MONDAY 1ST AUGUST 2022

Wabote: How Absence of Local Content Law Cost Nigeria $380bn Capital Flight, Two Million Job Losses Stakeholders call for extension of law to ICT, construction, other sectors Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development

and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote has said Nigeria lost a whopping $380 billion in capital flight as

well as two million jobs due to the non-existence of a local content law within a period of 50 years.

Speaking at this year’s Annual Valuechain Lecture and Awards, the 5th edition in the series, Wabote stressed that enactment

of the law had revolutionised the domestication of local content in-country.

He spoke on the theme: “The

Impact of Nigerian Content Law: Taking a Cue from the Continued on page 5

Stock Market Sheds N772bn in July as Investors Switch to Fixed Income Securities...

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FG Renationalising Our Power Assets in Guise of Restructuring, Discos Allege...

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INEC: PVCs Will Be Ready October, November Warns voters their cards are their meal tickets

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi With

voters

registration

exercise ending yesterday nationwide, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the Permanent

Voters Cards (PVC) for persons captured in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) would be ready between

October and November.

The commission, has however, urged Nigerians that their PVCs remained their actual

meal tickets and should be handled with care.

INEC National Commissioner, Information and Publicity, Festus

Okoye, disclosed this while monitoring the concluding Continued on page 5

Atiku: Work of Nigeria’s Next President Already Cut Out, It’s Uniting the People Rallies youths, women’s support Wike, PDP governors, stakeholders meet in Abuja Chuks Okocha in Abuja Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said the work of Nigeria’s next president in 2023 was already cut out for him and it’s to unite the people.

Atiku, who claimed the hallmark of his aspiration was to unite Nigerians and the country that has been disunited by the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to its misrule, however, rallied the support of the youths and women ahead of next year’s election.

Relatedly, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and other stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including governors of the party, yesterday, met in Abuja, with a view to reconciling Atiku and Wike.

Atiku, in a statement yesterday, said, "And like I did say to those patriotic youths yesterday, the Continued on page 5

SEEKING COOPERATION FOR SUCCESSFUL POLLS...

L-R: National Commissioner, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru; Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu; Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero; Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kano State, Prof. Shehu Riskuwa; Chief Technical Adviser, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, and Special Adviser, Prof. Mohammad Kuna, at the Emir’s palace in Kano, during Yakubu’s recent courtesy visit to the traditional ruler to seek his support ahead of the 2023 general election...recently

Navy: We’ve Recovered N25bn Stolen Crude in Four Months...

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Navy: We’ve Recovered N25bn Stolen Crude in Four Months Chiemelie Ezeobi The Nigerian Navy, weekend, said it has recovered N25 billion worth of stolen products through the ongoing Operation DAKATAR DA BARARWO (OPDDB) meaning, ‘Stop the Thief’ in Hausa, in nearly four months.

Launched on April 1, 2022, the ongoing operation, which is in synergy with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was instituted to curb Crude Oil Theft (COT) and associated crimes.

According to the Director of Information (DINFO), Commodore AO Ayo-Vaughan, in the last four months, "The entire naval assets and personnel in the Niger Delta have continually and vigorously fought the menace of COT as directed by the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo."

The DINFO, who reacted to a THISDAY story, which alleged that the Navy was unwilling to halt the menace of oil theft, said: "The navy has also reported regularly and given updates on its efforts in the media with over 10 press releases stating the tireless efforts of the Navy to deny oil thieves well over Twenty Five

Billion naira (N25,000,000) worth of stolen crude oil and product."

Giving a breakdown of the fourmonth recovery, Commodore AyoVaughan said, the navy recovered 23,110,102.59litres of AGO; 39,664,420.16 litres/230,882.73 barrels of crude oil; 649,775.38 litres of DPK; 345,000.49 litres OF PMS, 380,000 litres of sludge; and 66,000 litres of LPFO. He added that within the same review period, they destroyed 278 Illegal Refinery Sites (IRS) and arrested 85 suspects with 72 boats impounded and 23 vehicles and tanker-trucks.

The operatives were said to have destroyed 127 illegal refinery ovens, 102 illegal refinery large pits, 148 illegal refinery storage tanks while they recovered 41 outboard engines, 35 pumping machines.

Specifically, on the THISDAY report, he said, "The Nigerian Navy’s attention has been drawn to a front-page report of This Day newspaper of Thursday 28 July 2022, alleging the unwillingness or inability of the navy to halt oil theft menace as attacks in the Gulf have reduced.

"The report identified massive crude oil theft as one of the

reasons for which the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is unable to meet its oil quota. Furthermore, it was alleged that the top hierarchy of the Navy fighting the menace in the Niger Delta have been fingered by locals and several top Nigerians of complicity in the growing oil theft.

"Mention was also made to the immediate past Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd), who was reported to have admitted and lamented the involvement of naval personnel in the illicit oil bunkering and theft in the country, warning them (navy personnel) to desist.

"First, it is most surprising that the writers of the report are unaware of the several operational efforts of the Nigerian Navy to curb Crude Oil Theft (COT) and illegal refineries since the

menace surfaced in the Niger Delta decades ago.

"For a report on such topical issue to refer to a former CNS to buttress a point is an indication that the writers are totally oblivious of the current leadership of the Nigerian Navy. For the avoidance of doubt, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd) handed over on January 29, 2021.

"In the past 18 months, the navy under the able leadership of the incumbent CNS, has left no stone unturned in her renewed fight against illegalities in the maritime domain particularly COT, illegal bunkering, Illegal Refining Sites (IRS) and associated crimes.

"The ongoing OPDDB has seen the mobilisation of the entire Nigerian Navy Operations Bases and Forward Operating Bases, Ships, helicopters, personnel including the maritime

Abuja, said the youths and women are the game changers in the 2023.

Represented by his daughter, Hajia Mariam, Atiku said: "the 2023 is all about the youths and women. So, all the women and youths must get involved in nation building and most especially, get involved in the forthcoming election. Atiku would take the country back to where it is supposed to be."

Convener of the Diamond Ladies in politics, Maimunat Wada, also pledged to mobilise no fewer than 2 million votes for Atiku in the presidential poll.

Speaking too, a Georgia, USbased Professor of Medicine, Prof. Emeka Umerah, in a keynote address at the occasion, paid glowing tribute to Atiku over the role he played in the truncation of the alleged third term agenda of former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.

However, as part of the ongoing reconciliations within the PDP, the Wike, last night, met with some with governors and stakeholders of the party.

The meeting, which started about 4.30 pm yesterday, held at the Rivers state governor's lodge.

The agenda of the meeting

INEC: PVCS WILL BE READY OCTOBER, NOVEMBER segment of the ongoing CVR in Awka, Anambra State, yesterday.

Okoye, who doubles as the National Commissioner supervising Abia, Anambra and Benue, reaffirmed that the exercise ended yesterday, saying INEC had to bring it to a close, to enable the commission cross check data collated.

“This will enable our system operators to eliminate double and multiple registrations before we produce the PVCs for distribution. The law equally requires that we should display the register in the 774 Local Government Areas and 8,809 registration areas for claims and objections. And we have to print the PVCs, truck them to all the local government areas across the country for collection,” he said.

Okoye stated that it would be useless for people to register and fail to receive their PVCs, adding that without the cards, nobody would vote.

He said for those who registered between January and June, their cards would be ready in October, while those who registered from July 1 to July 31 would collect in November.

Giving details of the exercise in Anambra, Okoye stated that 276, 767 persons completed their registration as at July 25 and that the commission deployed a total of 110 INEC Voters Enrollment Devices (IVED) in the state out of which 10 malfunctioned.

On his part, the National Commissioner in charge of Bauchi, Yobe and Borno States, Maj-Gen Modibo Alkali (rtd), who described the PVCs as meal tickets, spoke in Bauchi while addressing registrants in the state.

He urged Nigerians to treat their PVCs as if it were part of their lives, adding that, "Ensure that you get your PVC and handle it as if it is part of your life. Don't sell it to anybody, because it is like your voter's meal ticket. You know why it is called a meal ticket? It is because you elect the person, who can work for you in your future with it.

"So, if you sell it or you throw it away, then you are selling or throwing away food that you are supposed to eat. So, I want all of you to understand the importance of that PVC."

of the navy and that of NNPC to continually reappraise, update and situate the operation so as to fashion out new strategies to curb the menace."

The Commodore further revealed that in a month, about 660 barges would be required to convey the acclaimed quantity of stolen crude to sea, adding that, "This is totally a false assertion, because such a mass movement of barges is impossible giving the operation and daily patrols of the Nigerian Navy.

"Finally, the Nigerian Navy has not reneged to appeal to political, traditional and opinion leaders in the region to educate the people to note the environmental, economic and health hazards the crime of COT and IRS pose to the operators, people and entire region, hence the need to dissuade the oil thieves from the crime."

Del-York, Huffine Global Consolidate Partnership in Saudi Arabia The chairman of Del-York Group, in conjunction with US partners, Messrs Huffine Global recently paid a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to meet with key government officials, investment

fund managers and strategic investors interested in taking advantage of potential strategic partnerships opportunities between the kingdom, the United States and Africa.

ATIKU: WORK OF NIGERIA’S NEXT PRESIDENT ALREADY CUT OUT, IT’S UNITING THE PEOPLE principal credential that the next president of this great country must possess is the ability to unite us and make our very diversity the source of our strength. That’s who we are as Nigerians!

"At a time when some have chosen to divide us along our fault lines and religion, you've chosen to be a part of the Nigeria tribe that believes in one people, one future and one country. And, that is why you are important in the success that we seek to achieve in the upcoming campaign. The next election, more than anything else, is a contest between the unity of Nigeria and others, who take actions that make the rest of us vaguely uncomfortable.

“But you have chosen to be at the right side of the contest and Ifeanyi and I are happy to have you on our side. We know we shall accomplish success in this campaign, because we trust in God and in your ability to convince more Nigerians in your circle of friends and associates to be on our side – the side, where everyone has a future to be part of," Atiku said.

Atiku, who also spoke at the public declaration for Atiku and induction ceremony by the Diamond Ladies in Politics in

surveillance infrastructure of the navy in collaboration with sister services and other security agencies in the Niger Delta with the generous logistical support of NNPC. "The entire region has indeed felt the impact of OPDDB, because most oil thieves have been put out of business, the carbon soot that was predominant in some places due to the operation of Illegal refineries has disappeared and innocent citizens have been saved from the health dangers/ hazards the fumes/soot posed to them.

"Navy personnel in the Niger Delta creeks have repeated raided these IRS to ensure they remain inactive, unproductive, and moribund. At the strategic level there are regular and fruitful exchanges, engagements and meetings between the leadership

was unclear at press time, but indications were that it was in connection to the festering post-presidential primary crisis, which has seen the party divided into two major camps Those at the meeting included Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; son of the late Head of State, Mohammed Abacha and the national vice chairman of the PDP in the South-south, Dan Orbih.

Others at the meeting were a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam; former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko; former Bayelsa State governor, Senator Seriake Dickson, former Kogi State governor, Ibrahim Idris’ former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang and Prof. Jerry Gana.

A source close to Wike, who was at the meeting told THISDAY that, "We are not going anywhere.

We will stay here and fight. Going to another party is not a solution

and part of our agenda. But we must be treated as human beings" The meeting, it was gathered was the first meeting of Wike’s camp to review issues and form a position ahead of the anticipated reconciliation.

After the meeting, a one paragraph statement was issued

by Gana, stating: "This is the first meeting we are holding with all our candidates in the states after the primaries. We are united and are one. We know that developments will unfold and when they do, we shall brief Nigerians.”

Wike had reacted to a recent interview granted Arise News by Atiku on his choice of running mate, saying Atiku told many lies against him in the interview.

Atiku had earlier said, “Governor Wike was not rejected.

Nobody was rejected in the party.

But you must understand that it’s the prerogative of the candidate to pick his running mate – a running mate he believes he can work with amicably, and then, also deliver the policies of the party, and also try to unify the country.”

A statement explained that hot on the heels of the recent visit of US President Joe Biden to the kingdom, the Del-York CEO was part of a select team of business interest follow-up mission to the kingdom to expand on established protocols and opportunities between the two countries initiated during the previous week of the presidential visit.

Del York’s President and CEO, Mr. Linus Idahosa, whilst on the visit, met with several pivotal stakeholders and investor groups who indicated a very keen interest in exploring partnerships in the US and Africa in key areas such as Agriculture, Energy (Gas & Power), Defence, Transportation, Education, Mining and Tourism. Idahosa also pitched Del York’s ongoing partnership with the Lagos State Government to develop a multimillion-dollar film city project soon to commence in Epe at the international investor meetings.

The US delegation was led by the President of Huffine Global Solutions, Edward Huffine, accompanied by the CEO of the King Abdullah Global Humanitarian Fund, Sultan Alsadoon, a special rep to the Crown Prince and a team led by the President of the Financial Coordination Centre (FCC) met with the Governor of the Mecca Province of Taif

HRH Prince Saud bin Nahar bin Saud Al Saud, ministers, heads of multiple Saudi investment fund groups, amongst other influential high-level chief executives, who indicated their firm interest in exploring and executing the business opportunities.

While speaking in the meetings, Linus Idahosa stated, “We are hoping to introduce a number of these high-powered investors with whom we have formalised partnership arrangements on this trip to mutually beneficial opportunities with partners at the subnational level and with important private sector operators in Africa."

He added, "At a time Nigeria is in dire need of dollar-denominated patient capital, the opportunity for these relationships could not have presented itself at a better time.

“Expectedly, our partnership with the Lagos state government to develop a major Film City project in the state is top on our agenda. Still, there are different important and exciting opportunities across other sectors that we believe will be of immense benefit to the business community back home were concretised throughout this visit."

The delegation would leave Saudi Arabia upon completion of its engagement with other high-level state functionaries during the week.

WABOTE: HOW ABSENCE OF LOCAL CONTENT LAW COST NIGERIA $380BN CAPITAL FLIGHT, TWO MILLION JOB LOSSES Successes in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.”

Wabote reiterated that the situation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry before the enactment of the NOGICD Act 2010 was appalling, explaining that over 90 per cent of the estimated $20 billion spent yearly in the industry moved out of Nigeria.

According to him, the situation was so bad that a large chunk of the contracts was executed outside Nigeria by foreign companies while only few indigenous services companies could participate in oil and gas tendering process in the industry due to inadequate capacity.

“The situation was worsened by the fact that government seemed to be more interested in royalties and taxes.

Consequently, Nigeria suffered an estimated loss of over $380 billion to capital flight, two million jobs within a 50-year period and lost the opportunity cost for in-country capacity development and value addition,” he stated.

The executive secretary pointed out that the cumulative Nigerian content level before the creation of the board was less than five per cent.

The sudden realisation of the huge losses, he said, propelled the federal government to put

in place a local content policy for the oil and gas industry as part of industrial development strategy for national economic growth and development.

With the existence of the board, Wabote, who was represented by the Head Directorate of Legal Services, Naboth Onyesoh, stressed that there are now visible footprints in the production records of indigenous operators.

He explained that these include in-country capital retention, development of infrastructure, vendor development and supply chain efficiency, engineering and technical services as well as fabrication capability.

Others, he added included human capacity development, job creation, asset ownership, procurements, manufacturing of critical oil and gas tools and components, and a paradigm shift in project execution philosophy of operating and service companies in Nigeria.

“On production, the Act has re-energised the participation of indigenous operators such as Seplat, Aiteo, Eroton, and others to move from small producers to the point where they now account for 15 per cent of oil production and 60 per cent of domestic gas supply in Nigeria.

“On capital retention, out of

the estimated annual industry spend of $20 billion, the picture has changed completely. Under the Act, about $8 billion of the annual spend is now retained in-country.

“On infrastructure, the footprint is visible and remarkably compelling. Implementation of the Act has spurred the establishment of several important oil and gas plants and facilities, including two world-class pipe mills and five modern pipe coating plants.

“These facilities have helped to reduce our import dependency on foreign pipes, or coated pipes in the industry,” he added.

On job creation, he disclosed that over 50,000 direct jobs had been created on the back of implementation of the Act, saying that the board has recorded over 10 million training man-hours in human capacity development programmes.

Other dignitaries at the panel discussion moderated by Mrs. Omotayo Omotosho were: The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Professorial Chair in Oil & Gas Economics Management Prof. Wumi Illedare; President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Mansur Ahmed and the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

A communiqué released after the event, recommended that it would be more efficient to adopt a bespoke approach to the call to extend the Nigerian content law to other sectors, an approach which would consider the peculiarities of the various sectors intended to be covered.

It urged the National Assembly to consider a sector by sector local content law approach, since lumping the sectors together will not promote efficiency and effectiveness.

“The oil and gas sector is unique so also are other sectors like ICT. Therefore, each sector will require a different bespoke local content approach.

“Local content implementing agencies should not see themselves as pro-government or enforcing government law but to see themselves as protecting the investors. The success of local content depends on manpower development and deployment.

“Nigerians should be strong advocates of the promotion of locally developed goods and service.

“Provisions in the NOGICD Act 2010 that impose fiscal burden on existing and new investors should be reviewed.

Nigeria cannot afford projects not going forward simply because of the fiscal burden imposed,” it stated.

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NEWS

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

HERE IS OUR SCORECARD...

L-R: Independent Non-Executive Director, NOVA Merchant Bank, Malachy Nwaiwu; Executive Director, Funke Okoya; Managing Director/CEO, Nath Ude; Newly appointed Independent Non-Executive Director, Funmi Oyetunji; Chairman, Phillips Oduoza; Independent Non-Executive Director, Gbemisola Laditan; Non-Executive Director, Chinedu Uzoho, and Executive Director, Emmanuel Onokpasa; at the fifth Annual General Meeting of NOVA Merchant Bank where the shareholders ratified the new directors, held in Lagos…recently

Stock Market Sheds N772bn in July as Investors Switch to Fixed Income Securities

Kayode Tokede

The stock market arm of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) in July 2022 fell by N772 billion to N27.163 trillion as investors moved their assets to the fixed income markets due to the recent hike in the benchmark monetary policy rate (MPR).

Data compiled by THISDAY showed that the stock market in July opened trading at N27.935 trillion.

In July, the market witnessed weeks of sentiment trading by investors amid impressive corporate earnings for half the year ended June 30, 2022 by some fundamental companies.

According to analysts, the 14 per cent MPR hike by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forced investors to shift to the fixed income market where return on investment is more attractive.

The recent MPR hike was in line with central banks’

global hawkish policy stance to combat inflation and increase the attractiveness of local securities.

THISDAY findings showed that most NGX indices recorded decline in July 2022 to underline the stock market's bearish outcome.

For instance, the NGX Consumer Goods Index with 8.13 per cent drop to 573.27 basis points recorded the highest decline in July, followed by Insurance Index that dropped by 6.33 per cent to close July at 167.04 per cent.

Also, the NGX banking index depreciated by 4.92 per cent to close 378.21 basis points, to join the top three worst indices performance in the month under review.

However, most capitalised stocks: MTN Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, among others contributed to market negative performance in July.

Universities Workers’ Strike: Care-free Attitude of FG Killing Education, Says COEASU Fidelis David in Akure The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo chapter has expressed concern over the prolonged five months strike at the nation's public universities.

It noted that the care-free attitude of the federal government was killing the education sector and future generations.

The Chairman of the COEASU Chapter, Dr. Adetokunboh Adepoju, stated this while speaking with newsmen in Akure, Ondo State, at the recent solidarity protest organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to demand an end to protracted industrial action at universities and most federal colleges of education nationwide.

Members and leadership of the COEASU Chapter had stormed Akure to joined other affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress who converged on Adegbemile, Akure to stage a joint protest against the alleged insensitive attitude of government at all levels to the educational sector especially, tertiary education.

The protesters had carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “Our children are tired of staying at home”, “Teachers deserve the best”, “No nation is greater than it’s Education”, “Investment in Education, guarantees the future of the Nation”, “No sustainable future without Sustainable Education”, “No Nation progresses beyond the level of its Education sector,” among others.

Speaking with journalists after the protest, Adepoju, decried government lackadaisical attitude towards the development of the educational sector which portends grave danger for the nation now and the future.

He said the College was still expecting the take-off of the Adeyemi University of Education, Ondo as demanded recently by COEASU. In an address, Sunday Adeleye Oluwole, the Ondo State Chairman of the NLC had expressed sadness over the deplorable conditions of the nation’s universities and other tertiary institutions in the country leading to five months strike by ASUU, SSANU, NASU, COEASU and NAAT.

Specifically, the stock price of MTN Nigeria depreciated

by N608.6billion in market capitalisation when it stock price depreciated by N26 to close at N200.10, from the N230.00 it opened for trading, while Dangote Cement was down

by N170.41billion in market capitalisation.

The cement giant saw its stock price dropping by N10.00 or 3.6 per cent to close trading in July at N265.00 from N275.00 it opened for trading.

In addition, Zenith Bank Plc recorded N31.4billion decline in market capitalisation when its stock price depreciated by N1.00 or 4.61 per cent to close trading in July at N20.70 per share.

Commenting on the stock market performance in July, Professor of capital market at the Nasarawa State University Keffi, Prof. Uche Uwaleke explained that: “The hike in the MPR in quick succession from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent in May and now to 14 per cent could signal panic on the part of the CBN and heighten uncertainty.

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

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

On his part, the CEO, Wyoming Capital & Partners, Mr. Tajudeen Olayinka noted that: “Naturally and by default, a hike in MPR will immediately put pressure on investors to reprice financial instruments, whether it is equity instrument or fixed income instrument.

“In both instances, the direction of price movement would differ. Yields on fixed income instruments would rise, subject to system liquidity (demand and supply of instruments), while equity prices go down.

“This analogy suggests that the CBN would do the ideal thing by increasing supply of government securities, to be able to mop up perceived excess liquidity in the system.”

“For equity market, he said the repricing of shares will hold very temporarily, as prices subsequently recover when yields stagnate in the fixed income market, saying “this is also subject to capacities of listed companies to adjust to the variability of costs and cost pressures in the short run. This is the current behaviour in the Nigerian financial markets. It

does not happen this way in more developed markets of Europe and America, because they operate a more synchronized monetary and fiscal policies.”

The vice president, Highcap Securities, Mr. David Adonri said, “Whenever CBN hikes interest rate to tighten monetary policy, the primary objective is to use it as a short-term tool to bring down inflation.

“However, it can also affect trade-offs in the capital market by shifting the balance between equities and debt. In this case, it causes financial assets to migrate more to debt due to increase in yield precipitated by the interest rate hike. Consequently, the price is likely to fall temporarily in equities until the policy runs its course.

“Monetary policy is a shortterm tool to battle a structural economic instability in order to give room for appropriate fiscal policies implementation to address the cause of the imbalance.

“Therefore, the tightened monetary policy and attendant weakened demand make equities a buyer's market now.”

On his part, an analyst at PAC Holdings, Mr. Wole Adeyeye said: “Investors may be looking at the risk-free securities in the fixed-income market as we expect yields to increase. Investors may

likely sell part of their equity investments to buy treasury bills and bonds.

“Consequently, bears may dominate the equities market in the third quarter of 2022.

Nevertheless, this creates opportunity for investors that want to take advantage of cheap stocks in the market.”

Also, analysts at United Capital Plc stated that, “Looking ahead, we expect the continued hawkish tone to cause significant disruptions across all asset classes. We foresee a surge in the money market and bond yields as more investors demand higher returns on fixed-income instruments.”

For equities, they anticipated an adverse reaction in the equities market, as investors sell off equity exposures, shifting to higher-yielding risk-free assets, saying “however, investors would continue cherry-picking companies with solid H1, 2022 earnings performance.

“For the next MPC meeting in September, we expect the MPC decision will largely fall on the stance taken by more advanced central banks in their aggressive rate cycle. Domestic inflation estimates will also be a significant consideration at the September MPC meeting,” analysts at United Capital added.

Okonjo-Iweala Calls for More Support for Sustainable Fisheries Financial assistance must be expanded to help developing and least-developed country (LDC) members establish sustainable fisheries in light of the historic World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies, the Director-General of the global trade body, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said.

The former Nigeria Finance Minister was quoted in a statement to have said this at an Aid for Trade Global Review event held recently, where a new report by the Secretariat was launched.

The event also featured high-level officials from coastal economies and donor partners who expressed support for channelling more resources towards sustainable fisheries.

"At our 12th Ministerial Conference, WTO members

adopted a new Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.

The Agreement is the first broadly-focused, binding multilateral agreement on ocean sustainability. It also is the first WTO agreement with environmental sustainability at its core," DG Okonjo-Iweala said at the event, where she also took the opportunity to urge members to formally accept the Agreement so that it can enter into force.

"For developing country and LDC members, implementation will take time, effort and money," the DG added, citing tasks ahead such as integrating fisheries-related elements into subsidy policies and meeting new notification requirements, particularly on fisheries-related information.

"The WTO's new report, 'Implementing the WTO

Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: Challenges and opportunities for developing and least-developed country members,' helps set the context for this important conversation," DG Okonjo-Iweala said, underlining that 65 per cent of $5 billion in assistance earmarked for fisheries and the ocean economy between 2010 and 2020 targeted sustainable fisheries according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presented in the report.

"One telling statistic from the report, though, is that the assistance to sustainable marine fisheries over ten years is dwarfed by the annual $22 billion in harmful fisheries subsidies.

“Eliminating these subsidies would in principle unlock a huge amount of resources that could

be redirected to promote and support sustainable fisheries management and practices by all members, including developing and LDC members," she said.

The Director-General drew attention to the voluntary WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism, which is foreseen in the Agreement to fill gaps in existing assistance and thus ensure that beneficiaries have what they need to fully implement the new WTO rules.

The Fund will be operated by the WTO along with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

"Donors to the Fund already have pledged around half of our initial target of $10 million, and we are working to get it up and running quickly," she said.

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NEWS

STRENGTHENING BUSINESS TIES… His Royal Highness, Governor of the Mecca Province of Taif HRH Prince Saud bin Nahar bin Saud Al Saud, flanked by CEO of Del York Linus Idahosa and members of the US delegation.

FG Renationalising Our Power Assets in Guise of Restructuring, Discos Allege Say govt failed to meet agreed conditions, owes N100bn in subsidy debts Insist BPE provided inaccurate information during privatisation Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The 11 electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) in the country yesterday accused the federal government of surreptitiously moving to renationalise their assets years after the facilities were privatised.

In a statement by their umbrella organisation, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the power distributors expressed worry over the prevailing situation which it said was being perpetrated under the guise of restructuring.

THISDAY learnt that the comments by the Discos came against the backdrop of a recent action by the federal government regarding the takeover of Kano, Benin and Kaduna electricity distribution companies by Fidelity Bank Plc after the bank initiated

action to take over the boards of the three Discos.

The government had also announced through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that with the takeover of Ibadan Disco by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the BPE had obtained approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to appoint an interim managing director for the power firm.

The government further stated in a notice that it was restructuring the management and board of the Port Harcourt Disco to forestall an alleged imminent insolvency of the utility. The notice was jointly signed by the Director-General, BPE, Alex Okoh and the Executive Chairman, NERC, Sanusi Garba.

It also happened after a similar action on the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC)

SERAP Urges Buhari to Withdraw Threat to Sanction BBC, Daily Trust over Terrorism Reporting Udora Orizu in Abuja The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed to withdraw the threat to sanction the BBC and Daily Trust over their documentaries on terrorism in the country.

Mohammed had last week stated that the federal government would sanction the BBC and Trust Tv for airing documentaries that allegedly “fuel” terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.

In a letter dated 30th July and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said the media has the duty to impart information and ideas on issues of public importance and if carried out, the threat to sanction the media houses would inhibit the media from reporting on issues of public interest.

According to SERAP, rather than punishing the media for promoting access to diverse opinions and information on issues of public importance, the government should focus on delivering its promises to

ensure the security of Nigerians.

The letter read in part: “We would be grateful if the requested action is taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions in the public interest. A free, uncensored, and unhindered press or other media is essential in any society to ensure freedom of opinion and expression and the enjoyment of other rights. It constitutes one of the cornerstones of a democratic society.

“Sanctioning the BBC and Daily Trust would be entirely inconsistent and incompatible with Nigeria’s obligations under article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The threat if carried out would impermissibly restrict the constitutional and international rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and victims’ right to justice and effective remedies that are central to public debate and accountability in a democratic society.

which was fully endorsed by the federal government through its agencies.

But the Discos in the statement yesterday, noted that they were deeply concerned about the socalled “restructuring” of the five Discos, as announced by the BPE on July 5th, 2022, in collaboration with NERC. The power distributors said they viewed the purported restructuring as inconsistent with all the guidelines and processes necessary to comply with the framework of privatisation agreements and the rule of law.

“We believe that it is reasonable to conclude that the resultant outcome has been an expropriation or backdoor renationalisation of the Discos by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN),” the statement signed by the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, stated.

Such renationalisation or expropriation, the Discos argued must be viewed through a historical context as necessary for a proper understanding of the performance challenges that

the Discos have been faced with since privatisation.

The Discos noted that fundamentally, the basis of privatisation was flawed from the beginning, due to conditions that were not met by the federal government, while expecting the Discos to meet their own performance obligations.

“Not only were the investors short-changed because of insufcient and unreliable data provided

by BPE to them during the privatisation process, but the government also committed to and failed to deliver on debtfree financial books; payment of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA) electricity debts and N100 billion subsidy,” they stressed.

According to the Discos, the implementation of a cost reflective electricity tarif, which it said remained an unfulfilled condition had led to accrued significant debt and liabilities on the Discos financial books, as they have continued to sell electricity below the cost price.

Furthermore, the Discos argued

that the private management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), currently a government-owned and operated entity and a major requirement for attracting the private investment that was critical to addressing the transmission bottleneck currently belittling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) value chain has not been carried out.

“These commitments have remained largely unmet over the post-privatisation period and have belatedly been partially addressed – too late to rectify current performance challenges,” the electricity distributors stated.

According to the statement, while the Discos were not exonerated from responsibility for performance failures, it would be unrealistic to reach related conclusions without taking into consideration the factors that have been listed previously, as well as the federal government's contributions to these challenges.

It maintained that there was an established process by which a change of a corporate entity’s board of directors and management

occurs, explaining that as such, it was with much surprise that the Disco investors awoke to the July 5, 2022, renationalisation or expropriation of the five entities.

“More so, given that due process was not followed and that the FGN, as a 40 per cent minority shareholder, is represented by the director general of BPE on the board of each of the Discos and is party to all decisions concerning the operations of the Discos,” the statement said.

According to the Discos, what currently exists in the industry is a misalignment of risk, technical and commercial factors, with the Disco investors bearing the brunt of the misalignment.

“Unless there is a correction of this misalignment to establish a balance that provides a pathway to sustainable commercial operations, from gas production to retail electricity delivery, the power sector will never attain the level of efciency that is necessary to provide Nigerians with the significantly improved power situation that is urgently required.

Stakeholders Advocate Use of Prohealth Taxes to Bridge Budget Gap Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Participants in a conference on health financing policy in Nigeria have urged the federal government to adopt a robust and equitable distribution of pro-health taxes imposed on alcohol, tobacco and sugar sweetened beverages as a means of bridging the gap in funding of healthcare services for the people.

The conference which was organised by Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), PharmAccess Foundation, Nigeria Healthwatch and the World Bank in Abuja, had several stakeholders including, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe; the Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Prof. Mohammed Nasir Sambo; the DG of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze; the First Lady of Kebbi State, Dr.

Zainab Bagudu, amongst others in attendance.

The conference looked at new health financing approaches in Nigeria while focusing on the implementation of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax in Nigeria.

The President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Dr. Pamela Ajayi in her presentation urged government to use the opportunity of the implementation of the taxes to bridge the gap in healthcare funding in Nigeria, a move she said would significantly help in achieving the SDG goals of universal health coverage and the Abuja Declaration.

According to her, HFN had been a strong proponent for the implementation of the pro-health taxes, adding that it had written to the Minister of Finance last year to support the increase of existing taxes on alcohol and tobacco and the introduction of new taxes on SSB, highlighting countries that

had successfully used such taxes to improve healthcare.

She said countries such as Philippines, Australia, and Korea amongst others had successfully implemented the policy.

"HFN recommended that these taxes be used to provide coverage to the indigent population and to scale up mandatory health insurance coverage for all Nigerians with a percentage of the revenue being earmarked for specific impact health related schemes as well as research and development particularly in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer," she said .

She also called for the creation of a legal framework to secure these funds “ring-fencing” them for healthcare and the formation of a committee with relevant stakeholders (both public and private) to ensure equitable and sustainable disbursement of the funds for the improvement of

healthcare in the country.

The Country Director PharmAccess Foundation and Vice President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Mrs. Njide Ndili, said Nigeria needs to identify innovative and sustainable ways to finance the health sector without reliance on donor funds.

She said that funds from development partners should be seen as addittional to the country’s sources of finance for health.

Also speaking in an interview at the event, Mr. Kolapo Fapohunda, the West African Health Policy and Partnership Lead at Roche and Publicity Secretary of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) commended the government of Nigeria for the establishment and implementation of the SSB tax and encouraged the government to ensure the funds are earmarked for the health sector to improve access to equitable health for all Nigerians.

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BRITISH COUNCIL LEARNER AWARDS… Commissioner for Education, Lagos State, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo(6th left) and Country Director Nigeria/Director West Africa, British Council, Lucy Pearson (7th left) with recipients ABIODUN AJALA of Top in The World Award during the British Council Recognition and Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards 2022 in Lagos...weekend

Workers’ Sack Imminent as Airlines Struggle with Cost of Operation Chinedu Eze There are indications that domestic carriers may reduce their workforce as they struggle to sustain their operations in the face of high cost of aviation fuel, which is currently about N950 per litre.

THISDAY investigations revealed that some airlines were already reviewing their workforce and see sacking of workers as their last option, which also signals some of the airlines may ground their operations.

Sources from Aero Contractors told THISDAY that the company has embarked on rationalisation of its workforce, but those affected were the personnel engaged in schedule operation.

The airline, however, expressed hope that it would resume schedule service when it acquires aircraft and would recall the workers sent home after it suspended service a fortnight ago.

“They don’t have schedule operations so they have to reduce their staff - those involved in schedule service.

Once they acquire planes they would call them back. The current management has to be commended because the challenge they faced was enormous, but they will bounce back and those workers will resume work. So let’s put it this way; that the airline embarked on rationalization to cut cost,” the inside source told THISDAY. Informed source also said that it is extremely difficult to survive under the current operational environment, saying airlines are helping each other by taking advantage of the spring alliance, which is the code-share partnership, they formed few

months ago.

Airlines that have fewer passengers would board them in another airline’s flight and later reconcile accounts, as the alliance has fixed fare for all the destinations. Also, few airlines that are not part of the alliance have re-protection agreement, whereby they take passengers from their partner airlines on negotiated fares.

THISDAY also learnt that before the current increase in the cost of aviation fuel, some airlines had already reduced their workforce due to the COVId-19 pandemic that devastated global economy and adversely affected domestic and international carriers.

Head of Communication of

Arik Air, Adebanji Ola, told THISDAY that currently the airline does not have plan to sack any staff. He disclosed that currently the airline has over 1000 staff, contrary to reports that the airline personnel had reduced to 500.

He said many of Arik Air’s workers that were on redundancy during the COVID-19 lockdown had been recalled, but the remaining had been given severance settlement with effective supervision of the unions.

“We don’t have plans to sack workers currently. We sent workers home during the pandemic but we have recalled a lot of them from redundancy and this had been concluded long time ago. They were

given redundancy package in conjunction with the union. Those we didn’t recall were given very good redundancy package. I can tell you that Arik Air is one of the strongest airlines in Nigeria today,” Arik spokesman said.

The image-maker of United Nigeria Airlines, Archilles Uchegbu, told THISDAY that the airline has the number of personnel it needs, adding that it is even expanding its operation because in next few weeks it would extend flight operations to Jos and Benin.

“We are expanding operations.

We are not sacking. We want to open Benin and Jos routes; we are expanding. We have five aircraft and we want to lease the

sixth aircraft as we expand our service,” he said.

Airlines said that they couldn’t continue to increase airfares in response to the increase in the cost of aviation fuel because the number of passengers has already depleted and further increase of airfares would further reduce passenger traffic on domestic routes.

THISDAY checks indicated that cost ticket is very high if a passenger buys on the day he is travelling.

Checks on the airlines’ website showed that there are still relatively low prices for tickets.

For example, Arik Air for August 2, 2022 showed that Lagos-Abuja flight for 6:50 am was N56, 000 and 9:50 am flight was N71, 000.

Air Peace Lagos-Abuja flight by 6:30 am was N78, 000; 8:20 am flight was, N82, 000: 10:30 pm flight was N82, 000, while 12:45 pm flight was N78, 000 and 5:00 pm flight was N75, 000.

Azman Air Kano-Lagos flight was N100, 000; Max Air Kano-Jos flight was N100, 000, while Max Air Abuja-Jos flight was N55, 000. Arik Air Lagos-Jos flight was N80, 000, while return ticket was N57, 000.

The Managing Director of Flight and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, told THISDAY that airlines sacking their workforce would be the last resort and that indicated that the airlines are also on the verge of going under.

Airtel Africa Records Double-digit Revenue Growth as Nigeria Leads with 18% Emma Okonji Airtel Africa which operates in 14 African countries, Nigeria inclusive has released its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, where it recorded double digit revenue growth with progressive margin and earnings.

According to the financial statement, Airtel Africa's revenue grew by 13 per cent in reported currency to $1,257 million.

Total revenues for mobile services and mobile money services combined grew in Nigeria by 18.3 per cent per cent, which was the highest.

In East Africa, it grew by 14.1 per cent and in Francophone Africa by 11.7 per cent.

Revenue growth in constant currency was posted across all four reporting segments. Mobile Services revenue in Nigeria grew

by 18.3 per cent and across the Group by 14.2 per cent, with voice revenue up by 11.3 per cent and data revenue up by 19.8 per cent.

Mobile Money revenue grew by 26.5 per cent, driven by growth of 26.9 per cent in East Africa and 25.4 per cent in Francophone Africa.

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 14.9 per cent to $614 million in reported currency.

The EBITDA margin was 48.8 per cent, which was an increase of 78 basis points in reported currency and 52 basis points in constant currency.

Operating profit grew by 20.6 per cent to $425 million in reported currency, while its profit after tax grew by 25.3 per cent to $178 million.

Operating free cash flow grew by 10.3 per cent to $473 million, while net cash generated from

operating activities reduced by 13.2 per cent to $388 million, mainly due to increased cash tax payments from both higher taxes on declared dividends and increased taxable profits.

It's total customer base increased to 131.6 million, up 8.9 per cent, with increased penetration across mobile data and mobile money services.

Speaking on the trading update for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, said: "I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth. I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after the period ended, with early repayment of $450 million of debt

at Group level.

"As we flagged in our full year announcement, this quarter we have faced headwinds from outbound voice call barring for customers who had not yet registered their National Identification Numbers in Nigeria and the loss of site sharing revenue in those OpCos where we recently sold towers.

“Inflation is also having an impact on our cost base, particularly on energy costs, but our continued efficiency drives have ensured that we have still been able to increase our margins, albeit at a slightly slower rate."

He further said: "After receiving the Payment Service Bank licence in Nigeria just a few months ago, it is a testament to our prior preparation that we have already managed to launch our mobile money operations in a few select locations without any

operational issues. We are excited by the commercial developments and opportunities here.

“We also continued to invest for growth and have made a couple of major additional spectrum acquisitions recently in the DRC and Kenya in anticipation of continued strong data demand growth in these markets.

"We will continue to target growth ahead of the market this year and, despite inflationary pressures, our continued focus on cost efficiencies should also support margin resilience.

“Longer term, the opportunities for sustainable profitable growth stemming from our underpenetrated markets for each of mobile voice, data and mobile money services remain hugely attractive, and we are confident of continuing to deliver on our growth strategy."

NCC Commits N500m to Research in Nigerian Universities Emma Okonji The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has committed over N500 million to Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions across the country to facilitate research and innovations to promote developments in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who disclosed this at a two-day regional roundtable with academia, industry and other stakeholders, which ended in Kano at the weekend, said the funds had been committed to research grants to universities

and tertiary institutions, including professorial chairs in the universities in salient areas to drive technology development.

According to Danbatta, the Commission is now focused on supporting the academia in the commercialisation of the prototypes from the innovative researches, saying this would be relevant to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy's policy towards achieving indigenous technology for sustainable development of the country.

He said the roundtable organised by the Commission was to provide the necessary platform to support the

commercialisation of locallydeveloped telecommunications innovations, which the NCC has been sponsoring.

"The Commission collaborates with the academia in maximising the contributions of tertiary institutions to innovations and sustainable development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry as finance is needed to drive possible success of these endeavours," Danbatta said, adding that efforts had enabled the Commission to contribute to national efforts to ensure overall growth of the industry and create wealth for innovators.

All these are fundamental

to the objective of the NCC's research and development oriented programmes, Danbatta further said.

On the basis of these, he said ideas, inventions, and improvements that emanate from the academia, were required by the industry for improved efficiency and productivity.

Danbatta said appreciable impacts had been achieved since the Commission reinvigorated research grants for telecommunications-based research innovations from Nigerian academics, focusing on successful commercialisation of locally developed solutions to foster and deepen the uptake

of indigenous technology by Nigerians.

NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Maska, also disclosed that the Commission, had so far awarded 49 telecom-based research grants to the academia, out of which 10 prototypes were successfully developed and displayed to industry stakeholders. He said the research and development efforts of the Commission were aimed at actualising some of the 8-point Pillar of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030, focusing on Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

The event, which featured

series of panel session discussions, particularly focusing on sub-themes that addressed the overarching theme of the stakeholders’ forum from different perspectives, drew participants from the academia, telecoms industry stakeholders, financial services sector and other critical sectors or the economy.

Participants deliberated on understanding commercialisation and entrepreneurial model within the university and industry perspectives as well as brainstormed on investment and funding opportunities for prototype development, sustainability and the sale of new products in the market place.

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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING… L-R: Non-Executive Director, Unity Bank Plc, Dr. Oluwafunsho Obasanjo; Company, Secretary, Mr. Alaba Williams; Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Babangida; Managing Director/CEO, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, and Non-Executive Director, Hafiz Mohammed Bashir, at the 16th Annual General Meeting of the bank held in Lagos.... yesterday

Issue of Unpaid NDDC Contractors Messy, Says Minister Commission seeks political solution to debt recovery Group urges minister to inaugurate board without delay Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana has described the issue of unpaid contractors of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as 'very messy,’ just as the Interim Administrator of the Commission, Mr. Effiong Okon Akwa has called for a political solution to the agency's debt recovery efforts.

Local contractors claim the agency owes them over N2 trillion in contractual fees.

Umana and Akwa spoke separately during the top management retreat organised by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) where stakeholders also called for the final harmonisation of all the development plans in the Niger Delta region.

Briefing journalists after the retreat at the weekend, Umana said: "On the unpaid contractors, I think the situation is very messy really. It is very, very messy. Again, it is part of what we have to do to correct the mistakes of the past.

"This is because there is no organisation that handles its finances in a rational manner and implements its budgets in a rational manner that is going to award contracts and pile up

to a level and tune that we find in NDDC. "The truth of the matter is that the available funds today cannot liquidate the liabilities that we have at hand. That is the truth.

But having said that, we must also then work out some logical, sensible way of making payments to contractors.

"And I said today that for example, if a contractor had done a job, he was not mobilised. He used his own resources to build a road.

The road has been completed, and taken over by NDDC. "That should be number one priority for us if we are going to make payments. So, we are seriously looking into that and we will come up with something that will make some difference.

"This is a very difficult situation for us against the background of what is being owed and what funds are available."

While admitting that he has a few months in office, the minister said he was determined to change the narrative, moving forward, adding, "We also decided on the need to prioritise projects and ensure that meaningful and impactful projects are completed for the benefit of our people.

"And rather than spreading resources thinly, we will be looking at the way we budget for projects to ensure that key meaningful

Katsina, UNICEF Launch e-Learning Platform, Target 10,000 Learners, Teachers Francis Sardauna in Katsina The Katsina State government in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has launched the Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) with the target of enrolling 10,000 learners and teachers before the end of 2023.

The State Coordinator of the NLP, Usamatu Mohammad Gona, who disclosed this to journalists shortly after inaugurating the platform, described the NLP as a digital learning platform with online, mobile and offline capability that enables continuous access to quality education.

He added that the Learning Passport, delivered by UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Education and powered by Microsoft, with funding support from Global Partnership for Education (GPE), was free of charge for all learners across the state.

According to him, "The platform makes learning possible even outside the confines of a school which will help address

the spiraling numbers of school-age children unable to learn, especially in states where insecurity hinders access to schools.

"Importantly, Learning Passport provides an opportunity for teachers to access quality teachers' guides and resources and digitalised capacity building modules meant for teachers while supporting them to deliver lessons in class.

In Katsina, we are targeting 10,000 learners and teachers across the over 300 schools in the state before the end of November 2023."

The state NLP coordinator noted however that the e-learning platform targets the enrollment of 4.5 million learners and 135,000 schools across the country by the end of 2023 and 12 million by 2025 respectively.

Additionally, he said, 30,500 teachers and school leaders were being trained on the use of the NLP and on how to integrate technology in classroom instructional practice.

projects, regional projects are accommodated in our budget process moving forward. So, these are some of the highlights."

In a paper presented at the

Retreat, Akwa stated that despite the challenges besetting the interventionist agency, it was imperative for it to discharge its mandate efficiently and effectively.

While calling for adequate support and prompt funding, stakeholder collaboration and technical expertise, Akwa noted that in discharging its mandate,

NDDC recognised the importance of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs as the supervising authority, to ensure a seamless management of its mandate.

NDLEA Intercepts N1.4bn Worth of Tramadol at Lagos Port Discovers drug lab at VGC, suspects arrested

Michael Olugbode in Abuja and Rebecca Ejifoma in Lagos Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted drugs with cost put at about N1.4 billion at the Apapa port.

A statement yesterday by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, stated that no fewer than 2,750,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg weighing 1,650 kilogrammes worth N1, 375, 000,000 was intercepted at the nation’s major port in Apapa, Lagos.

This is just as the NDLEA at the weekend arrested Mr. Emeka Nzewi and his accomplices after its officials detected a drug lab in K-5A/2, Road 14 in Victoria Garden City (VGC) in Lagos State.

According to Babafemi, the consignment was packed in 55 cartons of Tapentadol and Carisoprodol types of tramadol and was seized during examination of a container number SUDU 7538656 last Saturday following credible intelligence.

Babafemi recalled that the latest seizure came on the heels of similar efforts by anti-narcotic officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja that thwarted bids by drug traffickers to export various psychoactive substances to London, UK and Dubai, UAE through the Lagos airport in the past week, noting that at least, five suspects have so far been arrested in connection to the attempts.

He said last Monday, a Dubaibound passenger Ms. Ebhodaghei

Osenemeshen was intercepted during the outward clearance of travellers on Rwanda Air via Kigali to Dubai, and discovered in her luggage were sachets of tramadol 225mg concealed inside garri, a cassava product packed among other foodstuffs.

Babafemi said the woman however claimed that the bag was given to her by someone who she passed the night in his house before coming to the airport to help deliver to another person in Dubai.

He said the following day, last Tuesday, a total of 50 blocks of cannabis sativa with a total weight of 27.1 kilogrammes concealed inside large quantity of crayfish going to London, UK as part of a consolidated cargo were seized at the SAHCO export shed.

Also, the same day, a Dubai bound female passenger, Emebradu Rachael, was arrested with 1.8 kilogrammes cannabis packed inside bitter leaf in her luggage while attempting to board Rwanda Air flight to UAE via Kigali. The mother of one said she was into selling of men’s wears before she decided to travel to Dubai to expand her clothing business.

She also claimed her ex-boyfriend that lives in Dubai, requested her to bring the bag, which contains the illicit substance along with foodstuff.

In the same vein, operatives at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Saturday evacuated cartons of khat leaf with a total weight of 51.50 kilogrammes.

According to the spokesman, the consignment had earlier come in from Sierra Leone on Royal Air

Moroc flight.

Across the country, in Adamawa state, four notorious drug dealers in Konkol and Belel, two villages at Nigeria - Cameroon border were arrested for exporting and retailing Tramadol and importing Diazepam into the country. The suspects included: Kabiru Ahmadu; Eric Emil; Abdulmumini Bapetel and Alphonsus Yusuf.

A total of 59.018 kilogrammes tramadol, diazepam, Exol-5, cannabis sativa and two jerry cans of formalin substance (Suck & Die) were recovered from them.

In Kebbi, no less than 4,010 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized last Friday when a commercial vehicle with registration number Sokoto RBA 220 XA was intercepted along Yawuri - Kebbi road and two suspects: Muktar Yunusa, 26 and Lukman Aliyu, 30, arrested.

Similarly, a raid operation in Oko-Olowo area of Ilorin last Tuesday led to the arrest of Onaolapo Zakariyau, 50, with 79 kilogrammes cannabis sativa.

In Abuja, no fewer than 90 blocks of cannabis (48.2 kilogrammes) and 700 grammes of methamphetamine were intercepted at the Jabi motor park while a suspect has been arrested in connection with the drug exhibits, and in Kano, 51 suspects were arrested in a raid at Sky restaurant in Nasarawa area of the state last Friday. The suspects were caught with various quantities of cannabis and codeine based cough syrup.

Meanwhile, in his reaction to the

arrests and seizures, Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of Apapa seaport, MMIA, Adamawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Kano, and FCT Commands for their vigilance and commitment.

He, however, urged them and their colleagues across the country not to rest on their oars but remain resolute in pursuit of the agency’s goal of ridding Nigeria of illicit substances.

Discovers Drug Lab in VGC, Arrests Suspects Meanwhile, the VGC arrest, according to the General Manager of VGCPORA, Yussuf Morufat, was a sequel to a sting operation based on intelligence gathering at the house where Mr. and Mrs Emeka Nzewi were tenants.

"The operation confirmed a meth lab operation on the premises. Nzewi and accomplices have been arrested while the property will be sealed by the state government," Morufat noted.

He disclosed that the NDLEA had been tracing Nzewi since 2017.

"The property owners do not conduct background checks of tenants before leasing of properties.

Such acts expose residents to security risks," he bemoaned.

Henceforth, the GM assured residents that VGCPORA would make background checks mandatory for new residents before access cards would be saved or renewed or exchanged for residents.

UBEC to Commence Operations of Smart Schools in January Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi has reiterated the commitment of the federal government to commence operations in some of the newly constructed smart schools by January 2023.

He gave the assurance when a team of Korean experts lead

by Dae Joon Hwang of UBION Consortium paid him a courtesy visit at the end of their 4-week stay in Nigeria.

Speaking at the occasion, the Country Director of the Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA), Mr. Son Sungil, stated that the 3-man team had been in Nigeria since July 3, 2022, as part of the implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between KOICA and UBEC in October 2021.

In a statement signed by the head of media and publicity, Mr. David Apeh, amongst other items, the objectives of the MOU include to assist Nigeria in the development of the smart schools’ project, to increase the capacity of teachers

in the development and use ICT content and to improve the access of teachers and pupils to quality teaching and learning materials.

The team leader, Prof. Hwang, noted that, "the three pillars of the collaboration revolved around the supply of sophisticated recording and broadcasting studio equipment in some of the smart schools, content development with particular reference to mathematics and science and capacity building for teachers and education managers across the country in the use of new information and communication

technologies (ICTs) and the Blended Learning methodology."

Also speaking during the occasion, the Co-ordinator of the Smart Schools Programme, Prof. Bashir Galadanci stated that during their one month stay, the Korean team of experts had extensive discussions with officials of UBEC, NERDC and NTI on the Smart Schools Programme.

They also visited the Smart Schools in Lafia, Nasarawa State and Tarda, Kano State and had discussions with the SUBEB chairmen and officials of Kano and Nasarawa states respectively.

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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

Hurdles N’Assembly Must Scale to Impeach Buhari

Sunday Aborisade looks at the nine constitutional steps required by the National Assembly to impeach a seating President

Buhari

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he event of last Wednesday in the Senate when senators sang solidarity songs against President Muhammadu Buhari and initiated moves to sack him from office if he failed to tackle insecurity within the next six weeks, took an average Nigerian with great surprise.

Many Nigerians including lawmakers, legal experts and civil society communities have however said, the exercise was already belated because of the time frame available to actualise the constitutional procedure.

By the calculation of some people who had reacted to the development, it could take the National Assembly, about six months to actualise its impeachment process against Buhari, from when the ultimatum would lapse in September 20.

They believed that the general elections slated for February next year would have been concluded and a new president would have been elected before the National Assembly would conclude the impeachment process.

Many commentators had equally argued that majority of the lawmakers in the nation’s parliament would be busy with their re-election bid and may not be interested in the impeachment saga as from September when the Independent National Electoral Commission would open the floor for campaigns.

According to Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), nine steps are required to impeach the President.

The first step made it mandatory for the National Assembly (both chambers) to send a notice of any allegation in writing alleging gross misconduct on the part of the President, to him.

The notice must be signed by not less than one-third of the members of the National Assembly (both the Senate and House of Representatives) and it would be presented to the Senate President.

Gross misconduct, according to the Constitution, is “a grave violation or breach of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the National Assembly to gross misconduct.”

The Senate President, in the second step, must within seven days, serve the President and each member of the National Assembly with a copy of the notice of allegation.

The President of the country in the third step, has a right of reply (he/she does not have to reply however), and any such statement in reply to the allegation must be served on each member of the National Assembly.

Lawan

Step four requires that within 14 days of the presentation of the notice to the Senate President, each chamber of the National Assembly shall resolve by motion without any debate whether or not the allegation shall be investigated.

Such motion needs to be passed by at least two-thirds majority of all members of each chamber of the National Assembly.

In the fifth step, if the motion fails to reach the two-thirds majority, the process immediately stops, and no further action would be taken.

However, if the two-thirds majority is obtained and the motion is passed, then the Senate President will within seven days of the passing of the motion, request the Chief Justice of Nigeria to appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity to investigate the allegations.

Members of the panel must be men and women of proven integrity and should not be members of any public service, legislative house or political party.

The President whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall, in the sixth step, have the right to defend himself in person and be represented before the Panel by legal practitioners of his own choice.

In step seven, a Panel shall be appointed which shall; (a) Have such powers and exercise its functions in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by the National Assembly; and (b) Within three months of its appointment report its findings to each House of the National Assembly.

In step eight, where the Panel

Gbajabiamila

reports that the allegation has not been proven, there will be no further action.

However, if the report is that the allegation against the President has been proven, then the National Assembly will consider the report, and a resolution for the adoption of the report shall be moved.

In step nine, for the resolution to be adopted, it must be supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of each House.

Once adopted, the President shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report.

Many analysts are of the believe that It would be difficult for the federal lawmakers to achieve their plan at this moment. They argued that the legislators should have initiated the impeachment process earlier than now if they really wanted to achieve anything meaningful with the exercise.

On his part, Chairman of Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, Senator Danladi Sankara, dissociated himself from an alleged plot by some senators to impeach the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, for the eventual impeachment proceedings against President Buhari.

Sankara, who represents Jigawa Northwest in the upper legislative chamber, refuted claims by certain online news publications linking him to the plot by some senators to impeach the Senate President He said at no time was he consulted or co-opted into such plan by the 11 other Senators alleged to be masterminding the plot, adding: “It is just the figment of imagination of the online publications and the others, who are linking me to such a move.

According to him: “I was present throughout plenary sessions of last Tuesday and Wednesday, nobody approached me or sought my consent to join any move to impeach the Senate President or President Muhammadu Buhari.”

He pointed out that what was required at this time was maturity and understanding

Many analysts are of the believe that It would be difficult for the federal lawmakers to achieve their plan at this moment. They argued that the legislators should have initiated the impeachment process earlier than now if they really wanted to achieve anything meaningful with the exercise

of leaders and people to ensure that Nigeria overcome the challenges of insecurity and economic downturn.

Sankara said: “It is very important for leaders to explore workable methods to address the issues of insecurity .

“It is not proper for us to further heat up the polity when we should put heads together to explore workable solutions to the issues of the economy and insecurity.

It is a collective responsibility on the part of the leaders and the people.”

Also commenting, Senator Gershom Bassey representing Cross River South Senatorial District, said the impeachment plot was the second stage of the National Assembly plan to force President Buhari, to act on the issue of insecurity.

He said, “For me, the media has missed the point of our action. Our aim is to ensure safety of lives and properties in our country.

“The point of our action is not impeachment. That is why we have given a six-week threshold within which the President is expected to do something about insecurity in Nigeria.

“Our hope is that we expect the President will respond to our concerns so that everything would have been sorted out at the end of the six-week ultimatum.

“Part two which is impeachment would happen if the President failed to address the issue of insecurity within the six weeks period. If there is insecurity without the type of response that we expect, within six weeks, then, we move for impeachment.

“We are serious about the impeachment notice but we will only get there if government continue to pay lip service to the issue of insecurity.

“Why are the Kaduna train services still in captivity? Why has there been any arrest or anyone accountable over what happened in Kuje prisons? These are questions begging for answers.

“There are a number of actions that needed to be taken. The entire National Assembly is involved in the plan to make the President address the situation just that only the opposition lawmakers are talking.

“The Senate President will cooperate with whatever plans we want to carry out if President Buhari failed to act decisively.

I hope we won’t get into the issue of insecurity before the president takes action.

It is a bipartisan efforts to ensure that the president is up and doing.

“The six-week ultimatum is just the last stroke. We’ve passed many resolutions and urging the executive to act. Even when they complain of lack of money, we gave them through appropriation. We even passed supplementary budget.”

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T H I S D AY ˾ DAY AUGUST 1, 2022

CITYSTRINGS

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

Epe, the New Hub for Sports, Modern Fish Trading Following the newly built 339-shops capacity Modern Fish Market, and a 960-capacity mini-stadium in the Epe area of Lagos State, as facilitated by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, who doubles as the Federal Lawmaker Representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, Sunday Ehigiator writes that Epe is now the new hub for sports and modern fish trading

L-R: Chairman, Epe Local Government Council, Princess Surah Animashaun; Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; Oloja of Epe Kingdom, Oba Kamorudeen Animashaun; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Sen. Tokunbo Abiru; and Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, at the commissioning of the Remodeled Oluwo Fish Market, Epe, facilitated by Senator Abiru in Epe, Lagos

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ith unexplainable joy, on June 30, 2022, residents of the ancient city of Epe defied torrential rains to welcome their federal lawmaker, representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Tokunbo Abiru, alongside, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his Deputy, Dr Kadiri Hamzat to the commissioning of the dual projects facilitated by Senator Abiru.

The mini-stadium which was one of the two projects commissioned by Governor Sanwo-Olu was fashioned with a football pitch, basketball court, lawn tennis court, Volleyball courts, administrative offices, changing rooms and other amenities, and is believed to help improve grassroots sports development in the community, and by extension, the state.

While the fish market, named, Oluwo Modern Fish Market, is earmarked to improve economic activities in the community and open room for the exportation of smoked fish which meets the standard recommendations of the international markets.

At the commissioning, Abiru also doled out grants worth N62.5 million to 1,250 selected market women and traders across the senatorial district and also supported 200 rural farmers with hand planters and financial grants, in line with the World Health Organisation's (WHO), Social Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking at the commissioning Mrs OrelopeAdefulire stated the project speaks to some goals of the SDGs, especially as related to zero poverty, no hunger, good health and wellbeing, gender equality and economic growth.

According to her, “It is a very important project for us in the sense that we have to empower our women financially, spiritually, psychologically and emotionally.

“Market development is necessary for our women to have the opportunity of taking

good care of themselves, and families, and contribute to the development of their immediate community, the local government and the state in general.”

She said when market women are economically empowered, they would be able to take care of their children, send their wards to school, support their husbands and take good care of themselves, thereby reducing domestic violence in the family and the society at large.

“We have built 346 markets, low-cost shops, and stores very close to the jetty to aid fish farmers in selling their wares.

“Here at Oluwole Fish Market, we have also constructed where they can process their fish using gas, electricity or coal. It has been completed. And the standard of fish produced here can be exported overseas. I can tell you that it can match anywhere in the world.”

In his remarks, Governor SanwoOlu noted that the project was a true demonstration of democracy as it is most practical, and functional, directly touching the people's lives, empowering them, and enabling them to live healthier, more prosperous and to live better as citizens.

He equally revealed that the ministadium consists of a football pitch, a volleyball court, a basketball court, and a lawn tennis court, among others.

“The market is a commerce-oriented

project designed to improve the livelihood and the earning capacity of the various beneficiaries, while the mini-stadium is a lifestyle, sports, and recreational facility which will translate and transform the health benefit and improve the livelihood of our citizens.

“Between these two projects, a holistic effort has been made in touching the lives of our people in Epe in particular and Lagos East Senatorial District in general.

"In addition to these projects, we are also today presenting financial grants to over 1,250 women that have been carefully selected from the senatorial district, and additional 200 farmers will also be receiving manual planters and financial support to enable them to expand and do more in their chosen vocation.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Senator Abiru noted that he came into “this assignment with a determination and passion to improve the lots of Lagos East Senatorial District, and elevate the socio-economic conditions of our people, and most importantly, compliment the efforts of the state government in improving the lives of our people.

“So, in the last 18 months, I have held the people’s mandate, I have prioritised my focus and responsibilities on three pillars; legislative role, empowerment,

The project was a true demonstration of democracy as it is most practical, and functional, directly touching the people's lives, empowering them, and enabling them to live healthier, more prosperous and to live better as citizens

and endowment.”

Speaking on some other of his achievements in office, Abiru said, in the last 18 months at the Senate, he has sponsored 13 private member bills and co-sponsored three others.

"All the bills have scaled first reading.

Two bills are of particular interest to our entrepreneurs (MSME) and the youth. They are, Copyright bill 2021 (Repeal and Re-enactment) which has gone through first and second readings, public hearings and third readings and has been passed in the Senate.

"The second bill is the Franchise Regulation Bill 2022 which has gone through first and second readings and is now awaiting a public hearing."

On other achievements, he said, "the Aga Primary School in Ikorodu Central, which was overstretched due to high enrolment of pupils has been salvaged. I facilitated four blocks of 24 classrooms equipped with complements of furniture and 16 toilets and a Solar-Powered Borehole. This has greatly improved learning outcomes in the school.

"In the same vein, I facilitated two blocks of six classrooms at RCM Primary School Iwerekun, a coastal community in Ibeju-Lekki.

"In Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, I facilitated one block of three classrooms at Ajelogo Primary School. Also, in Ikosi-Isheri LCDA, I facilitated two blocks of classrooms at Isheri Primary School. In the same manner, I facilitated a fully equipped computer laboratory at the Igbobi Junior High School, Somolu Lagos.

"I facilitated one block of two classrooms at Methodist Primary School, Oke-Eletu, Ijede LCDA. In Gbagada, I have facilitated a block of classrooms at Araromi Primary School. Also in Aiyeroju Primary School, Oworoshoki, I have facilitated a block of classrooms.

"In the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic rage, I donated 150,000 nose masks to primary schools across the Lagos East Senatorial District through LASUBEB. I facilitated 200-solarpowered street lights at Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu campus," he noted.

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This Week In Tech 08097710984

nosakhare.alekhuogie@thisdaylive.com

Nosa

Alekhuogie

Riley: Augmented Reality Becoming a Big Part of Brand Advertising In this interview, the Chief Executive Officer, Ad Dynamo by Aleph, Sean Riley, Speaks on Digital Advertising Space, New technologies, and its latest education program in Nigeria. Nosa Alekhuogie presents the excerpts: Can you talk about the acquisition

by Aleph and the free digital ad expert training that has kicked off in Nigeria? e are very excited to be part of the Aleph family, and I would say that one of the important points to note is that we’ve known the leadership team at Aleph for many years, interacting at global training sessions and conferences hosted by our partners. Aleph is very passionate about global education and feels that is what is really going to accelerate growth across all major markets, closing the gap of skills available by introducing more career opportunities to young individuals across all major markets, which Nigeria is really into. I guess that explains how important Nigeria is to Aleph worldwide in terms of extending its training programme and Digital Ad Experts.

Nigeria is the first market where an English version of a product has been made available. Aleph began where its roots are in Latin America, but as you know, Nigeria is the first market outside of Latin America where we’ve opened it up for local candidates, and that’s very exciting. I think the website is being refined a little to make the opportunity clearer to individuals. There is a lot of free training available on the site that anyone can just register and complete free of charge at any time, you can slowly but surely complete a comprehensive set of courses in digital advertising.

We have the digital online Ad degree, which is a more formal process that takes three months, we take waves of students, and the first wave is about to close in Nigeria, which is a peer-topeer learning, and there is a dedicated instructor who guides all local Nigerian students through the process. The goal there is to do waves of 500 at a time, so there are two different elements.

One is what I would call everyday opportunities where you can log on online and just complete courses, and the other one is the online ad degree.

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As an expert that understands the Digital space, what are your views about the Nigerian market in terms of digital advertising, and what gap are you trying to bridge in the market?

I think what we’ve seen entering the Nigerian market is development, and I think it would be arrogant to say that Aleph is going to come and close a skills gap in any market. Aleph just wants to be part of scaling up more resources in the local market. But even without Aleph and without our efforts on digital ads, we’ve observed rapid income in skillsets, and the digital advertising role is all about the skills available.

Anyone can load a hundred dollars on any platform and spend it but optimising that and holding great creatives are all critical attributes to

R i l ey

achieving performance. We’ve seen that skillset develop very quickly in Nigeria, and I think the easiest way of accessing that skill set is by accessing the Calibre of people that we basically hire. The Calibre of people we are finding on the ground has been exceptional. About 10 years ago till today, we feel that the team we have in Nigeria is focused and can hold its own against any other market. I think for a lot of markets, we might put a lot of pros on what we do, but we are a sales business.

We are here to generate revenue for ourselves and our business.

media and brand advertising in two to three years?

In terms of social evolution and where we see brand advertising going, I’ll say Augmented Reality (AR). It is becoming such a big part of brand advertising, and it’s incredibly engaging. When we talk about Snapchat, we talk about a pastime, you know, with the lens, it’s not a banner that somebody sold by accident, it’s a lens that somebody chose to engage in, make a video of himself, share with friends on Snap, off Snap, and it’s the same with TikTok as well.

In Nigeria, for example, we talk about pay time. A brand with a lens typically generates two years of paid time in a single day which is a lot when you start comparing that matrix to Tv views, YouTube, or any other video. So, I think AR is a very big part of the future, but I think at the same time, it is really important to say that different brands have different target audiences and different objectives, and I am a big believer in the fact that each brand has to go and hunt for its sweet spots and based on your audiences even in your purchase circle, what you are trying to achieve in terms of the influence of purchase decisions if you ask me, I’ll probably say brands are going to choose less social platforms, they are going to try to excel at them.

What is your target audience, and what criteria were used in selecting the 500 people in the academy?

I would say that the only criterion is the willingness to learn. Obviously, I believe that most young school leavers are our target audience, but at the same time, someone could be in their early forties or at any stage of life deciding that they want to have a more comprehensive sense of knowledge about digital marketing.

So, I would say that the criterion in terms of demographic is anyone with an appetite, and we measure that appetite by asking candidates that register to complete a very short bit of pre-work and their ability to devise an hour to a bit of prework, to pass that demonstrative attitude and appetite to make the Expensive data and poor internet commitment through the three-month period. That is how we’ve gone coverage are major problems in Nigeria. What are you doing to about that. tackle this challenge?

On the line of data, expensive The social media space has evolved. Where do you see social data is such a challenge in so many

markets. Nigeria, believe it or not, is comparatively cheap to many other African territories, but something that all our partners such as Twitter, Snapchat and Spotify have done in the past with local telcos is to do zero-rated bills where we pick up the data cost on behalf of the user, but a lot of those deals haven’t worked. The main reason being that we haven’t been promoted well enough to the local market. We haven’t told Nigerians that you can use Twitter free of charge on this network or that you can use Spotify without paying for any data on this network, and that is something that we can definitely be better at, and we recognise as an ongoing challenge.

Partnerships with the telcos have been in place for many years in Nigeria, but they just haven’t been very well promoted to mobile users. So, we do have the challenge that Twitter can go and negotiate a deal with a telco, but we are very dependent on the Telco to make the users aware that Twitter is free to use, and that has been one of the fundamental breakdowns over the past few years. I’d need to check how much of those deals are still in place. I’m aware of quite a few telcos having deals in place for at least five to six years.

What are your plans concerning expansion in Nigeria, and what new technology should we expect in the digital marketing space?

Aleph represents many partners that Ad dynamo does not in many other markets. So, we are also looking to bring a few of those to Nigeria. What I would say is that you would be seeing, over the next six months a large portfolio giving brands access to a local representation of great partners.

Part of our model for operating is that we would never have an employee representing more than one platform, so our goal is to represent Twitter at the same standard that Twitter would represent itself, and the only way we can achieve that is to have a dedicated Twitter team.

For each partner we represent in Nigeria, we have built a dedicated sales team that only sells to specific partners. It’s quite a big investment for us as we’ll be bringing a new partner, and we must build an entirely new team for that partner. There will be an increased portfolio of different partners being represented.

In terms of new technology, you know that I mentioned earlier that AR is big, and we do a lot of assisting brands and agencies in Nigeria. We also have plans to introduce a level of self-service to small businesses. We can’t justify a dedicated account manager for clients of all sizes, so that is a big challenge for us. How do we give a level of service to clients of all sizes no matter what they spend? A self-service of some sort is something we’d like to bring to the market to extend our offering to smaller clients.

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& RE A S O

Monday August 1, 2022 Vol 27. No 9973

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opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

CAPTIVE PRESIDENT, BLIGHTED COUNTRY President Buhari’s leadership has done more harm than good to Nigeria, says CHRIS GYANG

See page 27 OF SPORTS AND BLATANT RACISM AHMED SULE takes on the BBC for the disparagement of Tobi Amusan’s World Record

See page 27

EDITORIAL DEALING WITH DRUG ABUSE PREVALENCE

See page 28

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ADAMU MUHD ADAMU traces the role played by the former Jigawa State governor in the main opposition party

SULE LAMIDO, PDP AND 2023 Alhaji Sule Lamido is among the nine people (G9) who formed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 along with Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Prof. Jerry Gana, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the late Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the late Chief Solomon Lar, the late Chief Bola Ige, the late Sen. Ella, and the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. They confronted former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha on WKH QHHG WR TXLW WKH R΀FH DQG DOORZ democracy to prosper. Lamido and Rimi were picked and locked up in DSS cells, Rimi in Ilorin and Lamido in Maiduguri. They were only released after the sudden demise of Abacha.

Lamido, Jerry Gana and Ayu are the lone PDP founding fathers still alive and on the landscape in politics and PDP. Lamido’s four decades of experience in the rough terrain of Nigerian politics is being brought to bear in this election circle. He is so often in the news for a combination of reasons including his imposing physical presence, his simple style of doing things, his solid records of commitment, loyalty, achievements, FRQVLVWHQF\ DQG VDFULÀFH HWF WR 3'3 since its creation in 1998 to date.

Lamido is one of the most experienced politicians in Nigeria, and is arguably the most successful governor in Nigeria since 1999 to date. Before then, he was a former unionist (PRP national youth leader) parliament (REP) and a former diplomat (Minister). He has made D ORW RI VDFULÀFHV IRU WKLV FRXQWU\ Nigeria. His contributions have reunited and re-awakened Nigeria and if politics and PDP are concern, Lamido is one person you cannot bury or shave away. Lamido always says his mind, which in all cases aligns with the interests of the common man.

He never succumbs to sentiments.

He is not the fair-weather type as so many politicians are; rather he stands rooted in principle and to progressive politics. In all of this, he brings rich personal experience to bear in all he does.

Lamido has been consistent in PDP. He displays his sagacity in full force. He as well deployed his unmatched energy and political skills in campaigning for PDP candidates from the top to the bottom from 1999 to date. He has a history of radically confronting the military junta of Abacha for the sake of restoring democracy (PDP) to Nigeria and he was sent to jail severally, during the PRP days and the military era.

Lamido was imprisoned for his emancipation of the masses. Some of

these things will give him edge and advantage over other compatriots on the corridor of Nigerian politics and the PDP. Even before the return of Alhaji Atiku, Saraki, and governor Tambuwal etc to PDP then, Lamido been a party man and democrat has been calling Alhaji Atiku, his former colleagues (governors) and other PDP party faithfuls who left the party for one reason or the other to return home (PDP).

If Lamido doesn’t mean well for the PDP and the country at large, he should have not openly and consistently be calling on them to return. Anybody who knows the NEPU/PRP orients and Santsi school of politics must salute Lamido for being consistent in his ideology, principles and doctrines of fearless, courageous, bold, radicalism and

If Lamido doesn’t mean well for the PDP and the country at large, he should have not openly and consistently be calling on them to return. Anybody who knows the NEPU/PRP orients and Santsi school of politics must salute Lamido for being consistent in his ideology, principles and doctrines of fearless, courageous, bold, radicalism and telling the truth and saying his own mind no matter what or how

telling the truth and saying his own mind no matter what or how.

The gossips, the political analysts and the entire populace are overwhelmingly convinced that, the political gladiators in the region and across board cannot produce a match to Lamido let alone surpassing his credentials and achievements.

This is a must believe, because the man Lamido is the most experience politician in the region if not in the country without mincing words, this is by virtue of the roles he played in various political parties in his life as a career politician from Nidus to his present stage, followed by his working experience in the government circle. And don’t forget that his political association with political heavy weights across the globe is his political asset that cannot be matched at least with any person in the region, now and possibly in the next decades to come The long awaited PDP presidential primary has come and gone with the emergence of Alhaji Atiku $EXEDNDU DV LWV ÁDJ EHDUHU IRU presidential election. Being a loyal party man, nationalist, loyal and a true democrat, Lamido has supported and accepted the outcome of the political development. Also, Lamido had appealed to the aspirants even before the presidential primaries that, this contest or aspiration shouldn’t EH D GR RU GLH DͿDLU DQG WKDW LI WKH exercise was conducted in a very democratic way, the outcome should be accepted by the contenders. That was why Lamido keeps on appealing to Governor Nyesom Wike that as a good party man and leader he should accept the outcome and support Atiku and make PDP win in order to make Nigeria rise and work again positively.

Lamido is more concerned with a peaceful, progressive and a united Nigeria than his personal interest.

As he supported Chief Olusegun 2EDVDQMR LQ DQG WKH ODWH $OKDML 8PDUX 0XVD <DU·DGXD LQ DQG 'U *RRGOXFN -RQDWKDQ LQ DQG DQG $WLNX LQ KH ZLOO continue to support anybody who wins the PDP ticket. If by tomorrow, Governor Wike secures the PDP ticket and Lamido is still alive, he will throw his weight behind him. That is what loyal party men do. And Lamido is a committed and loyal PDP man.

Adamu ZULWHV IURP .DÀQ +DXVD -LJDZD VWDWH DPX #\DKRR FRP

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T H I S D AY MONDAY AUGUST 1, 2022

President Buhari’s leadership has done more harm than good to Nigeria, says CHRIS GYANG

AHMED SULE takes on the BBC for the disparagement of Tobi Amusan’s World Record

CAPTIVE PRESIDENT, BLIGHTED COUNTRY

OF SPORTS AND BLATANT RACISM

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GYANG, Chairman of Journalists Coalition for Citizens’ Rights Initiative can be reached on chrisgyang01@gmail.com

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7KH FRPPHQWDWRUV FRXOG QRW KLGH WKHLU ZHVWHUQ DUURJDQFH LUUHVSHFWLYH RI WKHLU FRORXU $QGUHZ &RWWHU·V MR\ ZKHQ &LQG\ 6HPEHU TXDOLÀHG LV D FODVVLF manifestation of this arrogance. If Tobi $PXVDQ KDG IROORZHG WKH SDWK RI RWKHU VSRUWVPHQ DQG ZRPHQ RI 1LJHULDQ KHULWDJH VXFK DV $QWKRQ\ -RVKXD %XND\R 6DND &KULVWLQH 2KXUXRJX DQG 'DOH\ Thompson in competing for Great Britain, WKH SUREDELOLW\ RI -RKQVRQ DQG &RWWHU TXHVWLRQLQJ WKH ZRUOG UHFRUG ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ DOPRVW ]HUR Sule, CFA, writes via suleaos@gmail.com

28 4

T H I S D AY

MONDAY AUGUST 1, 2022

EDITORIAL

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

DEALING WITH DRUG ABUSE PREVALENCE The authorities should be worried that many young Nigerians are getting hooked on drugs

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The abuse of drugs is aided by parental neglect, igeria is in the throes of a major public SHHU SUHVVXUH DQG WKH DOO SHUYDGLQJ SRYHUW\ DQG KHDOWK HPHUJHQF\ 7KH ÀUVW HYHU unemployment. Many frustrated and unemployed QDWLRQ ZLGH VXUYH\ RQ GUXJ XVH LQ youths’ resort to many of these street drugs for their 1LJHULD KDV UHYHDOHG JURVV DEXVH RI UHOD[LQJ DQG HXSKRULF HͿHFWV $V WKH UHSRUW ULJKWO\ IRXQG drug substances, particularly by those out, cannabis is the most widely used drug globally and LQ WKH DJH EUDFNHW RI DQG (YHQ in Nigeria, but the use of opioids is responsible for most more worrying, close to three million of these young RI WKH QHJDWLYH KHDOWK LPSDFWV RI GUXJ XVH 7UDPDGRO persons are drug-dependent but cannot access help due a synthetic opioid analgesic used to treat moderate to to lack of health facilities. While the National Drug Law VHYHUH SDLQ LV VDLG WR EH RQH RI WKH PRVW DEXVHG GUXJV Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) under the able leadership in Nigeria. Cough syrups like codeine and others are of Brigadier General Muhammad Buba Marwa (rtd) has seriously implicated among the abused drugs by both EHHQ PRUH SURDFWLYH LQ ÀJKWLQJ WKH VFRXUJH WKHUH FDQ sexes either as stimulant or be no denying the fact that depressant purposes. the challenge is enormous.

Following a British According to the report The country is an open market where almost every drug can be obtained Broadcasting Corporation conducted by the United (BBC) documentary a few 1DWLRQV 2΀FH RQ 'UXJV across the counter. The porous borders encourage all manner of drugs years ago, the NDLEA, in and Crime (UNODC), to be shipped in and where many of the dealers are traders with bare alliance with some state in collaboration with JRYHUQPHQWV UDLGHG VRPH the National Bureau of knowledge of public health consequences of their products markets and warehouses Statistics and funded by and seized hard drugs worth the European Union, some billions of naira.

But such acts do not endure.

T H I S D AY 14.3 million people, about 14 per cent of the population EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU There are no reliable statistics but there is no doubt DEXVHG GUXJV LQ WKH SDVW RQH \HDU D ÀJXUH PRUH WKDQ DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA that the drug abuse has been linked to the continued WZLFH WKH ZRUOG·V DYHUDJH RI SHU FHQW 7KH UHSRUW VDLG MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO XSVXUJH LQ FULPLQDO DFWLYLWLHV DFURVV WKH FRXQWU\ 0DQ\ 10.6 million Nigerians abused cannabis in 2018 while DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU cases of rape, cultism, kidnapping for ransom, armed CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI others abused opioids, cough syrups and other street EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN UREEHU\ EDQGLWU\ DQG HYHQ FDU FUDVKHV IHHG RQ WKH UHDG\ GUXJV ´6RPH RI WKH ÀQGLQJV RI WKH VXUYH\ DUH VWULNLQJ MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DYDLODELOLW\ RI PDQ\ RI WKH KDUG GUXJV LQ WKH VWUHHW DQG DODUPLQJ DQG FDOO IRU FRQFHUWHG HͿRUWV WR PLWLJDWH THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE The menace has created an unacceptable burden on WKH QHJDWLYH FRQVHTXHQFHV RI WKLV ULVLQJ PHQDFH RQ WKH LQGLYLGXDOV IDPLOLHV FRPPXQLWLHV DQG VRFLHWLHV $V WKH health, socio-economic and security of our nation,” said Director General of the National Agency for Food and the Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire.

T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Professor To be sure, the use of drugs outside prescription EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA Mojisola Adeyeye put it, drug abuse is undermining LV DOO SHUYDVLYH SDUWLFXODUO\ DPRQJ WKH \RXWKV 7KLV GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, HͿRUWV WR GHHSHQ VRFLR HFRQRPLF GHYHORSPHQW DQG ´LV ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI is due partly to lack of control of prescription in the DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, associated with crime and lawlessness.” health facilities as well as in dispensing of medicines.

ANTHONY OGEDENGBE It is time we woke up to this challenge that poses 7KH FRXQWU\ LV DQ RSHQ PDUNHW ZKHUH DOPRVW HYHU\ DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI danger to the future of the country. More should be done drug can be obtained across the counter. The porous SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH to create awareness on the danger of drug abuse. And as ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI borders encourage all manner of drugs to be shipped in and where many of the dealers are traders with CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI WKH GUXJ H[SHUWV KDYH VXJJHVWHG WKH DXWKRULWLHV VKRXOG DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO strengthen drug control policies while more counselling EDUH NQRZOHGJH RI SXEOLF KHDOWK FRQVHTXHQFHV RI WKHLU TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com DQG WUHDWPHQW VHUYLFHV VKRXOG EH FUHDWHG products.

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LETTERS

BEFORE WE BLAME THE NAIRA Monetary economics is comparable to classics, an aspect RI HFRQRPLFV PDVWHUHG E\ WKH IHZ DQG LWV FRPSOH[LWLHV ORYHG by the fewest of the few. Despite my limited knowledge of its complexities, the basics of what empowers a currency is well absorbed. Especially, when Naira is battling domestic and global threats pushing it to prostrate further for dollar. A nightPDUH WKDW PXVW EH DYHUWHG Hence, the need to examine top Nigeria’s imports below: 2LO IXHOV E PDFKLQHULHV HOHFWURQLFV E YHKLFOHV ($3.44b), cereals/wheats ($2.74B), plastics ($2.54b). Identifying these top imports as sourced from “Statista” is important in order to understand our consumptions and appreciate a fundamental rule of balance of payment/international trade which FRQÀUPV WKDW D FXUUHQF\ LV PRUH HPSRZHUHG WKURXJK ZRUWKV YROXPHV RI H[SRUWV 2WKHU IDFWRUV VXFK DV FRQVWDQW GHYDOXDWLRQ RI 1DLUD VSHFXODWLRQ DQG OHVV SURGXFWLYLW\ KDYH EHHQ DUJXHG as contributors to weak currency too. %DVLFDOO\ 1DLUD LV JHWWLQJ PRUH EDWWHUHG DQG PRUH YRODWLOH because our imports outweigh our exports exceedingly, we LPSRUW RYHU RI ZKDW ZH FRQVXPH DQG H[SRUW OHVV WKDQ 7KH 5XVVLDQ FULVLV LV DOVR FRQWULEXWLQJ WR WKH YRODWLOLW\

Who should we blame for this bigger mess and what should be GRQH DV ÀUVW DLG VROXWLRQV" 7KH JRYHUQPHQW VKRXOG EH EODPHG ODUJHO\ IRU PDQ\ UHDVRQV DQG VSHFLÀFDOO\ WKH DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ RI President Muhammadu Buhari for adding bad ointments to the existing wound. The following reasons are indiscriminate GHYDOXDWLRQ RI 1DLUD PRUH WKDQ IRXU WLPHV UHIXVDO WR À[ WKH UHÀQHULHV RU IDFLOLWDWH QHZ RQHV LQ RUGHU WR UHOD[ WKH KHDYLHVW EXUGHQ RQ GROODUV LQ LPSRUWLQJ UHÀQHG IXHO ZKLFK LV RXU KLJKHVW LPSRUWV DQG IDLOXUH WR DJJUHVVLYHO\ SXUVXH VX΀FLHQW ORFDO production of some strategic products except for rice which it’s SURGXFWLRQ LV VWLOO LQVX΀FLHQW GHVSLWH WULOOLRQV VSHQW RQ LQWHUYHQWLRQV On the other hand, Nigerian citizens must also share in the EODPH PLOGO\ HVSHFLDOO\ WKH SULYLOHJHG FODVV WKH\ PXVW EH blamed not for consumption of foreign goods which some SHRSOH EHOLHYH WKH\ DUH DGGLFWHG WR DJDLQVW WKH ORFDO SURGXFWV EXW OHVV VWUDWHJLF HQWUHSUHQHXULDO IRFXV 0RVW SULYLOHJHG EXVLQHVV HOLWHV LQ 1LJHULD DUH IRFXVLQJ PRUH RQ VHUYLFH VHFWRU VXFK DV WHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQV ÀQDQFLDO VHUYLFHV HQWHUWDLQPHQW KRWHO VHUYLFHV FOXE RZQHUVKLS HWF WR WKH H[FOXVLRQ RI PDQXIDFWXULQJ of strategic consumer goods/FMCGs. The little aspect of the

PDQXIDFWXULQJ VHFWRU LV EHLQJ GRPLQDWHG E\ YHU\ IHZ 1LJHrians and mostly Indians, Lebanese (Asians) and Westerners.

Nigerian entrepreneurs must see need for local manufacturing DV D WRRO RI SDWULRWLVP DQG QRW MXVW IRU SURÀWV OLNH $VLDQV +RZHYHU WKH JRYHUQPHQW PXVW WDNH WKH OHDG ,W LV LQGHHG VFDU\ DV RXU YRODWLOH FXUUHQF\ ZLOO LPSRUW PRUH LQÁDWLRQ FRQVLGHULQJ JOREDO LQÁDWLRQ WKUHDWHQLQJ WKH ZRUOG EXW WKH ÀUH EULJDGH RU ÀUVW DLG VROXWLRQ ZH QHHG QRZ LV WR UHYLYH WKH UHÀQHULHV DQG DOORZ IRU DQ HPHUJHQF\ RSHUDWLRQ WR UHÀQH DW OHDVW RI RXU FUXGH 7KLV LV WKH PRVW UHDOLVWLF ÀUVW DLG VROXWLRQ LQ P\ YLHZ DQG QRW LQFUHDVH LQ LQWHUHVW UDWH E\ &%1 :H need to limit the oil imports as a matter of urgency and formulate midterm masterplan on how to minimize imports. The %'& UHJXODWLRQ LV DOVR UHOHYDQW EXW QRW WKH PRVW IXQGDPHQWDO LQ P\ YLHZ FRQVLGHULQJ WKH GDWD SURYLGHG 7KH TXHVWLRQ EHJging for an answer is why did this administration fail to rescue WKH UHÀQHULHV ZKHQ LW LV DZDUH RLO LPSRUWV FRQVXPH WKH KLJKHVW )RUH[" Mujib Dada-Qadri is a lawyer and policy analyst. He writes from Abuja.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

29

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 9 , 2 0 2 2

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OPR

11.25%

CALL

10.25%

INDEX LEVEL

613.31%

1/4 TO DATE

-0.85%

N416.86/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

11.50%

1-MONTH

9.56%

1-DAY

0.16%

YEAR TO DATE

7.64%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10.52%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.44%

In Search of Higher Returns, PFAs Dump Stock Market, Increase Exposure in FGN Securities

Kayode Tokede The value of Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) in the stock market dropped by 3.83 per cent Month-on-Month (MoM) to N965.15billion in June 2022 from N1.01 trillion in May to underlined investors dumping the stock market and investing in FGN Securities.

Investors on Nigeria’s stock market booked approximately N981billion loss in June 30 as sessions of profit-taking outweighed bargains.

Though the PFAs exposure in the stock market has recorded 5.9 per cent Year-till-Date (YtD) growth

from N915.31billion as disclosed

by National Pension Commission (Pencom) as at December 31, 2021, the hike in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and inflation have contributed to the stock market woo in June.

Analysis of PFAs’ investment in the stock market the previous months showed 3.2 per cent to growth in January to N1.070 trillion from N1.037 trillion as at December 2021.

The growth persisted in February with 1.6 per cent increase to N1.087 trillion.

While there was a 2.9 per cent decline in March to N1.056 trillion, the upward trend resumed in April

as pension investment in stock investment rose by 4.6 per cent to N1.105 trillion, and continued in May with marginal growth of 0.8 per cent to N1.113 trillion.

Consequently, PFAs investment in the stock market rose by 7.4 per cent to N1.1 trillion at the end of May from N1.037 trillion as at the end of December 2021.

Meanwhile, the report for the month of June 2022 revealed that Pension Fund Net Asset Value in FGN Bonds grew to N9.01 trillion in June 2022, representing 2.27 per cent increase from N8.81 trillion at the end of May 2022.

With the increase in FBN bonds exposure, the total current net asset value hits N14.27trillion in June from N14.19 trillion reported in May 2022.

The growth follows a 12.5 per cent yield on 10-year FGN Bonds during the period from 12.45 per cent in previous month, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The DMO in its FGN Bonds market report for June also disclosed that yield on 20-year moved to 13.15 per cent from 13 per cent reported in May 2022.

The latest auction by DMO for the month of July revealed that the yield on 20-year bond increased to

13.74 per cent.

The FGN Securities, according to Pencom consist of FGN Bonds, Treasury Bills (T-Bills), Agency Bonds, Sukuk Bonds and Green Bonds.

Further checks by THISDAY revealed that PFAs exposure in the T-Bills market increase significantly by 259.48 per cent to N475.64billion in June from N132.31billion reported

by PenCom in May 2022.

Interestingly, the reported N475.54billion PFAs exposure in T-bills is the highest this year.

Analysts, however, projected that the rise in PFAs investment in-stock may not persist in the second half

of the year (H2 2022), citing the expected rise in yields on FGN bonds and other fixed income investments following the commencement of tight monetary policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The inflation rate rose to 18.6 per cent in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to its highest level in 65 months (over 5 years), and the fifth consecutive monthly rise. The last time the inflation rate in Nigeria touched the 18.6 per cent ceiling was January Continued on page 31

External Reserves Adds $45.3m on Increase in Diaspora Remittances Nume Ekeghe Nigeria’s external reserves added $45.3million in July, according to movement in reserves data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The foreign exchange buffer as of July 28, 2022, moved to $39.22billion from $39.17billion it commenced the month under review.

Analysts have attributed the

steady increase in external reserves to CBN’s RT $200billion Foreign Exchange Programme, stressing that the policy unveiled in February 2022 has revived foreign exchange earnings from non-oil proceeds.

In a chat with THISDAY, analyst at PAC Holdings, Mr. Wole Adeyeye said, “The increase in foreign exchange inflows from the non-oil sources, through the CBN RT200 FX programme and increase in

diaspora remittances, may have contributed to the increase in Nigeria’s external reserves in July.”

The CBN in February released the operating guidelines for the non-oil export proceeds repatriation rebate scheme as introduced in the RT200 FX programme.

Precisely, the guideline stipulates those exporters will be paid N65.00 for every $1.00 repatriated and sold at the Investors & Exporters

Foreign Exchange Window (I & FX) to Authorised Dealing Banks (ADBs) for other third-party use and N35.00 for every $1.00 repatriated and sold at the I & FX for own use on eligible transactions only.

Although the rebate scheme is just one of the five key anchors of the RT200 FX programme, the CBN aims to raise $200.00 billion in foreign exchange earnings from non-oil export proceeds over the

next three to five years.

The CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele at the end of July’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) stated that members applauded the performance of the RT200 and similar initiatives targeted at improving accretion to reserves and stabilizing the exchange rate.

According to him, “The MPC noted that foreign exchange inflow through the RT200 FX Programme

in Q1 and Q2, 2022, had increased substantially to approximately $600 million as at June 2022.

“Members also noted the increase in Diaspora remittances as a result of the Naira for Dollar incentive and urged the Bank not to relent in its efforts to encourage foreign exchange inflow to the economy.”

Despite the increasing price Continued on page 31

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

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

Yield

104.87

10.83

104.68

11.42

102.37

11.65

115.87

11.74

110.43

11.39

Change Updated (%) Time 29, -0.01 July 2022 July 29, 0.00 2022 July 29, 0.00 2022 July 29, 0.00 2022 July 29, 0.00 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

14.50

14.58

0.41 July 29, 2022

9.75

9.86

0.00 July 29, 2022

9.00

9.17

0.00 July 29, 2022

3.90

3.94

0.00 July 29, 2022

NTB 26-Jan23

7.50

7.79

0.00 July 29, 2022

MATURITY FSDH CP VI 1-AUG-22 NENL CP I 24-OCT-22 FSDH CP VII 27-OCT-22 SIBP CP III 27-OCT-22 DLMG CP IV 11-NOV-22

Discount Yield

Change Updated Time (%)

15.12 15.14

-0.03 July 29, 2022

17.24 17.98

0.06 July 29, 2022

11.25 11.57

0.06 July 29, 2022

10.44 10.71

0.06 July 29, 2022

13.63 14.19

0.00 July 29, 2022

CONTRACT Current TENOR Contract Rate ($/₦) (MONTH) NGUS AUG 31 1 433.54 2022 NGUS SEP 28 435.39 2 2022 NGUS OCT 26 3 437.24 2022 NGUS NOV 30 4 439.09 2022 NGUS DEC 28 5 440.94 2022

Updated Time

July 29, 2022 July 29, 2022 July 29, 2022 July 29, 2022 July 29, 2022

30

MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

NEPC Equips Exporters with Market Access Tools to Boost Nigeria’s Non-oil Sector Gilbert Ekugbe The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has equipped exporters with the requisite skills and tools required to access the global market.

The move according to the council is part of its commitment to help the federal government diversify its economy away from hydrocarbon resources especially at a time when foreign exchange is in short supplies.

The Regional Coordinator, South West, NEPC, Mr. Samuel Oyeyipo, at a workshop on accessing the world market through e-commerce, explained that Nigeria must seek alternatives to earn foreign exchange, saying that developed economies of the world have moved on from fossil fuels pointing out the need

for the nation to develop its non-oil export sector of the economy.

“The developed economies are seeking alternatives for fossil fuel because of the impact it has on the environment. The only available option now is to develop our non-oil export. Other countries have been able to do that successfully and that that is why they depend more on earning their foreign exchange through non-oil and not oil. This is why we are bringing these exporters together to empower them so that they can participate in the foreign markets,” he said.

According to him, the Council is also working on Export Trade Houses (ETH) to have Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) products showcased in different warehouses across the

globe which he said would also build the confidence of consumers in made-in-Nigeria products.

“These responsibilities we must take with all seriousness they deserve. This workshop therefore is designed to be participatory in nature so as to enable us share our field experiences with a view to enriching our knowledge on information that will qualify our products for online marketing and sales,” he said.

Also speaking, the Business Development Manager, AfroVending. com, Laurentta Akohi-Oaikhena, said Afrovending is an online platform where made-in-Nigeria goods can be sold all over the world, maintain that the workshop is to enlighten exporters and entrepreneurs on how to leverage its platform to sell their products to earn in dollars.

Accessing Retirement Benefits Under Contributory Pension Ssheme

Abegunde: eTranzact Remains Innovative, Promotes C u s t o m e r Fo c u s C u l t u r e Kayode Tokede The Chairman, eTranzact International Plc, Mr. Wole Abegunde has said the company will remain innovative and committed to promoting a customer/shareholders-focused culture through the refinement of various products and solutions.

On this, he expressed that the innovations is expected to develop a competitive advantage that provides value to shareholders and customers while reducing the cost of business for the organization.

Speaking to shareholders at the company’s 18th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos recently,

Abegunde hinted that the company commenced the process of raising additional capital in form of 5,772,225 units of convertible debenture stock at N1,000 units, as part of the plans to ensure compliance with the licensing categorization and requirements issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He noted that the capital raising exercise would be utilized significantly for investments in technology, settlement of outstanding liability, and working capital. eTranzact in 2021 financial year reported a profit after tax of N455.75million and gross revenue that increased by 3.79per cent from

N22.7billion in 2022 to N23.6billion in 2021.

The Managing Director, eTranzact International, Mr. Olaniyi Toluwalope, at the AGM said the company had a satisfactory 2021 performance, attributing it to the commitment of the board of directors, management, and staff working extremely hard against all odds and exceptionally delivering on their tasks.

He disclosed that the company has developed a roadmap as the first step towards the restructuring of its licenses, as an offset of CBN guideline (s) on license categorization.

DMO Commemorates Listings of Eurobonds, Sukuk on NGX Debt Management Office (DMO) has leveraged the Closing Gong ceremony of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to commemorate the listing of a Triple-Tranche $4billion Eurobonds, $1.25billion Eurobonds and the N250billion Sukuk on the Exchange.

The event, which took place at the Exchange featured the management of DMO led by Ms Patience Oniha, Director General and other facilitators of the transactions.

In his remarks, CEO of NGX, Temi Popoola, assured stakeholders of the Exchange’s capacity to be a veritable platform for listings and

trading instruments.

He said, “We realise that we also need to diversify our business model by attracting new and young Nigerians to the capital market. Events like this are important to us because it gives us the opportunity to diversify the narrative of the Nigerian capital market and we will do everything we can to attach the necessary visibility to make sure that these instruments can trade efficiently, just as we continue the story around the market.”

Speaking on the impact of these listings, Oniha, said the collaborations with NGX were in furtherance of the development of the Nigerian

economy as the issuance of the securities is being used to fund government projects.

“The Sukuk transaction which began in 2017, gradually improved with the first two transactions being N100BN and the last one now at N250 Billion. With all the work market operators are doing, people are now getting more familiar and comfortable with these transactions.

At DMO, we are supporting the government and creating more investment opportunities just as we are also collectively supporting securities transactions at NGX, ”she said.

Ehingbeti Summit: Experts to Offer Options for Sustainable Economic Growth Economic and finance experts from public and private sectors of the nation’s economy will converge at the upcoming 2022 Lagos Economic Summit known as ‘Ehingbeti’ to deliberate on the paths to sustainable socioeconomic growth of Lagos State.

Speaking at a media parley in Ikoyi, Lagos, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Samuel Egube, said all arrangement have been made to ensure the summit, expected to take place between I6th and 17th of August, 2022, discuss on the dream future of Lagos, disclosing that, a Development Plan, to this effect, would be launched at the summit.

With the Theme, “Lagos 2022- 2052: Charting the Paths to Sustainable Socioeconomic Growth,” he said: “the future is a hope we all have. Lagos State government has never believed it can do it alone but has excelled with the cooperation and understanding of relevant stakeholders in which the private sector has a major role to play. Lagos will continue to do well. Lagos cannot fail because there is so much around the way Lagos is governed.”

He said, Lagos is central to the survival of the country and being the Economic nerves centre of the country, it will continue to

attract people from other states of the federation, who want to eke a living in a state (Lagos) that has one of the least land mass.

To cope with the influx of people, he said, requires lots of planning, not just for the moment, but for the future.

Astrazeneca Harnesses Historical R e s e a rc h in Global M a r k e t Ugo Aliogo Astrazeneca, leading biopharmaceutical company of vaccines production has stated the need to protect the most vulnerable people with the efficacy of it’s 40 per cent hospitalizations across the world adding that the scientific progress and global expansion of building market models would expand historical research in the emerging and historical markets of Canada, America, China, Spain among others to leverage knowledge on the totality of it’s portfolios.

The company mentioned that it recorded great cardiovascular team across the world who are working closely in broad countries to strengthen integration and build substantial steps to harness knowledge and build distributions in key global markets to expand research.

The company said despite the overall performance in the emerging markets caused by supply chain disruptions, forex constraints, global

lockdowns, restrictions to trade and currency fluctuations that the total revenue of 2022 is expected to grow and increase hence, we remain confident of the industry leading financials and pipeline of growth and development.

The UK drug maker hinted that the revenues would rise more than 20 percent this year in a statement made on Friday at a Webinar session to show it’s second quarter earnings and beat analysis estimates.

Speaking earlier, chief executive officer of Astrazeneca, Pascal Soriot said, “we are growing stronger.

The pandemic tested our supply chains network. It affected our supply volume with the 100 percent lockdown in China. It affected us, diagnosis of cancer has dropped.

We declined at some point but we are doing better in the first half.

In China, they are resilient, quiet resourceful and hardworking and they were able to fight and resist the effect of the scourge in their economy.”

PENCOM DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar

In line with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, 2014 (PRA, 2014), the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has established procedures and requirements for Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders to access their retirement benefits as and when due. PenCom also has guidelines and regulations explaining the procedures for administering and accessing retirement benefits under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Section 7(1) of the PRA 2014 states that an RSA holder shall, upon retirement or attaining the age of 50 years, whichever is later, utilise the amount credited to his RSA upon retirement.

The two modes of accessing retirement benefits under the CPS are Programmed Withdrawal (PW) and Life Annuity.

Programmed Withdrawal is a method by which the employee collects his retirement benefits in periodic monthly or quarterly sums spread throughout an estimated life span.

The benefits paid under PW can be accessed monthly, quarterly or as a one-off lump-sum payment, depending RSA balance. PenCom approved 8,528 retirees’ requests to draw pension through the PW mode during the first quarter of 2022. These retirees received a lump sum of N36.25 billion while their aggregate monthly pensions amounted to N470.13 million.

On the other hand, a Retiree Life Annuity is an income purchased from an approved life insurance company licensed by the National Insurance Commission, which provides monthly or quarterly payments to the retiree during his/her lifetime. During the first quarter of 2022, PenCom granted approval to 3,264 retirees under the Retiree Life Annuity. The sum of N22.69 billion was paid to 14 Retiree Life Annuity Providers as premiums for total monthly/quarterly annuities of N231.93 million.

Death benefits are paid to the legal beneficiaries of an employee who dies before his/her retirement. The employer is also obligated to pay Group Life insurance of the deceased employee, which is not less than three times the Annual Total Emolument of the dead employee, which is also paid to the legal beneficiary.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Commission approved the payment of death benefits amounting to N13.39 billion to the legal beneficiaries/administrator of 2,574 deceased employees and retirees.

The amount comprised 1,923 public sector and 651 private sector employees/retirees.

PenCom allows the retiree an en-bloc payment of all the contributions and returns in the RSA. During the first quarter, PenCom approved the en-bloc payment of retirement benefits of 2,084 retirees whose RSA balances were N550,000 or below and considered insufficient to procure Programmed Withdrawal or Retiree Life Annuity of a reasonable amount for an expected life span. In this regard, N519.51 million was paid to retirees from the public and private sectors.

Significantly, the CPS allows RSA holders under 50 years who lose their jobs but are not yet entitled to a monthly pension to withdraw 25 percent of their RSA balance if they cannot secure another job after four months of such cessation of employment.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Commission approved the payment of N5.66 billion to 9,517 RSA holders under 50 years who were disengaged from work and unable to secure jobs within four months.

To augment their pension at retirement, Section 4(3) of the PRA, 2014 allows contributors desirous of increasing their contributions through Voluntary Contributions (VC). In such cases, the Withdrawal of VC shall be once every two years from the last approved withdrawal date. Subsequent withdrawals shall only be on the incremental contributions from the previous withdrawal date. During the first quarter of 2022, PenCom approved the Withdrawal of voluntary contributions amounting to N1.415 billion in respect of 787 contributors.

When an employee goes missing, the employer or the missing person’s Next of Kin or Legal Beneficiary must inform the PFA. An employee is considered missing if they are not located within a year of the reported missing date, and a board of inquiry appointed by PenCom concludes that they are assumed dead based on the facts and information at hand. PenCom communicates to the PFA or MDA as the case may be. The legal beneficiary can access the benefits of the missing employee under the guidelines for death benefits.

In conclusion, accessing retirement benefits under the CPS is seamless. There are clear guidelines and regulations for the process.

Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are also required to guide RSA holders who want to access their retirement benefits.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

31

BUSINESSWORLD

STATUS REPORT

Neimeth Breaks Grounds Amid Challenges

Kayode Tokede

A

udited report and accounts of International Pharmaceuticals Plc for the year ended September 30, 2021 showed that gross turnover hit a high of N3.05 billion in 2021 as against N2.84 billion in 2020.

Top-line analysis showed that the company’s human pharmaceutical manufacturing business grew by 13 per cent from N2.5 billion in 2020 to N2.8 billion in 2021.

Operating profit rose from N510.15 million to N553.5 million in 2021. With increasingly effective cost management, the bottom-line expanded considerably.

Profit before tax rose by 23 per cent from N297.39 million in 2020 to N365.29 million in 2021.

After taxes, net profit grew by 27 per cent from N212.48 million in 2020 to N270.58 million in 2021.

With this, earnings per share rose correspondingly with growth of 27 per cent from 11 kobo in 2020 to 14 kobo in 2021. Underlying ratios also showed that the outward growth was driven by intrinsic improvement in the core operations of the company.

Operating profit margin improved from 17.96 per cent in 2020 to 18.15 per cent. Pre-tax profit margin also increased from 10.46 per cent in 2020 to 11.98 per cent in 2021. ` A six-year, medium-term, periodic analysis between 2016 and 2021 showed a steady growth trajectory with consistent year-on-year growth in sales and profitability. Over the period, turnover has grown by 52 per cent andPre-tax profit has grown by 284 per cent. Profit after tax also rose by 317 per cent.

One of the major factors contributing to enhanced profitability over the past few years is management’s consistent focus on absorption of plant operations overhead.

FIXED COSTS

Overhead consists of relatively fixed costs of the plant which must be absorbed by production outputs and if not will become major losses in the business. The 2021 report indicated the highest overhead absorption of N378 million, which was 24 per cent better than the overhead absorption for 2020 financial year at N305 million.

The 2021 overhead absorption was also the highest

absorption in five years when compared with the other years ranging from N164 million to N289 million. So, it wasn’t mere coincidence that 2021 with the highest overhead absorption also had the highest pre-tax profit of N365 million while 2017 with the least overhead absorption recorded a major loss.

The company has consistently recorded profit in the past four years, thereby ending the era of losses that bedeviled the company in the past. Both the turnover and profit grew yearon-year consistently over the four-year period with exception 2020 financial when there was slight dip against prior year, due to huge foreign exchange loss occasioned by macroeconomic woes caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

The pharmaceuticals company is expanding its opportunities for a targeted growth. The company is taking bold new steps aimed at achieving a world class status.

A continuous improvement in profitability over the past four years enabled it to increase dividend payout for the 2021 business year, with an expansive plan that promises to give the company a quantum leap forward, it grabs opportunity to raise funds from the Nigerian Capital market from its existing shareholders.

CREATING VALUE FOR SHAREHOLDERS

Neimeth increased dividend payout by eight per cent to 7.0 kobo per share for the 2021 business year, sustaining the trend started in 2020 when the company paid a dividend per share of 6.5 Kobo; after it had earlier successfully used its profit to restructure its balance sheet and counterbalanced earlier losses.

Beyond cash dividend payouts; shareholders of Neimeth have seen significant capital gains as the investing public continued to react positively to the improvements in the company’s fundamentals. The share price of Neimeth increased from 40 kobo as at September 30, 2019 to N1.75 by the year ended September 30, 2021, representing a 338 per cent gain, more than an average of 100 per cent gain per annum.

This implies that a shareholder who had N1 million worth of shares on September 30, 2019 has seen his value risen to N4.38 million.

Neimeth’s strong shareholder value creation has not gone unnoticed. In 2021,Neimeth won the 2021 Nigerian Investor Value Awards (NIVA 2021) organized by the Business Day Media Ltd in conjunction with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) for the category of “Best Performing Stock (Healthcare)”. It was also nominated as “Listed Company of the Year” along with FBN Holdings Plc and Airtel Africa Plc, ranking among the top three companies that created the most value for their shareholders out of about 160 listed companies on the Exchange.

THE QUANTUM LEAP

Neimeth is pursuing a multi-prong strategy to strengthen its position as a leading Nigerian pharmaceutical company and to develop a competitive global capacity that allows it to tap into emerging continental opportunities. As part of the expansion plans, the company is building a new multi-products manufacturing facility at Amawbia, Anambra State which will comply to World Health Organization (WHO) current standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP). It is also upgrading its Oregun factory which is billed to be completed this year. The Oregun factory upgrade is expected to increase the Neimeth’s manufacturing capacity by more than 300 per cent, particularly of liquid products. This will enable the company to grow more rapidly in both turnover and profit. Amawbia project is also expected to have reached advanced stage of implementation by the end of the current financial year and is expected to contribute to the next business year in 2023.

Also; in pursuit of its corporate vision to be the leading innovative healthcare provider out of Africa, the company is pioneering research and development of African home-grown solutions to various diseases. Already; it has many therapeutic formulations that will provide solutions to various human and animal diseases. Neimeth is also partnering with

overseas pharmaceutical companies to formulate medicaments for various common ailments on the continent. Currently; it has about 13 different human pharmaceutical lines undergoing registration while about nine veterinary products are underway.

About 25 other human pharmaceutical products are scheduled to be submitted to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for registration soon. Most of these products are expected to be introduced into the market in the current business year, thus expanding the company’s product portfolio.

Already, shareholders of Neimeth have approved the plan by the company to raise N5 billion through a hybrid offer of rights to existing shareholders and private placement. The company will raise N3.67 billion through rights issue at N1.55 per share and N1.32 billion through private placement at N2.10 per share.

Chairman; Neimeth; Dr. Ambrosie Orjiako said the money is being raised for two key reasons.

First, is the construction of a World class factory compliant to World Health Organisation (WHO) current Standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) at Amawbia in Anambra State. Second is to support the company`s strategic plan of maintaining a sustainable capital structure , leverage the company`s balance sheet , reduce cost of borrowing and fund working capital.

Pharm Matthew Azoji, Managing Director of Neimeth said the capital market is the most viable and cheaper option to source long term funds because of the high cost of funds through other sources. “We cannot finance long term projects with short term funds from banks. That will not be expedient and cost effective. It will also not serve the best interest of shareholders” He explained that the company considered prevailing economic situation in the country that also affect shareholders before deciding to add the private placement equity. “We did not want to put the entire burden of N5 billion on shareholders, that is why we have decided to add private placement to the fund raise,” he said.

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

EXTERNAL RESERVES ADDS $45.3M ON INCREASE IN DIASPORA REMITTANCES of crude oil, Nigeria’s external reserves have depreciated by $1.3billion in seven months of 2022 to $39.22billion as of July 29 from $40.52billion it closed in 2021.

The foreign exchange buffer of the CBN in January was hovering at an average $40billion and later slide to $39billion in three months

(February- April) consecutive before reaching $38billion in May 2022.

The movement in reserves data

by CBN revealed that it remained flat at $38billion in June and eventually closed at $39.16billion June 30, 2022.

A monthly breakdown revealed that external reserves in January

dropped by $481.4million to $40.04billion, while in February, it declined by $121.4million to $39.86billion.

It went down in March by $317.8million to $39.55billion and in April, the external reserves gained $41.5million to $39.58billion from $39.54billion it commenced the month under review.

Furthermore, the external reserves was down by $943.07million to $38.48billion, the highest decline in 2022 and eventually appreciated by $674.4million or 1.75 per cent to close at $39.16billion in June 2022.

The decline in external reserves is coming on the backdrop of a steady increase in global oil prices

as gas costs soar amid fears of a global economic shock from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

CBN in its daily crude oil price as of July 2022 closed at $120.36, representing a 50.32 per cent increase from $80.07 per barrel reported January 1, 2022.

Experts had expressed that the current crisis in Niger-Delta

relating to oil theft might be responsible for dwindling production, a major contributing factor impacting on external reserves growth on the backdrop of increase in global oil prices.

They noted that the increasing CBN’s intervention in the foreign exchange market is also a contributing factor.

IN SEARCH OF HIGHER RETURNS, PFAS DUMP STOCK MARKET, INCREASE EXPOSURE IN FGN SECURITIES 2017, when it stood at 18.72 per cent.

The CBN changed to a more hawkish monetary stand in its last monetary policy meeting as the MPR was raised to 13 per cent and currently at 14 per cent after adopting an expansionary policy direction in the last two years.

Reacting, the Chief Executive Officer, APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mallam Garba Kurfi said, “PFAs reduced their investment in stock in the month of June 2022 as they take profits. Most of them took their profits and same for many

others stocks led to a decline in their investment.

On why there was increased investment in the FGB Bond, Kurfi said: “The rise of MPR from 11.50 per cent to 13 per cent and further to 14 per cent attracted many of the PFAs to shift position to fixed income securities.

“However, the stock price will attract more investment into capital market, especially as the inflation rate keeps going up which make investment in fixed income securities into negative returns.”

On his part, the Vice Executive Chairman, Highcap Securities Limited, David Adonri explained that, “The increase in PFA investment in FGN Bonds may be connected steady hike in yields due to inflation rate and increase in interest rate.

“Attention of PFAs also shifted to the primary market for debt where FGN Bonds was active. Perhaps also, PFAs were reducing their exposure to equities, following the US Feds rate hike, which threatened the global equities market.”

On his projection for H2 2022, he said, “With the recent rate hike of MPR by CBN and fragile global economy, the possibility is high that financial assets will consistently migrate to the safety of fixed income securities.

“We are already seeing evidence of this with the recent slowdown in the stock market. If the political risk of 2023 general election is factored into the equation, equities may stagnate till year end.”

Analysts at Vetiva Research in a report titled, “Nigeria H2 2022

outlook: A strange labyrinth,” stated that the government is expected to increase borrowings, and the global economy tightening over the Russia-Ukraine war is to drive FBN bonds rates higher.

“Although headline inflation rose 22bps m/m to 15.92per cent y/y in April 2022, inflation is expected to fall in H2 2022.

Additionally, we expect to see increased government borrowings in the same period as the FGN gears up for the 2023 Presidential Elections.

“This should lead to an improvement in liquidity in the fixed income space, following an easing of monthly maturities, eased from N893.2 billion in Q1 2022 to c.N354.3 billion in Q2 2022.

“The latest bond offer calendar for Q2 2022 shows that the government is expected to increase its borrowings by 50per cent, and barring an improvement in oil revenue, we expect the government to borrow aggressively in H2 2022 as it seeks to meet its financing needs.”

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

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BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Guinness Nigeria Announces N15.65bn Profit for 2021 FY, N7.14 Final Dividend Kayode Tokede Guinness Nigeria Plc has announced its audited results for the period ended June 30, 2022 revealing an impressive 1147per cent increase in profit after tax to N15.65billion

from N1.26billion reported in 2021 financial year.

With the increase in profit, the management proposed a final dividend of N7.14 per 50k ordinary share.

The growth in profit was driven

by a 29 per cent revenue growth to N206.82billon in 2022 from N160.42billion in 2021, despite the challenging macro environment.

The audited results released on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) revealed a net financing

costs decline of about 94per cent as a result of reduction in the net interest cost, and investments of excess naira cash in fixed deposits with banks at higher rates.

Speaking on the announcement, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness

Nigeria Mr. Baker Magunda in a statement said “The performance of fiscal 2022 showed that the business delivered growth despite the challenging external environment characterized by rising inflation and heightening operating costs.

Gross profit grew 59per cent in the year as revenues grew ahead of cost of sales.

“Cost of sales increased by 17 per cent; largely due to inflationary pressures, sales volume growth, Naira devaluation impacting imported materials, air-freight cost increases and a shift towards more expensive can products.

“Strong double-digit revenue growth was delivered across all key categories driven by our strategic focus brands, Malta Guinness and Guinness, as well

as strong growth in local and imported spirits and the ready-to drink category.

“This growth reflects the benefits of price increases taken across all categories, leading in spirits, and followed by beer, and also the benefits of favorable brand mix.” Magunda explained.

The company however revealed that its Marketing spend increased 50per cent versus last year in line with its strategy to invest and support its growth priorities and the recovery of the on-trade, following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

“Distribution expenses increased by 36per cent vs. last year primarily due to cost inflation on freight and diesel. The net result was a 142per cent increase in operating profit vs. prior year”, he said.

MonieBet Launches Ahead of Football Season

L–R: Chief Executive Officer, Chapel Hill De Ham, Mr. Bolaji Balogun; Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ Group PLC, Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko; Director-General, Debt Management Office, Nigeria, Ms. Patience Oniha and Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Mr. Funso Akere at the Listing Ceremony for the Federal Government of Nigeria US$5.25 Billion Eurobonds and ₦250.00 Billion Ijarah Sukuk on FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, in Lagos… Thursday

NIPOST Continues Nationwide Clampdown, Raids Illegal Courier Operators in Lagos Emma Okonji The enforcement team of the Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department (CLRD) of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), has continued it’s clampdown operations on unlicensed/ illegal courier and logistics operators nationwide, as enshrined in the NIPOST ACT and Regulatory Operational Guidelines.

Having carried out enforcement activities in cities like Enugu, Ibadan,

Benin-City, Lagos and Abuja in the month of July, the enforcement team, last week, carried out another massive enforcement exercise in the Lagos metropolis.

Addressing the media at the NIPOST board room shortly after the clampdown, the General Manager, Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department, Mr. Gideon Oludotun Shonde, said the exercise had come to stay and that it would be carried out on a monthly basis across different cities

and towns nationwide.

According to him, the Courier and Logistics industry has been infiltrated with so many unlicensed/ illegal courier and logistics operators, who engage in sharp practices in order to make quick money and to destroy the industry.

“Their unethical sharp practices, safety and security threats, and public disdain have become a menace to not just the industry but also to the society at large,” Shonde said.

He advised interesred

private investors in Postal, Express, Courier and Logistics business, to follow the due process and obtain a licence from NIPOST as stipulated by the extant laws or risk facing the full wrath of the law and prosecution.

He emphasised that with the different categories of operating license, coupled with the Flexible Payment Plan (FPP) for those who can not pay at a stretch, no one has an excuse for operating illegal courier and logistics business nationwide.

KW-IRS Generates N18bn in Six Months in 2022 Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The management of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service(KW-IRS) at the weekend said that, it has generated N18.036billion revenue for the half year of 2022.

The Executive Chairman of the agency, Mrs. Shade Omoniyi

made the disclosure in Ilorin while speaking with journalists on the state of the affairs of the agency.

She said the revenue generation was a leap from revenue collection of N16billion for half year 2021.

She said that, the increase in the revenue collection was due to the commitment of the workers

towards the revenue generation in the state.

Omoniyi stated that, the workers of the agency have been more alive to their responsibilities that has assisted the agency to record a huge success.

She added, “The Management of Kwara State Internal Revenue

Service (KW-IRS) has concluded its Staff appraisal and promotion exercise for the year 2021.

“A major outcome of the exercise is the promotion of 332 and step upgrade of 235 members of Staff; the list of beneficiaries shows inclusion of 16 senior Staff and 316 junior Staff of the Service.”

X3M Ideas Targets Global Top 10 Advertising Agency Dike Onwuamaeze The X3M Ideas, a pacesetting Nigerian advertising agency, is targeting to be among the world’s first 10 creative agencies by 2025 as it made a strategic expansion into the East African market through new operations in Kenya.

The X3M Ideas, which recorded an outstanding 217

per cent growth in 2021 and is in pursuit of more growth in the global advertisement agency that is projected to surpass $1 trillion in 2026, said that it is attracted to the East African market

by Kenya’s gross domestic growth of 6.8 per in the first quarter of 2022.

The X3M Ideas is tipped to be a dominant player in

the Kenyan and other new markets across the globe with its implementation of unique tools and ideas to further provide solutions to the challenges bedeviling the advertising industry while bolstering business growth for organisations within and outside the African continent.

The Founder of X3M Ideas, Mr. Steve Babaeko,

said: “It is no longer possible to ignore the growth potential in Africa.

With the growing number of African businesses across the continent surging above 10 per cent in recent years, it is important to capitalise on the shift in attention to boost revenues for individual and collective development on the continent.

Football enthusiasts and sportcrazy fans have been given extra reasons to look forward to the upcoming season as Incentive Games Limited has officially announced the launch of its gaming platform under the trading name MonieBet. With the promise to reward fans for their passion, the company has unveiled a stateof-the-art website and brand logo while promising greater chances of a life-changing experience to punters.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the brand’s parent company; Mr. Osamede Umweni, the sports betting company has developed a blueprint to establish its competitiveness in the Nigerian market and beyond.

He said the launch of MonieBet is the dawn of a

new era, as the company is poised to disrupt the sports betting industry with a wide array of unique products.

“We shall leverage on our team of seasoned staff with rich industry experience and quality products and services for optimal performance. We hope to grow our business into a world-class brand by always developing new products and exciting experiences for our customers.” Mr Umweni said.

Highlighting the new innovative products MonieBet has to offer, the company’s Head of Operations - Mr. Sunday Owoeye, revealed that customers can now enjoy an unbeatable 500% Welcome Bonus; setting the high bar for new customers’ incentives where first time users of the platform get up to 500% when they fund their wallets.

Transcorp Delivers Sustainable Growth as PBT Hits N13.36bn Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp Group), has released its half-year results for the year ended June 30th, 2022, showing an improved performance across all its major investment lines.

The conglomerate with strategic investments in Power, Hospitality and Oil & Gas recorded a revenue of N62.9billion, representing a growth of 18% when compared to N53.3 billion recorded in the same period under review in 2021. Its operating income grew by 25% from N16.3 billion in 2021 to N20.5 billion in the same period.

Its half-year un-audited results released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) also showed that profit before tax grew by 90%, from N7.1bn to 13.3 billion in the period under review , while profit after tax stood at 12.0 billion, representing an 85% increase from N6.5 billion from the previous year. The Group’s Shareholders’ funds also grew by 8% from N146.3 billion to N157.5 billion in the same period.

Commenting on the performance, Transcorp’s

President/Group CEO, Mrs. Owen Omogiafo, attributed the Group’s continued strong performance to growth in its power and hospitality businesses, which continued to perform excellently despite the tough operating environment.

She said, “Across all our businesses, we are relentless in executing our transformation and growth agenda and are pleased with the results achieved thus far. We have invested strategically over the years in long-term projects and businesses that continue to yield productive returns and position Transcorp Group as an institution that delivers value to all stakeholders, and as one to transcend many generations” Speaking further on the growth, the President said, “Our hospitality arm, Transcorp Hotels Plc (THP) recorded a revenue growth of 173% over same period last year, demonstrating a strong and sustained recovery from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging innovative strategies and superior customer experience.”

MONDAY AUGUST 1, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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IMAGES

T H I S D AY ˾ DAY AUGUST 1, 2022

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Human Resource Manager, CADAM, Dupe Oroyemi; Director, Finance and Corporate Services, CADAM, Sola Odewabi; CSR Lead, Airtel Nigeria, Chioma Okolie; Director-General, CADAM, Dr. Dokun Adedeji; Director, Supply Chain Management, Airtel Nigeria, Raghvendra Gupta; Director of Programmes, CADAM, Funke Salako; and Field Operations Manager, CADAM, Seun Olorunkoya, during the Airtel Touching Lives Season 6 prize presentation in Lagos...recently

Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe (left), and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (right), during a courtesy visit by members of the National Technical Committee of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) to the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja…recently

L-R: District Rotaract Representative, DRR Victor Washington; past Assistant Governor, Mr. Nosa Edo-Osagie; and immediate-past President, Rotary Club of Sapele, Mrs. Helen Douglas, during the presentation of award of merit by Washington to Edo-Osagie ‘for his selfless services to Rotaract’ in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State... recently

L-R: Managing Partner, Duale, Ovia and Alex-Adedipe (DOA), a specialised commercial law firm in Lagos and Abuja, Adeleke Alex-Adedipe; Partner, DOA /author of a book, ‘Nigerian Merger Control: Principles and Practice’, Seye Ayinla; and Minister of industry Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo Adeniyi, during a courtesy visit to the minister by the DOA team to officially present the book to him (minister) in Abuja... recently

L-R: Non-Executive Director, Unity Bank Plc, Dr. Oluwafunsho Obasanjo; Company Secretary, Alaba Williams; Bank Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Babangida; and Bank Managing Director/CEO, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, at the 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank held in Lagos...recently

L-R: President/Vice Chancellor, Babcock University (BU), Prof Ademola Tayo; former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; and BU 2022 graduation Guest Speaker, Prof Kingsley Moghalu, during the university’s graduation lecture held in the university’s amphitheater in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State...recently

L-R: Chief Operating Officer, Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi; Chairman of the occasion/Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, Mr. Bernard Bankole; Chairman, League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Mr. Olusegun Koiki; Keynote Speaker/ Director, Centre for International Advance and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila; and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Med-View Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, during the 26th annual conference of LAAC 2022 on ‘Sunset Airport: Economic and Safety Implications’, held at Ikeja, Lagos...recently PHOTO: KOLAWOLE ALLI

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

HOMES&DESIGN OASIS CENTRE IKEJA

Lifestyle, Luxury and Livelihood

The Oasis Centre Ikeja, Lagos, is a seven-floor flexible but purpose-built facility with a fine mix of fun-filled uses. It is designed as a magnet expected to attract patronage across Lagos for shopping, business, and hospitality, among others. Bennett Oghifo writes

T

he Oasis Centre, Ikeja, is a state-ofthe-art lifestyle development located along Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way in Ikeja, Lagos. It is a joint development between the Nigeria Police Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited (POLCOOP) and Mall D’Oasis Shopping Centre Limited (MDO).

This Nigeria Police Coop Multipurpose Centre, known as Oasis Centre Ikeja, is committed to becoming a one-of-a-kind project that will positively impact the Ikeja area and beyond.

The Oasis Centre, Ikeja, is a unique mixed-use development and the first mixed-use space in Nigeria to house three distinct development types in one building.

Mall D’Oasis Shopping Centre Limited, a commercial development company, said it is poised to leave a signature of excellence, satisfaction and quality across its various real estate developments.

The Oasis Centre Ikeja has a variety of 42 distinct Retail brands that will operate from its ground and first floors. There is a flexible MICE component that will provide serviced meeting rooms, boardrooms and meeting spaces, and the hospitality component is anchored by a five-star hotel that is spread across four floors, offering leisure and accommodation for 200 rooms.

Other features include executive lounges, gymnasium, spa, wellness suite, infinity pool, pool bar, piano bar, all-day dining, and a rooftop bar with an open terrace view, overseeing the skyline of Ikeja.

Mall D’Oasis is described as a city within the city of Lagos, and it is set to enhance the quality of the hospitality industry with the introduction of the Wyndham Hotel brand - the signature brand of the largest hotel franchisor in the world, with over

8,900 hotels, 812 rooms, in over 95 countries.

Wyndham is a respected name in the upscale service industry. Like every Wyndham hotel around the world, Wyndham Lagos, Ikeja will deliver comfort that exceeds expectations, with thoughtful services and amenities tailored to make guests make the most of their stay in more enjoyable ways can imagine.

The Wyndham Lagos, Ikeja at the Oasis Centre Ikeja, is the anchor and will be the first hotel of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in Africa. Lagos will join cities like London, Dubai, Brussels, Madrid, Istanbul, Delhi, Athens, Milan and many others and become a global location that brings exceptional value to travellers.

Guests of The Wyndham Lagos, Ikeja, and patrons of the retail and work spaces within this Oasis City will enjoy a 24/7

power supply, a good road network - starting with a slip road to the centre, ample parking, excellent security systems and processes; all the elements of a great city, designed with the complete comfort and success of its occupants in mind.

Whether for business or pleasure, the Oasis Centre Ikeja is the perfect destination. Each component is designed to compliment the other, to give an enriched hospitality experience.

It’s simply an ecosystem that works, is safe, functional and elegantly styled for business, retail and leisure purposes.

Strategically located in the heart of Lagos, the five-minute drive to the Lagos international and local airports is simply one of the astounding features of this innovative lifestyle development.

The wholesome, tranquil comfort and convenience the Oasis Centre Ikeja is designed to deliver is best experienced.

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MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSSPECIAL

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

Nigeria’s Economy and Fierce Urgency for Reforms With the Nigerian economy in dire straits with major economic indicators looking grim amidst increasing vulnerabilities, Obinna Chima writes on the need for urgent reforms to reverse the negative trends.

F

ew days after the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, revealed that Nigeria’s debt service cost presently outweighs its revenue, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited also disclosed that payment for petrol subsidy now exceeds total revenues from sales of crude oil and gas, which are clear signs of economic dangers ahead.

According to Ahmed, 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.

On the other hand, data from the NNPC’s monthly presentation at the last Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting showed that in the first half of 2022, petrol subsidy claims surpassed oil and gas revenue by a whopping N210 billion.

In addition, within the period under review, the NNPC recorded N2.39 trillion as gross revenues from oil and gas receipts, while subsidy claims amounted to N2.6 trillion. The data further revealed that N1.59 trillion was used to cover part of the subsidy costs in the last six months, leaving an outstanding balance of N1.01 trillion to be recovered from July 2022 proceeds in August.

While Nigerians were still trying to recover from these set of negative news, it also emerged that the balance in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) had reduced from the $35.7 million it was as at June 2022 to $376,655.09 as at July 25, 2022, which the federal government later explained was utilised in purchasing security equipment for the Nigerian Navy.

Beside these, the increasing level of insecurity across the country, acute foreign exchange scarcity due to rising dollar demand, which saw the naira depreciate to a record low of N710 to a dollar on the parallel market last week, declining foreign investment inflows, policy inconsistency are other challenges confronting the economy.

With these, analysts and economists have stressed the need for the federal government to urgently initiate reforms in order to reset the economy and save it from total collapse.

They also advised the federal government to end its policy on petrol subsidy, reprioritise its expenditure, drastically reduce the cost of governance and block all avenues of fiscal leakages.

Analysts warned that the situation may worsen as the country fully enters electioneering mood in the coming months.

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo recently stressed the need for the government to phase out petrol subsidy immediately.

“We have had this analysis over and over and so the diagnosis is clear. We know this problem, we know that Nigeria is grappling with several unsustainables, be it in the area of security or in the area of macroeconomic framework and subsidies that nobody gets.

We subsidise those who own cars but have no money to build the roads for them to drive on,” he added.

Soludo lamented that sub-nationals were bearing the cost of subsidies, added, “If we continue with subsidy, the central bank would continue to print money, the deficit will continue to rise, and how does the federal government pay its bills? It has got to resort to ways and means and the ways and means continue to fuel inflation and the depreciation of the exchange rate.”

However, the Director-General of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Dr. Baba 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 was twice as much as what it pays on external debt and that they were short-dated instruments.

Musa said, “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; 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

Buhari the tenor, so that it can mature in five to 10 years or beyond. This will enable government to have breathing space, otherwise, our debt service cost would continue to dwarf our revenue, which is a mis-match.”

He added, “The second thing is that we need to bring in innovative way of increasing our revenue. For that, if I were the federal government, I would cancel any tax 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.”

The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismark Rewane, opined that there was need for the government to take steps towards raising its 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,” Rewane added.

In his intervention, the Founder, Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, stressed the need for the government to unfold an austerity programme that would cut costs drastically.

Utomi stated, “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.”

On his part, a former member of the Monetary Policy Committee and exWAIFEM DG, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, advised the Debt Management Office (DMO) 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”, Ekpo said.

He further said, “The other thing is that we need to increase internal revenue. We have to look at our tax regime again and have the Finance Act 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.”

Ekpo also expressed concern over the cost of governance in Nigeria, advising the federal government to cut down its expenditure, “or do what economists call expenditure switching.”

According to him, “If you look at the cost of governance at the federal level, from the executive, Senate and House of Representatives, you will cry. Don’t forget that what we are talking about today is the cost of servicing the debts, we are not even talking about paying the principal.”

“Going forward, let the economy be a productive one where we produce non-oil goods, export and earn foreign exchange. We are more of a consuming economy; the things we consume, we import virtually all of them, using forex.

“Now, how are they going to be paying from subsidy? They are going to borrow. Where in the world do you borrow to fund petrol subsidy? On this subsidy issue, we have told them over the years to fix the refineries so that we can preserve our forex. Today, two—thirds of our forex inflow is used to import refined petroleum products, which is crazy. There is also an expenditure crisis, we are spending too much on governance,” he added.

But Chief Executive Officer of Global Analytics Consulting Limited, an international consulting firm, Tope Fasua, believes the major challenge with the dwindling rate of naira is the fact that Nigeria remains a consuming nation that imports virtually all the goods it consumes.

He stated, “Our chief import, year-on-year is technology (hardware, software, machinery for our few industries, spares, cars, and the expensive gadgets of which we are very fond of). Nigerians love carrying their expensive phones around, and they love their glistening luxury cars. But we can ill-afford these.

“After technology, our next biggest import is refined petrol. If we import technology, gadgets, phones and cars worth about $40 billion annually, we also import petrol and diesel for close to $20 billion. The problem is that we don’t make up to $20 billion from crude in some years – being our 30 per cent.

“Some point to remittance of about $25 billion, and the CBN has tried to encourage more of that, but what about corruption that sucks out more than $200 billion or more, yearly? Even legitimate earners take their monies out. There are all sorts of things that put our currency under pressure. The gambling business, which is now ubiquitous among Nigerian youths is one. Purchase of high-end foreign beverages like champagnes, brandies, whiskies, is another.”

To the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, Nigeria would continue to face fiscal pressures because of the ballooning cost of fuel subsidy at a time production continues to decline.

The World Bank chief pointed out that Nigeria, for the first time since its return to democracy and as the only major oil exporter, hasn’t been able to benefit from the windfall opportunity created by higher global oil prices presently.

According to World Bank’s estimates, the present economic challenges the country is facing are likely to push an additional one million Nigerians into poverty by the end of 2022, in addition to the six million Nigerians that were already predicted to fall into poverty this year because of rising prices, particularly food prices.

The Founder of Agusto & Co, Mr. Olabode Agusto, advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to adopt a “crawling peg” to manage the country’s foreign exchange.

A crawling peg is a system of exchange rate adjustments in which a currency with a fixed exchange rate is allowed to fluctuate within a band of rates.

Agusto advised the government against pegging the value of the naira to the dollars.

The foregoing shows that the looming economic crisis facing the country can only be addressed through urgent reforms that would help revive investor confidence, prevent more people from entering into poverty and achieve sustainable recovery.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

37

BUSINESS SPECIAL

ANALYSIS

As Fidelity Bank Eyes Tier-1 Status Oluchi Chibuzor writes on efforts by the management of Fidelity Bank Plc to attain tier-1 status in the next four years.

W

hen she assumed the position of the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc in 2021, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe made it clear that her target was to see the financial institution rise to be among the tier-one banks in the country in the next four years.

This, she has continued to pursue, despite the dynamic and tough operating landscape when she took over.

Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 6.5 million customers serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels.

Over the years, the bank has developed a reputation for going the extra-mile in servicing its customers. Whether it is through interactions with its online services or staff, people have come to associate with its delightful experiences.

Fidelity Bank under the current management had listed the seven focus areas critical to achieving its objective of becoming a tier-1 bank to include: accelerated growth, innovation drive, brand refresh, performance discipline, digital transformation, service excellence and workforce transformation.

Under innovation, the bank has been executing fresh ideas to ensure continuous process improvement, reduced cost to serve, increase its competitiveness, improve its brand recognition and value, build new partnerships and relationships and well as increase its profitability.

In terms of its workforce transformation, the bank has been focused on creating a future readily supported by high performing and empowered workforce. This, it believes would be achieved by deepening the skills and competences of staff across the institution, entrenching a culture of high performance and embedding new ways of working in the bank.

Also, it digital transformation aims at driving an end-to-end digitisation across all facets of its business, while its objective is to refresh its brand by increasing top-on-mind awareness of the Fidelity brand.

Under service excellence, the idea is to build brand loyalty through personalised and seamless customer experience delivery; ensuring performance delivery by focusing on strong fundamentals, asset quality and strategic cost management as well as achieve accelerated growth by driving aggressive market penetration and business diversification.

“We are happy to report that we are ontrack to meeting our tier-one ambition as reflected in our financial results that have indicated significant growth on key reporting lines quarter-on-quarter,” Onyeali-Ikpe said.

Indeed, the Nigerian banking sector is evolving, with the changes being driven by competition, accelerated adoption of technology and the move by banks to meet the banking lifestyle of an evolving demography.

This has seen a lot of banks, including Fidelity, embrace innovative means to satisfy their customers.

In recognition of the efforts by the bank’s management and at a time when some others were being downgraded, Fitch Ratings, a global rating agency, recently upgraded Fidelity Bank’s long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from ‘B-’ to ‘B’, reflecting the financial institution’s increased credit-worthiness. The rating agency also upgraded Fidelity’s National Long-Term Rating to ‘A(nga)’ from ‘BBB+(nga)’.

According to the global rating agency, the upgrade was a result of the bank’s improving business profile and resilient financial metrics.

The agency added that the improved rating reflected the bank’s increased creditworthiness relative to other issuers in Nigeria, emphasising that, “Fidelity’s Long- and Short-Term IDRs are driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by its Viability Rating (VR) of ‘b’ ’’.

The agency further stated that the VR reflects healthy asset quality, good business profile

Onyeali-Ikpe and reasonable capitalisation and liquidity.

These are balanced against high sensitivity to Nigeria’s challenging operating environment as well as higher credit concentration as a percentage of equity and weaker profitability than larger domestic-rated peers.

Commenting on the upgraded rating, Onyeali-Ikpe said: “Receiving this upgrade at a time when the global economy is faced with a myriad of challenges, speaks to the strength of our business model, the efficacy of our risk management culture and the commitment of our staff towards creating sustainable value for all stakeholders.

“As a bank, we will continue to execute our growth strategy in a prudent manner that allows us to take advantage of emerging opportunities in our various markets.”

Fidelity Bank reported a 29.4 per cent increase in gross earnings to N71.332 billion for the first quarter (Q1) 2022, which reflects the level of work that has been done by its current management.

Its unaudited financial statement showed that its profit before tax grew from N10.134 billion in Q1 2021 to N10.324 billion, with profit after tax at N9.515 billion.

Fidelity Bank’s comprehensive income for the period jumped by over 200 per cent from - N9.109 billion to N9.908 billion in Q1 2022. Earnings per share stood at 33 kobo.

Onyeali-Ikpe explained that the bank’s digital banking has gained further traction driven by new initiatives in its retail business and the enhancement of existing digital banking products.

“We now have 56 per cent of our customers enrolled on the mobile/internet banking products and 90 per cent of total customer-induced transactions done on digital platforms with digital banking

business contributing 27.6 per cent to net fee income, “she said

CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS The bank has also unveiled various initiatives to connect with its customers as well as to satisfy their lifestyle.

For instance, in commemoration of this year’s Valentine, the bank organised a well-attended event that brought together its customers, students and staff in a convivial atmosphere.

Onyeali-Ikpe, who was represented by the Executive Director, Lagos and South-West Businesses, Dr. Ken Opara, noted that the bank decided to host the event titled: ‘The Euphoria,’ to celebrate its customers and their partners, as it is an institution that puts the customer at the core of its operations.

According to her, “At Fidelity Bank, we strive to provide our customers with unforgettable experiences by offering superior service, innovative solutions, and engaging platforms such as The Euphoria.

“Over the years, Fidelity Bank has built a reputation for going above and beyond in delivering superior customer service. Whether it’s through our online services or interactions with our dedicated employees, people have come to associate us with delightful experiences.

“That is why we created the Euphoria platform to help engage with the younger demographics of our customer base.”

The Euphoria also featured several interesting competitions that saw guests go home with mouth-watering prizes including weekend getaways, dinner dates and other family related prizes.

Following performances from Fave and Chike, the high point of the evening was the exhilarating performance by rave

of the moment and Mavins Records artiste, Johnny Drille, which climaxed with a wellchoreographed fireworks display that lit up the Oniru and Lekki skies.

Divisional Head, Brands and Communications, Meksley Nwagboh, explained that, “At Fidelity Bank, we are all about creating memorable experiences for our customers by delighting them with superior service delivery, innovative solutions and engagement platforms such as The Euphoria.

“Valentine is known globally as a season of love and sharing. As a bank which puts her customers at the center of everything we do, this year, we deemed it fit to host them and their partners to an unforgettable experience to celebrate the season.”

Also, in a bid to deepen positive customer experience and create new opportunities for businesses to grow revenue, Fidelity Bank, in collaboration with OnePipe, had launched PayGatePlus, a payment gateway.

PayGatePlus, which is an upgraded version of the legacy PayGate product by the bank, is a payment solution and a comprehensive embedded finance platform that empowers organisations in any sector to integrate financial services within their businesses and offerings.

The payment solution offers services such as web payments, virtual accounts, funds transfer, direct debit, balance inquiry, statement, online collections via NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), BVN validation, direct credit, and Buy Now, Pay Later.

The bank’s Executive Director/Chief Operations and Information Officer, Stanley Amuchie, explained that innovation was a key pillar of Fidelity Bank’s strategic framework and, “we are constantly looking for new ways of improving our processes and delighting our customers.

“PayGatePlus will open more opportunities for revenue growth for our customers while improving their risk management processes and reduce their cost.”

“Everything we do as a financial organisation including the design of our products and services has the customer as our main focus.

It is on this basis that we have worked very hard over the last few months, together with our technical partners, to innovate a solution that enables businesses across different sectors to easily integrate financial services with their product offerings,” he added.

Founder/Chief Executive Officer of OnePipe, Ope Adeoye, said the company was excited to be partnering once again with Fidelity to upgrade the payment gateway.

“Our core at OnePipe is to help businesses and partners achieve maximum operational excellence, deeper customer intimacy and ultimately revenue growth.

“These and more are the opportunities our partnership with Fidelity enables. PayGatePlus essentially provides merchants with the rails to deliver diverse financial services to their customers across a range of platforms namely: website, mobile app, social media and even in-store (in the case of retail outlets),” Adeoye said.

The event featured a panel discussion on the topic: “Embedded Financial Services as a Driver for Seamless Customer Experience”, which featured Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch Group, Akeem Lawal; Founder and CEO, OnePipe, Ope Adeoye; Divisional Head, Fintech and Telecoms, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nwanja Onyekwere; and Founder and CEO, Capricorn Digital Limited, Degbola Abudu.

“At Fidelity Bank, our mission is to make financial services easy and accessible to all our customers; we saw this collaboration as an opportunity to ensure our customers continue to enjoy their financial journey and do some more with all the amazing features of PayGatePlus,” Nwanja Onyekwere stated.

Abudu on his part, described Fidelity Bank as forward-looking and sees the future of payment as one that could only be achieved through collaboration, adding that “this means the bank recognises the importance of new distribution channels to its revenue.”

38

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

LCCI Blame Nigeria’s Overdependence on Imports for Free Fall of Naira Gilbert Ekugbe The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has blamed the nation’s overdependence on imports for the free fall of naira against the dollar.

Indeed, the Chamber raised concerns over the harsh environment for manufacturing outfits and the business community to thrive in the country, calling on the federal government to create the enabling environment for businesses to be competitive.

Speaking on the sidelines of its new members’ induction ceremony in Lagos, the LCCI president, Michael Olawale-Cole, said the naira devaluation has made household consumables and goods very expensive since most of the country’s demand are imported.

“It is very obvious as things have become very expensive, because we are an import based

economy. We need to do a lot to produce a lot of what we need locally so as not to put too much pressure on our foreign exchange. The federal government needs to create the enabling environment for manufacturers and business people, so that a lot of what we need would be produced from these sectors,” he advised.

He also called on the federal government to encourage initiatives that would increase revenues for foreign exchange, lamenting that Nigeria’s major foreign exchange revenue earner is being hampered by oil theft.

“Bulk of what is produced is being stolen and that is why the federal government is not getting enough money to fund their debts and not to talk of providing infrastructure. We must intensify our efforts to address oil theft and until we address this challenge, we cannot

get too far because the more we produce, the more the products get stolen,” he said.

He however urged the newly inducted members to take advantage of the opportunities the chamber offers to boost their profit margins while also remaining competitive at the global stage.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that came with it underscores the need for innovation and new models for organisations and institutions to meet the emerging needs and expectations, advising that as an innovative and dynamic institution, the crisis gave the Chamber the fillip to re-evaluate its operation model, rejig its processes and procedures and broaden its scope of services and policy advocacy initiatives and programmes to be able to adequately support the development of the business community and the economy in general.

L-R: Registrar and Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Josiah Akerewusi; 2nd Vice President, Fiona Ahimie; President, CIS, Oluwole Adeosun; his wife, Adesola and 1st Vice President, Oluropo Dada, at Investiture of Adeosun as 12th President of CIS in Lagos...recently

MARKET INDICATORS

UBA Rewards 20 Kids with N4m in Kiddies, Teens Draw Nume Ekeghe United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has rewarded a total of 20 kids with N200,000 each as scholarship grants in its just concluded Kiddies and Teens Draw.

The draw which was held in Lagos generated kids account holders whose parents/guardians had maintained standing instructions of N10,000 to their child/ward’s UBA Kiddies or Teens Accounts for a 6-month period and was witnessed by representatives of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), saw winners emerge from across all the regions of the country.

One of the winners, Okoye Gerald, whose father was contacted over the phone following

his winning was very excited and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the management of UBA for the opportunity; ‘Thank you UBA, thank you,”.

“This is very thoughtful coming from the bank. It goes a long way in showing that UBA is indeed passionate and dedicated to the growth of its customers and their children. A bank that grooms the young is indeed a wise bank, he said”.

UBA’s Head, Personal Banking, Ogechi Altraide, who congratulated all the winners after the draw said that apart from the monthly and quarterly rewards that the bank gives to its loyal customers in the UBA Bumper and savings promo, the bank had gone a step further to encourage parents to instill the savings culture on their kids and teenagers.

She said, “I will like to let you know that this is another first from UBA, and of course, we are very excited at this because it again goes to show that we take very seriously the mandate of ensuring financial inclusion and this time, we are catching them young and ensuring that as they grow they increasingly become financially discipline and can fuel their dreams to a happy end, which exactly what we are passionate about as a bank.

Also speaking during the event, Head of Marketing, Diana Ubah said: “Our bank, UBA, has continued to show and prove that, we are passionate about the overall growth and success of every customer and that is why we go ahead of others to innovate and come out with initiatives that are unique and can transform the lives of our customers for good.”

Agusto & Co Affirms Parthian Partners’s ‘Bbb’ Rating Nume Ekeghe Agusto & Co Limited has affirmed the “Bbb” rating assigned to leading Nigerian inter-dealer broker, Parthian Partners Limited (PPL) with a stable outlook for the year 2022/2023.

Agusto & Co, in its rating note, explained that the “Bbb” rating is indicative of Parthian Partners’ profitability and experienced management team, among other factors.

“The rating reflects PPL’s

good capitalisation and profitability, its experienced management team and support from owners,” the rating company affirmed.

Speaking on the development, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Parthian Partners, Mr Oluseye Olusoga noted that the rating aligns with the business standing as an industry leader with robust earnings potential, and experienced management. “The affirmation of

Parthian’s rating by Agusto & Co validates the strength of our business model and our capacity to continue to support our clients while playing our part in improving liquidity in the Nigerian markets,” he said.

Parthian Partners was also recently assigned a ‘BBB+’ credit rating by DataPro Limited, just months after the firm successfully redeemed its debut N20billion commercial paper quoted on the FMDQ Exchange

Flourish Africa Empowers 500 Female Entrepreneurs Gilbert Ekugbe Flourish Africa has empowered over 500 female entrepreneurs with business coaching and mentoring skills to drive entrepreneurship development in the country.

The Founder, Flourish Africa, Apostle Folorunso Alakija, also gifted grants of up to N2 million to 100 female entrepreneurs out of its 1-billion-naira fund earmarked to empower 2500 female entrepreneurs in 5 years.

Speaking at an award presentation ceremony, Alakija said: “Our vision was clear from the onset. Understanding that economic inequality was still a

major challenge for women in Africa, we set out to establish a platform that would allow us to empower women, who would then empower other women.”

“In line with the popular saying, When you empower a woman, you empower the whole world” I am delighted to say that we are grooming the next generation of business leaders whose informed choices in business and life will positively impact their families, communities and in the long run contribute to the socio-economic development of Nigeria,” she added.

Delivering the keynote speech at the event, the co-founder of

Sahel Consulting, Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli, stated that women hold the key to transforming not only Nigeria but the entire African continent.

Nwuneli noted that it has become imperative for women to rise above any stumbling block by venturing into uncharted territories to realize their God-given potentials.

She added that despite the challenging operating environment, some women have continued to shatter the glass ceilings to become great achievers and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of many corporate organisations in the country.

MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT THURSDAY, MAY 7

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

39

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

MARKET NEWS

Notore Nets N26bn Revenue for 2022 H2, N2.6bn Profit Before Tax Kayode Tokede Notore Chemical Industries Plc has recorded group revenue of N26.28 billion for the six-month ended June 30, 2022, a 178.7% growth compared to N9.43 billion in the corresponding period in 2021.

The company also reported N2.6billion net profit before tax in the same period, representing 116.4% improvement on yearon-year analysis.

In a statement, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Notore Chemical Industries Plc, Mr. Ohis Ohiwerei said the modest growth in revenue is attributable to improvements in plant reliability and increased production output, a positive outcome of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) programme implemented in most part of year 2021.

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

According to him, “Notwithstanding, operating income for the period was N10.85 billion, a significant increase of 328.7% as compared to a loss (N3.30 billion) in 2021H1. This was as a result of increased profitable operations during the period.

The Group reported a net profit before tax of N2.60 billion during the period as compared to a loss of (N15.84 billion) for 2021H1 (an improvement of 116.4% YoY), a significant

S E C U R I T I E S

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milestone towards its drive to a return to profitable business operations.”

Ohiwerei stated that Notore showed remarkable progress and achieved important milestones during the period as it strives towards return to profitability and repositioning for a great future, adding “The period witnessed an increase in Plant reliability and relatively stable operations, resulting in significant increases in produc-

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

tion output and sales.

“The production of Notore NPK fertilizers has continued to ramp up, with significant increases in NPK production output and sales anticipated in the second half of the on-going year. Additionally, the sale of Notore seeds to Nigerian farmers to enhance the yields of farm produce continued in furtherance of our corporate vision to be a significant contributor to the development of Africa.”

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2 9

“Notore intends to continue to expand into other products to further diversify the company’s revenue streams and boost profitability. As part of measures to return the Group and the Company to profitability and improve working capital, Notore had during the period, successfully restructured a substantial part of its short-term loans into fixed long-term loans, thus boosting its debt service management,” he noted.

/ 7 / 2 0 2 2 DEALS

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40

MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 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 28July-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 188.79 189.94 13.10% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 6.21% Nigeria International Debt Fund 308.71 308.71 6.57% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 104.77 105.92 9.84% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A AIICO Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 4.84% Anchoria Equity Fund 135.94 137.44 -2.38% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.20 1.20 4.53% 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 21.16 21.80 4.32% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 506.05 521.30 12.16% ARM Ethical Fund 42.94 44.23 10.22% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.07 1.08 -0.52% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.05 1.05 3.44% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.29% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 110.19 110.19 12.98% AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Naira 1,090.50 1,090.50 9.05% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.08 2.08 2.52% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.34 2.40 10.63% CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.06 1.06 4.87% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.83% Paramount Equity Fund 18.69 19.04 7.19% Women's Investment Fund 143.90 145.64 1.32% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.21% Cordros Milestone Fund 129.12 129.98 3.86% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.40 110.40 4.95% 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 1481.13 1481.13 10.76% FBN Balanced Fund 191.15 192.39 9.07% FBN Halal Fund 121.81 121.81 10.27% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.77% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) 124.95 124.95 5.85% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 154.69 156.74 2.67% 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

3,993.28 3,592.09 100.00

4,046.74 3,592.09 100.00

4.31% 6.23% 8.73%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.11 1.11 3.98% 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 1.58 1.61 11.32% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,155.63 1,155.63 5.32% 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) 101.46 101.46 1.93% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 7.50% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 126.39 128.57 4.49% 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 8.38% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,548.18 3,588.36 4.84% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 240.25 240.25 1.99% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.41 1.43 12.70% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 323.28 323.29 3.24% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 264.33 268.19 13.31% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.19% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 11,835.22 12,003.90 8.51% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.33 1.33 2.87% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 119.14 119.14 1.91% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 110.93 110.93 4.28% 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 0.96 0.99 8.79% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.31 1.33 0.21% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.14 1.16 10.17% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.07 1.07 4.14% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.90 1.90 3.66% United Capital Eurobond Fund 122.18 122.18 3.13% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 9.04% 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 13.48 13.61 2.24% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 15.86 16.03 8.53% Zenith Income Fund 22.89 22.89 4.26% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.48% 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 3.50 3.60 -12.63% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 5.67 5.77 -2.91% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 18.13 18.33 2.51% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.68% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 20.47 20.67 2.44% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 151.79 153.79 -3.76%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

117.84 51.82

4.06% 1.90%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.99 132.60 103.75 17.10 16.40

14.09 135.78 105.96 17.20 16.50

0.02% 4.25% 3.97% 21.98% -5.35%

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.

42

MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

Ukraine Attacks Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol providing intelligence that led to the killing of senior al-Shabab leaders, Yusuf Jiis and Abdulkadir Commandos, who were targeted in US airstrikes in 2020.

An al-Shabab judge told local spectators that the six men had confessed without providing evidence. Al-Shabab courts don’t allow lawyers who can defend the accused.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Somali state president Mustafe Omar said that the region’s special forces operations against al-Shabab militants inflicted the group heavy casualties.

He said they believe that the troops killed 600 al-Shabab fighters during their operations against the militant group who a week ago infiltrated Ethiopia, sparking new confrontations near the Ethiopian border with Somalia.

Ukraine dispatched an explosive mounted on a drone that hit the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Sunday. Officials say at least five people were injured in the attack in Russian-held Sevastopol.

Sunday is Russia’s Navy Day. Russian President Vladimir Putin marked the day by attending the annual Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg with an announcement that the Russian Navy is set to receive what he described as “formidable” hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles in the next few months.

Hypersonic weapons fly at speeds of at least Mach 5 and are highly manoeuvrable and able to change course during a flight.

They differ from ballistic missiles, which can also travel at hypersonic speeds of at least Mach 5 but have set trajectories and limited manoeuvrability.

The ability to launch highly manoeuvrable weapons at hypersonic speeds gives any country a considerable advantage because such weapons can evade just about any defence system currently in use.

“It doesn’t matter what the threat is. If you can’t see it, you can’t defend against it,” General John Hyten, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience in Washington in January 2020.

in Kentucky on Friday, allowing federal funding to be allocated to the state.

Sri Lanka President Seeks Unity Government to Save Economy

Monkeypox Declared Public Health Emergency in New York City

Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe has formally invited MPs to join an all-party unity government to revive the bankrupt economy by undertaking painful reforms, his office said Sunday.

Wickremesinghe took office earlier this month after public anger over the island nation’s worst economic crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit.

In a meeting Saturday with the influential monks of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, one of Buddhism’s most sacred shrines, Wickremesinghe outlined his plans.

“As the president, I wish to start a new journey,” Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling the monks in his first meeting with the powerful Buddhist clergy since taking office.

“I would like to get all the parties together and go on that journey as well as to form an all-party government.”

He has written to all lawmakers asking them to join a unity government.

A former opposition MP, Wickremesinghe, 73, took up the premiership for the sixth time in May after Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda resigned, and there were no other takers for the job.

New York has declared a public health emergency due to a monkeypox outbreak.

Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr Ashwin Vasan made the announcement Saturday.

The two officials said in a joint statement that “New York City is currently the epicentre of the outbreak, and we estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure.”

“Over the past few weeks, we have moved as quickly as possible to expand outreach and access to vaccines and treatment to keep people safe,” the officials said. “We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as soon as they become available. This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment.”

On Friday, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency because of the monkeypox outbreak. In her executive order, Hochul said, “More than one in four monkeypox cases in this country are in New York State.”

Her declaration also expanded the number of health care individuals who can administer the monkeypox vaccines.

The World Health Organisation has declared the global monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Governor: Kentucky Flooding Death Toll Keeps Rising, at Least 26 Killed At least 26 people, including children, have died in floods unleashed by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky, and more fatalities are predicted, with authorities expecting to continue finding bodies for weeks, Governor Andy Beshear said on Sunday.

“There is widespread damage with many families displaced and more rain expected throughout the next day,” the governor wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

“I know of several additional bodies, and we know it’s going to grow,” the governor told NBC News. “We are going to be finding bodies for weeks.”

Four children were confirmed dead as of Saturday, and the governor told NBC News he feared that number would go up at least by two on Sunday.

The floods were the second major national disaster to strike Kentucky in seven months, following a swarm of tornadoes that claimed nearly 80 lives in the western part of the state in December.

Beshear on Thursday declared an emergency and described the disaster as “one of the worst, most devastating flooding events” in Kentucky’s history.

President Joe Biden declared a major disaster

US Envoy Urges Progress on Ethiopia Peace Talks, Aid

Iran Border Guards, Taliban Clash Clashes broke out Sunday between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces, officials said, with the Afghan side confirming one of their border officers was killed and another wounded.

Both sides accused the other of opening fire first.

“There was a clash between the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban forces,” Meysam Barazandeh, governor of Iran’s Hirmand county, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

He added that “the conflict was brief and has ended.”

Fars reported that clashes took place on the Iranian side of the border, in the Shaghalak area of Hirmand country, in the southeastern province of SistanBaluchestan.

“A border violation by the Taliban took place today,” Barazandeh said, adding that

“our forces gave the necessary response” and that there “were no casualties” on the Iranian side.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said Taliban forces shot at some houses in the town of Dust Mohammad, followed by an exchange of fire “for several minutes.”

A statement issued by Afghanistan’s Nimroz provincial information centre blamed Iranian border guards for the incident.

Nigerian Street Vendor Brutally Killed in Italy Hundreds of people from the Nigerian community of the central Italian city of Civitanova Marche took to the streets Saturday to protest the slaying of a Nigerian street vendor.

The killing was caught in a cellphone video, but no one intervened to stop the slaying of the disabled man.

Police say an Italian man, Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, 32, has been arrested in connection with the brutal beating of Alika Ogorchukwu, a 39-year-old husband and father.

The footage of the incident shows Ferlazzo using the vendor’s crutch to strike him down. Ogorchukwu had lost his job as a labourer after being hit by a car. He needed to use a crutch to walk after the accident.

The street vendor was unable to get up after Ferlazzo attacked him, the video shows because the Italian man used his weight to keep Ogorchukwu down.

“The aggressor went after the victim, first hitting him with a crutch,” police investigator Matteo Luconi said at a press conference.

“He made him fall to the ground, then he finished, causing the death, striking repeatedly with his bare hands.”

An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of Ogorchukwu’s death.

“My condemnation is not only for the [crime], but it is also for the indifference,” Civitanova Marche’s mayor, Fabrizio Ciarapica, told Sky News.

“A father was killed in an atrocious and racist way while passersby took video without stopping the aggressor,” said former Premier Matteo Renzi. He urged people to reflect “on what we are becoming.”

Al-Shabab Militants Execute 7 by Firing Squad in Somalia Somali-based militant group al-Shabab has executed seven men in Somalia’s southwestern region of Bay. The execution was conducted publicly in the vicinity of Buula-Fulay in Somalia’s Bay region late Saturday.

Six of the executed men were accused of spying for the Somali government and the US. Three of them were also accused of

The new US envoy for the Horn of Africa called Saturday for progress in holding Ethiopian peace talks and for unrestricted aid deliveries to stricken areas of the country.

Mike Hammer, who arrived in Addis Ababa Friday, held talks with Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, the US embassy said.

They discussed the “need for continued progress on ensuring unfettered humanitarian assistance delivery, human rights accountability & political talks to end the conflict and achieve a lasting peace,” the embassy said on Twitter.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the rival Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have both raised the prospect of peace talks to end the brutal conflict that erupted in November 2020.

But major obstacles have emerged, not least over who should mediate any negotiations.

Abiy wants the African Union based in Addis Ababa to broker any talks, while the TPLF insists that neighbouring Kenya leads the negotiations.

Abiy’s national security adviser Redwan Hussein said on Twitter this week that the government was ready to talk “anytime anywhere” and that negotiations should begin “without preconditions.”

US Residents Begin Cleanup After Deadly Floods Some residents of Appalachia returned to flood-ravaged homes and communities on Saturday to shovel mud and debris and salvage what they could, while Kentucky’s governor said search and rescue operations were ongoing in the region swamped by torrential rains days earlier that led to deadly flash flooding.

Rescue crews were continuing the struggle to get into hard-hit areas, some of them among the poorest places in America.

Dozens of deaths have been confirmed, and the number is expected to grow.

In the tiny community of Wayland, Phillip Michael Caudill was working Saturday to clean up debris and recover what he could from the home he shares with his wife and three children. The waters had receded from the house but left a mess behind, along with questions about what he and his family will do next.

“We’re just hoping we can get some help,” said Caudill, who is staying with his family at Jenny Wiley State Park in a free room, for now.

Caudill, a firefighter in the nearby Garrett community, went out on rescues around 1 a.m. Thursday but had to ask to leave around 3 a.m. so he could go home, where waters were rapidly rising.

“That’s what made it so tough for me,” he said. “Here I am, sitting there, watching my house become immersed in water and you got people begging for help. And I couldn’t help,” because he was tending to his own family.

42

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022

NEWS

WORKING VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT …

President Muhammadu Buhari receives Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State when the latter paid a working visit to the President at Aso Rock Villa...Saturday

Nigeria Under Siege By Terrorists, On Verge of Collapse, Northern CAN Laments Situation Reaffirms Opposition to Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket Insecurity will end in six months if Buhari signs arms proliferation bill, says Akinyelure Nigeria is going down, Gani Adams cries out as NYSC denies security threat in camps Police on terror alert in Lagos, as FCTA rolls bulldozers into Kuje for massive demolition Chiemelie Ezeobi, Segun James in Lagos, Kingsley Nwezeh, Olawale Ajimotokan, Sunday Aborisade in Abuja, John Shiklam in Kaduna and Francis Sardauna in Katsina The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory, yesterday, lamented the increasing insecurity in the country, saying Nigeria was under siege and on the verge of collapse.

The Northern CAN, which called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to live up to his constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property of the citizenry as well as defend the nation’s sovereignty, however, reaffirmed its stand on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, saying it remained opposed to it.

But the Senate Committee Chairman on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, has said the

worsening insecurity in the country could end within six months if President Buhari signed the National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

Also, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Ige Adams, has raised the alarm on the security situation in the country and concluded that the country might have begun to go down, painfully.

Meanwhile, the police in Lagos, have braced up a purported terror plan by members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), saying their operatives and other related agencies were prepared to counter any attack in the state.

Conversely, in order to restore sanity and security to Kuje, the Federal Capital Territory Administration will today begin massive demolition of illegal structures at the Abuja satellite town few weeks after the July

5 terrorist attack on the Kuje Correctional Centre led to the escape of several inmates.

At the same time, the DirectorGeneral of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mohammed Fadah, has said there was no security threat on any of his orientation camps in the country.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday in Kaduna, Secretary General of Northern CAN, Elder Sunday Oibe, said Northern CAN was deeply concerned about the helpless security situation in the country.

According to him, Nigeria was under siege by terrorists, who had been unleashing mayhem on citizens and crippling economic and social activities across the country, adding also that Nigeria was on the verge of collapse unless urgent and proactive steps were taken to contain the rampaging terrorists.

“Northern CAN, like many other groups, is deeply concerned about the helpless security

situation in the country. Nigeria is under siege by terrorists, who are unleashing mayhem on the citizens and crippling economic and social activities across the country, particularly in states like Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Kebbi, Sokoto and even Abuja, the seat of power.

“The continuous brazen and commando-like style, with which these terrorists operate unchallenged, even to the extent of issuing a threat to kidnap the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is worrisome. Northern CAN, hereby, calls on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to stop living in denial.

“Nigeria is on the verge of collapse if urgent steps are not taken to stem the deadly activities of terrorists and other criminal elements across the country. No where is safe! Once again, we call on President Buhari to rise to the occasion, by living up to

Nova Merchant Bank Grows Earnings by 26%, Increases Market Share Nova Merchant Bank Limited has announced its audited full year 2021 financial results, showing an impressive 25.7 per cent yearon-year growth in gross earnings to N17.03 billion, up from the N13.55 billion it recorded in 2020.

Also, the financial institution’s loans and advances to customers grew by 76.9 per cent year-on-year to N88.38 billion, up from the N49.97 billion recorded in 2020.

The development, according to the results reflected its growth trajectory since inception.

Reflecting its strong capital adequacy ratio and stable funding, the bank deepened its penetration by growing market share of its risk assets and broader balance sheet. According to a statement, with capital adequacy ratio of 29.1 per cent ahead of 10 per cent regulatory requirement for merchant banks, Nova has

strong headroom to sustain the impressive growth trajectory.

The bank recorded growth across most indices with deposits rising by 30.4 per cent to N116.91 billion, up from the N89.63 billion recorded in 2020. Its profit after tax rose to N1.61 billion in the year under review.

In keeping to its commitment of supporting clients’ growth strategy, Nova Merchant Bank Limited continues to leverage innovative offerings and structures in financing new businesses and expansion projects across various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Addressing shareholders during its Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Chairman, Board of Directors, Nova Merchant Bank, Mr. Phillips Oduoza said: “We are excited at the consistent growth of the Bank, as reflected in the strong double-digit rise

in deposits, loans and overall balance sheet. It is our mission to continue to create superior value for all stakeholders across the markets that we serve, as we seek to drive the next wave of revolution in financial services through product innovation and service excellence.”

Commenting on the performance of the Bank, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nath Ude, noted; “Our client-centric philosophy and innovative offerings are unique value propositions for clients. Across the different segments of the market, we are gaining market share, and deepening brand penetration.

“We are committed to supporting clients through various economic cycles, as we deploy creative solutions towards fulfilling our clients’

growth objectives.

Continuing, Ude said, "We would continue to partner credible businesses, as we create bespoke financing solutions that empower our clients to fulfill their quest to positively disrupt markets.

“Notwithstanding the global and domestic macroeconomic uncertainties, we are more than ever optimistic about the future of our business, and are thankful to our fast-growing clientele, whose loyalty remains a cardinal strength for us at Nova.”

He explained that given the bank's strong governance practice, robust risk management architecture and balance sheet capacity, Nova is primed to sustain its impressive growth in assets and earnings whilst also creating new opportunities for inclusive growth and development of the Nigerian economy.

his constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property of citizens and defending the sovereignty of Nigeria.

Oibe, who congratulated the newly elected President of CAN, Rev. Daniel Oko and his deputy, Rev. Stephen Panya and urged them to “stand firm and be the real voice for the Church in Nigeria,” restated the opposition of Northern CAN to the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the APC “in a multi- religious and multi cultural society like Nigeria.”

According to him, “We congratulate the newly elected National President of CAN, Rev. Dr. Daniel Oko and his vice, Rev. Dr. Stephen Baba Panyam. We encourage them to stand firm like Joshua in the Bible in this difficult times to be the real voice for the church in Nigeria. We pledge our unalloyed support in all areas to help them succeed.

“We reaffirm our stand against the idea of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a multi-religious and multi cultural society like Nigeria, particularly, considering the fact that the country has never been this divided along religion and ethnic lines before,” Oibe said.

He, therefore, called on politicians and political parties to be wary of people who, according to him, might sneak to meet them secretly in the name of Christian leaders from the north, “with the sole aim of wetting their political appetite and desperation for monetary gains.

“Northern CAN, as a reputable religious organisation, will never engage in any secret dealing with any politician as a matter of policy.

However, our doors are open to any Nigerian, who desires to share with us ideas on moving the country forward.”

He further called on wellmeaning Nigerians to unite and fervently pray for the country and for the defeat of the enemies of the Nigerian state.

Akinyelure: Insecurity will End in Six Months If Buhari

Signs Arms Proliferation Bill The Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, has said the worsening insecurity in the country could end within six months if President Buhari signed the National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

The Bill is meant to establish the National Commission for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and also midwife the establishment and running of the National Task Force of Nigeria (NATFORCE) to Combat Illegal Importation of Goods, Small Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons It was passed on the floor of the Senate last week, following the consideration of a report by the Committee on National Security and Intelligence.

Akinyelure, who is also the cosponsor of the bill, while speaking with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, urged Buhari to give accelerated assent to the proposed legislation, without further delay.

"The president owes us a lot of duty to ensure protection of lives and properties. We know he is not a magician but we know that the National Assembly has provided through appropriation all the needed equipment and manpower for the security agencies to work effectively to tackle the issue of insecurity.

"The infrastructure is already in place and the people to be engaged are already in place.

The needed legislation that would enable them to swing into action through the National Assembly, has been put in place. We passed the bill to law on July 26, 2022.

We are only expecting the assent of the president to make it a law.

"The National Commission Against Proliferation of Light Arms and Ammunition, once Continued on page 43

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NEWS

INAUGURAL CEREMONY… L-R: President/Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Johnbull Amayaevbo; Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, and keynote speaker at the KINGSLEY ADEBOYE inaugural ceremony Brig Gen. Chukwuemeka Udaya and inaugural ceremony of 25th president and the 2022-2024 council in Abuja… recently

Wali: Blame Buhari, Not Tinubu for APC Muslim-Muslim Ticket Says president failed to live up to his leadership role Dismisses fear Wike may leave, sabotage party, gives reasons Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja A former Minister of Foreign Affairs and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Aminu Wali, has asked Nigerians to blame President Muhammadu Buhari for not putting his foot down on the controversial choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Wali, in an interview with the Sun Newspaper, argued that only Buhari could have stopped the decision by the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, maintaining that when it comes to the issue of religion, the president has not been very transparent.

While noting that, Buhari failed to live up to his expectation as the leader of the country by allowing the anomaly, Wali stated that the president should have impressed it on Tinubu to pick a Christian as his running mate.

However, the former minister stated that there were really no surprises in the president’s inability to take any action concerning the controversy, pointing out that in matters of faith, the president has

been less than accountable in the last seven years.

“It is very, very unfortunate that this thing is taking a bigger dimension under the APC because whatever problem that we now have, it is being exasperated by the seven years or so of the APC. We were not like this before.

“But it is because Buhari has not done what he was supposed to do as the leader of this country, which is to be transparently liberal as far as religion is concerned. He is not. He has never been liberal about religion,” he stated.

“Unfortunately, Buhari has 80 per cent of the blame in what is happening today. He should have had the courage to be the leader of the APC and say , yes Bola, we have gone to the convention, yes, this is the person that won, but you go and bring a Christian as your running mate.

“After all, when (Umaru) Yar’Adua was elected, Obasanjo called all the aspirants, including Peter Odili, who would have won, he said all of you go and withdraw for Yar’Adua. The man never bought any form. That is

2023: APC Governors Zero-in on Lalong as Campaign DG Ruling party urges INEC to commence diaspora voting process Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) might have agreed to nominate the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, as the Director General of the presidential campaign council for the party.

There had been public outcry and condemnation especially, from the Christian community following the decision of the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to nominate a former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as his running mate.

Lalong's appointment, it was gathered, was part of the subtle approach to pacify the christian community and APC christian leaders, who have vowed to vote against the party.

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, and former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalong, among other APC christians leaders, last Friday, in Abuja resolved that Christians should vote against Tinubu and Shettima.

Initially, Tinubu, it was gathered,

had mooted the idea of appointing a former National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, as the campaign DG, but his choice did not fly,because the APC governors were uncomfortable working with him.

THISDAY, however, gathered that Tinubu had conceded to the governors by allowing them to appoint the director general of his campaign ahead of the 2023 elections.

According to the schedule of activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political campaigns would officially commence in September.

A reliable source told THISDAY yesterday that while consultations were still ongoing, the governors had settled for Lalong as the campaign DG. He said: "A governor will be the Director General. It is the business of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) to produce DG. This position was given to APC governors. To carry the northern christians along, they agreed among themselves to nominate Lalong."

Asked if Lalong has also agreed to head the campaign council of the ruling party, the source added: "Though consultation is still on, he (Lalong) has been chosen by governors."

what leadership is all about,” he argued.

He explained that as the leader of his party and leader of the country, Buhari should have known the implications of same faith ticket, especially, given his background in the military.

“So, he should have taken a firm decision and say this is what he wants done to avert this from happening. But he did not. And he is the only person in the APC that has that authority and power to enforce the right decision, but he did not,” he added.

But Wali noted that having picked a Christian as the PDP vice-presidential running mate, those that are not satisfied with the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the APC would be welcomedto support the PDP, noting that, because God loves Nigeria, He would not allow Tinubu

win the poll.

The octogenarian also affirmed that it would be difficult for Governor Nyesom Wike, a former presidential aspirant under the party to dump the party, having also benefitted immensely from the PDP.

NIGERIA UNDER SIEGE BY TERRORISTS, ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE, NORTHERN CAN LAMENTS SITUATION assented to by the President, we believe that in the next six months, insecurity will be a thing of the past in the country.

"Over 7,000 young graduates would be recruited by the commission to provide support for the security and military agencies in the country. Nigeria and one other country in Africa had yet to have such law in place and that is why our nation has become a dumping ground for light weapons, which criminals are now using all over the place to attack innocent people, "he maintained.

Akinyelure said the commission when established, would not be funded by the National Assembly through appropriation but with private sector engagement and international donor agencies.

He also urged the President to appoint the right people with the template to drive the running of the commission for the first five years.

Adams: Nigeria Going Down, Painfully Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Ige Adams, has raised the alarm on the security situation in the country and concluded that the country might have begun to go down, painfully.

Adams, who stated this in a statement personally signed, declared that the situation being experienced by the people was caused by a criminal overdose of chronic pain inflicted on the country by the inaction and connivance of those in authority with terrorists and undesirable elements in the polity.

He also lamented that from the economy to security, the country was heading for a decline, which he said, if not taken care of, would affect sub-Saharan Africa and the Black World.

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the drift into national destruction, saying a series of serious security breaches in the country in the last few months meant that all was not well with the security architecture of Nigeria.

“On the economic front, it is another sad story. A dollar is now more than N700. This is

an administration that met the dollar at less than N200 in 2015.

Economically, if this is not scary enough, we wonder what is.

“We now have a situation in which family members are being forced to raise N100 million naira to pay as ransom. The money is delivered to these terrorists to buy more weapons and the government is merely watching.

"After every abduction, the President will summon Service Chiefs to a meeting, a statement will be issued and that is the end of it. What we will hear next is another abduction or series of kidnappings.

“The insecurity situation has reached its peak with the threat by these terrorists to kidnap the President, governors and lawmakers. The presidential advance team was attacked in Katsina and even soldiers guarding the president were attacked in Abuja. Some of them were killed.

It looks as if this administration has decided to force Nigerians to seek self-help.

“The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives declared that he read more than 40 security reports from the DSS, warning of an impending attack on Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja. The attack did not only happen, which led to killings but pitiably, nobody has been punished for dereliction of duty.

“Painfully, Nigeria is going down because it looks as if there is no government in the country.

Millions of Nigerians are in pain, they are suffering.

“In the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers video released by the terrorists, it is heartbreaking to watch fathers, mothers, and children being flogged, tortured and humiliated. The terrorists must have data to be able to send the video out. So, what is the job of Nigerian Communications Commissions and intelligence units of security agencies? Is it a crime for Nigerians to move from one place to the other?

“The horrendous humiliation of Nigerians in their country by these terrorists should stop immediately. President Buhari can use his executive powers to allow the immediate establishment of

state police with a mandate to flush out all the terrorists stationed in strategic places in the country,” he said.

Police in Lagos on High Alert over Terror Alarm Following the purported terror plan by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) to attack Lagos, the state Police Command, has said its operatives and other related agencies were prepared to counter any attack in the state.

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, had in its security report said that ISWAP and Boko Haram were planning attacks on Lagos, Kaduna, Kogi, Katsina and Zamfara States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said, "The Lagos State Police Command is not unmindful of intelligence reports suggesting that Lagos State could be on the radar of some persons planning attacks across the country.

"To this end, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, has placed the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of the Command on high alert alongside all Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers and Tactical Commanders, all in a bid to ensure that any possible planned attack is promptly and decisively nipped in the bud.

"The command is also working closely with sister security agencies to ensure that no person or group of persons succeeds in destabilising the peace and serenity enjoyed by the good people of Lagos State.

"CP Alabi uses this medium to allay the fears of Lagosians and assure them that all human, material and operational resources have been fully and optimally deployed across the length and breadth of the state, especially at border towns, towards ensuring there is absolutely no breach of the peace.

"Consequent upon the carefully laid down security plans/strategies, all residents of Lagos State are urged to go about their lawful duties without panic or fear.

Lagosians are equally enjoined to remain very vigilant and report suspicious movements and persons to security agencies."

Also speaking during a Twitter Space webinar, on Saturday, Hundeyin said the police were also gathering intelligence report, noting that the residents in Lagos also needed to assist the police and other security agencies in providing them with timely information on suspicious movements.

"The people also have a role to play by reporting suspicious movements to security agencies.

It’s a collective thing. On our part, we are not just ignoring it, we are at alert," he said.

FCTA Rolls Bulldozers into Kuje for Massive Demolition The Federal Capital Territory Administration will today begin massive demolition of illegal structures at the Abuja satellite town, a few weeks after the July 5 terrorist attack on the Kuje Correctional Centre led to the escape of several inmates, as part of measures to restore sanity and security to Kuje Prisons.

The mobilisation of bulldozers and other resources followed the expiration of one week ultimatum by the FCT Ministerial Task Team on Environment to illegal squatters to vacate Kuje area during a Stakeholder Engagement and Sensitisation meeting.

It was gathered last night that, FCT Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello, has authorised all FCT enforcement agencies including the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), joint team of armed policemen and other paramilitary personnel for the operation.

It was also gathered that the bulldozers that would be deployed for the exercise were moved to Kuje last night in readiness for the mass demolition of illegal structures and shanties that were providing cover for criminal elements in Kuje.

As a result of the development, many Kuje residents were seen yesterday hurrying to salvage their property and not be caught unawares by the demolition.

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IG Orders Arrest, Prosecution of Actors Demeaning Police in Movies Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Inspector-General(IG) of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, weekend, ordered the arrest and prosecution of actors and skit makers, who put on police uniforms without authorisation and portray police in bad light in movies.

He also ordered police commands to arrest individuals or groups engaged in illegal sale of police uniforms and accoutrements without permit from police.

A statement by Force Headquarters said henceforth, the office of the Force Public Relations Officer would be charged with the task of ensuring prompt authorisation for all applications for approvals of usage of police items in movies, in tandem with the extant laws and which will portray good values, impress positively on the Nigerian public, add value to the system, provide

police officers innovations to out policing on-screen role

with modern actively carry duties and models, who

would influence their lives and career and consequently improve security mechanisms in Nigeria.

“The Nigeria Police Force has expressed concern over the incessant and authorised possession and use of police

uniforms and accoutrements by some individuals, movies and skit makers, as well as the illegal sale of police materials

and accoutrements by traders in shops, open stores not approved nor recognised by police authority.

DISCUSSING AVIATION SAFETY…

L-R: Chief Operation Officer, Ibom Air, Mr. George Uriesi; Chairman of the Occasion/Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, Mr. Bernard Bankole; Chairman, League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Mr. Olusegun Koiki; Keynote Speaker/Centre Director , Centre for International Advance and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, and Managing Director/CEO, Med-View Airlines Plc, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, during the 26th Annual Conference of LAAC 2022 held in Lagos...yesterday KOLAWOLE ALLI

Don’t Yield to Traffickers, Niger Sacks DGs of Education Board, Sustainable Devt Goals Agency NAPTIP Implores Youths Refuse heaps take over major streets The Zonal Commander, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Lagos Zone, Mrs. Comfort Agboko, has implored Nigerian youths not to succumb to the deceit of human traffickers.

Agboko disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos.

She charged the youth to develop themselves with the resources inherent in the country.

Agboko pleaded with the youth not succumb to the deceit of the traffickers, noting that they pose as helpers which they were not.

“There is no country that

is not facing depression now.

“No country is exempted from what Nigeria is facing at the moment.

“However, I plead with the youth to do the little they can, pray and refuse to be prey to human trafficking,” she said.

Agboko said NAPTIP was winning the war against human trafficking in the country through several initiatives.

She noted that human trafficking had been in existence from the creation of the world.

“However, with the awareness NAPTIP is creating with its stakeholders, the war is gradually being won,” she said.

MultiChoice, BON Partner to Train 200 Broadcasters Leading Pay TV service company, MultiChoice Nigeria, recently organised the second edition of its flagship training programme for broadcast professionals in collaboration with the Broadcast Organization of Nigeria (BON).

The five-day virtual training programme, which was held between 11 and 15 July, is part of the company’s commitment to elevating the standards of the broadcast profession in Nigeria. Last year when he emerged BON Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe, stated the company’s resolve to upskill

broadcast professionals.

“At MultiChoice, we believe that our industry is only as good as the quality of its people.

For this reason, we pledged to train and upskill 1000 BON members and are focused on keeping that promise. We are confident that with the engagements and interventions of the training providers, participants will return to their bases with a renewed set of knowledge, skills, and motivation to be the very best and in turn, elevate the quality of experience viewers and other stakeholders have of the industry,” Ugbe said.

2023: Non-indigenes Back PDP Candidates in Kwara

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Non-indigenes in Kwara South Senatorial District have pledged their support for the emergence of the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Abdullahi Yarmah, and his deputy, Hon. Gbenga Makanjuola, and all other PDP candidates in the next year’s election.

Also at the weekend, hundrßeds of the members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Irebode community

in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State have dumped the party for PDP. The composition of nonindigenes included the Fulani-Hausa extractions; Osun; Benue; Ekiti and Oyo States indigenes.

The group, which also comprised of entrepreneurs, socio-cultural and political groups, converged on the Omu-Aran residence of Makanjuola to express their unalloyed support for the PDP ahead of the next year general elections.

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Head of the Niger State Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB) Alhaji Isah Adamu and Head of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Alhaji Abdullahi Arah, have been sacked by the state government for alleged

“infraction.”

This happened just as huge heaps of refuse have surfaced at different locations in major towns of the state, according to investigation by THISDAY. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, who sack of the DGs this to

THISDAY, said the agency heads were also removed because they failed to carry along other members of their agencies in the dayto-day administration of the organisations.

Matane said on two occasions the state Governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello personally

intervened in the feud between the agency heads and other board members but they failed to heed the governor’s advice.

“The suspension letter sent to Alhaji Isah Adamu signed by the SSG also said his removal is as a result of some observed anomalies in the operations of the board.

Gunmen Attack: Bello Suspends Traditional Ruler, Council Boss over Breach of Security in Kogi Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has suspended the traditional ruler of Eganyi, the Ohi of Eganyi and Chairman, Ajaokuta Traditional Area Council, His Royal Highness Alhaji Musa Isah Achuja, with

immediate effect.

The governor also ordered the suspension of the Chairman of Ajaokuta Local Government Area, Mustapha Akaaba, following the dastard killing of three policemen and members of the Kogi State Vigilance Service last Saturday

in Ajaokuta LGA. This order was contained in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Muhammed Onogwu, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Lokoja yesterday.

The statement read: “In a

letter to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Kogi State, the governor also directed that the Chairman of Ajaokuta Local Government Area, Hon Mustapha Aka’aba, be queried over the breach and should reply within 24 hours.

More Defectionsmember Hitrepresenting PDP as Senator Akpan Declares for YPP Ikono/ at the weekend. The event commissioner for science and

Okon Bassey in Uyo

About 10,000 members have defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic (PDP) in Akwa Ibom to the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

The senator representing Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) senatorial district, Senator Bassey Akpan and the

Ini federal constituency, Hon Emmanuel Ukpong ‘Udo and the lawmaker representing Ikono state constituency, Hon Asuquo Nana Udoh, led the thousands of the members to dump the PDP for the YPP. The defection took place at a rally held at Ifa Ikot Akpan, Uyo local government area

had a chieftain of YPP, Senator Ifeanyi Uba and the state chairman of the Apostle Nyenime Andy.

The National Chairman of YPP, Bishop Emmanuel Amakiri, formally received Senator Akpan, Akparawa Ephraim Inyangeyen, Hon Emmanuel Ekon , a former

technology , Samuel Efffanga among others across the 31 local government areas into YPP. At the event, the state chairman, who was also the gubernatorial candidate of the party, announced that he was stepping down for Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, popularly called OBA by his admirers.

Anambra Not Yet Totally Safe, Man Kidnapped alongside Brother Tells Soludo experienced was a clear indication to Ojoto while he was travelling shoot, but somehow, the guns

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

An unnamed man, from Nnewi in Anambra State has warned that despite the celebrated victory of security agencies over unknown gunmen, the state was far from being totally safe.

The man who was kidnapped on Saturday night, alongside his younger brother, said what he

that there is still trouble in the state.

He called on Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo to brace up and wipe out all criminals.

In an interview the man granted at Ojoto, Idemili South Local Government Area, he lamented that he was kidnapped at a bad spot on the road, close

to Nnewi.

In the now viral video, the man said: “I was going to Nnewi, and just after Mmili John (a river in the area), a shuttle bus overtook me, drove to the front and parked.

“When I saw the occupants bringing out guns, I reversed and started speeding. They corked their guns and tried to

did not shoot. They chased after us, and along the way, I lost control and drove into a ditch, they now came and took me and my younger brother.”

He said the incident happened around 7:30p.m., and that the men took everything they had, including phones and wallets, and were trying to coarse them to transfer money to them.

Council: Ease of Doing Business, Ugwuanyi’s Legacy in Enugu

TThe Enugu State Ease of Business (EoDB) Council has described the economic programme as one of the key legacies Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi will be bequeathing to the people of the state at the end of his administration.

The council added that Enugu Sate under Ugwuanyi’s watch was about the first to commence the reform process of EoDB in Nigeria,

stressing that the innovative programme has yielded the desired positive results in promoting and growing businesses in the state.

Speaking during the Council meeting and workshop with the Technical Working Group on EoDB, in Enugu, the Reform Champion and Secretary of the EoDB Council, Dr. Sam OgbuNwobodo, applauded Ugwuanyi,

who is the Chairman of the Council, for participating in the workshop aimed at strengthening the reform process of the body for optimal results towards the socio-economic advancement of the state.

Ogbu-Nwobodo, who is also the Director General of Enugu State Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), maintained that Ugwuanyi’s

administration, through EoDB, has made good strides and received remarkable commendations from reputable institutions and organizations about how businesses are being supported in the state.

Speaking further, OgbuNwobodo, thanked Ugwuanyi for his steadfastness in making Enugu State conducive for businesses to thrive.

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NEWSXTRA

APC Senator Decries Worsening Insecurity, Asks NSA to Resign Delta monarchs demand military action

Goddy Egene A senator elected on the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sani Musa, has called on the National Security Adviser (NSA),Babagana Monguno, to resign following the worsening security situation in the country.

Senator Musa, who hails from Niger, one of the worst-hit states by terrorists’ activities, made the call last night when appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

According to him, Monguno, a retired major general and former Chief of Defence Intelligence, has no reason to remain as the nation’s top security strategist with the continued killings of innocent people.

He said: “What proactive action has the NSA taken?

We have to call a spade a spade. If I was the NSA in this country, I will tender my resignation because I have failed. When they (terrorists) are creating cells, you do not wait until when you are attacked before acting. The intelligence

that is being shared is a preinformation given to you at a stage where these culprits have not concluded their plans and you neutralise them. For

me, I believe that we need to restrategise.”

The lawmaker, who represents Niger East senatorial district in the National

Assembly, said to describe the issue of insecurity as disturbing is an understatement.

“To say the issue of insecurity is disturbing is an

understatement, Nigeria is a country that is evolving, and we have never seen it like this since after the civil war. We used to have armed forces

that are reckoned; they have fought wars in other countries in order to bring peace to those countries but today, the whole thing is different,” he said.

ROTARY DISTRICT GETS NEW LEADER…

L-R President, Rotary Club of Mguoba, Theresa Diana Peters; Past Assistant Governor, Nosa Edo-Osagie; President, Rotary Club of Port Harcourt, Obiageli Ejezie, and past Assistant Governor, Agharese Idubor, at the installation ceremony of District Governor 9141, Mightyman Aye Dikuro, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State… recently

Greenlife Pharmaceuticals NAFDAC Secures Imprisonment against Drug Merchant in Kano BossListsImpactonNigerians Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Ijeoma Okonji

The Executive Chairman of Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited, Dr. Obiora Chukwuka, has said that the company has made impact on Nigerians through its wider distribution channels.

He stated this during the commemoration of his 59th birthday in Lagos recently.

“Throughout Nigeria, you will see Greenlife products everywhere. That is why I say we have achieved because nobody can die due to lack of our drugs,” Obiora said.

According to him,”The

company has achieved because we have covered many places having made significant impacts. And that is what I see that we have achieved our vision and mission statement.”

“My survival in 1968 was

by God’s Grace because there was no single drug because of the war. I was five years old then and I had hepatitis which almost snatched my life. But the Red Cross Society treated me. And because of the attention the Society gave me, I said that I will be a Red Cross member when I grow up.”

Oyetola’s Administration, Reference Point of Good Governance, Say Groups Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Artisans in Osun State have described the administration of Govovernor Gboyega Oyetola as a reference point for good governance and all round development.

They said that Oyetola would leave a legacy of probity and focused leadership notwithstanding the outcome of the state’s July 16 governorship election which he lost.

The artisans made the remarks during an engagement programme that was organised yesterday at the state’s Civic

Engagement Centre in Osogbo.

The group also pledged their support to the governor and encouraged him to approach the court to reclaim his mandate.

In his remarks, the Chairman of Osun Chapter of Barbers’ Association of Nigeria (OCBAN), Mr. Obafemi Sunday, said that the governor’s good works since inception of his administration have positioned him as a pacesetter and reference point.

Sunday said that members of the association would continue to pray for the governor to emerge victorious at the election petition tribunal.

APC Sweeps Ebonyi LG Elections Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki The All Progressives Congress(APC) has won the 13 local government chairmanship and 171 councillorship elections in Ebonyi state.

The Chairman of the state Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC), Barrister Josy Eze, announced the result yesterday in Abakaliki.

He noted that the election was credible, free and fair as all contestants were given equal opportunities to participate in the election.

The newly elected Local Government chairmen include: John Onwe (Ishielu); Moses Ogodo Ali (Ezza North); Sunday

Nwankwo (Ikwo); Mrs Euphemia Nwali (Ezza South); Chinonso Ajah (Ohaozara); Mr Ebere Nwogba (Abakaliki); Stephen Nwankpa (Izzi).

Others include: Mr Chinedu Uburu (Ebonyi); Emmanuel Aja (Ivo); Chima Ekuma Nkama (Afikpo South); Uchenna Ibiam (Afikpo North); Ikechukwu Odono (Ohaukwu) and Chidiebere Uzor (Onicha).

The spokesman of APC in the state, Mr. Simbad Ogbuatu, said the total victory of the party did not come as a surprise to him.

He added that the leader of the party in the state, Governor David Umahi has performed well that no other party can challenge the APC in the state.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it has secured a three-year-jail sentence against an illicit drug merchant at the Federal High Court, Kano, Kano State.

In a statement signed by the Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola,

yesterday, the agency said that a 41-year-old man, Innocent Oparah, was sentenced to three years imprisonment with an option of N200,000 fine for endangering lives of innocent consumers through the circulation of fake drugs.

NAFDAC said a Federal High Court Kano presided over by Hon. Justice Ibrahim Mark with charge No FHC/KN /51/2019 handed down the sentence.

It said the convict was charged to court for labelling paracetamol as Quinine Sulphate & Nivaquine (Chloroquine) tablets at D222 Sabon Gari Market, Kano.

NAFDAC said convict was arrested on 20th October 2018 with some drug products, and Paracetamol label that was changed to Quinine and Nivaquine.

The agency said: “In collaboration with the members

of National Association of Patent & Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED), officers of NAFDAC had upon intelligence information swooped on the Sabon Gari market in Kano where the convict was picked up. Four boys were met at his shop changing labels of paracetamol with that of quinine and the boys confessed that it was Innocent a.k.a. INNO that owns the products.

Coalition Lauds Bayelsa for Domesticating VAPP Act Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa Even as rape cases and violence against women continue to be on the increase in the state, the Association Against Child Sexual and Gender Based Violence (AACSGBV) has commended the Bayelsa State government for the passage and signing into

law the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP).

The Chairperson of the association, Dr. Eris Ibi gave made the commendation at the third National Sexual and Gender Based Violence Conference / AACSGBV Annual General Meeting, held in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Ibi, who is also the outgoing National Coordinator of association, noted that with the passage of the VAPP Act and publication of same, Bayelsa State was ahead of many states in the country, but pointed out that the state was yet to open a Sexual Offenders Register, which is one of the provision of the Act.

AACSGBV, as an association, she said was a coalition comprising non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisation and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) whose objective was to coordinate what community based actors are doing towards eliminating sexual and gender based violence.

‘Military Can’t Curb Banditry, Terrorism without Proper Geospatial Mapping’ Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti As Nigerians groan under the burden of insecurity, the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), has advised the federal government to initiate proper geospatial mapping of the nation to help security personnel curb the horrendous killings and kidnappings being carried out

by terrorists and bandits in the country.

The NIS posited that the mapping presently in operation was done in the 1960s and already obsolete and out fashioned, saying that sole reliance on Nigeria’s overstretched security architectures without tapping into mapping system would bring nothing but failure.

The professional body of surveyors also said that it has introduced regulatory initiatives that would curtail the activities of quacks and safeguard the citizens from untimely death and social crises.

The National President of NIS, Mr. Kayode Oluwamotemi, stated this in Ado Ekiti, on Saturday, at a press conference to mark

the 56th annual conference of NIS with the theme: “Mapping Policies, Strategies and Spatial Infrastructure for Sustainable E-governance in Nigeria.”

Oluwamotemi said: “The first thing for us to do to overcome this insecurity is proper mapping of the entire country. That is when you will be able see everywhere and what is involved.

Adamawa Police Neutralise Three Kidnappers, Rescue Four Victims Daji Sani in Yola The Adamawa State Police Command has revealed that it has neutralised three kidnappers while others escaped with bullets wounds in a fierce battle with policemen in Song and Maiha Local Government Areas in the state.

The police said it also rescued four victims and their men were still trailing the kidnappers who

escaped with bullets wounds in the bush.

The police command said that it was out to disconnect a criminal network at Damare Hill, connecting part of Holma and Sorau in Song and Maiha Local Government Areas.

In a press release issued yesterday, the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) SP. Suleiman Nguroje, said that the operation was carried out

by the command operatives attached to Sorau Division and the Hunters at Damare Hill, a grazing reserve that is situated at a remote side of Sorau District, Holma Village in Maiha and Song local government areas and border of Cameroon Republic yielded positive result.

“The outcome of these successes is as a result of the follow-up strategy designed

by the command to checkmate cases bordering on kidnapping, armed robbery, Cattle rustling, unlawful possession of firearms, amongst others.

Nguroje said: “The suspected kidnappers upon sighting our men engaged them in a gun dwell as a result three of them were neutralised, others escaped with bullet wounds while the following victims.

Afenifere: Adebanjo Has no Social Media Account

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, yesterday, distanced itself from the social media account allegedly belonging to its Leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo.

The organisation in a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jare Ajayi, said that the Twitter

account which some electronic media houses quoted from does not belong to any of its leaders, least of all, Pa Adebanjo.

It would be recalled that some electronic media, Saturday, quoted from the said Twitter handle some statements purported to have emanated from the Afenifere leader.

The statement read: “It is hereby

being clearly stated that Chief Adebanjo has no social media account of any sort. Whenever he has anything to say to the public, he does so directly by addressing the press, through an interview or a press statement. He also addresses the public through the secretary general or the national publicity secretary of Afenifere.”

The statement added that

the social media account was created by mischievous persons for nefarious objectives as could be gleaned from one of the posts purporting to explain why Adebanjo is supporting the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, in the forthcoming presidential election in 2023 instead of Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a Yorubaman.

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NEWSXTRA

Monarch Decries Impacts of Incessant Oil Exploration, Pollution on Host Communities Julius Osaho inYenagoa Former Minister of State for Energy and the Traditional Ruler of Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa State, King Edmound Daukoru has charged the leadership of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM) to focus on drawing more attention to the issue of oil industry induced environmental pollution in the Niger Delta.

The monarch also decried the incessant cases of oil pollution in the region and its attendant negative impacts on the socio-economic lives of the host communities and pointed out that Ogoniland is not the only polluted area in the Niger Delta, as almost every part of the region was also affected.

Daukoru, who is a former Nigerian Minister of State for Energy and was Secretary General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2006 and also the HOSTCOM Board of Trustees Chairman, stated this during the inauguration of the national elected executives officers of the body in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

He further charged the newly inaugurated executives to consolidate on the achievements so far recorded and continue to educate and enlighten members on their rights as most members are uneducated and unaware of their rights.

He said: “I have taken the troubles to read the Petroleum

Industry Act (PIA), there are host community issues but HOSTCOM is not mentioned by name at least not in the PIA itself.

“If oil well is found in the farm of a lonely farmer, how does that man defends his right? They say there is security in numbers only

Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has emerged the winner of Ebonyi South senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Umahi got 250 votes to defeat his younger brother, Austin Umahi, who scored 10 votes.

However, there was confusion as the governor’s brother, Austin, who had earlier withdrawn from the race after emerging as the candidate for the senatorial, made a U-turn and contested against the governor Governor Umahi’s emergence was sequel to a judgement of a Federal High Court in Abakaliki

The Anglican Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Right Rev. Stephen Oni, has warned Ekiti State Governor-elect, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, not to be distracted by worldly things, as he urged him to reciprocate Ekiti votes with dedication, selfless and incorruptible service.

Oni, who spoke on Saturday at the burial service for the late Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti, Oba Ademola Ajakaiye, in Iyin- Ekiti, described Oyebanji’s emergence as governor as timely,

that a fresh primary election should be conducted.

Umahi also defeats four others to emerge the APC senatorial candidate Others who stood for the senatorial primary election in the district included Princess Ann Ago-Eze, who scored zero votes; Nwakaego Chukwu, who scored five votes, while Mrs. Ibiam Margaret scored three votes.

Announcing the result of the election, which took place at the Afikpo North Local Government Area headquarters, the Chairman of the electoral panel, Prof Adebayo Kehinde, declared the Ebonyi State governor winner of the election.

adding that God wanted to use him to lift Ekiti through provision of adequate security and legacy projects.

He bemoaned the insensitivity of today’s leaders to the plight of the masses and advised the governor-elect to be wary of any worldly thing that could distract him from discharging his responsibilities.

He said: “I congratulate the governor-elect on his victory at the polls, especially for the fact that God has decided to crown him at this period to use him for Ekiti development.

Man Allegedly Kills Brother’s Wife in Anambra over Ownership of Property David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka An Anambra State indigene, Mr. George Okoye, from Ogbunike in Oyi Local Government Area has allegedly killed his younger brother’s wife over a protracted tussle on ownership of a property.

Okoye allegedly led his

the means and enlightenment to know what their rights are, that is the gap I will personally like to see HOSTCOM fill and it is a huge task.

“The second thing you must do aside enlightenment is to ensure that remediation programmes

are not taken for granted, it is not only Ogoni that has polluted soils it is happening everywhere in the Niger Delta, every year the farms harvest and the fish catch are getting smaller, where are we heading to in another 50 years?”

L-R: Judge of Federal High Court, Lagos Division, Justice Daniel E.Oriagor; Pastor (Mrs) Esther Kumuyi; General Overseer, Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi; Judge of the Lagos State High Court, Justice Mojisola Ayoka Dada, and Missionary United Arab Emirates/Pakistan, Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor James T. Akpofure, during the launching of Global Crusade with Kumuyi in Lagos…yesterday ABAYOMI AKINYELE

Don’t Get Distracted with Mundane things, Bishop Warns Oyebanji VictorOgunjeinAdoEkiti

in court, some may be settled by the authority or commission as the case maybe but to go from the village level to even a court room or to get a lawyer or valuer or to go to the regulator authorities is already a big tasks for small communities who do not have

KUMUYI LAUNCHES GLOBAL CRUSADE…

Umahi Defeats Brother, Others to Emerge Winner of Ebonyi South Senatorial Primary BenjaminNworieinAbakaliki

if he aligns with other people with similar problems that is what HOSTCOM is about.

“HOSTCOM is not a debt collector per say, HOSTCOM duties involves enlightening people as to their rights, maybe some things can only be settled by litigation

wife and children into his brother, Mr. Emenike Okoye’s compound to beat him and his wife, Mrs. Nkiru Okoye, resulting to the death of Nkiru.

Emenike, who, however, survived, sustained a broken hand, a fractured waist, and an injured eye from the beating, and was still recuperating in a hospital.

Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman to Premiere at Toronto EbonyLife Films and coproducers Netflix are pleased to announce that Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman, would have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2022.

According to a statement yesterday, based on real-life events in Nigeria in 1943, Elesin Oba would feature in the prestigious special presentation category, the first Yoruba language film to do so.

“Set in the Oyo Empire,

between sunset and sunrise, the King’s horseman, Elesin Oba, must commit ritual suicide to follow his deceased king into the afterlife.

“His best intentions are derailed by his sexual desires, which leads to catastrophic consequences and ends in a deadly clash with the British rulers of the day.

“The horseman is unable to fulfil his ultimate commitment to the king, leaving his spirit to roam the earth, spelling doom

for the land and its people.

“The original death and the King’s Horseman was a stage play, written by Prof. Wole Soyinka, who won Africa’s first Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. It is the first time that Death and the King’s Horseman I has been made into a feature film. The screen adaptation was written and directed by Biyi Bandele,” it added.

It further stated that the film stars Odunlade Adekola as Elesin Oba, Shaffy Bello as

Iyaloja, and acclaimed musician Olawale ‘Brymo’ Olofooro as the Praise Singer, making his screen debut. They are joined by Deyemi Okanlawon, Omowunmi Dada, and veteran actors, Jide Kosoko and Kevin Ushi.

Also featured are Jenny Stead and Mark Elderkin as Jane and Simon Pilkings, Langley Kirkwood, and a special appearance by acting legend Taiwo Ajai-Lycett and Ajoke Silva.

Edo to Bridge 20% of Nigeria’s Palm Oil Supply Gap, Says Obaseki Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has said that the state was poised to bridge at least 20 per cent supply gap in Nigeria’s oil palm market with the inflow of investment into the state through the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP).

The governor was quoted in a statement to have said this in a chat with the Africa Report, a business magazine. He noted

that the state government prioritised development of oil palm plantations because it has a comparative advantage in the cash crop owing from years of hosting two companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, namely Okomu Plc and Presco Plc. According to him, “One of my campaign promises was to create jobs. With my background as an investment banker, given the vagaries of the Nigerian economy, it was obvious that we needed

to pursue diversification.

“With an increasing population, one way to diversify and create employment was to send out youths back to farm and ensure food security.”

He said the government is prioritising agriculture by ensuring access to land and extension services in order to boost production, adding, “this led to the setting up of the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP).”

According to him, “Nigeria has

a supply gap of CPO and other products from oil palm. This has led to importation of these feedstock for many companies.

“There is a supply gap of about 650,000mt, which can be closed by cultivating about 350,000 hectares of oil palm plantation. In Edo, through ESOPP, we have already commenced cultivation of 70,000 hectares and will add another 20,000 hectares soon. That means we are closing the gap by 20 percent, with about 100,000 hectares.”

LAUTECH Students Petition Buhari, Makinde over Kidnap of Colleague Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan Students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde over the kidnap of one of their colleagues.

The students said that they are in pain over the abduction

of one of their colleagues identified as Opadele Rachael Abiola.

The students in a petition addressed to Buhari and Makinde, said that their colleague, Miss Opadele, Rachael Abiola, a final year student of Fine and Applied Arts with Matric Number: 170886, was reportedly abducted in the early hours of July 29th, 2022.

The students in the statement signed by the trio of the Students Union Government (SUG) President, Anuoluwa Adeboye; General Secretary, Okiki Ibrahim Opaleke and Public Relations Officer, Love Gabriel Michael, said that the girl was abducted in a hotel at Aaba, a community close to LAUTECH. The students disclosed that

Abiola was working at the hotel due to the strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that has urged Buhari and Makinde, to save them from the frequent abduction of their colleagues by kidnappers.

The students’ leaders, on behalf of their colleagues, said over 35,000 students of the institution were living in fear.

Lulu-Briggs Promises Monthly Salaries for Rivers Women if Elected Governor

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Rivers State Governorship Candidate of Accord Party, apolitical, Mr. Dumo Lulu-Briggs, has pledged to pay Rivers’ women monthly salary if elected governor in 2023 election.

Lulu-Briggs noted the hardship the women are passing through

trying to raise up responsible youths and future leaders of the nation.

He made the promise yesterday during the commissioning of the Accord Party secretariat in Akuku-Toru Council of the state.

Lulu-Briggs promised that his government would be gender-friendly with 50 per cent of women forming his cabinet.

He said; “Our mothers are

too sacrificial, they like to give everything to us and take almost nothing, women went to the National Assembly requesting participation in governance in way of 35 per cent affirmative action. In our government, we shall give women 50 percent, in our government; we will not have women that will be just deputy chairmen of LGAs. We shall support women to aspire

for chairmen of local government areas.

“At the end of every month, my salary shall be donated to the women’s local government by local government. Even as difficult as things are today our mothers can manage to keep the homes, we still have homes today in difficult times and situations we find ourselves in because our mothers have kept the home.

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MONDAY, ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Lawal Wins Team Nigeria’s Second Gold Medal in Weightlifting

Duro Ikhazuagbe Rafiatu Folashade Lawal won won Team Nigeria’s second gold medal of the ongoing 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES The 25-year-old Nigerian lifted a total of 206kg to win the gold ahead of Jessica Gordon Brown of England and Canada’s Tali

IRT Commander, DCP Disu, Wins Silver in US 33rd Open Judo Championship Chiemelie Ezeobi

third round.

The 26-year-old will face Sam Hickey of Scotland on Wednesday at 3:15 pm.

Also yesterday, Team Nigeria’s men’s table tennis squad booked a place in the semi-final after a 3-2 defeat of Malaysia in the quarter-final. They will face India in the semi final slated for today at 4.30pm.

The Nigerian contingent came from behind to defeat the Asians after the duo of Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo lost the first

game 3-1.

Today, Team Nigeria’s Innocent Ewhariemen is to take on England’s Aaron Bowen in the men’s light heavyweight (75kg- 80kg) category of the boxing event.

Similarly, Edwin Patrick is to battle Nathon Burns of England in the elimination round of 16 in the judo event.

Joy Ogbonne Eze is to cap Nigeria’s outing in the weightlifting event on Monday when she competes in the women’s 71kg category for a possible gold or silver.

the Nigerian University Games (NUGA) and Nigeria, at the West Africa University Games (WAUG).

The member, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Nigeria, is also a member of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations and Chattered Institute of Personnel management.

A renown officer whose impact was notable as the Commander of Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS), popularly referred to as “Good Guys”, he was redeployed to Abuja to steer back the IRT from the infamy of the previous administration.

The Intelligence Response Team Commander, Olatunji Disu, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, on Sunday won the silver medal at the ongoing United States 33rd Open Judo Championship.

THISDAY, who was privy to the strenuous task ahead of him, had gathered that the routine the senior officer had put himself through before the championship was to make him in top shape.

While working on his weight, the senior officer was known to exercise and take walks to ensure his fitness for the bout.

With approval of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, he travelled to US for the championship in high spirits.

At the competition proper, all the training paid off as he made Nigeria proud by winning a silver medal.

Disu, a graduate of English from Lagos State University (LASU), holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State.

DCP Tunji Disu, a patron of Lagos State Judo Association (LSJA), once represented Lagos State in Judo at the National Sports Festival, winning gold in previous years.

DCP Tunji Disu..wins silver at the US 33rd He also represented Lagos State University at Open Judo Championships ...yesterday

300 Athletes for Special Olympics’ Unified Cup Starting Today in Detroit Three hundred footballers with and without intellectual disabilities from more than 20 nations have converged on the city of Detroit to compete in Special Olympics’ Unified Cup tournament modeled after the FIFA World Cup, showcasing the power of inclusion and the joy of sport.

Before competition begins this morning, the organisers are banking on the extraordinary lineup of celebrities and athletes who are ambassadors of the Special Olympics who have agreed to lend their voices in support of the hundreds of the special athletes and Unified partners participating in the Unified Cup. Amongst the super stars is former US Men’s National Team and MLS Footballer with Philadelphia Union, Oguchi Onyewu.

“Much like our athletes do, the Unified Cup Ambassadors are leading by example,” said Tim Hileman, President and CEO of SOMI. “Using the power of their voice and their passion for those with intellectual disabilities, these voices will be heard throughout the world, fueling the Inclusion Revolution.”

The Unified Cup Ambassadors roster represents superstars and personalities promoting inclusion for all. Others include; Chris Aloisi – Former MLS Footballer, Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy; Jordan Angeli – Former NWSL

Darsigny who won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Lawal lifted 90kg in the snatch category to set a new Games record.

She equally chalked 110kg in the clean and jerk for another record before capping it all with 115kg Her gold medal is an addition to the first won for Team Nigeria

by Adijat Adenike Olarinoye on the opening day of the weightlifting event in Birmingham.

Earlier in the day, Edidiong Joseph Umoafia won a bronze medal for Team Nigeria in the men’s 68kg category of the weightlifting event. India’s Lalrinnunga Jeremy won the gold of that category while Vaipava Nevo Ioane of Samoa settled for the silver.

In the boxing event, Team Nigeria’s Adeyinka Benson booked a place in the quarter-final of the 71-75kg boxing category.

Benson defeated Ghana’s Abubakar Kumasi 3-2 in the

Footballer, Washington Spirit; Victoria Arlen - Special Olympics Champion Ambassador, ESPN SportsCenter Host; Leon Bailey – Premier League Footballer, Aston Villa, and member of Jamaica National Football Team; Nigel Barker – Special Olympics Champion Ambassador, CEO, Studio NB Inc., Fashion Photographer, Author, and TV Personality; DaMarcus Beasley – Former US Men’s National Team & International Footballer and MLS Footballer, Houston Dynamo; David Boudia – American Diver and Olympic athlete; Chaka Daley – University of Michigan Head Coach, men’s soccer programme; Benita Fitzgerald Mosley – Vice President, Community and Impact; President, FundPlay for LeagueApps; Olympic Gold Medalist,100-meter hurdles.

The Special Olympics 2022 Unified Cup Local Organizing Committee is expected to welcome volunteers, fans, and media partners to join in the weeklong global celebration.

“It takes a unified effort to make the Unified Cup possible, furthering the mission of inclusion for all.”

The Unified Cup is expected to draw 10,000 spectators, 1,000 volunteers and 500 family members and dignitaries with the common mission of celebrating the joy of sport and the power of inclusion through camaraderie, competition and breaking down social barriers.

L-R: Gold medalists, Adijat Adenike Olarinoye; Rafiatu Folashade Lawal, Sports Minister, Chief Sunday Dare and bronze medal winner, Edidiong Joseph Umoafia during the minister’s visit to the Team Nigeria athletes in Birmingham...yesterday

Nigeria Bounce Back with Wins over Mauritania, Palestine Femi Solaja

After a momentary setback in the second round fixtures, Nigerian team to the ongoing World Chess Olympiad in Chennia, India bounced back to reckoning with convincing wins against Mauritania and Palestine in the third round of the events yesterday.

The Nigerian team had lost 4-0 on Saturday to a Grandmaster packed Cuba side of Quesada Prez Yasser, Albornoz Cabrera Daniel, Quesada Perez Ernesto and Almeida Omar while the female team also lost 1-3 to Switzerland but a reprieve came the way of the teams going by the results they chalked yesterday.

In the Open section, the male team with Issac Okeke on board one displaced Yahi Mohammed Salem just as Bomo Kigigha on board two in white pieces defeated Cheikha Mohamed Lemme to give Nigeria two points lead.

Veteran star player, Adebayo Adegboyega extended the lead on board three in black pieces with a brilliant win against Boidiya Side and Akinseye Abiola completed the perfect score for Nigeria with his win against Mohammed Abdrachim Taleb to give the nation a 4-0 win.

W O R L D C H E S S O LY M P I A D In the female Nigeria won 3-1 against Palestine after Enomah Emmanuel Trust overcame Alhmouri Sara on board one just as Ofowino Toritsemuwa proved better on board two with another win against Heba Assi and Ogbiyoyo Perpentual Eloho extended the gap with a brilliant win against Enma Sawan

but Onoja Iyefu lost on board four to Taqwa Hamouri and reduced the score line to 3-1.

The result of the matches mean that Nigeria will face stiff opposition tonight in the11-round Swiss event pairing tournament as teams with higher score and match points face each other as the tournament progresses.

As at the last round, Ukraine were joint top in the Open section with India Team two, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Argentina, Georgia, Cuba, Montenegro and Canada with four match points and eight board points.

Nigeria in the same section has two match points and four points on the board while in the female section, the team has two match points and five points on the board.

Lagos Flags off School Sports Intervention Programme Lagos State School Sports Intervention Programme (LASSIP), an initiative designed to reintegrate sports back into the schools curriculum has officially flagged off.

The scheme which is another commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s unprecedented investments in the youth development provide more options and opportunities for students to excel in sports and academics.

The first of its kind initiative introduced by the Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Sports Commission, in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Education, deepens the state’s commitment to develop and

transform schools sports.

Speaking at the official inauguration ceremony held at the indoor sports hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere,the state’s Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Olusegun Dawodu stated that Lagos State School Sports Intervention Programme which was conceived two years ago has the blessing of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The Commissioner emphasised the importance of the initiative to a Greater Lagos agenda of Governor Sanwo-Olu, adding that LASSIP will provide opportunity for the schools to groom students who will excel in Sports and Education, further

saying that the Programme will be held in different batches for over 400Games Masters and Mistresses.

Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Sola Aiyepeku said LASSIP’s broad vision include leveraging on sports to promote physical fitness and wellness, offer alternative career paths to young people and create a sustainable pipeline of talent discovery and development.

The LSSC boss stated that through the partnership with the Ministry of Education and collaboration of the six education districts, the state-wide training programme will attain its full potentials which are gains beyond encouraging participation.

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MISSILE Afenifere to FG

“On the issue of Nigerians resorting to self-help, it is an indication of a total loss of confidence in government, to protect the people. Afenifere believes that the government, at the center, has shown that it is unwilling to deal with the insecurity situation. If that is the case, the Federal Government should allow states to establish their police” – Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, berating the government for the worsening insecurity in the country.

MAHMUDJEGA VIEW FROM THE GALLERY

Concert of Anti-party Activists I t was External Affairs Minister Professor Bolaji Akinyemi who, in the 1980s, spearheaded the formation of a Concert of Medium Powers.

What we got in Nigeria this weekend was a Concert of Anti-Party Activists. At the weekend, news-hungry media houses splashed stories that former Secretary to the Government of the Federation [SGF] Babachir David Lawal and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara visited Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike in his country home in Rumueprikom, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.

Insofar as Governor Wike is actively seeking to undermine his PDP party’s Atiku Abubakar/Ifeanyi Okowa presidential ticket and insofar as Babachir and Dogara are actively trying to undermine their APC party’s Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima presidential ticket, the threesome meeting is best described as a concert of anti-party activists. I do not know if the term existed in the First Republic. But when Second Republic politics kicked off in 1978-79, political pages of newspapers were soon replete with stories of politicians being expelled by their political parties for what was called “anti-party activity.”

Anti-party activity was broadly defined in that era to include paying a social visit to the home of a member of another party, giving out your daughter in marriage to the son of a member of a rival party, allowing tenants in your compound to hoist the flag of another party, or even being seen exchanging banters by the roadside with a member of a rival party. To politicians, anti-party activity is the equivalent of a soldier fraternising with the enemy in wartime. There was this story I once read that during the First World War, German and Allied unit commanders in one small sector in France declared a Christmas Day truce. The guns fell silent; one German soldier stood up in his trench, waved at enemy soldiers and wished them merry Christmas! Some Allied soldiers responded, and they soon emerged from trenches, met in the no-man’s land in-between and fraternized.

When the truce ended, the soldiers dived back into their trenches and resumed fighting, but with less enthusiasm. As one American soldier later recounted, a German soldier he met during the truce was his age mate, who just like him was from a rural area, who just like him dropped out of college when he was conscripted into the army, and who just like him had a mother and a sister who were praying for him to survive the war.

The commanders on both sides who orchestrated that damaging truce were arrested and, at least on the German side, were executed.

Babachir, Dogara and Wike may not be in danger right now of facing the political equivalent of arrest, trial and execution by

Lawal

Dogara

their respective political parties because both major parties are still reeling from the aftermath of their nominating conventions and in particular, their choice of presidential running mates. What did the three men discuss at their meeting behind closed doors? Babachir told reporters after the meeting that “their mission was a brotherly visit to the Governor of Rivers” because “every now and then, the Bible enjoins you to visit one another.” The question is, why did Babachir ignore this biblical prescription to visit Wike all these years, until now, when he thought he found common political cause with him? Dogara on his part said “they were on a quest to build an all-inclusive Nigeria,” meaning that his party’s Muslim/Muslim ticket is an all-exclusive Nigeria.

Tellingly, the two men went to Rivers straight from a meeting in Abuja of a hastily formed organization called APC Northern Christian Political Leaders. Back in the Second Republic, when different political associations often came together to form political parties, the first rule was to disband all previously existing groups and to insist that “everyone joins the party as an individual, not as a group.” No formal groups are allowed to form within the party afterwards, though in practice old alliances and camps persist. When a formal faction emerges within a party, such as nPDP in 2014, it was usually preparing the ground for exit. A disgruntled politician does not however exit from a party until he does as much damage to it as he possibly can. That way, he will be more valued by the new party that he defects to. In 2015 Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Murtala Nyako, Aliyu Wamakko and Abdulfatah Ahmed did much damage to PDP before they defected to APC, where they were welcomed with open arms and state party

structures were promptly handed over to them.

If Babachir and Dogara were merely setting the stage for their exit from APC, they probably overdid it because the APC Northern Christians Political Summit they organized in Abuja resembled The Great Schism of 1053AD. They did not stop at the political issue at hand, but threw in many other issues from appointment of polytechnic rectors to selection of traditional rulers. The Babachir/Dogara Schism however falls short of a Reformation because it lacked Martin Luther’s moral authority. Babachir is a problematic champion of Christendom. He fell from a prestigious government position due to the infamous grass cutter scandal. In the run up to the APC presidential primaries, Babachir did much to derail a prominent candidate, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is also a pastor.

The most obvious reason was that Osinbajo chaired the presidential panel that probed Babachir’s deals in the grass cutter scandal and recommended his sack.

How can a man who helped to torpedo the presidential aspiration of a Christian pastor, turn around and say Christians are marginalized because they did not get a running mate? Between running mate and the candidate, who is in a better position to help the faith? As for his allegations against Tinubu, it was rather late in the day to accuse him of religious sectarianism because Babachir was on record in 2015 as saying that it was Tinubu who stood firm and ensured his appointment as SGF despite opposition from some Northern quarters.

Dogara too could be interrogated for multiple standards. In 2015 when he clinched the House Speakership even though he was not favoured by President Buhari, he filled a plane with Sayawa

tribal chiefs from Bauchi State and took them to Sokoto to thank Governor Aminu Tambuwal, whom he credited with single handedly making him the speaker. Maybe, as Babachir and Dogara alleged at the Summit, there is an agenda to politically, religiously and economically suppress and oppress the Northern Christian. But neither Babachir nor Dogara is a good bearer of this message, if first Tinubu and then Tambuwal helped them to attain the highest positions in their political career, as they themselves attested.

Both men were initially mentioned as likely running mates to Tinubu after he won the APC ticket. Trouble is, politicians’ top calculus in these matters is demonstrable electoral strength. Both men’s home states of Bauchi and Adamawa are PDP controlled. It was not for nothing that the three men shortlisted for Atiku Abubakar to choose his running mate from were all from PDP-controlled Southern states. APC members from Babachir’s Adamawa State and from Dogara’s Bauchi State were quick to point out that both men lost their local government areas to PDP in the 2019 presidential polls. In Babachir’s Hong LGA, they said, APC got 20,471 votes while PDP got 23,039.

In Dogara’s Bogoro LGA, APC got 5,284 votes while PDP got 23,664. The kind of figures that party chiefs like are those from running mate Kashim Shettima’s Maiduguri Metropolitan LGA, where APC got 146,181 votes to PDP’s 9,632.

But if Babachir and Dogara were looking for a way out of APC, why did they go to Wike, who is possibly looking for a way out of PDP? While the two of them may be looking towards PDP, Wike might be looking in the direction of APC. He recently said that his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku, told many lies during his Arise TV interview. Wike recently tweeted that he “will speak soon and Nigerians will know the truth of all that has transpired in the PDP in recent times.” It promises to be quite a story.

The operational word here is “all.” Can Wike tell all that transpired, including the tools that he used to come second at a convention widely alleged to be awash in monetary inducement of delegates?

It is not for nothing that Army Generals do not allow their troops to fraternize with the enemy in war or even in peacetime.

They may find out that they have much in common. Babachir and Dogara’s visit to Wike may not achieve much because each side is looking to cross over to the side that the other is trying to exit from.

Trouble is, in case each one remains where he is, they, just like that German soldier and his American enemy, will be thinking that they have much in common with the other side. Governor Wike, whose mouth is a human assault rifle, may hold off some rounds lest he hits his new found friends.

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