MONDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER 2021

Nigeria's Rig Count Soars as NNPC, Partners Set to Pump More Oil Raises hope of meeting OPEC October quota Buhari directs incorporation of NNPC Ltd, retains Kyari, Ajiya Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja For the first time since 2020, Nigeria's rig count, which had been on the decline,

soared to 11 in August, signalling readiness by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its partners to pump more oil.

This was just as President Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacity as Minister of Petroleum Resources, yesterday triggered Section 53(1) of the

new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by directing the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited under the

new law. The president also approved the formation of a new board, which would be overseen by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, a career politician

from Imo State.

The significance of this appointment is that the Continued on page 8

27 Bandits Killed, Others Arrested in Kogi, Sokoto... Page 58 Monday 20 September, 2021 Vol 26. No 9660. Price: N250

www.thisdaylive.com TR

UTH

& R E ASO

N

PDP Zoning C’ttee Meets Wednesday to Take Critical Decisions... Page 5

Akeredolu: Plan to Amend Constitution over VAT Will Be Dead on Arrival Says southern governors support electronic transmission of election results Wants SWF, instead of NNPC, to manage host community fund in PIA Chinedu Eze Governor of Ondo State and Chairman, Southern Governors Forum, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, has said the move by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to push for amendment of the constitution so as to put collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the Exclusive List would fail. Akeredolu stated this during an interview on “THISDAYLIVE”, a programme monitored

on ARISE News Channel, yesterday.

The governor said, “The issue of VAT, looking at the constitution, is under the purview of the states. Southern governors have taken a decision to pursue fiscal federalism. I am a lawyer. This is not a tax that is under the purview of the federal government.

“We, the southern governors, clamour for true federalism and true federalism includes Continued on page 8

Emefiele: CBN to Okay Legitimate FX Demand Exceeding Approved Cap James Emejo in Abuja The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has said the apex bank is ready to approve legitimate foreign exchange (FX) demand that exceeds the approved transaction cap if such applications meet stipulated requirements.

The CBN governor gave the assurance against the backdrop of complaints that the current FX policy which

limits transactions to $5,000 may not fulfil consumers' actual needs.

But Emefiele, while addressing journalists over the weekend, said the CBN was ready to approve requests from commercial banks to go beyond the caps if it is proven that the extra demand for FX is for legitimate purposes.

He said, "Indeed, I want to put it on record; if the amount Continued on page 8

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

SANWO-OLU

My Re-election Decision in the Hands of Lagosians “To imagine that you want to come and run the shop called Lagos State; you want to be the chairman and chief executive of Lagos State, you need to think twice. You need to know that it's not going to be a tea party. This is where the real movers and shakers of thought process, a well-informed audience, are” ȱ ȱšũȱ ȱŢţ

2

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

3

4

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

5

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 08033506821, 08097777322

ALL SET FOR 76TH UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY...

President Buhari arrives New York ahead of the UN General Assembly...yesterday

PDP Zoning C’ttee Meets Wednesday to Take Critical Decisions May throw presidential ticket open

Chuks Okocha in Abuja All things being equal, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention committee on Zoning, headed by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has scheduled to meet on Wednesday, where it is expected to critical decisions on the zoning of offices for the October 30 and 31 national convention.

But from all indications, there are evident signs that the party might throw open itspresidential ticket to all the six geopolitical zones since it might have resolved to keep its national chairmanship in the South.

Chairman of the National Convention committee of the Party and Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, had last Thursday urged the Ugwuanyi committee to hasten up the zoning of the offices.

THISDAY, however, learnt last night that the zoning committee would meet Wednesday in Enugu and possibly come with the zoning of the offices of the National Working Committee.

This latest development, THISDAY learnt, might have followed new calculations on the zoning of the office of the leadership of the party.

In the new thinking, however, the office of the national chairman, might be zoned to South as against micro-zoning it to any particular zone or state in the region.

Yet, other offices of the NWC, might be left open as they were before the 2017 national convention of the party.

A top PDP source told THISDAY that the Ugwuanyi committee has decided to be fair to any of the national chairmanship aspirant from the south by ensuring that the

office was open to all to avoid any litigation from anyone over constitutional right.

That, nonetheless, the entire work of the Ugwuanyi committee would be subject to the final ratification of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

But sources have claimed that though there’s been clamour that the presidential ticket be specifically zone to the south in line with the agitation from the southern governors, the party might adopt the position of the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, whose committee reviewed the outcome of the 2019 presidential election.

The Mohammed committee had recommended that on the basis of equity and fairness as well as calibre of Nigerians believed to be capable of being

the president, the ticket should be thrown open.

The committee had anchored its position on the fact that across the land, Nigeria boasts good hands capable of bailing the country “out of her current quagmire.”

Mohammed, therefore, said: “In line with certain unwritten conventions of the nation’s history, many people think that, for fairness and equity, the North-East and SouthEast geo-political zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency, should be given special consideration, in choosing the presidential flagbearer of the party, for the 2023 elections.

“While we admit that this is a strong argument, we should not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is endowed with many capable and very

experienced leaders in every part of the country. Moreover, the exigencies of the moment demand that nothing should be compromised in choosing the leader, with the attributes to disentangle the country from the present quagmire.

“Therefore, we think that every Nigerian, from every part of the country, should be given the opportunity to choose the best candidate, through a credible primary election; as a way of institutionalising a merit-based leadership recruitment process, for the country.”

Another party source told THISDAY that in view of the clamour by the southern governors and indeed, the PDP governors, that it might not be out of place for the presidential ticket of the party be thrown open, even if the

national chairman of the party was from the south after the October 30 and 31 national convention.

According to the source, "Water will always find its level and it is common knowledge that all the presidential aspirants that have indicated interest are from the north.

"The PDP as a political party cannot force any politician from the South to contest for the presidential ticket of the party. The politicians from the south have to come out and contest. No one can force the southern politicians to contest.

"So, this is one of the reasons why it had to be thrown open, so that whoever is interested should come out and contest," the source.

It also contended that the

presidential ticket should be left to those who are interested, andnot what would be forced on those who are not ready to do the job.

"Look at what is happening in the northern part of the country, many aspirants have indicated interest in contesting, none so far from the Southeast.

Even Peter Obi, who was a presidential running mate to Atiku Abubakar, as we talk, has not indicated interest.

"But check out the north, the number of those aspiring to contest are many. No one should force anyone to contest. We cannot force any one, who is not prepared to come and be the PDP presidential candidate. You must work for it, because we are looking for a willing presidential candidate, who has the capacity," he stated.

Why APC is Yet to Endorse Any Candidate for Chairmanship Party chieftain endorses Sheriff Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia Some stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from the North-Central zone, Sunday, revealed reasons the party was yet to endorse anyone for the exalted office of the national chairman of the party, especially, from the North Central zone.

This is coming ahead of the elective convention of the APC, during which the leadership crisis in the party is expected to be laid to rest.

But another chieftain of the APC from Nasarawa State, Dr Mohammad Kassim, has insisted that a former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, remained the best choice forthe APC national chairmanship.

However, the other party

chieftains, who explained why the party has yet to decide andspoke in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, said, though the North Central zone was desirous of producing the next chairman, they were yet to take a stand on who to push for the position.

Speaking on behalf of others, Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim, a former member, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, expressed the readiness of stakeholders in the region to converge soon to pick one out of the contenders.

"We have not declared support for anybody. I say that with all sense of responsibility.

It is for the good of the party as a whole that we take our time and assess the aspirants critically on the strength of what they bring to the table.

If anybody tells you that we

have a consensus candidate yet, it is a lie. In fact, we are yet to meet, let alone decide on it. We don't want to rush the process.

"In all fairness, this region has been marginalised over the years and we think fielding the next chairman of the party, the largest party in Nigeria, is the best way to start the recovery process. But in spite of that, we will look before we leap," he said.

Ibrahim David Ajokwu, a member from Kogi South Senatorial District, explained that the zone would not settle for less this time in the choice of those that would represent it at party level.

"We have agreed as a zone that we would not settle for less this time. The person that will be endorsed from the zone is going to be an ambassador

of the zone. So, anything short of a capable hand, with strong leadership abilities and a clean slate is never going to be an option for us for a consensus arrangement.”

But Kassim, who flashed the Sheriff card while speaking to journalists, responded to a publication that Sheriff could not emerge a consensus candidate of the party despite his endorsement by the Ebonyi State governor, Mr Dave Umahi.

Kassim, a former member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, stated: "Senator Sheriff had led the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with capacity, competence and experience. But since he rejected bribe and left to join the party (APC), he helped to form in 2014, PDP has been jittery that if given

the opportunity to lead the ruling party, he will collapse the PDP in the country and ensure victory for the ruling APC in 2023.

"Sheriff is an open book as far as leadership is concerned, his humanitarian ideology rejects blood-politicking or life wasting exercise, he never want a single person dead upon victory of his party or candidature.

"Sheriff cannot be considered a new comer into the APC, because he was the chairman of ANPP National board of trustees that negotiated merger with CPC and ACN to form the APC in 2014. Everybody in APC is a new member, because APC itself is a new political party, which was formed in 2014, where Sheriff played a key role to it's formation."

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

6

NEWS

HONOUR FOR FRONTLINE WORKERS IN BATTLE AGAINST COVID...

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Yeni Kuti and Vice Chairman, Global Citizen Nigeria, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, during the Global Citizen Live concert in honour of frontline and essential workers in the battle against COVID-19, at the Afrika Shrine, Ikeja, on Saturday

Moghalu Urges FG to Target FDIs that Impact Human, Infrastructure Devt Dike Onwuamaeze Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has advised the federal government to evolve a well-defined strategy to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) that would help solve the challenges of human capital and infrastructure development.

He made the recommendations when he delivered a keynote address titled, “Back to Basics: How to Make Foreign Investment Work for Nigeria,” which he delivered at the United States-Nigeria Investment Summit held in New York City, at the weekend.

Moghalu, who is also the President and CEO of Sogato Strategies LLC explained: “Nigeria should now require, as a matter of strategic national interest, that any investment in natural resources and solid mineral include a beneficiary on plan to add value to them before export, as opposed to extraction and exports of crude oil and other natural resources.”

He noted that Nigeria is a country of significant potential for FDIs, “but for several reasons including a weak macroeconomic environment, policy inconsistency and the absence of a well-defined strategy for FDI as a component of economic growth strategy, FDI into Nigeria has declined markedly in the past several years.”

Moghalu, who was a former presidential

candidate in the 2019 general election, also noted that FDI would play an important role in Nigeria’s development if certain conditions exist or would be met because such investments do not automatically trigger productivity.

“It can complement, but not substitute local factors that are essential for development,” he said.

These conditions, according to him, include the understanding that the impact of FDI on developing countries depended very much on the host country’s level of development.

He added: “The assumed benefit of technology transfer from FDI only happens when the investment is made in economies which themselves are actively engaged in research and development (R&D).

“Foreign investment can help lift a country from poverty if it is targeted at the real economy, for instance electricity, manufacturing, service industries, and export oriented industries, and uses local suppliers, as opposed to a lopsided focus on extraction industries.

“The most important requirements for FDI to successfully contribute to real development in a country like Nigeria (depends on) the presence of a well-educated workforce, and infrastructure. It is this question of the absorptive capacity of an economy, which is determined by how well educated and skilled a workforce is to take advantage of the possible technology and

employment generated by FDI that determines whether or not FDI contributes to real economic growth.”

Moghalu also stated that Nigeria’s quest for FDIs should begin with clearly defined priority sectors that should be woven into a single thread that becomes the basis for execution, communication and engagement with potential investors.

He also advised the government to develop factor endowment that

would have skilled human capital as a priority need.

“The presence or absence of productive knowledge in a society is the most important foundation for economic transformation, which remains necessary for a country such as ours with an economy still in need of diversification,” he said.

He also enjoined the government to evolve an FDI paradigm shift away from extractive industries to value-added derivatives

of such industries.

Moghalu also said Nigeria should evolve a legal regime that would offer strong investor protections in order to facilitate increased flows of high quality investment.

“Beyond this, Nigerian authorities - and foreign investors- should incorporate political risk guarantees into major FDI agreements.

“This includes making use of guarantees offered by the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)

for losses relating to currency inconvertibility and transfer restrictions, expropriation, terrorism, war and civil disturbances, breaches of contract, and failure to honor sovereign financial obligations.

“Improve the quality of governance and institutions: assessments of governance and institutional capacity to create a sustainable investment environment play an important role in attracting quality investment,” he said.

FG Grants Police Powers to Prosecute Travellers with Fake PCR Results Bans passengers from Turkey, Brazil, South Africa Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has granted the police and the appropriate bodies the powers to prosecute all passengers presenting a forged COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) results after the expiration of the mandatory quarantine period.

Those facing the risk of prosecution are passengers who falsify their status as diplomats.

The Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 granted this authority in the revised provisional quarantine protocol for travellers arriving in the country.

The amended protocol,

which came into effect from September 14, 2021, was signed by the Chairman of PSC and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha.

The PSC also vowed that passengers who provide false and misleading information on the travel portal and on the online health declaration form would be liable to prosecution in accordance with the law of the land, including those who willfully disregard or refuse to comply with directions of Port-Health staff, security agencies or evade quarantine.

The PSC stated the travel documents of the offending travellers would only be returned to them following clearance by Port Health

Services. It averred that in the light of the amendment in Section D of the travel protocol that was first released on June 28, 2021, all non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, Turkey or South Africa within 14 days preceding their travel to Nigeria would be denied entry into Nigeria.

It, however, stated that the regulation does not apply to passengers who transited through the three countries.

The PSC also said that India has been removed from the list of restricted countries because of the improved situations in the country. It warned that airlines who breach the protocol risked fine of $3,500 for each defaulting

passenger while nonNigerians would be denied entry and returned to the country of embarkation at a cost to the airline while Nigerians and those with permanent resident permits, who visited Brazil, Turkey and South Africa within 14 days preceding travel to Nigeria will be subjected to seven days of mandatory quarantine in a government approved facility at the point-of-entry city and at a cost to the passenger.

Under the revised protocol, travellers are to perform a COVID-19 PCR test not more than three days or 72 hours before boarding from a country of exit while the test validity commences from the time of sample collection.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

7

8

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

PAGE EIGHT NIGERIA'S RIG COUNT SOARS AS NNPC, PARTNERS SET TO PUMP MORE OIL president has appointed a south-easterner into a high profile federal position and in a critically sensitive government company.

It is also worthy of note that the new board is made up of three women namely: Mrs. Lami O. Ahmed (North-central), Senator Margaret Chuba Okadigbo (South-east) and Barrister Constance Harry Marshal (South-south), which is a reflection of gender diversity and inclusiveness.

The other board members are Dr. Tajudeen Umar (North-east), Mallam Mohammed Lawal (Northwest) and Chief Pius Akinyelure (South-west).

However, the president retained the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, as Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Umar Ajiya as Chief Financial Officer of the corporation on the new board.

Meanwhile, in the last few months, Nigeria had been unable to meet the quota allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due to weakening infrastructure and difficulty in restarting oil facilities that were shut down because of the cuts in production assigned to the country.

But latest data from the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) indicated that the country's oil rigs have climbed from a low of five in the second quarter of 2021, to 11, as of last month. A further analysis of the data showed that while in 2018, the average rigs count was 13, it was 16 in 2019, but fell to 11 in 2020, a reduction by five oil rigs.

Since the third quota of 2020, the count had continued to slump, first to eight in that quarter, and seven in July, but with an addition of four rigs for the month of August, raising hope of more production.

Put side by side with a country like Algeria, the North African nation has a high of 50 and low of 21, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for instance, has a high of 62 and a low of 40.

In the oil industry, the rig count is a major index of measuring activities in the upstream sector, with

a breakdown showing that Nigeria utilised six, seven, and six rigs in January, February, and March 2021, respectively, against 21, 23, and 21 used in the corresponding period of 2020, when production was about two million bpd.

Despite asking for a higher baseline, in June, July and August, Nigeria failed to meet the existing quota assigned to it by OPEC for the months, losing 90,000 barrels per day in the month of August alone. When cumulated for the entire month, this amounted to roughly 2.8 million barrels, making last month’s production of 1.43 million bpd one of the lowest in five years.

While Saudi Arabia and Iraq were the main drivers of OPEC’s production for August, with an additional production of 290,000 bpd and 200,000 bpd, respectively, Nigeria, which has a capacity to produce two million bpd, other things being equal, slumped from its July figure of 1.520 million bpd, according to an OPEC document.

Production growth in Nigeria, Africa’s highest oil producer, going by recent data, is proving a major challenge due to infrastructure challenges and technical difficulties, leading to shut-ins.

In addition to decreasing rig counts and highly degraded facilities due to old age and lack of investment, there have also been instances of community workers' protests, which incessantly disrupt operations, leading to severe losses.

The previous month, a document obtained by THISDAY showed that the NNPC and its partners lost 6.035 million barrels of crude oil to emergency shutdowns.

In its August presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which held between the 18th and 19th of last month, the corporation recorded that there were 32 of such incidents throughout its facilities in the country.

A breakdown of the losses, according to the document, indicated that the highest combined shortage of 1.62 million barrels was from Qua Iboe, with 200,000 barrels due to production

shut-in arising from flare management and low well head pressure.

Still on Qua Iboe, a further 530,000 barrels were lost to shut-ins following tank top concerns, 650,000 barrels as a result of production cut-back as directed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), as well as a loss of 240,000 barrels due to a gas leak on one of the assets.

This was followed by losses from the Forcados facility, which shed 200,000 barrels, 84,000 barrels, 30, 000 barrels and 80,000 barrels, respectively on different days, with reasons ranging from leak repairs, tank top issues, fire incident, and declaration of force majeure.

Buhari Directs Incorporation of NNPC Ltd, Retains Kyari, Ajiya Announcing the latest decisions and changes to the board, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, stressed that the president gave the order in his capacity as petroleum minister.

On the other hand, the member of the board representing the Southsouth, Senator Magnus Abe was replaced with Harry-Marshal, a lawyer. He also dropped Dr. Stephen Dike from the board and replaced him with Senator Margaret Chuba Okadigbo.

The statement explained, “This is in consonance with Section 53(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, which requires the Minister of Petroleum Resources to cause for the incorporation of the NNPC Limited within six months of commencement of the Act in consultation with the Minister of Finance on the nominal shares of the company.”

The statement pointed out that Kyari had been directed to take necessary steps to ensure that the incorporation of the NNPC Limited was consistent with the provisions of the PIA 2021.

The statement said, “President Buhari has also approved the appointment of the board and management of the NNPC Limited, with effect from the date of incorporation of the company.

“The president named Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as Chairman of the Board while Mele Kolo Kyari and Umar I. Ajiya were appointed as Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, respectively,” it stated.

With Buhari’s latest directive, the Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, ceases to be the alternate chairman of the board, since the NNPC would begin to operate under a new law, which would see it detached from the apron strings of the government.

When the process is

fully consummated, NNPC would cease to exist as specified under the law and would eventually be transformed into a private company that would pay taxes and dividends to its shareholders, Kyari said in a recent interview.

The latest decisions by Buhari also imply that the new company would be incorporated under the Companies Allied Matters Act (CAMA), while all assets and liabilities of NNPC will be transferred to the new company.

Explaining this, Kyari had stated, “Coming back to the NNPC, the provision of the law clearly states that the corporation will be transformed into a CAMA company. The meaning of this is that the company will just be another privately owned company, in a sense.

“This company will pay taxes, royalties and dividends to its shareholders. This isn’t the situation today because the corporation has no such obligation. This has stalled its development, its growth and its prosperity.”

According to the new law, “The minister shall within six months from the commencement of this Act, cause to be incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, a limited liability company, which shall be called Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited).

“The minister shall at

the incorporation of NNPC Limited, consult with the minister of finance to determine the number and nominal value of the shares to be allotted, which shall form the initial paid-up share capital of NNPC Limited and the government shall subscribe and pay cash for the shares.”

In addition, section 53 (7) stipulates, “NNPC Limited and any of its subsidiaries shall conduct their affairs on a commercial basis in a profitable and efficient manner without recourse to government funds.”

Kyari had assured during an interview on ARISE News Channel, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, “You are going to have a much more efficient, much more slimmer, much more commercial national oil company.”

Already, the federal government has inaugurated a transitional steering committee, headed by Sylva, to see to the detailed implementation of the new law, which is expected to bring about major structural changes to the oil and gas industry, including NNPC. Eventually, the commercialised NNPC would witness the sale of shares to Nigerians, while any assets, interest and liabilities not transferred to NNPC Limited would remain with NNPC until extinguished or transferred to the government after which NNPC shall cease to exist.

EMEFIELE: CBN TO OKAY LEGITIMATE FX DEMAND EXCEEDING APPROVED CAP you want is even above the limit that is recognised and we find that the reason you are making those demands is legitimate, your bank will speak to us and we will give you more than what is even the limit."

He further insisted that the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window of the central bank remains the major market which anyone seeking to procure or sell foreign exchange should patronise.

While urging customers to go to their banks for their FX needs, the CBN Governor said, "The only exchange rate that I recognise today in the Nigerian foreign exchange market which is the dominant market remains the Investors and Exporters

(I&E) window.”

"I am sorry to say that I do not and I do not intend to recognise that there are any other rates in the market," he added.

The CBN governor also reiterated that the much anticipated Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) also known as the eNaira would debut on October 1, adding that the bank has all the approvals and mandate to launch on the said date.

He explained, "But it is important to note that the eNaira is not a one-off but a journey that start on October 1. October 1 marks the beginning of the eNaira journey. On October 1, a Nigerian should be able to download the eNaira App

from either Google Play Store or Apple Apps Store and onboard themselves and find their eNaira wallets using their bank accounts or with cash at a registered agent located across the nation and conduct transfers."

He said, "Let's imagine a bank has about N10 billion in physical cash in its account.

We can decide that out of the N10 billion we move N2 billion into an electronic wallet for the bank.

"So if you are a customer and you have say N10 million with your bank, for your comfort of spending and making purchases, you could tell the bank to load N2 million out of your N10 million and so your bank balance sitting in physical

currency drops to N8 million while the eWallet carries N2 million. With that you can make purchases both within and across the country."

The apex bank boss also explained that there are many variants of the eNaira adding that other components would be introduced whenever it is deemed fit to do so.

He said," We are not going to pretend that there are no risks in opening your system up. We will look at the various products, determine the risks, determine the best way to mitigate the risks before opening it up.

"But it is a journey that we are determined and decided that we will start on October 2021."

southern part of the country to ensure they represented the people that elected them into office.

Akeredolu said there would be a day of reckoning for those who turned against the wishes of those that elected them into political positions.

On the anti-open grazing law, he said the governors would not rescind their resolve on the matter, saying the law is not targeted at anyone, but meant to ensure the safety of lives and property.

Akeredolu stated, “The anti-open grazing law is not targeted at anybody. We have our own livestock farmers.

If they graze their cattle in the open, the law will catch up with them. I don’t want to respond to Miyetti Allah or whatever you call them.

We are not dealing with associations; we are dealing with government.

“We have our own association. In Ondo, we are taking the law seriously and those Miyetti Allah in Ondo are cooperating. We have gone past that anachronistic way of rearing cattle. You can feed them at one place and they will do better. Katsina State has also banned open grazing and they have even banned interstate movement of cattle.”

The governor also spoke on the in-fighting in his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and his visit to the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

Akeredolu said when he visited the former governor of Lagos State he was recuperating well, adding that his loyalists are looking forward to his return.

Akeredolu described Tinubu as the “Capone” of politics in the zones.

AKEREDOLU: PLAN TO AMEND CONSTITUTION OVER VAT WILL BE DEAD ON ARRIVAL fiscal federalism. There is no room for equivocation.

Southern governors have taken a decision. They know that the constitution did not give them the power to collect VAT and that is why they are clamouring for the amendment of the constitution.

“That amendment will be dead on arrival. Even if the governors agree to amend the constitution, the House of Assembly in the various southern states will never approve it. The amendment must follow laid down process.

“We are supposed to be a federation, but we have been operating unitary government, rather than the federal arrangement. That plan to amend the constitution over VAT will fail.”

According to Akeredolu, the recent comment by the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, who opposed

the move for states to collect VAT because the consumption tax forms 40 per cent of the allocation that accrue to his state, is his personal opinion.

Akeredolu insisted that the southern governors were united in their resolve to push for states’ collection of tax.

On the southern governors’ insistence that the next president of Nigeria should come from the region, Akeredolu said the governors spoke the people’s mind. He said people in the region had decided that in recognition of fairness and equity, now that the North had produced a president, who would end his administration in 2023, it should be the turn of southern Nigeria to produce the next president of the country.

According to him, “We are not a pressure group, so we are not threatening anyone, but we represent the people of the

South. We have agreed that after President Muhammadu Buhari, it will be the turn of the South to present the next president of Nigeria.

“We are responsible governors who want to realise the yearnings of our people.

We took that decision when we met in Asaba. We reiterated that decision when we met in Enugu.”

The Ondo State governor also denied reports that the governors might be planning to pick one of their members and support to become the next president of Nigeria, saying such an idea has never been part of their discussion.

Responding to a question on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Ondo State governor said the forum had taken some steps to push for the amendment of the legislation, in conjunction with the Nigerian Governors

Forum (NGF), because some of its contents negated the power of the states and dealt directly with the communities, “as if the communities are not under the control of the states.”

According to him, the southern governors also disagreed with the three per cent contribution for host communities, saying, “There are areas we have agreed on. We are also asking, why not use the Sovereign Wealth Fund, instead of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to manage the host community fund?”

The chairman of Southern Governors Forum also spoke about electronic transmission of election results, saying the southern governors affirmed their support for the initiative in order to ensure transparency.

He urged legislators from the

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

9

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

10

NEWS

Contrary to UNILAG Visitation Panel Report, Education Ministry Says VC Not Indicted Without Providing Evidence Kuni Tyessi in Abuja Despite findings of the report by the Presidential Visitation Panel set up by Visitor to the University of Lagos (UNILAG), President Muhammed Buhari, which indicted the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Federal Ministry of Education, yesterday, denied that he was indicted by the visitation panel without providing evidence to back up its claim.

THISDAY is in possession of a copy of the panel's report.

Failure of the Ministry to release the report is fueling speculations of a cover up.

The ministry has therefore described the report that a former Chairman, Governing Council of UNILAG, Dr. Wale Babalakin, was exonerated of wrong doings as false, mischievous and unfounded.

According to the panel’s report obtained by THISDAY, pages 67, 82, 165 and 166 had listed the alleged infractions by Ogundipe.

For instance, on page 82, the panel found that, “The university also uses expenditure approval limits for the Principal Officers, the Council and the Tender Board. There are cases where the principal officers exceed approval limits by approving related and similar expenses that ordinarily should be a single piece of procurement.

“This could be interpreted as splitting of contracts or services for it to be within the limit of an officer and avoid rules governing big tender, breach of the Procurement and Fiscal Responsibilities Acts.”

Similarly, on page 166, the panel found out that, “The allegations of payments without due process and necessary approvals are contrary to the provisions of the University Act and the Public Procurement Act.” Furthermore, page 67 of the report states that, “The explanations given were mere justifications to the breached contract tender processes that resulted in contract splitting, not out of the ignorance of the requirements of the rules and

regulations of the rules and regulations that have been subsequently enacted.”

But in spite of the allegations contained in the report, the ministry in a memo titled, "Re-Presidential Visitation Indicts Unilag VC, Mgt," through its Director of Information and Public Affairs, Mr. Ben Bem Goong, stated that the federal government was in the process of setting up a White Paper Committees to address all the findings and recommendations of the panels, including that of UNILAG in a holistic manner.

It maintained that the insinuation among other things that the Panel to the institution indicted the VC and the management of the university

was completely untrue, saying it stood by the report which was submitted by the Panel, which was chaired by General, Martin Luther Agwai (Rtd).

It urged stakeholders and the general public to ignore in totality, “the false, malicious and self-serving publications as well as their orchestration on social and electronic media and rather wait the former release of the government's White Paper on the Panel's reports.

"The stories also posited that the report exonerated the former Chairman of Council, Dr. Olawale Babalakin. The Ministry wishes to state in very categorical terms that these claims are false, unfounded, and to say the least, mischievous, as they have no

bearing with the report submitted by the panel.

"It will be recalled that the 7-Man Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Lagos submitted its report along with others to the Hon. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu,on August, 31st, 2021 and not September, 7th 2021, as claimed in the publications.

"Government is in the process of setting up White Paper Committees to address all the findings and recommendations of the Panels, including that of Unilag in a holistic manner.

"Government had earlier issued a White Paper on the report of the 2020 Special Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Lagos, which

culminated in the dissolution of the former Governing Council and the reinstatement of the Vice Chancellor.

"Stakeholders and the general public are therefore advised to ignore in totality, these false, malicious and self-serving publications as well as their orchestration on Social and Electronic Media while we await the former release of the Government White Paper on the Panel's reports" it said.

Constituted on March 29, 2021, the seven-member Presidential Visitation Panel was asked to look into the affairs of the institution between 2016 and 2020, which incidentally fell within the period that the Babalakin-led Governing Council

removed Ogundipe as VC, over alleged financial malpractices.

On page 59 f and g of the report, the panel established that “virements of total sum of N1,858, 458,137 were consistently made from the recurrent votes to finance capital projects during the period under review. This is a major breach in budgetary control and has been consistent year to year. The practice is totally out of place in budgetary system of financing operations; it results in killing activities that could have qualitative benefits in favour of capital projects that were not initially budgeted and consequently culminating in the sinking of scarce resources over long period of time with low financial returns.

FAREWELL TO A FOREMOST INDUSTRIALIST...

L-R: Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; widow, Mrs. Fehintola Olopade; wife of the former President, Mrs Bola Obasanjo and Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun at the burial of foremost industrialist, Chief Jonathan Obafemi Olopade, in Abeokuta on Saturday

Imansuangbon: N’Assembly Should Revisit e-Transmission of Results Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, Mr. Kenneth Imansuangbon, has called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency revisit the electronic transmission of election results bill in the country, saying it was the only way to get true democracy reflective of the people’s wish.

Imansuangbon stated this at the weekend, when he visited the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) e-registration office situated on Airport Road, Benin city.

He said, "Modern democracy is what everyone needs in this country, so our National Assembly should cue in and ensure that electronic transmission of results is inscribed into our electoral laws.

The era of carrying election results by hand is outdated, so, let us follow the modern trend of electronic transmission of results."

The former Edo State PDP governorship aspirant, who used the occasion to commend Governor Godwin Obaseki, for his proactive approach

to the PDP e-registration process, called on the Edo people all over the world to take advantage of the ongoing exercise and get registered as members of the party.

“His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki, thank you for the good job that you’re doing as national chairman of the PDP e-registration exercise, and thank you also for picking this illustrious son of ours, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Adjoto (former Speaker of the State House of Assembly) with whom I would say that we are well pleased.

“What I have seen today, I am very pleased that this registration is working. This is modern democracy in action.

This is good for the younger generation. I call on you to aptly take advantage of what Governor Godwin Obaseki, Hon. Kabiru Adjoto and this team is doing for the e-registration in Edo State.

“It can’t be better than this. I have gone round the world – America, Europe etc.

This is what’s done. You get the younger generation to drive the process. So, you, the younger ones, I call on

you to take advantage of what PDP Abuja has done under the chairmanship of our son, the performing Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.

We must pull our resources together.

“I call on all Edo sons

and daughters all over the world to take advantage of this e-registration made easy (to join the PDP).”

Earlier, welcoming Imansuangbon to the office, Adjoto, who is the chairman of the Edo State

PDP e-registration team, disclosed that the exercise was conceptualised to bring sanity into the party’s members registration.

He said the target was to get one million members, which he said could at the end of the

day be much higher, adding that Imansuangbon, a former governorship aspirant of the party, was the first caller at the Airport Road office e-registration point and prayed that he would end up being the first in his endeavours.

Two Abducted Katsina Children Die of Starvation, 20 Others Escape after Five Months in Captivity Francis Sardauna in Katsina Two children who were among the 28 people abducted by bandits in Katoge village in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State have reportedly died of starvation while in captivity.

The victims were kidnapped in their ancestral home (Katoge) in April, 2021 and taken to a forest in Zamfara State by their abductors.

One of the victims, Mrs Sahura Haruna, who regained freedom after spending five months in bandits’ enclaves, told journalists in Katsina that the children died as a result of starvation.

She explained that six out

of the 28 abducted victims were earlier released by the hoodlums after payment of ransom by their relatives, adding that the bandits abducted her when she was five months pregnant.

Sahura, who gave birth to a baby girl while in captivity, was among 20 captives that escaped from the bandits’ den in Zamfara forest last Thursday following the ongoing onslaught against the marauding hooligans by security operatives.

She said: “Last April, some bandits abducted 28 of us in Katoge village. They released six after payment of ransom by their relatives. Two children who were among us died of

hunger and severe punishment by the bandits, leaving 20 of us with them (bandits).

“So, last Thursday, we were sitting with a few of the bandits, who were guarding us when we heard an aircraft roving the forest and the bandits started running and that paved the way for us to escape.

“We ran until we arrived at a village in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of Zamfara State, where we met some security personnel, who took us to Gusau town and handed us over to government officials”.

According to her, they were subjected to different kind of assaults and starvation in the hands of the bandits, because

their relatives failed to pay the ransom demanded.

Receiving the 20 escapees in Katsina, Saturday evening, Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, said they regained freedom due to the current war against their abductors and stringent security containment measures adopted by the Katsina and Zamfara state governments.

He advised the federal government and security agencies to extend similar ongoing operations in Zamfara forest to adjoining forests in Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and other states in order to completely ward off the criminals.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

11

12

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

13

14

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

COMMENT

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

EBONYI AND THE VAT WAR Ikenna Emewu argues that Ebonyi can pick her bills and survive

T

hese are very interesting days in Nigeria, especially among the states over the value added tax (VAT) dust Governor Nyesom Wike raised through the court order he procured.

Wike is upbeat because his oil producing state has much to survive on from VAT accruable from oil. VAT is charged on goods and services and the oil works make Rivers buoyant

enough.

But Lagos is stronger and yields about 50% of the internally generated revenues of all the 36 states put together. The simple lesson is that since Lagos has little oil but remains the behemoth from its mixed economy, oil is not all we need to be economically strong.

As the VAT war rages, the 17 Southern Nigeria governors met in Enugu on Thursday, September 17 to agree that all states should be custodians of their VAT. But my dear governor, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State says no. Umahi said he is not part of the decision by the governors that states should have their VATs. His reason is simple. Ebonyi is a poor state with clay feet too wonky to support her frame without crutches.

I may remind my governor that the issue has left the realm of what personal positions we take. It has scaled the first judicial hurdle that gives the initiator hope. If that holds all through as expected since the decision relied on existing statutes, then, our individual dispositions won’t count anymore. Whatever the court decides becomes the rule Without much ado, the strong states have gone into law-making frenzy to manage their VAT. However, I have two points of disagreement with my governor’s position - I support financial restructuring of Nigeria and economic independence that detaches the states from the apron strings of Abuja where everyone runs to every end of the month with vessels to fetch free money and share. No. This should stop.

Secondly, no state or individual grows living on hand-out. It is the challenge of hardship and poverty that forces out the creativity in everybody. Most people who lost their paid jobs and had to work and fend for themselves at such times feel angry they didn’t start earlier to stand on their feet.

For the records, no state in Nigeria is poor. Even if there is any poor state, it is not Ebonyi.

Before Ebonyi came to be, that part of the eastern region wasn’t waste land. It was in the domain of the present Ebonyi that Nigeria and the east of about 10 states today relied on for cement production. In 1957, the regional government built the NigerCem, the largest cement factory in Nigeria then. That giant plant that meant everything any state would desire stopped production exactly 21 years ago this month.

The question many ask is why has it been impossible for Ebonyi that is hard up to revive NigerCem at Nkalagu? The answer is because we believe free money will drop from Abuja at the end of the month. As it comes, we roll out the drums to burn it and relapse into our economic lethargy until another month ends. All states of Nigeria, including the oil producing ones are guilty of this docility. That is why some times you hear them hold talks on economy beyond oil that ends as just discussion.

In July 2018, Governor Umahi raised our hopes about NigerCem when the Ibeto Group visited Abakaliki with foreign investors assuring of the revival of the cement plant. The projection from our dear governor was that the factory will roll out 6,000 metric tonnes

EBONYI IS SO RICH NOT TO CRY OVER AN OIL THAT HAS ALREADY SPILLED BECAUSE THIS VAT FREE MONEY REGIME IS SLIPPING INTO HISTORY

of cement every day. That is enough to place Ebonyi on the road to self sustenance. Would anybody believe that there is no single cement factory in Igbo land today? With all the craze for mansions, the entire Igbo population buys cement from outsiders.

The same laziness created the unthinkable irony that while people of the South East power the nation’s SME, the base and spine of any economy, the Igbo states are the least in IGR. The annoying sleepiness of waiting for Abuja makes the coal seams of Enugu to lie waste. Enugu and/or the zone can form a business group, get experts and investors and take the licence to build coal power plant in Enugu and energise the zone forcing economic life to unfold? Forget about the hoopla on coal energy and pollution, no developed country has dropped coal power, unless they don’t have it. As at 2016, it was still 60% of power generation in China and up to 40% in U.S. What they actually do is improving and advancing the refining process towards zero pollution. Till now you read this, China still imports coal from North Korea to generate power.

My governor, no doubt has done well in road infrastructure, even though with some few excesses in some flyovers at Abakaliki, Abaomege and two inside Uburu, where one would have been adequate.

If only he starts thinking inwards about the salt lakes and tapping into their advanced benefits, the ecotourism potential of the Edda mountains, especially as he has helped build access roads through them, organizing the exploitation of the 10s of solid minerals in a more beneficial manner to the state, then Ebonyi would be on top of the world. The granite quarries of Akpoha, Ishiagu and Abakaliki still provide up to 80% of the supply to the South East. It is so huge that even Julius Berger is one of the companies in the mining. The proceeds make Ivo the highest IGR yielding LGA in Ebonyi.

In December 2000, President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Abakaliki and by coincidence I was there when the then governor, Sam Egwu asked the president to include the state in the oil-producing list because of proven oil finds in Edda in the 1920s. When Chief Martin Elechi was the CEO of the state, I am sure a firm was incorporated to invest in minerals extraction in the state with the intention to go into partnership with private investors.

In the days of yore when the eastern region government had the vision to grow local economy, Michael Okpara’s administration in the early 1960s built the mega Abakaliki rice mill, largest in the country.

I once did a report that took me to that rice mill where I found that about 80% of the more than 120 milling machines were idle. The chairman said the young people were not attracted to farming because political touting gives them ready money. But the popularity of that ingenious creation still lingers as many rice cultivating states still bring their produce to Abakaliki for milling. Soon, that will be lost as many are springing up in other states. Then, the same government of the region created palm plantations in present Ebonyi because the state isn’t a desert.

Today, our priorities shifted to easy money shared from Abuja. Dear Governor Umahi, that is what made Ebonyi poor when God didn’t.

So what do we do? Let’s look inwards, reinvent ourselves and bounce back. The state can create an annual economic symposium and investment expo to invite the world and lobby them to come.

Emewu, journalist, wrote from Afri-China Media Centre, Lagos

OKOWA AND THE NATIONAL IMPERATIVES Ifeanyi Okowa emphasizes the significance of an ideology for Nigeria, writes Chido Nwakanma

I

t is important to examine the critical submissions of the governor of one of our A-list states amid the din over the control of VAT remittances between the states and the federal government. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa spoke with candour and avuncular advocacy on federalism, resource control and the political direction of Nigeria. His prescriptions are worth interrogation for their substance and import.

Governor Okowa spoke on 25 August at the 2021 annual lecture and symposium of the Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism. His submissions? “The absence of a national ideology that all the component parts of the country subscribe to is why we are yet to forge that sense of oneness” in Nigeria, he said. “In the absence of a shared national vision or aspiration, primordial loyalties and sentiments largely hold sway among the various ethnic nationalities that constitute the country”.

The Delta State governor expanded on the point.

“The Americans have the American Dream, the British, Rule Britannia, while, in recent times, the United Arab Emirate has developed a vision to be the biggest and the best in everything she does. What can we point to as Nigeria’s overarching vision that motivates the average citizen or that everyone aspires to actualize? How can we have and pursue an overarching vision when we think Fulani or Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo instead of Nigeria?”

Okowa is a tested politician who has traversed the terrain in Delta State. He was a senator and ran the engine room of the Delta State bureaucracy as Secretary to the Government. His courage is in the mindfulness of the proverb about the pointing

finger.

The call for an ideological direction for the country is bold and ingenious for going against the grain of current orthodoxy that imagines the death of ideology. Across the world, the paradigm is that ideology is dead, long live the nation-state. Francis Fukuyama celebrated the assumed triumph of capitalism and the death of competing ideologies in The End of History and The Last Man (1992).

Ideology hardly gets a mention in Nigerian political discourse of the Fourth Republic. This is a departure from the days of the founding fathers who articulated visions of their desired ideologies for the country. We grew up discussing the ideological pronouncements of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Aminu Kano and later Ibrahim Waziri. They took their cue from the ideological battle between socialism and capitalism dominant in the years before the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.

What is ideology? The dictionary gives a simple definition of ideology as “a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy”. Ideology is a political economy perspective. It has strong foundations in the economy and modes of production. Unfortunately, the character of the Nigerian economy today depends on external forces rather than a conscious strategic choice of the leadership.

Ideology also requires a national or dominant consensus. There are many issues with discourses on ideology from the Nigerian perspective. Chapters Two and Four of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution offers citizens a bill of rights and the press the duty

and obligation to hold governments accountable for observing and implementing Nigeria’s fundamental objectives and directive principle of state policy.

The 11 points in the Fundamental Objectives and Principles of State Policy run away from ideology.

It merely states that “Nigeria’s motto shall be Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress” while Nigeria’s social order “shall be founded on freedom, equality and justice.”

It is welcome though that Okowa has pointed to this gap. Governor Okowa needs to deepen the discourse by serving as pathfinder. What should be the Nigerian Ideology?

Okowa’s further submissions include that: One, election results should also be transmitted electronically at the point of counting the votes at the poling units to remove the opportunities for later alterations of figures. Two, establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission with members from the six zones.

Three, electing in 2023 a truly national leader. “We need a selfless, sacrificial, sincere, broadminded, and capable president that will be a unifying force for all Nigerians; a leader who values merit over mediocrity, competence over cronyism, while upholding the fundamental principles of fairness, equity, and justice.” Four, reducing the power of the centre. “The devolution of powers and resources to the subnational governments, and the guaranteeing of a constitution that allows equity, justice for all and inclusiveness in governance such that none is left out or oppressed is imperative”.

Nigeria has battled from foundation with “issues of mutual distrust, suspicion, prejudice, with the various ethnic nationalities locked in battles for

supremacy or minority rights. The early attempts to break up Nigeria derived from the above issues.”

Okowa fingered “bad governance at different levels of government” for the current disunity in the land. Bad governance is foundational as Nigeria fails to observe the constitutional stipulations of running a state based on democracy and social justice as well as ensuring the security and protection of citizens.

Then he zeroes in on the current debate.

“Disunity also stems from the failure of the constitution to support federalism”. Two pointers to anti-true federalism are in the constitution. The lopsided revenue allocation and the inequitable power structure that means states cannot create local governments but must pass it through a headmaster at the centre is an example the governor identifies.

There is also the “disenchantment and alienation of youths. Truth be told, many of our youths see no future for themselves in this country. This was why the EndSARS protest of 2020, which began as a protest of police brutality, quickly snowballed into a mass movement against a country that has failed them”.

Finally, there is “lack of faith in the electoral process” resulting in apathy and self-disenfranchisement. Still, Nigeria is “better and stronger together” rather than giving in to fissiparous tendencies.

Okowa spoke like a statesman; candour and diplomacy are evident in his delivery. He delivered strong punches shrouded in velvet gloves. He was courteous, yet made powerful and significant statements. The call for a Nigerian Ideology requires a contest of ideas that has been lacking. Okowa has thrown the gauntlet. It is worth engaging.

15

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

EDITORIAL

THE MENACE OF DRUG ABUSE At last, the NDLEA makes a new start on a crucial task

W

idows and families of some deceased National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers recently converged for special prayers that should shame our country. After more than a decade of waiting, the burial entitlements of their husbands who died in active service had been settled. This prompted a pertinent question from the NDLEA chairman, Mohammed Buba Marwa: “How do we convince those in service to be committed if we fail to tidy the affairs of those who died in the line of duty?”

That rhetorical question was a good starting point for Marwa who is prioritising staff welfare and boosting their confidence through practical steps. But even he must be aware that the war against illicit drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria is particularly difficult because it has, over the years, been compromised on many fronts.

Yet hard drugs, ranging from cannabis – often called Indian Hemp - to cocaine, heroin and amphetamines - are increasingly IN THE PAST FEW available on the street MONTHS, THE AGENCY and abused by both the young and old in HAS ARRESTED OVER 8, our country.

600 ABUSERS, SEIZED The World Drug 2,776,000 KILOGRAMMES OF DRUGS WORTH OVER Reports recently identified cannabis N100BILLION, AND HAS SECURED AT LEAST 1,630 as the most abused drug, corroborated by CONVICTIONS National Drug Use Survey in 2019 which revealed that over 10 million Nigerians abused it. Drug use prevalence for ages 15 to 64 in Nigeria is put at 14.4, almost three times the global drug prevalence of 5.5 per cent. According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) country representative in Nigeria, Oliver Stolpe, 27.7 per cent of the14.4 per cent of those concerned were youths who ordinarily should face their studies and called for change in the narrative to secure their future. “One in every 10

drug users is a woman; this has affected women and girls proportionately,” said Stolpe. “Data collected around the globe suggest that this has elevated cases of genderbased violence.”

H

T H I S DAY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITOR WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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

ard drugs cause serious problems for the user and the society at large. Statistics are hard to come by but there is a correlation between the abuse of drugs and organised crime. Many of the audacious crimes including vicious robberies and murders, raiding of banks, prisons, and kidnappings, are said to be aided by drugs. Most experts agree that issues related to drug abuse have increased the challenges of insecurity in the country. Recently, a hard drug named Captagon, a brand of Amphetamin, reportedly meant for insurgents and worth N6 billion, was intercepted by the NDLEA at the Apapa Port in Lagos. The agency is set for what it calls the “fight to finish campaign” against the use and trafficking of hard drugs.

Barely eight months in office, Marwa seems to have made a big difference by putting the spotlight on the issue of drug abuse in Nigeria and making the NDLEA more alive to its responsibility. Besides issues of welfare, he has strengthened the capacity and capability of his officers with good operational tools, in addition to technical assistance, provided by the UNODC, European Union, United Kingdom, United States, and others. The NDLEA is also fostering partnerships with drug enforcement agencies in foreign jurisdictions. A well-armed and trained strike force is on ground to beef up the agency’s enforcement capabilities.

With all this, the NDLEA is launching widespread operations against drug cartels across the country with large harvests. In the past few months, the agency has arrested over 8, 600 abusers, seized 2,776,000 kilogrammes of drugs worth over N100billion, and has secured at least 1,630 convictions. It is also counselling and rehabilitating others. While it may be too early to sing the victory song, there is no doubt that NDLEA is on the right path. We hope the agency can sustain the momentum.

TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

Letters to the Editor

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

THE BLEAK LANDSCAPE OF AKUTE/AJUWON/LAMBE IN OGUN

A

kute, Alagbole, Ajuwon and Lambe are four communities strategically located within the borders of Ogun and Lagos States. Indeed, they are much closer to Ikeja, Lagos and regrettably farther away from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. Sadly, from the negative dispositions of the successive governments of the state to the development of the areas, the location of the communities seems to be their greatest undoing. Over the years, successive governments in the state have always mischievously harbored in their minds and deeds that the communities are geographically part of Lagos and that, it would be utter wasting of resources to execute projects there.

Meanwhile, the communities amongst other few towns in Ifo LGC constitute the largest population of the entire state.

Indeed, Ifo LGC that comprises these four dominant communities in term of population accounts for about 48% of the state population. Even though, successive administrations disregard and are even making spirited attempts to dismember them from the state, it’s a different development during elections because of their votes. In fact, it’s an understatement to submit that there is practically absence of government in the areas.

Except for personal buildings and individuals’ efforts in terms of entrepreneurial initiatives and private institutions here and there, there is absolute no presence of government in these very densely populated areas. The roads are unpassable.

Residents access each community majorly through Okada

and Keke Marwa. The popular sermon in Akute/Alagbole/ Ajuwon areas is that you can’t be plying these roads on daily basis and enjoy your longevity!

Of course, it’s also a mirage to expect effective contribution of the government in the areas of security within the areas.

The residents have CDC and CDAs to profoundly thank for the provision of security. It’s these associations that relentlessly mobilize the citizenry within their enclaves to generate funds for security architectures and provisions of other amenities. It’s also important to emphasize that the government priority to develop the capacity of the young Nigerians in these communities is almost zero, as little or no contributions in terms of establishment of primary and secondary schools within the areas are noticeable. In a split second, one can count the number of primary and secondary schools within these communities that are ironically jointly accounted for about 48% of the entire state population. Tragically, the communities are also farther away from the headquarters of Ifo LGC from where they are being administered. Indeed, the state and LGC authorities harbor a very wrong notion that residents within the locations are predominantly non-indigenes and therefore, they could as well be treated as aliens and be subjected to continual deprivation and hardships. That’s the lots of Akute and Alagbole residents over the years. That’s the tragedy of the people of these communities over decades.

Unfortunately, the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has keyed into the same tradition and belief. It’s

doubtful whether he has deemed it fit to conduct visitation to the areas to observe and witness neglect and pains in its naked form, which the residents are going through since he was inaugurated. The governor’s major priority is the development of Iperu Remo, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta, Ilaro, Ikenne, Odogbolu, etc. His main occupation is to give attention to the aforementioned communities and this he’s doing with impunity, not minding whose ox is gored. As far as he’s concerned, Akute/Alagbole and environs residents could go to hell.

The video coverage of the road leading to Oba Akute’s palace which has become a death trap which residents display on the social media platform purposely for the governor and his team doesn’t move the governor. The collapse of Denro Bridge on one of the two major roads that the communities could be accessed hasn’t not attracted the attention of the governor. Even, the damaged and troubled long stretch bridge and road leading from Ojodu to the four communities would never be the priority of the governor until the communities are wholly cut off from Lagos, where majority of the people are deriving their means of livelihood. Lambe/Akute roads have over the years been in total state of disrepair. Ajuwon community itself has been without roads for years.

The panacea to these myriads of challenges is for the residents to start mulling the idea of referendum. If this is conducted today, 99% of the population would obviously opt for Lagos.

Kola Amzat,FCA, CEO, WKA Consulting Ltd, Lagos

16

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

17

18

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

19

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

PHOTOS: SUNDAY ADIGUN

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

BABAJIDE SANWO-OLU:

TO IMAGINE GOVERNING LAGOS, YO U N E E D TO T H I N K T W I C E Tested in many ways he never could have imagined on assumption of office, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, isn’t just getting better at what he does as the Chief Marketer of the State of Aquatic Splendour, he has also shown that beyond theoretical misgivings, nothing really is esoteric about governance, administration and leadership. With a little over two years in office, Sanwo-Olu has learnt to deal with the heat in the kitchen without appearing disturbed or overwhelmed and yet, he gets the work done without shifting blames or side-stepping responsibilities. In almost two hours of interaction with THISDAY, he shares his experience about the journey so far, the challenges then and now, the progress reports, plans for the future and why being Lagos governor is not a job for small minds. Excerpts: It’s over two years since you assumed office, and most of that time have been defined by challenges.

Indeed, more of challenges than opportunities, so to say. How have these affected your initial enthusiasm?

You’re right. It’s been over two years. Indeed, it’s almost 58.3 per cent of my 100 per cent four-year tenure. You know, it’s supposed to be 1,460 days and to date, I think we’ve done slightly over 850 days, which means that indeed, we’ve crossed well

over half of the time. And you’re right with the observation that there’s been a whole lot of challenges than opportunities. But, this is it: this is how to govern the biggest economy in the country.

It’s the biggest city that has the largest population in the entire black race. This is how to govern a place that is less than 0.5 per cent of the total landmass of our country, in which over 10 per cent of the population

resides. To imagine that you want to come and run the shop called Lagos State; you want to be the chairman and chief executive of Lagos State, you need to think twice.

You need to know that it’s not going to be a tea party. This is where the real movers and shakers of thought process, a well-informed audience, are. So, it’s not something that you’re going to carpet under the rug and believe that nobody is looking. No! People

are going to ask questions. People are going to ask you difficult questions. So, to be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting less.

But, not that I was expecting a pandemic from hell or I was expecting a security issue. But I know that to run a state given the challenges and complexities, that I just talked about, I will indeed need to continually roll up my sleeves, have shorter nights, and burn the midnight candlelight and be ready to appreciate what your people want. And

20

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

GOVERNOR SANWO–OLU

LAGOS HAS SPENT N20 BILLION TESTING 400,000 PEOPLE you have to be up to it. But, it’s all about taking your people to a better level from where you met them. It is what leadership is all about.

The question is what should be your own commitment to ensuring that you leave the place better than you met it. So, it’s going to take something out of your body and at the end of the day, it’s a position of honour. It’s a position of grace, when your people believe and see that you have deliberately and consciously made an attempt to improve their lives. We are just trying to make an impact in the lives of Lagosians who gave us the sacred mandate to govern.

I think it’s only generations and historians that can write the script of how you fared, and how your life and your time had turned out while you were in government and what belief and what people believed was the outcome of it. But, I’m grateful to God for giving me the energy, for giving me the strength, for equipping me also with people that are on the same page with me and understanding that what we’ve promised as citizens is that we will not shy away from every bit of energy that we have to make this place better than we met.

How much has the pandemic disrupted that promise to the people of Lagos?

It has actually, and it’s not localised. It’s a global thing. It has because what it meant was, for example, all throughout last year, we couldn’t mobilise as many contractors as we’d have wanted to. We couldn’t supervise as many projects as we’d have wanted to.

We couldn’t see the real brick and mortar growth as we’d have wanted to. That’s not to say that we didn’t do anything at all. But, wanted to do a lot of things quicker, faster and smarter.

So, in terms of our deliverables and timelines by the second end of the second year, we thought we’d have rolled out a lot of schools, a lot of hospitals and all of that. So, in that sense, it has disrupted our workplan. It also affected the revenue or the proceeds that would have helped us and our ability to raise enough funding, because businesses were not on.

When life had been all threatened, so, everybody just needed to slow down, you know, and reappraise themselves.

Last year, for example, we had to take about a 30 per cent cut in our budget, but, we couldn’t take a cut in the health budget. We couldn’t take a cut in some critical sectors, where we needed to help people out of a very difficult time and ensure that we support even the organised private sector. One of the things we said to them during the pandemic was, do not retrench people, or lay people off from your payroll.

So, for us to have asked them to do that for us you can imagine what that means and appreciate the extent we were willing to go to keep people employed – things around delayed payment in remitting pay as you earn (PAYE); things around delayed returns in terms of their taxes. We also needed to be gracious and not come with a big stick and ask them to continue to do this, when we knew that indeed, it’s been a difficult time for everyone; for all of us and for all of them. It’s also been a learning point.

Like people say, you never let a crisis get bad, or you never lose the lesson of a crisis. It taught us how to think very quickly and very smartly. For instance, we were able to wrap up infrastructure in health sector very quickly. For example, in health training, we were able to wrap that up rapidly, not wasting time, thinking about what to do. We needed to identify the skills we required in some of those places and get them in place – up and running.

But then, like people say, we’ve learnt what we’ve learnt. It sort of toughened us in some areas, but, at the end of the day, you will also see a human face to everything that we’re talking about, and doing.

How has lessons from the first and second waves, helped to prepare you for the third wave of the virus?

To be honest, I think we’re a bit lucky. We’re luckier, because we understand how the virus moves now; we understand what we need to do, and I will tell you some. We believe that the graph is coming down. It has actually tilted up, and we have begun to see it come down. I’ve had a lot of things that we were able to do with this. We have telemedicine and a platform that is working well, which means you can call people twice daily to know how they’re doing to respond quicker.

That’s number one. Number two, we have stocked up all the medicines we require. Everything is sealed up in a pack. So, we can give it like a goody pack but, it’s a COVID-19 pack. Also, our first responders know all of the symptoms better. Thirdly, we also have a ramped-up stock of oxygen. We’ve done three oxygen plants, you know, like in the second wave, when we didn’t have anything at all. Now, we have three oxygen plants on our own. We produce almost three hundred bottles of oxygen every day.

I mean the Lagos State government owned. This is apart from the private sector.

We understand that the virus affects the chest

“People can talk, people can assume, but indeed you need to be on the seat for you to appreciate and see. As I said earlier, you don’t throw away an experience that is so critical and so forceful – you certainly cannot throw it away. I never imagined it is going to be this tough, but with God and all the people I have been surrounded with in terms of support, and Lagosians giving me the full backing, I think we have done a fairly good job” when you’re heavily infected, so, it’s really good to have oxygen to continue to breathe.

So, in terms of our response, we understand the virus better. However, they talk about the Delta variant that is more potent, and it’s true.

It’s a lot more potent but, the bottom line is that we have studied how the virus itself moves.

We know how it evolves and then, there’s been a lot of communication; there’s been a lot of community engagement. We did not stop at that at all.

We continue to communicate with our citizens in the various communities, and we’ve also ramped up testing. Now, in Lagos, I think we have almost 30 testing centres from a year and half ago, when there was only one or two.

So, there’s been a lot of investments by the private sector side. So, basically, we now have a load of testing centres and PCR laboratories.

In terms of infrastructure, it has been extensively improved. Communication has been ramped up, medicine and response have been improved.

We can indeed nip it in the bud, as it were.

Can you put a cost to all that?

I’ll give you an example. To date, the state has done almost 400,000 free tests. If you calculate at the rate of N50, 000 per test and we have done 400,000, that is almost like N20 billion, that’s on testing alone. If we monetise the cost of testing, because that’s what the private labs charge, and Lagos State had to do that number free from the beginning till now. We have had to carry all of that free. So, that is just one expense line.

By the time you talk of the three oxygen plants that we have built, the training and retraining of the staff that we have done, the isolation centres that we have done and when we begin to look at the numbers, in a very strict sense, are massive. But, because it’s health, it’s a public health thing. We want to keep our people well.

We want to keep them alive and in good health.

In that sense, we are not bothered by the cost.

Lagosians must be safe and we are willing to

go any length to achieve that.

And, numbers in terms of expense, there are things that we can work back but, I just wanted to give you just that one single line. By the way, we’re still paying all of our frontline health workers. Maybe we owe them one month in arrears as critical frontline workers that are dealing with COVID-19. But, we’re still paying allowances, and the allowances are a lot of money, so, all of that we’ll continue to do; we’ll continue to help; we’ll continue to ensure that we keep the state safe and secure.

Away from health concerns, the Rivers State government recently took the federal government to court over VAT collection and won. Lagos, too, has applied to be joined in the case even though the FIRS has opposed your application.

But Rivers has also gone ahead to enact its VAT collection law. What took Lagos, a state that usually leads in things like this, so long to be prompted by Rivers? Why did Lagos drop the ball?

We did not drop the ball. Go and check the history. This whole war actually started during Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s tenure. Incidentally, the current Vice President (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) was the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice then. If you had studied the case, it’s his case in 2004, that is, the sales tax case that they used as a reference in the court of appeal right now, even as we speak. What happened then? I was in that same government.

We took the FIRS to court, and the decision at that time – the ruling was that we should go and settle out of court.

They didn’t care. Mind you, the Lagos State government was in opposition at that time. So, it’s like they threw you under the bus when they said we should go and sort it outside the court. They also now said something: the federal government at that time said Lagos didn’t sue the federal government. It was an agency of the federal government, the FIRS, so, if Lagos State court gave a ruling – Lagos State went

and now tried that federal agency in a Federal High Court – go back and go and start all over at the federal high court.

So, it’s like they hung it. We couldn’t make a lot of movement at that time. There was nobody ready to sit at the table. That is the real fact. It’s the same Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that led the case for Lagos State at that time. Lagos State was like an orphan (at that time). It was alone, as it were, and nobody wanted to take it up or talk to them further, and the FIRS at that time did not even listen to them.

They said no, it was an abuse of court process for us to have gone to Lagos State court, because we won and wanted to go forward, they said no, go and start it all over again.

When we got to the Court of Appeal, the court said, ‘go and sort it out yourselves.’ So, they didn’t make a pronouncement. What does that tell you? It shows that, indeed, we didn’t want to get around it.

That was what happened, and that has been there.

If you remember, we now set up a sales tax shop.

We now said okay, if you guys are good, we now set up a sales tax. We won that one at the Court of Appeal. I think that case is currently in the Supreme Court. Some people are still fighting us on that. We have actually made progress, because when they said we couldn’t touch VAT, we went to sales tax.

So we never for once stopped in the championing of fiscal federalism.

Let’s step back a bit. What we’re talking about is really not about, who collects VAT or how VAT is collected; it’s about the fabric of federalism. If, indeed, we’ve agreed to stay together as a federation called Nigeria, that fiscal federalism or federalism, as it were, is important for us to continue to engage and live. A component of fiscal federalism is monetary control from resources generated from the states.

Which include revenue from taxes. These are things that should be controlled by sub-national government in the spirit of true federalism.

It is not in the constitution that it is an exclusive tax.

It’s not there that it’s a concurrent tax. So, meaning that it’s a residual tax and so if we’re talking about fiscal federalism right, this is one of the two tests of fiscal federalism and coincidentally, at our Asaba first declaration, we made it clear. If you remember, the communique that came out of that meeting, was that we all believed in federalism, restructuring. It was clearly stated in that very first much-talked about Asaba declaration.

Three meetings after that, we now have a real test of what we had just spoken about eight months ago, and we will not now be able to push it? No. It will amount to flip-flopping, and a lot of us are very decent gentlemen to say if this was what we said six months ago, what has changed? Let’s stay the course and continue to push about what we’ve talked about, and this is one case of testing what we have all seen, and that’s what we’re doing.

What, really, is the difference between sales tax and VAT? If you listened to an interview and it’s very recent, and I think it was also on ARISE TV by a famous tax practitioner, Chief Ijewere, he was

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

21

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

GOVERNOR SANWO–OLU

OSINBAJO LED LAGOS VAT ‘WAR’ IN 2004 the expert that during the military, I think it was President Babangida, that set up a tax regime and listening to him a couple of days ago, I also got a lot of answers and closure for some of the things.

It was meant to be a sub-national tax at that time, and because they wanted to improve, they added some luxury items to it.

That’s why they now use the updated VAT regime.

That’s how it’s done in other lands in which VAT is charged. Go to America that we all talk about, there are different value-added taxes charged. It’s really the same thing as a sales tax. But, sales is just for sales. VAT takes charge of goods and services, not just consumption. It takes care of also goods and services and other services like import transaction and all of that.

That is why the listed items have been increased, but, essentially, it is supposed to mitigate the challenges: the problems that emanate from the sub-national or the entity or from the area, where all of that services and activity had taken place. That is the overall understanding of it. It was meant to help the sub-national, locality, or entity where that transaction took place.

The argument of FIRS is that this is not a tax that sub-national governments collect and that it could lead to multiple taxations if states collect VAT as well as affect foreign direct investment. Are there some merits in that submission?

Essentially, there are two or three fundamental issues around maybe multiple taxes. There would, indeed, be for us, for example, a closure on some of the conversations, because we have got experts to review that and be sure that everything has been done. So, that we don’t have any overlap or double taxing, but the fundamental thing is the test of the fabric of our constitution. It is not there. It is not stated. It is a residual thing. It is not even a concurrent thing. So, it’s there fundamentally, and that’s why we need to look at it.

You and I can now sit and say, okay, how do I collect it? What are the things that I need to do? We’re speaking with the organised private sector. We’re speaking with everybody that is a stakeholder in this.

We’re not just irresponsible and unreasonable with it.

And like you said, if I choose and say someone should collect it on my behalf, it’s a different conversation.

But, let’s first understand that it is me that owns it.

That’s the point that we’re trying to make for closure.

By the way, when Mr. Ijewere was also speaking, the only reason they got involved at that time was because they said, okay, we’ll help you collect it and now, to help you collect it, and the deviation coming out of it has since changed. Some people might say, ‘okay, continue to help me collect it, but, wait a minute, let’s agree that it is we that should be collecting it. you. It’s interesting for us, even as a nation, to continue to sit together, not political now, try and get the very best for our people at every point in time.

Based on the Asaba declaration and the different tunes coming from some southern states, are you sure the southern governors are united on this? Governor David Umahi is opposing the stance of Rivers and Lagos on the VAT issue. Some governors did not even show up at the recent Enugu meeting, sending their deputies. Are the southern governors united?

It will be a bit presumptuous for me to know the reasons their governors were not there and their deputies sent. Among ourselves, we raised the question, and the response we got was that these are joined mandates. They had the full support of their governors to be at the meeting. So, all of that we needed to respect, as to all of us being together and this is the beauty of democracy, and this is the beauty of everybody sitting in a room – everybody would have a say. I don’t want to use the word majority will have their way, but it’s also an engagement that we all need to continue to have, going forward.

It’s really around understanding and appreciating.

What is the real essence of what you are trying to drive at? VAT is being talked about today. There might be other things around fiscal federalism or federalism, as it were, that may come up tomorrow that might affect these other states that’ll come up in a seemingly more positive manner than some other states. The question will be that because it’s not also Lagos. Lagos is the smallest state, for example. If we’re now going to be talking about natural resources and the rest of it, it’s almost certain that Lagos can never be comparable to other states with bigger land areas, where they can have a lot of natural resources.

These are some of the things that we need to look at, that sometimes, some of these things might not be 100 per cent in the same way and manner, but, we can all be gracious and sit on a table to discuss. We can all be very statesmanlike. It’s unfortunate, but, we’ll continue to engage ourselves. We’re brothers, and we’ll continue to ensure that we speak to ourselves and sort out whatever differences we have.

There’s growing insecurity across the country, and either by design or accident, Lagos tends to be lucky.

Is there something you’re doing in particular, or everything is left to providence?

We’re not just picking, we try to identify them and know where they come from and if there’s a means of rehabilitating them. That is actually going on.

Many people flood Lagos for economic reasons and for prosperity. We do not have a problem with that. But if you are here with criminal intentions or security challenges, we would make this place uninhabitable for you.

“Let’s step back a bit. What we’re talking about is really not about, who collects VAT or how VAT is collected; it’s about the fabric of federalism. If, indeed, we’ve agreed to stay together as a federation called Nigeria, that fiscal federalism or federalism, as it were, is important for us to continue to engage and live” To imagine that we’re leaving everything to providence will mean lighting gunpowder and closing the entire doors to the house and expect that it’ll not explode. Far from it! We’re doing a lot. We’ve started from the very first thing, when we came into government. What are the things that we have set for ourselves to do?

Remember that we’ve always had a working Lagos State security trust fund that has continued to help out in terms of resources, equipment, allowances, and logistics that security operatives across the line will require, not only police, also the military and other paramilitary agencies.

This also includes immigration and correctional centres. So, that has been a model that I was privileged to have set up in Lagos several years ago. Therefore, it wasn’t very difficult for me to further engage it, widen it, and give it a lot more depth. So, that is going on. Secondly, we also have that, whilst we are gradually part of the Southwest security formation, we have about 7,000-strong neighborhood watch complementing policing. They go into various communities and bring back intelligence.

They’re feeding this back to support the main security operatives, which means things can happen faster if they’re sharing information quicker. These are in terms of the background that we have working for ourselves. But more important, security is also not too far off from the economy and poverty. We say to ourselves that we need to be deliberate at ensuring that we can make the environment in which our people work, we can make it a sort of. We can create a sort of livelihood for our people in that environment, where people can’t get something to do, and move away from any act of criminality.

We’re ensuring our communication engagement with various stakeholders. Regularly, we talk among ourselves and ask questions, what is going on in the community? What are the things we need to do differently? All that information is plugged with the security architecture in the state, allowing us to go around very quickly.

Maybe the other thing that is also working well for us is that we don’t have many border posts. Apart from Ogun state, the only border that we have, apart from Benin, which is an international border, is really the Atlantic Ocean.

If we can protect our waterways well, the inland border is only one state. We have a working relationship with Ogun State. We have

a joint commission. We have security movement.

We have a planning approval movement. We have a traffic management movement. But one that is peculiar to us, I will not shy away from it, is cultism demonstrated in some neighbourhoods.

In the past six months, cult-related activities have actually come down. What we’ve done is that we’ve engaged them extensively at the community level. We’ve picked up some of the arrowheads, and we’ve sat with them to say what exactly the issues are?

They’re fighting around, who controls the street, who controls this and who controls that.

We sat down and engaged with them: ‘Let’s give you a source of livelihood.’ All of that is going on and it’s because we always have a means of engagement. I can tell you that some of them are even working with us. So, all of those security issues are being attacked, taken up, and dealt with at the grassroots level. But we’re not dropping our eyes on the ball. We’re not complacent. We’re not taking anything for granted. We’re also checking. We’re monitoring.

We’re ensuring that even at the community level, there’s relative peace through the cooperation of all.

There are assumptions that the federal government is handling insecurity with laxity.

Will it be right to say that could be undoing your efforts in Lagos?

I feel it’d be unfair to assume that things are not happening extensively at the federal level.

I might not have all indices and parameters of the local issues in various states. I might not have, but I certainly know that, on a broad basis, given the information and what we read, things are really up for it. For example, the Chief of Army staff probably would be meeting with me on Monday (today). It’s also part of their engagement at that level. You could see that they’ve also made it a duty among themselves.

I believe that their eyes are on the ball.

How are you dealing with the growing influx of people into Lagos, especially, those difficult to identify their origin and may pose security risk to the state?

These are real facts. These are real challenges.

If you noticed, in the last two weeks, we’ve actually heightened our call on picking up miscreants and beggars on the street. There are social media videos that you see claiming that we are just deliberately picking people.

Where are you on the Lagos rail project?

We’re actually on track. We’re on budget. There are two rail projects that we are doing. There’s the red line, and there’s the blue line. Outside of the State House, Marina, here, is the blue line. And you could see while you were driving down that there is more piling work now than in the last three or four months than has ever been. It’s because we are driving straight to completion. The completion time that I gave a commitment to at the beginning of the year is the last quarter of 2022. We’re on track regarding the delivery date, ensuring that phase one of the blue line. The blue line is from Okokomaiko to Marina.

The phase one of it is from Mile 2 to Marina.

We’ve done the C-crossing. We’re doing the final piles; we’re doing the final piers for them to now have the columns that will stay on top. All of the columns have already been fabricated. Then, we’re building the Marina station. All the standing piles that you’re seeing, Marina station is going to be an elevated station. It’s going to be an iconic station, a station we’ll all be truly proud of. That’s the blue line. We’ve ordered the coaches; the maintenance and other things have been signed.

The red line is from Ebute Meta, on the old corridor that the federal government is also doing the Lagos-Ibadan rail, up to Alagbado. That one is also on track, and what are we doing? The federal government is running from the big Ebute Meta station to Ogun state every two hours. We have some rail tracks that we need to build. Our own rail station at Ebute Meta is in Ebute Meta proper, not the old Alagomeji. We’re building seven stations, as we speak, concurrently.

We have in Yaba, Ilupeju, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege, and Agbado Oke. We’re not just building stations.

We’re also building overpasses. We’re building four overpasses concurrently. There’s an overpass at Ebute Meta as you enter Apapa road. There’re overpasses at Yaba, Ikeja, and Ayoola Coker by Iju – all of them have been awarded, and contractors are on site. So, we believe that by the third or last quarter of 2022, we’ll also be meeting our target. We’re very excited that the infrastructure will be delivered before the end of our administration in 2023.

But let me quickly use this opportunity to talk about the transportation master plan. The whole idea is that those are two rail lines. The plan is to have seven rail lines. So, the expression of interest and the documentation, and the five others are going on concurrently. We have international consultants and financial advisers helping us develop the PPP model that we have. One of them is on the Lekki corridor. There’s another one that will take you on Ikorodu and Abule Egba. That’s on the rail. But the master plan for transportation in Lagos is what we call an integrated master plan, including rail, waterways, and road infrastructure.

We’re building 15 jetties as we speak on the waterways – small terminals and jetties concurrently.

About eight of them should be completed this year.

We’re dredging. We’ve bought more ferries, about 24 with various carrying capacity. So, we’re pushing a lot of traffic on the waterways. We’re investing in the command and control centre for the waterways and buying security equipment, including emergency and safety boats. We’re trying to motivate our citizens to use the abundant waterways in Lagos.

The third component is the road. We’ve done the large-capacity buses, and we have done the medium-buses and the last-mile small buses. Finally, we’re going to do the taxis as well. On the road too, we give you options: you can go the 60-seater, the 30-seater, the 10-seater and the one-seater, which is the taxi. We’re providing options for the citizens: options on the road, rail, and the waterway. At the end of the day, you’ll have one payment system.

Any option for the air space?

We’re actually going back to our Lekki airport project. We’re actually having an extensive conversation.

We’re bringing the Lekki airport project. We’ve done extensive study on it, and we believe that it’s a viable project given all the investments that we have at the Ibeju-Lekki corridor. The airport will complement the refinery, which is the biggest in the world. It will complement the deep seaport.

It will complement all of the investments and companies. And the road, being a six-lane highway on the Lagos-Epe expressway, will complement all of that. The study on the airport is ongoing, and we’re checking the numbers. Maybe we’ll make an announcement in another three or four months as to the partners we intend to work with. All of that will help to develop Lagos into a megacity that’s resilient, competitive, and can be equated with other

22

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

GOVERNOR SANWO–OLU

PLANS UNDERWAY TO KICK OFF LEKKI AIRPORT big cities across the globe.

Where in all of these is the fourth mainland bridge?

Like we did promise, it has been a very extensive and elaborate process. For the bidders, we started with about 32 international firms, now it has come down to about three. So, the final three are going to get their final request for proposal (RFP) and the final analysis of their bid document would be done.

We are hoping that before the end of October, that should come in. Once that comes out, we would be able to identify in November, then we go into final negotiation with that person.

So, there will a preferred bidder and a reserved bidder. And, with the preferred bidder, we can go into negotiation. If we are able to complete the negotiation in one or two months, we should do ground-breaking immediately. So, I have committed to doing groundbreaking by December this year. Latest,

by January, we should have done the groundbreaking.

Is it going to be a fully private sector-driven project?

Absolutely, it going to be private sector-funded.

It is 37 kilometres. It has bridge and it is going to finally terminate on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

When is the completion period?

Those are some of the things the builders would push in. But I think they would take it like in two phases and it is a safe thing to say in two or two and a half years, it should be completed. There are a lot of benefits to derive from that project, especially, the traffic that is going to be addressed. So, for you to embark on a project like this, its viability is very important and so you need to have extensive social impact assessment. And we are also going to be throwing in some real estate around there and there would be some land acquisition so that there would development on both sides.

The Dangote refinery is the biggest in the world right now, and the NNPC is taking 20 per cent equity.

Why is Lagos the host state not taking equity, too?

It was dealt with as a pure commercial conversation at that time. What Dangote said he wanted at that time was a purely commercial transaction, where he would fully be in charge. But as you’ve seen, it’s now live, and that’s why I think he’s selling down gradually to investors. For us, we’re landowners; we’re the landlords, and we’re the stakeholders around this. I believe that on a CSR basis, there will be some conversation that he also would be thinking about.

So that there will be that community protection and acceptability. We’ll have a conversation with him, possibly about just having a peep into the room, a small peep. It is a conversation worth having.

There’s so much going on in terms of projects in Lagos. These cost a lot of money. How is it affecting the state’s debt profile?

What we have done is to continue to make sure that Lagos sustainability indices are one of the lowest in the country. Given the size of our GDP, given the size of the budget that we have, if you look at our sustainability ratio, the World Bank at least would expect you to have almost 40 per cent sustainability ratio, but we’re still below 30 per cent even with the debts incurred.

But the question we should ask ourselves is: what’s the quality of the debts taken? What are we using the debts for? If a debt is being used for infrastructure, it means that you’re just building a future, bringing it to reality today. You’re building a future at a cheaper cost. Indeed, it will pay itself back, because of the economics and the benefit that it will give your general citizens over the life of that infrastructure. You’re not borrowing to pay salaries.

You’re borrowing to develop infrastructure like rails and roads. These are some of the drivers of the economy that will make a state and city more sustainable.

Fitch Ratings recently upgraded Lagos from AA+ (nga) to AAA (nga) in terms of its debt sustainability and resilience. How did you receive the news?

We are very excited about the Fitch rating, because it is the best in the country. It is an ‘AAA’ rating by the foremost rating agency in the world. It looked at our debt ratio and our bond. Last year, we raised the biggest sub-national bond which was N100 billion and the utilisation was 100 per cent on capital project.

And we are going back to the market again. We are trying to do an 8-year or a 10-year bond. But we did something very creative during the year.

What we did was that for the first time in history of this country, we pulled the call option on our existing bond.

So, we have bonds that were running, and there was an option in which you can do what we call an early redemption of those bonds. We recalled it because we realise that we can re-price the bond at a cheaper price. When we called those bonds and we saw how the market was moving, we were able to save almost 500 to 600 basis points from what it was to what we are able to re-price our borrowing to. It means that over the next couple of years, we

“To be honest, I think we’re a bit lucky. We’re luckier, because we understand how the virus moves now; we understand what we need to do, and I will tell you some. We believe that the graph is coming down. It has actually tilted up, and we have begun to see it come down. I’ve had a lot of things that we were able to do with this” have saved interest expense that goes into billions.

From the calculation, it could be between N10 billion or N14 billion that was saved from that exercise. So, we have a team we are working with and these are people that are very cerebral.

We did not default, it was just an option that was available in the bond programme and we took it and we are able to pay. So, we did for about N85 billion. We paid early and re-priced ourselves and we were able to make savings of about 5.56 per cent to six per cent on the interest expense, which is helping us to even clean up our books.

So, we are very excited about how we are managing our debt and we are believing that everything that we are doing are things that can bring about infrastructure development, improve the quality of life, improve the economy of the state so that people can do a lot more, have reduction in the time they spend on the road and have better property valuation on their investment.

That is how economies are grown everywhere in the world. So, we have both internal and external consultants that are working with us and are doing a great job. I want to continue to thank them for that.

And we’d continue to assure our citizens that we will never be irresponsible with the finances of the state. It is something that I personally take responsibility for and I continue to look at it, given my personal experience in the finance industry. You also talked about something very top in my heart and it is something that last year was taken up seriously. It is the unfortunate incident of October last year, the #ENDSARS. First, is to tell you that we still have the judicial panel working and I can say that we are the only one in the country that still have an active panel, which you all see on daily or on weekly basis still working. I must quickly add and I am saying this with all sense of responsibility, that since we inaugurated that panel, I have not seen the chairman of the panel for one day. I have never called her, not that I don’t follow what is going on, but I don’t have any form of interaction with anybody on that panel.

All they bring to me is that they need funding to continue to run the panel, they need funding to get experts, they need funding to pay their bills and we give to them. That has been my only engagement with them. Moving forward, they asked for an extension, which I think they have said to us that they will be ending sometime in October and they will be able to bring up their recommendations.

At the National Economic Council (NEC), we have given a small note to NEC, because all state governments that have a panel were

asked to submit report, so we had to report to NEC that our panel is still active and working and we requested that they should give them time to finish up. But for the lessons from this, there are several things that we can take away.

First, is to say that even the men of the Nigeria Police Force, in my reckoning, now understand their responsibility to the citizens better. I even helped them to ensure that they become better officers and men, who understand that they are there because the citizens are the ones they are protecting. And so, we continue to have extensive community engagement with them. We have also seen and understand that we need to continue to engage our youths at various levels and that we have done extensively with all channels available to us over the last one year.

In tourism, art, sports and in community engagements, we have continued to open up the space and engage them. Part of the problem that we saw, studying the effect of it was that the lockdown had a lot of psychological effects on everyone. People were held back for months and so, it brought out a negative response at that time.

And so, we have learnt about the psycho-social effects of a pandemic and a lockdown and how it affects the economy. But, more importantly, is to say that at the end of the day, whatever are their recommendations, we would take them seriously and we will ensure that we deal with all of the issues they are going to be telling us about.

The government would face them squarely and ensure that we have a mechanism in place to ensure that we do not have to repeat of the unfortunate incident. And for us, it is to continue to appeal and appraise ourselves. We all need ourselves and we can see things from different sides of the same coin, but the bottom-line is that we are all in this together and at the end of day, we all can build a bigger, stronger state and economy for everyone, create space for all of us to sit and resolve issues.

You recently launched a Joint Development Commission with the Ogun State government, what is it all about?

The only neighbour that I have among the states is Ogun, so, it makes economic sense to have such an arrangement. The joint commission is for us to look at areas of common interest – security, fiscal planning transportation, public transportation, especially, road infrastructure, boundary issues and land. And we have started. And I will give you several examples.

As recent as two weeks ago, when the Governor of Ogun had a huge traffic in his state during the burial of his father, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA),for example,

based on the engagement that we have, moved beyond Berger Bus Stop, into Mowe, which is in Ogun State, to help. So, we were able to deploy towing vehicles, men, bicycles and all that, and we are able to push the traffic and eased congestion on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway so that people could move.

You can imagine moving officers from Abeokuta to control traffic at Mowe or on that long bridge, because both are in Ogun State. But because it is closer to Lagos, we are able to do it quicker, better and faster. But we can only do it if we have this kind of Commission. At the end of the day, our citizens really don’t know the difference; they just want traffic to move and not be held down. So, it makes sense for both of us to sit back and develop this Commission.

Security is also another thing. We have joint border patrols by our police officers, neighborhood watch, Amotekun and they are all speaking with each other by exchanging information. Another one is infrastructure. If you go to Epe, Lagos, we have done the road from Ibeju Lekki to Epe, to the border town of Ogun State, going towards Ijebu Ode. The Ogun State governor has also done same thing, and we used same contractor.

So, you would see a seamless ride moving from Epe to Ijebu Ode – first class road, which has been done very well and there is a toll plaza that has been put there. The revenue coming out from the toll plaza, we are having a conversation to see how we would share it because both of us have done different parts of the road and so, we just have to share the resources. There are several other engagements like that such as in transportation. They want some of our buses to be getting to Ota. So, these are some of the things that the Joint Commission is working on.

Has the disagreement over Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax between both states been resolved?

We don’t have any problem with that. We are actually paying Ogun state. There has been some reconciliation of accounts. So, we don’t have any problem at all.

By this time next year, preparations for the general election would have started, are you seeking re-election and if yes, why do you think you deserve to come back?

This is September 2021. Like I started this conversation with, I have done 58.3 per cent of my 100 per cent of four-year tenure. Lagosians need all of my energy and strength to continue to provide security, public transportation, carry refuse and ensure that I make their lives better and deal with issues of Okada. I swore to a four-year tenure, I didn’t swear to two and a half years; I didn’t swear to do 58 per cent of my term, I swore to do 100 per cent.

But I am not naïve and I am not politically unaware that there have been several drums coming up. But Lagosians need me to focus.

What I will plead for is let me even do 75 per cent of my four years first. I test myself on a daily basis. Let me get to around 75 per cent of my time and I can now go back to Lagosians and say, see, what do you people think? Do you think I should come back? Do you think I have done enough job? That conversation has to happen.

I cannot imagine that it is right here for me to just pluck and take them for granted.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

23

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

GOVERNOR SANWO–OLU

GROUNDBREAKING FOR FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE HOLDS LATEST FEBRUARY 2022 So, you are saying Lagosians will decide for you?

Yes, Lagosians will determine my fate.

Let’s put it differently, do you think you have done enough to deserve a second term?

To be honest, I think so and I say this at the risk of rating myself, because I am a humble person. And why do I say this? You do not see leadership being put to test back to back as what we have seen in Lagos in the last two and a half years. It happened so often and so quick, that one could be stretched to its limit. And it is like a question you need to ask yourself: if you have a crisis, who do you call?

When you guys came in here some minutes ago, I told you that the only thing I check in the morning is if my emergency general manager has called me; If my Commissioner of Police has called and if my Transportation Commissioner has called me. That is because this is what I live and dream – to see how I keep the state and the city alive and well – working for the citizens.

And this is an experience that is only when you are in the eyes of it that you can get it. People can talk, people can assume, but indeed you need to be on the seat for you to appreciate and see. As I said earlier, you don’t throw away an experience that is so critical and so forceful – you certainly cannot throw it away. I never imagined it is going to be this tough, but with God and all the people I have been surrounded with in terms of support, and Lagosians giving me the full backing, I think we have done a fairly good job.

What is the COVID-19 vaccination percentage in the state currently and are you impressed with it?

To be honest with you, we can do a lot more.

The vaccination percentage is still very low. It is about two per cent now and it is a function of how much we have taken in as a country. It has to do with availability. So, part of the things that we are doing is to be able to continue the advocacy and get a lot more people in to get vaccination. I want us to have piles of people waiting to take the vaccines such that as soon as additional vaccines are gotten in, you have a huge influx of people, who need to take them.

But why are you waiting for the federal government to give you vaccines?

Not only in Nigeria, but in most countries, it is a national health issue. That is, it is a primary national health issue. And a lot of the nations have taken it up nationally as a sovereign. We have also done same. However, we are at a stage, where we are having conversation with the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to see see if we can make an in road as a sub-national and see if we can actually engage the private sector, quicker and faster in terms of access to it. But, fundamentally, when you have a pandemic like that, it is usually a national response everywhere in the world.

So, we cannot outrun Nigeria. We needed to stay under a national health response so as to deal with it nationally. But like I said, getting vaccines and all of that, we are having that conversation with the PTF and also trying to see if we can engage more of the private sector and the private hospitals.

As we have been able to reduce the pressure on testing by engaging the private labs, let’s also do the same thing with vaccines by engaging some of the private hospitals.

Aside availability, are there concerns about hesitancy?

Oh, well, it is latent somewhere. So, it is more of advocacy and continuous communication that people need. This is a fairly mature state and citizens, but sometimes people need to be nudged on and encouraged. So, sometimes you just need to tell them that it’s available and it is not costing you anything.

But it is not as if people are running away completely, there are lots of people that want to have it.

Recently, the FIFA President, Infantino, came to Lagos and you met and even hosted him many people had wondered what the meeting was about.

Is there something in the offering..?

Yes, we were excited that FIFA President and also the CAF President were around. So, everybody that is involved in football in the entire world were in Lagos earlier in week. We were lucky to have been asked to host the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Cup, which is for female national teams. It is a six-nation invitational tournament for Nigeria and five other African countries. It brought together their female national teams to have like a round-robin competition among themselves. By the way, it is a FIFA-rated competition, so, it is going to count for the countries’ ratings.

But it speaks to our own deliberate intention to improve our interventions in sports for our youths and for our citizens. And what do I mean?

You have seen that we have consistently signed something with the Nigeria Football Federation

(NFF), where the last three matches of the Super Eagles games are to be played in Lagos.

So, you are going to see that all the qualifying matches are going to be played in Lagos, due to the deliberate investment that we have made, not only because Lagos is home to football in Nigeria, but we also want to use it to wrap up our infrastructure.

So, concurrently, we are building about nine mini stadia. We are revamping the Teslim Balogun Stadium and we are building eight new ones in different nooks and crannies of the state, so that we can have our youths go to all of these facilities, expend their energy, grow the future of football, tennis, and every other sporting activities and take them to their various communities and make sure that organically, they have infrastructure and amenities and they can be the future world players. But we needed a competition like this to be able to put Lagos on the map and to be able to activate all the investments we are making in sports for our citizens to know that it is a deliberate attempt for us.

We are very excited about this and the female national teams that are in the state are extremely excited. We have got pitch and I dare say one of the best in the country is the Mobolaji Johnson stadium at Onikan. We believe that in the next three to six months, the Teslim Balogun stadium will have similar quality in terms of the grade of the pitch. So, it is part of our deliberate intervention under our T.H.E.M.E.S agenda. We have got stadia coming up in Igbogbo, Epe, Badagry, Ibeju Lekki, Ajeromi, Ifako Ijaye, and so, it is everywhere.

Lagos is the richest state in Nigeria, why is it so difficult to build a world class healthcare centre in the state to stop people from going abroad to seek good medical care?

For us, as a government, we are spending

more on health than ever before. Last year, as I did mention, during COVID-19, we reduced the entire budget by about 20 per cent, but only the budget for health and education increased. So, year-on-year, we have increased our budget on health from 10 per cent to 11 per cent, 11.5 per cent and this year it is almost 13 per cent. We are currently building four brand new hospitals; we are renovating six general hospitals concurrently.

We are building the biggest child hospital in Africa; we are building a health rehabilitation facility at Ketu; we are building a renal cardiac hospital at Ojo. And these are major infrastructure.

And as I said, the general hospital here at Lagos Island, in fact, on your way out, go there and you will see the level of infrastructure and the new development there. You can put me to test, go there and take pictures today. So, deliberately there are infrastructure that we are developing. But the next question you ask yourself is affordability? Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) today is the foremost tertiary health institution in the country. Well, LUTH used to be, but unfortunately LASUTH has over-taken it.

If you go to LASUTH at 6am in the morning and do a demographic statistics of where patients are coming from, a lot of them are coming from outside the state. Some will take night bus, come into Lagos, just for medical care at LASUTH. And by the way, we are recruiting more doctors than we have ever done in the history of the state. Concurrently, we have approval to recruit about 700 new doctors and there is a standing rule of a quarterly replacement if you have any exit of either retirement or for whatever reason. It is unfortunate that the resident doctors nationally are on strike, but we have managed our own case in Lagos.

All of their issues – that we should build residency accommodation, we have started building it in LASUTH; we should pay residency

“But the question we should ask ourselves is: what’s the quality of the debts taken? What are we using the debts for? If a debt is being used for infrastructure, it means that you’re just building a future, bringing it to reality today. You’re building a future at a cheaper cost. Indeed, it will pay itself back, because of the economics and the benefit that it will give your general citizens over the life of that infrastructure”

allowance, we have signed it off, and we have paid; that we should pay outstanding on some federal government allowances, we have paid. So, really, we are doing our best. But back to your question, which is why don’t we have a first class international health facility? The question we ask ourselves is, who are those to be using these facilities, because it must be something that is comparable to anywhere in the world? What we are looking at are people that travel so that we can stem medical tourism and be able to give them the facility they want to see here?

I am glad to announce to you that the old school of nursing at Awolowo road, Ikoyi, we have gone through an extensive appraisal and pre-qualification process, and we have just identified, a concessionaire on a Public-Private Partnership model that is going to build an international first class medical park. I don’t want to announce the name now, because I signed it off during the week. So, we have identified a partner that is going to build it.

And if you drive through there, you will see that the place is becoming ground zero and all the buildings are being taken down. So, it is going to be an international medical park, where the wealthy can have a place to go. But based on the model that we are working with, they are going to give us a percentage that will be subsidised so that the poor and the middle class can also access it.

Where do you stand on the agitation by the separatist groups in the country as seen in those clamouring for Yoruba nation and others for Biafra?

Nigeria, as we have seen, is big; it is complex, but we believe that we are stronger together. I believe that we can deal with all of our problems if we are sincere and we come to the table and solve the issues. There are classical cases in the world that we have seen. All agitators come back to the table at the end of the day. Agitations never end. You will see people that even beyond the South-east and South-west, go to the clans and tribes and still say for example, let’s divide Lagos into seven and some will tell you that Awori is different from Badagry; Badagry is different from Ijebu Epe and all that.

That is how myopic we could get when some people are saying that some places are for some indigenes. These are all rubbish. On the one hand, we celebrate when we see Nigerians appointed abroad as ministers in the cabinet of Joe Biden in the United States and some people will be here saying it must be indigenes only that should get appointments. It won’t work. So, for me, it is for us to be sincere. Yes, we have problems, but let’s deal with them. It might appear as if it favours you today, but another one will favour another person tomorrow. All we need to do is to understand and appreciate the skills and strength we all have. Let’s appreciate it and be able to genuinely resolve our problems and give responsibility to everyone and we will all be bigger and better together.

24

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

25

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

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

08056356325

S E P T E M B E R

S & P INDEX

1 7 , 2 0 2 1

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OBB

14.00%

CALL

4%

INDEX LEVEL

567.73%

1/4 TO DATE

6.52%

N412.00/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

14.50%

1-MONTH

6%

1-DAY

0.08%

YEAR TO DATE

-15.30%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.85%

Improved Macroeconomic Fundamentals May Bolster Investors’ Appetite for Federal Government’s $6.2 billion Eurobond Offer

James Emejo in Abuja With the oil and gas sectors contributing only 8.34 per cent to real gross domestic products (GDP) in the first half of the year (1H 2021), the country’s macroeconomic resilience achieved through a broad and diversified economy may positively impact on its fortunes to access funding at the international capital market.

Also, as against growing public criticism over the rising public debt, the country’s economic managers have insisted that Nigeria maintains

one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios of its peers, pointing out that increasing debt service cost is being managed by revenue growth.

The government maintains that public debt remained well balanced composition with majority of external debt and congressional/ semi-concessional in nature.

Economic activities rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020) and Q1 2021 back to positive growth and posted Q2 5.01 per cent year-on-year growth.

The performance is expected to bolster investor confidence in the

economy as the federal government prepares issuance of N2.343 trillion ($6.2 billion) Eurobonds in the International Capital Market (ICM) to partly finance its N5.2 trillion 2021 Budget deficit.

The federal government is capitalising on improved macroeconomic fundamentals, as the accumulation of reserves within the year is expected to provide substantial buffers against external shocks.

International reserves stood at about $34 billion as at August, able to cover payments for about 8.75

months of import cover.

Furthermore, the country’s diversified and resilient economy occasioned by effective policy making is expected to spur investors’ appetite.

The government is also banking on its immediate policy response to the coronavirus outbreak, which was adjudged to be effective, with COVID-19 cases peaking in June 2020.

Nigeria continues to diversify and grow the non-oil-and-gas sectors of the economy through continued economic reform policies.

Recovery was largely aided by

the pick up in non-oil activity in information and communications, mining and quarrying, accommodation and food services, transportation and storage, education and trade.

According to the Eurobond Investor presentation, the federal government’s efforts at achieving fiscal prudence is expected to also strengthen investors’ confidence in the offer.

Accordingly, total public debt is expected to be maintained under self-imposed debt sustainability threshold of 40 per cent of GDP while efforts are being refocused

on enhancing non-oil revenue and reducing non-essential spending which are key priorities under the Economic Sustainability Plan.

The 2021 Budget, themed, “Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience,” focuses on post-COVID-19 economic recovery, diversification and growth as its top priority, whilst ensuring internal generation of revenue continues apace, with an increase in investment in capital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Power Industry Continued on page 26

With Manufacturing, General Commerce and Communication Sectors Contributing 22%, Eight Banks’ NPL Rise to N626.5bn Darasimi Adebisi Following the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 that almost crippled economies around the world, the H1 2021 results submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) by eight banks has revealed increase in Non-Performing Loan (NPL).

Analysis of the H1 2021 results showed that Zenith Bank Plc, FCMB Group, among six other banks reported N626.5biillion Non-Performing Loans as at June 30 2021, an increase of 3.4 per cent from N605.9 billion reported in full year ended December 31, 2020.

Other banks are Access Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Fidelity bank plc, Union bank of Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Sterling Bank plc.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had reported N1.23trillion NPLs in the banking sector in 2020 from N1.06trillion in 2019.

Of the N626.5billion NPLs reported as at June 30, 2021 by value, Access Bank contributed about 25.7 per cent, while Zenith Bank contributed 21.5 per cent.

Further analysis of the results revealed that sectors such as Oil & Gas, Agriculture, general commerce and manufacturing are key

contributing factors to these banks NPL this year.

Although Access Bank closed H1 2021 with 4.3 per cent NPL ratio (December 2020: 4.3 per cent), increasing gross loans and advances to customers of about N4.1trillion as at June 30, 2021 from N3.8 trillion in 2020 FY, its NPL by value rose to N178.6billion as at June 30, 2021 from N161.2billion reported in 2020 financial year (FY).

The bank’s result showed that manufacturing and general commerce sectors contributed about 22per cent and 19 per cent to the bank’s NPL by distribution as at June 30, 2021.

The Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe had while commenting on the results expressed that: “To further enhance our operating efficiency and ensure strong returns on invested capital, we will bring the best of our group assets, specifically our digital banking capabilities that support individuals and businesses, enhance financial inclusion, and deliver the benefits of a strong network effect across our enlarged Group.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have been able to demonstrate our ability and willingness to support our customers, our communities,

and our colleagues. As the outlook improves, and as business returns to a new normal, we will continue to support our communities in order to stimulate growth and create new opportunities.

“To accomplish our vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank, we are working together across the Group on the back of our robust balance sheet, increased retail momentum and efficiency, ”he said.

However, Nigeria’s largest bank by net asset, Zenith Bank reported N134.85billion NPL by value as at June 30, 2021 from N125.2billion

reported in 2020 FY. The lender report an NPL ratio of 4.51 per cent as of June 2021 compared to 4.29 per cent in 2020, mostly due to an increase in oil and gas NPL. Zenith Bank has a diverse loan portfolio of N2.99 trillion out of which Upstream and Downstream oil and gas numbers are 18.4per cent and 4.9per cent respectively, totalling 23.3 per cent of total loan portfolio.

The bank informed investors it diversified its portfolios over the last one year to support asset quality.

Continued on page 26

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 2 1 FGN BONDS DESCRIPTION 12.175 FGNSB 10-OCT-2021 11.244 FGNSB 16-OCT-2021 10.296 FGNSB 13-NOV-2021 13.390 FGNSB 14-NOV-2021 9.091 FGNSB 11-DEC-2021

Price

Yield

BILLS Change (%)

MATURITY

OTC FX F U T U R E S

Discount Yield Change (%)

100.52

3.77

0.00

NTB 30-Sep-21

3.65

3.65 0.00

100.58

3.82

0.00

NTB 14-Oct-21

3.76

3.78 0.00

100.95

4.07

0.00

NTB 28-Oct-21

3.88

3.90 0.00

101.45

4.08

0.00

NTB 11-Nov-21

4.00

101.10

4.32

0.00

NTB 25-Nov-21

4.12

CONTRACT TENOR (MONTH) 1

Contract

Current Rate ($/₦)

NGUS SEP 29 2021 420.93

2

NGUS OCT 27 2021 422.38

3

NGUS NOV 24 2021 423.83

4.02 0.00

4

NGUS DEC 29 2021 425.28

4.15 0.00

5

NGUS JAN 26 2022 426.73

C Ps MATURITY

Discount Yield

Change (%)

MTNN CP III 20SEP-21 MREP CP XXXIX 20-SEP-21 CMBL CP XV 11OCT-21 UBNP CP VIII 18OCT-21 CMBL CP XII 31OCT-21

6.71

6.72

1.12

17.71

17.74 1.12

7.15

7.19

1.04

8.76

8.82

1.02

4.98

5.01

0.97

26

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

WITH MANUFACTURING, GENERAL COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION SECTORS CONTRIBUTING 22%, EIGHT BANKS’ NPL RISE TO N626.5BN

The bank reported 29.9per cent of its NPLs are oil and gas-related loans, out of which its oil and gas loans amount to about N40 billion as at June 30, 2021.

However, Zenith Bank’s oil and gas NPLs of about N40 billion means just 5.9per cent of total oil and gas loans are bad, a slight increase from the same period in 2020. Oil and gas loans as a percentage of NPLs were 29.87per cent in 2020 or N37.3 billion.

The bank also reported that foreign currency loans as of June 2021 was $2.8 billion, a drop from $3.1 billion reported same period in 2020 FY. Again, oil and gas-related loans

make up its largest chunk with about $1.41billion, though down from $1.61 billion a year earlier.

Zenith Bank has also restructured about 37per cent of its oil and gas loans.

General Commerce and Communication also contributed 24.30 per cent and 24.13 per cent to the bank’s NPL as at June 30, 2021 as against 24.70 per cent and 24.27 per cent recorded in 2020 FY. The bank said, it is engaging customers in key sectors of the economy to better understand their current challenges and provide effective and bespoke actions to alleviate their hardships while preserving shareholders’ funds.

The bank explained further that: “Providing critical support to our loan customers to help them navigate through the challenges posed by the pandemic.”

On its part, FBN Holdings NPL by value increased to N182.74 billion as at June 30, 2021 from N170.71billion reported in 2020 FY. The group with 7.2 per cent NPL ratio closed June 30, 2021 with N2.54trillion gross Customer loans & advances as against N2.22trillion it reported in 2020 FY. The Holdings, thus, closed 2020 FY with 7.7 NPL ratio.

Meanwhile, Stanbic IBTC Holdings reported N25.47billion NPL by value as at June 30, 2021

from N26.49billion in 2020 FY, while FCMB group grew its NPL by value to N32.21billion as at June 30, 2021 from N28.6billion reported in 2020 FY. FCMB explained that growth in NPL was largely driven by slight deterioration in individual’s loan book and interest on existing NPLs. Further finding revealed that Stanbic IBTC Holdings reported NPL ratio of 3.2 per cent and N790.6billion gross loans and advances to customers as at June 30, 2021 against NPL ratio of 4.0 per cent and N655.3 billion gross loans and advances to customers reported in 2020 FY. Construction & real estate and

Agriculture sector accounted for 14.4 per cent and 12.6 per cent of Stanbic IBTC NPL ratio as at June 30, 2021 from 15.4 per cent in 2020 FY respectively.

Stanbic IBTC restructured loans as at June 30, 2021 was N62.66billion with Covid-19 related accounting for N50.97billion while Non Covid-19 related was N11.69billion.

In addition, foreign currency NPL by value contribution was N5.1billion or 20 per cent of the total NPL by value as at June 30, 2021 while local currency contributed N20.4billion or 80 per cent of the N25.47billion NPL by value of Stanbic IBTC. With NPL ratio of 2.8 per cent and N1.6trillion gross loans and advances

to customers, Fidelity Bank reported N44.97billion NPL by value as at June 30, 2021. The strongest Tier-2 bank in 2020 reported 3.8 per cent NPL ratio and N1.39trillion gross loans and advances to customers to account for N52.96billion NPL by value.

Union bank of Nigeria and Sterling Bank, accounted for N33.46billion and N11.6billion NPL by value as at June 30, 2021.

Union Bank of Nigeria NPL ratio rose to 4.4 per cent as at June 30, 2021 from four per cent in 2020 FY while Sterling Bank reported NPL ratio that closed June 30, 2021 at 1.8 per cent from 1.9 per cent in 2020 FY.

Experts: Transparent, Accountable Tax System Will Boost Compliance, Reset Economy James Emejo and Sonia Mayomi in Abuja Transparency and accountability remain the blueprint to an effective and efficient tax system, experts have stressed.

Tax expert and the National Coordinator, Association of Concerned Citizens of Nigeria on Revenue and Economy, Mr. Orji Philip Orji who stated this during a press briefing in Abuja also called for speedy passage of the proposed National Inspector General for Tax Crime Commission (NIGTCC) for effective and proactive taxation system in the country.

He said a restructured tax administration, comprising independent tax auditors and investigators is crucial to achieving a good tax system.

He said for the government to win public trust and encourage voluntary compliance to tax payment by citizens, a transparent system was inevitable.

Orji noted that though tax transparency remained a topical issue globally, countries have had to borrow a leaf from other successful nations in an attempt to perfect their domestic tax administration - and urged the federal government to tow same path.

He said, “Most of the countries that are doing well today in their taxation passed through challenges that may be more than ours at the moment. So, that is why I refuse to lament in our situation because it is not insurmountable and lamentation does not solve problems.”

Orji said Nigeria remains a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which stipulates that its member countries should have an independent auditors and external investigators for the purpose of checks and balance on taxation in their respective jurisdictions.

Orji, however, expressed concerns that Nigeria has no database to share automatic information against international tax evasion, transfer pricing and illicit financial flow of the OECD global programmes and operation since joining the organisation in 2018.

He stressed that the country’s current economic challenges could be mitigated through a well restructured and proactive taxation system.

He said a bad taxation system constituted a threat to human rights, security, democracy and economy, adding that, “a weak taxation system is dangerous than pandemic such

as Ebola or COVID-19 because it kills on a daily basses.”

He urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other civil society organisations and rights groups to take up the challenge and demand for tax transparency in the country.

He noted that some of the laudable reforms in tax administration were carried out during the military era.

He said, “But, from the inception of democracy since 1999 till date our legislatures have not visited tax in more efficient manner, in that regard the Federal Inland Revenue Service were made to be a judge in

their own case, which must result in an obvious temptation and work overload in that respect.”

He said, “Our outdated method of taxation is no longer obtainable in the world, the risk posed by Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) has proven that countries no longer have the luxury to operate in isolation.

“So, any country that fail to innovate will waste the benefits in taxes like the transfer pricing.

What we are demanding is for the National Assembly to fast track this bill (Tax Crime Commission) so as to rekindle our people’s lost confidence in our government.”

Harder Times Slow Down Insurers’ Willingness Towards Claims Payment Ebere Nwoji The global economic crisis thought to have abated but still biting hard on many economies Nigeria inclusive, is currently affecting willingness of insurers to pay claims as well as their mode of business operations.

The development cuts across insurance markets in different climes.

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Comms/e-Business Editor Emma Okonji Aviation Editor Chinedu Eze Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafo (Energy) Emmanuel Addeh (Energy) Reporters Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy) Ugo Aliogo (Development)

The situation, THISDAY checks reveal has created friction between underwriters and insurance buyers in some markets.

In some cases, it is even soiling good relationships between insurance brokers and underwriters due to stringent conditions and clause interpretations often raised by underwriters when risk crystalises Here in Nigeria, customers of insurance companies said they were no longer at ease with the rate of claims denial by insurance firms.

Some of the aggrieved policyholders have threatened to take it personal with insurance agents who sold policies to them, but could at the maturation of the contract not

stand by them to get their claims paid by the insurance firms.

Some policyholders have gone to the extent of threatening the lives of such agents if their insurers deny them their claims.

On their part, the agents themselves get disappointed at the behaviours of management of insurance firms they work for towards claims from policies they sold to the public.

A case in point was the confession of one of the agents working with a big insurance firm in Nigeria.

The company is one of the firms recently bought over by a popular global insurer.

According to the agent, she prevailed on a cousin of hers to

patronised her company by buying an investment related policy from the company through her.

She said her disappointment came when the policy matured after three years and when the policyholder demanded to take back her money and the proceed as the contract was interest related, the company delayed the claims payment for more than six months and when eventually it was paid, the client could not get exactly his savings let alone the interest.

She said when the client questioned why his complete entitlement wasn’t paid, he was pointed to a clause in the policy document that explains why she could not have her money complete but was told that she gained

free life insurance cover attached to the policy.

Another case in point was a journalist who insured all his working tools against theft with one of the big firms located in Ikoyi area of Lagos.

On his way back from work one day, he was attacked by hoodlums who collected all his working tools including IPad, phones, camera, all of which he took insurance cover on. When the journalist filed his claims, the insurer pointed out a clause in the policy that could not accommodate the claims because the incident happened due to his carelessness of working in the late night with those working tools.

Surprise enough, insurers from

western world markets often used as reference point when talking about places where insurance works are not immune from this strange behavior towards claims settlement.

Participants in the Spanish and Portuguese leg or of European Risk Frontiers survey on claims payment by insurers have this to say concerning claims handling by insurers in the countries.

“We have noticed, as a rule, a change in claims management processes, although not in all segments, nor by all insurers. Claims settlement has become slower and more complicated,” said Lourdes Freiria, director of risk and insurance at Grupo San José.

IMPROVED MACROECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS MAY BOLSTER INVESTORS’ APPETITE FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S $6.2 BILLION EUROBOND OFFER Act (PIA) recently signed into law

by President Buhari in August 2021 is expected to help drive fundamental changes and further investments into the Nigerian oil and gas industry, a situation which is expected to enhance government’s revenue earnings as well as be in a position to service its mounting public debt stock.

In the area of debt management strategy for the country, the Debt Management Office (DMO) had developed the Medium Term Debt Management Strategy 2020 -2023 to reflect the impact of COVID-19 including the effects on the market.

Consequently, borrowing from external and domestic sources will

be aligned with the funding structure in the MTEF and Appropriation Act, and the borrowing plan as approved from National Assembly from time to time.

The plan also seeks to among other things, moderate the cost of debt service, as measured by the ratio of interest payments-to-revenue, which it recognised will depend on a significant increase in government revenues.

The federal government also maintained that the impact on Nigeria’s debt structure has been contained from the 2020 COVID-19 & oil price shocks with progress made in achieving longer term debt objectives.

The government is also banking on financial sector reforms and improving external position to convince investors that they need not worry over their euro bond commitments.

It said banking sector loan growth had continues with stable asset quality adding that key reforms had been enacted in 2020 to further strengthen and enhance stability of banking and financial sector, adding that simultaneously Nigeria’s external buffers have rebounded in 2021.

Part of the major policy initiatives in the financial sector included the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 (BOFIA 2020) signed in 2020 to strengthen regulatory

and supervisory framework for the financial industry.

This has also expanded the CBN regulatory oversight powers and strengthened the apex bank power to intervene in situations involving distressed banks, including ability to suspend payments, transfer viable assets to a private asset management vehicle, and employ any other intervention tool deemed fit.

Others are the recognition of the legal enforceability of netting agreements, establishment of the Banking Sector Resolution Fund to provide liquidity to CBN’s resolution measures and supplement the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), as well as creation of

a special tribunal for enforcement and recovery of loans.

According to available data, robust buffers prior to the COVID-19 crisis and additional measures introduced by the CBN will help maintain the resilience of Nigerian banks.

Also, system Non performing loan (NPL) ratios remained stable at 6.1 per cent from December 2019 to December 2020 and have reduced to 5.4 per cent in June 2021.

Regulatory forbearance has been granted to banks in granting loans to firms significantly impacted by COVID-19 as such firms may be granted a moratorium on loan repayments as well as restructuring of existing loans.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

27

BUSINESSWORLD

STATUS REPORT

GTCO: Delivering Stronger Balance Sheet, Dividend Payout

Darasimi Adebisi

T

he audited half-year result and accounts of Guaranty Trust Holdings Company Plc (GTCO) showed balance sheet improvement and sustained interim dividend payout to shareholders despite numerous challenges facing the banking sector and nation’s economy at large.

The balance sheet structure enabled the group to withstand the negative impact of COVID-19, which virtually affected all the sectors of the nation’s economy.

The group balance sheet remained well structured and diversified with total assets closing at N5.02 trillion as at June 30, 2021, an increase of about two per cent from N4.94 trillion reported in full year (FY) ended December 31, 2020.

A well-diversified funding base supported total assets as customer deposits, equity and customers’ escrow balances accounted for 75.3 per cent, 16 per cent and 8.8 per cent of the funding base respectively.

In term of diversification, loans and advances, fixed income securities and money market placements accounted for 32 per cent, 26 per cent and five per cent of total assets respectively.

The group’s earnings assets improvement did not impact interest income materially as it was driven by N178.2billion growth in investment securities oat the back of increase in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) special bills holdings priced at 0.5 per cent.

However, the group’s net loan and advances dipped by N30.7 billion (1.84 per cent) from N1.66 trillion in 2020 FY to N1.63 trillion as at June 30, 2021, due to decrease in FCY loan portfolio as a result of scheduled repayments from obligors in the Oil & gas and manufacturing sectors.

Consequently, the currency mix of the loan book (LCY to FCY) changed to 47 per cent: 53 per cent in H1 2021 from 45 per cent: 55 per cent in 2020 FY. The restricted deposits and other assets declined by 13 per cent (N161.38bbillion) as CBN released portion of sterilized CRR by way of issuance of Special Bills in H1 2021 resulting in effective CRR o 36.04 per cent from 44.3 per cent in FY 2020 (with Special Bills, CRR closed at 59.7 per cent).

Customer deposit liabilities grew by 3.3 per cent (N15.9billion) from N3.51trillion in 2020 FY to N3.63trillion as at June 30, 2021.

DEPOSIT GROWTH

The deposit growth is reflective of the group’s retail strategy, the key enabler in the face of the challenging operating environment, increased competition from Fintech’s and customers’ preference for Treasury Bills, which offered a higher interest rate.

Tenor deposits increased marginally, leading to change in low-cost deposit mix to 87.9 per cent in H1 2021 from 90.5 per cent in 2020 FY. The group’s total equity dropped by 2.1 per cent to N797.6 billion as at June 30, 2021 from N814.4billion in 2020 FY over 15 per cent dropped

in retained earnings to N163.87billion as at June 30, 2021 from N193.92billion reported in 2020 FY. Despite the challenges presented by the operating environment in H1 2021, the group was able to navigate, deploying appropriate strategies to deliver a Post-tax-Return on Average Assets of 3.33 per cent and Posit-tax Return on Average Equity of 19.56 per cent.

The group delivered a post-tax ROAE of 19.71 per cent, post-tax ROAA of 3.19 per cent and NIM of 6.98 per cent.

Gross earnings declined by eight per cent from N225.1billion in H1 2020 to N207.9billion in H1 2021, primarily from 18 per cent reduction in interest income from N153.7billion to N126.1billion and Other income N33.1billion as against N34.2billion), which offsets growth recorded on the fees and commissions lines (N38.3billion as against N26.5billion) during the period.

Also, interest income dropped by 18 per cent to N126.09billion in H1 2021 from N150.5billion in H1 2020 as all major lines recorded lower gains – investment securities (-44.0per cent to N32.06 billion), loans and advances to customers (-1.6per cent to N91.37 billion) and cash balances with banks (-13.6 per cent to N2.32 billion).

INTEREST EXPENSES

In addition, interest expenses dropped by 27 per cent to N19.04billion in H1 2021 from N26.09billion recorded in H1 2020.

On the other hand, non-interest income grew during the period, settling 11.4per cent higher at N80.39 billion. This followed the growth in net fees and commission income (+65.3per cent to N36.86 billion), gains from foreign exchange trading (5.3per cent to N8.05 billion) and discounts on digital earnings.

The volume expansion resulted in higher earnings from fees and commissions, which grew 45 per cent from N26.5billion in H1 2020 to N38.3billion in H1 2021 as Fee and commission expense closed H1 2021 at N1.43billion from N2.44billion recorded in H1 2020.

As with preceding periods, income from e-business was a strong contributor, supported by reduced expenses on loan recoveries and bank charges.

Consequently, the group net interest income dropped by 16 per cent to N107.06billion in H1 2021 from N127.62billion reported in H1 2020.

This led to net interest margin (NIM) that dropped to 6.98per cent in H1 2021 from 9.74 per cent in H1 2020 as the Group compensated for the drop in NIM by increased its volume of transactions leveraging on its retail base.

Dealing room efficiency resulted in net trading gains of N10.4billion as against N10.8billion in H1 2020), the slight decrease was due to a reduction in trading volumes.

GTCO’s loan impairment charge decreased

by N2.4billion or 53 per cent from N4.5billion in H1 2020 to N2.1billion in H1 2021, following an improved outlook for the macro-economic variables used in the ECL model in H1 2021 compared with the gloomy outlook fuelled by the pandemic in H1 2020.

As a result of the lower impairment numbers, the group’s cost of risk improved to 0.27 per cent in H1 2021 from 1.18 per cent in 2020 FY.

OPERATING EXPENSE

Operating expense grew by 7.2 per cent to N89.3billion in H1 2021 from N83.3billion in H1 2020 due to the impact of rising heading inflation and marginal Naira/Dollar rate movement in the official market which resulted in the increase in general prices of goods and services.

The recorded increase in OPEX by 7.2 per cent was below headline inflation which closed the first half of the year at 17.7 per cent in June 2021.

The growth in total assets was driven by depreciation and amoritization that grew by 9.3 per cent as a result of incremental charge on capital spend on expanding IT infrastructure in fourth quarter of 2020 as well as capitalisation of amount spent on furniture & equipment, computer hardware and software procured for branches in prior year. Also increase in regulatory charge- AMCON levy and deposit and other insurance premium contrbitued to growth in OPEX. GTCO’s recorded AMCON levy increase of 27.3 per cent due to the growth in total asset and contingents to N4.37trillion in 2020FY from N3.44trillion recorded in 2019 FY. Continued utilisation of the Group’s dollar liquidity enabled seamless repayment of maturing FCY borrowings thereby helping to reduce pressure from OPEX growth and sustain Cost of Funds (CoF) at 0.67 per cent (1.19 per cent 2020 FY).

Overall, cost to income ratio closed at 48.9p-er cent as at H1 2021 from 43.16 per cent in H1 2020, which is above the 35 per cent guidance.

Subsidiaries contribution to the group’s PBT improved from 17.1 per cent in H1 2020 to 25.5 per cent in H1 2021. However, profit before tax dropped by 15.2 per cent to N93.06billion in H1 2021 from N109.7billion reported in H1 2020 as the group restructure to a financial holding company, it is expected that the revenue base will be further strengthened and result in improved performance across all key profitability metrics.

The group’s tax expenses dropped by 12 per cent to N13.64billion in H1 2021 from N15.44billion in H1 2020 to position profit for the period at N79.4 billion in H1 2021 as against N94.27billion reported in H1 2020.

Board of directors proposed an interim dividend of 30k per share (June 2020: 30k per share) on the issued ordinary shares of 29,431,179,224 of 50k each.

STRONG LIQUIDITY POSITION

Liquidity ratio closed at 44.7 per cent in H1 2021 as against 38.9 per cent in 2020 FY, well above regulatory minimum of 30 per cent.

Despite the pressure from COVID-19 pandemic and regulatory debits, the Group maintained average liquidity ratio of 40.71 per cent.

The Group continued to maintain strong capital position with Full and Transitional IFRS9 impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 24 per cent and 26.3 per cent respectively, 900 basis points above the regulatory minimum of 15 per cent.

Tier 1 capital remained a very significant component of the Group’s CAR standing at 23.7 per cent representing 99 per cent of Group’s full IFRS 9 impact CAR of 24 per cent.

ASSETS QUALITY

The group improved its assets quality with Non Performing Loan (NPL) (IFRS 9 stage 3 loans) closing at 5.99per cent in H1 2021 from 6.39per cent in 2020 FY. The marginal increase in prudential NPLs from 6.39 per cent to 6.75 per cent resulted from stress noted with certain exposures within the Hospitality, Individuals, Clubs, Co-operative Societies and Union as this group of obligors were severally impacted by COVID-19.

Downstream sector benefitted from the N7.2billion write-off in H1 2021 as its NPLs improved to 8.7 per cent in H1 2021 from 10.9 per cent in 2020 FY. Commenting on the performance, analysts at Cordros Securities said the HoldCo’s outing is reflective of the pressured macroeconomic and business environments.

The Lagos-based company in its report stated that: “For the rest of the year, we expect improvements in funded income performance as maturing funds are reinvested at higher yields and risk asset creation is accelerated. These should supplement the consistent growth recorded in non-funded income.”

Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Mr Segun Agbaje in a statement said: “The results reflect our commitment to building on our track record of solid financial performance, and our capability to constantly innovate will ensure we stay ahead of the curve at all times.

“We are counting on the enduring support of our loyal customers and the hard work of our dedicated staff to continually make end-to-end financial services easily accessible to everyone and to create the best outcomes for all our customers and the communities in which we operate.”

He further stated that; “Looking forward, we are focused on bringing to bear the full benefits of our new corporate structure by consolidating our leading position in all the economies where our franchise operates. We will also diversify our earnings from core banking, continue to empower businesses across Africa and beyond, and generate long-term returns for our shareholders.”

28

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Tackling Misconceptions about Mutual Funds

Okey Nwachukwu

S

imple misconceptions about the purpose and benefits of mutual funds have unwittingly created such a myth around this financial derivative to the extent that it has been quite difficult to sell to Nigerians.

And the dearth of sustained publicity has helped in no small measure to sustain the myth. The mere mention of a mutual fund among the average Nigerian immediately elicits an indifferent reaction suggestive of a complex derivative designed to address the investment appetite of the rich, which has nothing to offer the ordinary person.

Other perceptions as being complicated and offering low returns further restricts interest.

However, virtually every Nigerian, even if unwittingly, understands the concept of mutual funds because it is in sync with indigenous fund generation and management mechanisms. Thrift collection, variously called Esusu, Ajo, Utu, by different ethnic groups, are traditional variants of mutual funds that follow the same principles as the ‘oyibo’ mutual funds.

Contemporary interpretations of mutual funds have been offered by the regulators of the industry in Nigeria – the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). SEC defines it as “an open-end investment scheme which pools funds principally from small investors for subsequent investment in securities and other financial instruments.”

According to the NGX, “A Mutual Fund is an investment vehicle made up of a pool of funds collected from numerous investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.”

In essence, a mutual fund is simply a collective investment scheme in which people contribute to a pool of funds that are invested in various instruments. Then proceeds or returns from such investments are shared among the contributors based on the number of units held or amount contributed.

The working of mutual funds, according to one account, is one in which “subscribers to the fund become unit holders, part owners of the fund proportionate to the volume of the fund units they hold. The pooled funds are managed by investment manager who invests the pool of funds contributed by individual subscribers in a number of blue chips or high grade investment options spread across the target market. Targeted

“Virtually everyone understands investment in equities and do painstakingly monitor the price movement of companies where they have made investments. Mutual funds can attain such acceptance with the right positioning.” instruments include stocks, bonds, properties, cash, debentures, gilts and other securities on behalf of the investors. Investors earn returns through dividends on stocks, interests on bonds, capital gains and by selling their mutual funds shares for a profit. Mutual funds are targeted at both the individual and corporate entities. They range from high networth individuals, retail investors, Pension Fund Administrators, insurance companies, institutional investors/ large corporations, endowments and foundations.”

The funds are segmented into different categories based on fund types, distribution channel, and investor type.

These include equity funds, money market funds, bond funds, fixed income funds, mixed/hybrid funds, real estate funds, ethical funds, exchange traded funds and infrastructure funds.

Mutual funds offer the investor numerous benefits. They are best suited for investors with low-risk appetite.

It provides small investors access to professionally managed, diversified portfolios of equities, bonds and other securities. In essence, the individual shareholder participates proportionally in the gain or loss of the fund. As there are quite a lot of securities, investors are less affected if one security underperforms. Also, on account of professional management, investment is made based on a thorough evaluation of the performance and prospects of different securities. This reduces the chances of underperformance.

Mutual Funds are highly regulated.

In the case of Nigeria, each mutual fund is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Apart from protecting investors, regulation ensures transparency in the system.

Affordability is also another advantage because small investors are given the opportunity to buy the shares and become co-owners of big companies.

The investor is also guaranteed liquidity as there are provisions to cash out such investment at any time.

The global mutual funds market is quite huge. According to Alliede Market Research, the value of the global mutual funds market stood at $54.93 trillion in 2019 and expected to reach $101 trillion by 2027.

In Nigeria, there are quite a number of very successful mutual funds. The records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that there are presently 118 approved mutual funds in the market administered by 26 fund managers. Money Market Funds constitute the dominant category, with 42 percent of market share as at March this year. About 56 of the funds are quoted on the NGX. The dominant players, who control over 85 percent of the market are Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, Asset & Resources Mgt. Co. Ltd (ARM), United Capital Asset Mgt. Ltd, Chapel Hill Denham Mgt. Limited, Zenith Capital, Kakawa AM, FAML, FBN Capital and Global Asset Management.

The net asset value of the Nigerian mutual funds market stood at N1.461 trillion in March. Of the various categories, the Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund, launched in February 1997, was ranked Number 1 with a net asset value of over N70.2 billion.

Other notable mutual funds include ARM Discovery Fund, Vetiva’s New Gold ETF, Nigeria Energy Sector Fund, Stanbic IBTC Aggressive Fund, Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund, Coral Growth Fund, Legacy Equity Fund and UBA Equity Fund.

The array of mutual funds presently tradable in the market do not however reflect considerable patronage as there are currently less than 300,000 unit holders in the country, an inconsequential proportion when juxtaposed against the country’s almost 200 million population.

This is where public awareness comes into play. Since inadequate information and enlightenment campaigns are largely responsible for the low penetration of mutual funds in the country, then the onus falls on all players in the market, especially the regulators and fund managers, to undertake robust awareness campaigns to trigger and deepen the adoption of mutual funds.

Because one entity may not have the resources or capacity to implement awareness campaigns on a sustainable basis, they could come up with consensual arrangements in which operators are split into different groups. Then theses groups are assigned publicity duties based on the mutual fund value chain. This should be structured in a way that the campaigns run throughout the year. Each phase should have a clear message and measurable outcome. This arrangement should not however supplant targeted stakeholder engagements by individual companies.

What makes enlightenment particularly imperative is because no investor, whether big or small, will willingly stake his money on what he does not understand. Virtually everyone understands investment in equities and do painstakingly monitor the price movement of companies where they have made investments. Mutual funds can attain such acceptance with the right positioning.

In addition to awareness campaigns, players should also offer incentives to potential investors. Among such incentives should include affordable entry subscription, simplification of documentation and processing as well as democratizing the choice of stocks or instruments for investment.

Other challenges attributable to the low penetration of mutual funds in Nigeria are the prevalence of unregistered and unregulated quacks who have devised ways of evading regulation. They often create ponzi or pyramids schemes to swindle the public by offering huge returns from new capital paid by new investors, rather than from profit earned through legitimate sources.

In recent times, SEC has intensified efforts to uproot such unregulated entities from the system. The drive should be sustained and reinvigorated in collaboration with other stakeholders, with innovation as key driver. The government should also inspire confidence in the derivatives by investing in them or promoting participation.

Undoubtedly, mutual funds provide a safe channel for diversification of portfolio by discerning investors. t /XBDIVLXV DBO CF SFBDIFE WJB JOGPSNPLFZOPX!ZBIPP DPN

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

29

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Poor Implementation Bane of FG’s Farm Estate Initiative, says Agric Stakeholders Gilbert Ekugbe Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have stated that the federal government’s plan to set up farm estates in all the 109 senatorial districts would be frustrated by poor implementation.

Indeed, stakeholders’ lauded the initiative but expressed doubts if the scheme would come to fruition, saying that similar programmes have come and gone without seeing the light of day.

In a telephone chat with THISDAY, an agribusiness expert and Director General, Premier Agribusiness Academy, Mr, Toromade Francis, explained that most government policies are laudable, but stated that the implementation is always very weak as it creates an avenue for contractors and implementer to enrich their pockets.

He added: “The policy statements by federal government are always good, but the implementation is always weak because the people who are supposed to implement these policies are not always sincere, but see it as an opportunity to make money. The contractors, the implementer will divert the funds meant for that project.”

He continued: “Let me tell you the truth. The reason why we are suffering in Nigeria is because we cannot feed ourselves and we have every facility, we are blessed with natural resources that can make things happen for us to even export, but yet our policy makers are not sincere. If someone is self-centered and they put him in charge of anything, he would first of all corner all what will benefit himself and his family and this the challenge.

“It is a laudable thing to do because when the government is closer to people that is when people can really feel the impact of governance, but my fear is the implementation. You will just hear billions of naira spent, motion but no movement, activity no productivity.

The federal government is used to putting square pegs in round holes, they do not reach out to the main stakeholders who will implement these laudable policies. Although, the federal government would think they are trying their best, but their best is not good enough. It is a good decision because the federal government is trying to move closer to the people, but I have just told you my reservation.”

On his part, the National president, Agricultural Produce Sellers Association of Nigeria (APSAN), Aloys Akortsaha, said the plan is one of the best things that would happen to the nation’s agricultural sector if backed up with effective implementation.

“The issue I have with the federal government is implementation. The federal government will come up with very laudable policies, but at the end of the day implementation will be very poor. For instance, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has a policy to ensure that farmers and dealers are captured and enumerated. The policy was good but the plan to reach over one million farmers has not been achieved. The same with the farm estates, if poorly implemented it will go down the drain like others in the past, “he predicted.

He advised the federal government to always follow up policies with aggressive effective implementa-

tion mechanisms.

He stated the urgent need for the federal government to establish a Commission for implementation to ensure that these policies are being effectively implemented, warning that entertaining these issues with levity, would only bring about persistent problems.

“So my advice to the government is to always take issues regarding implementation seriously. It is not all about making political statement, but about implementation. The policy is good but my fear is that just like the

other policies, they will not follow it to the logical conclusion. If followed up aggressively by the federal by way of effective implementation, it will be the best thing that will happen to the nation’s agricultural sector,” he said.

He further stated that State governments are frustrating a lot of federal government programmes by diverting funds meant to develop the sector for other purposes “I am aware that in one of the States, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) about N4 billion

was disbursed for the scheme and the State Governor had to borrow N2 billion out of the fund. The farmers in the State only got farm inputs, but were supposed to get about 250, 000 in addition to the farm input, but this was defeated because the State government hijacked it.

The way forward is for the federal government to stop going through the State government, but reach out to the farmers directly. This is why we are happy about the enumeration of farmers by the government as it would create opportunity for farmers

to be reached out to,” he advised.

The APSAN president added: “The federal government must always go straight to the farmers and agriculture stakeholders. It is not difficult to reach out to farmers. They should also strengthen the enumeration of farmers and once the number of farmers and agribusiness dealers are known, the federal government can easily reach out to them by email or text messages not necessarily passing through the State government. The same with the farm estates.

L–R: Executive Director Finance and Corporate Services, Development Bank Nigeria (DBN), Ijeoma Ozulumba; Senior Economist, Ministry of Finance Sierra Leone, Foday Kayya; Project Coordinator, Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Corporation (COMCEC), Ministry of Finance, Sierra Leone, Vandy Kamara; and DBN Chief Operating Officer, Bonaventure Okhaimo during a study tour by members of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance to the Bank’s Corporate Head Office recently in Abuja

NSDC Urges Operators to Adhere NDIC Reiterates Commitment to Tap Savings Culture of Unbanked Poor to Provisions of Sugar Masterplan Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

James Emejo and Sonia Mayomi in Abuja The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Zacch Adedeji has tasked operators to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) particularly in the implementation of the zero-import duty incentive for machineries.

THISDAY learnt that although the masterplan provided for some import incentives for the acquisition of machinery by operators who met the provisions of the Backward Integration Programme (BIP), beneficiaries had abused the waiver policy by adding extraneous items not permitted by the regulation.

As a result, they have been at loggerheads with government regulatory agencies particularly the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the ports.

But speaking at a stakeholders’ roundtable organised by the council to discuss the challenges associated with zero duty import incentive for agricultural machineries, Adedeji said the operators should be mindful of engaging in practices that could jeopardise the whole policy.

He pointed out that for the NSMP to be successful, operators needed to carry out their activities in strict compliance with the provisions of the master plan.

He however, commended the players for their cooperation; understanding and support in the council’s resolve to revive and reposition the local sugar sector to enable it compete favourably and become a leading sugar producer in Africa.

He said without doubt, the country had all it requires to become a top player in the league of sugar

producing nations adding that the council is making efforts to address challenges which had incapacitated the sector over the years.

He said that the council was aware of some operational challenges that operators are confronted with in their efforts to fulfill their own part of the bargain.

He assured that government will continue to offer the operators necessary technical assistance and policy support to enable them overcome most of these challenges.

The NSDC boss said the council as a responsible and responsive agency of government is committed to delivering on its core mandate, which hinges largely on attaining self-sufficiency in sugar production for local production, and subsequent export.

He said the sugar sector, given its numerous opportunities occupies a significant position in the programme and economic agenda of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, the sector has answers to the myriad of socio-economic challenges currently facing the country.

He said, “We are pleased with the modest achievements so far recorded in the sector since we began the implementation of the NSMP. “But a lot more still needs to be done to achieve our target of attaining self-sufficiency in sugar production and becoming a leading producer of the commodity in Africa.”

However, while the private sector stakeholders lamented the challenges they encountered in the hands of customs agents to clear their equipment, the representative of the service, Deputy Comptroller Anyalogwu Antwi explained that the customs only enforced directives issued by the federal government and encouraged them to comply.

Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NIDC) has said that it remain committed to tap savings culture of unbanked active poor Nigerians in order to improve their financial inclusion and accelerate investment growth in the nation’s economy.

The Director, NIDC Bank Examination Department, Mr. Olatayo Babatolu made the remarks in Ilorin, Kwara state capital over the weekend during the Financial Literacy Day Workshop to mark 2021 Global Money Week for over 100 students across Secondary schools in Ilorin held at Government Day Secondary School, Maraba, Ilorin, the state capital.

According to him, “Financial Literacy event is all about getting our young adults especially those in secondary schools across the 36 states of the federation and FCT, Abuja and as it is presently holding in Ilorin, Kwara state capital to enlist them to understand the essence of

managing their financial well being and tranfered exposures to their fellow students in their schools” He said, “This financial literacy programme which started in March this year was a nationwide event and as a way to change the attitude of unbanked poor Nigerians on how to keep their money safely, protect and make use of it wisely for investment development’.

Babatolu who decried the unhealthy keeping of nation’s money by some poor Nigerians said that, the workshop provided the chance to educate young youths on how to keep their money safe at designated banks instead of keeping it in an unsecured environment that can be stolen or mutilated by termites.

He opined that, “the idea is to change the attitude of our local people in keeping their money in an unsafe environment by making use of our students in various schools of the federation to pass the information to their colleagues and at the end to their immediate

families in various towns and villages across the nation.”

Represented at the event by the Assistant Director of the Bank Examination department of the corporation, Mr. Roberts Ekenwa, Mr. Babatolu added that, “the desire of the NIDC is to derive financial inclusion of the students and the entire people of the country especially those in rural areas to the financial system in order to take advantage of the benefits that are available in the financial system to boost their business growth”.

He stressed that, apart from this, “it will also promote savings culture, financial products and to ensure that they appreciate the safety that is available in keeping their financial resources in the nation for investment derive opportunities” While calling the students to take advantage of the educative event by having a changing of attitude of properly keeping their money in a safer place in the bank rather than keeping it in an unsaved place, Mr.

Babatolu however advised them to transfer the knowledge gathered at the seminar to their fellow students so as to involve themselves in the financial inclusion of the economy.

Also speaking, the state commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Saadatu Modibbo- Kawu lauded the NIDC for bringing the financial literacy workshop to youths in the secondary schools in the state.

She said, “Let me use this medium to express my utmost appreciations to NDIC for bringing this memorable programme to our youth in Secondary schools. This is a remarkable way to collaborate with the Government of Kwara state and it will go a long way in complementing the effort of the state governor who has been providing a good conducive learning environment for both teachers and students in the state.

Modibbo also enjoyed the students to listen attentively to all the papers that would be presented for their future benefits.

‘Adequate Agriculture Funding Vital for Nigeria’s Self Sufficiency in Food Production’ Gilbert Ekugbe Agribusiness expert and Director General, Premier Agribusiness Academy, Mr. Toromade Francis, has called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency prioritize Nigeria’s agricultural sector so as to attain food security.

In a chat with THISDAY, he said Nigeria has more than enough to feed itself as a nation, maintaining that countries with far less resources are doing far better than Nigeria in terms of meeting their food demands.

He stated that Nigeria’s penchant for borrowing would only get worse if it does not channel intervention funds to productive areas, adding that previous borrowings have been poorly utilised.

“The bubble has not busted and

it will only get worse because the government is still borrowing and who is going to pay all of these debts.

The solution is not in borrowing anything and the ones that have been borrowed what they have done with it. Funding the agricultural sector has been reechoed by stakeholders as the surest way of achieving foreign exchange, creating employment and most importantly, feeding the nation,” he said.

He noted that to attain food security in Nigeria, his Academy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to train farmers on maize, cowpea, cassava, rice and vegetables production.

“We are trying to encourage people to go into farming. For every private and public organizations, we have

people retiring every year and where do they retire into as many do not even know what to do with their entitlement, so our plan is to go into the pension fund to encourage pensioners to go into farming and we are ready to train them. We are starting with the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and if only 1 per cent of the entire police force retiring every year go into agriculture, it would go a long way to attain food security,” he said.

The agribusiness expert added: “We are close to signing a MoU with the NPF and we are doing the same thing with International Training Fund (ITF) and also planning to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) too. With this move, we will have enough food. The lands are there nobody is cultivating them. Many people are going into farming without training while also

losing their money in the process. If we can achieve this plan with four different organisations, in the next five years, there is going to be an agricultural revolution in Nigeria.

If everybody that retires goes into farming, there will bumper harvest and we will also be exporting.”

He expressed concerns over the dearth of knowledge of Nigerian agripreneurs, saying that Nigeria still depends on cutlasses and hoes, a farming practice not capable of feeding a nuclear family not to mention the rising Nigerian population.

“In America, two per cent of the population is feeding the whole of America and they are still exporting.

We have contributed our quest in attaining food security in our own little way. We are collaborating with the IITA.

30

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Abbey Mortgage Rebrands, Commends Inclusion of Foreclosure Procedures in Lagos Property Law Dike Onwuamaeze The Managing Director of the Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, Mr. Madu Hamman, has described the Lagos State Government’s ongoing amendment of its mortgage and property law to include foreclosure procedures as a positive development that would improve the fortunes of the operators in the industry and address the challenge of housing deficit in the state and entire country.

Hamman said: “The Lagos State

Government review process to amend the state’s mortgage and property law by incorporating foreclosure procedures is a very positive development for our sector and we enjoin other state governments in the country to emulate Lagos State.

“This is one of the innovations that is designed to improve the fortunes of the mortgage industry and we will continue to engage with various authorities for continual improvement of the operating

environment.”

He made these statements on Wednesday during the unveiling of the Abbey Bank’s new logo that is meant to signify the rebranding of the 29-year mortgage bank and its new direction as “we have returned the bank to the path of profitability and significantly grown our customer base, size of balance sheet and share of the market.”

Hamman said that the Abbey’s mission is to become the first choice for mortgages housing finance and

investments and this rebranding would reposition the bank to be able to occupy its pride of place as a clear leader in the sub-sector.

“We have also introduced our e-banking channels. We will be rolling out our internet and USSB platforms that would empower our customers to transact seamlessly from wherever they may chose.

Shortly we will introduce an interactive and easy to use mobile app channel, which we are confident to delight our customers,” Hamman

said, declaring that “it is really an exciting time at Abbey.”

The Chairman of Abbey Mortgage, Mr. Emma Kanu O. Ivi, said that the good thing about this event is that “we are unveiling of our bigger dreams. We went through times of trials and overcome. Our vision is to become the biggest mortgage institutions out of Africa.

But we demand adequate laws that will ensure easy operation for institutions and organisations in mortgage banking.”

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Ms. Aramide Adeoye, who was the guest of honour at the unveiling of the new logo, has called for the establishment of a mortgage division in the judiciary system all over the country to quicken the process of foreclosure in case of default.

“Lagos State has already set the pace by establishing a Mortgage Division of the State High Court,” she said.

NIPOST Takes Clampdown Exercise to Abuja, Raids Illegal Courier Operators Emma Okonji The Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department (CLRD) of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), last week, extended its random raid to Abuja, the federal capital territory, where it clamped down on illegal courier operators that were defrauding the federal government of huge sums of money.

NIPOST, which is mandated by law to licence and regulate courier operators in Nigeria, had raided several courier operators in Lagos, which are currently being prosecuted, and it has vowed to take such clampdown to other cities of the country. They were raided for various offenses, ranging from illegal courier operation without a valid operational licence, refusal to renew licences yearly, dumping of courier items without delivery, undercutting of prices and other sharp practices that are inimical to the growth of courier business in Nigeria.

The clampdown in Abuja last week, was carried out by a combined task force, comprising of the enforcement team from CLRD; NIPOST

Investigation and Security team; the Police team from the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID),Alagbon, Lagos and a combined team of Police Officers from FCT Command in Abuja. The combined enforcement team that carried out the Abuja clampdown, was led by the Assistant General Manager in charge of Ethics, Complaint and Strategy at CLRD, Mr. Worimegbe Banks.

The combined team had earlier called on the Chief Operating Officer, NIPOST, Mallam Ahamdu Yahya Rufai at NIPOST Corporate Headquarters, Abuja, seeking management’s support ahead of the task.

Rufai, in his response, emphasised the efforts of the NIPOST as the regulatory organisation and the process of regulations as well as the operations of CLRD. According to him, before any clampdown operation, there would be due diligence and importantly, a regular sensitisation and enlightenment campaign before enforcing the law. He however commended the combined tax force for meeting the standards before clampdown.

Global Hiring Platform for Onboarding, Payroll Processing, Launches in Nigeria Emma Okonji Deel, a global platform for compliant hiring, onboarding and payroll processing, has launched in Nigeria.

With the launch in Nigeria, the all-in-one, global payments platform, positions Nigeria as its headquarters, from where it will expand into other West Africa countries.

Deel is a global all-in-one platform to hire and pay anyone from anywhere in the world. With the global remote workforce continuing to grow, now accelerated by the pandemic, companies have realised they need the right tools to continue to scale.

Deel bridges localized compliance and payments automatically.

Deel was established to help businesses to hire anyone, anywhere, in a compliant manner, by hiring and onboarding international employees or contractors in few minutes, with no local entity required.

As the world continues to move remote, Deel hopes to be an integral part of each international businesses’ success story by offering the tools needed to grow and scale.

The competitive and global startup boom in Nigeria is vast, and Deel is expected to help these companies realise their fullest potential. From paying remote team members anywhere to hiring across countries compliantly.

Head of Expansion for Deel West Africa, Mr. Ayotunde Adeyemi, who announced the company’s expansion plan in Nigeria, during

a press conference organised by Deel in Lagos recently, said: “The pandemic has drastically changed the way we work and opened up opportunities for businesses to hire talent wherever they are based.

Deel’s timing for expanding into Nigeria/West Africa is perfect. Deel is well-equipped and prepared to support Nigerian businesses and the respective talents that reside here. We will help businesses costeffectively scale in new markets while helping workers gain access to more opportunities to showcase their expertise and skills across the globe. It is a win-win for everyone, everywhere.”

Speaking about the expansion plan, Deel CEO, Alex Bouaziz, said: “Nigeria is a key market for Deel.

There are tons of talented people and notable companies building world-changing products there.

We are also starting to see great investors sweeping in and allocating funding to focus specifically on Nigeria and surrounding territories.

The boom is coming.

With Nigeria prominently on Deel’s radar, we intend to outfit businesses with one platform to make global payroll limitless. Deel enables companies to cut operational costs.”

According to Adeyemi, over 3,500 companies around the world have trusted Deel to run their payroll and compliance while thousands of employees and contractors get paid through their system.

NEW BRAND IDENTITY…

L-R: Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer, Abbey Mortgage Bank, Madu Hamman; Founder, Abbey Mortgage Bank, Mrs. Rosemary Okwechime; Chairman, Abbey Mortgage Bank, Mazi Ivi Kanu; Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor, on Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Aramide Adeyoye and Group Managing Director,VFD Group plc, Nonso SUNDAY ADIGUN Okpala during the unveiling of Abbey mortgage Bank new brand identity in Lagos…recently

Five Nigerian Start-ups Receive €120,000 Orange Corners Innovation Fund Start-up entrepreneurs Opeyemi Owosho; Founder, Homefort Energy, Mariam Lawani; Founder, GreenHill Recycling, Nnaedozie Idoko; Founder of Solatistique Nigeria, Oluwaseyi Adenekan; Founder of CIB and Omotoke Olowo; Founder of Theraconnect have emerged first to fifth place winners at the Orange Corners Innovation Pitch Competition.

The Entrepreneurs have access to a €120,000 start-up capital of 75% grant and 25% loan provided by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

Orange Corners is an initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands launched in Nigeria in 2019 and implemented by FATE Foundation.

The Orange Corners Incubation Programme supports 20 entrepreneurs every 6 months with enterprise development knowledge, mentoring, access to market and funding to

grow their business. To date has supported 80 Entrepreneurs with Funding valued over N250,000,000 for prototype development and testing.

The Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF) pitch competition was held at FATE Foundation to marked the end of the fourth Cohort of the incubation programme.

The winning businesses were assessed by expert Jury; Benthe Beijens; Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship advisor, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Ifeoluwa Adesoye; Strategic Business Controller, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Seun Akinfolarin; Senior Manager, Business Development & Marketing, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In attendance was Sonia Onovughakpo Fajusigbe, Economic & Trade Advisor, Netherlands Consulate

General, Lagos. In her congratulatory speech to the entrepreneurs, she stated.

“I must commend everyone. The ideas are mind blowing. It reminds me of the fact that Nigeria has a competitive advantage with our youthful population, which is really our greatest asset. Human value is more important than crude oil.

With these ideas and with the help of the Orange Corners Programme, which is like a bridge between entrepreneurship and private sector development, the entrepreneurs will succeed. We have a new normal since 2019.

“The world has undergone a transformation. Life has changed, marketing has changed, and everything has changed even the delivery of the Orange Corners programme transitioned to virtual learning so I must say a Big thumbs

up to everyone for the hard work and resilience.

The Netherlands Consulate General is very happy to link participants with more opportunities.

The businesses are in line with the Consulate’s priority sectors so we are happy to see how we can push this forward and support even more entrepreneurs. Congratulations to the lucky five winners, the participants and the organisers, “the organizers said.

They added, “The fifth Cohort of the Incubation Programme is currently ongoing. Entrepreneurs admitted into the programme are resident in Lagos, between ages 18-35 with innovative and sustainable solutions that have significant economic and social impact particularly in the Circular Economy, Agriculture, Health care, Water and ICT.

F i r s t B a n k I n c r e a s e s N e t wo r k o f International Money Transfer Operators In furtherance of the need to expand diaspora remittance inflow into the country, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has increased its network of International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), targeted at easing the accessibility of its customers to receive money from close to 100 countries across the world in a safe and secured manner.

The bank in a statement said with over 750 branches across the country, its customers can receive money from the nearest the branch closest to them.

“Over the years, First Bank has been in partnership with Western

Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Transfast, and WorldRemit. The bank is also in partnership with other IMTOs which include Wari, Smallworld, Sendwave, Flutherwave, Funtech, Thunes and Venture Garden Group to promote remittance inflow into the country, thereby putting Nigerians and residents at an advantage in receiving money from their families, friends and loved ones across the world.

Beneficiaries can receive remittance in US dollars in any of our over 750 branches spread across the country. Customers without an existing domiciliary account can

have dollar account automatically created for their remittances. You can also receive inflow directly into your account through Western Union.

In addition, FirstBank has launched its wholly owned remittance platform named First Global Transfer product to promote the international transfer of funds across its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa. These subsidiaries include FBNBank DRC, FBNBank Ghana, FBNBank Gambia, FBNBank Guinea, FBNBank Sierra-Leone, FBNBank Senegal, “the statement reads in part.

Reiterating the Bank’s resolve in promoting diaspora remittances,

regardless of where one is across the globe, the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Gbenga Shobo said, “at FirstBank, expanding our network of International Money Transfer Operators is in recognition of the significant roles diaspora remittances play in driving economic growth such as helping recipients meet basic needs, fund cash and non-cash investments, finance education, foster new businesses and debt servicing.

We are excited about these partnerships, as it is essential to ensure our customers are at an advantage to receive money from their loved ones and business associates.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

31

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

32

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Hathiramani: Aviation, Banking Sector Play Pivotal Role in Nation’s Economy Chinedu Eze The Chief Executive Officer of Dana Air, Jacky Hathiramani has said that banking and aviation play critical roles in the economy of Nigeria and therefore should form a synergy for the growth of the country.

The Dana Air boss made this known at the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference with the theme “Economic Recovery, Inclusion and Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance, ”held recently at Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja Hathiramani who was represented by the airline’s Head of Corporate Communications Kingsley Ezenwa said, Dana Air is proud to have supported

the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference towards finding solutions to contemporary issues for rapid economic recovery, and sustainability.’’

He said, ‘’Aviation is a key driver of any economy and we understand the role that the banks and financial institutions play not only in our own industry, the aviation industry; In terms of accessibility and financial inclusion, but towards achieving a faster economic recovery and transformation, which is the aim of this present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We thank the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo for his presence and support, the Central Bank Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CIBN President Dr

Bayo Olugbemi and the Chairman, Body of Banks’ CEOs Dr Herbet Wigwe for putting up a strong commitment towards Nigeria’s economic recovery and growth, “he added.

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo also during his visit to the Dana Air exhibition stand at the conference, appreciated the airline for supporting while urging the Institute to promote sustainable growth.

Dana Air is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with over 27 daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Enugu. The airline is reputed for its innovative online products and services, quality onboard service and on-time departures.

INAUGURATION OF EXECUTIVE MEMBERS…

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, First City Monument Bank, Mrs. Yemisi Edun; President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mrs. Comfort Eyitayo; the new President, Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria, Mrs. Nwamara Nnaji and Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, during the investiture of Mrs. Nnaji as the President of the Society and inauguration of new Executive members held in Lagos… recently

House Committee on Agriculture Charges Research Institutions on Blue Economy Oluchi Chibuzor

The House Committee on Agriculture, Colleges and Research Institution has stressed the need for agric-based government organisations across the country to synchronize their technological innovations to enable the nation harness its various aquatic resources in line with the global blue economy.

This, according to them, would escalate various economic activities within the value chains in the fisheries sub sector thereby increasing their internal generated revenue.

They made the assertion during their oversight function visit at the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), Lagos, while commending the research based institution on its various achievements since it was established in 1975.

Commenting areas the institute has recorded success is the recent agreement with the international meteorological organisation and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) to get real time weather conditions that are useful to both private and public organisations in the country.

Explaining the reason for their visit, the Chairman House Committee on Agric Colleges and Research Institutions, Honorable Munir Babba Dan Agundi, said it was to see what they are doing in terms of their mandate that is enshrined in the constitution of the nation.

According to him, “We are expecting our research institutes to give us the best option to meet standards and discourage other nations from taking our money

through value addition. So, they must begin to align themselves by synchronizing their innovation to meet the national development agenda of the government.

“We are here to ensure the appropriation of 2018, 2019, 2020; submissions made to us and we are out to see those physical projects, level of compliance with what is on ground. Also it is about the procurement act and also the level of the implementation of 2021, so that the country can be sure of what we are doing.”

He also noted that it was important that various institutions under their purview carry out their mandates in line with the act establishing them in the country.

He added, “As I said earlier one the thing I have been able to understand when I was opportune to attend a naval conference in Kano is the blue economy. Very soon an act will come to see who will manage the resources under this concept they are trying to bring, because it is important this sector must be carried along in our national development programmes.”

In his presentation, the Executive Director, NIOMR, Dr, Sule Abiodun noted that the institute remains strategically important to the nation’s quest in achieving its blue economy agenda.

“It shows that we are keeping to our mandate and development of the blue economy in support of this government agricultural policy. They are happy and in turn we expect them to support the institute more, ”he said.

Narrating recent development in the institute, Abiodun

revealed that since coming onboard, NIOMR’s management has been able to revive the N3 billion acquired vessels in order to support the blue economy or rational exploration.

“We got support from America, South Africa, and Spain; in fact we are expecting some scientist from University of Michigan that will come and work with us on our vessels here,” he noted.

Meanwhile, as the country seeks to maximise its aquatic resources to increase job creation and improve livelihood of its citizen, manpower development and skill gap in the industry, the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, Professor Garba Sharubutu acknowledged must massively funded to develop the capacity young Nigerians interested in the sector.

Sharubutu, who reiterated the need for maintenance culture towards national assets, added that the institute has been under funded resulting in the low performance in terms of research.

“The agenda right now is that we must start training our own cadets; we are calling on the National Assembly to see how they can build into our 2022 enough budgetary allocation for us to be able to train our own cadet.

“That is the only way this place can grow and if this place grows we will be able to attract even students from offshore of this country.”

Earlier the NIOMR ED, also had intimated the honorable members of the recent interest from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as they remain committed to help the nation in data gathering at sea.

33

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

United Airlines Deploys Dreamliner, Begins Washington D.C to Lagos Flights Chinedu Eze United Airlines has announced that new service between Washington, D.C. and Lagos, Nigeria would begin November 29 (subject to government approval).

The airline in a statement released at the weekend, said it would operate three weekly flights connecting the US capital to Nigeria’s largest city, which is also the top Western African destination for US -based travellers.

The airline said tickets would be

available for sale on united.com and the United app from last weekend.

“This new flight to Lagos has been highly anticipated by our customers and offers the first ever nonstop service between Washington, D.C. and Nigeria, as well as convenient, one-stop connections to over 80 destinations throughout the Americas including Houston and Chicago,” said United’s vice president of international network and alliances, Patrick Quayle.

“On behalf of all of United we’d like to offer our sincere thanks to the

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and US Department of Transportation for supporting our plans to provide this service,” Quayle added.

“We are honored to work with our partners at United Airlines to welcome their second nonstop connection from Dulles International to the African continent,” Acting vice president of airline business in charge of development at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Carl Schultz said.

“Lagos joins nearly 50 other

nonstop international destinations currently served by the National Capital Region’s gateway to the world.” he added.

United will operate this route with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner featuring 28 United Polaris business class lie-flat seats, 21 United Premium Plus premium economy seats, 36 Economy Plus seats and 158 standard economy seats.

United said this flight is the only service between the US and Nigeria to offer premium economy product, disclosing that flights would

depart Washington, D.C. on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and return from Lagos on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

“This new flight builds on United’s expansion into Africa and solidifies United’s leadership position to Africa from the D.C. metro area, with more flights to the continent than any other airline.

“Just this year, United launched new service between New York/ Newark and Johannesburg, South Africa and between Washington,

D.C. and Accra, Ghana. And this December and January, United will increase its service to Accra from three weekly flights to daily as customers travel home for the winter holidays,” the airline also said.

United is also returning its popular service between New York/Newark and Cape Town, South Africa on December 1.

United’s new flights comply with each country’s COVID-19 protocols and customers should check destination requirements before traveling.

NCAA DG Wins ABLA Leadership Dell Emerging Africa Forum to Showcase Award On Aviation Safety, Regulation Power of Transformative Technologies Chinedu Eze The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu has been conferred with the Distinguished Leadership Excellence Award at the just concluded ALM Africa Summit and African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) 2021.

The award was given to him in recognition of his commitment to safety and regulatory excellence in Nigeria’s aviation industry.

In his remark at the virtual event, Captain Nuhu said: “On behalf of the entire staff of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, I want to thank the organizer for deeming it fit to recognise

me with the Distinguished Leadership Excellence Award.

The organisers said the recipients were chosen through their contributions to Africa’s socio-economic development, remarking that they have demonstrated a positive impact on the people of Africa.

Other awardees include Segun Ogunsanya, CEO, Airtel Africa, Nigeria, ‘African Business Leader of the Year, which recognises the exceptional business leader whose vision, innovations, and management abilities have helped steer his company successfully in both his home country and in the global marketplace, driving growth, and providing leadership.

Another winner, Babajide

Sanwo-Olu, Governor, Lagos State, Nigeria, won the ‘Business Friendly Governor of the Year’, which is for a State or regional governor who has been able to drive investment into his/her state/region, remarkably increasing the commercial activities of his state /region since assumption of office.

Also Ernest Addison, Governor, Bank of Ghana, won the ‘Central Bank Governor of the Year Award’, which recognises those who have led their countries’ economies through what has been another tumultuous year and have been able to stimulate growth and stabilise their macroeconomic environment, thereby boosting investor confidence.

Emma Okonji Dell Technologies has reinforced its commitment to providing its customers with advanced technologies that drive business continuity and growth, in line with digital transformation being a key priority for businesses and government across East, West and Central Africa.

The advanced technologies would be showcased at the Dell Technologies Forum Emerging Africa, scheduled to hold on October 6, 2021, and it would bring together business leaders and industry experts, to share their insights on how technology can help shape the future success of businesses.

The event will also serve as a platform for Dell Technologies to showcase its ground-breaking portfolio of enterprise and consumer solutions that accelerate the digital delivery of modern IT services that can differentiate a business, its products, and operations.

Senior Vice President – MERAT, Mohammed Amin, will lead the keynote session.

He will covertopics related to the acceleration of digital transformation and how organizations can build resilience and agility. It will also feature high level speakers and CXOs who will share their knowledge on how digital technologies can enhance business productiv-

ity and profitability, enabling them to be at the forefront of innovation.

The informative sessions will also examine how organizations across Emerging Africa can prepare for the digital future and drive business success through technologies such as hybrid cloud, edge, 5G, AI/ML, data management and security.

Vice President – Emerging Africa, Dell Technologies, Habib Mahakian, said: “Our primary focus is to help organizations accelerate socio-economic and business transformation initiatives with speed and purpose as we work together to power the innovation agenda of countries across Emerging Africa.

34

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

HOMES&DESIGN GLITZY NESTOIL TOWER NESTLING IN THE SKYLINE

35

36

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

HOMES&DESIGN

NESTOIL TOWER RULES VICTORIA ISLAND’S PRIME PROPERTIES MARKET By no means the tallest building in Nigeria, it leaps into the effervescent space with sparkling beauty and glitz and a helipad as its crown. Big businesses, first-rate multinationals, usually seek out property in an environment that suits their stature. Nestoil Plc had this in mind when it decided to build the futuristic Nestoil Tower, writes Bennett Oghifo

N

ot by any stretch the tallest building that rules Nigeria’s skies. Yet, it remains of the most shimmering adornments beautifying the vertical space.

The Nestoil Tower, a 15-storey commercial real estate, is the first development in West Africa to attain the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

LEED is an internationally recognised green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Green building is an integrative effort to transform the way built environments are constructed and operated.

The building provides unique office space in the heart of Lagos.

The Nestoil Tower is a one-of-a-kind office development strategically located at the intersection of two major business districts (Akin Adesola Street and Saka Tinubu Street) in Victoria Island, Lagos, with a panoramic view of Eko Atlantic City and the Atlantic Ocean.

The development is targeted at dynamic businesses, multinational industries,

financial institutions that require top brand positioning and desire to be at the very heart of their target market.

The tower stands tall on the highbrow Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, and consists of 12,200m2 commercial space and a helipad.

It has a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean and the whole business district of Victoria Island, Lagos, and beyond that, is the business address.

The Nestoil Tower is a mixed-use high-class facility that also has residential apartments. The building’s 15 floors are approximately 3900sqm each with about 9904sqm leasable commercial spaces and residential apartments to provide flexible accommodation for occupants.

There is adequate parking space, as it also has multi-storey parking and recreational facilities.

Those that visited it during the Open House Lagos event in May when it was being built “attest to the fact that its design, form, and unique aesthetic are deserving of the terms that some have used to describe it, such as ‘Iconic’ and ‘Innovative.” Designed by Lagos-based architectural firm ACCL, It’s one of the first buildings to be LEED-certified in Nigeria.”

The building was designed by ACCL

(Adeniyi Cocker Consultants Limited), constructed by Julius Berger Plc. The building’s form was created using gently curved surfaces of high-performance glass with horizontal tubular details, which accentuate the sweeping effect of the curved façade.

The arced curtain walls are further defined by a surround of solid white metal panels to complete the contemporary composition of this building.

Rare Features The features that make the iconic Nestoil Tower unique are its raised floor for underground cabling and flexible configuration of office spaces, and double-glazed curtain wall systems to minimise solar heat gains. There are also the plug-and-play internet facility, borehole and water treatments, dedicated transformer with two units of 1.3mVA and one unit of 910kVA generators.

That is not all. The tower has 4,110sqm of premium leasable office areas, 10 premium residential apartments, flexible floor plate from 231m2 to 810m2, plus kitchenettes and storage rooms per floor. It has eight restrooms per floor (including toilets for persons living with disabilities).

The tower also boasts four passenger elevators, car park facilities for over 225 cars on 18 split levels, a restaurant, and a café coffee room.

With the exquisite facilities, only the highest standards are enough, the tower’s promoters say.

There is flexible floor space 231 - 810 sqm in the interior; 20 premium offices; raised access flooring; helideck; high-performing façade (thermal and acoustic); parking space for over 150 cars; water treatment plant; sprinkler and latest firefighting equipment.

Others are dedicated transformer with generators; central canteen facility for the entire building; covered executive terrace with a view; automated access control; high-level security; facilities for the disabled; central atrium with water features; and state of the art gym.

The tower was designed by ACCL Architects from Lagos and constructed

by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. It is said to come with unmatchable accessibility, convenience, and close to top governmental organisations, financial institutions, fivestar hotels, recreational centres, leading schools, and the Eko Atlantic City.

The Nestoil Towers is easily accessible and in the heart of the commercial business district.

37

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSSPECIAL

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

EMEFIELE: CBN WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT NIGERIANS INVOLVED IN LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in this interview after last week’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting spoke about activities in the foreign exchange market and the upcoming Central Bank Digital Currency, commonly known as the eNaira. James Emejo and Dike Onwuamaeze bring the excerpts: There have been complaints that since the CBN stopped selling dollars to Bureau De Change (BDCs), the parallel market rate has been depreciating, what can you say about that and there are reports that the CBN is investigation Aboki Fx for certain FX infractions, how true is that? y view is that number one, the only exchange rate that I recognise today in the Nigerian foreign exchange market which is the dominant market remains the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window which is the market that we expect everybody that wishes to procure foreign exchange or somebody who wants to sell foreign exchange - go to your bank, the I&E window will attend to you. I am sorry to say that I do not and I do not intend to recognise that there are any other rates in the market. And I will give you explanation.

Eight weeks ago, we did stop the allocation of foreign exchange (FX) to the BDCs. Indeed, we began to ask ourselves why we waited for so long that we continued to do this.

The reason is because Nigeria remains the only country on earth, the CBN remained the only central bank in the world as at eight weeks ago that would deep it’s hands into its reserves, our commonwealth and you pack dollars and begin to sell it to BDC operators in the market all in an attempt to stabilise FX rate in the market. Even when I was a regulated entity or I was running a regulated entity, that when exchange rate begins to go up at this so-called market, the central bank begins to call. I remember a deputy governor in central bank calling me at Zenith Bank saying that can’t you see the black market rate is going up but we found out that your bank is not coming to take dollar to sell. Come and take dollar to sell and pump into the black market and the illegal market. That is what we in this country at central bank we decided to adopt as a way to stabilise exchange rate and for me it’s a wrong decision and we should really applaud ourselves that we decided that this will stop and it has stopped for good.

The reason I say this is because the Bank of England does not sell dollar to BDC even though they exist. The Federal Reserve does not sell dollar to other FX dealers in the United States. Indeed, nobody talks about BDC rate in the streets of London; if you go to Oxford Circus, the exchange rate that a BDC operator will give to you on Oxford Circus is certainly different from the rate that a BDC will give you if you are in Camden area of London. Yet, nobody ever mentions the rate of BDC in the city of London. So it really beats my imagination that Nigeria carried on with this kind of practice that tended to support illegal activities of people who are involved in graft and involved in corrupt practices. What do they do? Instead of collecting naira as bribe, you tell the person to exchange it to dollar so that you can have small packets of dollars in your pocket.

And yet, the CBN in an attempt to moderate rates in that market decided that it would take dollars from our reserves and begin to support the corrupt tendencies of people. Or is it even through its activity that we have unwittingly support led activities of those who illegally buy foreign exchange from this illegal market, carry them in aircraft out of the country and go to buy arms and ammunition and bring them back into the country and conduct crime - whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping or all sorts of nefarious activities.

We, the central bank take our country’s dollar and sell to people to go and but arms and

M

Emefiele

ammunition to come out and hurt us.

That’s what we are seeing and people want us to continue to do. We cannot do that any longer. What we are saying is that if you have any legal, legitimate business you want to conduct, please, take your business to the bank. You want to travel, go to your bank they will sell you FX, you want to pay school fees, go to your bank, they will sell you FX, pay medical bills, which are some of the reasons people give for going to BDC, please go to your bank. Indeed, I want to put it in record; if the amount you want is even above the limit that is recognised and we find that the reason you are making those demands is legitimate, you bank will speak to us and we will give you more than what is even the limit. Don’t go elsewhere, go to your bank. In the same vein, you have dollar to sell, go to your bank. We don’t recognise and we will not see it again.

That is our position. And people are saying banks are not selling - we will continue to monitor the banks and I have said it that if anybody sees a bank, you go to your bank and they don’t sell to you; we advertised our emails, our hotlines and we said you should call the bank.

Call us and we will intervene and ensure that bank sells to you. However, if you go to a bank with fake ticket, fake visa, fake passport, we have told them not to sell to you. If they sell to you mistakenly because you hoodwinked them to sell to you and after two weeks they checked and found that you canceled your ticket

or your visa is fake, they will call you because you are their customer; they have your BVN, they have your number - they will call you to return the dollar.

If you do not return it they will place your name on their website, your BVN on their website and we will pick those details and we will send them to EFCC and other crime agencies and they will pursue you, you must return the dollar because you cannot acquire it illegally.

That is our position. We conducted a study.

One of the banks in one day sold to 52 people who said they wanted to travel.

After two weeks they went to check, and 40 out of the 52 have canceled their tickets.

How could you have a situation where about 70 per cent or 80 per cent of people who went to a bank to buy BTA on the excuse that they wanted to travel, banks sold to them, but they turned and then went and sold it to black market because they wanted to enjoy the arbitrage. They were asked to return it and we are going to pursue you if you are involved in this nefarious activity. You want to do legitimate business, conduct a legitimate business and we will be with you. That is on bureau de change and we are not going to go there again. And Aboki FX, yes, unfortunately our colleagues here at CBN wrote a memo to banks and asked those banks to provide information about Aboki FX. We have been studying the activities of AbokiFx in the last two and a half years.

There was a particular time I asked our

colleagues to call the so-called owner of AbokiFx that we wanted to engage him to understand his model, his basis and how he came about advertising those rates.

We found him as a Nigerian who lives in England, and conducts this nefarious and criminal activity on our economy. It is an economic sabotage and we will pursue him wherever he is. We will report him to international security agencies. We’ll track him, Mr. Oniwinde, we will find you, because we cannot allow you to continue to conduct an illegal activity that kills our economy. For your information, our preliminary findings revealed the following: First, let me make it clear that if you are running a legitimate business and following out rules at the central bank for use of financial system, there is nothing to worry about. But for those who think they are smart and they want to continue to sabotage the efforts of the CBN in running this economy for the good of Nigerians and this government, we will make life very difficult for you, you time has come.

We will continue to do our jobs of safeguarding the financial system for the betterment of everybody. Now, on AbokiFX, the company was registered in the UK in November 2015 and is owned by one person who claimed in his regular fillings that there are other people with significant interest in that business but he does not want to name them. So who are these significant persons behind him and why are they hiding? This is on UK filling records and we would go there and conduct

38

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

BUSINESS SPECIAL

INTERVIEW

EMEFIELE: CBN WON’T RELENT UNTIL INFLATION REDUCES SIGNIFICANTLY

CBN building

those investigations. Since inception of this business he has continued to file the same account to the UK Government; the same £1,000 cash account - that is his balance sheet, that same £1,000 total assets...consecutively for four years.

Yet, here in Nigeria, he and the company have over 25 bank accounts with about eight banks in both naira and dollar with significant turnover also showing him simply milking the system through speculative information activities on the naira and collecting his proceeds in cash through a particular ATM in London. Our preliminary findings suggest that this website was built and is being used purely for purpose of foreign exchange manipulation and speculation. They get naira loans, use it to purchase dollars, take a position, change the rate over a given period, sell the dollars they purchased and make a profit. This is completely illegal, it is unacceptable and we will purse them. Another finding also showed that Mr. Oniwinde, the owner of AbokiFx is an illegal FX dealer. Between February 2020 and May 2021, he had inflowed and sold tens of millions of naira in FX to several Nigerian companies and we will find those companies as well. In contravention of our FX laws because he is an illegal FX dealer, he directly benefits from the rates he quote daily on his website. We are finalising our investigation and must one, these companies that patronise him that they are also going to face out wrath. A few questions; has Nigerians ever asked how exactly AbokiFx collects his data that he publishes on his website? How many BDCs can claim that they have either seen a staff of AbokiFx coming to ask for daily rates or how many BDCs send daily returns on exchange rate to AbokiFx. How then do they determine what the rate is and they post them illegally on their website.

In which other country will unlicenced single person be the one that sets exchange rate in that country? How come he sets exchange rate of our own country, and why is he not setting exchange rate of pound and dollar or pound and South African Rands or pound and Ghana cedis? Why target Nigeria, and yet you are a Nigerian? You chose to live in London, enjoy all the spoils in London at the expense of the blood of Nigerians. You will pay for it. The CBN Act Section 2, does make it clear that only the central bank can determine the value of the naira, and yet a single unscrupulous individual who lives

in London continues to manipulate the exchange for Nigerians, continues to make huge profits, continues to collect these profits in cash ATMs in London while ordinary Nigerians suffer the consequences of these actions. We will not allow this to continue again...

At the CIBN meeting just a few days ago, you made an announcement on the establishment of the Nigerian International Financial Centre (NIFC), I would like that you provide an update on that and other projects that the CBN is spearheading such as the commodity exchange, the National Art Theatre and most recently, e-Naira?

Let me start with the e-naira side of it.

Yes, e-naira is scheduled to be launched on October 1, 2021, and we have all the approvals and mandates to launch. But it is important to understand that the e-naira is not a one-off, it is a journey that starts on October 1. October 1 marks the beginning of e-naira journey. On October 1, a Nigerian should be able to download the e-naira app from either Google plays store or apple app store.

On board themselves, fund their e-naira wallet using their bank account or with cash at a registered agent location and conduct transactions such as transfers and purchases at merchants outlets that have onboarded.

Simply, let’s imagine that a bank has about N10 billion in its account, that is physical naira. We can decide to say out of the N10 billion, we move N2 billion into its electronic e-wallet for the bank.

So, if you are a bank customer and you have say N10 million in the bank, for your comfort of spending and making purchase, you could tell the bank to load N2 million out of your N10 million into your wallet. So, your bank balance in physical cash drops to N8 million, while your e-wallet carries N2 million. With that you can make purchases both within and across the country.

There are so many variance of the e-naira. But this is where we would start because we are not going to pretend that there are not risks in opening your system up. We would look at the various products, determine the risk, determine the best way to mitigate the risk before

we now open it up more and more. But it is a journey that we are determined and we have decided we would start on October 1, 2021. Now, on Bitts, we chose them as a partner. In some other climes where they are, they are just like they have their software and they earn their money. But we chose that they would establish their company in Nigeria. The CBN will own substantially majority stake in that company. So it is not my company as people have said, that I went to the Caribbean to setup a company. It is a company that will be established in Nigeria and majority holding will be the CBN. So, in an attempt to choose contractors, the CBN went through a rigorous selection process in line with the Public Procurement Act conducted by CBN Directors and a Deputy Governor.

Ten companies were evaluated based on the following areas: Technology ownership and control, implementation timeline, efficiency and ease of adoption, support for anti-money laundering and combating of terrorism, platform security, interoperability, implementation experience. Bitts came first with an average of 83.2 per cent on the scoring grade. We chose Bitts because it is a leader in the digital currency space with subject matter experts at the intersection of technology and policy. Now on other projects. First, the national art theatre. The first time the asset was used was in Festac 77, when different people came from different parts of the world and after that festival, different global concerts all held in that main bowl. But unfortunately, due to poor maintenance, we allowed the edifice to rot. But in our attempt to revamp the facility as the Bankers’ Committee at about three years ago at one of its retreats at Ijebu Ode decided to assist our Nigerian youths.

The Bankers’ Committee decided to fund that initiative and the first phase of that project started in March this year. If you go to the national arts theatre, you will see some changes because work is ongoing. Contracts have also been awarded for the establishment of four strategic hubs – for music, information technology, software developers as well

as fashion. This will cost the Bankers’ Committee, not the CBN and not the federal government tens of billions of naira as contribution to support our youths in this country. We are hoping that by November 2022, the edifice would come alive. Infraco is also another project that the president graciously gave approval for the CBN, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and the Africa Finance Corporation to act as equity holders.

The plan is to put in place equity of N1 trillion and N14 trillion as debt. The essence of this is for us to be able to raise about N15 trillion to fund Nigeria’s infrastructure. All we are saying is that there is no need to encumber the balance sheet of the federal government and that with infraco, the infrastructure of this country would be developed again.

Basically we have seen that inflation trending down, what do you think is bringing it down and what will you do to stabilise the economy and keep it that way going forward?

We are happy that this is happening and happening so fast. You will all recall that as a result of the pandemic the world went into a lockdown. This lockdown resulted in locking down of the global economy, supply chains everything was lockdown.

Nigeria just like every other economy went into a recession. During the second quarter of 2020 Gross Domestic Product was - 6.1 per cent, third quarter was 3.62 per cent, fourth quarter luckily we escaped recession and it was 0.1 per cent. In first quarter 2021 we recorded 0.5 and second quarter of 2021 5.01 per cent.

If you imagine the leap from below the river of -6.1 per cent to -3.6 per cent to positive 0.1 per cent, to 0.5 per cent and to five per cent, it means that a lot of work has been done that brought to where we are today. But I must say that the 5.01 per cent came primarily as a result base year effect that will dissipate. And that is the reason we are not going to make any promise that the rate of five per cent is going to continue. But we will see to it that we end the year, like we said our CBN estimate is about 2.86 per cent average for the year. We will continue to do what we are doing that resulted in this more aggressively.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

39

BUSINESS SPECIAL

INTERVIEW

JOHNSON: GUINNESS WILL LEVERAGE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENHANCEDPERFORMANCE Dr. OmobolaJohnson, who was Nigeria’s pioneer Minister ofCommunication Technology in 2011, joined Board of Guinness Nigeria in 2016 as anindependent Non-Executive Director. She became the Board Chair on July 1, 2021. Inthis interview with Goddy Egene, Johnson spoke on her vision and howGuinness Nigeria will operate and deliver value for all stakeholders in thechallenging business environment: Excerpts: Congratulations on your appointment as Board Chair, andthe first female Board Chair at that.

What was the path/deliberate steps youtook to get to where you are today? hank you very much. Prior to joining the Board of GuinnessNigeria I had a successful and rewarding professional career in Accenture, aglobal management consulting and technology firm. I would say this is where,for twentyfive years, I developed a lot of the skills, experience andcompetencies that have got me where I am today.

Working with world classprofessionals and working for some of the most prestigious companies in variousindustries within and outside Nigeria, to solve real world challenges and makethem more competitive. Leaving Accenture, after five years as the CountryManaging Director, I was very fortunate to be asked to serve as a FederalMinister, further honing my private sector consulting and management skillswith policy making and public sector and dare I say political experience.

Theseexperiences have prepared me well for the role that I am taking up now. Istrongly believe I am ripe for the task and will put in my best to ensure wecontinue to leverage growth opportunities in the industry and Nigeria as whole.

Leadership in Alcohol in Society, BuildingThriving Communities and Reducing our Environmental Impact. All these are ofstrategic importance to the continued seamless operations of our company notjust in my first year but also into the future of our company.

T

What initiativesdo you plan to get the Board to implement during your first year as Board Chairof Guinness Nigeria?

Continuity isextremely critical for us in Guinness Nigeria, and so even though the board leadershiphas changed, our business priorities remain the same. So, my role as the newBoard Chair is to ensure that all the plans that we have in motion are executedin a way and manner that upholds our continued commitment to good corporategovernance, ethical standards and the highest standards of integrity in allbusiness transactions. We will adhere strictly to our productivity strategiesto enhance performance and deliver value for all stakeholders, while ensuringthat we observe all government laws and regulatory policies.

Diversity and inclusion remain at the heart ofour business and so we will continue to champion the

What are yourplans in the leadership of the Board to ensure that Shareholders of GuinnessNigeria are kept happy?

We will continue towork hard to ensure that our shareholders aspirations for Guinness Nigeria aremet. Shareholders are happy when they hear about the great impact their company is making in their communities;they are happy when they see the company making adequate profit after tax andreceive dividends every year. Shareholders want to see the company showsignificant asset/capital expansion, cost efficiency as well as expansivemarket penetration and growth. The Board will keep all of these things and morefront and centre whilst also ensuring that there is constant communication andengagement with our shareholders to ensure that we are on the right track.

Johnson strengthening of theskills and intellectual assets of our entire workforce. We will not relent inour drive towards sterling innovation in product development as we continue toput the needs of our consumers first; and we will continue to ensure ourefforts are creating shared value in the communities where we live and workfollowing our 3-pillar approach of;

The COVID-19pandemic has redefined business operations globally and brought about a newnormal. What are your plans for growth as things gradually ease back to normal?

Suffice it to saythat the COVID-19 pandemic did not just come with challenges, it also showed usthat we can do things better and more efficiently leveraging information,communication and other modern technologies. We are adapting well to this newway of working and I strongly believe that we will emerge from this pandemic amore efficient and effective organisation on a smooth path to recovery andmarket growth.

What do you thinkmay be the biggest challenge(s) Guinness Nigeria must prepare to deal with inthe future and what would be your plans to

mitigate them?

There are manychallenges that Guinness must deal with and this is part and parcel of runninga successful company. There are severalmacroeconomic headwinds that have affected all companies operating in Nigeria,albeit to varying degrees. These include high inflation, currency depreciation,recession and internal security challenges. These are significant pressures onany business, more so, a fast-moving consumer goods business like ours.

However, as a forward-looking organisation that has operated successfully inNigeria for many years, we are always thinking ahead - ensuring that ourlong-term planning takes full cognizance of the effects of these challenges andour operational strategies mitigate the impact of these challenges on ourbusiness.

What is yourmessage to Shareholders, Staff and Consumers of Guinness Nigeria as you stepinto this position?

I urge all ourshareholders to continue to give us the support that we have enjoyed to dateand to keep believing in the leadership of their company to deliver healthy andsustainable returns. To staff, I say a big thank you for all the hardwork thatthey have done through a most challenging time. Every single member of ourworkforce is important and I urge them to continue to put their best footforward as we continue to build and grow this great company, with the assurancethat everything is being done to ensure their health, safety and welfare.

To our distributors/retailers, I say thank you for your partnership; we appreciateyour trust in us. We will continue to provide our partners with the excellentservice that they deserve, and we hope that our business relationships continueto be productive and progressive. To our esteemed consumers, I re-iterate thatwe are committed to manufacturing quality beverages that meet their tastes andcater to their lifestyles and we value the constant feedback that they give us.

WILLIAMS-EDEM: OUR FOCUS IS CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION As a platform tailored to meet the needs of businesses, boost productivity and help business owners keep track of transactions, inventories, etc., the Quickteller Business platform abides by the simple rule of fintech companies in relation to businesses: make life easy. In this interview, the Head, Sales - SMEs & Merchant Acquiring, Interswitch, Jeffrey Williams-Edem, speaks about the role of Quickteller Business as a payment collection platform for businesses of all sizes. Oluchi Chibuzor presents the excerpts: What is the Quickteller Business app? he Quickteller Business is beyond an app. It is a payment platform specifically designed to ensure an efficient payment collection for businesses and merchants of various scopes, providing them access to an assortment of integrated payment offerings, from disbursements to value financing. To break it down, the Quickteller Business app serves as a hassle-free digital payment platform for businesses of all sizes, including large corporates, small businesses and socialpreneurs, managing their payment collection while allowing them to focus on the business side of things.

In terms of productivity, does the Quickteller Business app have any impact on the productivity levels of SMEs? In respect to the productivity level of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the goal is to be more efficient in the way they sell their business, the way they make decisions, and the way they keep records. The Quickteller Business app has been developed to allow any SME instantly collect payment, whether physically or remotely. Not only card-based payments, but people who don’t have cards can use a Quick Response (QR) code. The QR code can be generated on the app and shared socially or presented to the person to scan with their bank app. Those without a smartphone can dial the USSD string to make payments instantly. These available options make the payment experience for their customer faster, easier, and efficient. Also, every user has an interactive dashboard that displays information such as who paid, what they paid for and how much they paid. To emphasize the importance of record keeping, the Quickteller Business app allows you to generate an invoice. Being able to generate an invoice means that you can keep a proper record of your business, enabling you to go back and see all the sales generated and status of all the placed orders; whether paid, pending payment, or delivered, all within the app.

How can SMEs plug into the QTB platform without a website?

The Quickteller Business platform was designed to allow for an easy onboarding of its users. All a user needs to do is to register by providing the necessary details to setup their account, which allows the user to perform actions like

T

add inventory, remove inventory, add a picture, and generate a product link and share with somebody, who in turn will copy the link, click it, and make payment.

We’ve made it so easy for SMEs to track payment records, digital stores, and see reports broken down to different parts of their businesses and enabling the business to run efficiently. SMEs can manage their digital and physical shop all from one device and that is the focus of what the platform is trying to achieve, by making the SMEs more available, informed, and positioned to do selling.

What are potential Quickteller Business users assured of?

Businesses are assured of four key things: they are assured of a quick receipt of payment when a transaction is received digitally. The second assurance is the bouquet of options available to receive payments.

Card acceptance will not be the only option, as there are multiple ways to collect money to avoid the matter of customer debt. Businesses are also assured of receiving transaction information like reports and data, and also assured of the security that is built around that solution.

Williams-Edem Does the Quickteller Business platform come with a feature that ensures the safety of the data owners leverage to maximise the use of its services? of businesses?

When designing the Quickteller Business app, The Quickteller Business app is a product of we took into consideration the various pain points Interswitch – which has been in the payment industry of small businesses, and the data we’ve gathered shows for over 20 years. The certifications we have globally that 75 percent of the people who visit the platform ensure that all transactions are end-to-end encrypted are Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The using the PCIDSS certification standard. With this, the platform is created to satisfy the peculiar needs of these QR code generated on the platform is encrypted in businesses, making every feature of the platform useful such a way that it includes the vendor’s bank account, and easily leveraged for an optimal performance of what the customer is trying to pay for, and the amount. these businesses that are micro-transaction based. So, Immediately it is scanned, the banking app will show if a business is into trading, dry-cleaning, or pastries; you the name of the business you’re transacting with, they can immediately create a storefront, upload the bank account, what you’re paying for, and how pictures, and share the generated link with people much; all encrypted into the USSD and the QR code, on social media on the go, which exposes their business a further assurance of the level of security. automatically to hundreds of thousands of people at

no cost. Also, we have created simpler transaction Speaking of data security, what features of the options like USSD, QR code, pay with transfer that Quickteller Business platform can small business

are the basic ways these MSMEs receive money today, and more so, we have also made transaction fees competitive for them such that they only incur costs when payment is made. We provide business insights that allow them to be more informed about their business so that they are able to make better decisions as MSMEs.

What can Quickteller Business users expect in the coming years?

Users can expect timely updates that aim to address issues peculiar to their businesses, as more and more business transactions are conducted on the platform. They can also expect a loyalty reward programme through the loyalty integration scheme that can be activated to reward loyal customers, within the control of the user. This loyalty initiative can be supported by sponsors and can be turned on, turned off and adjusted based on the different environment and behavioral tendencies observed in consumers, which will encourage brand loyalty, repeat business, and increase in market size.

We will also introduce a fraud management solution, which is going to be available to everybody for free; meaning that you can control what kind of transactions you want to accept to curb fraudulent activities. This provides a window into what is going on around the user’s interface and further enhance the security profile of the business. Other services to look out for include escrow that serves as an intermediary channel between customers and businesses, guaranteeing satisfaction from both parties in every transaction, and split settlement that allows customers get payment settled into multiple accounts. For example, businesses can remit taxes after every transaction without waiting until the end of the month, making bank accounting easier.

What distinguishes QTB from the others?

The Quickteller Business platform is intuitive, robust and secure. Quickteller Business is an innovation and improvement of an already effective platform making it a more tested platform. The platform is built using worldstandard fraud management solutions that help mitigate fraudulent transactions. The Quickteller Business platform exposes its users to a ready market of over 5 million potential customers. The platform gives its users total control over its business, collection and every other thing in between.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

40

BUSINESS SPECIAL

PERSPECTIVE

A P P R E C I AT I O N , N OT GUILLOTINE FOR EMEFIELE Louis Achi

F

or a stuttering dollar-denominated, consumption-driven and almost solely petroleum-funded economy as well as a misunderstood role of central banks the world-over, recourse to attacking the candid intentions of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Governor appears a logical fair game. But a more rigorous, logical analysis of micro and macro-economic dynamics in a national economy suggests this is totally wrong. Here is why.

As at when the media briefing was held by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the naira was at about N560 to a dollar on the parallel market. This apparently and curiously was the key trigger for calling out Emefiele and setting him up for the guillotine.

Certified Financial Engineer/Investment Banking Executive - Dr. Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri - also Managing Director/CEO of Taurus Capital & Advisory Services Limited, the Investment Banking business of the Taurus Group cuts to the heart of the matter when he held that all the major causes of our economic woes are fiscal and falls within the direct responsibilities of the National Assembly, the Presidency and states.

Just within the half year of 2021 alone, the country spent over N1.47 trillion on the importation of petrol alone with the cost of subsidy on this item nudging almost N750 billion. When the import cost of the gasoil, DPK, and other mineral oil is added, the import value of the white petroleum products may hit a half year value of over $5 billion and $10 billion by year end.

Nigeria which expends this huge volume of dollar importing petroleum products against all superior reasons and common sense.

Its common knowledge that Nigeria with an arable land mass of 64 million hectares and working population of over 110million still fritter away over $11 billion annually importing food and food-related commodities that can easily be produced here. On this particular score, Emefiele has shouted himself hoarse and deployed successive intervention programmes to roll back the trend.

Part of the reason for this quagmire of avoidable food commodity import is because able-bodied adults cannot go to the farm due to the bloody rampage of rogue herders and bandits, who migrated from outside the country. These killers, alongside Boko Haram and ISWAP have made the land very insecure for farmers to go near their farms.

More, at every month end, grasping, greedy politicians will enthusiastically convert the large cache of naira they corner every month from shared Federation Account Allocation Committee and other internally generated revenue into dollars at the parallel market at whatever rate they can lay hand on, thereby putting more pressure on the exchange rate.

Because the nation’s education system and health services are decrepit, most of the elites have flown their families abroad for comfort, security, education and medical tourism. This also adds even more pressure on the foreign exchange market.

Even before the slump in crude oil receipts, Emefiele had spoken unendingly warning citizens to change their lifestyle of living off imported and exotic items. He had contended that for every imported item we indulge in takes a toll on the nation’s foreign reserve.

Significantly, he took specific steps to staunch the leakages.

Worse, the nation’s only source of major dollar earnings, petroleum is in low demand globally. Unfortunately, even earnings from oil and gas cannot cover 20 per cent of our dollar demand in the land.

Most foreign direct investors, Diaspora Nigerians and those, who would have brought in dollars, are staying away from the country.

Due to the naira’s free fall, even private sector entrepreneurs are hedging their savings in dollar and other safer assets because none

Emefiele

knows the fate of the country. People are scared that the burst may happen soon because of the appalling state of insecurity in the land.

Emefiele had moved against dollar merchants and shut down the illicit business of forex speculators. Entrepreneurs who apply and obtain dollars for production of tomato puree end up importing same.

Some of those who obtain forex to import machinery to boost rice production, using their farms as fronts and collateral, end up allegedly deploying it to import cars and rice. For these categories of forex speculators, Emefiele was strictly bad news. Emefiele’s bold positions were and remain salutary business for the country and her citizens. It is also worth noting that strident criticisms against the CBN boss considerably scaled up after his deserved reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari for another five years.

Persons who worked so hard to kill the local industries like the once booming textile industry, agriculture especially grains production, fertilizer production among other items that could easily be produced at home, were angered that Emefiele was reappointed for yet another five long years. Now they are baying for his blood.

Putting up with Emefiele’s fiscal responsibility demands is clearly unimaginable for them. So, they must discredit the man and his mandate. Many Nigerians know that without Emefiele’s ban on the importation of over 40 items some years ago, the nation’s foreign reserve would have been completely depleted.

His insistence on local production ensured that an assortment of locally-produced

rice graces our tables today.

His compelling foresight in banning these items, ensured remnants of our textile factories still exist. His firm restrictions in forex allocation, his preference to finance production rather than consumption has ensured the current revival in the textile industry, agriculture value chain and drastic reduction in importation of grains from all over the world.

Emefiele had last Friday vowed the apex bank would track down and bring the founder of AbokiFx, Mr. Oniwinde Adedotun to book for alleged speculative activities on the foreign exchange “which amounted to economic sabotage.”

According to Emefiele, Adedotun had been conducting nefarious and criminal activity on the Nigerian economy by indulging in forex speculation in contravention of the CBN Act, which vested the apex bank with the sole responsibility for determining the rate of the Naira.

Significantly, Emefiele has received the backing of former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, who recently affirmed that currency speculators’ attacks affected the value of the naira.

Moghalu, who was a deputy governor at the apex bank from 2009 to 2014, wrote on his Twitter handle that speculation affected the naira value, He stressed that there, “are currency traders around the world for whom the weakness of a currency is their very good fortune” disclosing that such traders ‘attack’ such currencies for profit, especially where the currency is using a fixed, official exchange rate determined by the central bank instead of the market.

He listed factors that affect the value

of the naira to include, “supply and demand (if too much naira is chasing scarce dollars, the dollar gets stronger relative to the naira, and vice versa). Others are inflation (a high inflation economy such as Nigeria’s weakens the value of the legal tender), high government indebtedness again, our case especially relative to our revenues and ability to pay which will be stretched the more we borrow on poor revenues, and 90 kobo out of every N1 goes to debt servicing).”

Though the former deputy governor did not mention Aboki FX, he said: “As the naira is effectively pegged officially to a ‘reserve’ currency (dollars, euros, pound sterling), speculators can attack such a currency for profit if the country (Nigeria in this case) is perceived to have insufficient foreign reserves to meet demand.

“Because our inflation rates at 17 per cent are way higher than those ‘reserve-currency’ countries, again we are exposed to possible currency attacks. If reserves are weak, and demand for dollars massively outstrips supply, currency devaluation is inevitable, and currency traders who mount speculative attacks profit from this devaluation.

“Such traders will borrow the naira from Nigerian banks; convert it to, say, dollars, and then buy short-interest paying Nigerian bonds. If, as the speculators anticipate, the central bank devalues the naira, the traders sell the bonds in the foreign currency, convert them into naira, and repay their original loan.

The steeper the devaluation, the higher the speculators’ profit.”

Moghalu also recommended that one of the best ways to strengthen the naira is to make the, “right trade policies to support and create such incentives for massive exports of finished, value-added goods from Nigeria.”

Beyond the complex economic analysis, every Nigerian should of necessity do selfexamination. It’s no secret that when banks provide dollars for travellers (BTAs o $4000), the same Nigerians who are criticising Emefiele will go and book flights - some will even use fake tickets - go change the money in the black market and smile home. Some who use genuine tickets have them cancelled.

It bears repeating that today a lot of Nigerian families have one relative or kid schooling abroad and pay their fees from here. Nearly all government officials have their children schooling abroad. From Local Government Councillors right up to the federal level ministers, DGs, MDA hierarchs and even assistant to councillors train their kids abroad.

Today Nigerians who send their kids abroad have quadrupled. The numbers of people who go on medical tourism have quadrupled.

And yet the nation’s product for earning this forex is largely crude petroleum.

All the dollars are being sourced locally.

A subsisting situation where the country earns 90 per cent of her forex from oil hardly helps matters. In some quarters, Nigeria does not even meet her OPEC oil quota. The foreign reserve is very low.

Worse, a country that does not produce or manufacture anything, but consuming from all cylinders would hardly have a competitive currency.

Previously, people travel abroad and send forex back home. Although this trend still continues to some extent, but currently people travel abroad and money is being sent to them from here.

Medical tourism is blossoming. Nigerians travel out in droves to cure headaches and even have sauna bath to booth. Some families travel to the US to take vaccine - something they could have done locally. They source the forex locally and fly out. All these weigh down the Naira value against the dollar.

Simply because Emefiele banned forex to BDCs - some of whom had been established as terrorism funders in Nigeria, they have moved against the CBN boss. The CBN boss deserves appreciation, certainly not the guillotine.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

41

42

Monday, september 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

Compiled by Bayo Akinloye

B OX E R PAC Q U I AO TO R U N FOR PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT Philippine boxing icon and senator Manny Pacquiao says he will run for president in the 2022 elections.

Pacquiao accepted the nomination of his PDP-Laban party at its national convention on Sunday, pledging to honestly serve the Filipino people who he said have been waiting for a change of government.

“I am a fighter, and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring,” Pacquiao, 42, said in his speech.

“In the name of our countrymen who have long been desiring for the right change in government, I wholeheartedly, bravely, and humbly hope for your support,” he added.

Pacquiao is the president of the PDPLaban faction led by him and Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. Earlier this month, another faction of the party nominated President Rodrigo Duterte to be its vice presidential candidate, and

Duterte’s former aide, Sen. Bong Go, as its presidential nominee.

Duterte, who is forbidden by the constitution from seeking a second six-year term, has accepted the nomination, but Go has declined to run for president.

ALGERIA’S EX-PRESIDENT BOUTEFLIKA BURIED

The funeral of Algeria’s former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has taken place in

Algiers, without the fanfare accorded to previous leaders.

A tank carried his body for burial at El-Alia cemetery, where his predecessors and other independence fighters are also interred.

Mr Bouteflika died on Friday at the age of 84.

He ruled Algeria for two decades but was forced from power two years ago by mass protests.

His brother Said, who’s serving a prison sentence for corruption, was allowed to attend.

CHINA WADES INTO CANADIAN ELECTION

A leading party in Monday’s Canadian election has caught the attention of authorities in Beijing with pledges to take a much tougher line on China if elected.

The platform of the opposition Conservative Party, whose leader Erin O’Toole is contending to become prime minister in the Sept. 20 election, mentions the Chinese government 31 times -- none of them favourably.

That contrast with the platform of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ruling Liberal Party, which mentions China only once in spite of simmering tensions over the detention of a high-profile Chinese executive in Vancouver and China’s arrests of two Canadians.

The Conservatives are promising to withdraw from the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Bank, reduce any of Canada’s dependence on China, and ban Chinese technology company Huawei from having anything to do with Canadian

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

43

FOREIGN DESK 5G networks.

Promising to stand up to the Communist government of China, the Conservative platform also levels criticism at Chinese policy on matters of trade, the environment, territorial Arctic claims and relations with Taiwan.

China’s ambassador to Canada has been quoted as saying Beijing is opposed to the “smearing” of China. Chinese state media have said if the Conservatives were to form a government, implementing the platform would “invite counterstrikes.”

Lynette Ong, a political scientist who specializes in China at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, said the Conservatives – popularly known as Tories – are attempting to capitalize on the current hostile opinion toward China.

However, she said, the reaction from the Chinese government is miscalculated.

AFGHANISTAN SCHOOLS REOPENS FOR ONLY BOYS All Afghan schools and Islamic seminaries for boys have reopened, the interim Taliban administration announced.

The order applies to male students and teachers from grade six and above, as those in lower grades were already told to return to school, Anadolu reports.

“All middle and high schools and formal madrassas have been notified of the start of their educational process on Sept.18,” it said.

“All male teachers and students must attend their educational institutions.”

The statement on Friday, however, made no mention when high schools for females would open. Girls in grades one to six had been allowed to resume classes before.

The acting government earlier said women in Afghanistan can pursue an education at all levels in any field, but classes will be segregated, and there will be a compulsory dress code.

The Taliban did not allow girls to attend school during their first rule, which lasted from 1996 to 2001. They took power in Afghanistan again last month, and have formed a 33-member interim government, which is yet to be recognized by the international community.

REBELS ATTACK BURUNDI’S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Burundian rebels say they launched an overnight attack on the airport in the commercial capital Bujumbura, reports the BBC. The RED-Tabara group said it fired mortars and fought the military for more than an hour.

Airport staff said they heard shelling and shooting but that air traffic was not disrupted.

A spokesman for Burundi’s army said he was not aware of an attack.

The incident occurred hours before President Evariste Ndayishimiye was due to fly to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

RED-Tabara is based in the Democratic

RUSSIANS VOTE AMID ALLEGATIONS O F EL E CT I O N IRREGULARITIES Russians vote on Sunday in the final day of threeday parliamentary elections marred by allegations of widespread irregularities and a fresh crackdown on jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s movement.

The ruling Kremlin-backed United Russia party is expected to win the parliamentary vote, following a clampdown by authorities on dissent that eliminated vocal critics from the ballot and crushed independent media.

But the party that backs President Vladimir Putin could be at risk of losing its supermajority in parliament, with polls before the election showing its popularity Republic of Congo and is one of Burundi’s most active rebel group.

BIDEN, MACRON TO TALK OVER AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE SPAT France says U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are planning to talk in the next few days about the diplomatic standoff that was triggered

dwindling to around 30 per cent.

United Russia’s current three-quarters majority in the 450-seat State Duma gives the party sweeping powers, including the ability to change the constitution as it did last year to allow Putin to run for two more terms as president after 2024.

The Communists, the second strongest party, are in a position to gain the most seats at the expense of United Russia.

The Communists retain a strong following among older Russians but may get an extra boost from supporters of Navalny this time around.

between the two old allies when Australia cancelled a submarine contract with Paris in favor of a new security alliance with the United States and Britain.

A French government spokesman said Sunday that the U.S. leader asked to speak with Macron and that a call would occur soon. Gabriel Attal told news channel BFM TV that France wants “clarification” over the cancellation of an order that it had with Australia.

Paris has expressed shock that Australia last week abandoned its $66 billion 2016 contract for French majority state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional dieselelectric submarines, although Australia says it has for months voiced concerns about the deal. The French spokesman said Paris is seeking discussions over reparations for the cancelled deal.

The French-Australian deal collapsed as the U.S., Australia and Britain, already long-time allies jointly announced a new security alliance that would build an Australian fleet of at least eight nuclearpowered submarines.

France, angered by the snub, recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra, but not London.

On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country was concerned the conventional submarines it ordered from France would not meet its strategic needs. He blamed the end of the deal with France on rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, although he did not specifically refer to China’s massive military buildup that the U.S. has expressed concerns about.

China has denounced the sharing of such U.S. and British nuclear technology as irresponsible.

Morrison said Sunday at a news conference that he understood France’s disappointment over the cancellation of the order but said, “Australia’s national interest comes first.”

SUBMARINE ROW: AUSTRALIA DENIES LYING TO FRANCE Australia has defended its decision to scrap a multi-billion dollar submarine purchase from France in favour of a new security pact with the US and UK. Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected accusations that Australia had lied, saying France should have been aware it was prepared to break the deal.

France says the Aukus pact has led to a “serious crisis” between the allies.

In an unprecedented move, it has recalled its ambassadors from the US and Australia as a sign of protest.

Under the Aukus pact, Australia will be given the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines as a way of countering China’s influence in the contested South China Sea. The partnership has ended a deal worth $37bn (£27bn) signed by Australia in 2016 for France to build 12 conventional submarines. France says it was informed of the pact only hours before the public announcement was made earlier this week.

Mr Morrison on Sunday said he understood France’s disappointment but that he had always been clear about Australia’s position.

The French government “would have had every reason to know that we had deep and grave concerns”, he said.

44

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

45

46

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

POLITICS

Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG Email: nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

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

2023: Can Fani-Kayode Change Dynamics of the Game?

After months of tip-toeing, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a former critic of the the All Progressives Congress, switched from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling APC. But what implications does it have on the 2023 presidential contest? Emameh Gabriel asks

L

ast Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) formally received ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode into the ruling party. This symbolic gesture is coming few months after news of his alleged defection hit Nigerians with a rude shock. The former minister was spotted in meetings with Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and the chairman, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Mai Mala Buni.

It has since been revealed that the public acceptance of Fani-Kayode into the APC was delayed for this long because he insisted that he would only join if President Buhari, and no else, formally received him in public.

Spoiler Role Against Yoruba Interest Surprisingly, his recent return to the APC was opposed staunchly by insiders. Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to Buhari, described Fani-Kayode’s crossover to the APC as ‘the saddest day of his political career.’ Ojudu did not explain if he was unhappy because the process for Fani-Kayode’s readmission into the APC was concluded without his input. A prominent member of the APC legal team that successfully defended Buhari’s mandate, which the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar sought to snatch from him, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, has asked Buhari to grant amnesty to Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu and Yoruba nation separatist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho. Ajulo wrote, “What’s good for the goose is ok for the gander. If Fani-Kayode can be given amnesty by @MBuhari, then same amnesty should be extended to Boko Haram, Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho and the Bandits.”

While Ajulo’s comparison of Fani-Kayode to Boko Haram insurgents and Bandits who have taken up arms against the state may sound extreme, the implied meaning should not be lost.

Clearly, he has situated Fani-Kayode’s damaging criticism of the Buhari administration in the same league with injury on the government caused by armed non-state actors like Boko Haram, IPOB and Bandits.

It is instructive, however, that Fani-Kayode’s return to the APC has no links to the leadership of the party in the South-west. For instance, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, which is Fani-Kayode’s home state was not involved in the negotiation; neither was Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the highest ranking member of the Buhari administration from the South-west.

Fani-Kayode made a sport of frequently mocking and heaping insult on the Vice President. He often described Osinbajo in unprintable names.

The National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was another target of regular scornful abuse from Fani-Kayode.

The overriding thought in the South-west is that Fani-Kayode has always been fighting against the real Yoruba interest. His entry into the APC at this time is perceived by many Yorubas as a grand design to play a spoiler role against the political ambition of Osinbajo and Tinubu.

Second Coming to APC This is Mr. Fani-Kayode’s second coming to the APC. He had a romance with the party in its formative period in 2013. He left before the 2015 presidential election to become spokesperson for former Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign.

His initial attempt was later shelved after forces in the party expressed their discomfort. Femi Fani Kayode is one of the most controversial politicians in contemporary Nigerian politics, with thousands of followers on social media, he

Fani-Kayode

has taken controversial positions on virtually all emerging political issues and discussions, whether locally or internationally, and was a fierce and unsparing critic of President Buhari and the ruling party since the ascendancy of the post - 2015 dispensation, that replaced the government of Goodluck Jonathan, in which he was a minister and later Presidential Campaign director.

In the hey days of his opposition and criticism of the ruling party, FFK, as he is popularly called, saw it as a religious crusade against the invading northern hordes, once describing the ruling party as a party of cows and darkness, and that he was the light and obviously could never associate with the former. So scathing were his criticism of the party, that his planned defection was greeted with outrage.

While some in the APC have lauded it as

a strategic victory for the Buni-led leadership of the party, others have expressed outright resentment for a man who in the past consistently painted President Buhari and the party in bad light.

Many of them have warned the party, that with his antecedent in the former ruling party, he poses a threat of being a mole.

Reacting to the defection, Joe Igbokwe, a chieftain of the APC in Lagos, said the ruling party rewards and pampers enemies.

In a series of posts on his Facebook page, Igbokwe said many APC members have not been rewarded despite their loyalty to the party. He said despite his work for the APC, “Abuja has not given me a phone call talk-less of inviting me for a coffee” with the president.

Igbokwe described Fani-Kayode as a “political charlatan” who was “given a

It is instructive, however, that Fani-Kayode’s return to the APC has no links to the leadership of the party in the South-west. For instance, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, which is Fani-Kayode’s home state was not involved in the negotiation; neither was Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the highest ranking member of the Buhari administration from the South-west.

Fani-Kayode made a sport of frequently mocking and heaping insult on the Vice President. He often described Osinbajo in unprintable names. The National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was another target of regular scornful abuse from Fani-Kayode

red carpet in the seat of power.”

“APC reward(s) enemies. They pamper enemies. This life no balance at all,” he said.

The former Lagos APC spokesperson said there are “countless number of APC die-hards who are 100% better than FFK. Nobody has remembered them. Not even a recharge card, not even a bottle of coke, not even thank you.”

He called on the ruling party to learn “consequences management,” noting that it takes “indiscipline and impunity to crush and destroy a nation. Actions carry consequences,” he added.

But all the grumblings didn’t stop his defection as he said God who has always directed his political choices has once again told him to go into the camp of his once bitter rival.

He said: “A lot has changed over the past six years and it is important we make the right choices and decisions at the right time, precisely if it feels as if we are being led by God to make those choices. I make my choices and I owe nobody no explanation rather than my family members and my God. Fani-Kayode continued: “I know that I am doing the right thing. Most important thing for me now and some would agree. There is no point in having principles without power. You must have power to make sure whatever principles you enunciate are, you know you can effect them.

Without that you will simply be talking and nothing will change. I have discovered over the past few months that I can work with people in the APC and elements within the government to effect the change and we have done quite a lot of that over the last few months without me even joining the party.

“I was speaking of President Buhari from the outside but now that I have gotten to know him from the inside, I have been working closely in the last few months with people that are very close to him and he would not have done that if he had not allowed them to do so, and it is absolutely clear to me that the perception we had in the past, many people had and are still having, is wrong.

“The APC of that time did not have the leadership that they have today. Today you have a man who is the national caretaker chairman of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, who has done exceptionally well in attracting people and present a broad base liberal pluralistic view on national issues and national affairs and he has had opened the doors of the party to many of people with plurality of views.

New Fxer in Town?

FFK has shown by his rapprochement an affinity for the Bun-led CECPC and he has been generous in their defense even on controversies within the APC. He, along side Governor Yahaya Bello were instrumental in the defection of the Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade and Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State to the ruling party.

The former Aviation Minister has political allies across the country and has criss crossed the terrain in the full glare of the media during his political journeys culminating in the infamous reaction to the, ‘who is bankrolling you?’ incident when a journalist wanted to know who sponsored his trips.

Though it is hard to pinpoint his immediate constituency, FFK has the political network which he has nurtured from his days as a minister under Obasanjo’s. Given the pattern of this is political road trip, he has come to see himself as a bridge builder, as he put it in his defection manifesto.

“The most important thing for me is this. This country in my view is on the brink of war, on the brink of disintegration, and we have to join forces, Continued on page 47

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

47

MONDAY DISCOURSE

PMB’s Visit to Imo and the Opportunity for Peace All Progressives Congress Chieftain, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim points to the chances for peace building in the South-east presented by the recent visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Imo State

Buhari

O

n Thursday 9th of September, three Nigerians emerged on top at the occasion of the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Owerri, President Mohammadu Buhari (GCFR), the host, Governor Hope Uzodinma, and the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ambassador George Obiozor. The visit was a risky bet for the trio. For PMB, I am not sure he expected everyone to roll out their drums for him, but he received a vast crowd of party supporters who are his political troops in the South-east.

He made the right statement, clad in Igbo attire, and not cutting the picture of the conqueror of the Igbos that some had painted him in. He delivered it straight and simple: the Igbos have no reason to be out of Nigeria and Nigeria needs the enterprising input of Ndigbo.

Governor Uzodinma did the good work of a facilitator to set the stage and has won for himself a huge seat as a peacemaker.

George Obiozor, an experienced diplomat, who had once headed the Nigeria Institute for International Affairs (NIIA) and was Nigeria’s representative to United Nations after a distinguished diplomatic career, lived to his billing. He spoke the way elders should speak, making demands without being rude.

We cannot take it away from the critics of All Progressives Congress (APC) Government that they will have their own interpretation of the speeches, but the impact of this visit cannot be diminished. We have presented the opportunity for peace in the South-east, given the true window for rapprochement between belligerent forces and the sovereign representatives of a federal state. This has opened the stage for the re-set of relationships.

The elders of Igbo land know better what war means than the young men who have only read it in books and watched it in movies.

They know that is not a direction to face. I have

Buni

been to testy spots in the world such as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Demarcation line at Pan Mun Jom, between North and South Korea, in a solidarity March with Lim Su-kyung in July 1989. She was a South Korean student leader then, who was known as a flower for reunification at the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Pyongyang, North Korea. I attended as one of delegates of All-Africa Student Union (AASU). On our way down, we saw first-hand evidence of the carnage of the Korean war and the aftermath. Nuclear arsenals pointing towards the two Koreas and the dividing army of a superpower United States.

At any mistake, hundreds of thousands can evaporate in seconds, including the solidarity marchers.

The second time I visited similar spot was in Syria, before the war broke out, and it was the funeral of Hafez al-Assad “the Lion of the Dessert”, who is the father of

Matawalle

the current Syrian President. I was on the delegation of the Federal Government, led by the then Foreign Affairs Minister Sule Lamido. From the airport where we were picked to the hotel, we saw mourners crying in the streets, in their thousands, in unison, mourning their departed hero. In the evening, the Nigerian Ambassador to Syria, Ambassador Abdul Ganiyu, came to give us some briefing that the wailing should not sway us on the streets. He added Damascus was tense and that several things have happened in Damascus capable of leading to war. In the morning, they gathered all foreign visitors in a hall to pay our respect to Hafez al-Assad. To my left was Robin Cook, former British Foreign Secretary, and to my right was Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. The rest is history. How I wish there was a power on earth capable of acting on Ambassador Abdul Ganiyu’s warning, as it would have spared Syria

Peace building and prompt conflict resolution are proving to be a fundamental part of modern state building and management. PMB’s initiative is a realism of this genre, and one should not expect less with inclusion of Professor Ibrahim Gambari in his Kitchen Cabinet as Chief of Staff, a man who has made a career of diplomacy and peace building for almost five decades. Thank God for elders like Obiozor leading Ndigbo now and a sensible Governor as Uzodinma and with the disposition of President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a genuine opportunity for peace in the East

millions of deaths.

In one of my term papers in my Master’s class in Global Affairs in the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, I examined the military factors in the rise and fall of empires, from antiquity to the modern era, and there has been a widespread distribution of weapons of war and tactics of warfare that makes “total victory” almost impossible and diplomacy and peace building inevitable.

It is truer in the era of globalization, given that combatants are non-state actors and given that modern warfare has moved from kinetic to include the cyber realm. Peace building and prompt conflict resolution are proving to be a fundamental part of modern state building and management. PMB’s initiative is a realism of this genre, and one should not expect less with inclusion of Professor Ibrahim Gambari in his Kitchen Cabinet as Chief of Staff, a man who has made a career of diplomacy and peace building for almost five decades.

Thank God for elders like Obiozor leading Ndigbo now and a sensible Governor as Uzodinma and with the disposition of President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a genuine opportunity for peace in the East. We can expect the mechanism already created by the facilitators to include an agenda for discussion of all items that may lead to the release of the unidentified youths from detention, which I believe includes Nnamdi Kanu. The state, through the Attorney General, has the power of nolle prosequi for crimes in the intent of peace and stability. I guess one condition for peace will be for the youths to renounce violence, as every self-respecting government will make that a condition. This is the route we need.

-Olawepo-Hashim, a 2008 Lord Max Bellof Prize Winner in Global Affairs, is a former Presidential Candidate

2023: Can Fani-Kayode Change Dynamics of the Game? we have to come together, set our differences aside and ensure we build bridges of unity and peace, and ensure we pull ourselves back from the brink, and fight those even from outside the country that want to destroy our country or regional, ethnic, religious or political party lines.

We must build bridges, we must work together and effect positive change in our country, and move this country in the right direction and that is part of the reason that I have joined the APC”.

He said further, “I have worked with Matawalle, with the governor of Kogi State. I have worked with Zulum and a number of others.

Even with the governor of Plateau State, we have been collaborating over a period of time with so many others, and I am telling you, that there is a plurality of views here but we all agree on one thing that people should be treated fairly and decently regardless of where they come from in this country, regardless of your religious faith, let’s not continue the narrative that we have in the past that we must divide one another

and fight one another on religious and ethnic ground. And that is the new me, and I am very proud of that. The party has changed, not me. The party has changed and the president has been gracious in accommodating that change.

FFK acknowledged his close relationship with governors of his former party, even in the South-south and South-east, which the APC has been making strenuous efforts to penetrate, despite gaining Imo, Ebonyi and Cross River States.Despite his self professed stabilizing credential, FFK is viewed as a privileged contractor in politics who does not have a teeming number of voters that he can call on to make the difference in an election. His critics point to the fact that his perceived popularity has never been reflected in the number of votes garnered by his party; from his immediate neighbourhood, which is why his defection is still viewed with deep suspicion in certain

quarters.

A Pawn in the 2023 Game The controversial entry of the former aviation minister into the APC has led to speculations that he may be the trump card in the 2023 schemings of some forces in the APC against the presidential ambition of national leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As the 2023 election edges closer with President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure coming to an end, forces within the party have been jostling for control.

This unending jostling has been the hallmark of the APC since its emergence on the national scene as the ruling party. It is what reportedly led to the Buni caretaker committee instituting a re - registration/ revalidation exercise allegedly to whittle down certain tendencies.

The exercise enabled the Buni camp to open its doors to new influences and

possibly dilute other influences. FFK has been instrumental in this strategy, coming from the South-west as the National Leader, Bola Tinubu.’

So bringing him into the fold and empowering him to serve as a bulwark and rallying point for anti - Tinubu forces in the region, analysts opine is an effective tactical move.

FFK has shown loyalty and vigorous advocacy in his past allegiances, unafraid to step on toes or go to unimaginable length to support his cause, as he puts it: FFK has always been a man of strong passion and commitment to whatever cause he supports. This may have endeared him to the new leadership of the APC desirous of establishing a foothold in the South-west considered hitherto as exclusively Tinubu’s sphere of influence.

It coming weeks, the new political permutations; alignments or realignments that the coming of Fani-Kayode into the APC will instigate; both on the national level and particularly in the South-west geo- political zone will be clearer.

48

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

FEATURES

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

Abuse of Minors: When the Dance Went Wrong Jerry was formally introduced to Daniel Owoseni, the founder of the Leap of Dance Academy three years ago. Their meeting marked the beginning of a relationship that would become an obsession.

Vanessa Obioha uncovers the heart-rending story of a minor abused by his teacher

Owoseni

F

or a moment, Jerry (a pseudonym), a 12-year-old young man, was lost in the performance of the dance group in front of him. He was at the Tabernacle of Fire Church where a group of boys and girls were teaching some young members of the church how to dance. The way they leapt, spun on their toes, stretched, and glided in total submission to the sounds of music piqued his interest.

As a dance lover, he was familiar with the popular dance styles in Nigeria's entertainment landscape, be it the Ghanaian-inspired Azonto, the Nigerian music star Davido's ‘Skelewu’, or the legwork inspired by the 'Zanku' crooner, Zlatan Ibile.

But the dancers in front of him were doing something different. The way they pirouetted enthralled him so much that by the end of the day, he was convinced that he wanted to be a ballerino — an Italian name for a male ballet dancer.

"I never knew what ballet was but seeing their flexibility inspired me to join them," said the now 15-year-old Jerry on a recent sunny morning.

Jerry was formally introduced to Daniel Owoseni, the founder of the Leap of Dance Academy three years ago. Their meeting marked the beginning of a relationship that would become an obsession.

Leap of Dance Academy Owoseni, a young man in his thirties, is known for his dance talents. He established the Leap of Dance Academy four years ago after his dream of studying abroad was quashed. Owoseni discovered his love for ballet dance after watching the popular Hollywood teen dance movie 'Save the Last Dance'. He was 13 at the time. In various interviews, he has said the movie captivated him so much that he jumped on YouTube videos and consumed every piece of information about ballet with gusto.

The self-taught ballet teacher is based in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos State, and set up his academy to help young boys and girls who have a passion for dance like him.

Due to the unavailability of a facility suitable for the dancers, the dancers held classes at Robis Children School within the community. At other times they practised at Owoseni's house.

Owoseni and Olamide Olawale, a female ballet dancer, handled most of the teaching, while the latter's mother, famously known as Mummy

Owoseni with Jerry and the implicating post he made

Angel, serves as the chaperone of the children. Often, the children gather at Olawale's house. On an undercover visit by this reporter, young boys, mostly eight-year-olds, were seen arriving at Olawale's home.

Classes at Leap Dance Academy are usually held during the weekends. Those who live nearby start their lessons on Friday afternoons, while those afar resume classes on Saturday mornings. Olawale revealed that a particular male student who lives in the AbuleOshun area of Lagos usually spends his weekends at Owoseni's house.

"His parents are aware," she said assuredly. "He comes on Fridays and leaves on Sundays."

Until recently, the academy was free to students who met their requirements. Usually, students are admitted into the Beginner's class, where their skills are tested.

They write exams, and if they show diligence and consistency are given full admission into the academy. These days, Olawale revealed that they charge N10,000 on each student. If the student doesn't show seriousness, the fee will be refunded. This begs the question why an academy that was set up as a non-profit organisation requires money for admission. Quite unlawful many would opine.

Beyond dancing, the students are encouraged to excel in their academics. Oftentimes, they are instructed to bring their lesson notes to the academy for review.

Other times, their skills are tested through Bible quizzes.

Olawale, who has been dancing for the academy for three years, spoke with pride as she talked about the academy's reputation.

According to her, the academy is known for its victories in competitions within and outside the country.

"We are always winning."

Olawale has won scholarships.

She has been to Ghana, and recently received a scholarship to attend school in Canada, but had to study online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Owoseni on the other hand has a familial relationship with many of his students. He is their big brother, teacher, and idol all at once. Most of the students he trains come from poor households, so there is a financial component to his relationship with his students and their parents as well: there can be monetary rewards for the competitions he enters the academy into.

"He paid N200,000 to my account as money my son got from a competition they won. He told me this was just the tip of the iceberg, that more was on the way. It was the first time such an amount of money was entering my account. I was overjoyed," said Jerry's mother.

With such monies, it was easier for parents to entrust their children in his care. His students visit him at his home, play in his bedroom.

"I was very uncomfortable with the fact that he has students staying in his home, sleeping in his bed, sleeping in the same rooms all together. It was not a good situation, not one that I felt was appropriate when you run a business with small children," said Mary H., an American who owns a dance studio and helped Owoseni in setting up the academy.

Jerry's Withdrawal Almost a year after Jerry joined the academy, he unexpectedly withdrew. His neighbourhood friends bullied him for dancing ballet, which they believed was meant for girls and not boys.

He would call me to release Jerry to spend two or three days with him, even when he stopped dancing with the academy. His sister had begun working, and Jerry was the one assisting me at home. But Owoseni would insist. Because of our relationship with him, I would release Jerry

They thought he should be playing football instead. However, in late 2019 he returned to the academy.

But things were not the same.

"I wasn't concentrating. During practices, I felt out of place. So I stopped going." His mother was not happy about his withdrawal, particularly after the huge sum she received from Owoseni.

"I insisted he must go back to the academy. How could he stop when these monies were coming in. His older brother threatened to beat him if he didn't return to the academy."

A Joke or a Confession?

Last year, Carly Jones, an English woman married to a Nigerian, reached out to Owoseni. In the UK, where she lives with her family, she works as a Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection Officer.

"I was just really touched by what he was doing for the children so I reached out to Daniel. Just said to him this is who I am, this is what I do, I'd really like to support you and the dance school. And it just went from there," she said on the phone.

Owoseni would later appoint her the Head of Learning and Development at the Academy. Although they communicated virtually, their relationship was friendly and professional; at first.

On Friday, April 9, 2021, Owoseni posted a suggestive picture of him and Jerry on social media with a quote suggesting he was in love. Jones stumbled on it, and asked him if he was implying that he was in love with the minor. Owoseni responded in the affirmative, and told him that they had kissed and cuddled together.

Screenshots obtained from Jones showed that Owoseni confessed to having a relationship with Jerry. He told her that it happened sometime in February, but that no penetration occurred.

Jones admonished him, and told him that he should never have gotten involved with a student, particularly a minor. Owoseni initially expressed remorse and told her he had made a mistake, but as the discussion progressed changed his story and said everything he had told her was just a joke.

Enraged by the confession, Jones reached out to Mary H., forwarding screenshots of the conversation with Owoseni to her.

Mary H. recounted the conversaContinued on page 22

49

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

FEATURES

Screenshots of chats between Owoseni and Mrs Jones

tion the two had. "I was in Nigeria in December last year. Daniel has relationships with all of his students, just in the normal way. They're very friendly, like a family, but I noticed some suspicious things about him spending more time with Jerry, putting his arm around him. I confronted him about this and he just said 'Oh Jerry is just a special student of mine, and we all love each other like a family.

I'm like a dad to him,' and he kind of blew it off. But when Mrs. Temi (Temi is the adopted Nigerian name of Jones) sent me those messages and all the screenshots, it made a lot more sense that it was not just a friendship, it was something much more."

A video call was made the following day between Mary H., Owoseni, and Jones, where Owoseni again insisted that it was all a prank.

"When we confronted him he denied it and literally just started laughing like a crazy person, saying 'you believe me? Like, I can't believe you believed it. All those messages were a joke,' and we're like, I'm a dance teacher myself, I work with kids, so does Mrs. Temi and you don't joke about those types of things," said Mary H. What Really Happened?

This reporter spoke to Jerry and learned his story. When Jerry returned to the academy in 2019, Owoseni started paying attention to him. He made his first move on him sometime around May 2020.

"We had gone on an outing and ended up at his father's place. He discharged other students, and told them that I would stay behind and return the following day. At night, he came up to me and started touching me. I tried to push him aside, I even went to another room but he followed me, insisted that I touch and play with him."

After the encounter, Owoseni told Jerry not to ever mention anything that happened between them to anyone.

Soon after, when Jerry reported to his mother that Owoseni had sent him away from practice for what he saw as no reason, Owoseni went livid and punished Jerry by not allowing him to take part in a dance shoot.

He warned him not to tell anyone about what had happened.

There were several other encounters, but Jerry, gripped with fear, couldn't tell anyone what was happening, particularly considering how close Owoseni was to his family and how he had helped them financially. It was Owoseni who helped his family to organise a naming ceremony for his sister's newborn. Sometimes, he gave his mother money when she visited the academy. During the Christmas period, he showered the family with gifts. Jerry felt trapped.

Jerry's mother is yet to recover from the shock of it all. She didn’t know anything about what had been going on until Olawale's mother invited

her to meet with Owoseni.

At the meeting, Owoseni told her that some news had been flying around about him having a sexual relationship with her son. Jerry’s mother didn't grasp it at first. He told her not to believe any of it, that it was all an attempt to tarnish his image, being spread by people who owed him money but refused to pay, and were looking for ways to soil his name. The poor widow, whose husband died 10 years ago and left her with six children, found Owoseni’s story hard to believe. When she got home she went on her knees and begged her son to tell her if Owoseni had made any sexual advances on him.

For the first time, Jerry, seeing the agony on his mother's face, courageously told her what happened. She was shattered.

"All this while he kept it away from me. He should have told me even from the first day he touched him. I would have confronted him. He told me he kept quiet because Daniel has been good to the family. I remembered when he gave us that N200,000. After that, I told Jerry to go back because the academy may be God blessing us. He told me he didn't want to go back. I asked him if he was being punished unfairly, he said no, that he just didn't want to go back to the academy."

Jerry's mother revealed she had at times been curious about Owoseni's relationship with her son.

"He would call me to release Jerry to spend two or three days with him, even when he stopped dancing with the academy. His sister had begun working, and Jerry was the one assisting me at home. But Owoseni would insist.

Because of our relationship with him, I would release Jerry. When he returned and I asked him why Daniel needed him, he would say Owoseni wanted him to help with house chores. Because of the way he was good to us, I never suspected anything like this could even happen."

Threats and Denials After Jones and Mary H. confronted Owoseni, on April 10, Owoseni informed Mary that he didn't want Jones involved with the academy. Jones for her part

immediately distanced herself, not wanting to associate herself with Owoseni.

On April 14, Owoseni announced that he was taking the children, including Jerry, to Ghana by bus. Mary and Jones were not comfortable with it. He also planned on taking Sarah (not her real name), a 12-year-old, to Italy alone, and instructed Mary not to tell others about the trip.

Mary did not comply. On April 20, Temi received information from a dance teacher in Ghana that Owoseni had withdrawn $4000 from his bank account, and booked flight tickets to take half of the children at the academy to Ghana from April 24 to May 7.

Owoseni continued to publicly and privately refute Jerry's story, maintaining that he is innocent.

Meanwhile, the case was reported to Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT). Lola Adeniyi, who spearheads the agency, said that Owoseni was arraigned on August 19.

"The matter was heard by Mr. Ogundare KO. The charge sheet, which contained a two-count charge against the defendant, was read to him; to which the defendant pleaded not guilty to both charges. The defendant was granted bail of N200,000 and two workers of reputable companies as surety with proof of their residential addresses.

The matter was adjourned by the court to September 16, 2021.

In the meantime, the DPP has requested for the duplicate case file."

However, the case was adjourned again.

Owoseni's mother was told about her son's sexual abuse of a minor, and she seemed to understand the gravity of the charges. She would later visit Jerry's mother begging her to forgive her son, and to plead with Jerry to change his story.

Jerry’s mother refused. Owoseni's mother admitted that her son had an issue, and that she had been praying to God to deliver him.

Olawale's mother tried too, arguing that if Owoseni should be convicted that the academy would no longer function, and that the dreams of the children would be truncated. Owoseni

All this while he kept it away from me. He should have told me even from the first day he touched him.

I would have confronted him. He told me he kept quiet because Daniel has been good to the family.

I remembered when he gave us that N200,000

tried apologising to Jones but the latter ignored him. When it seemed that all was against him, Owoseni resorted to telling stories that Mary and Jones were trying to rip him off.

"I volunteered two years of my time and my dedication to help them raise the academy without taking anything from them, supporting them in so many ways, going to visit them in December where I taught for over eight hours a day. I love those kids.

I love the Leap of Dance family, and it's just so sad to see that all of this has happened, and for him to come and accuse me of something like that.

"Daniel and his brother sent me threatening emails saying that I was an evil person, that I should be cursed in the bed I sleep on and that I stole all of their money," said Mary H. "The accusation that Miss Mary has stolen money from him,'' added Jones, "I'm afraid to say it's just a counteracting. He is trying to deflect from the fact that he has been caught, that he was grooming a child sexually. He is trying everything to deflect that away from him. He said the same about me, that I'm an evil White woman who is jealous of him.

That I want to destroy his business, that I don't like him. I have my own life. My concern was always just to help the children. That's why I got involved, because I thought it was such a beautiful thing. And then when this came up, I said there's no way that I am letting this go over my dead body. Even if I have to get on a plane myself to Nigeria, I will. Because he's not getting away with this."

On August 8, shortly before Owoseni was arraigned, he accosted Jerry on the way home, threatening to “deal with him” when the latter refused to accept his request to be with him alone for a chat.

The threats continue to this day, as friends and family members of Owoseni have made repeated attempts to intimidate Jerry and his family into silence. His latest threat was through a phone call to Jerry's mother. On Monday, September 13, a spiritualist called her, threatening to deal with her diabolically if she attends the court hearing scheduled for September 16.

The poor widow, frightened, nearly gave in to his threats.

Still Free It's been more than three months since Owoseni's sexual abuse of a minor came to light, yet he is still in contact with children on a daily basis. Other than Jerry’s mother, parents of other children attending the academy have yet to be notified of his sexual advances to minors; Owoseni has kept his arraignment and impending court date quiet.

To this day, Jerry is not aware if Owoseni has approached any other male students in the academy. Who knows, maybe like Jerry, they are afraid to speak up.

50

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

CITYSTRINGS

ÜÙßÚ ÏËÞßÜÏÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ˝ ÒÓÏ×ÏÖÓÏ äÏÙÌÓ ×ËÓÖ ÍÒÓÏ×ÏÖÓÏ˛ÏäÏÙÌÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט ͖͕͔͑͑͒͑͒͑͑͘

Need to Tackle Influx of Thugs as Abuja Revenue Collectors Thugs used by Abuja Municipal Area Council and Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage to collect levies and other bogus charges on behalf of the two agencies, have become anathema for dispatch riders, taxi drivers, and the public through their brash and intemperate manner. Olawale Ajimotokan and King Akan write on the need to tackle this anomaly

A Bolt Taxi

T

he flagrant disregard for law and ethics is openly displayed by contract workers employed by Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage (DOAS) to collect revenue on behalf of the two bodies.

These urchins formed into a task force are a nuisance in the eyes of the public and are discernable by their appearance and mode of operation.

They have neither a valid means of identification nor a fixed official uniform as they usually adorn reflective bibs over their casual outfits.

Also, they can be very uncouth in their approach and can even resort to violence that easily exposes them to the public as hoodlums and touts that populate many motor parks across the country.

Regrettably, these hoodlums that straddle FCT roads randomly go about extorting various levies and charges from app-based taxi drivers and logistic service providers on behalf of AMAC and DOAS. Yunusa Ismaila of Dees Rides, a logistics company based in Abuja described the humiliation he was subjected to by these hoodlums claiming they were working for both AMAC and DOAS. He said he had been accosted by the people who forced him to pay double charges while declaring the other agency as an aberration.

He lamented that the thugs made him to pay multiple charges to both AMAC and DOAS for a permit rider to the tune of N26,000 instead of the official fee of N5,000.

"There is the issue of their staff that stay on the road. We don't know which one is AMAC or DOAS. We don't even know the real staff. Once they wear their reflective jacket, they will say they are AMAC, no ID card, no nothing. The ID cards they show you have no name or photograph for identification. The only thing written on it is AMAC. So we don't know who is their real staff,” Ismaila raged.

He urged both the FCTA and AMAC to employ the right staff with the necessary training in addition to means of identification to enable them properly discharge their duty.

He also described as dubious the policy of AMAC whereby any paper that is

AMAC Chairman, Abdulahi Candido renewed at any time of the year is automatically deemed to have expired

by December of the same year instead of letting the 12 month-cycle into the following year.

Another logistics rider, Lorbee Emmanuel of Beemax Logistics concurred.

He described as unfair a situation where bike riders are being chased about on the road by AMAC and DOAS over registration levies.

He said bike riders are routinely flagged down by wild-looking men who claim to be AMAC staff, adding even when they are shown AMAC papers upon request they will still demand DOAS papers.

He noted the confusion about DOAS began last year when the staff of the organisation started to go from office to office dissuading people from doing AMAC papers.

According to him, after buying their form for N2,500, he was still compelled to pay N10,000 for the papers.

Emmanuel also raised concerns about the attitude of the AMAC staff who are on the roads.

"Most of us have the papers, but the way they stand on the road, you may feel they have bad intentions, that is why we try to avoid them.

Some of them hold sticks like thugs as if they are chasing a thief. And those people standing on the road are always prepared to fight us.

Sometimes on one checkpoint, they can be at least five, seven, or even 10 of them.

"For example, you are speeding and you don't know they are on the road and all of a sudden they sight you, they will think you are trying to outsmart them. Before you know

it they will hit you with something.

"My observation is that people who work in the office are different from the people working on the road. And we face enough problems with the people on the road. Most times we carry urgent deliveries, and if they delay us, at the end of the day the customer may cancel the order. So we face a lot of challenges with them.

"My advice is that the people in the office should tell the ones on the road that if they try to catch someone and the person flees, they should allow the person go because sometimes they cause accidents on the road."

He also pleaded with the government to agree to a specific closing time for AMAC and DOAS workers to mitigate riders from being attacked and robbed. He stated that sometimes after 6 p.m., those contract workers are still loitering under the bridge, asking riders for papers.

Sunday Bitrus of Iconic Fiverr Logistics said the solution to the AMAC and DOAS confusion is for riders to have a consolidated paper for payment that will be presented anytime riders are stopped.

On his part, Celestine Emmanuel of BTL Logistics advised AMAC to have a conspicuous office and stop the habit where payments are indiscriminately carried out on the road.

"One time they stopped me at Banex Plaza, they did papers for me on the road for N8,000," he said, adding "if you do papers in Gwarimpa, you go to Bwari or Kubwa, they will still arrest you again. They will tell you that the papers you have are for the town, that you don't have their own papers. And all of them are bearing AMAC."

We don't know which one is AMAC or DOAS. We don't even know the real staff. Once they wear their reflective jacket, they will say they are AMAC, no ID card, no nothing. The ID cards they show you have no name or photograph for identification. The only thing written on it is AMAC. So, we don't know the real staff

Bike riders are not the only ones suffering at the hands of AMAC. Charles Ekpenyong, a Bolt driver shared his bitter experience with AMAC staff.

He said: "A few months ago, we had issues with AMAC about revenue that was supposed to be paid to them directly

by Bolt. According to them, Bolt was not forthcoming with the payment so they resorted to harassing drivers on the road demanding payment. I was not arrested directly but so many of our drivers were arrested and asked to pay different amounts. Some as high as N35,000.

"What they do is to book the ride as if they are customers and when you come to pick them they take you to their office.

But mostly not their main office because I think they have an office in Jabi and one in Garki. They take the drivers to their task force office and issue them receipts after payments.

"But I think the issue with Bolt has been resolved because we are no longer harassed. For those that paid before the resolution, they were asked to tender their receipts to Bolt, but I don't know if they refunded anyone."

Speaking further, he said other area councils, particularly Bwari Area Council appeared to have taken a cue from AMAC as they have also started arresting drivers to demand revenue too.

“We have six area councils in Abuja and I think Bolt is paying mainly AMAC because most of our activities are within the town which is AMAC. "I drove to Kubwa one time which is under Bwari Area Council and some of their task force guys stopped me asking ‘are you Bolt’? But I didn't answer because I knew they were after our drivers. Before I knew what was happening, they had blocked my front and back and had attempted to remove my plate number.

When I noticed this, I had to manoeuvre and speed off because I did not allow them to enter the vehicle. If they had entered inside the car it would have been a different story.

"Before I sped off, I overheard them saying that I was driving in their own area of jurisdiction so I was supposed to pay. So it is a case of multiple taxations or revenue payments. Especially Bwari Area Council because it is closer to AMAC than other area councils,” Ekpenyong said.

51

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

CRIME&SECURITY

NNS Beecroft Operatives Arrest 16 Pipeline Vandals, Recover Stolen Products r ...Handover to NSCDC for prosecution

CRIME SITUATION REPORTS

COMPLIMENTARY SECURITIES: HOW EFFECTIVE IN FACE OF EMERGING SECURITY CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD (PART 4) Gbolahan Samuel Moronfolu PREVENTIVE METHODS OF CRIME

BY VIGILANTE GROUP Actually preventive measures are employed by the police or vigilante group to forestall or reduce the opportunity or avenue for committing crime this is in appreciation of the fact that it is cheaper to prevent crime than to detect it. The method usually employed includes: r 'FBTJCMF PQFSBUJPOBM NFUIPE PG DIFDLJOH the menace of criminals. r 4VSWFJMMBODF PO CVJMEJOH BOE TVTQFDUFE criminal individuals. r $VMUJWBUJPO PG JOGPSNBUJPO HBUIFSJOH mechanism r *OGPSNBUJPO SFDFJWFE UISPVHI UIJT medium is useful in planning strategies to combat crime.

FUNCTION FOR A VIGILANTES GROUP 1. vigilante group protects lives and properties: 2. vigilante group maintains peace and order 3. vigilante group assist in combating crimes 4. vigilante group arrests crime offenders 5. vigilante group detects and prevents crime WJHJMBOUF HSPVQ NBLFT FGGPSUT UP VOderstand their immediate localities 7. organizes sensitization programs for members 8. vigilante group handovers everything recovered

The suspects

HOW VIGILANTE GROUP WORK 6OJGPSN WJHJMBOUF HSPVQT HVJEF NBSLFUT DPOUSPM USBGGJD BOE OFUXPSL XJUI POF BOPUIFS to control crime. Their patrols are jointly carried out with police against criminals.

5IJT TUSBUFHZ JT UP NBLF BSSFTU PG DSJNJnals easier without necessarily engaged in DPNCBU PS LJMMJOH PG TVTQFDUT CFGPSF UIFZ are being prosecuted.

REASONS WHY VIGILANTISM OCCURS This is partly because vigilantism occurs for many reasons other than fighting crime.

These reasons include justifications that draw on: r 5SBEJUJPO r &NPUJPOT r QSFKVEJDF BOE SFWFOHF r (FOEFS r *OEJWJEVBMT r QFSTPOBMJUJFT BOE MFBEFST r 3FWFOHF WJPMFODF BOE JUT BCJMJUZ UP transmigrate r 1PMJUJDT

Recovered products inside one of the seized boats

TYPES OF VIGILANTISM 1SJWBUF TQPOUBOFPVT WJHJMBOUJTN 1SJWBUF PSHBOJ[FE WJHJMBOUJTN 0GGJDJBM TQPOUBOF PVT WJHJMBOUJTN 0GGJDJBM PSHBOJ[FE WJHJMBOUFT 4. NEIGHBORHOOD SECURITY Neighborhood security is the protection PG POFhT FOWJSPONFOU JO B DPNNVOJUZ *U can also be defined as a scheme under which members of a community agree UPHFUIFS UP UBLF SFTQPOTJCJMJUZ GPS LFFQJOH an eye on each other's property as a way of preventing crime.

NNS BEECROFT operatives during the handover to NSCDC Chiemelie Ezeobi

N

igerian Navy 4IJQ //4

# & & $ 3 0 ' 5 operatives recently arrested 16 suspected pipeline WBOEBMT BU "UMBT $PWF BOE 4OBLF *TMBOE CPUI JO -BHPT 8IJMF TVTQFDUT XFSF BSSFTUFE BU "UMBT $PWF CBTFE PO JOUFMMJHFODF SFQPSU àWF PUIFST XFSF QJDLFE VQ GSPN 4OBLF *TMBOE EVSJOH SPVUJOF IBSCPS QBUSPM BU UIF DSFFL BSPVOE UIF TOBLF *TMBOE 5IF TVTQFDUT BU "UMBT $PWF were caught in action at the Abagbo segment of the /JHFSJBO /BUJPOBM 1FUSPMFVN $PSQPSBUJPO //1$ QJQFMJOFT based on credible intelligence report relayed to the base.

The operatives also recovFSFE LFHT PG MJUFST BOE LFHT PG MJUSFT FBDI àMMFE with products suspected to CF 1SFNJVN .PUPS 4QJSJU 1.4 TJQIPOFE GSPN //1$ pipelines.

"MTP SFDPWFSFE GSPN UIF TVTQFDUT XFSF UXP àCSF CPBUT XJUI )1 FBDI "U 4OBLF *TMBOE B CPBU MBEFO XJUI LFHT PG MJUSFT FBDI PG 1.4 XBT JOUFSDFQUFE BOE àWF TVTQFDUT XFSF BSSFTUFE CZ //4 #&&$30'5 patrol team during a routine harbor patrol. $PNNBOEFS //4 #&&$30'5 $PNNPEPSF #BTIJS .PIBNNFE TBJE UIF BSSFTU will send a message to criminals of the Nigerian Navy’s resolve of zero-tolerance to pipeline vandalism and illegal

CVOLFSJOH )F BEEFE UIBU //4 #&&$30'5 XJMM OPU SFMFOU JO FYFDVUJOH UIF NBOEBUF PG UIF $IJFG PG /BWBM 4UBGG $/4 7JDF "ENJSBM "XXBM (BNCP XIJDI JT HFBSFE towards eliminating economic sabotage thereby boosting national prosperity. .FBOXIJMF $PNNBOEFS //4 #&&$30'5 EVSJOH UIF handing over of the suspects UP UIF /JHFSJB 4FDVSJUZ BOE $JWJM %FGFODF $PSQT /4$%$

GPS QSPTFDVUJPO DPNNFOEFE the patrol team of the base.

This is just as he reassured /JHFSJBOT PG UIF $/4 T DPNmitment towards sustaining her constitutional roles which includes curbing illegalities within Nigeria's Maritime domain.

WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD’S SECURITY 1SPQFSUZ TBGFUZ JT BU UIF GPSFGSPOU PG FWFSZ IPNFPXOFS T NJOE XIJDI JT XIZ JU DBO CF GSJHIUFOJOH UP MFBSO BCPVU CSFBL JOT and burglaries in your neighborhood. A higher crime rate can also affect the feeling of security you deserve in your home and can affect your property value. A high DSJNF SBUF DBO FWFO NBLF ZPV WVMOFSBCMF to a premise liability claim in some cases JG ZPV EPO U UBLF BDUJPO &TUBCMJTI B DPNNVOJUZ XBUDI 0OF PG the best ways to improve the neighborhood is to get the entire community involved.

4FU VQ B OFJHICPSIPPE XBUDI CZ DPOUBDUJOH ZPVS OFJHICPST BOE BTLJOH UIFN UP join. Your community watch group can do several things r 0CTFSWF BOE SFQPSU BOZ TVTQJDJPVT behavior r 8PSL XJUI QPMJDF r 1VU VQ TJHOT UP MFU XPVME CF DSJNJOBMT LOPX UIF DPNNVOJUZ JT CFJOH QSPBDUJWF r *OGPSN PUIFST JO UIF DPNNVOJUZ about criminal activity so all residents are prepared You can set up a community watch group by contacting your local police authority.

Most police departments can offer advice about setting up these types of groups *NQSPWF MJHIUJOH 1PPS MJHIUJOH DBO IJEF BMM LJOET PG TVTQJDJPVT BDUJWJUZ *G ZPVS TUSFFU MJHIUT BSF JOBEFRVBUF DPOUBDU your homeowner’s association or local HPWFSONFOU GPS TBGFS MJHIUJOH &ODPVSBHF local businesses and residents to set up motion-activated outdoor lights as well. $MFBO VQ )PTU B DPNNVOJUZ DMFBO VQ FWFOU UP HFU SJE PG HSBGGJUJ PWFSHSPXO USFFT BOE MJUUFS /PU POMZ XJMM JU FODPVSBHF DPNNVOJUZ TQJSJU CVU JU XJMM BMTP IFMQ ZPV HFU SJE PG PWFSHSPXO CVTIFT BOE USFFT which is important since they can hide criminal activity.

5BLF DBSF PG ZPVS IPNF BOE OFJHICPShood homes: Your home will be less of a target if the doors and windows are in HPPE XPSLJOH PSEFS BOE MPDL QSPQFSMZ You might even want to install security measures such as a security alarm or other EFUFSSFOUT $POUBDU ZPVS IPNFPXOFST JOsurance provider first — you may be able to get an insurance discount by implementJOH DFSUBJO TBGFUZ NFBTVSFT *G UIFSF BSF neighbors who cannot afford to upgrade UIFJS IPNFT DPOTJEFS XPSLJOH XJUI ZPVS community watch group to assist them.

"EESFTT FNQUZ CVJMEJOHT &NQUZ CVJMEJOHT DBO PGUFO BUUSBDU DSJNJOBM BDUJWJUZ which can then spill out into surrounding BSFBT $POUBDU UIF CVJMEJOH PXOFST PS MPDBM government with your concerns. )JSF B TFDVSJUZ TFSWJDF 5IFZ DBO QBUSPM your neighborhood more frequently and SFTQPOE RVJDLMZ UP BOZ TVTQJDJPVT BDUJWJUZ FOIBODJOH ZPVS QSPQFSUZ TBGFUZ *G ZPVS DPNNVOJUZ DBO GVOESBJTF UPHFUIFS ZPV may be able to secure a reliable security service. .BLF TVSF ZPVS OFJHICPST LOPX UIF CBTJDT PG TUBZJOH TBGF *G ZPVS OFJHICPST XPSL MPOH IPVST GPS FYBNQMF NBLF TVSF they use timers to switch the lights on and PGG TP JU BQQFBST UIBU TPNFPOF JT IPNF .BLF TVSF ZPV BOE ZPVS OFJHICPST EPO U LFFQ FYUSB TFUT PG LFZT VOEFS EPPSNBUT PS anywhere where a burglar can find them.

You can also consider hosting a local community meeting to discuss smart safety NFBTVSFT PS IBOE PVU GMJFST UP IFMQ ZPVS OFJHICPST VOEFSTUBOE IPX UP LFFQ UIFJS homes safer. $POTJEFS SFOUJOH PVU QBSLJOH TQBDF in your driveway: Many communities IBWF QFPQMF XIP XPSL BXBZ GSPN IPNF This means most driveways and streets are empty of cars during the day and are SFMBUJWFMZ GSFF PG QFEFTUSJBO USBGGJD XIJDI NBLFT UIFN NPSF PG B UBSHFU GPS CVSHMBST 3FOUJOH PVU ZPVS ESJWFXBZ EVSJOH UIF day will increase traffic in front of your IPNF UP TDBSF PGG CVSHMBST BOE DBO NBLF it appear that someone is home. As an BEEFE CPOVT ZPV NBZ CF BCMF UP DIBSHF NPOFZ +VTU NBLF TVSF ZPV IBWF B MFHBM agreement reviewed by an attorney to avoid any premise liability claims from the driver.

-JLF NBOZ QFPQMF ZPV NBZ CF DPODFSOFE BCPVU SJTJOH DSJNF SBUFT 'PSUVOBUFMZ UIFSF BSF NBOZ UIJOHT ZPV DBO EP UP LFFQ ZPVSTFMG BOE ZPVS DPNNVOJUZ TBGF *G ZPV SF BUUBDLFE PS UBSHFUFE ZPV NBZ IBWF B QSFNJTFT MJability claim against the perpetrator and PUIFS MJBCMF QBSUJFT :PVS MPDBM 1PMJDF DBO help when you report incident to them.

A neighborhood watch group may be PSHBOJ[FE CZ BO FYJTUJOH OFJHICPSIPPE BTTPDJBUJPO CVU UIF LFZ FMFNFOU JT JUT relationship with local law enforcement.

Activities conducted by neighborhood watch groups across the country are as diverse and varied as their volunteers and UIF OFJHICPSIPPET UIFZ SFQSFTFOU 4PNF HSPVQT NPCJMJ[F UP QBUSPM OFJHICPSIPPET other distribute crime prevention informaUJPO XIJMF CVTJOFTT BTTFTTNFOUT PS IPNF security surveys are conducted by others.

8IFSF EJTPSEFS QSPCMFNT BSF UIF QSJNBSZ GPDVT PG OFJHICPSIPPE XBUDI NFNCFST volunteers mobilize and conduct neighborIPPE DMFBO VQT PS XPSL XJUI GBJUI CBTFE organizations to assist with the homeless and mentally ill who wander the streets. As law enforcement officers learn the needs of their various neighborhood watch groups BOE UIF EZOBNJDT PG UIFJS WPMVOUFFST UIFZ can tailor activities and responses to meet the ever-changing needs of their citizens.

-Moronfolu is a seasoned security consultant with many years of security and policing experience. FELLOW, Fourth Estate Professional Society (FFPS), he has also partaken in peace keeping operations within and outside the country and has flair for general security education.

T i i t t o

52

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ, 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Uzoka: Commitment to Customer Service Translates to Financial Gains The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Kennedy Uzoka, has said that the bank recorded significant improvement in its operational and financial performance as a result of its unending commitment towards delivering products and services aimed at meeting customers’ demands.

Uzoka said this during the Investors/Analysts Conference Call at the bank’s head office in Lagos, following the release of its results for the half-year ended June 30, 2021. UBA, he stated, delivered a 33.4 per cent appreciation in its profit before tax, which rose to N76.2billion as at June 2021, up from N57.1 billion recorded in the same period of 2020, translating to an annualised Return on Average Equity of 17.5 per cent as against 14.4 per cent a year earlier.

Profit after tax, he added, grew

to N60.6 billion representing a significant rise by 36.3 per cent compared to N44.4 billion recorded in 2020, while gross earnings grew to N316 billion from N300.6 billion as at June 2020; a 5.1 per cent growth This feat, Uzoka stated, was recorded despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He expressed optimism that the bank is on the trajectory of achieving and even surpassing its targets for the financial year, adding that its focus on delighting its customers remains at the forefront of all its activities.

He said, “We are very committed to prudent and responsible growth of our risk assets, quality of our balance sheet and the overall health of the bank. We will continue to balance our

growth appetite with the need to maintain very good healthy portfolio of our assets.

“Our customer first philosophy remains our guiding strategy. We want to assure you of positive customer experience for all our customers. In addition, we would like to deliver our banking services only from the standpoint of our customers. And indeed, as we say at UBA, our customers are our ultimate employers,” Uzoka explained.

Whilst expressing optimism that the Nigerian economy and the broader economy will continue to recover and rebound from the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the remaining quarter of 2021 and all the way into 2022, he assured the investors and participants of the bank’s commitment to maintain professionalism and continue to ensure strict compliance with the rules and regulations guiding our operations in all our presence countries.

TrustBanc Closes Third Tranche of N10 bn Debt Issue TrustBanc Holdings Limited (TrustBanc), the parent company of three regulated financial services companies, has said it successfully closed its series 3 Commercial Paper (CP) issue for a total amount of N4.2 billion on September 2, 2021 The 180-day CP was issued at a discount of 12.6573 per cent and a minimum subscription of N5 million.

TrustBanc is rated A- by DataPro Limited and the issue was approved by FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ).

The company in a statement said subscriptions to this series were made mainly by institutional investors, with significant proportion by asset and fund

managers.

“I would like to thank all the subscribers to this commercial paper issue. This support represents a strong mark of confidence in TrustBanc, its financial performance, its business model and its growth strategy. The proceeds from the transaction will be utilised to finance the growing portfolio of assets within the TrustBanc Group. In addition, our Group is proud to contribute to the growth of the Nigerian Debt Capital Market through the FMDQ, “said Chief Executive Officer of TrustBanc Holdings Limited, Mr. Abu Jimoh, CFA. UCML Capital Limited, United Capital Plc and Emerging Africa

Group, acted as dealers on the transaction. Speaking on behalf of the dealers, Director at UCML Capital Limited, Mr. Egie Akpata, described the company’s ability to consistently feature on the elite roster of non-bank financial institutions, who can access funds via the Debt Capital Market as a reaffirmation of its credibility, stability and profitability.

“The presence of large institutional investors in the orderbook for this unsecured instrument confirms that TrustBanc Holdings is seen as a trustworthy counterparty by the market.”

TrustBanc was incorporated as a holding company to synergise the operations of TrustBanc Financial

ABSA Advocates Social Investment Plan from Oil, Gas Proceeds Developing a social investment plan that utilizes proceeds from the oil and gas sector is critical to stimulating impactful growth across the African continent, Director of Resources and Energy, Absa Securities, United Kingdom, millo Atampugre has said. Atampugre, stated this while laying bare Absa Investment’s focus which aims to drive sustainability and advocate for a wider pivot to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives across the oil and gas sector.

According to Camillo, the oil and gas sector remains a key chan-

nel of revenue for most African countries. He mentioned that the sector accounts for an estimated 20 per cent of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And in places like Nigeria and Angola, the sector contributes 70 per cent of the overall forex inflow and 6 per cent of government tax revenues while driving growth impacts that reverberate across the labour market, the security and exchange system and other downstream segments.

He advised that considering the overt contribution of the oil and gas sector to the African

economy, a strategic approach to the adoption of cleaner energy is advisable. This is to forestall a sudden snap that could hamper the attainment of the shorter to medium terms growth projection on the continent.

He further pointed out the various responsible steps being taken across the continent to ensure compliance with the various ESG requirements as regard achieving a gradual transition into cleaner energy and repositioning the oil and gas sector to sustain a balanced socioeconomic impact along the trajectory.

First Bank Wins Private Bank of theYear Award First Bank of Nigeria Limited, has been awarded the Private Bank of the Rear 2021 by Global Finance, the voice of the global market renowned for its comprehensive coverage and analysis of the financial industry, international business and global economy.

The Bank was bestowed the Private Bank of the Year award for its excellent service delivery to customers, its dedication and commitment towards meeting the

expectations of the Bank, whilst providing state of the art financial services to its customers, irrespective of where they are in the country. Its customer service has been integral in fostering its relationship with customers.

Receiving the award on behalf of First Bank, the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Gbenga Shobo said; ‘we are delighted to dedicate this award to our customers as we appreciate

their unrelenting patronage and loyalty over the years. We remain committed to utilising the best technology infrastructure in delivering the best wealth and financial management services to the doorstep of our customers, irrespective of where they are across the world. We appreciate Global Finance for the award’.

Global Finance seeks to help corporate leaders, bankers and investors chart the course of global business and finance.

Uzoka

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ ͷ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $71.82 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $71.17 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

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

53

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ, ͰͮͰͯ

SEC Commences 100% Custody Requirement in Collective Investment Schemes Darasimi Adebisi In a bid to further protect investors and deepen the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has commenced the implementation of 100% custody requirement in the Collective Investment Schemes sector.

The Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda who disclosed this during an interview

in Abuja said although it is a natural operational requirement of CIS the SEC is having some new enforcement and insistence on the compliance that has been in the books but have not been implemented before now.

He said: “The custody requirement covers all Funds and Portfolios being managed by registered Fund/ Portfolio Managers. So all Client’s assets managed under discretionary and non discretionary mandates are

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

to be held under independent custodial agreement and custodial Banks. This is in addition to Mutual Funds authorized for public offering “For example, we have the collective business sector where you have the fund managers. We have a dichotomy between public funds, which are funds that are publicly traded, and you can see the unique values on the stock exchange and in newspapers daily. There are also private,

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

which are investment agreements between fund managers and specific investors/” He added, “A lot of these funds in the privately held fund management mandates are in our custody. The investment manager before now did not only have the investment management responsibility for the fund, but also kept the securities and cash as whole shares in this investment.

The risk is that if the investment manager should go bust, then

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

the investor loses and that is not acceptable in financial markets around the world.

“I think with the introduction of total custody in that sector, we are likely to see a massive uptake of these kinds of products. We have released some regulations recently in this area for the different types of fund managers, and I think this is an area that is now becoming increasingly attractive to investors and is

O F

also receiving the attention of the commission.”

He said with the SEC having 100% custody agreement in the Collective Investment Schemes sector, “any investor that invests in the capital market should be confident that their investments are secure adding that it is a good thing for the market and an area that can bring about a lot of growth in the market because it offers a very good opportunity to save.”

1 7 / 0 9 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

54

˾ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

20 September 2021 ŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƋƵŝƟĞƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ͗ ĂƌŐĂŝŶ ,ƵŶƟŶŐ ƌŝǀĞƐ DŝůĚ 'ĂŝŶ… ^/ ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϭй ǁͬǁ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

ǁĂLJ ĨƌŽŵ ŽƵƌ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶ͕ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůƐ ƚŽŽŬ

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďLJ ƚŚĞ ŚŽƌŶ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ŚƵŶƚĞĚ ĨŽƌ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶƐ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ůů-^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞdž ƌŽƐĞ ϭϬďƉƐ ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ϯϴ͕ϵϰϯ͘ϴϳ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ DĞĂŶǁŚŝůĞ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ

ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ƵŶĐŚĂŶŐĞĚ Ăƚ -ϯ͘ϯй ĂŶĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ േϭϭ͘ϭďŶ ǁͬǁ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϯƚŶ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ƐůŽǁĞĚ ĂƐ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĨĞůů ϰϬ͘Ϭй ĂŶĚ ϭϳ͘ϴй ǁͬǁ ƚŽ ϭϳϭ͘Ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϮ͘ϮďŶ

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Price Change Index to Date

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,631.67

0.13%

11.2%

63.2%

15.0%

3.5%

715.00

0.0%

28.7%

-16.1%

-16.1%

12.3%

4.4%

68.00

0.0%

10.8%

-12.1%

-12.1%

19.1%

11.2%

32.7x

6.2x

28.00

3.5%

8.8%

-13.4%

-13.4%

24.8%

3.9%

4.3x

1.1x

10.7%

23.4%

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 BUA Cement Plc 3 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC 4 Zenith Bank PLC 5 Dangote Cement PLC 6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC

ROE

ROA

P/E

P/BV

5.2x

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

0.7x

5.6%

15.6%

2.2% 3.1%

23.80

0.6%

7.0%

-4.0%

-4.0%

21.8%

2.9%

3.2x

0.7x

12.7%

31.2%

245.00

0.0%

6.6%

0.0%

0.0%

44.7%

17.5%

12.3x

5.3x

6.5%

8.1%

175.00

0.0%

5.4%

3.0%

3.0%

143.0%

12.4%

14.1x

17.8x

6.0%

7.1%

1,400.00

0.0%

4.0%

-7.0%

-7.0%

143.5%

17.1%

28.4x

48.6x

4.3%

3.5%

21.50

-2.3%

3.7%

2.1%

2.1%

9.9%

7.1%

9.7x

0.9x

4.7%

10.4%

18.3%

1.5%

2.4x

0.4x

9.4%

41.4%

2.1x

0.4x

7.2%

47.9% 28.6%

ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

9.00

0.0%

3.3%

6.5%

6.5%

7.60

0.0%

^^ ;ϳϱ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ hE/s/E^hZ ;ϱϴ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc

2.6%

-12.1%

-12.1%

7.50

0.0%

2.8%

4.9%

4.9%

10.6%

1.0%

3.5x

0.4x

6.0%

t D E< ;ϱϯ͘ϳŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> (േϮ͘ϬďŶͿ͕

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

48.75

0.0%

1.9%

-12.9%

-12.9%

5.6%

2.2%

40.9x

2.3x

2.0%

2.4%

39.00

0.3%

2.2%

3.3%

3.3%

17.4%

2.1%

8.4x

1.3x

10.5%

11.9%

DdEE (േϭ͘ϰďŶͿ͕ ĂŶĚ E/d, (േϳϮϲ͘ϲŵͿ ůĞĚ ƚƌĂĚĞƐ ďLJ

14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

-5.9%

-2.5%

ǀĂůƵĞ͘

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ƐƚƌŽŶŐůLJ ŶĞŐĂƟǀĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ŽƵƌ ƐĞĐƚŽƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ůĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ ĂƐ ϱ ŽƵƚ ϲ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƌĞĚ͘

ZĞǀĞƌƐŝŶŐ ŐĂŝŶƐ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ďĞĨŽƌĞ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ůŽƐƚ ϯ͘ϰй ǁͬǁ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůů-ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ d ZE ;ϵ͘ϰйͿ ĂŶĚ ^ W> d ;-ϲ͘ϱйͿ͘ dƌĂŝůŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ďŝŐŐĞƐƚ ůŽƐĞƌ͕ ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ǁĂŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϴй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϲй ǁͬǁ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƐĞůů-ŽīƐ ŝŶ E/d, ;Ϭ͘ϴйͿ͕ ^^ ;-Ϯ͘ϮйͿ͕ D E &/d ;-ϲ͘ϱйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ // K ;ϰ͘ϬйͿ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ǀĞŝŶ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ ĂŶĚ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ Ϭ͘Ϯй ǁͬǁ ĂƉŝĞĐĞ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ŝŶ 'h/EE ^^ ;-ϯ͘ϮйͿ͕ E'^h' Z ;-Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ t W K ;-ϰ͘ϬйͿ͘ ,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ ƚŚĞ AFR-/ d ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ

4.80

0.0%

1.4%

-19.3%

-19.3%

29.10

0.2%

1.3%

11.9%

11.9%

16 SEPLAT Energy PLC 17 11 PLC

710.00

0.0%

2.0%

76.5%

18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC

104.00

-5.5%

1.0%

2.43

0.8%

0.7%

5.05

0.0%

17.20

>ĂƐƚ ǁĞĞŬ͕ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ǁĂŶĞĚ ĂƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ ǁĞĂŬĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϲdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϴdž ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ďĞĨŽƌĞ ĂƐ ϮϬ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϯϲ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ǁĞƌĞ UCAP ;нϭϭ͘ϯйͿ͕ EE&D ;нϵ͘ϲйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ DKZ/^KE ;нϵ͘ϰйͿ

-13.3%

0.7x

5.7%

18.8x

0.6x

5.8%

5.3%

76.5%

3.1%

1.7%

-100.0%

7.4%

3.2%

14.3%

14.3%

37.4%

23.6%

7.7x

2.6x

6.7%

13.0%

-3.6%

-3.6%

12.7%

1.2%

2.1x

0.3x

9.1%

47.4%

0.6%

-15.8%

-15.8%

1.5%

0.1%

16.8x

0.2x

0.0%

0.6%

-2.3%

-2.3%

25.6%

12.1%

6.6x

1.6x

8.7%

15.1%

2.97

0.0%

0.5%

-10.8%

-10.8%

1.49

-0.7%

0.3%

-27.0%

-27.0%

8.9%

0.8%

3.8x

0.3x

3.4%

24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

14.15

0.0%

0.4%

-2.4%

-2.4%

20.7%

5.9%

14.1x

2.9x

2.8%

7.1%

0.93

0.0%

0.4%

3.3%

3.3%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.6x

1.1%

-2.3%

26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC

79.50

0.0%

0.3%

12.1%

12.1%

1.9x

2.7%

13.50

0.0%

0.2%

-2.9%

-2.9%

-6.2%

-4.1%

1.2x

5.85

0.9%

0.2%

10.4%

10.4%

0.0%

20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 Sterling Bank PLC

28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC 30 Guinness Nigeria PLC 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance 32 AIICO Insurance PLC 33 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

5.1%

-5.1%

6.6%

0.4%

89.0%

89.0%

35.5%

4.2%

6.8x

2.2x

8.0%

0.0%

0.3%

57.9%

57.9%

1.7%

0.8%

52.0x

0.9x

1.5%

1.9%

6.70

0.0%

0.2%

14.5%

14.5%

24.7%

7.5%

3.3x

0.8x

8.2%

30.3%

21.6%

3.3%

4.0x

0.4x

0.95

0.0%

0.2%

-15.9%

-15.9%

199.20

0.0%

0.3%

53.2%

53.2%

27.00

0.0%

0.2%

53.2%

53.2%

18.3%

2.4%

5.4x

10.1%

37 Oando PLC 38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

0.0%

4.63

1.8%

0.2%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

52.95

0.0%

0.1%

4.50

0.0%

0.0%

25.0%

25.0%

40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

2.1%

15.8%

0.9x

1.6%

18.4% 23.2%

10.1%

11.7%

0.7%

4.3x

0.5x

5.3%

7.5%

0.9%

5.4x

0.6x

5.2%

25.1%

14.5%

2.6%

2.0x

0.3x

0.0%

0.0%

-38.7%

-9.5%

-4.4%

-4.4%

12.8%

8.7%

25.1%

18.7% 50.2%

2.1x 5.4x

14.7%

24.8%

6.3x

-100.0%

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

-21.2%

0.7x

2.0%

18.4%

0.8x

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

C H IP LC

0.52

8.3%

UN IVIN SUR E

19.1

R EGA LIN S

0.45

7.1%

UB A

11.1

0.0%

P R EST IGE

0.47

6.8%

WA P C O

10.2

-2.3%

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg % 0.0%

UC A P

8.90

6.6%

Z EN IT H B A N K

10.0

0.6%

SOVR EN IN S

0.26

4.0%

UC A P

9.8

6.6% 0.2%

GT C O

26.6%

8.90

0.76

T ic k er

6.0%

30.00

35 Wema Bank PLC 36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

ŽŶůLJ ŐĂŝŶĞƌ͕ ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϴй ǁͬǁ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƚŽŽŬ ƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ŝŶ DdEE ;нϭ͘ϰйͿ͘

0.9x

28.00

3.5%

F LOUR M ILL

8.9

LIN KA SSUR E

0.61

3.4%

F ID ELIT YB K

8.0

0.8%

H ON YF LOUR

4.00

2.3%

FB NH

7.4

0.0%

UA C N

10.00

2.0%

H ON YF LOUR

5.6

2.3%

OA N D O

4.63

1.8%

T R A N SC OR P

4.9

0.0%

ǁŚŝůĞ ^ K (-ϭϴ͘ϱйͿ͕ dZ E^ K,Kd (-ϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ T o p 10 L o s e r s

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

/< : ,Kd (-ϵ͘ϱйͿ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͘ &Žƌ ƚŚŝƐ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ T ic k er

ĞdžƉĞĐƚ Ă ŵŝdžĞĚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ĞdžƚĞŶĚĞĚ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶ ŚƵŶƟŶŐ ĂŶĚ ǁĞĂŬ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͘

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

1.14

-6.6%

F LOUR M ILL

266.4

0.2%

OKOM UOIL

104.00

-5.5%

M TNN

237.1

0.0%

UN IT YB N K

0.55

-3.5%

Z EN IT H B A N K

235.6

0.6%

C OUR T VILLE

0.29

-3.3%

N EST LE

222.5

0.0%

WA P C O

21.50

-2.3%

WA P C O

220.2

-2.3%

F T N C OC OA

0.49

-2.0%

GT C O

94.2

3.5%

VIT A F OA M

17.20

-1.1%

ST A N B IC

90.3

0.3%

C UT IX

4.85

-1.0%

UC A P

84.9

6.6%

ST ER LN B A N K

1.49

-0.7%

IKEJ A H OT EL

UB A

84.0

0.0%

FB NH

55.5

0.0%

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Rombert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe |akeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu | dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021• T H I S DAY

55

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 16Sept-2021, 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 159.52 160.85 -1.47% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 6.25% Nigeria International Debt Fund 316.29 316.29 -15.98% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 109.49 110.54 -1.26% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.12% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.28 3.45 -3.33% info@anchoriaam.com 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 7.83% Anchoria Equity Fund 133.02 134.66 0.77% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.13 1.13 -14.94% 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 19.47 20.06 7.37% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 430.29 443.26 7.47% ARM Ethical Fund 38.20 39.36 13.33% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.09 1.10 -0.50% ARM Fixed Income Fund 0.98 0.98 -6.89% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.38% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 106.26 106.26 4.47% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,034.62 1,034.62 3.46% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.04 2.04 -6.83% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.13 2.17 -7.18% 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 1.02 1.02 3.14% 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 8.59% Paramount Equity Fund 16.41 16.72 2.63% Women's Investment Fund 136.41 137.97 2.50% 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 8.45% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 119.04 119.81 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 108.11 108.11 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 7.71% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 8.22% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,156.04 1,173.60 0.40% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Balanced Fund 190.88 192.12 1.71% FBN Halal Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.64%

FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail N/A N/A N/A FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 158.12 160.14 4.59% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.00% Legacy Debt Fund 3.97 3.97 2.72% Legacy Equity Fund 1.58 1.62 4.05% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.19 1.19 4.59% 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 N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.71% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.79 2.85 -2.40% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 153.20 153.47 -1.48% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.28 1.32 1.33% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.10 1.10 0.84% 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 1.43 1.45 4.86% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,151.54 1,151.54 6.02% 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 11.39 11.43 8.70% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 9.14% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.68 1.70 7.10% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.61 11.60 -4.57% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.35% PACAM Equity Fund 1.69 1.70 6.70% PACAM EuroBond Fund 113.23 115.18 3.12% 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 130.98 133.26 8.69% 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 10.04% 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 3,290.86 3,325.52 2.46% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 233.04 233.04 3.64% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.22 1.24 4.24% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 307.46 307.46 4.34% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 226.00 229.36 3.55% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.59% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,437.94 10,579.17 -0.57% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.27 1.27 3.86% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 115.66 115.66 4.12% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 103.81 103.81 UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.31 1.33 2.23% United Capital Bond Fund 1.92 1.92 4.73% United Capital Equity Fund 0.87 0.89 9.16% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 9.32% United Capital Eurobond Fund 120.36 120.36 5.14% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.06 1.07 3.67% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.06 1.06 6.26% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 12.83 12.94 8.11% Zenith Ethical Fund 14.27 14.42 16.93% Zenith Income Fund 24.44 24.44 1.89% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.97%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.33

13.43

0.87%

120.75 96.35 17.09 18.32

123.75 98.45 17.19 18.42

0.42% -2.89%

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

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

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND

Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

124.98 53.10

10.62% 5.15%

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.83 5.45 17.37 1.00 19.47 156.29

3.87 5.53 17.47 1.00 19.67 158.29

1.64% -4.23% 7.02% 7.58% -5.09% -28.87%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.40

13.11%

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.

56

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͱͮ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

IMAGES

57

Photo Editor ÌÓÙÎßØ ÔËÖË Email ËÌÓÙÎßØ˛ËÔËÖË̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ×

L-R: Personal Assistant to the Founder of Bales of Mercy Orphanage, Somolu, Lagos, Lilian Mayor; Intern, Human Resources department 9mobile, Hadrat Akano; and Specialist, Employee Engagement, 9mobile, Yewande Famoriyo, during the donation of food items and toiletries by 9mobile to the orphanage home to mark the 2021 International Charity Day in Lagos…recently

L-R: Guests, Mrs. Joyce Atayero, and Mr. Abiodun Adedeji Oyebanjo; Chief Technical Officer (CTO), FGN Power Company Limited, Nigeria, Idowu Oyebanjo; and Mrs. Tosin Aladejuyigbe Nwosu, during the conferment of Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) on Idowu Oyebanjo in Abuja... recently

L-R: Director, Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Adebisi Adebiyi; Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora; Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, Ogun State, Professor Adewale Musa-Olomu; and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Mamman Mahmuda, during the presentation of letter of re-appointment to Musa-Olomu as the medical director, FMC, Abeokuta, in Abuja...recently

L-R: Director, Lagos State Agency for Mass Education (AME), Mrs. Oluwakemi; Permanent Secretary, Office of the Special Adviser on Education (OSAE), Mr. Adeniran Kasali; Chairman, Agbado-Oke Odo LCDA, Hon. David Famuyiwa; and his wife, Mrs. Famuyiwa, at the flagging-off ceremony of the Year 2021 Adult Literacy Awareness Campaigns, organised by the Office of the Special Adviser on Education in Abule Egba, Lagos… recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT

L-R: Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; and Afenifere Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, during the funeral service of Dr. Emmanuel Abiodun, father of Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, at St. James Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State…recently PHOTOS: ABIODUN AJALA

L-R: Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; Mr. Tayo Ayeni and Mr. Farouk Saleh during the funeral service of Dr. Emmanuel Abiodun, father of Governor Abiodun, at St. James Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State… recently

L-R: Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, at the burial ceremony of Dr. Emmanuel Abiodun, father of Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, at St. James Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State…recently

L-R: President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina; and President of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, at the burial ceremony of Dr. Emmanuel Abiodun, father of Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, at St. James Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State…recently

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

58

NEWSXTRA

KATSINA READY FOR BUSINESS...

L-R: Katsina State Deputy Governor, Mannir Yakubu; Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Yalwaji Katagum; Secretary, State MSME Council, Abdulahi Tsanni; and the Director-General, Katsina State Investment Promotion Agency, Ibrahim Tukur Jikamshi, during an official visit to the Minister in Abuja...recently

27 Bandits Killed, Others Arrested in Kogi, Sokoto Three victims rescued, six killed in Sokoto Security agents close in on Kabba kidnap suspects Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto A total of 27 bandits terrorising some parts of Koton Karfe Local Government Area of Kogi as well as in Tangaza local government in Sokoto have killed.

These were disclosed yesterday, In Kogi, officers of the State Vigilante Group killed 11 of them and arrested others, while in Sokoto, 16 of the criminals were killed.

It was also gathered that in Kogi, three kidnapped victims were also rescued successfully.

According to a statement, in Kogi, security operatives acting on intelligence were said to have nabbed an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Inspector Abdullahi Saidu, who, alongside a friend, reportedly supplies the criminals with weapons and information to undertake their heinous crimes.

The successful operation by the security operatives was carried out in series working with credible intelligence.

A source within the Kogi State Vigilante Service said, “Alaidi is their ring leader.

He was killed during the first camp attack. Rabo and seven others were crushed. Madei and one other were killed in the second kidnappers' camp while Umar escaped with gunshot injuries but was recaptured."

It was also confirmed that five of the kidnappers who were arrested, including the civil defense operative, were in the custody of the Department of State Security for further investigations.

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Muhammed Onogwu, noted that such security success by the operatives was a welcome development and a proof that the security architecture of Kogi State was strong and solid enough to quash all forms of criminal vices.

He opined that the Local Vigilantes across the state had continued to record good results because of

the morale boost and support the governor had continued to give as well as the cooperation from the citizens and synergy between the security operatives.

Onogwu noted that the continued efforts of the Kogi State government to keep the momentum as the safest state in the country were so far yielding remarkable results, noting that the governor had severally made a commitment to securing the lives and property of the citizens and make the state a no go zone for criminal elements.

He reiterated that governments at all levels would continue to make efforts towards sustaining the drive for a peaceful

Kogi State by making every nook and cranny of the state unsafe for criminal elements and their sponsors.

In the same vein, security agencies are on the trail of kidnappers who were reported to have carried out attack on certain individuals in Kabba.

Meanwhile, in Sokoto, in less than 48 hours after gun men suspected to be armed bandits killed two persons in Tangaza local government, gun men again launched another fresh attacked on Sunday killing six persons in Saminaka in Tangaza local government area of the state.

But in response, the residents of Gidan Maadi and Tangaza both in Tangaza local government killed

about 16 suspected bandits terrorising the environment.

The angry residents made of youths and local vigilante members had on Saturday in response to the earlier attack by bandits on Friday evening mobilised to enter into the bush in pursuant of the said bandits.

A source who spoke with our correspondent from the local government confirmed that the search led to the apprehending of the 16 suspects, 10 in Tangaza town while six were apprehended in Gidan Maadi.

The source said after the suspects were initially handed over to the police and the news filtered into the town of the arrest, members of the said communities

demanded that they should be immediately killed by the police.

"When all efforts to convince the police to kill them was unsuccessful, residents overpowered the police in their station, seized the suspects and killed them all.

"Some of them who were believed to have supernatural power were even set on fire to ensure that they were all died" he added. Meanwhile, in what seemed like a reprisal attacks, suspected armed bandits reportedly attacked a village called Saminaka along Bale - Tangaza road and killed six people.

THISDAY gathered that the bandits stormed the village

yesterday afternoon and killed another six persons in the village.

Those killed in the Saminaka attacks according to a reliable source included children who were slaughtered as well as housewives who were shot while trying to run away.

"I am presently with the corps as I am talking to you now, they slaughtered the children like goats while the women were shot at while running away to escape from the bandits.

"The local vigilante people as I am talking to you now have pursued them into the bush and we pray those bastards will be captured and dealt with accordingly," the source said.

Fashola: FG Committed to Fixing Ota-Abeokuta, Other Roads James Sowole in Abeokuta The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, has said the federal government, was not looking away on the deplorable state of the Ota/Abeokuta and other roads but committed to fixing them.

Fashola said the federal government was ready to borrow money to fix the bad road, which had elicited several protests by residents and motorists.

The Minister stated this during an inspection tour of ongoing construction of interchange bridges on the ever busy LagosIbadan Expressway and the graphic presentation of the additional land to be required for it to the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun.

The Minister, who was received by Abiodun at the Abeokuta/Shagamu Interchange, appealed to residents and motorists to exercise patience.

While the cost of reconstructing the entire road was put at N56 billion, Fashola said reconstruction of failed portion, which

would serve as palliative measure, would start and complete very soon and would cost N13.4 billion.

"We are not looking away on the condition of the Ota/Abeokuta Road unlike some people are saying.

The Federal Government in conjunction with the Ogun State Government is committed towards fixing the road.

"Works would soon start to do palliative work on the failed portions and which shall be reconstructed so that when reconstruction of the entire road starts, it would not amount to waste of money but a mere joining of the portions to link each other," he explained.

The Minister asked Abiodun and his counterpart in Lagos, Babajide Sanwoolu, to prevail on lawmakers from the two states to speak in favour of the road, when debates on 2023 Budget proposal starts.

Also, Fashola hinted that the Mobile telecommunications giant, Globacom, has offered to reconstruct the 64 km OtaIdiroko road in 2022, using the federal government Tax Credit Scheme.

“From Ota to Idiroko, we don’t have a contract there, but Chief Mike Adenuga of Globacom has offered to construct that road using the tax credit system. So, that has also started, they are doing the design and hopefully, by sometime early next year, they should mobilise to site.The real reconstruction is going to happen if we have a deal with Glo,” Fashola said.

He also said FERMA would carry out rehabilitation works on the Ota-Idiroko road between October and December.

“But between now and December, FERMA has gone to take measurements there and they will move there from the end of September if the Ogun State Government does two things.Clear all the squatters, traders and the settlers on the road and help us manage traffic and the governor as at last night has committed to doing that for us,” the minister said.

He said efforts were on to bring in Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Unilever to reconstruct the Badagry link to the Lagos-OtaAbeokuta road, also under

the Tax Credit Scheme of the Federal Government.

“I want to say once again to the people in all these areas, my deepest sympathy.

I understand what you are going through, talking about it doesn’t solve it, we are doing something about it and that is exactly what we have been doing with the governor,” he said, adding that the LagosOta-Abeokuta road had become a problematic road due to years of neglect by previous administrations, as such the highway required huge investment.

“The contract on that road is N56 billion. It was awarded first in year 2000, about 21 years ago, Buhari was not President then. This administration has revived the contract and that is why it is fifty something billion naira, because at that time when it was a lot less, they didn’t fund it.

“When people say Fashola is looking away, I am not looking away, I just can’t find the money,” he said.

Meanwhile, the federal government has begun to collaborate with the Ogun State government to secure the Right of Way (RoW) for

the construction of three bridges and an interchange on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Fashola said the highway accommodated over 40,000 vehicles daily, hence the urgent need for additional flyovers and interchanges for decongestion, stating that, the bridges were under construction at Makun, MFM and Lotto (Mowe) areas on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“We are trying to execute an interchange that will separate the main carriageway and give commuters choice, especially, those going to religious places to worship, those going to universities and so on and so forth. So that what used to cause the congestion is limited to the barest minimum if not totally eradicated when the road is finished.

“So, we now require additional land to build the interchange, that is why I called the governor (Dapo Abiodun),” he said, even as he expressed satisfaction with progress of work on the ongoing reconstruction/ rehabilitation of the LagosIbadan Expressway.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

59

NEWS

Don’t Expect a Perfect Constitution from Us, Gbajabiamila Tells Nigerians Wale Igbintade

The Speaker of the House of the Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, has declared that the current review of the 1999 constitution by the National Assembly would not produce a perfect constitution, stressing that ‘there is no such thing anywhere in the world’.

Delivering a keynote address at the 112th Founders Lecture of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) on Saturday, with the theme “Unity in Diversity… Stronger Together,” the speaker stated that the National Assembly would deliver a constitution that would hold institutions of state to account and put an end to the debilitating conflicts that continue to tear the nation apart.

He said: “In the House of Representatives, we are currently in the process of a substantive review of our nation’s constitution.

Our objective is to deliver a constitution that more effectively organises our politics to make it more inclusive, enshrine efficient mechanisms for holding the institutions of state to account and put an end to the debilitating conflicts that continue to tear our nation apart.

“We would not produce a perfect constitution; no such thing has ever existed

anywhere in the world. Indeed some parts of the world have unwritten constitutions. However, together we can by the choices we make and our actions use our constitution as a foundation document to give life to the people of Nigeria.”

According to the Gbajabiamila, Nigeria was created from the forced union of tribes and peoples without consideration for the complex cultures and histories of the communities and kingdoms that made up the union.

He, however, said that Nigerians have the power to write a new chapter of peace and prosperity, justice and equity for the country that would give every Nigerian a sense of belonging.

He said: “Until it is clear to all that the continued existence of

Nigeria guarantees them certain inalienable rights, there would not be an unreserved commitment to the Nigeria project.

“We are united in our nationhood by the promise that in this union, we will have a government that protects us from

harm and is concerned primarily above all else by considerations of our collective welfare.”

“The combined obligation of government to secure the citizenry and ensure their welfare is the central covenant of our nationhood.

FOR HIV/AIDS CONTROL…

L-R: Head, Projects Department, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), Dr. Oladipupo Fisher; Country Director (Nigeria), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS), Dr. Erasmus Morah; Chief Executive Officer, LSACA, Dr. Monsurat Adeleke, and Lagos State Programme Officer, UNAIDS, Dr. Temitope Fadiya, during an advocacy visit on private sector engagement/financing of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria by UNAIDS to LSACA in Lagos… recently ETOP UKUTT

CBN Urged to Liberalise Forex Market Osinbajo Advocates Provision of Basic Education for Girl-child, Others Chinedu Eze

Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on government at all levels to deliver on their roles on provision of basic education for the benefit of all Nigerians, especially the girl-child.

Osinbajo made the call over the weekend as the special guest at the Mallpai Foundation 2021 Literacy Day, with the theme: “Promoting Literacy for Better Education in Nigeria,” in Abuja.

According to him, education is the best ticket to the full enjoyment of all human civil, socio-political and economic rights.

He observed that getting disadvantaged out-of-school children into formal education is a massive challenge, especially where, in some cases, the prevailing culture

is an obstacle.

While commending the Foundation for its initiative towards improving people’s access to education and skills acquisition opportunities for poor and underprivileged communities, the vice president reiterated that a lot needs to be done through the courage of individual and corporate convictions, for the goals of girl-child education to be achieved.

Osinbajo said: “So, when we talk about human rights that have been declared, the only way to access those rights, including economic rights, is by education at the most basic level. The ability to read and write, not just in one’s own language, but other global languages is crucial; to be deprived of education is to be deprived of means of pursuit of a dignified existence.

Former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Private Sector Advocate, Dr. Muda Yusuf, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend the pegging of exchange rate so that the market would determine the value of the naira.

Speaking on ARISE News Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers,

Yusuf said CBN’s intervention was discouraging suppliers of foreign currency, and had become a disincentive to export as well as hurting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Yusuf said for CBN to stem the free fall of the naira, it has to deal with the fundamentals of the market, which has to do with supply and demand, but currently, instead of treating the ailment, it is rather concentrating on the symptoms by trying to

control the demand of forex.

He said the major challenge forex is facing is inappropriate pricing of the exchange rate and the gap in the window between the parallel market and the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX), which officially pegged the dollar at N420.

According to the economist, “You don’t have to fix a rate in the market which cannot be supported by demand and

supply. The gap between the parallel market and NAFEX window is about 30 per cent, which is big. It could be managed if it is about five to 10 per cent.

The major demand is on the parallel market because NAFEX window can only meet about 20 per cent of the demand. The high demand is putting pressure outside the official window. So it is like subsidy, which cannot work, so we should deal with the fundamentals of the problem.

Osun Denies Receiving N48bn Refund on Roads Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Contrary to claim by a former Osun State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Mr. Sikiru Ayedun, the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, has not received the sum of N48 billion from the federal government as refund on federal roads constructed within the state.

The State Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji, who made the clarification in

a statement at the weekend, described Ayedun’s claim as untrue, misleading and capable of creating disharmony, strife and bad blood within the ‘progressive family’.

He also said the total contract sum is N38billion, wondering how the federal government would make a refund that was far above the contract sum.

According to him, the total refund by the federal government to the state as at today in three

tranches, stands at N11.9billon based on the project delivered by the contractors.

The commissioner revealed that the refund was expended on four road projects inherited from the previous administration as against claim by Ayedun that the refund was being used to pay full salaries to civil servants in the state.

Oyebamiji urged well-meaning Osun citizens to endeavour to verify all information before

publication and dissemination to ensure a peaceful and healthy political atmosphere for everyone.

He said: “The total contract sum of all the federal road projects embarked upon by the state government, as approved by the Federal Ministry of Works, is N38 billion. It therefore stands logic on its head to claim that the sum of N48billion will be paid by the federal government for projects whose total contract sum equals N38billion.”

‘PDP a Dead Party Since Umahi Joined APC’ Four Rescued as Container Benjamin become obvious that since a statement at the weekend Orientation, Mr. Uchenna Nworie in Abakaliki Umahi left the PDP to the ruling lambasted Governor Umahi Orji, yesterday said the PDP Crashes on Car in Lagos Ebonyi State government APC, the opposition party over his comment against the Governors’ forum rather than Rebecca Ejifoma The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Lagos Sector Command and other responders yesterday rescued the four occupants trapped after a 40ft containerised truck fell on their car at Ojuelegba area of the state.

According to the Route Commander, FRSC Public Education Officer, Olabisi Sonusi, LASAMBUS was attending to the four casualties.

The crash occurred at about 6.38pm at Ojuelegba inward Stadium on Funsho Williams Avenue. It involved a 40ft containerised truck (DAF blue colour) that fell on a

Toyota Camry with registration number KRD 822 FZ. The Sector Commander FRSC Lagos, Olusegun Ogungbemide, has sternly warned owners of articulated vehicles that are not maintaining minimum safety standards to keep such vehicles off the road for the sake of innocent motoring public or face the wrath of the law.

Ogungbemide reaffirmed that the crash would have been more devastating if not that the container was properly twist locked.

He, however, commended the rescue agencies for their swift response that assisted in rescuing all the trapped victims.

yesterday said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been gradually dying since Governor David Umahi left the party to join the All Progressives Congress(APC).

The government said it had

had continued unmitigated in deteriorating in strength and character and had become a shadow of itself.

The PDP Governors’ forum through its Director General, Hon CID Maduabum, had in

PDP on Presidential zoning, while featuring on a television programme.

But Ebonyi State government through a statement by the State Commissioner for Information and State

making a clear response to the national burning issue of PDP’s zoning of the presidency as challenged by Governor Umahi, chose to be absolutely evasive and unwittingly begging the question, in its reaction.

Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Now Sham, Says Ogoni Leader Blessing Ibunge inPortHarcourt The President of Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), Dr. Douglas Fabeke, has described the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) as a sham.

Fabeke, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the median presentation of a monthly international magazine

titled: ‘The Niger Delta Focus’, stressed that the vision of the amnesty programme was truncated even before its commencement.

He regretted that the efforts of the Niger Delta leaders to rehabilitate the exmilitants through the amnesty programme have not been achieved.

Fabeke narrated the process of the establishment of the programme which he disclosed that he participated fully.

According to him, “I wrote a proposal to them President Goodluck Jonathan, he saw the proposal and acknowledged it as one of the best, thus Amnesty was given to Niger Delta boys, and I was part of the consultants

to Niger Delta amnesty.

“I single handedly brought out 650 youths from the creek.

When I was moving into some places, some people were running, some government officials were running away.

And the first day I was to be kidnapped and shot to death at Eleme, my partner also ran away.

60

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 • T H I S D AY

NEWS XTRA

Groups Mourn Late Mailafia, Say He Didn’t Die a Free Man Seriki Adinoyi in Jos, John Shiklam in Kaduna and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) have lamented the death of a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia.

They expressed their condolences in separate statements made available to THISDAY. For SOKAPU, the late Mailafia, “didn’t die as a free man.”

In a phone interview with THISDAY, the spokesman of SOKAPU, Mr. Luka Binniyat revealed that the deceased had been in hiding following harassments by the Department of State Security Services (DSS), adding that the late Mailafia was taking refuge with Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State “because a few attempts had been made on his life”.

Binniyat said, “He has only two children, and they are in the UK. His wife comes in from time to time. He has been corresponding with us almost on weekly basis. When we have issues we seek for his advice; he was a big profile academic, and was one of our counselors.

“We never knew him as someone with any dilapidating health issue. So his death is quite curious to us. But no matter what happened, one thing cannot be taken away; he was harassed up and

down by government, he was traumatised, he didn’t die as a free man; he died as somebody that was hiding from the state authority, he was always watching his back.

“Mailafia even had to resign from National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) where he was a top management staff.

“He died with a lot of intelligence that if it were a serious government, it would have used the information he had to solve some of the security issues in the land, probably because the government is truly not interested in solving the issues.”

Also speaking, President of MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu described Mailafia as, “a pillar, not only in the Middle Belt, but in the country as a whole. He was a man who spoke truth to power; a man who was bold and fearless in speaking out his mind on national issues, especially on insecurity and imbalances in this government.

“He will be severely missed because such role he played did not only help in emancipation struggles of Nigerians against domination, insurgencies and other vices, but his efforts have taken the discourse to international level. We will miss him because it will be difficult to fill such gap.”

Pogu said the true cause of his death had not been determined because there was a test conducted on him in the hospital, but the results have not been released before he died.

According to the MBF President, Dr. Mailafia attended a programme and came back some two days ago when he became ill and went to a hospital in Abuja, and was later referred to Gwagwalada hospital where he passed on.

“Tests were conducted on him but the results hadn’t been released when he passed on.

It was hoped that the results would be out by Monday (today), but unfortunately, he didn’t live up to Monday.

“So the actual cause of his death has not been determined.

He came into town (Abuja) well and hearty. It was in Abuja he started having fever, and he went to a hospital from where he was referred to Gwagwalada.

So the cause of death has not been determined yet. He hadn’t be stabilised well pending when the result of the tests would come out, then he passed on.

No postmortem has been conducted yet.”

Meanwhile, the ADC has

decried the late Mailafia, who was its presidential candidate in the 2019 elections.

The National Chairman of the party, Mr. Ralph Nwosu in a statement yesterday described the former Deputy Governor of the CBN as a bold critic of injustice.

He said, "With heavy heart I announce the passing of Mailafia Obadiah, ADC Presidential candidate 2019, and Board of Trustee (BOT) member of our great party

and a former CBN Deputy Governor.

"Mailafia a public intellectual, until his untimely and sudden death, he was a bold critic of injustices and senseless loss of lives under this government and champion of change for a new Nigeria."

Nwosu prayed to God to give all ADC members the boldness and courage of Mailafia to continue the nation building journey in this deeply challenged country of ours.

RECOGNISING THE AMBASSADOR…

National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers Of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA),Mr. John Ide Udeagbala (left) decorating the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Mr. Alexey Shebarshin in Abuja...recently

My Criticism of Fayemi’s Accumulating Debts for Next Generation Govt not Hatred, is Criminal, Obasanjo Tells FG Mischief, Says Ojudu Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Presidential Special Adviser on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has clarified the reason behind his criticism of some suspected lapses in the administration of the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, saying it is an altruistic mission to ensure the development of the state.

Ojudu, in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Political

Matters, Mr. Ahmed Lawal, described his act of pointing out some foibles and laxity in Fayemi’s government as being done in good faith and was not intended to embarrass or malign the governor.

“Mr. Governor, very soon, you will know that your critics love you more than your ‘Halleluiah boys’ whose only attraction to you in the face of glaring failure is the crumbs you throw at them,” Ojudu said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has decried the federal government’s plan to source for fresh loans, saying borrowing to accumulate debt for the next generation is criminal.

Speaking to Channels Television on the sidelines of an event in South Africa, Obasanjo said that if the

existing debt was left unserviced or unpaid, it might become a problem for successive administrations.

While noting that borrowing is not a problem, the former Nigerian leader stated that what could be a problem would be what one is borrowing for and the plan or capacity to pay back.

“But if you are borrowing and accumulating debts for the next generation and the next generation after them, it is criminal. What are you borrowing for?” Obasanjo asked.

“If we are borrowing for recurrent expenditure, it is the height of folly. If we are borrowing

for development that can pay for itself, that is understandable. Then the payment, how long will it take to pay itself?”

The ex-president recalled that during his tenure in 1999, the country was spending $3.5 billion to service debts that kept on increasing.

Gunmen Kill One, Abduct Two Others During Church Service in Kogi Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja Barely one week after suspected gunmen attacked Kabba Custodial Centre, gruesomely killed two security officers and freed inmates, suspected hoodlums have, again, attacked ECWA Church killed one and abducted two others,

including the pastor.

THISDAY gathered that gunmen attacked the ECWA Church, Olefayo, in Kabba during Sunday service along Kabba-Okene Express way around 8. 00a.m. in Kabba Bunu Local Area of Kogi State on Sunday Eye witness account explained

that the hoodlums numbering about five stormed the church premises and started shooting, killed one person and kidnapped two while others scampered for their lives.

It was reliably gathered that the hoodlums were fully armed with AK 47 invaded the

church at about 8 am on Sunday morning shooting sporadically as they made their way into the church premises.

It was learnt that the pioneer Provost, College of Education Technical Kabba, Oshadumo, was among those abducted from the church.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday lamented the burning of its local government office in Enugu State.

In a statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, said: “Our Resident Electoral

an attack on the INEC office in Awgu Local Government Area of the State.

“The building was set ablaze this morning, Sunday, September 19, 2021, resulting in extensive damage to mainly the stores section where election materials are kept.

evacuated following recent attacks on our offices in the state. There are no casualties in the incident,” Okoye said.

He said that the identity or motives of attackers were unknown while the incident has been reported to the Nigeria Police Force for investigation.

of the security agencies comprising the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as well the Enugu State Fire Service and the Awgu Local Government Neighbourhood Watch.

NCoS Partners NOUN to Train 3,000 Inmates in INEC Laments Razing of its Office in Enugu Commissioner for Enugu State, “Fortunately, all movable Okoye said that the commission Chuks Okocha in Abuja Degree Programme Mr. Emeka Ononamadu, reported election materials had been appreciated the prompt response Ugo Aliogo and Loveth Chinagorom The Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has stated that the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCOS) is partnering with the National Open University (NOUN) to train 3,000 inmates in degree programmes, while 50 are undergoing National Certificates in Education (NCE) at Yewa College of Education, Ogun State, as part of its efforts to decongest correctional facilities across the country.

Aregbesola, who stated this yesterday in Lagos during the

policy advocacy conference organised by the Order of the Knights of St Mulumba of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, with the theme: ‘Decongestion of Correctional Centers/Status Quo,’ said the service has 12 special study centers in different custodial facilities across the country.

He also noted that the since inception of the collaboration between the NCOS and the NOUN, a total of 36 inmates have graduated in different fields of study such as Conflict and Peace Resolution, Political Science, Sociology, Guidance, Counselling and others.

Kwara Gov Congratulates Adedoyin on Election as IPI Board Member Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has congratulated Oloriewe Raheem Adedoyin on his election into the governing board of the International Press Institute in Vienna.

In a statement, the governor

described Oloriewe’s election as a great honour well deserved for an outstanding media professional and administrator who has remained committed to the ideals of ethical journalism for many years.

“This is a great honour to us in Kwara and Nigeria as a whole. I have no doubt that Oloriewe will represent Kwara and Nigeria well on the global stage especially at this time when the media industry and professional journalists

are faced with the challenge of balancing between free speech and organised forces of alternative facts, fake news, and disinformation which put true media professionals at great risk of public distrust,” the governor said.

61

T H I S D AY • MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

NEWS XTRA

Gunmen Kill Three Policemen in Anambra, Set Patrol Van Ablaze David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka Three policemen were yesterday killed by gunmen in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Sources said two persons identified to be civilians sustained bullet wounds in the attack.

THISDAY gathered that the attack occurred at Eze Iweka Road in the commercial city, and that a patrol van belonging to the police was also set ablaze by the attacking gunmen.

A source said: "The policemen were at a checkpoint in the area, where they always station their vehicle at the junction on daily basis, when the attack happened.

"Some people say the policemen were interacting with some motorists, trying to extort money from them, without paying attention, when the gunmen struck."

The Spokesperson of State Police Command, DSP. Toochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident but was unable to confirm the

death figure.

"I will get back to you with

details, for now, we are yet to get the full details of how

it happened," Ikenga said.

As at the time of filing

this report, the Police Public Relations Officer was yet to

get back with details of the attack.

CELEBRATING FOUR YEARS OF SUCCESS…

L-R; Chief Operating Officer, Prosperis Holdings, Mr. Samson Adekunle; Chief Executive Officer, Prosperis Holdings, Mr. Kayode Fadahunsi; Chief Executive Officer, AVA Capital Group, Mr. Kayode Falasinnu; and Chief Commercial Officer, Prosperis Holdings, Mr. Efe Shaire, at the fourth anniversary celebration of Prosperis Holdings in Lagos… recently ETOP UKUTT

One Killed, Three Others NSCDC Arrests Two for Attempt to Sell Injured as Hoodlums Contaminated Beef in Kwara Attack Students Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia It has emerged that a student was killed and three others injured at the weekend as hoodlums opened fire on a vehicle conveying students of Marist Comprehensive Academy, Uturu in Abia State.

The students of the famous school owned by the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of the Catholic Church, were said to be returning from a religious event in Imo State when their vehicle ran into the hoodlums operating at Ihube, a community in Okigwe local government having boundary with Abia.

Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, made this known in a statement, saying that "Abia

Government received the news of the attack with sadness".

He named the dead student as Master Donald Edebut but did not disclose the identities of the injured ones.

"Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the state Commissioner of Police, Mrs Janet Agbede, to, as a matter of urgency, liaise with her counterpart in Imo State to swiftly arrest the hoodlums and bring them to justice," he said.

He stated that Abia State Government has also confirmed from the management of Marist Comprehensive Academy, Uturu, that the three students who sustained injuries from the attack had been treated and discharged while the parents of the deceased had been contacted.

The Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at the weekend arrested two suspected meat sellers for allegedly attempting to sell contaminated and unhealthy beef to unsuspected members of the public.

The two suspects are Mr.

Bashiru Bala Zuru and Mr. Nawali Bala.

Confirming the arrest of the suspects to journalists in Ilorin yesterday, the state Civil Defence Corps Public Relations Officer, Mr. Babawale Zaid Afolabi, said the two suspects were arrested in Patigi area of the state.

According to him, "Around 8:50 a.m. last Saturday, our

men from Patigi divisional headquarters, who were acting on a tip off, arrested one Nawali Bala, a native of Okoloke, Kogi State.

"Bala was caught with some contaminated cow meat (beef) neatly packed inside polythene bags.

"During the interrogation, Bala confessed that the cow meat was given to him by

Dantani Jayewu (at large), who lives in Okoloke, Kogi State."

He explained that further check by the state Ministry of Environment and Public Health confirmed that the meat was unhealthy for human consumption.

Afolabi, therefore, said that the suspects would be charged to court after the completion of the investigations.

IPMAN Suspends Member for Selling Petrol in Jerry Cans Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto The Sokoto State chapter of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has suspended one of its members for violating the executive order, banning sale of petrol in jerry cans in the state.

The anti-vandal unit of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps had last Friday arrested two persons with over

100 jerry cans filled with the commodity at Anasiyya filling station, in Sokoto North Local Government Area.

IPMAN's chairman in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Usman, while addressing their members during an emergency meeting yesterday, said they had already written to the Gusau NNPC depot, asking them not to sell fuel to erring members.

According to him, they were

committed to the success of the executive order because it was taken to address their collective problem.

"We know this measure is affecting our business but it is taken for the benefit of all of us. We have members who could not run their businesses and even abandoned their filing station because of banditry," he added He, however, promised to

hand over any of its members who violates the order to the relevant security agency in addition to taking a severe disciplinary action against such a member.

In his remarks, the State Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Bashir Gidado, explained that, a mobile court would be going round to ensure compliance to the executive order by their members.

(APC), Fouad Alade Oki, yesterday has declared his intention to contest as chairman of the party in Lagos State. In a message, titled, ‘Declaration of Intention to contest for state chairman

interest to contest for the position of state chairman of APC at the state congress slated for October 2, 2021.

“My decision to contest this election is borne after careful analyses of the challenges

the needed leadership in our collective search for solutions. My decision to contest the position was influenced by my experience as a team player and a unifier as well as a loyal party man

where experienced people in political administration were needed to mend the divisions being created by the inexperienced leadership that currently permeate our political landscape.

Waya Resigns from Oki Declares for Chairmanship of Lagos APC NNPC, May Join Kano Goddy Egene of Lagos State APC,” Oki said confronting our who desires the best for after a very deep introspection party and on the strength our party, the APC. Today, Fuoad Oki, a chieftain of the and a sense of commitment, of clear understanding of my our party at the State level Governorship Race All Progressives Congress he had formally indicated his personal ability to provide had gotten to a cross-road

Peter Uzoho

The Group General Manager in charge of shipping at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Inuwa Waya, has announced his decision to voluntarily retire from the company in December this year.

Although the retirement of the top management staff member is yet to be officially confirmed by the NNPC, it was gathered that he had already tendered his letter to proceed on voluntary retirement from the services of the corporation.

Following the submission of the letter of his voluntary retirement, Waya has already

commenced his mandatory three months pre-retirement vacation, which began on September 10.

Waya personally broke the news of his decision to voluntarily exit the national oil company at a surprise birthday party organised in his honour by the staff of the shipping division of the corporation to mark his 58th Birthday on Friday, September 10.

In a commemorative speech during the party, Waya informed the staff that after serving the corporation for over 30 years, it was time for him to head towards the exit door, by voluntarily retiring to pave the way for the younger generation to take over.

My Father's Killers After Me, Son of Slain Anambra Former Monarch Alleges David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The first son of Igwe Alex Edozieuno, former traditional ruler of Mkpunando, who was recently assassinated by unknown gunmen, Prince Chinedu Edozieuno, has alleged that he was being

trailed by his father's killers.

The young Edozieuno said he has been receiving threat calls from anonymous persons, since he started helping police find his father's killers.

Edozieuno, in a press release yesterday, also said he was worried that more

than one week after his father was assassinated, the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, who hailed from the same community and of the same age grade as his father has not cared to know how the family is faring after the tragic incident.

The assassination of Igwe Edozieuno on September 10, 2021, few days after he dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), has sparked off suspicion that it could have been politically motivated.

62

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

MONDAYSPORTS VAR Denies Ndidi, Lookman Goals as Leicester Fall at Brighton Nigerian internationals, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho, were on the losing side as Brighton continued their superb start to the Premier League season as they held off a late Leicester rally to move up to third place in the table.

They defeated the Foxes 2-1 in Sunday’s Premier League game at The American Express Community Stadium.

Also on duty was Ademola Lookman, a British player with Nigerian ancestry who is on loan at Leicester from RB Leipzig.

Lookman came on at the start of the second half for James Maddison.

Both Lookman and Ndidi almost rescued a point in the closing stage but VAR review chalked off the goals,

insisting Harvey Barnes strayed offside.

Midfielder Ndidi, who was making his 5th appearance for the Foxes this season, played all 90 minutes as he marshaled the midfield with so much confidence.

He was issued a yellow card for pushing Danny Welbeck in the 44th minutes.

Neal Maupay netted the opening in the 35th minutes via a penalty before Danny Welbeck extended Brighton’s lead in the 50th minutes to send the home fans into frenzy.

However, Jamie Vardy reduced the scoreline when he netted for Leicester City in the 61st minutes. It was his 150th Leicester goal in 250th Premier League appearance.

AISHA BUHARI CUP

Morocco, Mali Battle to Stalemate Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses and the Female Eagles of Mali fought out the first stalemate of the maiden edition of Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Tournament at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Sunday, both sides missing a hatful of chances to put the ball in the net.

The Lionesses, 1-0 winners over the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon on Day 2, were impressive with their ballmanagement on the park, vision, anticipation and firm control.

Mali lost by two late goals to Nigeria on the opening day on Wednesday but were more dogged and pushful against the North Africans yesterday.

The precocious Fatima Tagnaout, who scored the Lionesses’ goal against the other Lionesses from Cameroon, caught the eye of every spectator with her ball control and dribbling skills, and could have put Morocco ahead as early as the 5th minute but goalkeeper Fatoumata Karentao read her intention perfectly.

Tagnaout, Sanaa Mssoudy, Najat Badri, Chhiri Ghizlane, Sabah Seghir and Captain Chebbak Ghizlane were impressive in their reading of the game, and kept Morocco in the ascendancy all through the first 45 minutes.

Mali, determined to make something out of their last match of the tournament, looked up to the France-based Aissata Traore most of the time, and her deft touches nearly paid off in the 32nd minute as she beat three defenders but was

checkmated as she bore down on Errmichi’s goal.

Oumou Kone had a brilliant opportunity to put Mali ahead in the 52nd minute off a defensive error by Zineb Redouani, but her shot flew wide of the goalpost.

Six minutes later, Fatima Tagnaout missed narrowly with the net gaping after a good run and cross by Mssoudy. In the 61st minute, Badri let fly a shot from outside the box but Fatoumata was able.

In the 72nd minute, with only the goalie to beat, Tagnaout could not get enough purchase on her touch, and at the other end, Traore’s well-placed shot from the edge of the box rattled Errmichi but she was able to parry the ball for a corner kick.

The Atlas Lionesses finished their campaign with four points, and immediately flew out of Lagos aboard an Air France flight to Paris, to connect Casablanca on Monday morning.

Mali gained one point and would remain grateful for the opportunity offered by the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament to measure their strength ahead of next month’s 2022 Women AFCOn qualifying fixtures.

On Monday evening, Ghana’s Black Queens, trounced

by South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, come face to face with the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

Decades-old rivalry, plus the fact that both teams are still looking for their points of the tournament, renders this encounter potentially explosive.

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi (left) gets a sliding tackle from Yves Bissouma of Brighton & Hoves Albion during their Premier League class yesterday. Brighton won 2-1

NFF-AITEO AWARDS

22 Years After, NFF to Honour Falcons’ Class of 1999

Pioneer female football promoter, Bola Jegede, to be honoured along with others

Femi Solaja Twenty-two years after Nigeria’s Super Falcons reached the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup staged in the United States of America in 1999, all the players and officials who made that feat possible are to be honoured at 3rd NFF-Aiteo Football Awards holding at the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos this evening.

That class of 1999 led by Captain Florence Omagbemi defeated North Korea 2-1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with goals from Mercy Akide and

Rita Nwadike, before losing 1-7 to the USA despite taking a second-minute lead through Nkiru Okosieme.

Defeat to the Americans in Chicago stirred something in Africa’s lone flag-bearer at the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to feature 16 teams.

In their next match, the Super Falcons flew past Denmark 2-0 at the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium near Washington DC, the goals coming from Mercy Akide and Nkiru Okosieme. In the quarter finals, at the same venue, the Nigerian girls stormed back from three goals down to Brazil in the first half to tie the game

3-3, with Prisca Emeafu, Nkiru Okosieme and Nkechi Egbe the scorers. Brazil won in extra-time, in what was the very first time a women’s competitive game was decided by the golden goal. This was after 104 minutes.

Speaking about the performance of the 1999 class of Super Falcons, President of NFF and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju Melvin

Pinnick, said, “The performance of the Super Falcons in that tournament remains etched in the memory and it is important that we honour them with a special recognition award.”

Fifteen members of that 1999 squad, as well as Coach Ismaila Mabo, will be on hand at the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotels & Suites this night. Eight of them are being flown down from the United States of America.

AWARD CATEGORIES

*Best Performance of the Year (Men; Nigeria-based) *Best Performance of the Nigeria (Men; Overseas-Based) *Best Performance of the Year (Women; Nigeria-based) * Best Performance of the Year (Women; Overseas-based); *Club of the Year (Men); *Club of the Year (Women); *Coach of the Year (Men); *Coach of the Year (Women); *Referee of the Year (Men); *Referee of the Year (Women); *Memorable Performance of the Year; *Host State of the Year; Florence Omagbemi...captained Super Falcons at the *Best Supporter of Women’s Football; 1999 Women’s World Cup in USA *Inspirational Award; Lifetime Achievement Award and Award for Commitment to Women Football Excellence. *There will also be post-humous awards for Prince Larry Eze, Ms Henrietta Ukaigwe (both of blessed memory) for their contributions to women football development.

Akwa Utd Crash out, River Utd Through to Next round Bayelsa Utd also through to next Round of Confederation Cup Nigerian league champions, Akwa United failed in the first hurdle of the CAF Champions League yesterday as they crashed out of the continent with a second leg 2-0 (aggre 2-1) defeat at Algerian club CR Belouizdad.

The Algerians lived up to their promise last week in Uyo when they lost to a Friday Ubong’s lone goal three minutes from time at the Nest of Champions to cancel out the Promise Keepers advantage.

CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Bringing in Mfon Udoh and Akarandut Orok as late substitutes in 60 minutes didn’t have any effect as the hosts failed to budge.

Elsewhere in Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s other entry in the CAF Champions League, Rivers United scaled through to the next round following a 1-0 win against Tanzanian club Young Africans at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium.

The Port Harcourt Dwellers scaled through 2-0 on aggregate.

Substitute Uche Onwuasonaya netted the winning goal for Stanley Eguma’s men nine minutes from time.

Rivers United will face Faisal Kenema of Ethiopia or Al Hilal of Sudan next month in the playoffs.

In the CAF Confederation Cup, Bayelsa United also

advanced into the next round after a 4-2 win against Ashanti Golden Boys of Guinea.

Ths Yenagoa club raced into a 3-0 lead after 35 minutes courtesy of goals from Favour Martins, Okardi Inikurogha and Emo James.

Okardi scored the fourth goal for the Yenagoa club in the second half.

Moussa Keita bagged a brace for the visitors in the game.

Bayelsa United will face Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien in the next round.

63

MONDAY, ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPORTS R-L: Scorers of Manchester United’s goals, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesse Lingard celebrating with Bruno Fernandes, Wan Bissaka and Harry Maguire after the win that moved the Old Trafford team to same 13 points as Chelsea and Liverpool at the summit of the five-week old Premier League

Lingard Scores Late Man Utd Winner at West Ham Chelsea hammer Spurs 3-0 to climb to top of the log Cristiano Ronaldo scored his fourth goal in three matches since his return to Manchester United on Sunday before Jesse Lingard grabbed a late winner on his return to West Ham in a 2-1 win.

Ronaldo tapped in to cancel out Said Benrahma's opener and substitute Lingard appeared to have won the match for the visitors in the 89th minute.

But there was time for late, late drama when the home side were awarded a penalty for a Luke Shaw handball in added time.

Mark Noble came on to take the spot kick but United goalkeeper David de Gea dived to his left to keep it out, sparking a frenzy among United players.

United move into second place in the table, level on points with Liverpool.

Ronaldo was jeered and whistled by the home fans at the London Stadium as he tried his trademark stepovers and feints but proved a handful throughout at the point of United's attack.

The Portuguese superstar was supported by Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood, with no starting place for Jadon Sancho, who has struggled to make an impact since his big-money move from Borussia Dortmund in July.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still trying to work out how best to juggle his impressive forward resources and United are still seeking fluency despite a bright start to the Premier League season.

West Ham proved a stern test for the visitors just five days after 10-man United crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Swiss side Young Boys in their Champions League opener.

Both sets of players lined up before kick-off as the stadium observed a minute's applause for England great

Jimmy Greaves, who died on Sunday at the age of 81.

West Ham, without suspended forward Michail Antonio, engineered the first clear opening of the game when De Gea was forced to save wth his legs from a Jarrod Bowen shot.

As the game opened up, West Ham goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski got his fingertips to a rasping Fernandes shot, touching it onto the post.

But it was West Ham who

took the lead in the 30th when Benrahma's effort from the edge of the box took a huge deflection off Raphael Varane and completely wrong-footed De Gea. Elsewhere, Chelsea stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to five games as Thomas Tuchel's team deservedly beat Tottenham 3-0 yesterday.

After managing no shots on target in the first half, the visitors looked like a different

team after the break and scored three second-half goals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Blues opened the scoring four minutes after the re-start, when Thiago Silva headed past Hugo Lloris from Marcos Alonso's corner.

Half-time substitute N'Golo Kante added a second with his first goal in 49 league appearances, though his longrange effort took a massive deflection from Eric Dier.

Eguavoen, Lawal Commend Egbe over MJA Turf Want this quality facility replicated across Nigeria The Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Austin Eguavoen and former Super Eagles utility player, Garba Lawal, have lauded the new-look pitch of the Mobolaji Johnson Arena (the old Onikan Stadium), which is the venue of the ongoing Aisha Buhari Invitational Women Football Tournament in Lagos.

The duo, who spoke on the sideline of the Aisha Buhari Cup at the weekend, want the turf constructed

by Monimichelle Group, Nigeria’s leading sports facilities construction outfit, replicated across Nigeria.

“I remember playing in this stadium in the 1980s, but you can’t compare then and now because the turf is now

completely refurbished, well planned with a good synthetic pitch of FIFA standard. We thank the government of Lagos State for this effort and we want more of this in different locations so that we can develop our football,” Eguavoen said.

The former Super Eagles handler also commended the organisers of the Aisha Buhari Cup, saying it is a good test for the Super Falcons.

“I congratulate the person who came up with this idea. The organisation is very smooth, but it is quite unfortunate that all the teams will not play with each other.

They are confined to play only two matches each according to FIFA rules and regulations.

But it is a good test for our

girls and it affords Lagosians the opportunity to see other countries play. It will be nice for our football if we can see more of this. It is a wonderful innovation,” concludes the ex international fondly called Cerezo.

Another ex-international, Garba Lawal, on his part, described the remodeled Mobolaji Johnson Arena turf as fantastic and commended the contractor for the good job.

“The pitch is fantastic, superb. The contractor did an excellent job and it is a good atmosphere for players to showcase their skills. I want to see more of this across Nigeria to fast-track our football development," Lawal stated.

Osimhen

Osimhen Not Yet World-class Striker, Says Rohr Super Eagles Head Coach, Gernot Rohr, is excited by the growing influence of Victor Osimhen for both club and country, but is also quick to add that the Napoli striker is not yet world-class.

“Victor is currently one of the best strikers in Europe, but not yet in the world,” Rohr told Tuttomercatoweb. com “Osimhen is young, ambitious and very motivated.

“I think he has what it takes to become a great striker, one of the best ever.

But he still has to grow.”

The Franco-German coach said he is happy with him in the Eagles.

“We are very happy with him. Osimhen has made the whole process of the youth teams, already scoring important goals with the senior national team despite his young age,” he remarked.

“Our attack is certainly in good hands, also thanks to Victor.

He went on to back Osimhen to improve on the 10 goals he scored in Serie A last season, saying the player has grown both as a man and as a player.

Heartland Queens Set for Betsy Obaseki Invitational Heartland Queens of Owerri are looking forward with a lot of expectations to the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament billed to run from September 27 to October 4 in Benin, Edo State.

A member of Imo FA, Ndubuisi Opara who

confirmed that Heartland Queens would be in Benin for the tournament said the competition would be a good avenue for the club to perfect strategies for the task ahead.

“Heartland Queens would be in Benin and we are happy the organizers extended

invitation to us to be part of the tournament. We are going there to make good use of the opportunity,” Opara said.

The ex international was full of praise for the Edo State First Lady for putting together the tournament which he noted would rob off

positively on female football in the country.

Already, 12 teams have confirmed their participation in the Betsy Obaseki football fiesta which would be played at the re-modeled Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin.

The 12 participating clubs

include; Edo Queens FC, Rivers Angels FC, Bayelsa Queens FC, Sunshine Queens FC, Robo FC, Heartland Queens FC, Royal Queens FC, Confluence Queens FC, Kaduna Queens FC, Nija Ratels FC, Fortress Ladies FC and Rolly FC.

Monday September 20, 2021

TR

UTH

& R E ASO

N

Price: N250

MISSILE PDP to APC, Buhari “It is distressing that despite the already terrifying situation, and with the further depreciation of our Naira to N570 to a dollar, President Buhari is moving to take a fresh $4 billion and 710 million Euro external loans, for very opaque purposes.

More frightening is the revelation by the Economic Advisory Council that the nation’s debt stock might soon hit N45 trillion” – PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleging that APC and the president wrecking Nigeria.

MAGNUSONYIBE GUEST COLUMNIST

How to Become the President of Nigeria, 2023

B

eyond the Rotation of Presidency between the north and south arrangement, which seems to be taking up a huge chunk of media space as 2023 general elections loom large , there are other critical factors which are nuanced but Germaine to the matter of who becomes the president of Nigeria in 2023. The word on the streets is that the fast approaching 2023 presidential contest would as usual be a two horse race between the ruling All Progressive Party, APC and the main opposition, People Democratic Party, PDP. It is also being predicted that the battle would be waged between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of PDP and former Lagos state governor , Bola Tinubu of APC. The permutations that the ex Vice President would fly the flag of the main opposition, PDP, and ex Lagos state governor is likely the flag bearer for the ruling party , APC may be based on the first movers advantage being enjoyed by the duo who happen to have been the most visible and active politicians that are angling for the presidency from both parties at this point in time.

But the question of who would become the candidate for the presidency in 2023 still depends on if the ruling party, APC zones the presidency to the south as agreed when the coalition of opposition political parties against then ruling party PDP was in the making in 2013/14. In the event that the presidential power shift agreement is upheld , then Bola Tinubu who was instrumental to APC clinching the presidency in 2015 would be waiting in the wings to collect the flag.

And in the case of the PDP, the possibility of the presidential candidate being Atiku Abubakar would become clearer, if the party accepts the Bala Mohammed led committee recommendations that the main opposition party jettisons her presidential power rotation policy and declare the ticket open to all interested parties .

Should the foregoing proposition become manifest, the PDP may decide to rally once again behind Atiku Abubakar, her presidential candidate in 2019.

But the aforementioned simple calculus about who becomes the president of Nigeria in 2023 is just scratching the surface. That’s simply because politics of the presidency of Nigeria is more complex than what meets the eyes.

Consequently, given the complexities of the ethno-religious issues in the country, particularly with respect to the unprecedented levels of insecurity of lives and properties, and how polarized the society currently is on the issue of ethnicity and religion, both the ruling and main opposition parties are yet to hold their conventions which is unusual because it is barely 20 months to the 2023 general elections.

The delay is partly because both parties are shadowing each other so as to be guided in their decision about whether the presidential pendulum would remain in the north or swing to the south .

The slack in holding their conventions is also exacerbated by the fact that both parties are currently facing leadership schisms.

Given the cracks on the wall of the political parties caused by the internal wrangling , a factor that could prove fatal to both parties if they go into the 2023 general elections as fractured entities, holding a party convention to set the agenda for the general elections in 2023 appears to be in abeyance until they are able to put their respective houses in order.

As the conventional wisdom dictates ‘a house divided cannot stand’.

Therefore, the sooner both the ruling and main opposition parties settle the rifts within their ranks , the better their chances of victory in the 2023 general elections.

While the APC is led by a care taker committee headed by Mai Mala Buni, the seating governor of Yobe state, which is deemed as illegal in some

Buhari quarters, because the APC party constitution forbids anyone in an executive position doubling as the party’s chairman, opinion from another quarter in the same party is that the Buni led Caretaker committee of the party is legitimate and in order .

Similarly, the PDP leadership is being tossed up and down like a ship caught in a stormy sea by a series of law suits (4 in number) sacking the chairman, Uche Secondus two times, and another reinstating him to the position twice. As the embattled Secondus insists that his tenure as chairman does not expire until December, his traducers vow that he has been sacked at both the ward and national levels and a convention would be held in October to replace him. Should Secondus’ contentions be ignored and elections are held in October to elect new National Working Committee, NWC members , and thereafter the Supreme Court gives judgement in his favor, the decisions of the executives to be elected in October would be ultra vires.

Presently, the jury is still out on the matter of legality besetting the leadership of both the ruling APC and main opposition party, PDP. While the legal battles remain unsettled , one thing for sure is that there would be cataclysmic implications for both parties, if the courts contradict the advise of the legal counsels to the respective parties upon which their present actions are predicated.

In view of the energy that both the ruling and main opposition parties are dissipating in internal conflicts, instead of designing and releasing manifestoes which they should be selling to Nigerians right now , untangling the noose which they may have unwittingly tied around their own necks is currently palpably giving the leadership of both parties indigestion .

So given the web of legal complications shackling the leadership of both the ruling and main opposition parties , the implementation of the recommendations of the committees independently set up by both parties to chart the way forward for our beloved country maybe in jeopardy as they are no longer in the front burner . Rather, the proposals are gathering dust in the archives at a time that both parties should be trying to woo the electorate by sharing with them the positive changes that the masses should expect in the coming dispensation if given the opportunity to call the shorts in Aso Rock Villa from 2023. The package of new approach to governance including presidential power rotation between the south and north as well as the restructuring of the political system that are the major policy planks upon which the ruling and main opposition parties can predicate their manifestos that can motivate the Nigerian

masses into having faith in politics , and policies that are supposed to have been captured in the reports of both the APC and PDP committees awaiting ratification by the respective parties, have been overshadowed by the cases in the courts as the leaders are being preoccupied with quelling insurrections within their parties.

On the part of the PDP, whereas there are indications that it would like to continue with its Policy of rotating the presidency between the north and south, which has proven to be a winning formula and the ingredient for its pan Nigeria outlook, it is not clear whether it would nominate a southerner as its presidential candidate. That is owed to an apparent dearth of presidential ‘material’ in the south East whose turn it is, (on equity basis) to produce Nigeria’s next president in 2023.

In the absence of somebody with a national stature , formidable financial resources (a war chest of least N100 billon naira ) and national name recognition, the question is : would pragmatism compel the PDP to keep the game open for the best candidate from any part of the country based on Meritocracy and in tandem with the recommendation of the Bala Mohamed led committee that was set up to chart the way forward for the former ruling party after her repeated loss of the presidency to the incumbent ruling political Party, APC and president, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019?

Assuming the PDP decides to sustain the zoning calculus, which PDP politician even from the entire southern states have the national exposure, stature and exposure ?

There appears to be no candidate currently in the arena or horizon. As there seems to be no lgbo man/woman with name recognition nationally in the political arena and who posses a magnetic force that can pull together the lgbos, who are by nature republicans, the lgbo quest for the presidency in 2023 may be in jeopardy . Of course , there are lgbo politicians with average name recognition, but lack the nationwide structure and financial muscle.

Those that readily come to mind are, Emmanuel Iwuayanwu and Peter Obi. The former, is the owner of a defunct national newspaper - Champion and proprietor of an erstwhile popular football club-Iwuayanwu Babes which made him a household name. But he is now too old to be president and in retirement from active politics.

Some would like to make a case for Peter Obi-former Anambra state governor and vice presidential candidate in 2019. But does he have a robust nationwide structure or platform like the PDM projecting him ? I think not.

While it is true that youths admire him for his understanding of street economics that he exhibits online and some Nigerians admire his frugality, but it takes much more than those two qualities to be the president of Nigeria in 2023. It took the military class and political platform of late Musa Yar’adua’s (elder brother to Umaru Yar’adua and former chief of staff supreme headquarters under Obasanjo’s military regime) PDM to make Olusegun Obasanjo president in 1999. And as a seating president, it also took Obasanjo’s personal effort to reward the Yar’adua family for rendering their support to him pre 1999 by equally supporting Umaru Yar’adua (of blessed memory) to become president in 2007.

Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan idiomatically had his palm kernel cracked by benevolent spirits when Yar’adua passed away in 2010 and the ‘doctrine of necessity’ propelled him from Vice President to President for two years after which he leveraged the power of incumbency to get himself re-elected as president in 2011.

As for the current incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari , he succeeded on a forth attempt only after Bola Tinubu, ex Lagos state governor who was effectively the leader and controller of politics in

Yoruba land in 2015 swung the Yoruba votes in his favor after a successful combination of multiple opposition political parties to unseat then ruling party, PDP. Now, as a side comment, not many people recognize the role that the late Balarabe Musa , one time governor of Kaduna state played in getting opposition parties to forge a common front against the ruling party.

Only a slew of Nigerians may recall that he is the one that started the concept of fusion of opposition parties. Although he did not succeed in 2007 and 2011, but his idea gathered momentum and made it easy for the initiative to be attractive to politicians, especially those of Buhari’s CPC that had made three previous attempts at clinching the presidency and failed. Even Tinubu’s ACN that fielded Nuhu Ribadu, the former anti corruption tzar as presidential candidate and Fola Adeola, ex-Gtbank co-founder and managing director, as vice presidential candidate, also lost woefully.

That is perhaps owing to the power of incumbency that makes it extraordinarily difficult to unseat a candidate in office except a catastrophic event happens.

Returning to the matter of presidential ‘material’ of lgbo extraction for the 2023 presidential race , unfortunately , Peter Obi, the only active lgbo politician with some footprints beyond lgbo land does not possess the type of political clout commanded

by Alex Ekwueme of blessed memory who served as Vice President in the presidency of Shehu Shagari, (1979-83) and also led the G-34 that took on then military head of state, Sani Abacha and succeeded in ending military dictatorship. Owing to the republican nature of the lgbos, Ekwueme suffered a whiff of the negative effect of lgbo republicanism after he was once again propelled into national prominence with the G-34 in 1998. It is on record that as soon as Ekwueme was proposed by the late Lawal Keita during a G-34 meeting as the presidential candidate following the demise of the military dictator , Sani Abacha , instead of rallying around him, other lgbo leaders went back home to declare their own presidential ambitions. That internal rebellion ended up fracturing Ekwueme’s support base which led to his subsequent loss in the party primaries to president Olusegun Obasanjo who was the preferred candidate of the ruling military class at that time. So , for an lgbo to become a presidential candidate for 2023 and for him/her to have the chance of winning, that person must have structures in the three major tribes of Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani in addition to the home base .

The late Isa Funtua said it best in one of his profound television interviews early 2020 when he narrated how Ekwueme worked towards becoming the Vice presidential candidate to Shehu Shagari during the second republic in 1979. Here is what he had to say about lgbo politicians.

“They should belong. They should join the party. They want to do things on their own and because they are Igbo, we should dash them the presidency? That was the reason I asked if it is turn by turn Nigeria limited.

“You are talking about politics, which is an issue of votes. My very good friend of blessed memory, MKO Abiola defeated Bashir Tofa in Kano. Was MKO Abiola from Kano? But he defeated Bashir in his town, Kano. Why? Because the man played politics, he embraced everybody.

“Ekwueme of blessed memory was my boss.

We campaigned for him throughout this country.

Nobody will carry you like a newly born baby.

With due respect to the Igbo, they fail to understand that when the South-West chose to remain on their own as opposition, they did not go near (national) power” NOTE: Read the full piece in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Printed and Published in Lagos by THISDAY Newspapers Limited. Lagos: 35 Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos. Abuja: Plot 1, Sector Centre B, Jabi Business District, Solomon Lar Way, Jabi North East, Abuja .

All Correspondence to POBox 54749, Ikoyi, Lagos. EMAIL: editor@thisdaylive.com, info@thisdaylive.com. TELEPHONE Lagos: 0802 2924721-2, 08022924485. Abuja: Tel: 08155555292, 08155555929 24/7 ADVERTISING HOT LINES: 0811 181 3085 0811 181 3086, 0811 181 3087, 0811 181 3088, 0811 181 3089, 0811 181 3090. ENQUIRIES & BOOKING: adsbooking@thisdaylive.com