’s strike to be treated as a national emergency.

MAHMUDJEGA VIEW FROM THE GALLERY

Tricks and Traps of Interview R ussia-Ukraine style exchange of long-range artillery shells and small arms fire dominated the news in Nigeria at the weekend as Chernobyl-like radiation fallout from PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s hour-long interview on Arise TV last Friday. It was the first major candidate interview of this political season, and surely it will not be the last.

The first of this season, but not the first in Nigeria. Following its scathing criticism of some of the things he said on Friday, Atiku’s media team has already challenged APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to do an hour-long interview of his own. Atiku’s team must already be scrambling together a team of analysts so that when Asiwaju does his interview, they will mount the political equivalent of a forensic audit to scrutinise every word he uttered.

Campaign interview is a tricky business.

Every step in a campaign is tricky business, but an interview with the candidate is doubly so because millions of citizens will watch it. Even worse, clips of different segments of the interview will be posted in the social media, some of it cleverly quoted without the context, in order to score a point in favour of or against the candidate.

US President John Kennedy’s speechwriter Ted Sorensen once wrote that “the American political campaign is built around the speech.” The content of the speech is the most important thing but the choice of audience, venue, time, delivery style, format and appearance of the candidate are all very important.

One author wrote that when Kennedy landed at a small town airport one early morning, his aides noticed that most of the supporters who waited overnight for his arrival were young women. So they pushed him back into the plane, rumpled his suit and hair a bit, told him to look tired, close one eye and lazily wave as he alighted the plane. It drove the young women crazy!

In Nigeria up until a few years ago, speech was hardly important in a political campaign. If it were, Alhaji Shehu Shagari with his soft Fulani-accented voice, Chief M.K.O Abiola with his stammer, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo with his crackling voice, Alhaji Umaru Yar’adua with his hardly audible voice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan with his many gaffes and General Muhammadu Buhari with his ineloquent statements and forced smile would never have won any election. The onset of social media in recent times has however enhanced the import of speech and interviews in Nigerian politics, hence the need for candidates to sit up.

US campaign aides paid attention to the minutest detail. As told by David Halberstam in his book The Powers That Be, just before John Kennedy’s televised

Atiku

debate against Richard Nixon in 1960, his aides told him that the producer will come and offer to powder his face. Kennedy asked what the implications were. The aides said while powder is good for a TV appearance, it will be a small scandal if newsmen reported that his face was powdered. Nixon got the same advice and rejected the powder. When the producer peeped in and said, “Mr. Kennedy, would you like some powder?” Kennedy said, “F—k you!” Meanwhile, his media aide jumped over a fence, entered a drug store, bought some powder, smuggled it into the studio and secretly did make up for Kennedy. By the time they went on air, Kennedy looked smart and radiant while Nixon was sweating in the hot studio.

Trick number two is, how to face newsmen. Here is a secret: you don’t really have to answer the question they ask! Twenty years ago when I was Editor of New Nigerian, a British minister visited me in my office and he told me that, when a minister emerges from No 10 Downing Street and newsmen are waiting, he or she decides what to say and goes ahead and says it irrespective of the question!

Television is particularly vulnerable to this trick because TV reporters need soundbite in order to give authenticity to their report. So, whatever you say, they must use that as soundbite whether or not it answered their question. Though print media reporters could go and report that you dodged the question, in the end their readers will remember what you said more than what you didn’t say. State House in Abuja has one of the biggest concentrations of news reporters lying in ambush for politicians. Just remember this: as you emerge from a meeting with the President, decide what message you want to pass across to the public and go ahead and say it irrespective of the

questions, then pretend to be hurrying to another appointment and walk away.

In a one-on-one TV interview such as Atiku Abubakar had with Arise TV last Friday, it is less easy to apply the dodging trick. So the candidate should anticipate the questions instead. A media team made up of real professionals could sit down in advance, put themselves in the shoes of their colleagues who will do the interview and anticipate most of the questions. In the olden days, news makers used to ask interviewers to submit an advance copy of the questions, but media professionals will not accept that today. You don’t have to ask them; your media team can anticipate most of the questions, since these are mostly gleaned from newsworthy items that were recently reported about you.

Interviewers have egos. They want to look smart, independent and courageous to viewers, without regard to your own comfort as a candidate. So, expect some trap questions. One of the most successful traps in interview history was when CBS interviewer Roger Mudd asked Senator Ted Kennedy in 1979 why he wanted to be President of the United States. Ted fumbled and rambled and had no sharp answer.

Since then, I have seen many interviewers imitating this question, so every major candidate should rehearse for it.

Just like a champion boxer has training sessions with his sparring partners before a match, a candidate should also have a sparring match with his media team.

I wonder if Atiku Abubakar had such a training session. If he had, he would have been advised not to answer the question about his wealth with that Idiroko Peugeot 504 story because indeed, public servants have been prevented from engaging in private business other than farming since the days of the General Order. He probably

would have been told that he needed better briefing on NNPC’s transformation to private status, and a much sharper answer to the problem of insecurity.

We could also learn many lessons from our own country’s history of political interviews. In 1979, when UPN presidential candidate Chief Obafemi Awolowo unveiled his party’s Four Cardinal Programs, everyone was asking how he intended to finance free education. When Awo stepped off a plane at Lagos Airport, newsmen rushed in and asked him how he could finance free education. Awo anticipated the question. He sat down in the lounge, opened his briefcase, brought out a sheaf of papers and proceeded for the next hour to reel out figures about how he will do it. Many of the reporters fell asleep.

When Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe appeared for an hour-long interview on NTA in 1979, he anticipated a question about his age [75, which newsmen were saying at the time that he was too old to run for president]. When the question was popped towards the end of the interview, Zik said, “I have been sitting here with you for the past hour, with no idea what questions you will ask, and I have been answering you, now you seem to suggest that I am senile?”

Ahead of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe of SDP squared up with NRC’s Dr. Sylvester Ugoh in the presidential running mates’ debate. Ugoh touted his credentials as a topflight economist. Kingibe dipped his hand under the table, brought out an old Biafran one-pound note, waved it in the face of Ugoh, who was Governor of the Bank of Biafra during the Civil War, and said the currency he managed was worth less than toilet paper.

Whenever they can, a candidate’s media team should steer him away from interview areas where he has natural deficiencies to areas where he has strength. A candidate who stammers, speaks very slowly or has a shrill voice is not good for television.

During the 1992 US presidential contest, there was a squabble between President George Bush Snr’s aides and those of challenger Bill Clinton about the format of their debate. Clinton’s aides, knowing their candidate to be eloquent and quick thinking, demanded a debate format where the two men will engage each other directly.

Bush’s team refused, so when the president appeared at his next campaign rally, a Clinton supporter raised a chicken-like effigy of Mr. Bush and shouted, “Chicken George! He chickened out of the debate!”

And then, by all means control your temper. In 1979, GNPP’s national publicity secretary withdrew from a live debate on NTA because he accused his PRP debate opponent of not allowing him to speak.

If you are provoked on the set, don’t do like Minister Chris Ngige and say, “If you yab me, I will yab you back.”

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