WEDNESDAY 22TH SEPTEMBER 2021

In Show of Strength, Nigeria Raises $4bn through Eurobonds Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja Nigeria has raised $4 billion through Eurobonds, which was a reflection of investors’ confidence in the economy.

The amount was raised after an intensive two days of virtual meetings with investors

across the globe.

In a statement issued last night, the Debt Management Office (DMO) explained that the Order Book peaked at $12.2 billion, which enabled the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to raise $1 billion more than the $3

billion it initially announced.

It said: "This exceptional performance has been described as, “one of the biggest financial trades to come out of Africa in 2021” and “an excellent outcome”.

According to the DMO, bids for the Eurobonds were

received from investors in Europe and America, as well as Asia. There was also good participation by local investors.

According to the statement, the size of the Order Book and the quality of investors demonstrates confidence in Nigeria.

The Eurobonds were issued in three tranches, details, namely seven years--,$1.25 billion at 6.125 per cent per annum; 12 years -$1.5 billion at 7.375 per cent per annum as well as 30 years -$1.25 billion at 8.25 per annum The long tenors of the

Eurobonds and the spread across different maturities are well aligned with Nigeria’s Debt Management Strategy, 2020 –2023, the DMO said.

It stressed that since the Eurobonds were issued as Continued on page 8

FG Writes OPEC, Seeks Higher Oil Production Quota... Page 5 Wednesday 22 September, 2021 Vol 26. No 9662. Price: N250

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NLNG Targets Domestic LNG Supply from July 2022... Page 5

Buhari Proposes New Amendments to PIA, Nominates Regulatory Boards

Seeks expansion of upstream, midstream memberships Appoints Komolafe CEO of URC, retains DPR's Auwalu Removes petroleum, finance ministries from agencies' boards Sends EFCC board nominees for approval Deji Elumoye, Emmanuel Addeh and Udora Orizu in Abuja Exactly 37 days after the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was enacted, President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the senate,

requesting amendments to the law and expansion of membership of the board of the Upstream Regulatory Commission (URC).

Buhari, in a letter read yesterday on the floor of the Continued on page 8

Banditry Has Transformed into Insurgency, Time to Eliminate Them, Masari Warns

House alleges fleeing bandits from Katsina, Zamfara attacking Kano Emir condemns dialoguing with criminals

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja, Olawale Ajimotokan in Katsina and Francis Sardauna in Katsina The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari,

has warned the federal government that banditry has transformed into insurgency and that the hoodlums, who orchestrated the carnage Continued on page 8

i FEEL YOUR PAIN...

Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade (left) and the widow of late General Anthony Ukpo (retd), Mrs. Salome Ukpo, during the Governor’s visit to the Calabar residence of late Military Governor of Rivers State... recently

2023: Jega, Bugaje, Abdulfatah, Utomi, Adeniran, Others Form Political Group...Page 6

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

DG WTO MEETS THE PRESIDENT...

Director General of the World Trade Organization , Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (left) and President Muhammadu Buhari, during their meeting in New York ...yesterday

FG Writes OPEC, Seeks Higher Oil Production Quota Nigeria fixing technical challenges, Sylva assures Oil prices edge higher to $74 Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Nigeria has now officially written the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), requesting a higher production quota under the OPEC+ accord, as had been predicted by THISDAY. The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, while speaking on the sidelines of the Gastech 2021 conference in Dubai, yesterday, said the technical problems that had hampered the country’s output would soon be resolved.

Nigeria’s quota, which covers only crude oil and not condensate, is 1.614 million bpd for September and was scheduled to rise by roughly 17,000 bpd each month, in line with the OPEC+ alliance’s plans to gradually ease back on production cuts implemented in the pandemic.

Sylva said the country’s full production capacity was closer to 2.2 million bpd, which should be reflected in a revised quota, even though Nigeria has struggled to produce at its current allocation.

According to S&P Global Platts, Nigeria self-reported crude output of 1.27 million bpd in August, down from 1.44 million b/d in July, one of the lowest in the last few years.

But the minister insisted that the country deserves a higher quota, noting that aside its efforts to fix the technical difficulties, the basis for the current production quota, which was mainly because of the problems in the Niger Delta at the time, no longer exists.

“We’ve just put a request on the table, and we expect that to be looked at. We have capacity for more production than we are producing right now. Unfortunately, we are constrained by the quota,” the minister said.

OPEC and its allies are scheduled to meet October 4, with the current OPEC+ agreement calling for the group to collectively raise output by 400,000 bpd each month through the end of 2022 and a review of the pact scheduled in December 2021.

At the group’s July meeting, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Iraq and Kuwait were issued higher production baselines from which quotas are determined, that go into effect in May 2022.

The move, agreed after more than two weeks of acrimonious negotiations, was spurred by a complaint from the UAE that

its substantial investments in its production capacity over the past several years should be taken into account. Production baselines had been largely based on October 2018 production levels.

Sylva attributed Nigeria’s production struggles to technical problems from re-tapping reservoirs that had been shuttered to comply with the stringent OPEC+ cuts of the past 17 months and said output could

rebound to around 1.7 million bpd by November and two million barrels per day by the end of the year.

“We had some issues from shutting down the reservoirs,” he said. “When you shut down a reservoir, to restart it, sometimes there are challenges,” he added.

Key Nigerian grade Forcados had been disrupted for almost a month until Shell lifted force

majeure on loadings September 10. Quoting industry sources, S&P said the suspension of exports was due to an oil spill near the Forcados terminal.

Other Nigerian crudes such as Bonny Light, Escravos, and Qua Iboe have also faced production issues in recent months due to operational and technical reasons.

Sabotage and oil theft by militants in 2018 caused great volatility in Nigeria’s crude

production that year, which Sylva said penalised the country when OPEC+ production baselines were set. The country reported pumping 1.77 million bpd in October 2018, jumping up to 1.94 million bpd in November 2018.

“The basis for giving us this quota was (that Nigeria was in) a crisis. Right now, we don’t have any crisis anymore, and we believe we can produce more,” Sylva said.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose modestly on Tuesday, as concerns about the global consumption outlook counterbalanced the struggle by big OPEC producers to pump enough supply to meet growing demand.

Both benchmarks were at one point up by $1 per barrel, but Brent crude pared gains and was up just 32 cents to $74.24 a barrel after falling by almost two per cent on Monday.

NLNG Targets Domestic LNG Supply from July 2022 Company says Nigerian market unable to take up its 450,000mt cooking gas supply Peter Uzoho The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has announced plan to enter into the Nigerian domestic LNG supply space from July 2022.

It explained that the move was part of efforts to help bridge the perennial gas-to-power and gas-to-industry supply challenge in the country.

The liquefaction company also exonerated itself from the scarcity and rising cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) commonly known as cooking gas, saying the Nigerian market has not been able to take all of the 450,000 metric tons of LPG

it has dedicated for the country.

The company stated this yesterday in Lagos, during an interactive session with journalists, stating that it was working to ensure that it makes contribution towards solving Nigeria's energy challenge from the side of LPG and LNG supplies.

In his presentation at the session, the Marketing Manager, NLNG, Mr. Austin Ogbogbo, said the company would be starting its domestic LNG supply to Nigeria with initial one million tons per annum in July 2022.

Ogbogbo said to achieve that, NLNG was constructing more smaller terminals to be able to

get more LNG to the Nigerian market.

He said in addition, the NLNG was working to get a dedicated LNG vessel for the domestic market similar to the LPG model and that the vessel would be owned a Nigerian in line with the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage Act).

He said once the infrastructure was ready, the first molecule of LNG from NLNG would hit the Nigerian market in July 2022.

Ogbogbo explained: "Our LNG intervention started in April 2018. We are constructing smaller terminals to be able to supply more LNG to domestic.

"We are also working to get

a dedicated LNG vessel to the domestic market, it will be similar to the LPG model and a sippy-only plan. The vessel will be a Nigerian vessel, because that is what the CABOTAGE Act says.

"In July 2022, the first molecule of LNG will come to the domestic market.

"Just like we did in the LPG, we are also working to get a dedicated LNG vessel to ensure that when the infrastructure for the private sector is ready, we would move this product with our vessel to Nigeria. So, that's in the works as at now, getting the vessel ready. It's going to be a supply-only model."

On the impact of the LNG supply to the Nigerian market, he said one million tons of LNG would be supplied per annum, translating to 130 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day.

He said the volumes would be enough to power three million homes, with over 30 per cent of it powering industries and over 20 per cent for power plants.

Ogbogbo, however, reiterated NLNG's commitment to steady LPG supply in Nigeria, saying it has dedicated 450,000mt to the domestic market but that the market was not yet able to take all the dedicated volumes owing to several logistical factors.

FG: Why Nigeria Has Not Endorsed OECD's Proposal on Digital Economy Ndubuisi Francis and James Emejo in Abuja The federal government yesterday gave reasons why it withheld its endorsement to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) proposed solution to issues affecting the digital economy.

It hinged its position on concerns around the possibility that the terms of the proposed agreement may result in undesirable outcomes for the revenue accruable to taxing jurisdictions.

Speaking at the 17th General Assembly and 10th anniversary of the West African Tax Administrations Forum (WATAF) with the theme: “The Taxation of the Digital Economy: Exploring Untapped Revenue Sources in Africa,” the Minister of Finance,

Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said Nigeria was yet to endorse the OECD proposal because the country seeks to prioritise the importance of securing a fair deal that provides for equitable global re-allocation of profits to all market jurisdictions.

Ahmed who disclosed government's stance, said many developing countries, including Nigeria, may experience negative or reduced revenue collection from the implementation of the outcome of the digital economy project as propounded by the OECD. She said: "I am aware that some countries have endorsed the agreement. While I believe that the decision to do so lies within the policy choice of each jurisdiction, I crave your

indulgence to highlight one or two implications of the proposed solution, for us.

“First of all, the scope threshold of Pillar 1 covers only Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) with €20 billion global revenue and above 10 per cent profitability, which means just about 100 companies across the world, are within the scope of the rules.

"This threshold has left many of the well-known MNEs exploiting the digital space out of the scope of Pillar 1, and will significantly reduce any benefit that may accrue to market jurisdictions from taxing right.

"Even where the non-resident company (NRC) meets the revenue and profitability threshold, there is still the requirement of operating in and meeting a local sales threshold

of €1 million in the market jurisdiction, except for jurisdictions with a Gross Domestic Product of $40 million and below that have the in-scope revenue threshold fixed at €250,000."

According to her, the proposed scope reduction after seven years of implementation provides for some conditions, which include effective implementation of mandatory binding dispute resolution mechanism.

She observed that there was no certainty of the reduction in the scope threshold, adding that the rule may continue to apply to only the few companies that fall under the scope revenue and profitability threshold.

The finance minister noted that in addition, the building blocks on Unilateral Measures required that all jurisdictions withdraw their existing legal

framework for taxing all NRC deriving income through digital means without a physical presence, and refrain from introducing any other ones subsequently.

She pointed out: "The implication of this is that it restricts the number of nonresident companies engaged in digitalised businesses that may pay tax in our jurisdictions to only the 100 that are in-scope of the threshold, to the exclusion of all others, regardless of the actual number.

"It should further be noted that the unilateral measures to be withdrawn is not restricted to Digital Service Taxes but also includes other relevant measures that have not been defined, that taxes non-resident companies without physical presence in the market jurisdiction,” she added.

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MARINEMEN AT STATE HOUSE MARINA...

L-R: Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; Flag Officer Commanding Naval Training Command, Lagos, Rear Admiral Kamarudeen Lawal; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, during a courtesy visit to the governor at Lagos House, Marina... yesterday

S’East Splits as PDP Zoning Committee Meets Thursday Anyim, Chidoka, others insist chairman should go north Onaiwu advises Jonathan not to defect Chuks Okocha in Abuja The political climate in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is presently gripped by anxiety, twists and horse-trading, as the South-east caucus of the party is already divided over the chairmanship of the party ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the National Convention Committee on Zoning, headed

by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

The current heat in the party was heightened, because the outcome of the zoning convention committee would determine the way the presidential ticket of the party would go.

Already, the southeast is divided over whether to vote for the national chairman to go north or south. If the national chairman was zoned to the north, chances that the presidential candidate of the PDP would go to the south would become brighter.

The committee was initially made up of 44 members, but was expanded with four others to bring the total membership to 48. The new members were two from the National Assembly, female and a youth.

Each of the zone has eight members each with an administrative secretary who has no voting eligibility.

According to pre-meeting conferences held ahead of Thursday, 30 members out of the 48 had agreed that the office of the National chairman of the party should be zoned to the south.

Out of the six geopolitical zones, the zones that agreed that the national chairman of the party should be zoned to the south were north central, north west, north east and south west zones.

In the south east, however, there is a split, out of the eight members, the former senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim and a former minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka as well as two other members said, the office of the National Chairman should be zoned to the north, whereas four other members said it should be zoned to the south.

They premised their reason on the fact that it would be unfair for members of the zone with presidential ambitions to wait till zoning to declare their aspirations, even as one of those against zoning the office of national chairman said, "We don't want a food is ready president."

On its side, the members of the committee from South-south

insisted that the office of the national chairman should not only be zoned to the south but should be micro zoned to the South-south, as they have a national chairman, whose tenure is yet to end but should not have his right to contest abridged.

A source close to the meeting said by implication of the pre-zoning meeting, that in a worst case scenario, the office of the national chairman would be zoned to the south since 30 members have already agreed on the voting pattern It is expected that after the Thursday meeting, an announcement would be made on the zoning of offices for the National Working Committee (NWC) in the October 30 and 31 national convention.

The committee, which has Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue as Deputy Chairman and Mahdi Aliyu Mohammed, Zamfara State Deputy Governor as Secretary, has been besieged by several requests by party leaders across the six geo-political zones on the need to zone key positions in the National Working Committee (NWC) to their region.

Though there are several positions in the NWC, the focus is on the national chairman of the party, which is currently occupied

by Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, the Deputy National Chairman (South), who stepped in after a court in Rivers State, sacked Uche Secondus, the National Chairman.

Already, leaders of the party in the six states of South West have sent a strong message to the leadership of the party on the need to zone the position of national chairman to the region.

Though some stakeholders in the party are rooting for the next national chairman to come from the northern part of the country, they may not have the numerical strength to carry home their desire At the same time, there are stakeholders who in line with the mood in the nation calling for the presidential ticket to be thrown open for all aspirants instead of zoning it to any section of the country.

THISDAY gathered there has been clamour for the South to produce the national chairman with focus on the South West, however, that seemed to be changing with the position of some PDP governors in the Southern Governors’ Forum that the next president should emerge from the South.

There are also some, who have

been calling for both the national chairmanship position and the presidential ticket to be thrown open so that the best candidates will emerge.

The expectation, it was learnt, was that after its meeting, the committee on zoning would announce its position soon. This is because the convention is just a month away and there is no time to waste.

The source said that they have been given assurance that the dates would not be shifted so those interested in occupying elective offices in the NWC needed to know where they belong so that they could kick start campaign in earnest.

Meanwhile, a statement on Tuesday by a former Minister of Aviation, Kema Chikwe as Chairman and Mark Jacobs as secretary titled, "Position of Forum

of Former PDP National Working Committee Members Ahead of October National Convention", stated that the "PDP must elect a credible, competent, independentminded national chairman.”

They forum, which consisted of former PDP NWC members and other former national officers of the party since inception, said as a body of highly experienced and committed party national officers, they were deeply concerned with the leadership issues in the party, especially, as they sought solutions with the 2021 National Convention slated for October 30, 2021.

Against this background, they asked that the convention must be free, fair, transparent and credible to eliminate avoidable frictions in the party.

In a related development, a founding Director General of the PDP Governors Forum and

leading political communications consultant, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, has advised former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on the danger of defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) otherwise he would be sacrificing his global brand on the alter of politics.

Onaiwu, who cautioned Jonathan that defecting to APC was like dancing to the beat of the uncertain sound of the political drumming, stated that to dump his party and join the ruling party ostensibly with the intention of contesting to be president again after the end of the tenure of the current government would be his greatest political mistake ever.

"The political eyes of the nation has been turning in the last few days to a viral conversation about the former president Jonathan being wooed by the ruling to

decamp from PDP, the party that brought him to power, to the APC, a party that butted him out of power.

"Many political commentators, concerned friends and loyal supporters of the former president are divided on the true position of the rumour. But to analysts of political developments, the power of a rumour of this nature cannot be easily discounted," Onaiwu stated.

Explaining the consequences of such a move, he said, "That will be a bad presidential precedent and a record on the reverse gear of civility. All over the world, it has never been heard, where a President in a democratic government jumped ship from his own party to the any party, particularly, the party that ousted him from party, for whatever reason.

2023: Jega, Bugaje, Abdulfatah, Utomi, Adeniran, Others Form Political Group Deji Elumoye and Emameh Gabriel in Abuja Ahead of the 2023 general election, some Nigerians of diverse professional background converged on Abuja, Tuesday, to express lack of confidence in the nation's two popular political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They said the quest to rescue Nigeria from imminent danger informed the idea to form a coalition, which would serve as a platform to galvanise Nigerians across political spectrum to free the country from its current woes and give it a fresh lease of life.

At the national caucus Meeting of Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP), where a proposal for the Rescue Nigeria agenda was unveiled, participants at the event took their turn to express dissatisfaction with the current state of the nation and leadership under the present administration, saying the country could not afford to continue in the same direction of selecting its political leaders.

Those in attendance included a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Usman Bugaje; former governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed; ex-Chairman of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega; renowned Economist, Professor Pat Utomi;

former Minister of Education, Prof Tunde Adeniran and two members of staff of the United Nations, Prof Terhemba Shija and Dr. Rose Indi Dalandi, among others.

According to them, The Rescue Nigeria Project, was founded on the premise that the problems of Nigeria emanated from poor leadership, adding that the deepening crises in the leading political parties were all the more the reason the re-calibration was necessary.

They noted further that any attempt to rescue Nigeria from its troubles must first rescue it from the current leadership recruitment mechanism that seemed to leverage on money and connection or ethnic sentiments and no premium on knowledge or competence.

In his welcome address, the National Coordinator of the group, Usman Bugaje, described the current leadership recruitment mechanism in Nigeria as a threat to national development.

His words: "We have been unable to exit the leadership conundrum precisely, because the leadership recruitment mechanism in our political parties is so flawed that, except for accidents, they are incapable of producing competent leaders with the requisite knowledge, discipline and commitment to make a difference. We are living with, or better still, groaning under the consequences of this folly.

"The challenge is how to introduce a set of criteria or better still re-calibrate the recruitment mechanism in our political parties to prioritize knowledge, competence and character.”

Ahmed, former Kwara governor, said the various separatists agitations in the country were fueled by the level of divisiveness at witnessed today.

He said: "A new platform should be put in place to take us out of the current quagmire if we must survive as a country. We are starting with a Rescue Nigeria Project, which we ultimately hope to drive into a strong coalition.

And we to see this generating ideas and new ways of doing new things.”

Also speaking, Jega described the current arrangements in Nigeria as one of the worse in the world just as he harped on true federalism and restructuring.

"Nigeria is one of the worst models of political accommodation of diversity, as well as power and resources sharing."

Jega, who admitted "that there are no perfect federations or for that matter true federalism”, said, "the better the framework/ structure for management of diversity, power and resources sharing is in a federation, the more stable, peaceful and socio economically developed it would be.”

In his remarks, Adeniran

described the current leadership in the country as a disaster.

His words: "What we have in our hands today is disaster. We know where we were coming from in this country. We know the average Nigerian, particularly the youths, they look ahead and it's difficult for them to see hope.

“What was build by our founding fathers in this country; the values they upheld that kept this country together are in tatters.

We have not done enough to do the needful to ensure that there is justice, equity, commitment and focus… It's a tragedy, it's a disaster. We have to rise up and rescue this nation."

Donald Duke Clarifies Position However, Donald Duke who was earlier associated with the new political group clarified that he is not a founding member of the group, even though he believes their intention are good and patriotic.

"While I do not contest the good and patriotic intentions of the conveners of the Rescue Nigeria Project, I wish to state categorically that, I am not a part of its formation and hereby reconfirm that I’m a bona fide member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and also a member of its Board of Trustees," Duke said.

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Impact Africa Elevator Pitch Announces Shortlisted Businesses Peter Uzoho The year-long Impact Africa Social Entrepreneurship Summit will end on September 30, 2021, with the announcement of the winner of the Elevator Pitch Competition.

A statement yesterday explained that the competition was opened to budding social entrepreneurs across the continent.

It's objective was to expose the participants to the rigour of pitching and winning funding by submitting a 5-minute video presentation to a panel of international venture capital scouts.

Judges of the competitions were: Nashilu Mouen-Makoua, an early stage investor and executive at Clay.run, a First Round and Sequoia-backed company in New York and Abdul Ly, a software investor at Index Ventures, a $10 billion venture capital firm based in San Francisco, London, and Geneva.

Others were Iheanyi Ekechukwu, an angel investor and Senior Software Engineer at PlanetScale, New York. He is also a scout for Kleiner Perkins one of the largest venture capital firms specialising in investing in early-stage, incubation, and

growth companies.

The competition also has Tom Barnes, a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he specialises in market entry, innovation and growth strategy among the judges.

"Over 190 applications were received and each judge was assigned a batch of submissions to assess based on the pitch criteria published on the Impact Africa Summit website. The competition was open to submissions over a 6-month period.

"The competition is sponsored

by AFREXIMBANK and FSDH Aseet Management with the winner receiving a contribution to

the development of their business pitch idea.

"The closing ceremony will also feature the final webinar in the series titled Networking and Communication – the 2 key tools that every social entrepreneur needs to attract attention and qualify for funding," the statement added.

It disclosed that speakers at the webinar are Lillian Moremi, Learning & Development Practitioner at Career Coaching, Botswana; Dr Evans Duah, Lecturer, Akenten Appiah-Menka University Of Skills Training And Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) in Ghana; Ama

Duncan, CEO OF Ama Duncan Consulting, Ghana and Surika Behrens of South African Hub Manager, Social Enterprise Academy South Africa.

The webinar will be moderated

by Meekness Lunga-Ayidu who is the Science and Higher Education Programme Manager, British Council in South Africa while the Closing Ceremony by Karl Belizaire, Senior Consultant, British Council’s Global Social Enterprise.

"Impact Africa Social Entrepreneurship Summit is a partnership by the British Council and Ashoka to accelerate innovative solutions to Africa’s

most pressing challenges by inspiring, supporting and connecting leading social entrepreneurs and key ecosystem players across countries, organisations and sectors such as policy, social investment, business and media.

"British Council and Ashoka are inviting all participants of the Elevator Pitch, their families and friends as well as all African social entrepreneurs, media organisations, policy makers and educational institutions to register to attend the closing ceremony at www. impactafricasummit.net on 30 September 2021," it added.

BANDITRY HAS TRANSFORMED INTO INSURGENCY, TIME TO ELIMINATE THEM, MASARI WARNS had started to relocate from the regions to other parts of the country, hence, the need for drastic action to eliminate them.

He advised the federal government to adopt new security measures that would completely liquidate insurgents and bandits terrorising the country, particularly, the North West and North East zones, where his state falls.

Masari, who spoke when he received the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed at the Government House, Katsina, added that bandits are relocating to the fringes of the forest to unleash terror on innocent citizens.

He said: "From experiences of other countries, you need to liquidate banditry and insurgency completely. I said it before let me repeat it again, the issue of banditry in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, part of Niger and Kaduna States has no religious problem and tribal.

"So, if you take whatever action nobody will complain to you on religious or tribal grounds. We are the same people same language, same culture and tradition. We have certainly became enemies of each other; the good ones on this part and the bad ones on the other part".

He added: "In everything there is collateral damage, even if you want to clean your room completely in the process you will lose something that you like. So, in dealing with these people of the forest there may be some collateral damages but we need to take action".

He, however, said North-west governors have reviewed the issues surrounding the failure of many efforts in order to curb banditry, lamenting that there are 150 bandits' camps in adjoining forests of Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger States operating independently.

According to the governor, "Today, in these forests of Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna going down to Niger, there are over 150 different camps of bandits each one operating independently".

Earlier, the Minister, Mohammed said the security measures adopted

by the Masari-led government in combating banditry were yielding positive results.

He added that the efforts need to be trumpet in order to encourage security agencies and other stakeholders in the ongoing war against banditry and terrorism to do more in warding off the carnage.

The minister stated this in Katsina while in audience with Governor Masari and other top government officials to ascertain the security measures put in place by the governor in curbing insecurity.

Sharing this viewpoint, the House of Representatives, has also raised the alarm that bandits fleeing from military operations in Zamfara and Katsina States, had infiltrated and attacking other states in the zones, including Kano State.

This is as the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, has condemned those calling for dialogue with bandits, declaring that the criminals do not deserve human rights.

However, Masari, who spoke when receiving the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at the Government House, Katsina, reiterated that bandits were relocating to the fringes of the forest to unleash terror on innocent citizens.

According to him, "From experiences of other countries, you need to liquidate banditry and insurgency completely. I said it before, let me repeat it again, the issue of banditry in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, part of Niger and Kaduna States, has no religious problem and tribal.

"So, if you take whatever action, nobody will complaint to you on religious or tribal grounds. We are the same people, same language, same culture and tradition. We have certainly become enemies of each other; the good ones on this part and the bad ones on the other part.

"In everything, there is collateral damage, even if you want to clean your room completely in the process, you will lose something that you like. So, in dealing with the people of the forest, there may

IN SHOW OF STRENGTH, NIGERIA RAISES $4BN THROUGH EUROBONDS part of the New External Borrowing in the 2021 Appropriation Act, the raising of $4 billion through Eurobonds provides a significant amount of funds to finance projects in the Act, thus contributing to the implementation of the 2021 Appropriation Act. Nigeria returned to the International Capital Market (ICM) three years after its last outing in 2018, when it floated a $2.5 billion aggregate Eurobonds under its Global Medium Term Note Programme.

The DMO had stated that in addition to providing funding to part-finance the deficit in the 2021 Appropriation Act, the issuance of the Eurobonds would benefits the country in many other strategic ways.

According to the DMO, it would also bring about an inflow of foreign exchange, leading to an increase in external reserves to help support the naira exchange rate as well as Nigeria’s sovereign rating.

It further explained that when Nigeria raised funds externally through Eurobonds, it freed up space in the domestic market for private sector and sub-national borrowers.

The debt management body stated, “In effect, it helps the sovereign not to crowd out other borrowers in the domestic market. The issuance of Eurobonds by Nigeria has opened up opportunities for Nigeria’s corporate sector, notably banks, to issue Eurobonds to raise capital in the ICM.”

be some collateral damages, but we need to take action".

He pointed out that the North West governors had reviewed the issues surrounding the failure of many efforts in order to curb banditry, lamenting that there were 150 bandit camps in adjoining forests of Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger States, operating independently.

The governor maintained that, "today, in these forests of Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna right up to Niger, there are over 150 different camps of bandits, each one operating independently".

Mohammed, who spoke earlier, said the security measures adopted by the Masari-led government in combating banditry were yielding positive results.

He added that the efforts needed to be ramped up and security agencies and other stakeholders encouraged and appreciated in the ongoing war

against banditry and terrorism, to do more in warding off the carnage.

"We are not in any doubt that some of the measures you (Masari) embarked upon have started yielding fruits. However, it is unfortunate that the media is not giving same attention to the tune of events as it’s being given to the activities of the bandits. We believe that these efforts desired to be trumpeted."

Also, on Tuesday, the House raised the alarm at plenary following the adoption of a motion

by Hon. Haruna Dederi, on the need to take urgent measures to check frequent attacks by bandits on Rogo Local Government Area of Kano.

The lawmaker said Rogo and Karaye Local Government Areas shared borders with Katsina and Kaduna States, which for sometime have been bedeviled by the nefarious activities of armed

bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers.

"As a result of the military operation against bandits in Zamfara and Katsina States, the bandits are now fleeing into other states, including Kano State," Dederi said.

He lamented that in the last few weeks, bandits had attacked towns and villages in Rogo, including Jajaye, Zarewa, RuwanBago, Bari, Falgore, Dutsen-Bari and Hawan —Gwamna (Fulatan), where they kidnapped people, who were still mostly in their captivity and demanding several millions for their release.

Dederi, therefore, expressed worry that if measures were not immediately taken to stop the activities of bandits in Rogo Local Government Area and other border councils of Kano State, their nefarious activities could spread to other local places, thereby upsetting the

relative peace being enjoyed in the state.

Consequently, the House urged the federal government to set up a well equipped Joint Security Taskforce with the mandate to operate along the border lines between Katsina, Kaduna and Kano States, to address the frequent attacks by armed bandits in Rogo and other affected border councils.

The House also resolved that a similar joint security taskforce be set up by the government in Abia and Kogi to arrest the security situations in both states, while at the same time, urged the federal government to step up efforts to consolidate the gains recorded in the military operation against armed banditry by expanding the operation in a coordinated and simultaneous manner that would cover all other affected states and prevent the movement of the bandits.

BUHARI PROPOSES NEW AMENDMENTS TO PIA, NOMINATES REGULATORY BOARDS senate, also sought an increase in the membership of the board of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The president hinged his desire to alter the new law on the need to ensure national balance in appointments into the boards, in the letter dated September 16, 2021, and read yesterday during plenary by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

Buhari further moved to fasttrack the full operation of the newly signed Act, sending a list of nominees for the proposed URC, the regulator of the upstream of the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well NMDPRA, which would oversee the midstream and downstream sector.

Buhari explained that the appointment of two non-executive members to the board of the midstream, downstream and upstream commissions, as provided for by the Act, did not reflect balanced geopolitical representation.

The latest requests came about 48 hours after the president, in his capacity as Minister of Petroleum Resources, triggered Section 53(1) of the PIA, directing the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and approving the formation of a new board, which would be headed by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume.

Buhari requested amendment to Sections 11(2)(b) and 34(2) (b), which provide for the administrative structure of the PIA 2021, to increase the number of the non-executive members from two to six on the upstream as well as midstream and downstream boards. He noted that doing so would foster national unity and provide a sense of participation and inclusion to almost every section of the country in the decision-making of strategic institutions, such as the oil industry.

In addition, the president proposed the deletion of sections 11(2)(f), 11(2)(g), 34(2)(f) and 34(2) (g) from the Act, which would see

the removal of the ministries of petroleum resources and finance from both boards.

Buhari wrote in the letter to the upper chamber, “The proposed amendments will increase the membership of the board from nine to 13 members, that is, representing 44 per cent expansion of the board size. This composition would strengthen the institutions and guarantee national spread and also achieve the expected policy contributions.”

On the removal of the two ministries from the boards of the agencies, the president explained that they already had clear-cut roles and could carry out those responsibilities without necessarily being on the boards.

“The two ministries already have constitutional responsibilities of either supervision or intergovernmental relations,” he stressed. “They can continue to perform such roles without being on the board.” he added, maintaining, “It is also important to note that administratively, the representatives of the ministries in the board will be directors – being same rank with directors in the institutions. This may bring some complications in some decision making, especially on issues of staff related matters.”

Buhari also sought amendment to Sections 11(3) and 34(3) of the PIA, which would see them being replaced with a new section that provides that appointments to the board of the commission or authority under Section 2 shall be made by the president, while those made pursuant to Subsection (2)(a), (b) and (c) of the section shall be subject to confirmation by the senate.

Buhari further requested that Section 41(2) of the PIA be replaced with a new section to read, “There shall be five executive directors for the authority whose appointment shall comply with the rules of the federal civil service.”

In his proposed amendments, the president underscored the need to exempt serving public officers from the established

confirmation process for political appointments, arguing that this will ensure effective management of the regulatory institutions through uniform implementation of public service rules for their employees.

“In future, these positions will obviously be filled by the workers in the authority through career progression in conformity with the rules and regulations of the federal civil service,” he stressed.

In the letters to the senate, the president said he was acting in accordance with the provisions of the different laws governing the establishments.

For the upstream, the president nominated Isa Ibrahim Modibbo as Chairman, while Mr. Gbenga Komolafe was selected as Chief Executive Officer. Hassan Gambo was chosen as Executive Commissioner, Finance and Accounts, while Ms. Rose Ndong was nominated Executive Commissioner, Exploration and Acreage Management.

The president retained Mr. Sarki Auwalu, who currently heads the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), as Chief Executive Officer of the proposed midstream and downstream authority. He listed Chairman of the authority as Idaere Gogo Ogan; Abiodun Adeniji as Executive Director, Finance and Accounts; and Ogbugo Ukoha as Executive Director, Distributions Systems, Storage and Retail Infrastructure.

Buhari also sent to the upper chamber for screening and possible approval a list of nominees for the board of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The nominees for the EFCC board are George Ekpungu, Secretary to the Commission (Cross River); Lukman Muhammed (Edo); Anumba Adaeze (Enugu); Alhaji Kola Adesina (Kwara); and Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad (Yobe).

Buhari urged the senate to consider and confirm the nominees in an expeditious

manner, given the important role they will play in the current administration.

A profile of the CEO of the upstream commission, Komolafe, obtained by THISDAY showed that he had been deeply involved in strategic policy formulation and implementation in the oil and gas industry for about 27 years.

Komolafe is an expert in institutional process study and designs for curbing revenue leakages and attaining optimum national productivity. He has initiated and coordinated various policies that generated and saved the country billions of dollars in his various capacities and national assignments.

The 57-year-old engineer from Ondo State was Managing Director, Nigeria Pipeline and Storage Company (NPSC), where he initiated the reform and business model for maintenance and operations of NNPC pipelines and depot infrastructure efficiently on private Joint Venture (JV) basis.

This saved Nigeria monies that had perennially been expended on national downstream petroleum assets maintenance, operations and security.

In addition, he was Group General Manager, Special Duties at the NNPC; Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division; and Executive Director (Commercial) Pipelines and Petroleum Marketing Company (PPMC). He was also General Manager, Operations, Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF); and General Manager, Operations, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), among several other positions.

Aside being an engineer, Komolafe has degrees in law, as well as industrial and labour relations, and a recipient of various awards.

Both chambers of the National Assembly had before embarking on their annual vacation in July passed the harmonised version of the long awaited legislation, before transmitting it to the president for assent.

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COMMENT

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

MIYETTI ALLAH, GOVERNORS AND JUSTICE Sonnie Ekwowusi writes that the country is gradually being restructured

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ake no mistake about it, the latest resolve of the federating units to collect VAT within their respective units and use the revenue generated therefrom solely for the development of their units as well as enact anti-open grazing laws in order to protect the lives and property of their citizens is indicative of the direction Nigeria is irreversibly, inexorably and irresistibly headed - restructuring so as to create greater regional autonomy and weak centre. The power of the federal government under the 1999 Constitution to keep custody and determine the terms and manner of the revenue and allocation of the funds that accrue to the Federation Account to the detriment of the federating units is, to say the least, an unconscionable socio-economic and political injustice. Considering the new self-determinist wave blowing across the different states of the Federation at the moment, I wager that in no distant future all these unproductive parasites idling away in different government offices in Abuja and waiting for monthly allocation and free money will be going hungry for lack of free money. It is a case of Monkey dey work baboon dey chop, otherwise how can you rationalize the fact that idle parasites are constantly feeding fat from the revenue generated and wealth created by the federating units? Happily, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has woken up other state governors from their slumber to reality. This is why these state governors are now enacting the VAT laws in their respective states in order to utilize the revenues accruing therefrom for the socio- economic and cultural development of their respective regions.

Lagos State enacted theirs penultimate week. It is not unlikely that more states will follow suit.

Additionally, the state governments are enacting their respective anti-open grazing laws in order to get rid of the nuisance of the Fulani herdsmen attacks and killers. Penultimate week I listened to the arguments of the Miyetti Allah chieftains on why the anti-open grazing laws are satanic and therefore should be brought out and quashed.

According to the said chieftains, the anti-open grazing laws will work untold hardship and injustice on the Fulani cattle herders and Fulani pastoralists; that the state governors should learn to accommodate their Fulani herdsmen brothers; that the anti-open grazing laws would send the Fulani herdsmen and millions of people who depend on the livestock value chain into poverty; that the anti-open grazing laws will threaten the social order and undermine the relative peace and stability enjoyed between farmers and Fulani pastoralists in local communities.

The above arguments, with the greatest respect, are bunkum. They are myopic, unintelligible and therefore should be ignored by the state governors. It is a paradox that the Miyetti Allah chieftains are complaining that hardship and injustice are being visited on the Fulani herdsmen when in fact it is the herdsmen who are terrorizing innocent local farmers, destroying their crops and farm lands, forcefully dispossessing them of their farmlands and occupying same, raping, maiming and murdering the citizens in their thousands. Do these chieftains truly understand the meaning of the notion of justice? Do they think that we are fools or what? Who or what can be adjudged as satanic, Miyetti Allah or anti-open grazing laws? It is obvious that these chieftains are not reasoning properly otherwise they would not have glossed over the atrocities and crimes being committed by the herdsmen across Nigeria in demanding for their so-called open grazing right? Is Miyetti Allah not aware that the anti-open grazing laws are the fallout of the atrocities and crimes being committed by the Fulani herdsmen?

BY VIRTUE OF THE LAND USE ACT ALL THE LANDS IN THE VARIOUS STATES ARE EXCLUSIVELY VESTED IN THE STATE GOVERNORS WHO ARE AT LIBERTY TO GRANT OR CONVEY OR ASSIGN SAME TO ANY APPLICANT FOR HIS USE

Anyway I don’t blame Miyetti Allah for challenging the state governors. Why won’t they try to wrestle down the state governors when Mr. President is solidly behind them? The reader knows very well that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, founded in 1970 with the primary objective of promoting the welfare of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria, has been acting as a parallel or alternative government under the Buhari government. To begin with, the Miyetti Allah is above the law of the land. It meddles in the affairs of government. In fact, the Miyetti Allah is such a powerful alternative government that it can call for the resignation of an elected public office holder. Read again the excerpts of the ultimatum issued by Miyetti Allah to the then Senate President Saraki, “We are tired of Saraki’s style of leadership at the National Assembly. Therefore, we are now warning him to honourably resign his position as President of the Senate or we will force him out.”. Similarly in the aftermath of the killing of about 200 Nigerians in Plateau State, the Miyetti Allah quicky issued a statement accepting responsibility for the killings. The worst was that instead of regretting that they had wasted many precious lives on the Plateau, Miyetti Allah regretted that they had lost about 300 cows. Which means that cows are more valuable to Miyetti Allah than human lives. According to Chairman of the North Central zone of Miyetti Allah Danladi Ciroma, “These attacks are retaliatory…We lost 300 cows, no one should expect peace in Plateau....”

To date, the Miyetti Allah still thirsts for human blood. It has continued to utter statements that verge on treason and treasonable felony. It rejects ranching. It has warned that no state in Nigeria has a right to enact anti-open grazing law. It issues threats and ultimatums.

Yet the Miyetti Allah is neither proscribed nor prosecuted as a terrorist organization. Instead of proscribing or prosecuting the Miyetti Allah, President Buhari is openly supporting them. Despite murdering many Nigerians the Fulani herdsmen are still moving around freely in Nigeria aided and abetted by our security operatives. Instead of raising such an alarm that the Fulani herdsmen are committing crimes across Nigeria, President Buhari prefers to be raising an alarm that the criminal herdsmen are not being protected or granted “grazing right” by the state governors. Do Mr. President and Miyetti Allah understand that right, in the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, is not a one-way traffic? Right is reciprocal. Right is intertwined with and conditioned by duties. For example, the “right” of Fulani herdsmen to be freely going about and killing their fellow citizens stops where the right to life of their fellow citizens begins. Besides, what is sauce for the goose is equally a sauce for the gander. If Mr. President and Miyetti Allah are raising the alarm that the herdsmen are denied open grazing right, why are they not equally raising the alarm that the same Fulani herdsmen are killing, maiming and raping Nigerian citizens? It is worrisome that Mr. President and Miyetti Allah are yet to understand that by virtue of the Land Use Act all the lands in the various states are exclusively vested in the state governors who are at liberty to grant or convey or assign same to any applicant for his use.

Anyway, the state governors are unyielding and unbending in their resolve to enact and enforce the anti-open grazing laws to the letter.

No amount of cajole, cheap blackmail or open or veiled intimidation can deter them from this resolve. Under our presidential democracy governed by the principle of separation of power, neither President Buhari nor Miyetti kingpins can dictate to our elected governors and legislators the way and manner of enacting their laws.

BETWEEN FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND UNILAG Who is shielding Toyin Ogundipe and Unilag Management? asks Segun Oyetade

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ince the attempted removal of Professor Toyin Ogundipe in 2020, University of Lagos sadly appears no longer to be the “pride of the nation.” The Babalakin-led Council documented allegations of financial recklessness against the VC and his management. On Monday 13th September 2021 Nigerians woke to media coverage of General Martin Luther Agwai’s Presidential Visitation Panel’s findings on the university. National Daily Newspapers - THISDAY, Punch, Vanguard, Guardian and Daily Trust reported that the Presidential Visitation Panel found Professor Ogundipe guilty of impropriety and more. The media reported that that panel concluded that Professor Ogundipe’s removal by Babalakin’s Council followed due process. However, on Sunday 19th September 2021, a strange press release purportedly issued by one Ben. Ben Goong, Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, began to make the rounds to the effect that the “syndicated” media report of 13th September 2021 was false. That press release stated that nowhere was Dr Babalakin’s Council was absolved of any wrongdoing nor was Professor Ogundipe indicted in General Agwai’s (rtd) Presidential Visitation Panel Report that was submitted to government. Several salient questions naturally arise from this.

Why did it take the Federal Ministry of Education an entire seven days to respond to the purported falsehood in the media in what evidently was breaking news around the country? Is the Ministry of Education trying to tell Nigerians that someone or a group of people were able to hoodwink, not

one, but an entire class of frontline Nigerian media to publish false information that borders on national security? What does one make of those media reports that quoted directly from the reports and provided the exact pagination? Is it not strange that the Federal Ministry of Education is not interested in investigating this obvious breach? Government has not declared that the Department of State Services is investigating this purported falsehood.

These questions are very pertinent. THISDAY on 20th September 2021 has joined issues with the press release and suggests a cover up is cooking.

Quoting liberally from the report, complete with pages, the newspaper insists it has seen the report and stands by its story. That is not all. The findings of the Special Visitation Panel set up by government to investigate the removal of the VC were very controversial. The Chairman of that Panel, Professor Tukur Saad, a former VC and Professor of Architecture wrote two separate letters, one to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu, Adamu, and the other to the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, expressing regret that he signed the report. He claimed in those letters that despite his Panel’s finding that Professor Ogundipe was guilty of contract splitting (an offence under the Procurement Act) his colleagues on the panel (mostly Professors like Professor Ogundipe and former VCs) preferred to write a one sided report where they absolved Professor Ogundipe and implicated Babalakin who he claimed was actually beyond reproach. Professor Tukur Saad appeared on Arise Television on Sunday 19th 2021 where he

provided details of what transpired on his panel.

He told Nigerians that his panel was fundamentally conflicted. According to him, a member of his panel who was former VC of Cross River State University was also President of the Nigerian Academy of Science (Prof Comfort Ekanem Braide) that conferred a Fellowship on Professor Ogundipe. On account of this alone, he said she ought to have recused herself from the Panel. Professor Tukur Saad then dropped a bomb shell on national television-that there was nothing reported about General Agwai’s Presidential Panel’s findings of financial recklessness against Professor Ogundipe that his own Special Visitation Panel did not uncover.

Yet, it was based on this Special Panel’s Report that Professor Ogundipe was reinstated as VC of Unilag. Unfortunately, the Federal Ministry of Education did not publish that report. Still, its press release of November 2020 is very instructive: It claimed that the Special Visitation Panel was unable to determine the guilt or otherwise of Prof Ogundipe regarding Babalakni’s Council’s allegations. The Panel however found that Babalakin’s council did not follow due process and for that reason reinstated Prof Ogundipe pending when a Presidential Visitation Panel would be set up to determine whether Professor Ogundipe was guilty.

It is this same government that is now claiming that it did not mandate General Agwai’s Presidential Panel to investigate the allegations against Ogundipe.

The Ministry spokesperson was on Channels Television on 20th September 2021 where he

said that singing yet a new song: that the Special Visitation Panel completed work on the allegations and there could not have been a need for the General Agwai Panel to look into it again. But this is a patent lie. Government’s official press release of 2020 November claimed that investigation into Ogundipe’s allegation was inconclusive.

The question that has to be asked is who is shielding Professor Ogundipe and his management and why? Three separate government bodies have found him guilty of financial recklessness and corruption. Dr Babalakin’s Council was set up by the federal government, not the Unilag Alumni. Prof Tukur Saad was appointed chairman of the Special Visitation Panel by government, not ASUU. And at a time when the public was breathing a sigh of relief that we are finally approaching closure on this matter, government decides to be play dark silly games, claiming that the Presidential Visitation Panel Report that was submitted to it is different from what was reported.

Considering the damning revelations of Prof Tukur Saad in his letters and Arise TV interview, if government wants the public to believe it, it will have to publish the Report it has. The Presidential Panel members are still alive to verify their own findings. Anything short of this will not be acceptable to the public. Regrettably, it is not even Babalakin or Ogundipe that is poorer from all of this.

It is the innocent students of this university. For now, the Society for Justice will remain ever so vigilant until justice is not only done, but seen to be done.

Oyetade wrote from Lagos

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EDITORIAL

NIGERIA’S POLLUTION RATING The regulators must be alive to their responsibilities

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igeria has again been rated poorly in respect of air pollution, an ugly situation that should concern everyone, particularly in this period of COVID-19. According to the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), an international resource watchdog group, Nigeria has some of the worst air pollution in the world, with dense clouds of choking soot hanging over gridlocked cities, leading to a rise in serious health conditions. Cities mostly affected, according to the report, are Port Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha, and Kaduna where poor air quality has reached crisis levels of pollution in recent years. And there is irrefutable evidence of cause to effect, considering the rising cases of asthma, lung, heart, and respiratory diseases.

The researchers zeroed in on the bad quality of fuel imported and used in the country, as well as the equally bad quality fuel refined illegally in the creeks of Port Harcourt and Bayelsa, which, from investigation, is of higher quality than the THE UNSOPHISTICATED imports. Regardless, REFINING PROCESS the unsophisticated refining process adopted ADOPTED IN THE in the creeks sends CREEKS SENDS UP up impurities into the IMPURITIES INTO THE atmosphere and this ATMOSPHERE AND THIS is driven by strong sea IS DRIVEN BY STRONG wind to where it can do SEA WIND TO WHERE damage to unsuspectIT CAN DO DAMAGE ing residents.

TO UNSUSPECTING In most of the RESIDENTS nation’s cities, vehicles with unacceptable emission standards clog the streets, oozing impurities unchecked. Majority of these are used vehicles that are close to end-of-life, meaning they are forbidden in the streets of the European and American cities from where they were shipped to Nigeria. More of these vehicles are expected on the shores of the nation in the years ahead, as the developed world increases its switch to

electric vehicles that are more fitting for the global quest for a reduction of emissions of CO2 that is implicated in global warming. Also fingered in the reduction of the nation’s air quality is the unwholesome practice of burning tonnes of tyres by artisans to extract wires which are sold to recyclers. Regrettably, this activity takes place mostly at night when people are asleep and most vulnerable.

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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

ir pollution is regarded as one of the primary causes of health ailments and premature death in the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that outdoor air pollution kills around three million people every year. They identified what is responsible as criteria air pollutants, which are ground-level ozone, particulate matter, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Ozone pollution comes from the emission of volatile organic compounds that interact with sunlight and heat to form ground-level ozone, a key ingredient of haze. Ozone pollution can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat and do lasting damage to people’s lungs.

Due to the dire consequences of air pollution, the federal government ought to maintain a system of rating the safety of the air in every part of the country, called the Air Quality Index. It gives people vital information about the conditions of the air in their location and how the quality of the air in their city can impact their health.

In the absence of real time Air Quality Index, there is urgent need for the government to launch awareness programmes to call people’s attention to the harmful effect of air pollution, particularly carbon emissions from vehicles and black soot from illegal activities, as well as the danger of being exposed to the particulates.

Nigeria’s air quality is expected to be governed by the National Environmental (Air Quality Control) Regulations, 2014. The purpose of these regulations, according to the government is to provide for improved control of the nation’s air quality to such an extent that would enhance the protection of flora and fauna, human health and other resources affected by air quality deteriorations. But like many laws in Nigeria, there has been no enforcement.

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.

OBADIAH MAILAFIA’S ‘ORIGINAL SIN’

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should begin by stating that Dr. Mailafia is one of the most profound shining lights of Nigeria. He’s an intellectual giant who can stand his own anywhere in the world.

His economic and socio- political analyses of international, Third World, African and Nigerian affairs reflect the depths of his wellgrounded intellectual judgements garnered from one of the world’s most prestigious citadels of learning, Oxford University.

Unlike most of us in this part of the country who have chosen to comfortably adopt the defeatist attitude and give in to the threats and domination of the northern oligarchy, Dr. Mailafia believes that his ivy league education would amount to naught if he doesn’t deploy it to speaking out against obvious state-sponsored injustices, especially those against his immediate communities.

Communities that are being flagrantly despoiled daily through an agenda cooked up by the conspiracy of some of his fellow Middle Belters and many others in the core north, under the very watch of the Buhari government.

This erudite economist, scholar and social commentator’s views and opinions are still being sought after and respected today within Nigeria and internationally, even after his tenure as Nigeria’s Central Bank Deputy Governor. Also, he has been one of the most vocal, strident and powerful voices shedding light and exposing the truth behind the unabated and unwarranted violence and brutality being unleashed on the minority peoples of the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria.

In his analyses, which have elicited widespread support, he has been able to point out the horrible truth that there’s a deliberate and well orchestral plan by forces and interests in Northern Nigeria to decimate the Middle Belt’s minorities in order to achieve an agenda that Uthman

Danfodio started in 1804.

Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna minorities, etc., are still bearing the brunt of this today as their innocent peoples, especially women and children, are being massacred in cold blood and dispossessed of their ancestral lands.

Mailafia’s ‘original sin’ is that he pointed accusing fingers at the Buhariled federal government for, first, deliberately turning a blind eye to these heinous murders, pogroms, going on against the minorities.

Second, Buhari’s government has taken exception to the fact that Mailafia, just as other Nigerians who have been bold enough to speak out, has unequivocally maintained that the federal government may be complicit in the on-going killings because they have refused to accept that it’s Fulani herdsmen, the president’s kinsmen, that are responsible for most of the bloodletting being perpetrated in Southern Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria’s central region.

That’s why we, the wretched of Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt, hold him in very high esteem and will stake our necks for him in this his most trying moments.

Paradoxically, we are committed to following Dr. Mailafia in every step he takes as he’s being persecuted by the powers that be because we equally share and have a huge stake in his ‘original sin’. To be sure, we believe that his uncommon moral courage shall prevail over all of today’s powerful but effervescent forces of religious and ethnic cleansing and hegemony.

And, above all, history shall, as usual, ultimately vindicate Dr. Mailafia and eternally shame our persecutors.

It’s just a matter of time.

Chris Gyang, Jos (This piece was first written on September 25, 2020)

GOVERNMENTS ARE NOT ALWAYS SANE

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n this time of great upset there is still one reliable source of humour, government Bureaucrats. Australia has a Permanent residency visa process including a family stream that allocates 5000 places for parents.

In years when there are more than 5000 applicants they go on a waiting list for their application to be assessed. A 93-year-old father, Zack Krouse, who applied in 2014 has just been told that his application will be processed in 2064 as the waiting list is quite long. He would be 133 years old by then so it is unlikely that he will be able to contribute to Australia’s economy and thus his application may be knocked back.

There should be a more rational way of running the world than letting people follow rules without thinking about them. We need a more rational world so that we can beat COVID, then work on climate control and maybe try to stop all of the arguments between countries that lead to so many deaths and refugees. Maybe if we made all of our bureaucrats work from home without access to zoom or the internet the world would be better or at least saner.

These are not laughing matters.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

Fight with Anthony Joshua May End in First Round, Says Contender Oleksandr Usyk Unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua collides with undefeated Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, the WBO mandatory challenger, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Box Office. But Usyk said it might end in the first round.

SkySports reports that Usyk believes he deserves more credit for his last performance, a hard-fought points victory over Derek Chisora in October.

“As for the fact that I went 12 rounds with Derek (Chisora), he’s actually a really tough guy,” said Usyk, who has only fought twice at heavyweight.

With an 18-fight unbeaten record, Usyk has repeatedly discovered a winning formula throughout his professional career and will now attempt to nullify Joshua’s knockout punches.

“We’ll probably find out in the first round which will prevail: power or skill,” he said.

Sudan Failed Coup: Top Military Officers, Political Leaders Arrested A failed coup attempt in Sudan Tuesday was planned by military and civilian operatives associated with former President Omar al-Bashir, the country’s prime minister, said in a televised statement.

“What happened is an orchestrated coup by factions inside and outside the armed forces, and this is an extension of the attempts by remnants since the fall of the former regime to abort the civilian democratic transition,” Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said.

“This attempt was preceded by extensive preparations represented by lawlessness in the cities and the exploitation of the situation in the east of the country, [to] close national roads and ports and block oil production,” Hamdok added.

The alleged coup attempt highlighted the challenges Sudan faces as it undergoes a democratic transition, more than two years after the military’s overthrow of Bashir during mounting public opposition to his three-decade rule.

A military official said an unspecified number of troops from the armoured corps tried to seize military headquarters and state television.

The official also said more than three dozen troops, including high-ranking officers, had been arrested in connection with Tuesday’s events.

Speaking on the state-owned television station, Sudan’s information minister and government spokesperson Hamza Balul confirmed security forces arrested several top military officers and political leaders. He said all of the detained individuals are Bashir supporters and are being interrogated.

Trudeau Wins Third Term in Canada’s Most Expensive Election

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has narrowly won Canada’s election, but it failed to secure a majority of seats.

The election, which took place during a fourth pandemic wave in Canada, was the most expensive in the country’s history, costing some C$600m ($470m; £344m), the BBC reports.

This is Trudeau’s third federal election win, but his critics say the poll was a waste of time.

The Liberals are projected to win 158 seats, short of the 170 seats needed for the majority Trudeau was seeking with his early election call.

The Conservatives have held onto their main opposition status and are expected to win about 122 seats.

“There are still votes to be counted but what we’ve seen tonight is millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan,” Trudeau told supporters in Montreal in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“You elected a government that will fight for you and deliver for you,” he said.

Texas Abortion Law Faces Supreme Court Test The US Supreme Court announced Monday it would hear arguments in December about a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, the decades-old ruling that gives women the right to an abortion.

The court scheduled oral arguments for December 1 to hear a case concerning a Mississippi state law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The case directly asks justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that allows women to have abortions in most circumstances. Roe v. Wade recognizes a constitutional right to abortion before a fetus is viable, typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court is closely watched on issues of abortion after it decided earlier this month to allow a Texas state law banning most abortions after six weeks to remain in effect while it undergoes legal challenges.

The Republican-backed Texas law bars abortions once a cardiac activity has been detected in an embryo, which typically happens at six weeks when many women are not aware they are pregnant.

The law also allows members of the public to sue people who may have facilitated an abortion after six weeks.

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the Texas law but rather allowed it to remain in effect while court challenges play out.

Last week, the Biden administration formally asked a federal judge to block enforcement of the Texas law until legal challenges to it are resolved.

The Supreme Court became more conservative under former President Donald Trump, who appointed three justices to the nine-seat bench.

Conservatives now hold a 6-3 majority.

R. Kelly Not to Testify at Sexual Abuse Trial According to a list of witnesses provided by his lawyers, R. Kelly is not expected to testify at his sex trafficking trial.

The BBC reports that the star’s defence began on Monday after a month of graphic testimony from a series of men and women who accused Mr Kelly of abusing them as teenagers.

The first two defence witnesses said they had never seen Mr Kelly act inappropriately towards underage girls.

The singer, 54, denies all the charges against him.

These include one count of racketeering and eight violations of an anti-sex-trafficking law known as the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting individuals across state lines for the purpose of sex.

Prosecutors have portrayed the singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, as a predator who groomed and preyed on women and young girls as far back as the mid-1990s, when songs like ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and ‘She’s Got That Vibe’ propelled him to fame.

His alleged victims include the singer Aaliyah, who was 15 when Mr Kelly married her illegally in 1994. The marriage was later annulled, and Aaliyah died in a 2001 plane crash.

EU Supports Macron As Row Between France, US, UK Worsens The Australian decision to cancel a $66 billion deal to buy 12 French diesel-electric submarines and purchase at least eight more sophisticated nuclear-powered attack boats from the UK and US continues to reverberate with French officials smarting at what they see as a betrayal by London and Washington.

VOA reports that there are few signs the dispute will abate any time soon.

European Union leaders are rallying behind France in the dispute over the shelving of the multi-billion-dollar French deal and Canberra’s

decision to sign up to a trilateral Asia Pacific security pact, known as AUKUS, with the US and UK, an alliance notably excluding Paris.

Speaking after a meeting Monday among EU foreign ministers held in New York on the sidelines of this week’s annual gathering for the United Nations General Assembly, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the foreign ministers “expressed clear solidarity with France.”

UN-Islamic For Taliban To Ban Afghan Girls from School, Says Pakistan Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has said preventing women from accessing education in neighbouring Afghanistan would be un-Islamic.

In an interview with the BBC, Khan laid out the conditions that would need to be met for Pakistan to recognise the new Taliban government formally.

He called for the leadership to be inclusive and to respect human rights.

Khan also said Afghanistan should not be used to house terrorists who could threaten Pakistan’s security.

Last week, the Taliban excluded girls from secondary schools with only boys and male teachers allowed back. But Pakistan’s leader said he believed girls would soon be able to attend.

“The statements they have made since they came to power have been very encouraging,” he told the BBC’s John Simpson.

“I think they will allow women to go to schools,” he said. “The idea that women should not be educated is just not Islamic. It has nothing to do with religion.”

Parliament Passes No Vote of Confidence in Libyan Government Libya’s eastern-based parliament has passed a no-confidence vote in the country’s unity government in a new blow to UN-backed peace efforts but said the administration would continue to operate in a caretaker role, Aljazeera reports.

Eighty-nine out of the 113 members of parliament present in the eastern city of Tobruk voted on Tuesday to withdraw confidence from the Tripoli-based administration of interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, a spokesman said.

The escalation came amid growing tensions between Dbeibah’s Tripoli-based administration and the House of Representatives in the east, three months before planned national elections.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG Email nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

Is Nigeria’s Ruling Party, APC, Averse to e-Election?

As 2023 edges closer, observers are beginning to voice concern over the credibility of the next general election in the country, Emameh Gabriel looks at what legacy President Buhari will leave behind in terms of electoral reforms and innovation

Buhari

W

ith a steady decline in trust from citizens and mounting criticism for what has been generally described as poor performance by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) under President Muhammadu Buhari, many Nigerians believe that the ruling party should compensate for its failing policies, especially on its anti-corruption war by accelerating electoral reforms before 2023.

Nigerians keep asking what the APC be remembered for, given the foundation laid down by the PDP in electoral reforms and political development during its 16 years in power.

Some of the lofty promises of democracy include guarantee of freedom of expression, prosperity and other dividends of democracy that allow the majority to have a sense of participation and inclusion. This is the basis for political and democratic development.

Sadly, this appears not to be the case in Nigeria as the National Assembly was recently under fire over the partial passage of the long awaited Electoral Amendment law- a new Act, which was supposed to give legal backing to electronic voting and transmission of results for the 2023 general election.

The bill which, seeks to repeal and re-enact the 2010 Electoral Act, was after six years of the APC in saddle, finally passed by the Senate with dissension by several lawmakers from across political parties.

In the final amendment, the election management body, (INEC) was subjected to seek the approval of the National Assembly and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to deploy the e-voting system and of course, electronic transmission of results via the internet.

Twenty-eight lawmakers voted for the electronic transmission of results while 52 lawmakers voted against the electronic transmission of election results.

In the results announced by the Clerk of the Senate and validated by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, 80 lawmakers cast their vote with 28 lawmakers absent.

The amendment reads, “The commission may consider electronic transmission provided the national network coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the Nigerian Communications Commission and approved by the National Assembly,” During the debate, the clause-by-clause consideration of the electoral bill was subjected to stiffer debate by lawmakers from the opposition political party over Section 52(3) of the bill.

The section deals with the electronic transmission of results during elections. It states ”The Commission may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable.”

Buni President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan gave reasons to justify the position taken by the Senate on the electronic transmission of election results.

After the unpopular decision, Lawan explained that the Senate voted the way it did to protect the interest of Nigerian electorate, whose votes he said might not be counted with immediate deployment or application of electronic transmission of election results. He was responding to questions from journalists on the passage of the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill, during a constituency visit to his Yobe North Senatorial District.

The statement titled: “Why we voted for e-transmission of results with conditions – Senate President …Says not only APC but some PDP Senators too voted for it,’ was signed by Ola Awoniyi, Special Adviser (Media) to President of the Senate.

He said: “I am happy that we have been able to pass the amendment even though some people are complaining of what we have passed in the Senate and probably what the House of Representatives has also passed.

“When the majority of Senators voted against immediate application or deployment of electronic transmission of results from the polling units, to the ward, to the local government, states and federal, they didn’t say they do not believe in electronic transmission (of election results) The opposition party and several interest groups condemned the move saying that it is an attempt by the ruling party to hoodwink the public and perpetuate itself in power beyond 2023.

The current contention is coming on the heels of several failed attempt to pass the electoral amendment bill. The bill was rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari three times.

It was first rejected in March 2018 when Mr Buhari said the proposed law would usurp the constitutional powers of INEC to decide on election matters, including fixing dates and election order.

In 2018, he rejected it again citing “some drafting issues” that remain unaddressed following the prior revisions to the Bill.

Mahmood And in December 2018, when the bill was rejected, Mr Buhari said passing a new bill with elections close by could ‘’create some uncertainty about the legislation to govern the process.”

The legislation was, however, reintroduced in the Ninth Assembly. In the new bill, the lawmakers made provision for electronic transmission of results – a major recommendation by Nigerians.

The excuses by the ruling party seems to have failed to placate the Nigerian public, which is quick to point out that the ruling party rose to power on the electoral reforms under President Goodluck Jonathan and former INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, that witnessed the electronic capturing of data and the introduction of the card reader which greatly reduced electoral fraud by discouraging multiple voting.

They said since the APC came to power, Nigeria has experienced a regression in the conduct of its elections. Many even pointed to the embarrassing last minute postponement of the 2019 presidential election, the many inconclusive elections and the countless court cases. Analysts have opined that with the President’s tenure coming to an end in 2023, and with the obvious desire of the ruling party to retain power in the party, Nigeria should not expect to see much from the President, in terms of an electoral legacy that can rival that of his successor.

INEC Pushes Forward Against the Odds INEC has always shown readiness to lead in order to enthrone transparency in the electoral system, even before the the controversial recent electoral amendment act subjecting its authority to the National Assembly and the NCC, it has expressed its readiness to conduct future elections using the electronic voting machine. It reportedly scrutinized several electronic voting machines showcased by over 50 companies and was looking forward to the amendment of the existing legal framework to enable it conduct electronic voting.

According to to INEC, it remained

In the three previous elections held in Nigeria, over N400Billion was expended in conducting the 2011, 2015 and 2019. These high cost of elections is a huge burden that Nigeria with all her present challenges can not afford to sustain

committed to introducing electronic voting machines in the electoral process to replace the manual system that had put the commission under heavy logistics burden, including the printing of ballot papers and hiring of thousands of ad hoc staff, among others.

Speaking during the 2021 budget defence before the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on November 4, 2020, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission would deploy the electronic voting machines very soon, possibly beginning with the Anambra governorship poll scheduled to hold in November this year.

Mahmoud said elections in the country were too manual, expensive, cumbersome and archaic. He added that “the encumbrance of the deployment of full technology in elections should be removed.”

“It is difficult to give you an idea of cost or when the process would be concluded, but we are determined that we are going to deploy electronic voting machines, electronic balloting machines very soon in our elections, possibly beginning with the Anambra governorship election in 2021.

But the electoral body is hamstrunged by the lack of a statutory backing for e-voting: “The subsisting law is the 1999 Constitution, from which the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) derives its legitimacy. In this subsisting body of laws, voting in an election through electronic means is still illegal. It will remain so until a new law is passed.

“There is an amendment process going on in respect of the Electoral Act. We don’t yet know what the final product will look like.

We all desire a change and the Commission has been working with the two committees of the National Assembly to bring about this change that we all desire. But it is only when the amendment process is concluded, and the president gives assent, that we can say, categorically, whether or not electronic voting will be adopted for the 2023 general election.”

However INEC has used the e-voting system in the past even without such law to demonstrate its readiness to address most of the setbacks militating against credible elections in Nigeria. Last year Edo State governorship election and the recent local government polls in Kaduna State are a good examples.

While the National Assembly is yet to pass to pass a law specifically mandating the electoral body to use electronic transmission of results for the 2023 election but the passage of the amendment has included it to certain conditions, it is clear the end of the e-voting controversy is yet to come to an end anytime soon.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

POLITICS

Can Saraki Reclaim Power from APC in Kwara?

GOVERNANCE IN PHOTOS

The immediate past Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has left no one in doubt that he is committed to a quick return to political leadership in Kwara State through his ongoing consultative meetings with Peoples Democratic Party stakeholders, writes Hammed Shittu

Saraki

A

fter his ouster from governance in Kwara State in the 2019 general election by an amalgamation of political forces under the “O To Ge”(Enough is Enough) movement, the former governor of the state and the immediate past Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has eft no stone unturned, in a bid to fashon new strategies that would ensure his quick return to political relevance and leadership.

He is going about this task through a series of consultative meetings with stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The current mobilization of members of other political parties into PDP and subsequent sensitisation across the 193 wards in the state is apparently aimed at wrestling power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

This, he believes would go a long way to assist him to ensure participatory governance that has eluded the state since his exit from the political leadership.

The development, according to political pundits, is in line with the series of moves by various politicians in the country to fine-tune their political machinery and support groups ahead of the next elections.

Proceeding along this path would help their supporters to be proactive, loyal and more committed to the cause at hand, in order to outwit their political opponents in the next elections.

In view of these moves, the desire of Saraki is not exceptional as he has remained committed to return to the political space of his state after he lost the political grip of Kwara to the APC. His late father and strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki had controlled the political space of the state for over 40 years. No one emerged either as elected representative or political appointee without the support of the late former Senate Leader of the aborted Second Republic.

Once the late Saraki picked anyone for elective position; be it councillor, chairman, member of the State House and National Assemblies and governor, the person would start preparing for his or her swearing-in.

This eventually led to the enthronement of the first son, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the executive governor of the state in a keenly contested election in 2003.

With the emergence of Saraki Junior as the governor of Kwara State, dominance of the state by his family was complete as his sister, Mrs. Gbemisola Rukayah Saraki once served in the National Assembly. She is currently minister of state Transportation under the APC led federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Dr. Bukola Saraki ruled the state for eight years and later installed one of his trusted allies and former Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed as the executive governor

of the state in the year 2011. He also ruled the state for another eight years. The move to instal another trusted ally, Hon. Razak Atunwa as the governor of the state in the 2019 general election could not scale through.

Saraki and the PDP lost all the elective positions in both the state and national assemblies to the ruling APC and also failed to win the governorship position of the state. The leadership of the state fell into the hands of the APC government led by Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

Saraki didn’t challenge the outcome of the election. He accepted the election result as the will of God. However, as the next general elections is fast approaching, the scion of the late strongman of Kwara politics has commenced series of efforts to garner more supporters into the opposition party, PDP in the state.

The development according to THISDAY checks might not be unconnected with the simmering intra party crisis that has continued to affect the ruling APC in the state.

This ugly development according to the political pundits in the state has also split the APC into two camps. This has hindered the ruling APC from performing as expected.

Based on these calculations, Saraki and his party, PDP have embarked on a door-to-door campaign across the 193 wards in the state as part of efforts to woo more supporters into the PDP. Apart from this, the former senator representing Kwara Central senatorial district in the Senate has held series of consultative meetings with PDP members and leaders to encourage them to be more committed ahead of 2023 polls.

At the well-attended meeting by past political office holders, women and youths, Saraki urged them to move enmasse into the 193 wards of the state and mobilise more people into the PDP. The PDP stakeholders, according to a statement by the Saraki’s Press Officer on Local Matters, Mr. Abdganiyu Abdulqadir, resolved that “the PDP has become a party of the people of the state and all efforts must be put in place to preach the party’s gospel so as to wrestle power from the ruling APC in the next elections in the state.”

The former Senate President added that, “the party’s stakeholders engagement session , which is an ongoing periodic exercise was very productive as it addressed various areas of concerns and provided insight into details that will further enhance the development of the PDP in Kwara.”

He commended the PDP members for remaining loyal to the party despite the challenges confronting it.

He, however, encouraged them to go back to their respective wards and local government areas to make concerted efforts aimed at strengthening the party and ensuring its success.

The just concluded Eid-el Kabir celebration in Ilorin has given Dr. Saraki another political leverage that the people of Ilorin and other towns still believe in him and showed signs that the next elections would be a good thing for him in view of the way they came out to give him a rousing welcome at the Eid praying ground in Ilorin.

Saraki was treated warmly welcome at the Eid praying ground, Ilorin as shouts of Oloye, Sai Bukky, Sai Saraki rent the air.

He came into Ilorin, the state capital for the first time after the 2019 elections to celebrate Sallah with his people and as the Waziri Ngeri of Ilorin Emirate joined the Emir of Ilorin and the Emirate council at Eid to observe the two Rakah Nafilah at Ilorin Eid praying ground.

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

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (middle) flanked by the Deputy Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs Anthonia Opara (l) and the Abia State Command Comptroller, Mr Samuel Offiong at recent visit to Government House Umuahia

Mr. MacJoe Onwudinjo, Field Operation Campaign Manager (l) for Dr. Maduka’s Campaign with Dr. Godwin Maduka, Governorship candidate of Accord in the November 6 election in Anambra State on campaign tour

L-R: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria, Dr. Jekwu Ozoemene, The Country Director (Nigeria), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Dr. Erasmus Morah; Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; Director General, NACA, Dr. Gambo Aliyu; Board Chairman, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Senator Oladipo Odujinrin; Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), Dr. Monsurat Adeleke; during a high powered advocacy visit to the MD/CEO Access Bank on the Private Sector Engagement/Financing of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria in Lagos recently

L-R; Ekiti State Governor/Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Plateau State Governor, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalaong; and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; at the peace meeting initiated by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) to reconcile warring groups in the Jos crisis in Jos, Plateau State capital

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

22

FEATURES

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

How 'Repentant' Bandits are Aiding Insecurity in Katsina Francis Sardauna writes on the need for the Katsina government to investigate the activities of 'repentant' bandits accused of fuelling insecurity in the state

Abdullahi Mai-Rafi, Abbas Haruna and Usman Hassan

D

espite the evolving strategies put in place by the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, to tackle bloodletting, rape, kidnapping, and other heinous crimes afflicting the state, some 'repentant' bandits are fuelling insecurity in the state.

In his doggedness to restore peace in the state, the governor granted the third amnesty to bandits after a tour of Fulani settlements and enclaves of bandits in Rugu Forest between September 4 and 9, in 2019. At that time, the bandits and their forest commanders renounced banditry.

Following that, Masari banned the activities of the volunteers, popularly known as Yan’sakai. They were accused of extrajudicial killings in the open markets.

The North-West governors adopted the peace accord following a peace summit convened in Katsina by the former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who facilitated discussions with representatives of the 'repentant' bandits from the affected states: Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Zamfara.

Agreements were reached between the government and the bandits, including the release of bandits detained by security operatives, the release of all kidnapped persons in bandits' custody, and the surrender of their arms and ammunition to security agencies.

Others were providing social amenities —schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, water to Fulani settlements and rehabilitation of houses destroyed during the skirmishes between bandits and Hausa farmers. Also demanded was the establishment of RUGA settlements in some communities in the state.

THISDAY learnt that the state government had fulfilled 80 per cent of the agreements. The bandits released almost all their captives, and the government, in turn, freed more than 100 bandits in Katsina, Kano, and Kaduna correctional centres.

It was reliably gathered that over 200 bandits across communities in the 11 frontline local government areas of Batsari, Jibia, Faskari, Sabuwa, Danmusa, Kankara, Kurfi, Dandume, Dutsin-ma, Safana, and

Danja surrendered their sophisticated weapons to the state government as a sign of their renunciation.

Masari, flanked by the Secretary of the State Security Council who is also the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, after the dialogue tour, held a series of security meetings with security chiefs, the repentant bandits, and their leaders to ensure the sustainability of the peace accord or rapprochement.

Despite the throes of anguish still enveloping residents of the state, particularly those living in communities across the crisis-prone local governments, the government employed some of the 'repentant' bandits to work under the office of the Special Adviser to Governor Masari on Security Matters, Ibrahim Muhammed Katsina.

The bandits' employment might not be unconnected with their insights on local conflicts and apparently, support the state government and security agencies in the ongoing war against hoodlums in the state.

Unconfirmed reports have it that the 'repentant' bandits who are privileged to be enlisted in the state government's payroll as casual staff received N100,000 monthly from the government through the office of the special adviser.

Despite that, some of them are anything but repentant. Some of the bandits are gradually returning to kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling in the frontline local government areas of the state.

For instance, the police command in the state under the watch of CP

Buba Sanusi had on September 1 arrested and paraded one of them, Abdullahi Mai-Rafi. The suspect, who hails from Kofar Marusa, low-cost in Katsina, has been on the state government's payroll for about six months.

The 43-year-old Mai-Rafi was arrested alongside two other 'repentant' bandits, namely Abbas Haruna alias Dogo-Abbas (34) of Filin Polo Quarters, Katsina and Usman Hassan alias Manu (50) of Ganuwa village in Charanchi local government area of the state for robbery and cattle rustling.

The police spokesperson in the state, Gambo Isah, who paraded the 'repentant' bandits before journalists at the command's headquarters, said: "The fact of the matter was that on August 11, 2021, at about 11:00hrs, the trio went to Danmarke forest, Ingawa LGA, with a motor vehicle Toyota, Camry, ash in colour, with registration number DE 631 LED." There, said the police officer, they attacked a herder, "one Alhaji Gide Suleiman of Malumafashi LGA," while grazing his animals. He was attacked with machetes and sticks, and the so-called repentant bandits threatened him and his boys that they were from the office of special adviser on security to Governor Masari. They also falsely claimed that Suleiman's brother "one Sa’idu had robbed one Lawal of his herds and that they should either produce the said Saidu or bring 100 cows."

The police spokesman added that after "some scuffle, the suspects succeeded in robbing the said Alhaji Gide Suleiman of his 20 cows valued

It is untenable to grant blanket amnesty to a group that kills, maims, rapes, and kidnaps innocent citizens. Thus, there is a need for the state government to investigate the activities of the 'repentant' bandits to halt the downward spiral of insecurity

at N7,550,000" to take them to "the said Lawal" as compensation for his 'stolen' cows.

They also robbed the victims of N40,000 and four phones.

Continuing, Isah explained: "Subsequently, on August 24, 2021, at about 07:30hrs, the same syndicate of Abdullahi Mai-Rafi and three others attacked the complainant on the same false allegation and attempted to rob him of another set of 20 cows and some sheep. But nemesis caught up with them when they were rounded up and arrested by the command."

According to the police, the suspects admitting to assaulting their victims, stealing from them, and selling their cows at Dankama market, Kaita LGA. "Two cows and the sum of N444,000 were recovered as exhibits from their possessions," disclosed the police spokesman. "It may interest you to know that Abdullahi Mai-Rafi, was a notorious bandit but repented and was working with the state government under the office of S. A. Security."

Apart from Mai-Rafi, other prominent bandits in the state like Alhaji Idris Yayande, Sani Marji, Haruna Mazge, and Lawal Mairuwa, who had on September 4, 2019, accepted Governor Masari's third peace accord, have reportedly reneged on their pledge. They have allegedly returned to the trenches, launching vicious attacks on villages in Sabuwa, Faskari, Danmusa, and Dandume local governments of the state.

This, among other reasons, might have forced Governor Masari to vow not to dialogue with bandits again. Therefore, it is untenable to grant blanket amnesty to a group that kills, maims, rapes, and kidnaps innocent citizens. Thus, there is a need for the state government to investigate the activities of the 'repentant' bandits to halt the downward spiral of insecurity.

Also, security operatives should adopt new tactics to tackle criminals. They should review strategies and acquire more sophisticated mapping and aerial surveillance technology, which will aid precision in tracking and bombarding bandits’ cells and hideouts in the state.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

FEATURES

Booster Jabs to Enhance Primary Health Care System

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire Tajudeen Kareem and Julieene Manga

T

he roadmap unveiled last year by the Federal Ministry of Health, the "Health Sector Next Level Agenda", admits huge gaps in the health sector and the need for concerted efforts in the race to attaining Universal Health Coverage.

The nine-point agenda presented by President Muhammadu Buhari expectedly aspires to propel the country towards the attainment of universal health coverage when “all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship”.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has listed the agenda to include implementation of mandatory universal health insurance in collaboration with state governments and the FCT administration; operationalization of the basic health care provision fund in collaboration with partners and agencies; recruitment and deployment of 50,000 community health extension workers; revamping federal teaching hospitals across the country and collaboration with private sector investors to establish high-quality hospitals in Nigeria.

The rest are reduction of gaps in all health-related SDGs by at least 60%; reduction in the current imbalance between primary, secondary, and tertiary health care; active collaboration with the private sector to create a large number of well-paying jobs for Nigerian youths; and contributing to the realization of taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.

Perhaps the most troubled part of the health sector is the primary health care system which ordinarily should provide treatment for common diseases and injuries, provide essential drugs, render basic and essential services for women, especially maternal and child care and complications arising during birth.

Present realities indicate the absence of a fully developed and functional primary health care system which constitute a development challenge in Nigeria with a large population living in rural areas where access to basic health care system is crucial. Poverty, long distance, bad road networks and high cost of travel are obvious hindrances to seeking medical services in urban or more developed areas by people in remote settlements.

Experts have said repeatedly that reaching people in hard-to-reach areas requires a health care system that caters to the needs of a relatively small population and which delivers essential preventive and curative medical services to the communities at affordable cost. To this end, primary health care is widely recognized as the most cost-effective way to reach the

Executive Secretary, NPHCDA Dr. Faisal Shuaib

goal of universal health coverage and address comprehensive health needs close to people’s homes and communities.

Presently there are over 33, 000 primary health care centers across the country, but fewer than 20% are functional. Escalating poverty coupled with a high level of illiteracy in Nigeria makes the case for an efficient and sustainable primary health care system even more urgent.

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA, is saddled with the task of ensuring that primary health care services are available and accessible to all citizens. However, the current primary healthcare system is under-utilized with a significant burden transferred to the secondary and tertiary health systems. Indeed, system which is expected to provide quality healthcare services for at least 70% of Nigerians currently carters for about 20%, even as secondary and tertiary facilities are overwhelmed by hapless Nigerians.

Owing to inadequate funding, inadequate staffing and a myriad of logistical problems, primary health care facilities are operating at different levels of functionality with shortages of critical human resources. Despite these challenges, the NPHCDA has made significant progress in the last few years. In August 2020, Nigeria was certified free from the wild polio virus even as immunisation coverage jumped from 33% in 2016 to 71% in 2019.

The agency has supported initiatives to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in Nigeria, training over 220,000 health workers and community volunteers at the national and state levels, working in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and other stakeholders at all levels of government, and supporting the provision of personal protective equipment to health care workers.

Projecting ahead, the NPHCDA has plans to work with states, local governments and other critical stakeholders to deploy a four-point agenda to fast track progress towards achieving UHC. These are revitalization of all PHCs with optimal human resources to improve services; improved technology for PHC data, services and vaccine distribution; up-scaling social and behavioural change communication and strengthening Post-Polio PHC System.

The strategic plan at the NPHCDA has received the support of President Buhari and his consent to host an international summit on Primary Health Care.

Health managers are fine-tuning details of the global summit which is expected to leverage on efforts in kicking the wild polio virus out of the country and the deft management of COVID-19.

Barring last minute changes, the summit will hold in Abuja before the end of October or early November in actualization of the promise made earlier by the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib to prioritize strengthening the PHC system through a robust revitalization agenda.

Recall that last year, the agency had engaged with the heads of community medicine departments of universities to discuss and receive critical feedback on prevailing issues of interest to primary health care development in Nigeria. It also met other critical stakeholders in the bid to strengthen the PHC system and deliver affordable, accessible and equitable services.

“My vision is to strengthen PHC systems to deliver affordable, accessible and equitable services to all Nigerians. It is in this light that we will be convening a global PHC Summit in 2021 with the theme: Strengthening PHC towards achieving universal health coverage in post-Polio, Peri -COVID era.

“The overall goal of the summit is to galvanize stakeholders and present a compelling investment case for PHC financing, leveraging on the gains made during the polio eradication to strengthen PHC systems from 2021 to 2030. I am optimistic that this event will be a success and a global agenda to be reckoned with,” Dr. Shuaib said.

The summit aligns with the vision of Dr. Ehanire on addressing the inadequacy of primary health care services across the country and the need to revitalise one PHC in each ward in demonstration of prioritizing community based health care and scaling up the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services, CHIPS, programme launched by President Buhari in 2018 at Lafia, Nasarawa State.

CHIPS is designed to improve access and equitable coverage to essential health services, especially those relating to maternal, new born and child survival. It will also remove barriers to PHC services; ensure supply of integrated PHC interventions by linking the health workforce at health centres in rural and underserved communities to the households; tackling delays in decision to seek care, reaching care and receiving adequate healthcare.

The summit is coming at a time

when government resources alone have become inadequate to fund the health sector, especially with the global COVID-19 pandemic and the resurgence of cholera in many states across the country.

At a meeting with federal lawmakers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha had said that COVID-19 provided a unique opportunity to x-ray the state of Nigeria’s health care sector which is in dire need of reforms and funding.

“The weaknesses in our health system became more glaring as we see how more established health systems in Europe and America buckled under pressure. There’s no doubt that a strengthened and well-resourced health system will not only place the country in a better position to deal with future emerging infections but will also provide a solid foundation for medical research and development,” said Mustapha.

The summit will also rally the support of the Coalition Against COVID-19, CACOVID - the private sector-led organization assembled by the Central Bank of Nigeria to assist the federal government in combating COVID-19. The coalition of industry giants, banks and several private organisations and individuals raised huge funds to procure essential supplies, equipment while also accelerating tests and treatment for COVID-19.

Before attaining wild polio-free status, after meeting all the criteria for certification which include three years of non-detection of any wild polio virus case in the country, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan were the only countries harbouring the wild polio virus.

The feat was widely applauded by the World Health Organisation, WHO and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF. Both congratulated Nigeria on being declared free of the wild polio virus but stressed that achieving this milestone is not the end of the job - all children under five years must continue to be vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The agencies expressed strong appreciation for the role played by all stakeholders, especially the commitment and support of the Nigerian government at all levels, development partners, donors, traditional and community leaders, health workers and caregivers.

“WHO rejoices with the people and government of Nigeria and acknowledges that wild polio-free certification is undoubtedly the greatest public health triumph in the annals of Nigeria and indeed Africa that will bequeath to posterity lessons learnt and best practices for addressing future public health interventions,” said Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO Nigeria Country Representative.

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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 • T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 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

2 0 , 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%

Despite Fierce Competition from FinTechs, 3 Banks Recorded N75.24trn Transactions on e- Channels in H1 2021

Darasimi Adebisi With the adoption of digital banking channels and more customers migrating to electronic banking following Covid-19 restrictions, three leading banks, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc have generated a sum of N75.24 trillion from electronic banking transactions in the first half of 2021.

This represents an increase of 142 per cent from N31.06N trillion generated by these three banks in the first half of 2020, despite fierce competition from FinTechs.

In recent time, Nigerian banks have invested in Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) means of transactions, Automated

Teller Machine (ATM), Agency Banking, Points of Sales (PoS) terminal, internet banking and Mobile Banking forms of electronic banking channels.

Nigerian banks were forced to invest heavily in the digital banking channels amid dilapidated infrastructures and severe competition from FinTech companies.

From all indications, Zenith Bank leads others in revenue generated from its electronic Banking products channels transaction in the period.

A breakdown revealed that the Zenith Bank reported N39.36trillion value of electronic products transactions in H1 2021, a significant increase of 127 per cent from N17.32trillion transaction in H1 2020, while Access bank grew its electronic products transactions by 52 per cent to

N20.86trillion in H1 2021 from N13.73trillion in H1 2020.

In addition, GTCO recorded a N15.02 trillion from its electronic products transactions in H1 2021 from N8.49trillion in H1 2020.

The breakdown revealed that Zenith Bank’s ATM transactions moved from N568billion in H1 2020 to N745billion in H1 2021, while USSD transaction closed H1 2021 at N770billion from N457billion in H1 2020.

Zenith bank recorded N1.82trillion transactions on Agency Banking in H1 2021 from N225billion in H1 2020 as transactions on PoS terminal hits N2.53trillion in H1 2021 from N457billion in H1 2020.

However, Zenith bank transactions on its internet banking for

the period rose significantly by 101.45 per cent to N16.41trillion from N8.15trillion in H1 2020 as Mobile Banking transactions hit a new record of N17.09trillion in H1 2021 from N7.47trillion in H1 2020.

Zenith bank’s number of electronic product transactions also rose by 318 per cent to 907 million in H1 2021 from 416million in H1 2020.

The bank explained that it recorded a remarkable growth in both value and volume of electronic product transactions, resulting in a 91per cent growth in income on electronic products to N17.05billion in H1 2021 from N8.94billion recorded in H1 2020.

Zenith bank closed the period with 13,707,995 of customers from 11,048,592 recorded in H1 2020 with

12,275,259 card issues as against 9,011,254 issued in H1 2020. The bank has 135,463 active PoS terminals in H1 2021 from 57,429 and 2,051 ATMs across the country in H1 2021 from 2,033 in H1 2020.

Further findings revealed that its agents rose significantly to 62,341 in H1 2021 from 14,896 in H1 2020.

Access Bank stated that its customers have trusted digital platforms, resulting into significant growth in digital transactions.

Expect for its PoS value of transactions that dropped by 17 per cent to N301billion in H1 2021 from N362billion recorded in H1 2020, its ATMs transactions rose by 26 per cent to N1, 044 billion from N829billion in H1 2020. USSD transactions recorded by Access Bank grew by

62 per cent to N1,155 trillion in H1 2021 from N713billion in H1 2020.

Access Bank has utilized its digital banking channels to boost lending to SMEs, and individual. The bank digital lending hits N68billion in H1 2021 from N46billion recorded in H1 2020.

The bank recorded N5,621 billion financial inclusion transaction value in H1 2021 from N2,760 billion in H1 2020.

Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe in a statement said: “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 Continued on page 28

Osinbajo Charges Financial Market Experts to Collaborate With Govt to Tackle Nigeria’s Housing Problem Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has charged the nation’s financial market experts to collaborate with government with a view to tackling Nigeria’s housing problem.

He has therefore tasked the experts to develop an appropriate housing scheme model which will significantly transform the housing sector on a large scale and close the housing deficit in the country.

Osinbajo made this call Monday at the State House, Abuja, when

he played host to a delegation from the Financial Market Dealers Quotation (FMDQ) which is Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure (FMI) group, strategically positioned to provide registration, listing, and quotation services, and is owned by the Central Bank and commercial banks in Nigeria, led by its CEO, Mr Bola Onadele.

Economic experts had put the housing deficit in Nigeria between 18-22 million housing units, while the ratio of mortgage finance to

GDP in the country is only 0.5%, 31% in South Africa, and 2% in Ghana and Botswana.

Speaking after listening to a presentation by the FMDQ delegation, Osinbajo said “I like the point you made about the National Housing Blueprint. I very strongly believe that if we are able to unlock the conundrum in the sector, we can get things working.”

According to him, “in our ESP, we have something on social housing but one of the critical issues there is how to market these houses,

how we are able to provide the finance so that people can afford to buy them. These are houses that are in the order of about N2 million or N2.5 million.

“But there are still constraints on account of the fact that we just do not have anything like a feasible housing finance model, I think it is time for us to do so. It just looks like it has always escaped our capacity to find a real solution to the problem.”

On the possibility of having a model that will work, Osinbajo

noted that “everyone recognizes that we are in very challenging times.

But I agree with you that the sheer range and vastness of our potentials make it seem almost intuitive that we are bound to succeed.

“I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever, that given the right mix of policy initiatives, we can get these things done. And your characterization of what needs to be done like attracting capital and sustaining it is so important because ultimately, capital will go where it is best treated.

“And if we are able to attract it (because we have the market, we have everything going for us), even in the worst of times, despite the situation, you find that there is still a great deal of interest.”

Earlier in his remarks, Mr Bola Onadele said the visit was to inform the Vice President about the transformation taking place in the FMDQ and the need for government support in growing the financial market for the benefit Continued on page 28

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T U E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 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 (%)

100.43

3.76

0.00

NTB 30-Sep-21

3.65

3.65 0.00

100.50

3.82

0.00

NTB 14-Oct-21

3.76

3.77 0.00

100.89

4.07

0.00

NTB 28-Oct-21

3.88

3.90 0.00

101.35

4.07

0.00

NTB 11-Nov-21

4.00

101.05

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 (%)

CMBL CP XV 11OCT-21 UBNP CP VIII 18OCT-21 CMBL CP XII 31OCT-21 CMBL CP XVII 15-NOV-21 FSDH CP III 16NOV-21

7.15

7.18

0.00

8.76

8.82

0.00

4.98

5.01

0.00

5.94

5.99

0.00

7.29

7.37

0.00

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

GIVING ACCOUNT TO SHAREHOLDERS…

L-R: Executive Director, Legal and Corporate Services, Mixta Africa, Mr. Ugochukwu Ndubuisi; Chief Financial Officer/Executive Director, Mr. Benson Ajayi; Company Secretary, Eden Aye; Chairman, Mr. Oladapo Oshinusi; Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Deji Alli and Non Executive Director, Mr. Sadiq Mohammed, at the company’s Annual General Meeting held at Lakowe Lakes Golf Country Estate, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos...on Friday

Nigeria Customs: Covid-19, Exchange Rate, Responsible for Hike in Import Duty Eromosele Abiodun The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), yesterday gave a detailed explanation to reasons duties on cargoes imported into the country are going up.

According to the deputy national public relations officer of the service, Timi Bomadi, the reasons for the increase in valuation of imported cargoes was due to the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted global supply chain and the increase in exchange rate.

Specifically, he said, “Since value assessments are based on the currencies of exchange when calculating duty payable on imports, we are compelled to also factor in the exchange rate. Even when the

cost, insurance and freight values remain unchanged over time, the fact that the exchange rate varies, implies that there must be a commensurate increase in assessments and duty payable.

“Also, since we all are in agreement as to the negative effect of the pandemic on global supply chain, and its effect on cost, insurance and freight, we should then not be surprised by adjustments made by customs valuation officers reflecting our current global realities. Therefore, anyone imputing ulterior motives to the actions of valuation officers, should themselves be viewed with suspicion.”

According to him, the NCS value cargoes imported into the country

inline with the global standard of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

He added, “In the WTO’s guideline for assessing the proper value for goods outlined in its agreement on implementation of article VII of general agreement on trade and tariffs, 1994, it provides a customs valuation method which primarily based the Customs value on the transaction value of the imported goods.”

However, he bemoaned importers who blackmailed the service for querying cargoes falsely declared in other to evade payment of revenue accrued to the federal government.

He said, “We are aware that certain individuals and organisations

deliberately make false attestations on their invoices and other final documents with the aim of evading the payment of duty and then turn around to blackmail the service for querying their declarations. The Service is bent on checkmating all attempts at duty evasion, and it is resolved in doing this in line with the principles outlined in international treaties and agreements.

“They claimed that the valuation unit adopts non-methodical and arbitrary means to arrive at values for customs purposes. Nothing could be further from the truth because this assertion is bogus and untenable when examined through the prism of current global realities. When we look at data from the past 3 years, and

focus particularly on the last 2, we are confronted with massive schisms in global supply chain occasioned by the Covid19 pandemic.”

He added, “Inspite of these obvious trends, the service valuation unit has in recent times been inundated with questionable requests for the acceptance of fictitious transaction values which bear no resemblances to global realities. Some unscrupulous importers and their agents have resorted to concocting values suitable only for their selfish ends, and solely for the purpose of evading the payment of appropriate Customs duty.

“To be sure the value for customs duty is based on three components.

One is the transaction value of the goods in question, also known as

the Cost, second is the value or cost of freight, and thirdly the value of insurance for the goods in transit.

All three are captured as the CIF value and forms the tax base for assessing duty. Whenever any one or all three of these components goes up, it automatically creates a domino effect seen in increased assessed values and duties across board.”

“At a time like this when every kobo counts in helping the government actualize its development objectives, no one should feel justified to, under the guise of industry watchdogs, monitoring or consumer protection deprive the federal government of its dues in terms of payment of correct Customs duty,” he stressed.

Experts Praise A’Ibom Govt for Creating Enabling Environment for Industrial Growth Okon Bassey in Uyo An Investment Advisor and Business Strategist, Mr. Udeme Etukayin has lauded the Akwa Ibom State Government for providing enabling environment for the existence and growth of industries in the state.

The business expert said the peaceful nature of the state, good road network, state owned airline and provision of land for industries have indeed made the state a

destination of choice for investors.

He spoke during a round-table discussion on the topic: “Maximising the investment potentials in Akwa Ibom State for sustainable development in the post Covid-19 era,” to mark the 2021 Correspondents Chapel of NUJ Press Week.

Etukayin said contrary to crlticisms that the state has no stake in the industries it attracted, he said the state retains a reasonable percentage of equity in all the private

investments.

According to him, “Akwa Ibom state government is also a major owner of all private investments in the state having provided land and the necessary enabling environment in terms of roads, security, peace and harmony.

“I suggest that the government should build and develop the Maritime sector and other investment potentials in the state to create employment opportunities

and ginger it’s economy. There is also need for the federal government and state governments to harmonise policies that would promote industrialization and growth of private investments.”

Also speaking, the Chairman, Akwa Ibom Human Rights Community, Clifford Thomas urged the state government to maximize the investment potentials of the state by re-orientating the mindsets of the people.

“Previous governments had made cultism a credential for involvement in government and not building the consciousness of the people particularly youths to be positively active.

“The demand culture prevalent among our youths as opposed to the culture of productiveness; youths should work towards being entrepreneurs. Akwa Ibom state would have been the production hub of the country if the Science

Park had been developed. The state government should involve the communities to help harness and drive investments.” he said On his part, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta, Senator Ita Enang applauded Akwa Ibom State government for making Ibom Air the best managed airline in Nigeria, but on the other hand advised the state government to define ownership structure of the industries it has so far attracted.

O S I N B A J O C H A R G E S F I N A N C I A L M A R K E T E X P E RT S TO C O L L A B O R AT E W I T H G OV T TO TAC K L E N I G E R I A’S H O U S I N G P R O B L E M of Nigerians and the economy.

While applauding the efforts of the Buhari administration in creating the environment for

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 transformation to occur, Mr Onadele identified areas of interest for investment in the market to include housing finance and mobilizing capital for projects in the transportation sector, among others.

Financial Market Dealers Quotation (FMDQ) is Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure (FMI) group, strategically positioned to provide registration, listing, and quotation services, and is owned by the

Central Bank and commercial banks in Nigeria.

Also on Monday, at another meeting with stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry under the auspices of Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), the group commended the Vice President’s peace efforts in the Niger Delta in 2016 that ensured peace and security of investments in the region at a time when the nation suffered a recession.

Chairman of IPPG, Mr Abdul-

razak Isa declared that Osinbajo have been a great supporter of the association saying “your unprecedented intervention helped in resolving the security situation that we faced in the Niger Delta region. Since that time, we have not recorded one incident of attack on our facilities.”

While soliciting the support of the Federal Government in securing investments in the sector, Mr Isa disclosed that the crisis resolution model deployed by the

VP in 2016 will be replicated by IPPG to address emerging security threats on oil and gas facilities in the southeast.

Also speaking, the immediate past president of the group, Mr Ademola Adeyemi-Bero added that since the intervention of the VP when he visited oil-producing communities in the eight states of Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia and Ondo, “we have not had one shutdown of our facilities.”

Responding, the Vice President assured the group of the Buhari administration’s commitment to the security of lives and property, noting that government is open to suggestions that would lead to permanent resolution of the crisis.

Osinbajo also called for collaboration between the Federal Government and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector in advocating for a just energy transition regarding the global net-zero emission target in 2050.

DESPITE FIERCE COMPETITION FROM FINTECHS, 3 BANKS RECORDED N75.24TRN TRANSACTIONS ON E- CHANNELS IN H1 2021 capabilities that support individuals and businesses, enhance financial inclusion, and deliver the benefits of a strong network effect across our enlarged Group.”

GTCO disclosed that it continued to record growth in the level of adoption of digital banking in volume and value. The Bank said total volume of USSD unique users grew by 2.9 per cent from 6.9 million in 2020 to 7.1 million in June 30, 2021.

According to the bank, “total volume of active users on the USSD platform decreased by 8.8 per cent year-till-date from 5.7million in 2020 to 5.2 million in June 2021, following the introduction of a flat charge of n6.98 per successful transaction in

March 2021 by the CBN and NCC.” The bank said the introduction of the USSD flat charge by the regulating bodies trigged a migration of customers from the USSD platform to the internet banking and Mobile banking platforms.

GTCO recorded 32.6 per cent increase on its USSD transactions to N2.15trillion in H1 2021 from N1.63trillion in H1 2020 while total volume of transaction closed H1 2021 at 473.2 million, an increase of 35.3 per cent from 349.7 million in H1 2020.

Similarly, Mobile banking outperformed its volume growth average of 57 per cent between June 2019 and December 2020 and recorded a

growth of 83 per cent in June 2021.

A check revealed that total value of GTCO’s Mobile banking transaction rose by 101.4 per cent to N11.44trillion in H1 2021 from N5.68trillion in H1 2020 while its volume gained 83 per cent to 173.9 million in H1 2021 from 95 million in H1 2020.

Speaking recently, the Group Chief Executive Officer, GTCO, Mr. Segun Agbaje said the bank would continue focusing on caring about human feelings to win the digital payment space in future.

He said: “I will be lying if I tell you that the bank that will win the payment space in future is one with the best technology. So,

the person that is going to win, whether a FINTECH, a TELCO or a bank, is one that is going to build the right technology that can leave customers with that feeling that there are people who care about them and not artificial intelligence.”

He said the bank was well placed to win, as it had the required digital platforms. ”We have GTConnection, GTPay, GABS-Lite, we have all the digital platforms required.

“In addition, we have “Habari”, a digital platform for children. No matter what the people say, it is the most successful interactive platform in Nigeria today. On it we have music, on it we have E-

Commerce, on it we have the credit, we have the most successful of all endowed things on that platform.

We are going to put travels, event management and you are going to come into our ecosystems and you will believe that we care about you, ”Agbaje said.

He said another reason that the bank was going to win was that it never stopped interacting with people.

“So already, we are beginning to put that balance together between a digital platform and a human experience; we care about our people and we have the ability to build a successful business platform,” he said.

29

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

FINANCE

The Burden of Currency Speculation James Emejo writes on the dangers of currency speculation on monetary policy and the economy, as well as the need for the CBN to checkmate illegal practices

L

ast week, the financial market was awakened by the news that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had vowed to send the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies after manipulators of foreign exchange.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, specifically pointed out that anyone who fraudulently acquires foreign exchange in the form of Personal Travel Allowance (PTA)/Business Travel Allowance (BTA) from banks, fails to utilise the Fx for the purposes acquired and refuses to return same to the banks within two weeks, would answer to security agencies.

Emefiele, particularly promised that the apex bank would track down and bring the founder of AbokiFx, Mr. Oniwinde Adedotun to book for his speculative activities on the foreign exchange which amounted to economic sabotage and detrimental to the economy.

Currency speculation happens when investors buy or sell currency in the hope of making a profit.

For instance if a currency is pegged at a certain level, and investors believed the currency was overvalued, they would start selling their reserves thereby putting downward pressure on the price.

Experts believed that though this practice is not abnormal in most Fx markets around the world as it could also be positive for an economy, certain speculative tendencies tend to be injurious to an economy.

At a period when there is significant revenue constraints and fluctuation in external reserves, the CBN has had to plough the reserves to be able to defend sustained attacks against the Naira in recent times.

FOREIGN RESERVES SHORTAGE

Currency speculators have often taken advantage of the shortages in foreign reserves to place a bet on the possible movement in exchange rates, fueling round-tripping, hoarding and artificial scarcity.

According to Emefiele, illegal Fx dealers and speculators, “milk the system through speculative information activities on the Naira.”

To curtail speculations, the CBN had in recent times increased its intervention in the Fx market by pumping millions of dollars to all commercial banks as part of efforts to meet the Fx demand for legitimate end users.

This is particularly the case since the apex bank halted the sale of foreign exchange to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators with the resultant impact on the scarce reserves.

Emefiele said currency speculators especially AbokiFx

indulged in nefarious and criminal activity on the Nigerian economy by engaging in Fx speculation in contravention of the CBN Act which vested the apex bank with the sole responsibility for determining the rate of the naira.

He said such activities passed as economic sabotage in the country and vowed to fight it frontally.

Aside currency speculation, Emefiele also said that there is evidence that people have deceitfully bought foreign exchange from banks using fake visas and under the pretext of traveling only to cancel their tickets afterwards.

DECEIT AND FRAUD

He cited a particular study, which disclosed that one of the banks sold Fx to 52 people who said they wanted to travel but never did.

“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?

“Bank sold to them but they turned back and then went and sold it to black market because they wanted to enjoy the arbitrage.”

Emefiele said such fraudulent means of acquiring foreign exchange will no longer go unpunished adding that the CBN is committed to meeting all legitimate Fx demands in the country.

“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,” the CBN Governor said.

REDUCING RISK OF SPECULATION

Analysts believed that while floating exchange rates reduce the risk of speculative attacks as currencies are allowed to be correctly priced by the market, fixed exchange rates represent

an arbitrary price that has to be backed up with international reserves whenever it is out of line with its true value.

Accordingly, experts agree that reserves remained the attraction or bounty for speculators.

The CBN currently operates a managed-floating Fx regime where the apex regulator could intervene in the market wherever appropriate.

However, analysts in separate interviews with THISDAY further highlighted the impact of currency speculation on the economy.

Chairman, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Abuja Branch, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, said currency speculation was normal in forex markets and indeed all financial markets, adding that it could help create activity and by extension liquidity as bullish and bearish speculators buy and sell with a view to making profit.

According to him, the practice is healthy for currency markets especially where market forces determine the exchange rate.

Uwaleke, however, stressed that there is also destructive speculation, which takes advantage of insider information and market manipulation.

He added that as opposed to constructive speculation, “destructive speculation hurts the economy and in a country like Nigeria, complicates exchange rates management.”

“It is such types that is addressed by strong measures by regulatory authorities. Ordinarily, the provision of authentic information on exchange rates movements should facilitate decision making by economic agents. But when such is intended to manipulate the market, it should be of concern to the monetary authority, “he said.

Also commenting on the issue, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Idakolo Gbolade, said speculative activities on the Naira exchange rate had been one of the major factors that have continuously caused the naira to go continually on the downward trajectory.

“Currency speculation ensures that the market will be dominated by purported rates advised into the market to enable currency traders and buyers alike to maintain a position that is profitable for the speculators even at the detriment of monetary policy and the economy,” Gbolade said.

He noted that this eventually weakens the local currency against major currencies and increase inflationary trends in the economy.

He said: “The CBN recently accused the MD of Aboki FX for currency speculation due to credible information by the bank. When such company or individuals are detected they should be exposed and sanctioned to the full weight of the law to serve as deterrent to others.

“However, the CBN also needs to ensure availability of foreign exchange to adequately service the market demands, because when there is scarcity speculation will thrive.”

On his part, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, said speculative activities remained one of the major bane of exchange rate stability and the attendant high rates.

“Speculation causes a supply deficiency and creates artificial scarcity of foreign currencies. When the CBN through its monetary policy makes efforts to stabilise prices or bring low the exchange rates, the currency speculators will undermine this effort. Speculation also makes people to change their local currency to foreign currencies, thereby causing a demand push situation and once the demand of foreign currency is more than its supply, rates will go up,” Ekechukwu said.

EFFECTIVENESS OF MONETARY POLICY

In his comments, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Credent Investment Managers Limited, Mr. Ibrahim Shelleng, maintained that currency speculation curtails the effectiveness of monetary policy as the speculators bet against the naira by hoarding Fx rather than utilising it for valid purposes such as foreign trade.

“This further makes Fx scarce and drives the prices up so that those in genuine need for legitimate purposes are left to buy it at a premium. However, it must be said that the disparity between official and parallel market rates also creates an arbitrage opportunity for people to enrich themselves.

“Those that are able to access the FX through official channels can simply resell to the parallel market and make a spread of over N100 to a dollar.

That is probably the most lucrative racket in the world currently.”

Analysts further pointed out that FX manipulations tend to impact monetary policy by driving up inflation and distorting efforts by the central bank to stabilise prices,” he said.

Also, writing on “Currency Speculation and Exchange Rate”, Tejvan Pettinger, in a blog believed “floating exchange rates reduce the risk of speculative attacks as currencies are allowed to be correctly priced by the market.”

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Why Status Quo on VAT Collection Must Be Maintained

Ifeanyi Omokwe

I

n the past few weeks, Nigerians have been treated to intense legal fireworks over issues relating to the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the country.

From an ongoing legal tussle between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Rivers State, a recent communique at the end of the meeting of the Southern Governors’ Forum has shown that more states in the region may likely want to start agitating for the collection of the consumption tax.

Nigeria as a federation has gone through a chequered history of boom and bust, with the bust getting a larger fraction of the country’s development story. Indeed, the country’s rising population has seen the government adopt proactive measures in boosting revenue generation due to its growing financial obligations. In all of these, the federal government has been supportive to the states as was seen when the government extended bailouts to state governments during the cash crunch that occasioned the slump in the price of crude oil during the first tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The creation and imposition of VAT was part of the federal government’s effort to diversify the revenue base in Nigeria. The consumption tax was introduced into Nigerian tax system by the Value Added Tax Act no 102 of 1993 and took effect in January 1994.

Presently, the consumption tax is administered under an arrangement that allows the federal government to collect 15 per cent, states 50 per cent, and local government 35 per cent.

With the existing arrangement, states and local governments take about 85 per cent of VAT proceeds.

VAT replaced the sales tax with the rationale that the base of sales tax in Nigeria was narrowed as it covered only nine categories of goods plus sales and services in registered hotels, motels and similar establishments.

Also, the sales tax targeted only locally manufactured goods which put such goods at a disadvantage relative to imports.

When VAT law was introduced during the military era, it was soon realised that if practiced strictly, in monitoring, compliance and enforcement, it will be cumbersome and will create untold hardship on consumers, hence the government agreed to appoint FIRS as an agent of collection.

FIRS serves as the government’s foremost revenue generation agency and in that light has positioned VAT as one of the major ways to increase tax revenue.

Aside the fact that taxes have been administered by FIRS for a while; the federal agency has over the years developed the experience, technology and manpower to handle all issues concerning the administration of taxes far better than the states. This reflects

in the country’s tax revenue, which has been on the upswing over the years.

There is nowhere in the world, where the administration of VAT is done at the sub-national level.

Clearly, since inception of VAT under the administration of FIRS, the consumption tax has continued to be one of the most stable sources of tax revenue for the funding of yearly budgets of the three tiers of government.

In spite of this, constitutional validity of VAT has been a contentious issue being challenged at various courts even up to Supreme Court. Various judgments have reflected divergent views not undermining their political undertone to the imbroglio on the constitutional validity of the VAT Act. If the recent ruling on the VAT between the FIRS and Rivers State is upheld, I can categorically say that states will be the biggest losers of the judgment.

According to foremost tax expert and a Partner at PwC, Taiwo Oyedele “few states like Kano, Rivers, Oyo, Kaduna and Delta may experience minimal impact, while at least 30 states which account for less than 20 per cent of VAT collection will suffer significant revenue decline.”

It is worthy to note that if states enact their VAT or Sales tax laws, the guaranteed winners would be the federal government in respect of import VAT and international transactions (whether retained by FG only or paid into the Federation account and shared), and the Federal Capital Territory.

If decentralisation of VAT administration system is adopted instead of central administration of VAT, different states will be entitled to impose taxes in its territory on consumption or sales tax. This might make sense majorly to some states like Rivers, Lagos and FCT but consideration should be given to other states, such as Ebonyi, that are not geographically located or naturally endowed with mineral resources.

Additionally, another issue to be considered is the destination principal

as the country adopts destination principle of VAT administration system. With this, state where goods or services are consumed will take the benefits of the VAT revenue. This will create various administrative challenges such that each taxable person must identify goods to be consumed within or outside their state for the purpose of VAT invoicing.

Another issue to be considered is the input-output mechanism, that is where goods and services have to cross several sub-national territories before getting to their final consumer, each state will likely levy VAT based on destination principle which will not qualify as input VAT in the other state. That means the seller will bear taxes on the goods produced or sold instead of the final consumer, thus resulting in multiple taxes, decline in ease of tax payment and discourage tax compliance.

Furthermore, those jostling for states to start collecting VAT must also considered the effects of the refund system on their citizens. That is because a fundamental issue is whether the sub-nations have adequate resources to cater for VAT refund.

Presently several states do not have enough resources to meet its budgetary obligation, huge debt, inability to pay salaries etc. it follows thus that meeting the refund of taxes will be a mirage and would create a distrust among taxpayers.

Likewise, proponents of states’ collection of the consumption tax must also weigh the effects of hyper-inflation as the transfer burden of multiple taxes levied at various sub-nationals would be heaped on the final consumers, which would result into higher inflation as the prices of goods will reflect the various taxes born by the supplier or producer at each stage of supply chain from one state to another. If allowed, Nigeria’s ease of doing business and paying taxes would deteriorate in view of the multiple VAT compliance and Nigeria’s tax to GDP ratio will decline.

“People will pay more, but government

“Definitely, the pulling of sub-national resources for the benefits of all under the fiscal federalism would be defeated if each sub nationals are allowed to administer VAT. These will mean only the endowed states in natural resource or geographical location/affiliation will be developed at the expense of the other states.”

will collect less due to inefficiency of collection and leakages. There will be higher cost of goods and services arising from input VAT claim and refund complications in addition to items which are not exempted under the states VAT law such as rent, tuition, processed foods such as amala, suya, jollof rice, and ogbono soup. In addition, there will be incidence of double taxation due to likely conflicts between origination and destination principle in different states. Worse still when the reality of inability to implement VAT hits home many states will inevitably introduce sales tax with its cascading effect,” according to a report.

Definitely, the pulling of sub-national resources for the benefits of all under the fiscal federalism would be defeated if each sub nationals are allowed to administer VAT. These will mean only the endowed states in natural resource or geographical location/ affiliation will be developed at the expense of the other states.

In view of the foregoing, the focus of all parties involved in the matter should be how not to take actions that would stifle businesses and investments, which has been the advantage of the current VAT system as was explained recently by the Group Lead, Special Operations Group, FIRS, Mathew Gbonjubola.

Gbonjubola explained: “The VAT is not paid to the federation account but to VAT pool account for distribution to the three tiers of government. It is after the sharing that the portion of the federal government is paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account.

“VAT works only at a national level but not at a sub-national level. There is no country in the world where VAT works at the subnational level.”

It is also interesting to note that the VAT Act allows taxpayers to offset their input VAT (Allowable Input VAT) against their output VAT, to the extent that such input VAT only related to such goods that were purchased or imported for resale or form the taxpayers’ stock-in-trade used for the production of new products on which output VAT would be charged.

And where the output VAT exceeds the recoverable input VAT; the taxpayer is expected to remit the excess to the FIRS. So, because the consumption tax depends on the input-output mechanism, it can’t work at the sub-national level.

So, Nigerians must continue to support the FIRS so that the federal wish has over the years developed enough capacity to collect VAT and have ensured that its distribution among the states is fair. t .S *GFBOZJ 0NPLXF B TUVEFOU PG *OGPSNBUJPO 4ZTUFNT BOE /FUXPSL &DPOPNJDT BU UIF 6OJWFSTJUZ PG 'SFJCVSH XSPUF JO GSPN (FSNBOZ

31

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Five Arrested as Customs Raid Smugglers Hideouts in Lagos, Ogun, Recovers over N116m Worth of Contraband Eromosele Abiodun The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, yesterday said it has arrested five suspected smugglers while conducting series of covert operations on criminal hideouts in Lagos and Ogun States respectively in the last ten days.

The raids may not be unconnected to the killing of some customs officers by suspected smugglers at OwodeIdiroko end of Ogun State.

The NCS said over N116 million worth of contraband allegedly being smuggled into Nigeria through unapproved routes in Ogun State were also seized during the ten days operation.

Items seized include bagsof rice, vegetable oil, uses tyres second hand clothings, frozen poultry products among others.

Customs Area Controller in charge of FOU Zone A, Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, while conducting media

men round customs warehouse in Ikeja, vowed to evoke the rules of engagement governing the use of firearms over the continuous harassment and killings of customs officers by suspected smugglers.

Ejibunu pointed out that customs officers can no longer fold their hands and watch while their colleagues are being slaughtered like goats by criminals who ambush them while on duty.

“Barely 24 hours when I assumed

duty as the controller of FOU Zone A, I was greeted by the news of the killing of an officer at Owode-Idiroko by suspected smugglers. I have met with traditional rules in the area over the killing. As if that was not enough, two of my men were also matcheted by smugglers. The good thing is that they are responding to treatment in the hospital.

“For the purpose of clarification, NCS, is not responsible for banning certain items from coming into the

country neither is it responsible to make laws. Our job is simply to implement government’s fiscal policies and laws. We draw our power from customs and Excise Management Act CAO C45 LFN 2004 as amended” he said.

Speaking on the involvement of military and para-military men in smuggling, he said he would soon meet with the General Officer Commanding (GOC),81 Division of the Nigerian Army, and the Commis-

sioners of Police, Lagos and Ogun States to address the issue.

Ejibunu who also expressed concern over the involvement of Dangote trucks in smuggling, revealed that he has written to the management of the company and that he would soon meet with the management to also addressed the issue “How could it be said that someone could conceal bags of rice with cement knowing full well that cement is poisonous” he added.

WAICA Re Sets to Tackle Effects of Climatic Change Ebere Nwoji The West African Reinsurance Corporation (WAICARe), has said that it was set to fight the effects of climatic change and other emerging risk across the African continent through sponsorship of an annual competition that would require people to provide practical solutions to ending these emerging disaster on the continent.

The corporation said it has taken the responsibility of funding the winning project.

The WAICA Group Chief Operating Officer, Dr Abiba Zakariah, addressing the media on the initiative, during the just concluded African Insurance Organisation’s conference held in Lagos said the corporation came up with the initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to end drought, flood and deforestation across Africa, especially, West African region.

She stated that the projects proffered practical solutions that could be replicated across Africa, adding that WAICA-Re was ready to continue to support such initiative with $100,000 annually, to ensure that Africans saw themselves as solutions to African problems.

According to her, the winner of the competition now becomes WAICA Re’s goodwill ambassador for a year, even as the reinsurance firm would support the winning project with $100,000, while such ambassador would have a cash reward of $5000.

At the conference, one Mr. Ejike Nwankwo won the 2021 WAICA Re Champions Award, with his entry on how to manage plastic waste to prevent flooding while the corporation promised to finance this initiative to the tune of $100,000 .He also went home with $5,000.

Similarly, Uduakobong Inyang, won cash prize of $3000 as first runners-up while $2000 prize went to Chinwe Anthonia Umeobi of African Alliance Insurance Plc as the 2nd runners-up.

Zakariah, said the corporation came up with the initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to end drought, flood and deforestation across Africa, especially, West African region.

She disclosed that the winner of the competition has become WAICA Re’s goodwill ambassador for a year, even as the reinsurance firm would support. the winning project with $100,000, while such ambassador will have a cash reward of $5000.

“There will also be 1st and 2nd runners-up with cash awards of $3000 and $2000 respectively, she stressed.

Also speaking, the immediate past Secretary General, AIO, Prisca Soares, said the devastating effects of natural disasters, which might also be linked to climate change in most countries on the continent was better imagined, adding that, the untold and undocumented hardship on the communities and worsening poverty situations, were gaps insurance policies did not cover.

RMBN Stockbrokers Launches New HNI Brokerage Product Nume Ekeghe

Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria(RMBN) has launched stockbroking product that enables their high networth individual (HNI) clients to participate in the Nigerian equities market with guidance and expertise of the bank.

In a statement, RMBN Stockbrokers (RMBNS) noted that with an increase in retail/HNI activity on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), individuals can access the market from the comfort of their homes using trading apps and VPN. The Chief Executive Officer, RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers Mr. Layi Olaleru, said: “RMBNS has gained a reputation in offering highlyregarded services to both domestic and international investors. To date, our clients have included pension fund administrators, asset managers, insurance companies, offshore funds investing in frontier, emerging and sub-Saharan Africa markets, and sovereign funds. Our services include efficient execution of trades, post-trade services, portfolio advisory, market insights and research.”

He noted that the Nigerian equities market is unique, and therefore requires a bespoke approach.

He added: “The Nigerian equity market is quite different from other frontier markets particularly in the African continent due to its advanced trading platforms and products, and market capitalization. In addition, the relatively low equity market capitalization to GDP (about 10 per cent) indicates significant headroom for growth and development. The market could easily develop into the leading frontier market with additional trade liberalisation efforts such as African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and more alternate investment instruments such as derivatives and commodities.”

The HNI brokerage product offers top trade execution for HNI clients with utmost discretion, with access to block flows, while leveraging an extensive clientele base of global and domestic institutional investors.

Furthermore, Olaleru added: “The global economy is projected to grow by 5.5 per cent in 2021 on the back of the successful rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, additional fiscal stimulus support coming from economies like the US and Japan, continued observation of social distancing, reopening of businesses and increased consumer demand.”

YACHT CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPSAILING…

L–R: Public Affairs and Communications Director, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Ekuma Eze; Managing Director, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Matthieu Seguin; winners of the Hobie Class sailing category; and John Shidiak Commodore of Lagos Yacht Club, during the presentation of award to winners of the boat Hobie Class race championshipsailing category sponsored

by NBC at the 2021 Lagos Yacht Club race championshipsailing in Lagos… recently

Sugar Council Tasked Operators to Comply with National Sugar Master Plan 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.”

NIRSAL Trains 700,000 Farmers, Banks Desk Officers on Improved Agricultural Practice James Emejo and Sonia Mayomi in Abuja The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc, said it has trained over 700,000 farmers, including 2,600 mid-management and agriculture desk officers of commercial banks in Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) since inception.

It added that training and mentorship for an additional 780 farmers and other agricultural value chain actors across the country had also been completed as part as NIRSAL’s ongoing efforts to improve the capacity and productivity and

Nigerian farmers.

The series of training sessions under the NIRSAL Strategic Business Support Services (SBSS) are part of the institution’s technical assistance pillar aimed at building the capacity of value chain actors for improved production, handling, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities.

In a statement, it explained that the programmes held in the six geopolitical zones are a continuation of efforts targeted at achieving a key component of NIRSAL mandate to de-risking the agricultural value chain in order to encourage more investment in agribusiness by the

financial sector.

During the NIRSAL SBSS sessions, farmers and input suppliers, processors, transporters, exporters, and traders of agricultural products were trained on modern, business-oriented pre-upstream, upstream, midstream and downstream operations with a view to achieving the micro and macroeconomic effects of farmer income enhancement and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increase.

The capacity building sessions focused on 10 Commodities of Interest (COI) that have ecological and economic advantages in each region incl rice, ginger, maize, fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV), cassava,

beans, aquaculture, oil palm, livestock and cotton.

Essentially, SBSS programme identified farmers and value chain actors most in need of training, assessed value chain gaps, designed intervention approaches and implemented same; the main approach being a four-week long mentorship program comprising in-class and field sessions, the statement added.

Furthermore, the choice of the selected commodities was informed by the NIRSAL Agricultural Commodity Ecological Area (ACEA) map which it developed and obtained validation for from relevant research institutes.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

EDUCATION SEPLAT STEP: Enhancing Teachers’ Competence for Effective Impact Uchechukwu Nnaike reports that the three-month training programme for 200 teachers and six chief inspectors of education in Edo and Delta by Seplat Energy Plc. and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company is to promote teachers’ creative thinking and higher student engagement

Some beneficiaries of the training

A

mong the challenges confronting the Nigerian education system is poor teacher welfare. This has over the years affected their attitude to work, resulting in poor performance of students across the board. The poor condition of teachers has made the profession the least desired, often the last resort for those seeking employment in other, more lucrative fields.

As such, admission into colleges of education and faculty of education in universities was less competitive, unlike other specialised fields and programmes. Teachers’ unions have gone on strike to demand improved welfare from successive governments.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) audit revealed a significant deficit in the number of qualified teachers at the basic level in both public and private schools.

A statement credited to the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, noted that the National Personnel Audit (NPA) outcome indicated that about 277,537 qualified teachers are required to fill existing gaps at the basic education level.

The audit specifically revealed that while 73 per cent of teachers in public basic schools are qualified, only 53 per cent of the teachers in the private schools are eligible to teach at the basic level.

However, there is a gradual improvement, as the federal and state governments have realised that improving teachers’ skills will enhance students’ performance. The private sector has also keyed in, with investment in infrastructures, technology and teacher training, as well as other initiatives to reward exceptional teachers, thereby inspiring others to work hard.

One of such private sector initiatives is the SEPLAT JV Teachers Empowerment Programme (STEP), set up by an indigenous energy company, Seplat Energy Plc. and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), to promote teachers’ creative thinking skills, enabling higher student engagement, to improve the standard of education in Delta and Edo. The second edition of the programme, which commenced recently, involves 200 teachers and six chief inspectors of education (CIEs) from both states. They would be trained on modern learning techniques, critical thinking

skills, problem-solving skills, and lesson notes for three months.

Speaking at the formal inauguration of the programme in Benin, the Director, External Affairs and Sustainability, SEPLAT, Dr. Chioma Nwachukwu, said the process for the selection of the benefiting teachers commenced with an online test for 874 teachers that registered from all schools in Edo and Delta.

Nwachukwu, represented by the Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Seplat, Esther Icha, added that the beneficiaries were drawn from 28 schools each from both states; five teachers each, representing every public school and two from private schools. The training commenced with a three-day workshop in Benin, designed to empower teachers to access the Seplat Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) app.

“They are now going to apply learning and demonstration, and that is why the STEM training is very critical in nationbuilding,” Nwachukwu said.

She added that the training would end with the award of certificates to successful teachers in February 2022. Beneficiaries are expected to set up a STEM club in their various schools.

“STEM club will usher in an exhibition where the use of STEM to proffer solutions to world problems will be showcased,” she added.

Through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education, students are engaged in several activities that establish communication skills like critiquing art, presenting research, collaborating with peers for group projects, and communicating results in research papers.

Along with creative thinking, STEAM education creates an environment where students can learn to express themselves

in a supportive and accepting climate in the classroom, giving them the chance to explore more of themselves.

There are also indicators that teachers who are well-equipped to teach STEAM play an important role in guiding children, resulting in superior performance than less experienced teachers. This, among others, has spurred SEPLAT to continue to make notable strides with its drive to improve the standard of education in the country, particularly in its host states.

The Edo State Ministry of Education and Science and Technology officials and Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, respectively, expressed delight about the collaboration with SEPLAT. They pledged to ensure the success of the initiative.

The Permanent Secretary, Edo education ministry, Stellamaris Imasuen, explained that the Seplat mandate was in line with the state government’s vision for education.

Represented by the Executive Director, Science Vocational and Technical Education, Odegua Kushe, she stated: “The impact of the training, which Seplat started last year, is evident in the increase of students participating in science and technology competitions at both local and international levels.”

Also, the Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Rose Ezewu, commended the company for collaborating with the government to equip teachers with modern techniques for improved classroom experiences.

Ezewu, represented by the Director of School Services, Ufuoma Oduma, said over the years, teaching and learning in the country had suffered huge setbacks in the face of modern technology.

“But with intervention from a company like Seplat in collaboration with government,

So generally, the Seplat empowerment programme is for us to secure the future of our children and also capture the future because if you train a child, you have educated a nation

a new era of nourishing classroom experiences has been ushered in,” said Ezewu.

On his part, the Managing Director, NPDC, Alli Zahra, represented by Bassey Etim Bassey, highlighted the purpose and impact of teachers in nation-building, hence the need for such training.

One hundred teachers and 43 CIEs benefited from the first edition of the programme, which started in November 2020 and beneficiaries certified in March 2021.

An education roundtable complemented the certificate presentation ceremony to emphasise the company’s stand on providing quality education as a national priority.

Some of the beneficiaries said the training would be an opportunity to change the narrative in their daily activities.

Ejoma Emiliana, a CIE and a beneficiary from Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State, said the programme was an opportunity for her at the supervisory end.

She said the programme “has increased and enhanced my knowledge, and I thank Seplat for coming to better my ideas in different ways.”

Godfrey Edobholo, a teacher representing Federal Science and Technical College, Uromi, said: “We have seen how our minds have been refined because a mind refined is a life transformed. We have seen how important it is because, as a teacher, you are a leader.

“We have seen the bridge and the link between a teacher and a leader because leadership itself is programming to securing the present which is the now; and also capturing the future.”

Edobholo added, “So generally, the Seplat empowerment programme is for us to secure the future of our children and also capture the future because if you train a child, you have educated a nation.”

The company also organises the Seplat PEARLs Quiz for schools in Edo and Delta States. The competition aims to promote and reward academic excellence among secondary school students.

The educational intervention is said to be at the heart of the SEPLAT Chairman, Dr. A.B.C Orjiako, whose drive for excellence is unparalleled.

While commending the company for the initiatives, stakeholders called on other corporate organisations to replicate the gesture in other areas to move the country forward.

33

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

EDUCATION

Scholars Condemn Call to Make English, TETFund, ATBU Train Lecturers, Heads of Maths Optional for Admissions Hammed Shittu ÓØ ÖÙÜÓØ

The President of the English Scholars Association of Nigeria (ESAN), Prof. Shola Babatunde, has condemned the call to stop making a credit pass in English and Mathematics a requirement to enter universities and polytechnics.

The Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Prof. Dantani Wushishi, recently advocated that credits in English Language and Mathematics should no longer be required

for admission into higher institutions.

Prof. Wushishi stated this at the 2021 Biennial National Conference of the Association of Model Islamic Schools in Minna, Niger State.

But, Babatunde, while speaking at the 37th annual national conference of ESAN tagged ‘KWARESAN 2021’, at the main auditorium of the University of Ilorin, described the comment as ludicrous, adding that such a move will not promote effective language communication.

He said the call was unfortunate as students grapple with good communication skills and the use of the language.

Babatunde suggested creating a ‘National English Studies Resource Centre’ to carry out studies on the National English corpus and implement relevant policies.

“The emphasis should be on the improvement of the facilities and the training and employment of adequate number of teachers to teach the two subjects in order to

minimise failure rates,” said the University of Ilorin don.

He noted that the forum of scholars would collate and store for ease of retrieval all research efforts on the English Language in Nigeria.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, who declared the conference open, noted that since the country’s lingua franca is English, moving a mountain becomes easy for students if they could put words together appropriately.

L-R: The Field Manager, Slum2School Africa, Jennifer Jonathan; Chief Executive Officer, Eat’N’Go, Mr. Patrick McMichael; Head of Operations Slum2School Africa, Ogechi Ofurum; and Group Marketing Director, Eat’N’Go, Ilyas Kazeem, during the Eat’N’Go and Slum2School Africa International Literacy Day celebration in Lagos recently ˝

North-East Institutions

Segun Awofadeji ÓØ ËßÍÒÓ

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, have organised a training workshop for lecturers and heads of tertiary institutions in the North-East on grantwriting skills.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the increase of the National Research Fund (NRF), domiciled in TETFund from N5 billion to N7.5 billion in 2020.

Declaring open the five-day workshop held at the Command Guest House, Bauch, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Professor Suleiman Bogoro, lamented the poor performance of north-east tertiary institution lecturers in writing grant proposals for research.

The TETFund boss, represented by the DG National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, Dr. Danlami Ibrahim Mohammed, said, “For too long, we academics have been operating in our silos, clapping with one hand. That is unacceptable. No wonder we are not getting the outcome of research that solves problems of the society of technology and the economy.”

He added, “It’s for this reason that we agreed on this training at TETFund, and we spoke with the VC of ATBU just

as I spoke with the VC of the University of Benin, University of Nigeria Nsukka and ABU that complacency could destroy our rating and ranking. And that is precisely why we called this meeting.”

He urged the participants to rise to the occasion by coming up with the most recognised and acceptable research and grant proposals that the NorthEast can benefit from.

On his part, the ViceChancellor of ATBU, Prof.

Mohammed Abdulazeez, stated that the university is working assiduously to contribute its quota in proffering solutions to Nigeria’s problems.

“Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University is trying to solve issues. One of the issues is the insecurities of this country.

People don’t even look at it, and I think as a university, we are supposed to find solutions to this issue. One of the things that we are doing is that we have gotten a centre of excellence on the diary in ATBU,” said Abdulazeez. “Our target is to show to our brothers that the best way to keep your cattle is to keep it around your house, feed it well, and you will find out that you don’t have to move around.”

Abdulazeez also thanked Bogoro for organising the workshop, noting that research and development will bring development and stability to the nation.

Lagos SUBEB Seeks Children’s Enrollment in Public Schools Ondo Gov’s Wife Urges

Funmi Ogundare

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) is seeking children’s enrollment in public schools.

The agency visited included Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Bariga, Ikorodu, Apapa/ Iganmu, Ajeromi Ifelodun, Mushin, Agege, Yaba, Surulere, and Oshodi during its sensitisation tours.

The team also visited some schools in the areas to promote retention and completion rate among pupils.

The Head of Department, Ikosi-Isheri LCDA, Mr. Oladapo Osodipe, commended the board

for its efforts while expressing concern that parents prefer to send their children to the market either on errands or fend for the family rather than send them to school.

“We strategically brought the sensitisation to the marketplace to enlighten parents that their children can have access to free education,” he said.

Some Nollywood actors, Ayo Badmus and Ibrahim Chatta, appealed to market men and women to ensure that their children go to school for a better future.

“The Lagos state government has made efforts to ensure free education for children in its public schools. Back in the

days when parents go out to work for the survival of their children, but now, the reverse is the case. The children are the ones hawking for the survival of the family. This is child labour. Education is very important. It is only a fool that will say education is a scam,” they stressed.

Speaking to journalists, the Chairman of SUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King said: “It has become a tradition for us to come out during the first week of resumption. We come out to mobilise, sensitise and enlighten parents why they must enrol their wards in school.”

He said the board was promoting enrollment and

retention and completion rate of all pupils in public schools, adding that there is a special mobilisation department saddled with that responsibility.

“That department is the bridge between the community and the schools. As we all know that schools are part of the community, we cannot separate the two, and as such, we must continue to sensitise our people on why they must enrol their wards in school,” he stated.

Asked why the board chose to go to the selected areas, the chairman disclosed that from a survey it conducted, they have a high number of out-of-school children in the state.

Parents Urged to Guide Children to Focus on Digital Programmes The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof.

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has urged parents to guide their children to watch only programmes that add value to their lives.

Ogundipe said this at the recent graduation ceremony of a six-week 2021 summer training in coding and robotics at the university.

He said, “Parents should guide our children to watch more robotic programmes, rather than just any other programme.”

Ogundipe added, “We want to catch them young. We cannot afford to lag behind, and that is why today we are celebrating the future of

Nigeria. What we have done is to bring these children together, which started in 2018. We also brought them together in 2019 to learn more about robotics and artificial intelligence.”

He noted that “we are trying to expose children between ages 11 and 15, especially girls,” in the area of robotics and artificial intelligence so that they will learn science and technology.

Ogundipe also appealed to public-spirited individuals to support the university with sponsorship to keep the initiative going.

He also urged the children to pay more attention to programmes focused on robotics, artificial intelligence,

and programme writing.

The Coordinator, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Lab of the university, Dr. Chika YinkaBanjo, noted that the essence of the ceremony was to give the graduands the platform to showcase what they had learnt all through the summer.

She said a total of 56 children, especially girls enrolled on the programme, but 49 of the total number made it to the end. ‘’The aim is to build skills in the future generation of this country. You know if you have a skill and you understand what is going on in the area of technology in the world, you will be able to make a choice as you grow older, and

you will be able to learn some skills that will help you become an independent entrepreneur,’’ she added.

Mrs. Funmi Anyike, the sponsor of this year’s summer camp, expressed satisfaction with what the children learnt in the short period. ‘’I am highly impressed with what I have seen here today, the way they are manipulating the software. It is indeed a life-changing experience for these children,” said Ayinke. ‘’Artificial intelligence, robotics and coding is the trend now, and we are happy. These ones have made us proud as they can compete favourably with their counterparts from other climes.”

Girls to Change Gender Narrative Mary Nnah

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s wife, Chief Betty AnyanwuAkeredeolu, has expressed confidence that the female technology leaders produced

by BEMORE Summer Bootcamp will change the country’s gender narrative.

She said this at the Ondo State Public Service Institute (PSTI) Ilaramokin, Ifedore Local Government Area, during the opening ceremony of the Ondo State edition of the 2021 BEMORE Summer Boot Camp for girls.

Akeredolu set up the BEMORE Summer Boot Camp in 2017 to aid the empowerment of the 21st-century Nigerian girl child and womenfolk in general, with the right knowledge and skill-set to impact society positively.

The governor’s wife, accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said the life-enhancing skills the girls acquire during the programme would enable them to become change agents.

The ongoing edition features over 350 girls. The boot camp helps participants build core competencies in teamwork, problem-solving, social and leadership skills, information and communication technology, and renewable energy.

Akeredolu said, “BEMORE

has come to stay. I make bold to say, BEMORE has come to stay. Yes, we are committed to building an army of female technology leaders. Given that their minds have been re-wired to have a different orientation.”

She added, “The BEMORE girls will become a generation I had named ‘A breed without greed’. The girls will be taught to become selfless change agents by making service their watchword.

In fact, with these girls, I foresee a future where females lead.”

She urged the “digital and solar girls” to do their best to listen and learn all they could during the summer boot camp.

According to her, four years down the lane, the boot camp is close to training 2,000 young secondary girls in ICT, SOLAR Technology and other life-enhancing skills.

Aiyedatiwa commended Arabinrin Betty AnyanwuAkeredolu and the BEMORE team for their “giant strides” to ensure girl child education and improve human capital development.

“Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives.

They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families,” he noted.

“Girls’ education strengthens

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

EDUCATION

Dettol Takes Hygiene Awareness to Schools, Launches Curriculum Uchechukwu Nnaike

Dettol Nigeria is set to commence its 2021 Dettol School Hygiene Education Programme, a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) initiative under the Dettol Clean Naija campaign.

The programme aims at creating awareness, educating and encouraging primary school students to inculcate hygienic practices in their daily lives.

This was announced during the Dettol School Hygiene stakeholders’ workshop in Lagos recently, where key players in the Lagos State education sector were informed about the 2021 programme vision, as well as its implementation in primary schools across the state.

The 2021 edition of the programme has two new features- the specially developed hygiene curriculum created by the Dettol international team, consisting of comics and worksheets that aim to convey the hygiene message to pupils in a fun and engaging manner.

The other new feature is the introduction of the programme impact assessment, which will see Dettol use scientific measurement tools to determine the impact of its hygiene education on the students, their teachers and parents.

Also, in line with SDG 17, partnerships for the goals, Dettol has partnered with the Lagos State office on SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson and Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) to drive the programme implementation and adoption.

In his remarks, the General Manager, Reckitt Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Akbar Ali Shah stated: “With Dettol, our purpose is to protect life, by making good hygiene simple to adopt. Over the past six years, we have directly reached over five million primary school children in Nigeria with our hygiene education. However, with the need for an intensified hygiene consciousness due to COVID-19, we are evolving

from a model where we had just a one-off contact with the students, to one where there will be repeated interactions based on lessons from the Hygiene Curriculum.”

Shah added: “Our aim is to emphasise the need to enable a sanitised environment and to create the importance of water, hygiene and sanitation in preventing the spread of infection among children.

“We recognise this is an enormous task and we acknowledge the contribution that our partners, Lagos State office on the SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson, and SRHIN will bring to this campaign,” he added.

The Senior Special Assistant on SDGs to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Lekan Fatodu, stated that, “statistics have shown that half of all general practitioner consultations and 12 per cent of all hospitalizations among children aged 0 to 14 years are from infections.

“Hence, I am enthusiastic to see

the huge benefits the knowledge shared here today will have on the physical well-being of our pupils. I thank Dettol Nigeria who have partnered with the Dean Initiative, for the overall well-being of school children and I charge all our stakeholders and school executives to help ensure the success of this initiative.”

The Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King in his goodwill message said, “it is an honour to be part of this great occasion which has brought together key actors from different sectors to explore and commit to the challenge of making our schools WASH-friendly. Our priority to advance access to education and learning outcomes by providing a safe, inclusive and equitable learning environment highlights the significance of this workshop and as such, I want to appreciate Dettol Nigeria and DEAN Initiative for this impressive outreach.”

The Principal, Queen’s College, Lagos, Dr.Tokunbo Yakubu-Oyinloye, with a prize winner, during the school’s prize-giving day... recently

Queen’s College Honours 100 Students, 30 Staff Uchechukwu Nnaike The Queen’s College Lagos principal, Dr. Tokunbo YakubuOyinloye, says academic excellence and dedication are invaluable as the school honours 100 students and 30 staff.

The principal stated this at the college’s prize-giving day held recently in Lagos. ‘’Today, we are doing our prize-giving day. We are celebrating excellence, hard work, loyalty, responsibility, and talents among the students and staff. The staff recognised were drawn from both the academic and non-academic categories,”

said Yakubu-Oyinloye.

“We normally do it every year. But last year, we were unable to, because of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

We seized the occasion to celebrate over 100 students and over 30 staff of the college, across the board, for their hard work and sterling performance.”

The college awarded the students not only for their academic performance but also moral accomplishments.

The school’s employees were also recognised for putting in their best in the interest of the institution.

“We also recognised the most

improved students.”

The principal explained that the essence was to motivate others, saying that the college believes that everyone and every position is as important as the other,” Yakubu-Oyinloye added.

She also lauded the efforts of the old girls in ensuring that the torch of their alma mater kept shining brighter.

On how prepared the college is to welcome its JS1 students for the new academic session, Yakubu-Oyinloye stated that the school had set up a conducive teaching and learning environment to welcome the

girls.

She said the Federal Ministry of Education’s permanent secretary, Sonny Echono, recently inaugurated a brand new hostel to accommodate all the JS1 students.

While commending the government for supporting the college, Yakubu-Oyinloye appealed for more projects, more interventions, requesting more teaching and non-teaching staff.

The principal commended the executive members of the college PTA, who ensured better living conditions for students in collaboration with the management.

Lagos Begins Experimental Boarding Fees The Lagos State Ministry of Education is set to commence implementing the experimental fee regime for its new model colleges.

Speaking during a meeting involving officials of the Ministry of Education, parents and lawmakers, the Commissioner for Education Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, disclosed that N35,000 would be paid by all model colleges and upgraded

school students for the next two terms.

“There will be a review after the second term; to analyse the expenditures, gaps, needs and adequacy of N35,000 to cater for a boarding student per term. This will allow for a true reflection of the workability of the new boarding school fee,” she said.

The menu list of the students will also be reviewed and

standardised in terms of necessary nutrition. Schools are also expected to incorporate available local menus and seasonal foods.

The commissioner said the government would incorporate the parents’ body representatives into the boarding house committee to ensure inclusive supervision.

Already resumption of students into model colleges and

upgraded schools commenced on September 19 with SS2 students, while new JS 1 students and other returning students will resume on October 2 and 9, respectively.

The commissioner commended the parents for their understanding while assuring all stakeholders of continuous support of the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s administration for quality education.

A

Teacher’s DIARY KEHINDE OMORU

www.kayomoru.com

IS IT MENTALLY WELL WITH YOUR CHILD?

H

e exudes so much Yoruba courtesies, with the ease of an ‘ibile’ (home-grown) that it is mind-burgling to have this 21 year old British-Yoruba part 2 medical student, a new patient in this acute psychiatric ward, diagnosed with psychosis, specifically schizophrenia, as well as paranoia. This is not ‘African-Magic; it is a heart wrenchingly pitiable sight to behold.His great genius arrived before him and consisted of phenomenal passes and academic achievements erstwhile earned.

They constituted a sizeable chunk of his profile which had been securely encrypted and fore-run as I’ve already mentioned.

Day one at admissions, this child (...and I perfectly know he’s a grown man in the eyes of the law, but please indulge me to call him‘Child’) wore an expression and ambiance of fear and trepidation. Accompanied by a police officer, mum a school teacher and dad an RMN, ‘Child’ stood his ground and maintained a good distance away from his parents. He successfully insisted for this to be upheld by the medics and the law. ‘Child’ repeatedly delusion-ally called his parents single-horned demons whom he claimed were only waiting for auspicious opportunities to terminate him thereby aborting his divinely ordained mission in this world. Mum winced every time ‘Child’ dealt this ‘blow’ and many a hearts present empathised within.‘Child’ was the first of three children who according to both parents was an everyday type of child; quiet, sensible and polite. He had reportedly always been great at his studies and sailed with no hitches to uni. According to mum, serious questions about Child’s mental health stability arose recently when a friend at uni raised concerns with social services, reporting that ‘Child’ was increasingly neglectful of his personal care, withdrawn or avoiding of social interactions which increasingly included lecturers on zoom.‘Child’ increasingly too, made off-point contributions at lessons when he attended.

Placed immediately on antipsychotics, vit B complex, thiamine and cholecalciferol tabs, as well as zopiclone tablet in the evening, Child’s demeanour significantly improved within 48 hours of his admission. Those eerie facial expressions he had relaxed and his hunched shoulders also relaxed to near-normalcy.

In-house family therapist, Adam, soon put an end to many of our questions and enabled psychology and occupational therapies to be formulated and tailored to Child’s immediate needs.

The following profile emerged of Child’s late adolescence manifestation of mental health problems. You will find them and a few others I have listed helpful for spotting signs of mental illness in your child: r .VN SFGMFDUFE UIBU $IJME XBT B WFSZ RVJFU DIJME and teen, whom in retrospect may be considered by some as unusually quiet and contentedly disengaged from his environment r $IJME PDDBTJPOBMMZ FYQSFTTFE TVQFSJPS TVSSFBM ideations of being a rescuer who was on a divine mission to emancipate the oppressed. r $IJME DPVME CF FYDFTTJWFMZ EFWBTUBUFE XIFOFWFS he failed at anything. He went into lengthy periods of depression at such times. r $IJME SFBEJMZ BOE IBQQJMZ BWPJEFE BOE XJUIESFX from social interactions. r $IJME QBSUJDVMBSMZ JO MBUF BEPMFTDFODF EFNPOTUSBUFE more than normal interest in death and afterlife issues. r4PNFUJNFT $IJME FYIJCJUFE EJTQSPQPSUJPOBUF MFWFMT of irritability and diet restrictions. r $IJME FYQMBJOFE IJT GPPE SFTUSJDUJPOT BXBZ BT AGBTUJOH and as a form of spiritual cleansing or ablution.

Mental health problems are very easily missed in children and adolescents. This is due amongst other factors to the characteristic psychological and physical nature of these unstable periods of human development.

Many parents, overbearing siblings and relations call child-sufferers troublesome, doomed and demonic.

The good news for ‘Child’ is that he is currently in the hands of non-judgemental physicians and therapies. His parents are equally receiving social therapies to enable them parent and nurture more empathetically.Now to you my readers - is it mentally well with your child? Can they be mental at times?

-Omoru is a freelance writer, education, health and social care advocate

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 • T H I S D AY

35

36

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

CITYSTRINGS

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

Tears, Anguish as FCT Demolish Shanties Many were left homeless following the recent scaling up times of the demolition of many slums across the FCT by the FCTA in apparent violation of the Abuja Masterplan, Olawale Ajimotokan reports

A demolished structure at Lugbe-Across

The Christ Apostolic Church, Iddo Sarki

T

ears creaked down many faces.

There was also anger and outburst of emotion as the ruggedly built bulldozer, numbering about half a dozen, with their characteristically large tyres, blitzed through some of the marked structures in Iddo Sarki on the corridor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The bulldozer operators from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) neither exhibited signs of emotion nor broke sweat as they carried out the task.

And after seven hours, about 350 of those structures, including a church, several blocks of hostels occupied by students of the University of Abuja and many buildings, at different stages of development were flattened into a mass of debris.

However, the demolition exercise was not restricted to Iddo Sarki. Since the start of the raining season, there have been massive demolition of shanties in Mpape, LugbeAcross, Mpape and Sabo Iddo.

About 349 illegal structures were demolished at Lugbe- Across which is also on the precinct of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The demolition exercise that lasted for several hours was codenamed “2021 mother of clean-ups”.

The scale of operation in Mpape, a shanty located on a hilltop overlooking the high-brow quarters of Maitama, where over 2,000 structures were pulled down was even startling.

At Iddo- Sarki, Oja Ignatius Ugu, a native of Benue State could not mask his anger over the demolition of the four-room apartment that was sheltering his wife, a 400 level student of the University of Abuja and their young daughter.

With his wife harmoniously raining curses in the background, he ripped at the FCTA for failing to compensate them after rendering them homeless.

When asked if had a genuine land document to back his claim to the land, he said the only document he had was a paper agreement he got from the indigenes that sold the land to him.

“We are bona fide citizens of this country and they are treating us as animals-nothing like settlement after all the stress to build a house. How can you demolish someone's house in the name of building on government land? Is the government not for us? This is not fair. As I am talking now, I don’t have any job and a place to go to. All my plan was as soon as I finished this house, I would rent it out to support my wife and daughter’s education.

“Did you know how I built that house? Did you know how many blocks I pushed? How many times my wife pushed wheelbarrows to ensure we raised that house so that in the future we can let it out to generate rent for us? You apply for job, nobody will employ you, you apply for civil defence,

The Ayodele Twins, Marvellous and Innocent

Road Safety, no one will offer you a job,” Ugu lamented.

A mother of three, Mrs Rabiat AbdulAziz, also could not conceal the fate of the family.

She said her husband, Yusuf AbdulAziz brought the piece of land on which their demolished house was built from one of the Iddo locals.

She also lamented that her husband was facing hardship as he barely eked more than N1,000 a day from his mechanic work, making life difficult for the family.

Another victim, Isaac Alluh, said he bought his parcel of land measuring 50 by 50 metres two years ago from a Gbagyi man for N100,000.

He said the man in question even sold land to many unsuspecting victims in the community claiming his ancestors were the owner of Iddo Community.

The Ayodele twins, Innocent and Marvellous also expressed outrage at the demolition of the Christ Apostolic Church, where their father was the ministering pastor.

Apart from the Church, the family house built next to the place of worship was also demolished.

Innocent, who spoke on behalf of the family said that although the land was not captured on Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS), they had architectural, engineering and survey approvals before embarking on building.

Their father reportedly started the Church project in 2018 after getting insight that he could buy a parcel of land for development and after making all the necessary findings as par the validity of the land.

He asserted that they followed the advice of their engineers before they started structural development.

Innocent also stated that the locals who sold the land to the family assured them that the legal case over the land had been won in the court.

“I was in office when I was called that they had started demolition. Personally I think if things like this should be done, there should be a warrant sanctioning this operation in way and

Anyone who buys land from the local chiefs is doing that in contravention of the law and such persons will bear the brunt. Our work is to remove illegalities. Those who are affected can seek justice against those that sold the land

informing the residents that this exercise would be carried out today. I think we are in a working system and Nigeria is a democratic nation,” Innocent said.

When pressed further if they submitted their building plan for approval, he conceded that a building approval can only be submitted if the land is captured at AGIS. “If you notice from airport upward till Lugbe they are captured on AGIS. When demolition happened they actually fenced them out. But here is not captured on AGIS. I don’t think the contention here is not about being on AGIS or getting approval.

It is about allocation and sort of that which the people here confirmed and is being captured and already there was a case brought before the court,” he said.

He appealed to government to always consider the citizens who are powerless as well as to assist in providing temporary shelter for the displaced people.

However, the Chairman, FCT Ministerial Committee on City Sanitation, Mr Ikharo Attah said the demolition exercise was constrained by the alarming scale of illegality along the corridor in contravention of the FCT urban and regional planning laws.

He regretted that the buildings were raised without the consent of FCT Administration, through its Department of Development Control (DDC).

He also said the illegal development was already heading towards the strategic International Airport Road in stark contravention of the Abuja Masterplan.

Attah also accused the developers of purchasing land illegally from local chiefs without valid papers and building for without approved plans.

“The first notice we gave to the people was to stop buying land from the natives. The chiefs have denied selling land to anybody.

“Anyone who buys land from the local chiefs is doing that in contravention of the law and such persons will bear the brunt.

Our work is to remove illegalities. Those who are affected can seek justice against those that sold the land," he said.

He described all the land in contention as illegal as the developers had no proof of ownership to the titles in either AGIS, Gwagwalada Area Council, AMAC or Bwari Area Council.

He further explained that the FCT Minister had reiterated commitment to the ongoing exercise, saying it was part of measures to prevent the nation's capital from becoming a slum.

Also the Secretary FCT Command and Control Centre, Peter Olumuji confirmed that the ongoing sanitation and demolition exercise had reduced the rate of criminality along the International Airport road.

Olumuji said that from the statistics recorded at the department, the demolition had dislodged most of the criminals that were hitherto holding the residents to ransom.

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

CRIME&SECURITY

Upscaling Strategies at Curtailing Increasing Internal Security Threats To fashion out strategies aimed at curtailing increasing internal security threats as it relates to explosives and allied materials, Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that the Second Quarter Conference of the Explosives Ordinance Depot of the Nigerian Police was recently held in Lagos

T

o fashion out strategies aimed at curtailing increasing internal security threats, the Explosives Ordinance Depot (EOD) recently held their Second Quarter Conference 2021. The two-day event was held at the Conference Hall, Police Training School and the EOD Command Conference Hall Ikeja, Lagos, September 9 and 10 respectively, and was chaired by the new Commissioner of Police, CP Zannah Shettima.

At the conference themed "Upscaling Strategies at Curtailing Increasing Internal Security Threats”, the CP, who stressed that they need collaboration to fight insecurity, noted that up-scaling strategies at curtailing increasing internal security threats became imperative considering the fact that Nigeria recently, has been engulfed in divergent security challenges with negative impact on our socio-economic and political development.

At the conference were senior officers, base/unit commanders under the EOD Command, which is a special Operational Department of the Nigeria Police, saddled amongst other things, the security of explosives, radioactive and other dangerous/ hazardous allied materials. The command is also a composite of operational bases and units across the federation with personnel highly skilled and trained with specialised equipment to attend to all matters relating to security of explosives, radioactive and other dangerous/hazardous allied materials in the country.

The first day of the conference offered an opportunity for officers to brainstorm and exchange ideas towards proffering lasting solutions to the divergent internal security challenges bedeviling our country, as it relates to explosives and allied materials.

According to CP Shettima, “the InspectorGeneral of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has been magnanimous in approving several internal security control/mitigating initiatives as well as the provision of facilities/ logistics requirements to support the EOD Command operations for efficient service delivery”.

These initiatives, he added, have brought

CP Zannah Shettima about improved strategies/policies to enhance capacity building of EOD personnel.

He said: "the theme of the conference, “Up-scaling strategies at curtailing increasing internal security threats” became imperative considering the fact that Nigeria recently, has been engulfed in divergent security challenges with negative impact on our socio-economic and political development.

"Crime and criminality such as kidnapping, armed banditry, amongst others no doubt pose dangerous threats to National Security which have negatively affected the fabrics of National Integration."

On the successes recorded by the command, he said "some of the successes recorded by the command since the last conference in March 2021 included, but not limited to the following: Base 36 Awka recovered 10 IEDs at Neni, Anocha LGA, Anambra State; Base 2 Owerri recovered one IED in an abandoned bus at Owerri, Imo State; Base 2 Owerri again recovered one

IED abandoned in a bus at Awomama, Imo State; Base 38 Uyo, recovered 314 UXOs at a Scrap Metal Yard at Nnung Ikot Asanga Community, Oruk Anam LGA of Akwa Ibom State; Base 28 Damaturu recovered and rendered safe one Telephone infrared IED at Girgir, Gashua town, Yobe State."

Emphasising that the major focus of the command is ensuring that whatever may result to threats to public peace and safety anywhere in the country as regard the unauthorised or illegal use of explosives are prevented through the discharge of their professional primary responsibilities of detection, identification, field evacuation, neutralisation, disposal by demolition of discovered war time bombs (UXO’S) and rendering safe Improvised Explosive Devices, as well as, attending to cases relating to criminal use of CBRN materials.

He therefore charged all officers and men of the command to be ready to do all within their capability and continually partner with other security agencies in addressing prevailing security challenges, and also identify other risk factors contributing to local armed groups constituting nuisance in the country.

The second day of the conference was an interactive session with critical stakeholders in the Explosive and Radioactive material industry across the country. The meeting was a platform for participants to brainstorm and proffer ways of improving the existing Explosive/Radioactive safety and security measures to meet up with present realities in line with global best practices.

It was also an opportunity for participants to acquaint and familiarise with the EOD management team as they deliberate on important and critical matters relating to Explosives/ Radioactive sources and allied materials Importation, Storage, Transportation, Sales and Usage towards ensuring

National security, which is the key focus of the EOD Command.

The theme of the meeting, “Rejigging Security of Explosives and Radioactive materials towards improving National security” was apt, considering the efforts of government at various levels, in a drive at fighting the menace of terrorism and other forms of criminal activities in the country.

According to the CP, there has been unusual and noticeable spate of attacks on explosive facilities, security personnel and drivers on explosive escorts in recent times, which to a large extend is threatening the transportation/storage security of explosive and radioactive materials with great implication to the internal security architecture with regards to the security of Explosives and Radioactive materials.

As partners in progress, he urged stakeholders to assist in enhancing the security of Explosive/Radioactive materials during escorts, by acquiring serviceable Pick up Vans or suitable Cars, convenient for escort backups to enable easy maneuver by armed personnel, to be able to repel possible attacks in line with laid down standard operational procedures (SOP).

He also appealed to them to always ensure the use of certified serviceable vehicles/ trucks equipped with fire extinguishers to manage sudden cases of fire outbreak when conveying Explosives/ Radioactive materials and minimize avoidable breakdowns and avert exposure of personnel to undue danger and risk while on escort.

He further sought their collective cooperation in ensuring a safer Nigeria, free from threats of terrorism and other criminal activities, and for robust collaboration and sharing of ideas towards achieving these goals.

He ended by appreciating participants for their time and contributions, assuring them of continued synergy and enjoined them that all hands must be on deck to ensure insecurity in the country does not degenerate to the use of explosives and other allied materials.

Enhancing Understanding of Sea Power in Contemporary Warfare Students of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College Junior Course recently visited the Western Naval Command to familiarise themselves with the operating environment of the Nigerian Navy and also enhance their understanding of the capabilities and utilities of sea power in contemporary warfare, Chiemelie Ezeobi reports

T

o aid students contribute to national security when deployed to the field on completion of the course, students of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) Junior Course 92/2021, Jaji, recently visited the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy (NN).

The visit was also to familiarise the students with the operating environment of the Nigerian Navy and also to enhance their understanding of the capabilities and utilities of sea power in contemporary warfare.

According to the navy, this will aid the students contribute to national security when deployed to the field on completion of the course.

Receiving the participants, Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa, stated that the Armed Forces Command and Staff College is a training ground for all career officers, where most officers have to pass through the college at least twice in their career – for both junior and senior courses.

According to Gbassa, “part of the requirement of the course is the exposure of the students to the field operating environment. Therefore the visit by the college to

FOC Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa and AFCSC Commandant, Air Vice Marshall Ebenezer Olayinka Alade Western Naval Command, is to expose the students – particularly the Army and the Air Force officers to the sea at least once in their career. This is to equip them with sea experience for the times that tasks will involve joint operations within the three services.

“They will have a feel and know what it takes to ride on a ship, and all that is involved to run a ship at sea. This is basically what we are here for. Furthermore, it also goes to serve our purpose of securing and assuring a safe business environment across

our sea links of communication, towards enhancing the prosperity of our nation."

In his response, AFCSC Commandant, Air Vice Marshall Ebenezer Olayinka Alade, reiterated that the visit is one of their course requirements, as the students are expected to go round all the services, operational units, to know how things are done, and to enable them have direct exposure to the conduct of operations.

The commandant, who further stated that the college is a tri-service institution, said the navy participants would have been used to this, "for the army and airforce counterparts, it will be a new experience. " Back then when I was on this course, I was on the high sea overnight, in the ship, and that has been my only experience on the high sea, Therefore as a military personnel, one must be conversant with the land, sea and air.

"This experience will afford them that opportunity, so that when they become commanders sometimes in the nearest future, and there is a requirement to cooperate with a naval counterpart, they would have had the experience of what it looks like, being a naval officer."

38

T H I S D AY ˾ ͰͰ, 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

FG Urged to Heighten Tax Incentives for Businesses, Reiterates Commitments to Enhancing Financial Markets Nume Ekeghe The Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ Holdings Plc, Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko has urged the federal government to heighten tax incentives for businesses stressing that doing so will further bolster activity in the financial markets.

Onadele made the call when he and members of his management, made a courtesy call on the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, State House, Abuja.

A statement by FMDQ said, Onadele, during a presentation, expressed his immense appreciation of the Vice President’s active and impactful contributions towards the development of the nation’s financial markets.

It states: “FMDQ’s commitment to performing its strategic roles

as a market organiser, catalyst for capital formation, adviser to governments and regulators and financial markets diplomat, to support the development and implementation of innovative solutions towards attracting capital to boost productivity in Nigeria, reduce unemployment, bridge the infrastructure gap, and support Nigeria’s achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“He also asserted that one of the top priorities for FMDQ was to support the development of commerce in Nigeria, postulating that commerce was the life blood of every nation, and that thriving and liquid money, capital and foreign exchange markets were sine qua non in the development of Nigeria’s trade, industry, and commerce.”

He indicated that FMDQ

demonstrated its agenda in this respect through the establishment of the FMDQ Private Markets, “to promote the inclusion of private companies in the capital markets, and provide access to long-term private capital to small, medium, and large enterprises.”

Furthermore, said: “Additionally, Mr. Onadele highlighted tax incentive and tax-related initiatives which would further bolster activity in the financial markets and solicited the Vice President’s continuous support of the financial markets development agenda.”

Onadele applauded the passing of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, citing that it would spur economic and a new wave of innovative developments, “improve the ease of doing business, stimulate increased economic activity.

Summit to Revolutionise Nigeria’s Maritime Sector Worried over the nation’s maritime potentials currently being sub-optimally realised, organisers of the Nigeria International Maritime Summit (NIMS) has stated that the summit scheduled to hold on the 5th-6th October, 2021 in Lagos is expected transform Nigeria’s maritime sector.

Besides, Nigeria is naturally positioned to be the regional hub for shipping and maritime trade in the west and central African region.

The Chairperson, Planning Committee, NIMS, Mfon Usoro, at a press briefing to herald the forthcoming event themed, “Becoming a Regional Maritime Superpower,” stated the need for improved governance,

development of requisite assets and infrastructure, skills development and collaboration.

“At the end of the summit, it is expected that an actionable roadmap for achieving maritime industry development will be in sight. This will include an identification of significant challenges and strategies for confronting them. It is also expected that the foundation for value-adding partnerships would have been laid for business-tobusiness, business-to-government and government-to-government interfaces, “she said.

She said the summit aims to facilitate the knowledge base on which a national strategy for harnessing Nigeria’s maritime

potentials can be built and would feature governments, development organisations and private sector decision makers to provide insights on carefully curated sessions that focus on the most important development needs and challenges of the Nigerian maritime industry in the context of regional strategies and international commitments.

She said Nigeria’s strong cargo volumes (dry and wet), extensive coastline in the heart of the Gulf of Guinea, wide network of inland waterways in addition to robust upstream and downstream oil industry activities all contribute to making the Nigerian shipping market very attractive.

9PSB, Flutterwave Partner to Boost Financial Services Payment service bank, 9PSB and payments technology company, Flutterwave have announced a partnership agreement that will help facilitate seamless financial services for Nigerians.

In a joint statement issued by both companies, the partnership seeks to create a seamless payment ecosystem by aggregating and simplifying transactions for banking agents, merchants, and consumers.

The partnership will also support the drive for economic growth through empowerment of the SME sector, entrepreneurs

in FinTech and other industries, as well as contribute to the transformation of the informal sector to formal.

Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, held in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, 9PSB, Branka Mracajac remarked that the collaboration between 9PSB and Flutterwave represents an important milestone in making banking services accessible to all.

According to her, the partnership supports both companies’ commitment to expand accessibility and serve as last-mile delivery of solutions to the

unbanked, under-banked and underserved.

She said, “9PSB, being focused on the presence in unserved, rural, and remote areas, has a unique business model that provides Agent Banking as a Service to our partners to drive financial inclusion.

Expanding on our promise to deliver relevant products, with this partnership, our existing agents, partners, and customers will have a single point of entry to enjoy various products and services provided

by Flutterwave.”

ACTN Elects New President The Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN) has elected a new president to steer the affairs of the Association for the next two years.

The new President who is the third President of the association since inception is Mrs. Victory Olumuyiwa, who is also the Head, Corporate Finance & Treasury of Lafarge Africa Plc. Olumuyiwa will be paddling the affairs of the ACTN together with other members of a sectoral representation-based Governing Council for the next two years.

The outgoing President, Mr. Zeal Akaraiwe in his remarks commended the work done on the documentation, formulation and execution of the association’s Charter and Constitution as a key success achieved within the last two years despite the COVID-19 challenges.

He further expressed happiness on the quality and experience of the new president and emphasized on the need for continuity in reaching out to other corporates and increasing the membership so that

the Association could become an integral part of the treasury workplace, especially as related to efficiency in the interaction with financial institutions and making the treasury function more seamless.

The ACTN was incorporated to foster the interests of Corporate Treasurers of the non- financial organizations by providing a platform for policy advocacy, discussions on issues of mutual interest, education and standard development of the corporate treasury function.

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).

39

T H I S D AY ˾ ͰͰ, ͰͮͰͯ

Profit-taking Persists as Stock Market Declines by N17bn Darasimi Adebisi The Nigerian equities market yesterday extends the bearish sentiment to two consecutive trading sessions, as investors’ wealth dwindled by N17 billion.

The negative performance was driven by sell-off sentiment in the banking sector.

In summary, the NGX AllShare Index (ASI) shed 32.57 points, representing a decrease of 0.08 per cent to close at

38,873.85 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N17 billion to close at N20.254 trillion. On sectors, the Industrial Goods (+0.1 per cent), Insurance (+0.1 per cent) and Oil & Gas (+0.1 per cent) indices recorded gains, the Banking (-1.0 per cent) index declined while the Consumer Goods index closed flat.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

and medium capitalised stocks which are; Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, Access Bank and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

However, the market breadth closed positive, recording 16 gainers as against 13 losers.

MRS Oil Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 9.75 per cent to close at N15.20, per share. Veritas Kapital Assurance followed with a gain 9.52 per

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

cent to close at 23 kobo, while Regency Alliance Insurance went up by 6.82 per cent to close at 47 kobo, per share.

Unity Bank rose by 3.77 per cent to close at 55 kobo, while Courteville Business Solutions gained 3.23 per cent to close at 32 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals led the losers’ chart by 7.89 per cent to close at N1.75, per share. Chams followed with a decline of 4.35

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

per cent to close at 22 kobo, while Japaul Gold and Ventures lost 4.08 per cent to close at 47 kobo, per share.

Sovereign Trust Insurance lost four per cent to close at 24 kobo, while Wema Bank shed 3.80 per cent to close at 76 kobo, per share. Meanwhile, the total volume of trades rose by 1.4 per cent to 184.443 million units, valued at N2.343 billion, and exchanged in 3,809 deals.

Transactions in the shares of

O F

United Bank for Africa topped the activity chart with 38.994 million shares valued at N297.641 million. GTCO followed with 19.037 million shares worth N517.862 million, while Zenith Bank traded 14.199 million shares valued at N326.522 million.

United Capital traded 12.888 million shares valued at N114.177 million, while Access Bank transacted 10.083 million shares worth N90.171 million.

2 1 / 0 9 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

40

˾ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Wednesday, September 22, 2021 Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index fell shedby18bps 14bps The dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ ϭϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index shed 18bps to close at

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

at 1,674.89 points due to sell-pressure on ZENITH ϭ͕ϲϮϱ͘Ϭϵ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůů ƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞ ŽŶ GTCO (-0.7%), (-0.6%), ZENWAPCO ITH (-Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ACCESS (-1.3%), and UBA (-ϭ͘ϭйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞͲ (-0.7%). These stocks cumula-

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ly ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘ account for 18.5% of the index.

/ŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ &ĂŝůƐ ƚŽ >ŝŌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͘​͘​͘ ^/ ĚŽǁŶ ASI up 11bps as DANGCEM Gains 3.3%

8bps zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕

ƉƌŝĐĞ

ƵƉƟĐŬ

ŝŶ

,KEz&>KhZ

(+9.8%), At the close E' D of trade, sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ & E, (+0.7%) ZENITH bol(Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ stered ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ GTCO (-0.7%), and ACCESS the local (-1.1%) bourse - dragged as the the AllShare ďĞŶĐŚŵĂƌŬ ŝŶĚĞdž ƐŽƵƚŚǁĂƌĚ index ĂƐ ƚŚĞ E'y rose ůů-Share Index by

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Price Change Index to Date

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,625.09

-0.18%

10.7%

62.5%

15.0%

3.5%

715.00

0.0%

28.8%

-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

27.10

-0.7%

8.5%

-16.2%

-16.2%

24.8%

3.9%

4.1x

1.0x

11.0%

24.2% 32.3%

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

0.7x

5.6%

ot Applicable

2.2%

15.6% 3.1%

22.95

-2.3%

6.8%

-7.5%

-7.5%

21.8%

2.9%

3.1x

0.6x

13.1%

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%

5.5%

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%

22.30

1.4%

3.8%

5.9%

5.9%

9.9%

7.1%

10.0x

1.0x

4.5%

10.0%

18.3%

1.5%

2.4x

0.4x

9.5%

41.9%

2.1x

0.4x

7.2%

47.5% 28.6%

11bps dipped to 8bps 39,550.36 to close at points.

38,873.85 ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ points. Accordingly, zd ůŽƐƐ YTD ŝŵͲ

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

8.90

-1.1%

3.2%

5.3%

5.3%

proved loss worsened to -1.8% to -ϯ͘ϱй while ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ĚĞͲ ďLJ

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc

7.65

0.7%

2.6%

-11.6%

-11.6%

7.50

0.0%

2.8%

4.9%

4.9%

10.6%

1.0%

3.5x

0.4x

6.0%

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

48.75

0.0%

2.0%

-12.9%

-12.9%

5.6%

2.2%

40.9x

2.3x

1.9%

2.4%

39.00

2.6%

2.2%

3.3%

3.3%

17.4%

2.1%

8.4x

1.3x

10.5%

11.9%

-5.9%

-2.5%

േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ ĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ േϭϳ͘ϬďŶ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ to േϮϬ͘ϯƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ volume ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ traded rose ďLJ 1.4% Ϯϭ͘ϲй to 184.4m ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ unitsƵŶŝƚƐ whileǁŚŝůĞ value value tradƚƌĂĚĞĚ ed fell Ϭ͘ϯй ƚŽ േϮ͘ϯďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ The most traded stocks by were volume UBA were (39.0m dZ E^ KZW units), GTCO ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ (19.0m units), & E, and (11.1m ZENƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ITH ;ϭϰ͘Ϯŵ ĂŶĚ K E K ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ǁŚŝůĞ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ GTCO ǁŚŝůĞ ;േϱϭϳ͘ϵŵͿ͕ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕ ZEN E' D ITH ;േϯϮϲ͘ϱŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ DANGCEM ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϮϵϴ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ value.

Across sectors sectors under under our our coverage, coverage, performance performance was Across was mixed as indices lost, gained, 1 lost, while the Consumer bearish as 34 indices 1 index gained ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &Z-/ d Goods and AFR-ICT indices ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ dŚĞ BankŝŶĚĞdž ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ŝŶŐ index wasĂŶĚ the lone laggard,indices, down 1.0% due 4.6% to sell-ŽīƐ er 'ŽŽĚƐ Insurance down and ŝŶ E/d, ;-Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ 'd K ;-Ϭ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ^^ ;-ϭ͘ϭйͿ͘ ŽŶͲ ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚ-ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> (versely, the Industrial (-3.5%), Goods index led the gainers, up 9.1%), hE/> s Z >/E< ^^hZ (-6.4%), 8bpsD E^ Z ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ t W K ;нϭ͘ϰйͿ and (-Ϯ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ and hd/y ;нϮ͘ϭйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Insurance and Oil & Gas ing indices fell by Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůindices gained (-0.8%), 7bps and E/d, 6bps ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K (-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͘ ďƵLJŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ t W/ ;нϮ͘ϭйͿ ĂŶĚ DZ^K/> (+9.8%). ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ up

1.8%

driven

17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

by

price

apprecia-

ƟŽŶ in E' D Investor ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ (+3.3%).

Investor ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘Ϯdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϵdž ĂƐ 15 stocksƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ advancedĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ while 13 ďLJ stocks /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ declined. ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ MRS (+9.7%), VERITASKAP (+9.5%), and REGALINS (+6.8%) ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ Ăƚ 1.6x led the gainers while NEIMETH (-7.9%), CHAMS (-4.3%), ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ stocks and JAPAULGOLD ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͘ &ŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ĂŶ advanced while 15(-ϰ͘ϭйͿ stocks ůĞĚ declined.

MRS (+9.9%), MAY-

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc

26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria 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 35 Wema Bank PLC 36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC

T ic k er M RS

-19.3%

-19.3%

11.5%

11.5%

710.00

0.0%

2.0%

76.5%

76.5%

3.1%

1.7%

-100.0%

7.4%

3.2%

0.9x

-13.3%

0.7x

5.7%

18.8x

0.6x

5.8%

5.3%

104.00

0.0%

1.0%

14.3%

14.3%

37.4%

23.6%

7.7x

2.6x

6.7%

13.0%

2.40

0.8%

0.7%

-4.8%

-4.8%

12.7%

1.2%

2.1x

0.3x

9.2%

48.0%

5.25

2.9%

0.6%

-12.5%

-12.5%

1.5%

0.1%

17.4x

0.2x

17.20

0.0%

0.6%

-2.3%

-2.3%

25.6%

12.1%

6.6x

1.6x

8.7%

15.1%

5.7%

2.98

0.0%

0.5%

-10.5%

-10.5%

1.50

0.0%

0.3%

-26.5%

-26.5%

8.9%

0.8%

3.8x

0.3x

3.3%

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%

79.50

0.0%

0.3%

12.1%

12.1%

1.9x

2.7%

13.20

0.0%

0.2%

-5.0%

-5.0%

-4.2%

-2.7%

1.2x

5.50

0.0%

0.2%

3.8%

3.8%

5.0%

9.00

0.0%

0.4%

91.1%

91.1%

35.5%

4.2%

6.9x

2.2x

7.9%

30.00

0.0%

0.4%

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%

4.1x

0.4x

0.97

0.0%

0.2%

-14.2%

-14.2%

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

0.76

-3.8%

0.2%

10.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.2%

25.7%

2.1%

15.8%

0.9x

1.6%

18.4% 23.2%

10.1%

11.7%

0.7%

4.3x

0.5x

5.3%

-100.0%

7.5%

0.9%

5.5x

0.6x

5.0%

25.7%

14.5%

2.6%

2.0x

0.3x

5.4x

0.7x

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-38.7%

-9.5%

52.95

0.0%

0.1%

-4.4%

-4.4%

12.8%

8.7%

4.50

0.0%

0.0%

25.0%

25.0%

2.1x

-21.2% 2.0%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

P ric e C hg %

15.20

9.7%

UB A

39.0

0.7%

19.0

-0.7%

0.23

9.5%

0.47

6.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

14.2

-2.3%

UN IT YB N K

0.55

3.8%

UC A P

12.9

0.0%

C OUR T VILLE

0.32

3.2%

A C C ESS

10.1

-1.1%

ET I

5.25

2.9%

J A P A ULGOLD

7.3

-4.1%

39.00

2.6%

T R A N SC OR P

6.8

0.0%

ET ER N A

6.67

2.3%

WEM A B A N K

6.6

-3.8%

C UT IX

4.80

2.1%

VIT A F OA M

6.1

2.0%

WA P IC

0.49

2.1%

C OUR T VILLE

4.8

3.2%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

T o p 10 L o s e r s

CHA M S

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

1.75

-7.9%

GT C O

517.9

-0.7%

0.22

-4.3%

Z EN IT H B A N K

326.5

-2.3%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.47

-4.1%

D A N GC EM

298.8

0.0%

SOVR EN IN S

0.24

-4.0%

UB A

297.6

0.7%

WEM A B A N K

0.76

-3.8%

M TNN

145.6

0.0%

F LOUR M ILL

124.3

-0.3%

C H IP LC

0.55

-3.5%

A B CTRA NS

0.32

-3.0%

UC A P

114.2

0.0%

-2.3%

VIT A F OA M

109.3

2.0%

90.2

-1.1%

65.5

2.6%

Z EN IT H B A N K

22.95

N EM

1.90

-1.6%

A C C ESS

A C C ESS

8.90

-1.1%

ST A N B IC

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

18.4%

0.8x

R EGA LIN S

N EIM ET H

18.1% 49.9%

P ric e

P ric e

14.5%

24.3%

6.3x

VER IT A SKA P

ST A N B IC

26.5%

-3.6%

GT C O

ƟŽŶ ŝŶ ĂƩƌĂĐƟǀĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ͘ STOCK (-4.8%) led losers. Yesterday, we expect the market

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

1.4% 1.3%

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

T ic k er

winds up.

0.0% -0.3%

4.65

38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞŵĞŶƚ ŝŶ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ǁĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚ Ă ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌͲ BAKER (+9.8%), and HONYFLOUR (+9.8%) led gainers mance ABCTRANS in the next trading as investors take LIVEposiwhile (-8.3%), session LASACO (-6.7%), and

ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ earnings season gradually

4.80 29.00

0.0%

23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

Mixed Sector Bearish SectorPerformance Performance

er,

14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Energy PLC

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu| dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021• T H I S DAY

41

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 20Sept-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 159.44 160.77 -1.52% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 6.40% Nigeria International Debt Fund 317.00 317.00 -15.98% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 108.35 109.43 -2.26% 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 9.34% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.28 3.45 -3.36% 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 7.90% Anchoria Equity Fund 132.73 134.38 0.55% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.14 1.14 -14.39% 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 19.44 20.03 7.21% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 429.93 442.90 7.38% ARM Ethical Fund 38.16 39.31 13.21% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.09 1.10 -0.65% ARM Fixed Income Fund 0.98 0.98 -6.78% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.45% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 106.33 106.33 4.54% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,035.84 1,035.84 3.58% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.06 2.06 -6.32% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.13 2.17 -6.86% CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.02 1.02 3.23% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.61% Paramount Equity Fund 16.40 16.66 2.42% Women's Investment Fund 136.18 137.71 2.31% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.88% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 119.83 120.61 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 108.17 108.17 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 7.69% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 7.99% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,159.64 1,177.41 0.71% 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 9.67% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Legacy Money Market Fund Legacy Debt Fund Legacy Equity Fund Legacy USD Bond Fund FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

N/A 157.17

N/A N/A 159.17 3.96% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com

Bid Price 1.00 3.98 1.58 1.19

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 1.00 6.07% 3.98 2.73% 1.61 3.82% 1.19 4.64% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price 3,785.66 3,402.87 100.00

Offer Price 3,839.25 3,402.87 100.00

Yield / T-Rtn 1.04% 3.85% 5.24%

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 5.32% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.79 2.85 -2.26% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 153.31 153.59 -1.41% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.27 1.32 1.17% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.10 1.10 0.91% 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 1,152.43 1,152.43 6.10% 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 11.34 11.38 8.24% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 9.22% 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 11.61 -4.55% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.13% PACAM Equity Fund 1.69 1.70 6.83% PACAM EuroBond Fund 113.29 115.26 3.18% 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 131.03 133.27 8.24% 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 3,284.16 3,318.54 2.25% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 233.13 233.13 3.68% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.21 1.23 3.39% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 307.70 307.70 4.43% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 225.31 228.60 3.22% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.59% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,379.12 10,520.09 -1.13% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.27 1.27 3.91% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 115.71 115.71 4.17% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 103.91 103.91 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 1.30 1.32 2.06% United Capital Bond Fund 1.92 1.92 4.81% United Capital Equity Fund 0.86 0.88 8.60% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 9.34% United Capital Eurobond Fund 120.42 120.42 5.20% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.05 1.07 3.44% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.06 1.06 6.30% 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 12.81 12.93 7.98% Zenith Ethical Fund 14.21 14.35 16.37% Zenith Income Fund 24.38 24.38 1.65% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.25%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 53.37

10.62% 5.66%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.30

13.40

0.65%

120.47 96.26 17.14 18.33

123.47 98.36 17.24 18.43

0.19% -2.98%

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.81 5.44 17.36 1.00 19.47 156.97

3.85 5.52 17.46 1.00 19.67 158.97

1.07% -4.34% 6.96% 7.71% -5.09% -28.59%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.40

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

WEDNESDAY, ͺͺ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

42

NEWS

Expose Sponsors of Terrorism, If You are Not Complicit, PDP Challenges APC, Presidency Malami says investigations ongoing, preemptive to disclose identities of financiers Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said the refusal of the Presidency to expose the names of sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria, vindicates its position that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the present administration had been providing official cover for terrorists and bandits pillaging the nation.

In what seemed like a response to the challenge by the PDP, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, in faraway New York, fielded questions from journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly. He maintained that the federal government had succeeded in identifying those responsible for terrorism financing, declaring that investigation was ongoing and would be preemptive to disclose the terror financiers at this time.

The PDP position was predicated on the declaration by the Buhari Presidency that it was not interested in making public, the names of six Nigerians reportedly sent to the federal government by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as sponsors of terrorism in the country.

The PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary. Kola Ologbondiyan said the decision of the APC-led government to cover the identity of sponsors of mindless mass killings, maiming, rapping, kidnapping of the compatriots as well as the endless violent marauding of the communities under the APC watch, validates its stand that such individuals have connections with the APC. The party said the, “unpatriotic

stance by the Buhari Presidency raises serious national anxieties of high-level complicity in the administration and further explains the reported compromising of our security system in the escalated killings and acts of terrorism in the country in the last six years under the APC.” According to the PDP, "Nigerians can see why the APC-led administration has failed to take decisive steps to tackle terrorism, why it prefers to negotiate with terrorists and even makes case for them, instead apprehending and prosecuting them, as witnessed in the beheading of rice farmers in Borno state."

The PDP said it had always alerted of a connection between the APC and terrorists ravaging various parts of the nation and how the APC, as a party, had always failed to forcefully condemn acts of terrorism in the country.

The PDP added: "Nigerians can recall how the APC vehemently defended and still habours the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, a self-confessed terrorism apologist, despite national outcry and demand for his sack."

Also, it stated that the APC had failed to account for the bandits, thugs and hoodlums it imported from neighboring countries to unleash violence on Nigerians and muscle the 2019 elections.

"If the APC and its administration have nothing to cover, our party challenges them to immediately publish the names of the sponsors of terrorism given to it by the UAE, instead of this vexatious desperation to provide official cover for them,"

the PDP stated.

However, in his response, Malami said: “In terms of terrorism financing, we have succeeded in identifying those responsible, we have broken the linkages associated with its funding and embarked on investigations that is impacting positively in the fight against terrorism.

“But the truth of the matter is that investigation is ongoing and it

is advancing and for the purpose of the investigation I wouldn’t want to be preemptive in terms of making disclosures that would have effects in undermining the success we are recording as far as investigation is concerned.”

Responding to a question on assets recovery, he said, “We are building consensus in terms of driving resolutions, processes and procedures associated with assets

recovery. So, while we are pursuing the recovery of the assets in their own rights, we are equally trying as much as possible to see what we can do in terms of building consensus around making the process of looted assets’ recovery easier, locally and internationally.

“In Washington DC, we are looking at the possibility of recovering further £2 billion and others. But that does not mean to

say there are no other associated assets being pursued in some countries of the world, inclusive of Ireland and some other countries.

We are pursuing a lot of assets and we are coordinator another meeting relating to a huge recovery in the UK associated with certain personalities that I wouldn’t like to disclose, taking into consideration the need not to be preemptive as far as our strategy is concerned.”

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY MEETING...

L-R: Coordinator, Human Capital Development, Yosola Akinbi; Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ade Ikpaye; Chairman, House Committee on Education, Julius Ihonvbere; and Kaduna State Governor, Naisi El-Rufai during Human Capital Development Communication Strategy Validation meeting at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja...yesterday GODWIN OMOIGUI

Northern Elders Attack Buhari, Say Region Disappointed in His Administration Insist Nigeria needs detribalised, inspirational leader Declare region supports restructuring, electronic voting Maintain south must consult, not threaten north over 2023 Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), a body that speaks for the 19 northern states, yesterday, attacked President Muhammadu Buhari over the state of the nation and expressed dissatisfaction over his administration’s handling of almost every facet of the country’s national life.

Spokesman of the group, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who appeared on the Arise News Television, urged the president to deal with the sentiments fuelling secessionist agitations across the country before confronting those, who may still be irretrievably bent on dividing Nigeria.

The NEF henchman explained that even die-hard supporters of the president have become frustrated by his actions and inactions, insisting that having pushed former President Goodluck Jonathan out of power, a lot was expected from the current administration, which he said has not delivered on its promises.

The northern elders rated Buhari low on security, the economy as well as the anticorruption fight, maintaining that the country should begin the search for a leader, who sees the entire nation as his constituency, inspire people and has problemsolving skills in 2023.

“Well, absolutely, I mean, is there any Nigerian who's not disappointed in President Buhari, including diehard All Progressives Congress (APC) members? Is there anybody, who will not tell

you they wish President Buhari had done much better?

“We raised huge expectations.

We, the people, got rid of Jonathan, put Buhari there to fix corruption, fix insecurity, fix the economy but look at where we are now. How can anybody say they are happy with the record.

Even the people very close to him, will tell you that they wish he had done much better, and he could have done much better, and he hasn’t,” Baba-Ahmed stated.

He said what Nigerians needed to do now was to get ready to elect another president, who would go in the opposite direction of the current one, one which has a vision and a clear idea of what governance involves, rather than just being president for the sake of it.

“So, I'm disappointed. And that's why today, I'm actively involved in it, to strive to see that a new leadership emerges, that will give Nigeria a new lease of life “We want a president that has no liabilities in terms of who he represents, other than Nigerians, that's what we're looking for.

There are very good people. I am part of groups and organisations that have excellent Nigerians, with very deep commitment to Nigeria.

“And there are people I believe, who can lead this country away from these serious problems that we are confronted with and dealing with, and they can begin the process of national reconstruction, but the politicians are not giving it a chance,” he argued.

According to him, the Peoples Democratic Party (PD), just like the APC was interested in taking over and retaining power at all costs, without recourse to what Nigerians really wanted, stressing that unless there’s a massive transformation of the parties, they did not have answers to the country’s problems.

He argued that the next Nigerian president must be detribalised, not the product of a region or an ethnic expression and must not be the product of frustration or resentment.

“I would like to see someone, who feels comfortable in Gombe and in Osun, and in Ebonyi and I would like to see a Nigerian, who inspires change. I would like to see a Nigerian that can tell the Nigerian youth there is a future for you.

And I'd like to see a Nigerian who's not corrupt, who will not tolerate nepotism, or run an administration based purely on the way he thinks things should be done. I would like to see a Nigerian, who will build institutions or rebuild institutions,” he added.

He was of the view that the next Nigerian leader must recognise the fact that the problems in any part of the country affected every other part and fight banditry, secessionists and kidnappers.

Baba-Ahmed held the view that the north supported restructuring, including electronic voting and a reworking of how resources were made and shared, lamenting that the electoral process was currently heavily monetised.

He posited that by allowing electronic voting as well as introducing direct primaries, a large portion of rigging that existed would be eliminated.

“We need to eliminate the delegates system, where rich people go and buy off a handful of Nigerians and they become candidates, and nothing has prepared them to lead this country.

“And you can see that now.

You have governors that don't have any idea about governance.

You have a president, who is sitting there thinking, Nigeria should be grateful that he's president, that that's enough.

He doesn't need to do anything beyond that. This country is in serious trouble,” he lamented.

He argued that electing a southern president would not stop all the agitations, insisting that the south must allow the electoral process take its course, rather than allegedly threatening the north to relinquish power.

“You can have a Yoruba president, and you can still have massive problems in the south-east, because the Igbo will say, oh we are marginalised. We have five states, we have never had a president from that part and therefore, we will continue.

“IPOB does not just exist in a vacuum, IPOB represents a large part of mainstream Igbo politics.

So, you need a president, who can find a way around this. Deal with the frustrations that create some of these irredentist movements, deal with grievances that that keep feeding this tendency and deal with these opportunists, who

feel the only solution is to leave this country,” he stated.

However, to achieve this, he said Nigeria needed good leaders that would deliberately create an inclusive administration, and go out of their way to study what makes IPOB so appealing to some people in the South-east.

“The next president must recognise the fact that he needs to recreate a Nigeria, he must allow bridges to be built. We need to talk to each other,” he said.

He also accused the Southern governors of doublespeak and engaging in lazy politics rather than exploring avenues for discussion and negotiations with their counterparts from the northern region.

"One of the key parts of their point that is wrong is speaking from both sides of the month, which the Southern governors are doing and some organised groups in the south are doing. Even as we speak, the same southern governors that are saying we must do this, you must do that, these guys are negotiating and jostling for positions for 2023; they know all the options available and they actually involved in these negotiations.

“They discuss with fellow politicians, including the northern politicians. But they can't come out here and be creating a bi-partisan policy and start making demands that they know are inconsistent with democratic practice. That should stop, because it is not helping them, it is not helping the country. The best thing to do is that they are politicians, they

know how things are done, they have political parties, they have fellow governors and they have other very powerful people.

"All they should do is to sit down with each other and say, look we have done this before, we have rotated power in 2007 and we had dealt with major developments that have reinforced the democratic process. They should recognise the fact that it’s important for inclusiveness, for justice and fairness that the presidency moves to the South East, South West, South-South or somewhere else and let them sort things out.

“Because we have a say in this, we are not just going to be rendered into observers or voters on the election day, no.

Those basic things in politics, discussions, negotiations and concessions are being done," he said.

Asked under what circumstances a southern president should emerge, he said, "There is no such special circumstances under which a southern president should emerge. What we are saying is, allow a democratic process to decide, who becomes the next president," he said.

When flipped and asked some of the expectations and conditions under which the NEF believed the North would support a southern president, he said, "Please in the name of God, pick somebody that can do better than President Muhammadu Buhari.

He should be a Nigerian first, with unquestionable commitment to Nigeria.

WEDNESDAY, ͺͺ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

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El-Rufai: North-west Development Indicators Inching Closer to That of Afghanistan Says zone has highest poverty rate, school dropout Identifies education as panacea to insecurity Deji Elumoye in Abuja Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai yesterday painted a gloomy picture of the nation's northwest geo-political zone, saying the region currently has human development indices that are closer to that of the troubled Asian nation, Afghanistan.

He also stressed that the zone has the highest number of out of school children and poverty rates in Nigeria.

El-rufai, who bared his mind at the Human Capital Development Communication Strategy meeting organised by the National Economic Council headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said only a huge investment in the education sector by the nation's political leadership would avert the Afghanistan scenario and stave off the worsening security situation especially in the Northern part of the country.

He warned that if education was not put on the front burner by the political leaders, the scenario would not augur well in the region and eventually become worse than the development in Afghanistan.

According to him, the northwest zone is currently in crisis, saying the population of the zone which is the highest in the country was a blessing as well as a curse.

He emphasised that the population of the region would be a blessing if kept healthy with educated children that have skills for the future. But on the other hand, it would be a curse if the children are not educated, they are not healthy and they feel hopeless.

The governor particularly stressed the need for the nation's political leadership to chart the way forward through a robust investment strategy in education to address the menace of banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping, among other social ills prevailing in the northern part of the country.

El-Rufai said: "I represent the north-west zone in Human Capital Development Council.

And as you know our part of the country is afflicted with the highest numbers of out of school children. Some of the highest poverty rates and some of the highest drop-out rates in our schools.

"As if that is not enough,

many of our schools are now closed due to the insecurity around our boarding schools.

In most of the states of the northwest, schools have been closed for a while, while security operations are taking place making our educational situation even worse.

"Our health statistics are not better. When you disaggregate the national data into zones and regions, it is clear that most of Southern Nigeria have statistics that are middle income country nature while most of the Northwest have human development indices that are closer to those of the Afghanistan. Our region is in crisis.”

He added: "This is why you will notice that only the north-west has the highest representation of governors or Deputy Governors here.

My elder brother, the deputy governor of Katsina state is here. Because this subject is very important to us. It is what keeps us awake at night.

"We have the largest population of any geopolitical zone in the country. That is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing if we keep the population healthy and educate the children and give them skills for the future. Because, if they're not educated, they're not healthy and they feel hopeless.

"This is what we're seeing with our insecurity. Most of the bandits we arrest have never gone to school. They have no notion of religion, whether Christianity or Islam, and they have no hope. If we don't invest in education, health care, nutrition, our situation will just get worse."

While focusing on the need for political leaders in the country to always do the right thing while providing governance, Kaduna state governor, however, commended the Vice President for providing the will as well as being in the forefront to facilitate attention needed to address the challenge.

He said, "Because it's all about political will, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve spoken here there's a clear strategy, all talk about implementation. If we all agree that human capital is so important, why are we so backwards?"

El-rufai wondered why state governments have failed to vote substantial percentage of their budgets to fund the education sector which has

capacity to bring about the needed development in the long run.

His words: "Why are state governments not budgeting at least 25 per cent, 26 per cent for education and for health care, as recommended by you the United Nations (UN) agencies?

“And when these monies are budgeted why are they not spent in the right available, that politicians have a four year election cycle. But it

takes 30 years for the result of investment in education to show. But building roads, building secretatiats are clearly evident.

"Politicians tend to ignore education and healthcare....the results show long after you leave office. In my humble opinion, the most important target of this message is our political leaders. The strategy is clear, the communication can be improved. We can work on the demand side of

human capital development services, we can work on the supply side, but until and unless our political leaders realise the imperative of taking very difficult decisions for today, so that generations will benefit.

"I want to call on all of us to continue this conversation and continue to put pressure not just on the demand and supply sides of human capital health education, nutrition and so on. But on the political

COURTESY VISIT TO THE JAGABAN...

Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun (R) with former Governor of Lagos and National Leader, All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in London… recently

Africa Initiative for Governance Opens 2022-23 Scholarships to Civil Servants The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), a subsidiary of the AigImoukhuede Foundation is inviting applications for the sixth round of its AIG Scholarships.

The scholarships offer opportunity to exceptional Nigerians currently working in the federal and state civil services to attend the University of Oxford for one year and undertake a Masters in Public Policy degree.

The organisation explained

in a statement yesterday that the initiative was launched in 2017, and since then, 27 scholarships worth over £50,000 each had been awarded to an outstanding group of young people in Nigeria and Ghana who possess the capacity to effect positive change.

Upon completing their degrees, AIG Scholars return to their home countries and use their learnings to contribute to the development of their nations.

“We are committed to supporting capacity-building opportunities for the civil service workforce. We want to see aspiring leaders take advantage of this opportunity to help transform public service delivery and in so doing, improve the lives of Nigerians.

“Applicants can expect to undergo a rigorous selection process that ensures that only the best of the best candidates are selected,” the Executive Vice-Chair of the

NGE to Hold All Nigeria Editors’ Conference, Gets Organisations’ Support Few weeks to the 17th All Nigeria Editors’ Conference, the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) has disclosed that many corporate organisations and security agencies, including the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Globacom, Air Peace, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Department of State Security (DSS) and others, have supported the conference.

The editors’ conference, which is the largest gathering

of Nigerian editors and owners of mass media: newspapers, magazines, radio/television stations and online newspapers in Nigeria - is scheduled to hold between October 21 and 22, at Abuja.

According to a statement, this year’s conference which would focus on the current security challenges in Nigeria, with the theme: “Media in Times of Crisis: Resolving Conflict, Achieving Consensus,” was aimed at

leaders that ultimately make the decisions, on budgeting, on spending, and on getting results".

Osinbajo who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Dr. Ade Ipaye, said the l objectives of Tuesday's meeting was to ensure that stakeholders have a shared understanding of the Human Capital Development (HCD) programme objectives and its importance to Nigerians, among others.

achieving consensus among media owners, managers and senior editors on what role the media can play in helping to resolve the seemingly intractable conflict enveloping the nation today.

“The annual conference also attracts our foreign partners: World Editors Forum (WEF), West African Editors Forum (WAEF), African Editors Forum (AEF), International Press Institute (IPI) and World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

“This year annual conference will attract top security officers, governors, lawmakers, academics, chief executive officers in private sector, members of the international community, leading non-governmental organisations and others,” the statement signed by the Nigerian Guild Editors President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren stated.

The editors stated that the conference which was

designed to be intellectually engaging – with several experienced resources persons, would also feature an executive session with state governors and security chiefs.

“The executive session will provide a huge opportunity for governors and security chiefs to share with owners of newspapers, radio/ television stations and editors, the challenges of managing insecurity in their states and the progress they have made so far,” it added.

Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede said.

Successful candidates could look forward to spending the year at one of the world’s top universities, acquiring knowledge and skills from the outstanding academic faculty and expert practitioners, and interacting with other public sector leaders from around the world, the statement added.

The AIG Scholarships are delivered under a partnership between the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation and the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and are wholly funded by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.

Applications are welcome from Nigerian civil servants aged 25 to 50 with solid intellectual capacity, demonstrable leadership qualities, and a passion for restoring excellence in the Nigerian civil service.

“We encourage and invite eligible persons to apply as soon as possible,” AigImoukhuede added, saying “the application window closes on 10 October 20

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Senate Mulls Life Imprisonment for Kidnappers Proposes 30 years jail term for ransom collection

A bill proposing life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping or any form of abduction, wrongful restraint and confinement on Tuesday passed second reading in the Senate.

The bill sponsored by Senator Ibikunle Amosun (APC, Ogun Central) seeks to, among others, introduce stiffer punishments and punitive measures to combat and prevent kidnapping in Nigeria.

Leading debate on the bill, Senator Amosun observed that kidnapping is a major security challenge confronting Nigeria in recent times.

According to the lawmaker, the light punishment for the offence has continued to make it grow and assume horrendous dimensions with a negative impact on the economy.

“The impact of kidnapping on both economic and daily life has been devastating.

“For many Nigerians, kidnapping is far more devastating than the carnage of Boko Haram in the northeast, or the carnage in the middle belt over land, pasture and water use between farmers and herders.

“In the rich oil south-south, kidnapping is often seem as a manifestation of the insurrection over how oil revenue is

distributed.

“Overtime, the pool of potential victims has shockingly been expanded. No, most victims are often poor villagers, sometimes kidnapped indiscriminately, a departure from the targeted

kidnapping of wealthy people.

They struggle to pay ransoms because of their relative poverty; and this has resulted into many victims being killed in the process”, he said.

Amosun lamented that,

“Nigeria has one of the highest rates of kidnaps for ransom of both locals and foreigners in all of Africa.”

He added, “while the insurgents in the North-east now thrive on the proceeds of

kidnappings, criminal elements in the South-east and South-west are also having a field day. In fact, kidnapping has now become a big and lucrative business.”

Citing recent statistics released

by Neil Young Associates

International – a specialist crisis prevention and response consultancy group – the lawmaker noted that Nigeria accounted for 26 per cent of kidnapping and ransom incidents globally.

NPA RETREAT…

L-R: Former Managing Director/CEO, Nigerian Ports Authority (Eastern Ports), Mr. Felix Ovbude; Chairman, NPA, Mr. Emmanuel Adesoye; Acting MD/CEO, NPA, Mohammed Bello KoKo; former MD/CEO, NPA, Chief Adebayo Sarumi, and Chief Executive Officer, Broot Consulting, and retreat facilitator, Dr. Olukunle Iyanda, during the 2021 NPA Board Retreat in Abeokuta...recently

Ondo Seals 15 Hospitals, Arrests Delta Assembly Passes Anti-Open Grazing Bill Sylvester Idowu in Warri Operators for Quackery Fidelis David in Akure No fewer than 15 operators of private hospitals in the Southern Senatorial District of Ondo State have been arrested by the officials of the State Ministry of Health, for operating unethically while their hospitals have been sealed off.

The suspects were alleged to be violating the stipulated rules and regulations guiding operation of health facilities in the state.

The development came when the monitoring and enforcement team of the Department of Hospital Services of the Ministry

of Health visited the affected health facilities in the senatorial district.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr.s Folukemi Aladenola, stated that the exercise was geared towards enhancing qualitative healthcare delivery in Ondo State through eradicating of quackery and all forms of sharp practices in the health sector.

According to her, during the exercise, the government team visited 36 medical clinics located in Ore, Odigbo, Okitipupa, Ilutitun, and Iju-Odo among others, and made the arrests.

Suspected Ritualist Caught Trying to Behead Female Student in Bayelsa Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa A female student of the Niger Delta University (NDU), Ammasoma, Bayelsa State, was yesterday rescued from her lover boy, a suspected ritualist (Yahoo boy) who tried to behead her.

She was reportedly rescued by youths of Ogobiri Community and the Nigeria Police Force, who came in the nick of time to save her from her devilish lover boy.

The young man identified as Sunday Ojo, who is said to be a Yahoo boy, had lured her victim

with money and after several dates with her has attempted to sacrifice her for rituals but luck ran out of him.

The young man had lured her victim to secluded place at Setraco Road along OgobiriToruebeni drive in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state, where he tied her legs and hands with a rope.

He was at the verge of cutting off her head when youths from Ogbobiri, who had traced his earlier movement through a tip off caught him red handed.

The Anti-open Grazing Bill was yesterday passed into law by the Delta State House of Assembly.

The bill, which prohibits open grazing, indiscriminate breeding, rearing and marketing of livestock in the state, was passed following a motion to that effect by the Majority Leader

of the House, Hon Ferguson Onwo, and it was thereafter adopted.

Chairman, House Committee on Special Bills, Hon Pat Ajudua, had earlier presented the report on the bill to the house, saying inputs of various stakeholders formed part of the proposed law. The bill, when eventually signed into law, will prohibit

the carrying of firearms, either licensed or otherwise, by residents or individuals in the state just as it seeks to address the arbitrary rearing and movements of livestock in the state.

The Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, in his reaction expressed satisfaction with the development, saying that Deltans

and other residents in the state would be very happy that the bill has finally been passed.“Dear colleagues, I congratulate all of us on the passage of this very important bill. Today, the house has fulfilled the commitment of our dear state to the agreement reached at the South-South governors’ meeting held here in our state capital.

Assets Confiscation Will Weaken Drug Cartels, Says Marwa Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Chairman/ Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier General Buba Marwa (rtd)) has advocated for the confiscation of assets of drug cartels, insisting that this would

go a long way in weakening the criminal networks.

A statement quoted Marwa to have said this yesterday, while delivering Nigeria’s statement at the virtual extraordinary session for Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies.

He charged other heads of

national drug law enforcement agencies in Africa to consider targeting the assets of drug cartels as a way of weaken the criminal networks.

He called on his colleagues in other countries to share experiences and best practices as part of efforts to address and

counter the world drug problem.

“The disruption of the traditional criminal trafficking routes means that law enforcement personnel must be familiar with new technologies, techniques and strategies employed by organised criminal groups and traffickers.

EFCC Chairman, Bawa Storms Court over N1.4bn Oil Subsidy Case Wale Igbintade The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, yesterday appeared before Justice Sedoton Ogunsanya of the Ikeja High Court in Lagos, to testify as a key prosecution witness

in an alleged N1.4 billion oil subsidy fraud case. The EFCC is prosecuting the case against Nadabo Energy and its chairman, Abubakar Peters, for allegedly obtaining N1.4 billion from the federal government as oil subsidy using forged documents in 2015.

Bawa investigated the case when

he was an operative of the EFCC. The defendants are also being accused of inflating the quantity of petrol purportedly supplied to the federal government to 14,000 metric tonnes. At the resumption of trial yesterday, the lead EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Seidu Atteh, told the court that he was ready to proceed

with the examination of Bawa.

But, trial was stalled, as a result of the absence of defendants’ counsel.

Justice Ogunsanya therefore, adjourned the case to Wednesday (today) and warned that the defendants will defend themselves if their counsel fails to show up in court.

Ebonyi Seeks N10bn from FG to Acquire Airport Equipment Chinedu Eze The Ebonyi State government has made a request for a loan of N10 billion from the federal government, which it would use to acquire airport equipment, as it does not have enough funds to complete work on the airport

project.

The state government in a letter with reference: GOV/EBS/ FE/2.17/1/312 dated September 7, 2001 and addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika with title, “Re: Notification of My Letter to Mr. President Seeking His

Financial Assistance to Purchase Our Airport Equipment” and signed by Governor David Umahi, stated that the state is building major airport in the country and needed money to acquire equipment to complete the work.

“We are building one of the

largest airports in Nigeria, using concrete to build the runway. We intend to complete this project by May, 2022, but we do not have the money to buy the airport equipment, hence our appeal to Mr. President for Ten Billion Naira (N10, 000, 000, 000.00) to purchase the equipment.

Borno State Governor, Prof.

Babagana Zulum, yesterday suspended the entire management of his alma mater, Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri after seeing the school’s infrastructure in a sorry state.

The governor, who obtained a National Diploma from the institution in 1988 before returning

between 2011 and 2015, was shocked to see that its workshops and laboratories were no longer functioning, during a surprise visit.

Zulum, who could not contain his anger, ordered the suspension of the management of the stateowned school for a period of six months.

The governor visited the Polytechnic around 9:00am and

out of use, with some covered by cobwebs and rodents roaming around due to neglect.

Zulum had gone to the school to assess all infrastructure and learning conditions, which he was dissatisfied with making him to thereafter, direct the State’s Commissioner of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Babagana

of the school with immediate effect.

He said: “As far as I am concerned, this Polytechnic is dead. Nothing is working. The workshops are not in existence, the mechanical workshop is not working, the agricultural workshop is not working, and likewise the entrepreneurship centre is not working.

Enugu Suspends Monarch over Zulum Suspends Mgt of Alma Mater over Infrastructural Decay Demolition of Subject’s House Michael Olugbode inMaiduguri to direct its affair as a rector found most of the laboratories Mallumbe to take over the affairs The Enugu State Government has announced the immediate suspension of the recognition of Igwe Christopher Everestus Okwor as the Traditional Ruler of Ihekwuenu Aku Autonomous Community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of the state.

The Enugu State Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr. Charles C. O. Egumgbe, said that Okwor’s

suspension “is in the interest of peace, order and good governance and in compliance with Section (10b) of the Traditional Rulers Law, Cap 151, Revised Laws of Enugu State, 2004.”

Egumgbe, in the statement, told Igwe Okwor that “your Community is presently in turmoil due to wanton destruction of property and threat to lives of the members of the community.”

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

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2023: South will Not Beg North for Presidency, Says Adebanjo Urges Jonathan to reject APC’s overtures

Emmanuel Addeh inAbuja Elder statesman and leader of Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, yesterday maintained that the southern part of Nigeria will not kowtow to the north to get the presidency in 2023.

Adebanjo, who spoke on ARISE News Night yesterday, noted that it should not be debated whether the south should take over the mantle of leadership after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, because it is the fair and equitable thing to do.

Since 1999, the arrangement of rotating the presidency between

both regions has been practiced, explaining that any attempt to overturn that agreement remains unacceptable.

According to him, since the military upturned the 1963 constitution, which gave all parts of Nigeria equal rights, making the position go round between the south and north had helped in dousing tensions.

“Don’t let us change the narrative. We should not pretend as if we don’t know what the argument is about. Why are the southern governors insisting that it must come to the south? It’s because that’s what we have been practicing.

“After Olusegun Obasanjo became president, Umar Yar’adua came in, after Yar’adua, then Goodluck Jonathan, after him Buhari and after Buhari, it should come back to the south. What’s confusing about that?

“What the southern governors

are simply saying is that it’s our own turn according to what has been obtaining in the past which is on record. Don’t let’s pretend not to know the issues.

“We have been doing this thing by rotation. It must come because that is the agreement,

that is the practice. And that’s the issue. This is a country of various nationalities. We are saying let this thing rotate and that’s why we have federalism. But the military came and distorted it,” he argued.

He reiterated his often held position that Nigeria should return

to the 1963 federal constitution, pointing out that the military constitution which replaced that body of laws was put together by the military comprising mainly people from a certain part of the country and populated by a particular religion.

EFCC Arrests Spiritualists over N16m Scam in Borno Michael Olugbode inMaiduguri The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a self-acclaimed spiritualist, Mohammed Ibrahim, and his accomplice, Ibrahim Abubakar, for allegedly defrauding one Mohammed Gaji of N16 million under the guise of conducting spiritual prayers to make their victim rich.

A statement issued yesterday by the Head, Media and Publicity at the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said the suspects were arrested by the operatives of the Borno State Command of the commission at Sabon Bolori in Maiduguri, in the course of investigation into a petition written against Mohammed Gaji, alleging that he misappropriated

N22.2 million given to him by the petitioner, Mohammed Alhaji Bukar, to establish a cattle ranch business.

It was discovered that rather than invest the money as planned, Gaji gave Mohammed Ibrahim, (the spiritualist) N16million out of the N22.2million for prayers so that he could get rich.

Upon Gaji’s arrest, he admitted squandering the money given to him for business, confessing further that N16 million was given to the spiritualists who promised to make him rich.

Uwujaren said during the raid, a large hole covered with animal skin with a centre table placed on it was discovered in the room, where Mohammed’s accomplice, Abubakar, used as a hiding place, pretending to be a ‘genie’.

PROMOTING ARTS AND CULTURE…

L-R: Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Mr. Olusegun Runsewe (left), presenting a souvenir to the Ambassador of Venezuela to Nigeria, Mr. David Velasquez, during a per-International Arts and Crafts (INAC) dinner organised by the NCAC boss for the diplomatic community in Abuja...recently

El-Rufai: States Passing Anti-grazing Law They Can’t Implement Explains why he’s reluctant to comment on VAT issue Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has said though the northern governors had agreed to ranching as against open grazing of cattle, what was not acceptable to them was the politicization of the issue with states enacting laws they

would be unable to implement.

El-Rufai, who stressed that the northern governors already had a plan but needed resources to implement it ‘sensibly’, said their position was that open grazing was not a sustainable way of livestock production, and believed ranching was the way out, but could not be

done overnight.

El-Rufai, who spoke on Tuesday when addressing journalists at the national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, also said the reason he was reluctant to comment on the ongoing Value Added Tax (VAT) controversy was because

the matter was pending before the Supreme Court.

Speaking on the open grazing controversy, El-Rufai said the project, which would be implemented within two years would cost about N10 billion, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was supporting them with about N7.5 billion.

‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Pension Reform Act, 2014 to Provide for Exemption of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme, and for Related Matters’, was sponsored by Hon. Francis Waive (PDP, Delta).

Leading the debate on its general principles, Waive lamented that retired police personnel are

passing through difficult times after serving the country.

He explained that the bill seeks to amend the Section 5, sub-Section 1 paragraph (a) of Pension Reform Act of 2014, to include the Nigerian Police Force as part of the categories of persons exempted from the scheme, “because their pension is meagre compared with other security

agencies and the contributory pension is an impediment to their access to benefits.”

The lawmaker opined that members of the police force, being the frontline security agency in the country, are exposed to danger daily than other security agencies, and as such, deserve better treatment during and after service.

Speed up Corruption Trials of Fani-Kayode, Other Defectors, PDP Tasks Buhari House Passes Bill to Exempt Police from Pension Scheme statement signed by its Deputy Yinka Kolawole inOsogbo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to speed up corruption cases involving all former members of the party who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with pending Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cases.

The party specifically mentioned the matter involving former Aviation Minister, Femi FaniKayode, as one that Buhari must personally ensure is not swept under the carpet now that he has joined the APC. The opposition party in a

National Publicity, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, and made available to journalists in Osogbo, said it is only diligent prosecution of all former members of PDP struggling with various allegations of graft, who have joined the ruling party, that would clear the insinuations that Buhari and his men had been using anti-graft agencies to intimidate opposition members to join APC. Describing Fani-Kayode as a political liability, a social media politician, and a worthless catch for APC undeserving of celebration, the PDP said the former aviation minister is living on past glory of being a minister.

S’Africa’s Patel Elected IPI Executive Board Chair The Head of Programmes for the International Fund for Public Interest Media and the former editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, Khadija Patel,was elected yesterday as the 35th Chair of the International Press Institute (IPI)‘s global Executive Board.

“I am honoured to be entrusted with this position”, she said. “And I look forward to steering the IPI through this challenging period of media history. The IPI is a cherished institution and is best placed

to bring together the diversity of our industry to forge ahead during a period of significant upheaval.”

Patel was elected by fellow members of IPI’s Executive Board during the organization’s World Congress and General Assembly, held September 15 to 17 in Vienna, Austria. She replaces Markus Spillmann, former editor of Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung, who served two terms after being elected to the position during IPI’s 2018 World Congress in Abuja, Nigeria.

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday unanimously passed for a second reading a bill to exempt the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the contributory pension scheme like their counterpart in the military and the intelligence agencies.

The proposed legislation titled:

ASUP Suspends Seven Weeks Strike in Oko Poly David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The Academic Staff Union of the Polytechnic (ASUP) Chapter of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, has suspended its one month and two weeks old strike action in the institution.

The Chairman of the Chapter, Mr. Samuel Igbokwe, disclosed this to journalists after the

union’s congress.

Igbokwe said the suspension was with immediate effect and called on its members to resume lectures immediately.

He said: “This was as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding reached and signed between the Governing Council of the Polytechnic and ASUP after deliberating on the remote causes of the strike. “We

have conveyed the details of the MOU to the ASUP Congress, and they have agreed to call off the strike.”

The ASUP team that was led

by Igbokwe and the Chapter’s Secretary, Mr. Benjamin Obioha thanked the council for adopting a responsive approach, which culminated in the emergency meeting of 11th Governing Council which yielded the

end if the strike.

Igbokwe said: “The union is happy, and has promised to work for the good of the polytechnic. Our members also expressed satisfaction with the purposefulness of the council so far and the high level maturity exhibited by the polytechnic management in handling the strike issue,” ASUP leadership stated.

Buhari, INEC Won’t Tamper with Anambra Election, Ubah Tells Supporters David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The governorship candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, has assured his supporters that the forthcoming election in the state would be free and fair.

Ubah, who spoke to journalists in Nnewi in reaction to widespread fears in the state that the election may be rigged, said he is sure neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would rig the election.

He said a lot of factors pointed to the fact that the

election would be credible, and that he believes that INEC and its chairman have integrity to protect, which is beyond the election, and as such, would not want to taint it.

Ubah said: “What people don’t understand is that we have an INEC chairman who also wants history to remember him positively. He also needs

to show people that he is not a man to be found wanting.

Remember that a general election is coming up in 2023.

“The general election is very critical, and the Anambra State election is a signpost on how that one will go. If the INEC chairman compromises, then he would have shown that he is not a man to be trusted.

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WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defeated Super Falcons 4-2 yesterday at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos to emerge champions of the inaugural Aisha Buhari Cup

Banyana Banyana Stun Super Falcons in Six-goal Thriller to Emerge Champions Duro Ikhazuagbe South Africa’s senior women's national team, the Banyana Banyana yesterday stunned Super Falcons of Nigeria 4-2 to win the inaugural Aisha Buhari Six-nation Women’s Invitational Tournament in Lagos.

In the final day match of the tournament played at the remodeled Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Lagos Island, an own goal by Falcons’ Michelle Alozie set Coach Desiree Ellis’ ladies on the path of going into history as winners of the maiden tournament named after Nigeria’s First Lady.

And other goals from the boots of Linda Motlhalo,

Gabrielle Salgado and Mamello Makhabane ensured the South Africans revenged their defeat in the final of the African Women’s Nation’s Cup in Ghana in 2018 when they lost out in shoot outs.

Banyana outscored the African champions despite a maiden brace from Vivian Ikechukwu as consolation for the hosts.

The South Africans made only one change to their starting XI that defeated Ghana’s Black Queens 3-0 in the first match as Kgadiete Melinda came in for Holweni Sibulele while Ellis kept faith in their set-up with Jane Refiloe leading the attack against his Super Falcons.

Banyana had the f i r s t opportunity by the seventh minute when Kgatlana sent through a pass in the area from the left and Alozie mistakenly tapped it into hand the visitors the lead.

The South Africans piled up pressure on the Nigerian defence and eventually a high ball into the area and Onome Ebi's handball in the box gifted Banyana a penalty which Molthalo converted brilliantly from the spot in the 19th minute.

Thembi Kgatlana, with her pace, guile and

Speaking with RSFC Media, Ogunbote said he is proud and happy to have joined Remo Stars FC, and currently hoping to take the club to higher levels.

“I am very proud and happy to have joined Remo Stars, I hope to help the team to the level at which the club wants to ascertain.”

“We have an ambition this season, before now the club has decided to maintain their stay in the NPFL which is my desire too but I will be so grateful if we go on to win the league or probably get a slot in any of the CAF competitions.”

In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer of Remo Stars, Mr. Lukmon Ogungbefun welcomed Gbenga Ogunbote to the club and promised to support him to the fullest in achieving greatness for the club.

all came into the game after half time and underscored boldly what youth might be able to speak to that the old guard might not.

Ikechukwu, like a house on fire, fought for every ball across the park, turned in a sweet cross by fellow substitute Gift Monday only two minutes into the second period to give Nigeria some hope, and crashed a vicious shot into the top corner of goalkeeper Kaylin Swart’s goal in the 53rd minute as the arena rumbled.

The new blood swept on the South African goal several times and showed

hunger, great ball sense and sense of purpose, but the equalizer would not come.

Instead, South Africa got a second penalty after Gloria Ogbonna tripped Motlhalo in the box with five minutes left. Makhabane made no mistake from six yards.

The victory saw Banyana Banyana emerged maiden Aisha Buhari Cup champions with six points from two games and avenged their 2018 AWCON defeat and finally recorded their biggest ever win over the nine-time African winners.

Ronaldo Overtakes Messi as Highest Paid Footballer

NPFL: Remo Stars Confirm Ogunbote as New Head Coach Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Remo Stars Sports Club, yesterday announced one of the veterans in Nigerian football coaching system, Gbenga Ogunbote, as the new Head Coach of the club.

Ogunbote fondly known as 'The Oracle' signed a year deal with the club to take over from former coach, Daniel Ogunmodede who led the team back into the elite Nigerian topflight division.

The Oracle who has been into coaching for decades was formerly in-charge of clubs like Gateway United, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) and Sunshine Stars of Akure.

He was also in charge of former League Champions, Rangers International when the Flying Antelopes came from three goals down to beat Kano Pillars to the AITEO Cup crown in 2018.

invention, and Jane Refiloe, Melinda Kgadiete and Hildah Magaia left the ninetime African champions the worse for wear after a horrendous 45 minutes at the MJA. France-based forward Desire Oparanozie was most awful of the lot on the evening, squandering many scoring opportunities.

The bright lights for Nigeria as the climate became overcast in the second half were Gift Monday, Opeyemi Sunday and Vivian Ikechukwu, who

AISHA BUHARI CUP

Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Manchester United has made him the highest paid footballer in the world, overtaking rival Lionel Messi, according to Forbes.

During the new 2021/22 campaign, Ronaldo will earn almost €107 million gross, including a salary of close to €60 million and more than €40 million in earnings from sponsorships and partnerships with brands including Nike, Herbalife and the CR7 brand, which includes perfumes, clothing ranges, hotels and gyms.

Only three athletes have more commercial earnings.

Tennis legend Roger Federer (approximately €77 million), basketball star LeBron James (€55.5 million) and golfer Tiger Woods (€51 million) all earn more than Ronaldo in endorsement earnings.

Ronaldo’s latest earnings have seen him overtake Messi whose move to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona, will see him earn around €94 million gross, with a salary of €64 million, but with lower commercial earnings.

Messi is sponsored by brands including Adidas, Pepsi and

Budweiser.

The next two highest paid footballers are also PSG forwards.

Neymar earns €81 million, despite having the same salary as his team-mate Messi.

In fourth place is French forward Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé earns approximately €37 million.

His salary with the Ligue 1 side is €24 million.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah completes the top five, with earnings of €35 million.

Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta is also in the top 10 and is the only player from a nonEuropean team to make the list.

Iniesta earns almost €30 million at Japanese outfit Vissel Kobe, the same as Robert Lewandowski earns with Bayern Munich.

Paul Pogba, who like his compatriot Kylian Mbappé is in the final year of his contract at Manchester United, earns €29 million gross per year.

The list is completed by two Real Madrid players: Gareth Bale on €27.3 million and Eden Hazard on €24.7 million, who earns the same salary as the Welsh forward, but whose commercial income is half that of Bale’s.

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SPORTS

NBC Excites Fans at 2021 Lagos Yacht Club Boat Race Championship

Lewandowski Receives Golden Shoe Award as Europe’s Top Scorer

R

obert Lewandowski has received the 2020-21 European Golden Shoe, having scored 41 Bundesliga goals for Bayern Munich.

The award is given to the top goalscorer in all domestic leagues across Europe.

Lewandowski, 33, is only the second Germany-based player to win it, after Bayern legend Gerd Muller in 1971-72.

He said: "I dedicate this award to all the people who are by my side every day."

The Polish striker's tally last season was the highest since Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the award in 2015 with Real Madrid after netting 48 goals.

Lewandowski comfortably outscored Lionel Messi (30) and Ronaldo (29) in his 29 Bundesliga appearances.

The award has been won six times previously by Messi, with Ciro Immobile and Luis Suarez also finishing in top spot.

"I'd like to thank my family, my teammates, the coaching staff and the whole of FC Bayern. I couldn't win titles like these without their support," added Lewandowski.

"In sport, like in life, it's crucial that you value each other, support each other, are always fair with each other and try to be a role model for others. I'm very happy with what we've achieved together as a team."

Betsy Obaseki Invitational:

Organisers Plan Big for Opening Ceremony

Organisers of the Betsy Obaseki Football Tournament have declared that all is set for a colourful opening ceremony at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.

All the 12 clubs and their officials are expected to arrive the ancient city of Benin on Sunday, September 26th.

Draws for the tournament is scheduled to hold evening of arrival day while the first matches will be played on Monday, September 27.

The tournament’s Head of Media & Communicatiobs, Ebhomhiana Musa said yesterday that with less than one week to the event billed to run from September 27 to October 4, all strategies ahead of the opening ceremony were being perfected.

“When we unveiled the logo of the tournament in Benin, it was adjudged a beautiful event. That is just a child’s play compared to what we are planning for the opening ceremony. It would be a colourful one on Monday, September 27. “We are drawing from the experience of hosting Edo 2020 National Sports Festival. We have a governor in Mr Godwin Obaseki and a Deputy in Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu who believe in going for the very best in anything.

“As everyone can see, Edo is fast becoming the nation’s

Mecca of sports. We hosted the sports festival, hosted the Aiteo Cup final and Super Eagles games. Now, the next big thing is the Betsy Obaseki Football Tournament,” Musa stated.

12 top female teams in the country have already been confirmed for the tournament which the Edo State First Lady is passionate about as a tool to galvanise her pet project of tackling human trafficking and prostitution.

Robert Lewandowski was yesterday presented with his award as Europe’s top scorer for the 2020/21 German Bundesliga season after scoring 41 goals for Bayern Munich

Leading consumer packaged goods company and a member of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC), Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (NBC), delighted boat lovers at the 2021 edition of the Lagos Yacht Club annual boat racing championship held on Saturday, 18th September 2021.

The annual event, which has been sponsored by the beverage giant for almost a decade brings together boat lovers and sailors from across the world to witness a day of exhilarating yacht racing competition whilst promoting health and wellness.

This year, the racing event witnessed a total of 45 energetic sailors, including women and young competitors, who partook in the different categories in the tournament.

At the end of the race, winners emerged from the three categories based on boats used – Hobie Cats, Lightnings and Tarpons, and were awarded with the championship trophies.

Speaking at the event, Public Affairs and Communications Director at the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Ekuma Eze, commented, “As a system, together with our partners, Coca-Cola Nigeria, we explore partnerships that enable us to support diverse consumer passions, in line with our advocacy for a more active lifestyle.

“NBC is a growth focused company committed to the health and wellbeing of our employees, customers, and the environment, and this event is

an exciting opportunity for us to encourage the adoption of diverse sports in the country,”Eze noted.

The NBC director stressed that after last year’s break due to the Coronavirus pandemic, “we are thrilled to be back with Lagos Yacht Club on its annual boat racing competition as this event has become a highlight in our calendar over the last eight years.

“We are also proud that this competition has grown to be what it is today and is evidently in line with our corporate social responsibility goals, to improve the quality of life for people in the communities where we operate”, he added.

Also commenting, Commodore at Lagos Yacht Club, John Shidiak said, “In recent years, boat racing has made rapid strides globally and continues to inspire all boat lovers and fans. We have seen the number of Nigerian sailors increase year-on-year and it is something we are extremely proud of. The Nigerian Bottling Company has been a long-standing partner and supporter of this competition and we are delighted to be able to carry on with this activity despite the break caused by the pandemic. We remain confident that this collaboration will be hugely beneficial to motivating Nigerians to adopt boat racing as a lifestyle”.

Some of the yacht racing trophy winners this year include: Avy E, Sandra Ozioma, Julian hardy, Ed Skene, Laurens Kreuze, Liam Haayer, Anouk Sebillet, Mike Barnes, Lanre Mabawonku and Ayo Ogunbiyi.

Aisha Buhari, Oshoala, 1999 Falcons Dazzle at NFF-Aiteo Awards

The third edition of the annual NFF-Aiteo Football Awards took the City of Lagos by storm on Monday night, with the country’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, as well as four-time African Player of the Year Asisat Oshoala, homebased professional Gift Monday and the Super Falcons’ class of 1999 the star attraction at the glamour event inside the Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island.

Scuttled by the global coronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc worldwide since the beginning of year 2020, the third edition of the showpiece event was planned on a smaller scale but blossomed and became magnified as the night wore on.

Speaking at the event, President of the NFF and FIFA Council Member, Amaju Melvin

Pinnick heaped plaudits on Dr Aisha Buhari, in whose name the six-nation invitational tournament concluded yesterday in Lagos was held, and disclosed that her passion, interest, attention and commitment to the challenges confronting women, the girl-child and the less privileged in general motivated the Aisha Buhari Cup event.

The First Lady was honoured with the award of Best Supporter of Women’s Football.

Silas Nwankwo and Charles Atshimene, who shared the honours of top scorer in the last NPFL season with 19 goals, were joint winners of the Best Performance of the Year (Men; Nigeria-based) while Paul Onuachu emerged Best Performer for the overseas-based crew.

Super Eagles’ forward Onuachu scored 35 goals in 41 games for his Belgian club Genk and two crucial goals in the Super Eagles’ successful qualifying campaign for the 2021 AFCON finals.

Oshoala, who Spanish club FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League, emerged best performer (Women; Overseasbased) while Gift Monday, top scorer in the NWFL season, was crowned best performer on the home front.

Akwa United FC, Bayelsa United FC, Kennedy, Boboye, Moses Adukwu, Joseph Ogabor, Patience Madu, Ahmed Musa and NFFTV and NPFLTV were other winners, while Princess Bola Ngozi Jegede was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award (collected by her son,

The 14 out of 20 Super Falcons Class of 1999 present at the AITEO-NFF Football Awards on Monday night in Lagos

Christopher). There were also post-humous awards to Prince Larry Eze and Ms Henrietta Ukaigwe for contributions to women football development.

Lagos State was honoured with Host State of the Year and Edo State was recognized with Award of Commitment to Women Footbal Excellence.

Fourteen members of the Super Falcons class of 1999 out of the 20 were present on the night.

They include; Nkiru Okosieme, Rita Nwadike, Mercy Akide, Ann Chiejine, Yinka Kudaisi, Marvis Ogun, Maureen Mmadu, Stella Mbachu, Gloria Usieta, Adanna Nwaneri, Florence Iweta, Nkechi Egbe, Judith Chime and Martha Tarhemba. The deceased Ifeanyi Chiejine was represented by her sister.

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MISSILE Mamora to Striking Doctors “People are dying and that is the truth. How do you bring back people who have passed on as a result of doctors not being at their duty posts?

Some of these issues do not qualify for a national strike.

By virtue of ethics, our oath of office as doctors is to save lives” – Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, lamenting the continued doctors’ national strike.

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26 years

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974

Students in Captivity M

any students would not be going back to the classrooms as the new school year begins across the country. This is because they are in captivity.

The condition of the hundreds of kidnapped students should be treated as a matter of national emergency.

In practical terms, the human development of a significant number of members of a generation is being arrested in the climate of insecurity plaguing the country. The implications of this disastrous trend are immense for the present and future. In every sense, the condition of the students in captivity is a major human cost of the crisis in the land.

According to a statement from the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF), over 200 students are languishing in kidnapper’s den. This highly dispiriting figure of abductions was given in a last month estimate. Since then more abductions have taken place while the kidnappers have also set free some students after millions of naira were reportedly paid in ransom.

Only two days ago, the picture got grimmer as the same UNICEF and the European Union (EU) said in another statement that more than 300,000 children have been killed in the northeast of Nigeria alone. It is also estimated that over a million children have been displaced in the region. The humanity of these victims of terrorism is being assaulted with impunity. Yet these are children who should, in a normal situation, be in school. It has also been reported that a recent assessment of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support needs of the children in the zone, which has been the epicentre of the Boko Haram War, indicated various forms of stress. These include aggressiveness, anger, hyper-vigilance, and anxiety. This regime of stress to which the children are subjected is implicated in the cases of poor brain development, low self-esteem and other forms of mental problems.

The statement was made in the context of a 10 million euros - fund provided by the European Union to provide vocational skills and non-formal education for at least 25, 000 young persons. The project is tagged Early Recovery and Resilience Project. It will be implemented by UNICEF. Now, if nothing more could be done about the children killed, the EU and UNICEF seem to be saying by their action that the displaced and dislocated could still be assisted to recover early and muster some resilience to face the future.

In the same spirit, the abducted students are in dire need of their freedom.

These students have been in captivity for varying periods of time.

It is 2,709 days today that over 100 girls abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, have been in captivity. Today is also the 1,302nd that Leah Sharibu, a girl in a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State, has been in captivity.

This calendar of distress has been sadly expanding in the last seven years.

Some students of the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, have been held by their adductors for 98 days while the students of Baptist School Kujama in Kaduna

Buhari State have in kidnapper’s den for 80 days now.

In some recent cases of abductions, the students were released after been held in captivity for weeks. There have stories of poor parents selling their belongings to meet the demands of the kidnapers. Such was the bitter experience of the 136 children, whose ages range between three and eleven, kidnapped at the Saliu Tanko Islamic school in Tegina, in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

Most of the students regained their freedom after almost three months.

These are pupils in nursery and primary schools!

Some of the students died in the process just as some of the parents died of shock.

One of their teachers broke down in a live programme on ARISE TV as he recounted the tragic incident. At a point, the kidnappers demanded N150 million from the poor parents.

Similarly, eight abducted students of the Kaduna State public Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zaria, Kaduna State, were set free two weeks ago by kidnappers after 28 days in captivity.

Bandits reportedly invaded the school and kidnapped staff and students.

Some of the kidnapped students of the Unity College students in Kebbi have also

The inhuman condition of the students still being held by kidnappers should be taken as a challenge to the Nigerian state and an open sore on the conscience of the society itself

been lucky to regain their freedom. Some, however, died in the process. The police and the army actually rescued some of the students in this particular case.

Some heavily armed bandits reportedly invaded the town on motorcycles, from the Rijau forest in the neighbouring Niger State. At a stage, it was believed that over 100 students were being held in the forest by kidnappers in Kebbi State.

Many of the students abducted in both Chibok and Dapchi have also since been released from captivity.

The sad stories of the abductions students have been reviewed on this page on different occasions to draw attention to the often downplayed humanitarian cost of the crisis. For instance, after the abduction of over 300 students in Kankara secondary school in Zamfara State, on December 11 last year, the following observation was made on this page: “Therefore, it is time the Nigerian state was asked: when exactly is it a national embarrassment? When will the national shame be officially acknowledged that six years after the Chibok tragedy the combined efforts of defence and internal security organisations could not ensure the security of students in Kankara Science Secondary School? Whatever happened to the professional acumen and the capacity of the army, police, SSS, civil defence corps and other security outfits supposedly on duty in Katsina State? When indeed is it an emergency?

“All efforts should be made to prevent a catastrophe in the extremely delicate situation of Kankara…

“The manner of the abduction of the students in Kankara is a clear pointer to the limits of rationalisation of the failures of the nation’s security system. The attackers reportedly arrived Kankara after 10 p.m. on more than 150 motorcycles. Imagine a convoy of 150 motorcycles ridden freely across local government areas.

And hundreds of boys taken away on those motorcycles! That ought to be conspicuous enough to attract the attention of security men.

While a detachment of the invaders went in to take the boys from the school, another group blocked the road to prevent access to the scene of the crime.

“The attack on Kankara proved that the nation has not learnt sufficient lessons from earlier attacks on schools.”

The abductions that happened before Kankara could also be cited to illustrate the point about the strategic failure of the Nigerian state in the situation.

Mercifully, the Kankara schoolboys were released on December 17 last year reportedly with the help of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACABAN).

While the police and other security forces should intensify the efforts to secure the freedom of those students still in captivity, it is important for the state and local governments to support the parents of the kidnapped students who are distress.

The matter was once put like this on this page: “When last did any government official speak with the parents of Leah Sharibu to offer them some words of hope? Are there regular meetings

with the parents of the over 100 Chibok girls in captivity to comfort them and lift their spirit?

In the first place, the Nigerian state failed the poor girls by not preventing their abduction…

Why can’t the humanitarian dimension of the crisis be approached in a more organic and sensitive manner? The official response should be imbued with empathy.”

In the first six months of this year, almost a thousand students were kidnapped in various parts of the country. As a result, some state governments in the north ordered closures of schools especially the boarding ones. To imagine that this trend continues in a country in which over 10 million children are already out of school! Insecurity has become the greatest obstacle to education especially in the north of Nigeria.

This situation has continued despite the $30 million dollar Safe School Initiative meant to tackle the problem.

It is relevant in the circumstance to revisit the idea of the Safe Schools Initiative. It is a concept sorely waiting for execution.

A bit of reminder might be apposite in this regard. Soon after Chibok happened, the Safe Schools Initiative for Nigeria was launched on May 7, 2014 at the World Economic Forum held in Abuja. The support for the programme stoutly came from a coalition of Nigerian business leaders working with the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The initiative was to start with a pledge of $10 million to keep about 500 schools safe in the north of Nigeria. The strategy was to build a community of security groups comprising the police, parents, teachers, community and youths.

The funding expected to come from investments from government, business leaders and the Global Business Coalition for Education, A World at School and other corporate bodies.

The federal government (through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development) and the relevant state and local agencies should synergise on how to execute the programme.

It should be redesigned by experts to make it achieve better results in the light of the worsening condition of the students.

Doubtless, the investments in safe schools are obviously for the future of Nigeria. The present is already troubled. So any collaboration to save the future by keeping students secure to learn in their schools should be supported by the private sector and other non-governmental organisations.

To put an end to the national nightmare of students being in captivity, the security authorities should be more accountable on matters of security while the federal and state governments should make keeping students safe in school a national priority.

It is never a normal thing that hundreds of students are in captivity. The abducted students must not be forgotten. Attention should always be drawn to their suffering. It is the duty of the state to liberate them from captivity. So, the inhuman condition of the students still being held by kidnappers should be taken as a challenge to the Nigerian state and an open sore on the conscience of the society.

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